The Divine Nine-Dragon Cauldron

They exited the tunnel to find a giant crater in front of them. A sinister wind blew through the crater. The ghostly fog was richer here. The carvings of a spell shone faintly, and the light flickered.

A spell! The three of them were pleasantly surprised. They had made it. But their hearts froze when they saw the ground littered with corpses!

"Careful!" said Su Yu.

He suddenly sensed approaching danger. A ghost claw coldly extended from the stone wall on their right, assaulting them without warning. Su Yu twitched his shoulders, shifting his body three zhang away and freeing himself from the web of thunder.

Gang Dalei also took down the web of thunder enveloping them without thinking, tossing it into the air toward the ghost claw.

Creak—

Black smoke erupted from the ghost claw when it came into contact with the web of lightning. Lightning was always an excellent counter to ghosts. But at the next moment, to the shock of the whole group, the ghost claw grabbed the web of lightning with its palm. With a quick tightening of the claw's grip, the web of lightning exploded with a boom.

"Hehe…! It's been a long time since tender humans have presented themselves to me!" came a sinister howl from within the stone wall.

The three of them kept their distance as they looked toward the wall. The stone wall was gradually splitting open. A two-zhang tall, muscular ghost figure could be seen faintly within the wall. Its eyes were green, and its entire body was black as ink, covered in black hair. At its wrists were two extremely sharp thorns like polished daggers. Its claws were long and crimson. It would have been a simple matter for those claws to easily through a human body and tear it in half.

Gang Dalei's expression hardened. His figure flickered as he made his way to the spell in the crater. "Not good! It's a Half God level ghost. Its battle ability might be equivalent to a top-notch Half God! We should leave before it fully awakens!"

Su Yu and Qin Jiuyang did not hesitate. Their figures flickered as they made their move.

The three of them had just landed on the spell when the lines beneath their feet started to rotate. It was obvious that the ghost in the stone wall had not fully awakened yet. Nevertheless, it wore a cold smile as it bellowed, "You wish to escape from my hands! Hehe…! This is my cave. Did you really think that the transportation spell would be so easy to use?"

The three of them looked surprised and continued fleeing from the spell. But just as they had taken to the air, the surroundings of the crater suddenly oozed an acidic black liquid. Although all three of them managed to avoid it, the edges of their robes came into contact with the liquid.

Zzz, zzz—

Their robes began disintegrating into a black liquid before their eyes. They each gathered a layer of spirit energy around their bodies instantly and tore their robes away before the poisonous liquid could enter their bodies.

The three of them had just narrowly avoided a disaster. If they had hesitated just now and come in direct contact with the liquid, their fates would have been ugly!

Rumble—

At this moment, the stone wall broke apart with a bang. The ghost had finally fully awakened from its slumber. Its two-zhang tall body radiated a fierce aura.

"It is at the level of an Asura and has a high level of incarnation," said Gang Dalei. "It is currently between the state of an Asura and a Heavenly Ghost and would be difficult to deal with. We must be careful."

This ghost was substantially more powerful than the Asuras Su Yu had faced off against.

"Hehe!" it said. "There are two more Half God humans as nourishment this year. This will bring me one step closer to the Fairy Realm. It won't take many years before I can become a Heavenly Ghost. Then I can finally leave this bloody place."

Gang Dalei let out a cold grunt. "When you've proven you have the ability to kill all three of us, then you can talk!"

With a creak, Gang Falei took out a palm-sized bell surrounded with lightning. The lightning that had gathered just now had all come from this bell.

Gang Dalei moved his wrist. A three-inch lightning snake pounced out. Its power was double that of the web of lightning.

"A high-grade divine artifact!" The ghost's ferocious expression turned more serious, a look of caution surfacing. But after a moment's observation, it scoffed, "Unfortunately, it is not a divine artifact used for attack! Instead, it is merely a support-type, lightning-based divine artifact. The lightning stored within it is not used for attacking purposes."

With a cold laugh, the Asura grabbed the lightning snake in its palms easily. The lightning snake struggled but disintegrated with the grip of the ghost's claw.

The bell in Gang Dalei's palm seemed to have been devoured, violently shuddering, almost falling out of his hands.

"Evil ghost, witness my attack!" said Qin Jiuyang.

Qin Jiuyang had secretly tied three strands of black hair on his little finger. With an incantation, the three strands of hair appeared on the evil ghost's little finger. Qin Jiuyang had a glint in his eyes as he placed his finger inside the bell that was filled with lightning. His finger was unscathed, but…

Creak—

The palm of the Asura suddenly became charred, releasing a burnt odor.

"Humph! Curse techniques!" the Asura growled. "To think that you would stoop to curse techniques!"

The Asura realized it was at a minor disadvantage. Its eyes glowed fiercely, then shot out two bolts of black light surrounded by ghostly fog. The attack landed directly on its little finger.

Puuu—

Qin Jiuyang's face suddenly turned red, and his face contorted in pain. He spat out a mist of blood. A crack could be heard from his little finger, and his eyes revealed the shock in his heart.

