Chapter 800: Rainy Night, Subduing Demons

“Hm?”

The troupe master, standing at the edge of the stage and controlling everything with ghostly music, suddenly halted his singing.

He whirled his head, fixing his gaze on the ruins of Wangxiang Stage.

On the other side, the Corpse-Robe Granny was also taking advantage of the chaos.

The old witch acted cautiously, fearing injury from the water army’s random cannon fire; even with the Ghost Troupe’s Yinming Great Array established, she dared not approach, instead hiding within the thick fog and pouring the green, bubbling liquid from her clay jar into the river.

Instantly, large numbers of dead fish surfaced.

Their eyes quickly turned white, maggots sprouted across their bodies, then they writhed wildly as if revived.

The Corpse-Robe Granny sneered grotesquely, flinging off the human-skin robe she wore, which then transformed into countless human-shaped shadow puppets, wrapping the Gu -infested dead fish and diving into the water, racing toward the water army’s warships.

These sinister things moved at incredible speed.

Once they climbed onto the warship’s deck, the moment they were shattered, foul-smelling dead-fish sludge mixed with Guchong would surge out and spread rapidly.

Those struck turned cyanotic, spat froth, and collapsed to the ground.

This old witch excelled at releasing Gu and poison, peeling human skins to craft her “Hundred Corpses Robe.”

In bygone days, she was a notorious figure, hunted down by a coalition of orthodox masters, forcing her to join the Jianmu Organization.

The ghost troupe set the array to trap them; she unleashed her toxins and Gu —perfectly coordinated.

Fortunately, there was still Long Yan on board.

As the former Holy Maiden of the Miaojiang Gu sect, she too was skilled in Gu arts.

Facing the old witch’s terrifying assault, she dared not slacken for a moment, immediately releasing her life-soul qin insect.

The qin insect flapped its wings, emitting a melodious tune that even thunder and cannon fire could not drown out.

Within the sound’s range, all Guchong obeyed her command, detaching from the soldiers’ bodies and flying voluntarily into the flames.

Yet, the gap in cultivation could not be bridged.

Long Yan could only protect those on her own ship.

“Corpse-Robe friend, something’s wrong!”

At that moment, the ghost troupe master suddenly spoke.

“Huh?”

The Corpse-Robe Granny’s flicking fingers froze as she stared at the distant sky, her face filled with disbelief:

“...Broken? The qi of Baigu the Old Ghost... how could it... vanish?!”

Both their faces darkened as if dripping with water.

They could clearly sense that the pure yin-sha energy, which had been continuously flowing from the direction of the Wangxiang Stage’s ruins to sustain the Yinming Theater and amplify the ghostly music illusion, had now been severed at the source—rapidly thinning, faltering, and on the verge of exhaustion.

“Trouble!”

“Something’s happened over there!”

Both reached the same conclusion simultaneously.

“How is this possible?”

The Corpse-Robe Granny said grimly: “Baigu the Old Ghost is as slippery as water—without his Gou Die, what could possibly harm him?”

Upon hearing this, the ghost troupe master immediately turned and barked: “Where is it?”

“Master, it’s right here!”

The clown in the red robe stepped forward, untying the yellow cloth wrapped in blood sigils, revealing Li Yan’s Gou Die inside.

The ghost troupe master did not touch it, but frowned: “The object is certainly correct—how did he...”

As he spoke, his eyes suddenly widened.

The Gou Die was beginning to vibrate on its own.

It was Li Yan, rushing toward them, making contact.

After casting Baigu Daoren and Lin Zhongweng into the Underworld, the Underworld’s reward immediately flooded into the Gou Die, adding two Gang Ling—Li Yan was not nearby, so naturally, it reacted.

“Throw it far away—go!”

The ghost troupe master ordered, his face grim.

The Gou Die was a beacon linking the Great Luo Dharma Realm with the mortal world.

It was not powerful in itself; the terror lay in the Great Luo Dharma Realm’s power surging from it.

