Chapter 111

On the battlefield, the momentum of offense and defense reversed instantly. Originally, the Tattoo Sect possessed a large number of ghost ships and disciples, but under Lin Feng's ghost fire, the vast majority had already turned into charcoal.

Especially since there was no terrifying existence like the Ancestral God Map to deter the Ghost Suppression Bureau, and even the nominal rebel commander Luo Guang did not know how long he had been burned to death, the defeat of the rebel army was already imminent.

"Kill! Kill!"

"Rumble~"

A large number of soldiers, under the leadership and command of the Ghost Suppression Bureau, began to charge toward those ghost soldiers who were still crazy and defending without fear of death.

Hundreds more heavy-armored Zhiren appeared beside Li Yanbing; this was her final reliance, and at this moment, she released them all.

The more than two thousand heavy-armored Zhiren that had previously intercepted the ghost soldiers had already suffered a small portion of losses, but such losses were not worth mentioning compared to the huge casualties of the ghost soldiers.

Following Li Yanbing's control, these heavy-armored Zhiren immediately began to gather together, becoming the fiercest vanguard unit, like an incomparably sharp chisel that pierced directly through the ghost soldiers' formation!

Then, she immediately directed her subordinates and the heavy-armored Zhiren beside her to begin splitting up and suppressing the ghost soldiers on the battlefield!

The large number of garrison soldiers who originally had weak fighting will and relatively low combat power also began to play a certain role now that they were fighting a winning battle.

It was impossible for them to fight one-on-one with those ghost soldiers, but having them fight with superior numbers and guarding prisoners was no problem.

Until the light of dawn broke, this battle gradually came to an end.

The entire battlefield was filled with tragic corpses and smoke from the fires. A large number of surviving ghost soldiers finally regained their senses, and at this moment, these ghost soldiers were all tied up like zongzi.

"Lord Li, a total of thirteen thousand ghost soldiers have been captured. However, there are still quite a few ghost soldiers and rebel commanders left behind in the rear of Linzhou and Liuzhou. They probably don't know the news of the defeat at the front line yet. Should we strike while the iron is hot and take them down completely?"

Jiao Yong, covered in blood and filth, came before Li Yanbing and reported loudly.

"Rest first, interrogate these ghost soldiers thoroughly, and then find a way to counterattack."

At this moment, Li Yanbing also looked somewhat disheveled. Even though she hadn't personally killed many ghost soldiers, not closing her eyes for two days and two nights still made her feel exceptionally exhausted.

"Yes!"

Although Jiao Yong was somewhat helpless regarding Li Yanbing's order, they were currently under someone else's roof, so it was not easy to say anything more.

Returning to the camp, Li Yanbing immediately took out the small wooden puppet and said: "Senior, the battle in Linzhou has temporarily ended. Thank you, Senior, for your timely intervention!"

The sudden disappearance of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven and the Tattoo Sect Grandmaster had always made her feel uneasy, so as soon as things settled down, she couldn't wait to get in touch with the other party.

"Click, click."

Not long after, the small wooden puppet began to move, then left a string of blood-red characters on the ground.

"The Tattoo Sect Grandmaster is dead. This agreement is fulfilled. From now on, you must use five opportunities before I will act again."

Then, the small wooden puppet fell over directly, with only this string of blood-red characters remaining on the ground.

Looking at these blood-red characters, Li Yanbing first let out a long sigh of relief. Since the Tattoo Sect Grandmaster was dead, it meant that the huge threat of the Ancestral God Map no longer existed.

Then, she felt somewhat helpless, but she also understood that the other party had already been quite considerate by doing this.

"Half-step Saint, one more step forward and it is transcending the mundane, achieving the status of a Saint..."

Such a figure could not be found in many places across the world; if being able to act for her wasn't being considerate, what was?

——————

Ding-character graveyard. After leaving the Yinjian, Lin Feng returned directly here.

The charred corpse of the Grandmaster was buried by Lin Feng in the open space of the graveyard. Through the Corpse-Raising Ghost Scripture, Lin Feng had also finished viewing his life.

"Heh, the Tattoo Sect really did arrange a way out. Were some of the exceptionally talented disciples taken away by that Shipo?"

"But they were truly ruthless. Even he, the Grandmaster, didn't know where these people went."

Lin Feng had expected such a result, and he didn't really care about it.

Firstly, he had no interest in going over to cut weeds and eliminate the roots. Secondly, the Tattoo Sect's supreme treasure, the Ancestral God Map, had already fallen into his hands, and he had even bagged this Grandmaster himself.

"The Tattoo Sect are all good people!"

The Grandmaster's corpse was transformed into a Fierce Ghost through the Corpse-Raising Ghost Scripture, but its potential was too low, and Lin Feng had no interest in cultivating it.

