Chapter 449: 《A Chinese Ghost Story》: The Aggregate

Akainu frowned, asking in confusion, "Did he not kill the Xiake Daoren?"

"If that is the case, how was the current Master Ning, who is overflowing with demonic aura, born?"

As an iron-blooded Admiral of the Navy Alliance, he deeply despised this behavior of Ning Shusheng, who could not even uphold justice.

Smoker also looked at the female ghost with curiosity.

Nie Xiaoqian's face turned pale as she said, "At the time, Ning Shusheng did not have much life left; even if he promised the treasures of gold and silver to Shuyao Laomu, he had no time to enjoy them."

"And the talk of sacrificing one's life for righteousness that Yan Chixia spoke of was something he scoffed at."

After a pause, a flash of terror crossed the female ghost's eyes, and she continued, "Ning Shusheng's method was... to peel the bark off the dying Shuyao Laomu, eat the heart of the thousand-year-old demon king, and then drink dry the blood of the Xiake Daoren, which contained power, finally becoming the current 【Demon-Clad Scholar】."

Therefore, the female ghost who was originally controlled by Shuyao Laomu is now able to be used by Master Ning.

It is all because the majority of the power of Shuyao Laomu and Yan Chixia was eaten into Master Ning's belly.

The scene was silent.

There was only the eerie sound of tree branches colliding with each other.

Even Orochimaru revealed an intrigued look; he had not expected that the seemingly calm Master Ning would have such a crazy mindset.

Smoker grasped the main point and asked, "Wait, you said this all happened half a year ago?"

"Yes..."

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes and asked, "Master Ning's appearance looks as if decades have passed, and why is he unable to leave the residence?"

If what the female ghost said was the truth, why would Master Ning lie to them?

Unless...

"He is disguising himself as decrepit to bluff, because swallowing both the demon king's heart and the Daoist Blood at the same time caused his body to be severely backlashed."

The female ghost explained, "Therefore, he needs to eat a Ghost Tree Demon Heart every day to maintain his state."

"If you take the Ghost Tree Demon Heart back to Master Ning, once he recovers, he will definitely kill you all."

The Ghost Tree Demon Heart is a type of balancing agent.

It can suppress the two chaotic energies within Master Ning's body.

Garp scratched his head, thinking of the simplest solution, and said, "In that case, why don't we just go back to Ning Fu and kill Master Ning?"

Since the other party is bluffing, it means his current state is very poor, and the Navy Alliance squad could fully consider the possibility of hunting him down.

"You cannot."

The female ghost shook her head hurriedly and said, "It is not that Master Ning cannot leave the residence, but that even in his backlashed state, as long as he is inside the residence, he has the strength to kill everyone."

That Ning Fu residence is the source of most of Master Ning's power.

Only by finding a way to destroy the residence can one become an enemy of Master Ning.

Orochimaru suddenly asked, "So, in this Lan Ruo Si, are there any game items that can destroy the Ning Fu residence?"

The female ghost did not understand "game items," but she understood Orochimaru's words; she turned her head, and her slender, fair palm landed on the Taoshu behind her, saying, "This is the corpse of Shuyao Laomu, a part that was left behind because it was not completely swallowed by Master Ning at the time."

"Master Ning relies on the abilities of Shuyao Laomu to create that Ning Fu."

"If the benefactors simply fuse the Ghost Tree Demon Heart into the corpse of Shuyao Laomu and stimulate it to regain vitality, you can take the opportunity to destroy the foundation of Ning Fu."

If that were truly the case, the Navy Alliance squad could hunt down the weakened Demon-Clad Scholar.

"Is that so?"

After hesitating slightly, Akainu took out a Ghost Tree Demon Heart from his inventory and threw it toward the Taoshu that looked like a bloody arm.

After the Ghost Tree Demon Heart touched the bark, it bloomed with a faint blood color and was instantly absorbed.

Looking at this scene alone, it seemed there was no discrepancy with what the female ghost Nie Xiaoqian had said.

Just as Akainu wanted to continue throwing all the Ghost Tree Demon Hearts to the Taoshu, Orochimaru reached out to stop Akainu, looked at the female ghost Nie Xiaoqian, and asked strangely, "Based on the story you told, I have some doubts."

