Chapter 653 - 358: Female Vermilion Fruit

The atmosphere in the venue immediately heated up.

Master Qingbu watched it all, his expression still a warm smile. He arranged the twelve Black Jade Bottles in a single row, letting them hover in the air, then stroked his beard and continued, "Each Yin Gui Pill is priced at one thousand Spirit Stones, but each person may only purchase one bottle."

The moment his voice fell, the crowd could no longer hold back and began shouting their bids.

"I want one!"

"Me too!"

"..."

Yin Gui Pills could enhance one’s cultivation, their effects far surpassing ordinary pills, so they immediately sparked a fierce bidding war. Unfortunately, there were too many wolves and not enough meat. Including Lü Zhong, there were a total of twenty-three cultivators at this trade meet. With only twelve Yin Gui Pills, how could there possibly be enough to go around?

Just as the crowd was vying with each other, refusing to give an inch, Lü Zhong, who was sitting in a corner, frowned slightly.

In the vision of his Celestial Net Secret Eye, he saw wisps of black qi seeping out from under the floor. This sinister aura wasn’t hard to spot; even an ordinary Spiritual Eye Skill would reveal it if one paid close attention.

However, every other cultivator present had their attention focused solely on the Yin Gui Pills, so not a single one of them noticed.

Lü Zhong used his Gray Mist Space to inspect the black qi with True Retrospection and discovered that it could disturb a person’s Heart and Spirit, amplifying their negative emotions.

Influenced by this black qi, many of the cultivators, who were already arguing over the pills, suddenly grew irritable. The tension in the air thickened, smelling of gunpowder. However, a few cultivators sensed the change in their state of mind. Their expressions shifted slightly, and as if they had realized something, they took a few steps back, distancing themselves from the crowd.

Just then, a blood-curdling scream suddenly rang out.

The crowd scattered with a sudden uproar. In the center, a cultivator looked down in disbelief, discovering in despair that he had been stabbed. The vicious, cruel strike had not only shattered his Dantian but had also severely damaged the Golden Core he had worked so hard to form.

At this moment, Pure Spiritual Energy was leaking from his body.

The cause of it all was the longsword plunged into his abdomen, its blade swarming with ghostly faces.

"The Ghost-Devouring Sword!" someone shouted.

Everyone was horrified. ’How could something like that appear here?’

The methods of Ghost Cultivators were always sinister, with Soul Extraction and Essence Refining being commonplace. The Ghost-Devouring Sword was one such technique. Legend had it that forging this sword required making ten thousand ghosts devour one another in a process known as Raising Gu; the resulting Ten Thousand Souls Ghost King would then be sealed and forcibly refined into a Resentment Sword. Only then was the Ghost-Devouring Sword considered complete.

The process of forging this sword was incredibly difficult, with the slightest mistake resulting in failure. However, it possessed a terrifying effect that made cultivators pale at its mention: it could pierce through Protective Gang Qi.

"AHHHH!!!"

A horrifying shriek echoed through the hall.

The cultivator stabbed by the Ghost-Devouring Sword could no longer even stand. Beneath his skin, countless faces began to surface, ravenously devouring his flesh and blood. Clutching the last sliver of hope in his heart, the cultivator crawled toward the crowd for help, but no one dared to offer him a hand.

Until a bolt of lightning struck, annihilating him and the unsealing Ten Thousand Souls Ghost King in one blast.

It was Lü Zhong; he could not bear to watch any longer.

A perfectly good trade meet had been turned into a chaotic mess by these Ghost Cultivators.

To say he wasn’t furious would be an understatement.

"Since the trade meet is off, then you can all go down!"

After saying this, right in front of Master Qingbu and all the other cultivators in the hall, Lü Zhong executed the Shooting Star Escape. His figure flashed and reappeared in the secret chamber below. He ignored the horrified gazes of the five Ghost Cultivators around him and slammed a palm onto the Netherworld Descent Rebirth Array at his feet.

In an instant, the Grand Array began to flash wildly with light.

However, after the red light flickered for a moment, the influx of Immortal Spiritual Power that followed altered the Grand Array’s original function. Its intended purpose was to extract the Immortal Spiritual Qi from the cultivators and convert it into Yin Spiritual Qi. But now, that effect had undergone a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree reversal.

Immediately after, including Master Qingbu,

all the Ghost Cultivators discovered to their horror that under the effects of the "Reversed Nether Fall Rebirth Array," the Yin Spiritual Qi in their bodies was being forcibly extracted. It was then converted by the array into Immortal Spiritual Qi at an unbelievably fast rate, far beyond anything they had ever conceived.

"Quick, quickly!" Master Qingbu spun around, urging them on in a choked voice.

Behind him, the two Ghost Cultivators who were originally there to monitor him finally snapped out of their daze. With a flick of their hands, they each produced a Jade Altar covered in red talisman seals and smashed them onto the ground without hesitation.

"CRASH!"

The Jade Altars hit the ground and shattered on impact.

Almost simultaneously, an incalculable amount of Yin Qi flooded out.

This was the backup plan the Ghost Cultivators had prepared. It was meant to prevent unexpected situations like this one and ensure that their plan to convert the Core Formation Cultivators of Qingbu Square was foolproof.

However, what they had not expected was that

the Netherworld Descent Rebirth Array not only failed to revert, but its conversion speed didn’t even slow down.

Lü Zhong took in the Ghost Cultivators’ wonderful expressions. He didn’t bother with the unnecessary step of announcing his identity. Instead, he continued to pour his Magical Power into the Grand Array at his feet. He planned to simply "refine" this entire group of Ghost Cultivators, along with Master Qingbu who had fallen and sided with them.

The Grand Array was extremely efficient.

The five Ghost Cultivators closest to him were the first to collapse, unable to hold on any longer.

First, their cultivation was completely drained, following the same fate as the cultivator killed by the Ghost-Devouring Sword. Then, their bodies, long since decayed from practicing Ghost Dao Techniques, were pulverized by the wash of Immortal Spiritual Qi.

In just a few moments, they were all reduced to ashes on the ground.

Next were the two Ghost Cultivators who had been monitoring Master Qingbu.

The two of them had tried to escape but were surrounded by the other Core Formation Cultivators. Before long, they turned into rotting corpses, and in a few more moments, they weathered into ash.