Chapter 96: with translation of chapter title

The youth Champion Marquis's smile carried an air of composure, but beneath that smile lay a hidden embarrassment, for he could not casually open his mouth—first, because he lacked confidence to completely suppress the sure-to-win Jingren; second, because his goal was the Heaven-and-Earth bag, and once spoken, word would get back, making him lose face.

"O Witch Ghost Dao fellows, you are also accomplished cultivators; our goal this time is indeed the Heaven-and-Earth bag, but given the situation, we cannot easily seize it. Why not let this humble woman propose a plan: we join forces, you few help us kill this Champion Marquis, and we will guarantee you few a fortune in Cloud Mist, in the name of my father, Xing Xuan." Xing Yu Xian took in the Champion Marquis's embarrassment, scoffed at his aim to rope in the Jingren monk, and chose to speak out to win over the Witch Ghost Dao.

"Yu Xian, you really do miss me!" the Champion Marquis looked at the woman speaking opposite him; his face showed no trace of anger, but rather a gentle smile.

"Seeing you makes me sick." Xing Yu Xian looked at the youth whose gaze seemed gentle, and her face turned deathly black.

"Turns out it's the Peacock King's daughter before us; then so be it!" The four ghost immortal experts of Witch Ghost Dao exchanged glances, and the dark and thin daoist who was employing the Yin Soul Rope against Xiao Anran let out a long shout, in one breath agreeing to Xing Yu Xian's request.

"Yellow Spring Black Devil Refining Divine Net." As the words fell, the four-eyed man Na Lan Hai, whose staff had earlier been blocked by Bi Shi Hua, shook his staff, spat a mouthful of blood onto the yellow crystal atop it; the blood landed on the crystal, instantly constricted and vanished, absorbed by the crystal. Upon absorbing the blood, the yellow crystal instantly, like a silkworm spitting silk, sprayed out strands of black-red light, weaving into a black-red net that enveloped the Champion Marquis and his fellow daoists.

As Na Lan Hai activated his dao art, the Witch Ghost Dao crowd likewise did not hold back; the four ghost immortals acted together, and fourteen golden figures instantly descended from the sky. These golden figures all wore noble attire and gold crowns, their appearance resembling sovereigns, with a pair of wings on their backs; they all opened their mouths toward the Champion Marquis's side, spat out a golden pill, and mixed it into the Yellow Spring Black Devil Refining Divine Net before sending it forth.

"Yo, this is the Corpse Emperor." Zhou Shuo looked at the fourteen figures that had fallen onto the field, participants in the Three Kingdoms Wu-Wei battle, and couldn't help but raise his brows; those fourteen golden figures were indeed the Witch Ghost Dao's Corpse Emperors—heavenly corpses ugly as yakshas, yet these Corpse Emperors resembled heavenly officials, and each had cultivated an inner elixir, though this elixir was not condensed from corpse qi but from a thought blended with metallic elemental energy, similar to Xing Yu Xian's Five Elements Sword Pill.

"Inhale!" Faced with the combined assault of the Yellow Spring Black Devil Refining Divine Net and the Corpse Emperors' inner elixirs, the three martial saints of Great Qian—the Champion Marquis, Wei Tai Cang, and Grand Steward Wu—almost simultaneously inhaled, then opened their mouths and roared; three visible sound waves surged out, instantly tearing the Yellow Spring Black Devil Refining Divine Net to shreds, while the fourteen clusters of golden-light inner elixir flew back at once into the Corpse Emperors' mouths.

Although the first wave of attack was repelled, Cloud Mist and the Witch Ghost Dao immediately joined forces; Na Lan Hai shook his staff, releasing clusters of golden circular wheel light to attack Xiao Anran and Zhang Bo Heng, while the Witch Ghost Dao, with a thought, sent the heavenly Corpse Emperors swooping down to besiege the two martial saints Wei Tai Cang and Wu Wen Hui. The Corpse Emperors' inner elixirs were useless, but their bodies were steel and iron—Wei Tai Cang's great blade and Wu Wen Hui's double rulers could not harm them, and striking them only sparked showers of sparks.

"Great, splendid, splendid—if only there were some melon seed soda and a small stool right now." Zhou Shuo watched as the Three Kingdoms battle surged into another climax, his brows twitching; such a grand battle is not often seen.

"Master Jingren, then I'm coming!" the Champion Marquis, seeing his side being jointly targeted, glanced and spotted the bald head gathered beside Master Jingren, and lunged toward him.

"Amitabha." The old monk who had not yet acted let out a sonorous Buddhist proclamation; his gray-brown robes billowed as he rushed to face the Champion Marquis, their fists landing squarely—Bang! —the air seemed to explode with a firecracker, and a surge of hot qi and blood burst forth, that crisp sound of bone striking bone.

"Well, this is a high-level martial saints' exchange, rather interesting, Master Jingren..." Zhou Shuo watched as the Champion Marquis and Master Jingren clashed, his gaze giving a slight nod, while he also looked at those bald heads beside Master Jingren—those monks who had previously been fighting now gathered together, not joining in on Master Jingren's battle but instead retreating on their own to the Witch Ghost Dao side; the three ghost immortals of Witch Ghost Dao combined forces, sending a wheel of pure light into the air, that light like a gate emanating warm and harmonious qi, and the monks withdrew in an orderly fashion into it and vanished, as if they had gone to another world.

"Master Jingren, are you buying time for your disciples to decide on a withdrawal?" As the Champion Marquis and Master Jingren exchanged blows of fist and foot, their fist intent and qi and blood boiled; within a hundred meters, no divine soul dared to approach, showing that their cultivation clearly surpassed that of Wei Tai Cang and Wu Wen Hui by a wide margin.