"Forcefully severing the connection of the curse technique," he said. "You…!"

It was the first time he had faced an opponent that could sever the connection of the curse technique. His body had taken the brunt of the attack, and his injuries considerable.

"You are all asking for death!" the Asura said, letting out a fierce grunt as its two-zhang body advanced toward them. Its fists—each the size of a human head—circled with ghostly fog as he violently swung at them.

Su Yu's gaze hardened as he took out the last lightning amulet. With a rumble, lightning exploded from within, enveloping the Asura. Even the Ghost King had to be cautious of the lightning in the amulet, let alone an Asura.

Ah—

The Asura was caught off guard. The lightning enveloped its fists. It let out a pathetic howl as its fists were bloodied by the lightning.

"Ah! Lad!" shouted the Asura, turning on Su Yu. "I'll destroy you first!"

What particularly infuriated the Asura was that the most unassuming person there had left him with the greatest injuries!

"Wishful thinking!" said Gang Dalei, and he and Qin Jiuyang advanced together.

"Scram!" the Asura roared.

Its ghost energy welled, its two head-sized fists recovering with blinding speed. It produced afterimages as it mercilessly struck toward them.

Boom, boom, boom—

Three figures retreated instantly! One strike from the ghost had caused the three of them to retreat, reminiscent of when Long Wuxin had single-handedly suppressed three fighters.

"Let's use our full powers," said Gang Dalei. "This Asura is not much weaker than Long Wuxin."

A silhouette of light on the surface of Gang Dalei's body shimmered as he suddenly revealed his true appearance! Su Yu looked over and was startled.

How is that human…? he wondered in awe.

It was a creature with the body of a man but with the head of a flood dragon! Gang Dalei was not a human, but a creature that had never once appeared on the Zhenlong Continent!

Even the Asura was shocked. "Yi clan…? This is surprising indeed, for a member of the Yi clan to enter the Mysterious Heavenly Divine Pavilion!"

Qin Jiuyang was also alarmed. He never could have expected that this was the true appearance of Senior Jiu's disciple!

Sensing that it was, indeed, Gang Dalei's aura, Su Yu quickly collected himself. The mission at hand was to deal with the ghost before them.

Qin Jiuyang clenched his teeth, releasing his jade crown. His jet black hair danced in the wind. His ten fingers were all entwined with strands of hair.

A crimson glow flashed behind Su Yu as his clone appeared. His main body and clone each formed a small ball of origin.

Gang Dalei's flood dragon head let out a low grunt, and said, "Strike!"

Gang Dalei's body instantly tripled in size, becoming two zhang tall. His body was laced with black scales, his presence imposing. His flood dragon body advanced, colliding with the body of the Asura.

The Asura's expression turned grave; the relaxed look it had worn previously was now long gone.

Boom—

With a dull thud, the two giants crashed into each other. Their powers were equal!

Gang Dalei, after revealing his true form, had reached the level of a top-notch Half God! If he had revealed this during the Mysterious Heavenly Battles, the person standing at the top might not have been Long Wuxin.

At the same time, Qin Jiuyang also struck. His fingernails glided gently across the air and inflicted a small cut on his own chest.

But the Asura suddenly let out a howl. A three-inch gash, deep enough to see the bone, appeared on its chest! The more strands of hair there were, the greater the reflected damage!

Finally, Su Yu attacked with two origins, one ice and the other fire, crashing them into the body of the Asura. At that moment, the body of the Asura split open. Its arm was blasted into pieces, and a bloody hole burst open in its chest. The three fighters' combined powers had blasted the Asura half to death!

But the Asura did not show signs of pain. Instead, it let out a ferocious laugh and said in a raspy, foreign voice, "I must thank all of you for releasing me!"

Buzz, buzz, buzz—

Suddenly, ghostly fog billowed. All the ghostly fog in the Evil Ghost Valley seemed to have been swallowed by something, gathering at the broken body of the Asura. From outside, it looked like the ghostly fog that surrounded the Evil Ghost Valley all year round had suddenly disappeared! The Evil Ghost Valley, which had always been hidden by ghostly fog, had finally shown its true appearance.

But it clearly wasn't a valley at all. It was a giant head—the size of a valley!

The head had a ferocious expression, far from human, and it was as big as a mountain. The entrance of the Evil Ghost Valley was undoubtedly its mouth. That narrow tunnel was its throat!

"Haha! I have been trapped in this stupid body for too long," said the ghost. "There is finally someone who can destroy this physical body and break the seal!"

An insolent laugh shook the entire skull.

Yu Chan and her group, who were flying over, slowed down in shock.

"It's…" said Yu Chan, "the aura of a Fairy Realm!"

Su Yu and his group manically retreated, fearfully looking at the mush on the ground. A twitch could be seen from within the mush. A palm-sized ghost, similar in appearance to the two-zhang tall ghost, appeared. Boundless rage could be seen in its pale white eyes. It released a suffocating spiritual pressure!

"Fairy Realm!" Gang Dalei said with great difficulty, looking fearful.

Su Yu's heart sank, skipping a beat.