Of course, no matter what, it was still a Fierce Ghost, and even if used as a tribute, it was a rare and good thing.

Not to mention the Ancestral God Map in Lin Feng's hands; this was the true top-tier ghost item!

According to the Tattoo Sect Grandmaster, this special ghost item was essentially one of the ancestors of the Tattoo Sect.

According to Lin Feng's estimation, this ancestor was highly likely to have been a Saint in his prime, but after death, he turned into a human-skin portrait, and his power had clearly weakened quite a bit.

"But how should this thing be used?"

Looking at the wrinkled piece of human skin in his hand, with an incomparably ancient old man depicted on it, Lin Feng fell into deep thought.

"The Tattoo Sect Grandmaster wanted to use this thing, but in the end, he was almost completely occupied by it. If it weren't for me, I'm afraid this old ghost would have really come back to life."

"Or should I just use it as a sacrifice and offer it to the ghosts in my hand?"

Thinking of this, Lin Feng couldn't help but shake his head. Currently, the Xi Gui had grown into a Disaster Ghost. With Lin Feng's current strength, he could still withstand the erosion of his body when the Xi Gui possessed him.

If he let the ghosts in his hand continue to grow stronger, I'm afraid that as long as he was possessed, it wouldn't take long for his body to start rotting, which was truly not worth the loss for Lin Feng.

Even if he didn't let the ghosts possess him, their strength was too great to control. An ant wanting to control an elephant—even if the elephant was obedient, a slight carelessness would result in being trampled to death, let alone ghosts that were ten or a hundred times more dangerous?

After thinking for a while, Lin Feng didn't come up with any good ideas, so he directly put away the Ancestral God Map, thinking it would be better to use it slowly in the future.

Anyway, with his current strength, it was enough to handle various problems in the short term.

——————

In southern Jiangzhou, Li Yanbing and the people of the Ghost Suppression Bureau were still busy at this time.

Defeating the main force of the rebel army was not the end; on the contrary, the real trouble had just begun.

A large number of refugees who had fled needed to be settled, the tens of thousands of rebel soldiers needed to be dealt with, and how to handle the fallen Linzhou and Liuzhou also needed to be figured out.

Of course, the affairs of Linzhou and Liuzhou actually had nothing to do with Li Yanbing, and even she herself didn't want to interfere too much.

There were many reasons, the most critical of which was that she herself was not in a legitimate position.

Obtaining the authority of Jiangzhou was because she carried a secret decree when she came, so she was able to take down Xie Anran without hesitation after obtaining the heavy-armored Zhiren, and even unite with the other Ghost Suppression Bureaus in Jiangzhou.

But if she were to go and recover Linzhou and Liuzhou next, it would be different. If she did so, she didn't know how many people would stab her in the back at the imperial court.

Those officials at the imperial court were not good at doing things, but they were first-class at throwing mud, fighting for power, and scheming against each other.

Besides these factors, there was also the fact that she didn't have enough manpower, grain, military equipment, and supplies needed to recover Linzhou and Liuzhou!

Currently, the power she relied on most was only the two thousand-plus heavy-armored Zhiren. As for relying on those garrison soldiers, they might be fine for fighting a winning battle or guarding prisoners, but wanting to have these soldiers attack cities was basically out of the question.

"Lord Li, the officers among the ghost soldiers have basically been found. According to their confession, because Linzhou has been occupied for a short time, there are not many garrison troops left in each city!"

At this time, Tian Qiang walked over hurriedly and said this to her.

Tian Qiang, Jiao Yong, and others were originally from the Linzhou Ghost Suppression Bureau. Naturally, they were now extremely eager to fight back as soon as possible and recover the cities occupied by the rebels!

"If I give you one thousand heavy-armored Zhiren, and you lead the troops in two separate routes, can you recover the cities as soon as possible and completely retake Linzhou?"

Hearing his words and the expectant gazes of the Ghost Suppression Bureau members around her, Li Yanbing was silent for a while before speaking to them like this.

"We will definitely take them!"

Tian Qiang took a deep breath and bowed to Li Yanbing, his words filled with firm conviction!

How could they not know that Li Yanbing's situation was somewhat awkward at this time, so being able to provide them with the support of one thousand heavy-armored Zhiren was enough for them to take the risk!

"We are bound to succeed. Without the Tattoo Sect's Ancestral God Map, those remnants and defeated generals are absolutely no match for us!"

Jiao Yong also bowed directly to Li Yanbing, and the others from the Linzhou Ghost Suppression Bureau behind him also bowed in succession.

"Good!"

Li Yanbing nodded, then immediately began to distribute the heavy-armored Zhiren. Afterward, Jiao Yong, Tian Qiang, and the others set off directly with only dry rations and their respective subordinates.

The success or failure of the next steps rested entirely on them, while Li Yanbing needed to concentrate all her attention on dealing with the huge mess in front of her.