"This Taoshu that can destroy Ning Fu—is Master Ning not aware of it?"

"If he is aware, why doesn't he find an opportunity to destroy this Taoshu?"

Hearing Orochimaru's questioning, the female ghost was stunned and explained, "Master Ning cannot leave Ning Fu, so..."

"Master Ning cannot leave, but you, as the female ghost controlled by him, have already left Ning Fu, haven't you?"

Master Ning could completely control the female ghost to go and burn this Taoshu for him to eliminate future trouble.

"Although the Ghost Tree Demon is difficult to deal with, you only need to lure the Ghost Tree Demon into Ning Fu, and Master Ning should be able to solve it himself, right?"

The Ghost Tree Demon has very low intelligence, and this method would be very easy to succeed.

After everyone had close contact with Master Ning, the demonic aura the other party radiated showed he had the strength to easily kill the Ghost Tree Demon.

Orochimaru shook his head and said, "But he specifically gave the collection task that could lead to the destruction of Ning Fu to us strangers."

"Perhaps, there is another possibility..."

"You have always been a pawn of Master Ning, deliberately attacking us when we left the city and leaving behind items that could be used for soul-summoning."

"Near the Lan Ruo Si where the Ghost Tree Demon wanders, your urn of ashes just happened to be found; because we don't trust Master Ning, there is a high probability we would perform soul-summoning on you, and then, following your wishes, fuse the Ghost Tree Demon Heart with this Taoshu?"

Orochimaru smiled grimly, his killing intent overflowing, as he entered a state of contemplation.

"Let me think... once the Ghost Tree Demon Heart and the Taoshu fuse, will Master Ning recover? Or is it that he will be able to leave Ning Fu and move freely?"

Facing the suddenly rising killing intent of Orochimaru, the female ghost's expression changed drastically, and she hurriedly ran toward the outside of the courtyard wall; her light, floating figure landed on the wall in the blink of an eye.

Pfft.

A Bone Spear condensed from necromantic energy pierced through the female ghost's chest.

The female ghost Nie Xiaoqian looked down and could see the spear tip piercing through her chest; her soul-like shell was rapidly decaying.

"Hehehe..."

The harsh, coquettish laughter echoed within Lan Ruo Si.

The female ghost, whose body was gradually decaying and rotting, turned around, her malicious and resentful gaze fixed firmly on the five people.

"If I don't obey and don't complete the task, I will be punished by Master Ning..."

The female ghost reached out and grasped the Bone Spear piercing her body, pulling it out bit by bit.

Crack!

Five fingernails, sharp as blades, overlapped and easily snipped the Bone Spear in two.

"Hiding your strength?"

Smoker narrowed his eyes, his arms wreathed in gaseous purple dragons, and his figure suddenly vanished from where he stood.

Boom.

The courtyard wall was smashed open, and the purple dragons corroded the earth like sulfuric acid.

Smoker turned his head, discovering that the female ghost was already floating in mid-air, moving at such extreme speed that he had failed to catch any trace of her movement.

Kizaru's expression turned grave as he made his judgment: "Conservatively estimated, she is even stronger than that previous Ghost Tree Demon King."

As a Guangyan Qiang Lieriezhe and a user of the Glint-Glint Fruit, the Agility attribute was his forte.

Yet, this female ghost's movement speed was actually superior to his own.

"Since you are unwilling to cooperate, this concubine has no choice but to kill you all..."

The female ghost floating in the air began to swell at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Just as if she had been soaked in water, her skin and flesh wrinkled and turned white, and rows of pale, colorless arms extended from the female ghost's ribs.

Those fair, slender, and graceful arms looked extremely terrifying at this moment.

In each hand, as if clutching a ball, she held a dripping, beautiful human head—all of them were the beautiful ghosts previously controlled by Shuyao Laomu.

The eyeballs of those beautiful heads rolled around, and their mouths opened and closed, emitting incoherent babbling.

【Jiugui Tideng·Nie Xiaoqian (Golden)】: A Yin-Qi aggregate created by Master Ning forcibly fusing nine ghosts together.

(End of this chapter)