Chapter 156: Knocking on the Ghost Gate, Invoking the Yin God

To Old Man Sun, ghosts were tobacco. Different grades of ghosts meant different qualities of tobacco.

He had only ever smoked the highest tier. Every wisp of smoke circulating through his lungs represented a past S-Level supernatural event. That was life's ultimate indulgence.

Forget B-Level or C-Level—even tobacco made from an A-Level Fierce Ghost was low-quality to Old Man Sun. Seventy years as a chain smoker had thoroughly spoiled his palate.

Old Man Sun had genuinely looked forward to fighting Xu Yuan. Even among the multitude of S-Level Fierce Ghosts he had bludgeoned to death over his lifetime, Xu Yuan was entirely unique. He had intelligence, ideals, and the ability to actively create new Fierce Ghosts. Fighting him felt like fighting an immortal, indestructible ghost hunter.

Tobacco made from Xu Yuan would undeniably be the absolute highest tier.

But the moment Old Man Sun took a drag, he realized the problem.

What kind of garbage taste is this?

This flavor is absolutely terrible.

Mixed into his premium blend of exclusively S-Level Fierce Ghosts was a C-Level Fierce Ghost with an exceptionally vile taste.

After taking that deep drag, Old Man Sun nearly threw up. To an old chain smoker with incredibly high standards who loved smoking as much as life itself, it was practically no different from swallowing a mouthful of shit.

Striking his Tobacco Pipe against the ground, Old Man Sun instantly understood what had happened.

Xu Yuan was a master of possession and body-snatching. The suited man his Tobacco Pipe had just suppressed and absorbed wasn't the real Xu Yuan at all.

The real Xu Yuan had abandoned the suited man the instant he was struck, transferring to another ghost. Old Man Sun had merely inhaled a pitiful C-Level ghost serving as the King of All Ghosts' scapegoat.

His initial rage at being deceived quickly shifted into sheer amusement.

Now this is more like it. If the epic battle he had spent half his life looking forward to ended with a single strike, how would that be fair to all the spectators present?

Blood pooled like gathered rainwater across the massive plaza. In and around it, there were roughly ten thousand ghosts.

So, which ghost had Xu Yuan actually transferred to?

Whatever. Even in his youth, Old Man Sun had never been a good student. Now that he was old, he hated using his brain even more.

Since he couldn't figure out which ghost was the real Xu Yuan, he would just bludgeon every single one present.

At that moment, a soft voice rang out from the southern end of the plaza: "Do it. Kill him."

Within the dark, ocean-like throng of awakened individuals, the boldest stood up and brazenly launched attacks at Old Man Sun. Others retreated into the horde of ghosts, attempting to use the chaos to slip away from the plaza.

After being resurrected by Xu Yuan, most of these awakened individuals were just drifting through the Inner World, taking it one day at a time. Who would actually want to go to war against the Supernatural Disaster Bureau's number one ghost hunter? For such a meager monthly salary, who would risk their life?

Old Man Sun closed his eyes, gathering his focus. When he opened them again, he had entered a state of absolute, hyper-focused will.

Xu Yuan had slaughtered five hundred people in an underground facility within ten minutes. Old Man Sun could pull off that kind of explosive burst too—and he could do it even faster.

He strolled casually, weaving through the mountains of corpses, oceans of blood, and awakened individuals across the plaza. In his eyes, their movements and actions played out as though someone had hit the slow-motion button.

The horde of ghosts hadn't even realized that Old Man Sun had descended into the plaza. They were still relentlessly attacking the spot where he had just stood.

But to the awakened individuals, Old Man Sun's speed was so extreme he left afterimages. One second he was hovering right above the eastern edge of the plaza, and the next, he vanished completely.

Amidst the countless Fierce Ghosts, Old Man Sun instantly zeroed in on the most inconspicuous beggar. His face was pitch-black and mottled with lividity spots, and he carried a snakeskin sack on his back stuffed with body parts and pale maggots.