Even if destroyed, it would reappear elsewhere; moreover, Li Yan’s Gou Die was of higher rank and reinforced by Tian Guan Ling, so they dared not destroy it—only seal and suppress it.

“Yes, Master!”

The red-clad clown wasted no time, gripping the Gou Die and flicking his arm like a python twisting.

Whoosh!

The Gou Die shot through the air at incredible speed.

But at the same moment, Li Yan finally sensed the Gou Die.

He burst from the water with a splash, immediately forming hand seals and chanting: “Qing Jia! Above, black sky; below, black earth; black sky without light, black earth without gate; yin spirits march, yang beings retreat; expel evil, evil flees; banish ghosts, ghosts perish! By order of the Northern Yin Fengdu, swiftly, as the law commands!”

This was the incantation to summon Underworld troops, requiring consumption of Gang Ling.

Those earth immortals carried artifacts to conceal their qi, and were too distant—he could only use this method.

Hoo~

Instantly, fierce winds whipped across the river.

The Gou Die halted midair, and darkness spread rapidly outward from it.

Armor clanking, chains rattling—both sounds rang out.

The ghost troupe’s eerie music was instantly suppressed.

Without the yin-sha energy from Wangxiang Stage to sustain it, the illusion array collapsed rapidly.

“Li Yan’s here!”

Sha Li Fei’s eyes lit up, shouting: “Listen to me—all soldiers, close your eyes!”

“Don’t look around—risk your life at your peril!”

Though the water army soldiers didn’t understand, they saw the thick fog dissipating and the local Jinling cultivators closing their eyes—they obediently followed orders, daring not to look.

Meanwhile, the ghost troupe suffered.

The Gou Die had not been thrown far; the Underworld troops had launched their assault, and the most conspicuous target became the Yinming Theater.

Dark winds wrapped in shadow instantly engulfed the Yinming Theater.

The ghost troupe’s musicians, closest to it, were also swallowed within.

These fellows had helped the ghost troupe kill many; each carried heavy burdens of resentment and yin-sha energy.

Some had their souls immediately snatched; others cleverly jumped into the water, but soon turned pale, eyes glazed, breath gone.

“Fools!”

The ghost troupe master cursed harshly, barking to his men: “Split up and retreat!”

His heart bled—his fighters were skilled killers, but these musicians were far harder to replace.

After all, they needed to master music and be cultivators; ordinary performers wouldn’t do.

Now they were wiped out in one blow—how many years would it take to gather another?

Though furious, escaping was now the priority.

Once the Underworld’s yin bureaucracy fixed its gaze on them, that would be fatal.

Saying this, he rolled his sleeves, dissolving into black smoke.

The escape technique revealed at this moment was even stronger than those of the other earth immortals.

Seeing their leader flee, the rest of the ghost troupe scattered immediately.

But now the illusion array was shattered, the fog gone—their whereabouts were exposed to the full force of the water army.

“Attack!”

Sha Li Fei roared; Kuai Da You instantly ignited the explosive fire crows.

Whir!

The terrifying twang of the crossbow mechanisms shook the air.

Several fire crow mechanisms shot skyward like fiery meteors.

These devices moved swiftly; Kuai Da You’s specially crafted bamboo-and-wood wings adjusted with the airflow, first surging high into the sky, then sharply twisting like a hunting hawk diving toward the ghost troupe’s wooden boats.

This design was originally meant to evade enemy arrow volleys.

But against enemies with no will to resist, fleeing in panic, it was clearly overkill.

Even more ingenious design lay behind.

At the instant the fire crows touched the sails, their beaks pressed backward like buttons, triggering internal gear mechanisms—their entire bodies exploded violently, igniting all the solidified oil and new gunpowder at once.

Boom!

Fireballs the size of rooms erupted, scattering countless poisoned iron shards through the air.

“Aaaah—!”

Screams erupted continuously.

The wooden boats ignited quickly; many ghost troupe members, who had been trying to flee, were deeply embedded with iron shards, their internal organs wounded, poison exploding, heads spinning, eyes blurred, tossed helplessly by the surging blast wave.