"Mr. Yu Wu Tong, what do you mean?" Xing Yu Xian was joining forces with Bi Shi Hua, about to beat to death a group wearing purple armor and wielding spears, coordinating with the disciplined Great Qian experts, but sensing the warm and harmonious qi in the field and seeing the Witch Ghost Dao's three ghost immortals opening their pure light gate in the distance, she couldn't help but cry out—Yu Wu Tong is indeed the sect leader of Witch Ghost Dao, and also the dark and thin daoist clashing with Xiao Anran.

"Nothing else, Miss Xing—if fate permits, we'll meet again, Myriad Ghosts Flying Shadow Escape." The dark and thin daoist, aided by a black command flag, had his flesh body soar into the air; he replied with a hehe laugh, the black qi curling downward, lifting the three Witch Ghost Dao ghost immortals with their flesh bodies, plus the fourteen Corpse Emperors that had retreated to his surroundings, and let out a long whistle, about to cast a spell to break through the void and flee.

"Where is the Divine Eagle King?" the Champion Marquis looked at the one up above about to turn into black smoke and fly away, and couldn't help but let out a long whistle.

"The Divine Eagle King is here." A flash of pure light appeared on the horizon, and another warm and harmonious qi emerged; within the pure light, a sound like an eagle's cry responded, and within the warm and harmonious qi, a mass of round light shot straight at the four Witch Ghost Dao ghost immortals flying in the sky—upon being touched by this spiritual light, the four ghost immortals who had taken flight aided by the black command flag were instantly restrained by an invisible force and could no longer flee by flight.

"True Words Spirit Pearl, Divine Eagle King?" Yu Wu Tong let out a sharp cry; another of the Eight Great Demon Immortals appeared—namely the Divine Eagle King, who rarely shows himself among the Eight Great—and this fellow had come in response to the Champion Marquis's call, seemingly having already defected to the opposing side.

"Yu Wu Tong, still not landing—what are you waiting for?" The eagle-cry-like voice issued from the circular spiritual light; as the words rang out, the sky suddenly darkened, countless sparkling bubbles appeared and shot straight at the black smoke enveloping the four ghost immortals in the sky—when the black smoke bubbles touched, they exploded like blossoms.

"Mm!" Zhou Shuo saw the sparkling bubbles suddenly appear in the sky, his gaze twitched slightly, then he relaxed again—Yue Ting hadn't come over!

The sparkling bubbles in the sky exploded, instantly forcing the four ghost immortals down from the heavens; just as the Great Qian side was adding arcane symbols, Xing Yu Xian saw the situation, her face drastically changed, she gathered her Five Elements Sword Pill together and hurled it skyward— in flight it rapidly began to change.

"Xing Xuan." The eagle-cry-like voice rang out from the sky.

"Old Eagle, from now on don't go telling people you're my equal, or I'll turn you into a dead eagle." The voice rang out from the air; the Five Elements Sword Pill flew up and suddenly burst apart, the golden refined gold killing pill scattering, forming three hundred sixty splendid hiltless strange ancient long swords, paired with the massive obsidian axe formed from the heavenly wood killing pill, wrapped with water, fire, and thick earth, as the five elements circulated— the unprepared four great ghost immortals of Witch Ghost Dao had their flesh bodies hacked to pieces amid the scattering black smoke, yin wind, and soul thoughts, and a man in a five-colored brocade robe stood suspended in the air, reaching out to take from the shattered thoughts a large cloth bag.

"Heaven-and-Earth bag." Both Zhou Shuo and many others present were instantly drawn to the suddenly appearing man and the cloth bag he now held.

"Xing Xuan, you dare say such to this old man merely by flying in as a thought incarnation—this old man and you will have an undying feud!" The eagle-cry-like voice instantly grew flustered and embarrassed, but before he could respond, a strange-toned light laugh came.

"Brother Xing, being so overconfident is not good." As the strange tone sounded, a cluster of red light flashed on the horizon, carrying a fishy wind and heat, its surface entwined with countless red lightning serpents, striking the man in the five-colored brocade robe like an extraterrestrial meteor.

"Tu Yuan, you coward, fleeing at the crucial moment of the decisive battle—yet you dare show up before me!" The man in the five-colored brocade robe widened his eyes, pointed a finger, and the Five Elements Sword Pill instantly coalesced, click-clack, shielding his body; upon colliding with the red light flying in from the horizon, a fishy hot wind burst outward in all directions, causing many below to narrow their eyes.

"The sage Tu Yuan of the Essence Origin Divine Temple, one after another." Zhou Shuo watched the red air burst and five-colored light explode in the sky, twitching the corner of his mouth—this scene he faced was nothing like the Hong Yi plot; it was literally heaven and earth.

"Xing Xuan, don't be shameless—you agreed with me and the Xuan Tian Pavilion Master and others to besiege, yet the Meng Shen Ji didn't even show his face and just sent nine loaches to deal with us; how dare you call this a decisive battle?" As the voice sounded, a cluster of red light flew in from the horizon—this red light was a flying carpet, about ten-something meters square, embroidered with multicolored symbols, releasing a red glow, and seated within the glow was an old man in white robes with a long beard.

"Flying carpet, Lamp God?" Zhou Shuo looked at the flying carpet and the person seated in the red light on the horizon, his brows twitched a bit, feeling somewhat laughably exasperated—this isn't his fault for overthinking, for that white-robed old man's appearance and attire resemble Arabs, his beard dragging long, and since he sits on a flying carpet, he naturally carries an Arabian fantastical flair, plus that strange tone, a hint of cumin.