"Found you.

"You little rascal, where are you rushing off to?"

The next second, Old Man Sun arrived behind the beggar, raising his rod and smashing it toward the man's forehead.

Cause and effect reversed. The little beggar was struck before Old Man Sun even swung his rod.

The force of that single strike battered the Fierce Ghost straight into a dead halt. Immortal and indestructible as it might be, it stood frozen in place, motionless, as if it had lost its soul.

Old Man Sun didn't stuff this D-Level Fierce Ghost into his Smoking Pipe. He knew it was just another of Xu Yuan's puppets. Imprisoning it would be pointless.

Before the strike even suppressed this Fierce Ghost, Xu Yuan transferred yet again, possessing another ghost in the horde.

"The grand King of All Ghosts, and all you can do is scurry for your life through the horde like a dog?

"You shouldn't be called the King of All Ghosts. The King of Clowns is a much better fit."

After hammering two awakened individuals possessed by Xu Yuan into a dead halt and casually tossing them aside, Old Man Sun offered the dry mockery.

In the blink of an eye, Xu Yuan transferred to another ghost. Separated by the horde, he calmly replied, "Why such a rush?

"If you're that eager to die, I'll send you on your way once the time is right.

"I just wanted to see what ultimate moves the legendary Ghost Emissary still has left to unleash."

Xu Yuan's behavior today was incredibly abnormal.

Facing the "Ghost Emissary" Old Man Sun, aside from summoning the Woman in the Rain—who was immediately suppressed—he showed no desire to attack.

He just kept weaving through the ghostly horde, passively taking a beating. No matter how Old Man Sun mocked him, he ignored it entirely, doing as he pleased.

What was going on? Had he already been scared out of his wits by Old Man Sun's reputation?

Did he completely lack the courage to engage in close combat with the Ghost Emissary?

Meanwhile, from inside the Mirror, Gao Tian nervously watched the unfolding battle outside.

They had agreed on a strategy the moment Old Man Sun set out for this place. Old Man Sun wore a bronze mirror strapped to his chest like a heart-protecting plate, and Gao Tian stayed inside it. This allowed him to spectate the bloody battle in first-person.

In the worst-case scenario, even if Old Man Sun died in battle, Gao Tian could leisurely exit the mirror and return completely unscathed to the Living Apartment.

For now, Old Man Sun seemed to hold the absolute upper hand, weaving through ten thousand ghosts singlehandedly and chasing Xu Yuan until he scurried all over the place. No wonder he was mocking him.

But with Xu Yuan acting so shamelessly and running the whole time, Old Man Sun simply couldn't catch him. He could only vent his frustrations on the passing Fierce Ghosts.

Old Man Sun realized this too. Xu Yuan seemed to be toying with him on purpose.

Even though he threatened to bludgeon the tens of thousands of ghosts across the plaza into a dead halt, actually doing so was grueling physical labor. Old Man Sun was eighty-nine years old, after all. Taking out tens of thousands of Fierce Ghosts in one breath was genuinely strenuous.

Furthermore, he had made a promise.

He said he would carve Xu Yuan into seven pieces within three minutes. Now, two and a half minutes had already passed.

If he kept dragging this out, he wouldn't be able to back up that boast.

Old Man Sun suddenly stopped in his tracks, abandoning the chase.

He planted his long Tobacco Pipe against the ground. It seemed his age had caught up to him, forcing him to take a brief breather.

From within the horde, a new ghost stepped forward, speaking in a tone identical to Xu Yuan's. "What's wrong? Too old? Tired of running?

"Do you have any new tricks?

"Or is swinging a rod over and over all you've learned to do in your entire life?"

Panting heavily and looking entirely out of breath, Old Man Sun slowly raised his head. A sly grin suddenly crept across his dirt-stained, wrinkled face.

Clack. With a slight push of his hand, his Tobacco Pipe plunged halfway into the marble floor.

"I truly am old.

"When I was young, I could have dealt with you using just one finger.

"Now, I'll have to use three."

Above the plaza, the wind abruptly stopped. The clouds pressed down low, and the air turned as thick as ink.

Like the omen preceding a torrential storm, his military greatcoat rustled wildly.

Old Man Sun stood at the center, his hair and beard bristling.

"Fengdu.

"Infernal Gate."

Spectral light erupted. Behind the old man, the void shattered like a mirror. A gargantuan bronze door inscribed with runes materialized out of thin air. It was slowly pushed open by a pair of pale, lividity-spotted hands from behind the threshold, each tall as a monument.

Inside the gate lay endless darkness, where countless souls could faintly be seen bobbing and howling in the depths. It was a place where even light couldn't reach, interwoven only with eternal twilight and bloody moonlight. The sky looked like a scorched rag hanging a shattered blood moon. The moonlight pouring down dyed the earth in an eerie, dark crimson.

In an instant, the tens of thousands of Fierce Ghosts in the plaza shrieked and lunged, but the moment they touched the shadow of the massive gate, they hit an invisible barrier. Twisting and wailing in agony, they were sucked straight into the door. Amidst flickering light and shadow, their silhouettes vanished through the gap in overlapping waves.

Old Man Sun had knocked on the Ghost Gate, unleashing his ultimate move.

In a single breath, he sucked more than half the awakened individuals in the plaza—nearly ten thousand in total—into the terrifying world of the Ghost Gate.

As the giant pale hands behind the gate continued pushing the bronze doors open, the gap widened, multiplying the terrifying gravitational pull of hell. Fewer and fewer awakened individuals on the plaza could resist it; those still remaining were bitterly struggling to hold out against the drag.

Amidst the howling winds, Old Man Sun's tiny figure stood before the colossal bronze gate like a sturdy, unyielding pine.

In the blink of an eye, all the Fierce Ghosts in the entire plaza were wiped clean.

Only the solitary Xu Yuan remained, bitterly resisting the gateway to hell in the fierce gales while his body was continuously dragged forward.

When the Ghost Gate opened, ten thousand ghosts fell silent. Before the Ghost Emissary's world-destroying ultimate technique, "Fengdu Infernal Gate", no matter how peerlessly terrifying a Fierce Ghost might be, it would be forcibly dragged inside and locked in the point-of-no-return world behind the door.

It seemed that even for Xu Yuan, being imprisoned by Old Man Sun's ultimate technique was only a matter of time.

There were no other Fierce Ghosts left for him to transfer to, either. They had all been sucked into the bronze gate or left frozen in place, doomed to be bludgeoned to death by a single swing from Old Man Sun.

Of course, Xu Yuan could still try to possess Old Man Sun himself. Assuming he dared.

"Two minutes and fifty-two seconds.

"Sloppy work, but I've just barely managed to get rid of you.

"Any last words, King of Clowns?"

Old Man Sun pressed both hands firmly against the Tobacco Pipe embedded in the ground, anchoring himself so he wouldn't be dragged into hell by the giant pale hands behind the bronze gate.

How utterly pathetic. Relying on possessing other Fierce Ghosts, he had eked out his miserable life for just a little while longer, yet he still failed to last even three minutes against Old Man Sun.

King of All Ghosts? What a clown.

In the violent wind, Xu Yuan—now inches away from the Ghost Gate—slowly lifted his head. His eyes held absolutely no panic, only the arrogant, ruthless gleam of a successfully executed scheme. "Have you had enough fun?

"Is this your final trump card?

"If you've had your fun, it's about time I struck back, isn't it?"

Behind him, an immense, mountain-like shadow completely engulfed the space above Old Man Sun's head, blocking out the sky. Old Man Sun slowly turned his head to look at the behemoth that had just appeared behind him.