Chapter 420: The Life Lock Opens

Black clouds shrouded the campus as Yin energy swept across the world like a churning sea. At the very center of the storm, the pale woman let out a ghostly howl that pierced the eardrums.

Three thousand chi of black hair cascaded around her. Agonized, fanatical faces surfaced across her snow-white flesh as she leaped from the high building. Her hair danced wildly, dragging the entire pitch-black sky along as she smashed into the Six Paths Reincarnation Grand Formation!

"Bang!"

Under the Ghost Mother's crushing weight, the grand formation deformed completely, squeezing inward like a black bubble.

Thirty-five Black Talismans fluttered in the wind as the five Three Yin Sect Daoists simultaneously spat mouthfuls of blood. After a brief moment of shock, they scrambled to chant incantations and stabilize the array.

She Qian could no longer afford to keep torturing Wang Yu. Tossing the child aside, he cracked his whip and beat his drum, driving the countless wandering ghosts and wild spirits of Xinhu High School forward to block the tyrannical Ghost Mother.

"How could an Upper Vehicle Ghost be hidden in Xinhu High School?!"

"This is a Ghost Mother! Call for backup immediately and inform Lord Snake. Jiangcheng is in danger!"

"No Upper Vehicle Ghost has appeared in the last ten years! Did she wander over from another city?"

One of the Daoists spoke, his voice full of regret. "I should have known. Hundreds of Infant Spirits broke free. If there wasn't a Ghost Mother keeping them in check, Jiangcheng would have been plunged into chaos long ago. How else could it have remained so peaceful?"

"A Ghost Mother, Infant Spirits, Qicun Maternity and Children's Health Center..." She Qian suddenly seemed to realize something. "It wasn't Gao Jian who released the Infant Spirits and destroyed the Qicun Maternity and Children's Health Center. It was the Ghost Mother! But why did the Jiang family's informants say Gao Jian went there that night? Why did they say he brought this little boy out of the hospital?"

His eyes locked onto me, as if trying to see right through my soul. "Did you lure the Ghost Mother to the Qicun Maternity and Children's Health Center? Gao Jian, you lunatic! Do you have any idea how terrifying a Ghost Mother is once she merges with hundreds of Infant Spirits? No one in the entire central-south region will be able to stop her!"

"I lured the Ghost Mother to the health center? You guys really know how to shirk responsibility." Wiping the blood from the corner of my mouth, I gently picked up Wang Yu. "Do you remember the Infant-Feeding Ghost in the Family Planning Department? That woman who was nailed alive to the desk and tortured by hundreds of Infant Spirits—she's back! Three Yin Sect, there is good and evil in this world, and karma runs in cycles. This is your retribution!"

"Are you saying we created this Ghost Mother with our own hands?"

"An Infant-Feeding Ghost? Impossible. An Infant-Feeding Ghost is just a Lower Vehicle Ghost. Evolving into a Ghost Mother is something only mentioned in legends."

"It's too late for all that now! Stabilize the grand formation and do not lose focus!" She Qian was the first to calm down, though his effeminate face brimmed with hatred. The situation had completely reversed in an instant. It had only taken a few minutes for their absolute certainty of victory to crumble into deadly peril.

Standing inside the grand formation, I used my body to block the Yin energy, barely managing to shield Wang Yu. I looked outside the array to see a chaotic sea of wailing ghosts. The original ghostly inhabitants of Xinhu High School were no match for the Ghost Mother. The Infant Spirits were incredibly numerous and possessed terrifying cohesion. A few vicious entities within the school, similar in strength to the Desire Ghost, lasted only seconds before the army of Infant Spirits devoured them clean.

'Terrifying.' I slowly shifted my feet and activated the Yin energy in my Yin Meridian, stealthily withdrawing the Filthy Ghost and the Desire Ghost back into my Ghost Ring. After that, I stayed put and behaved myself, using my Judging Eye to monitor the situation while secretly scanning for any suitable ghosts I could snatch into the Ghost Ring for my own use.

The Ghost Mother was the most formidable type of Upper Vehicle Ghost, and she could command Infant Spirits in battle. Although She Qian and the others possessed the Six Paths Reincarnation Grand Formation, which rivaled an Upper Vehicle Talisman, the path of formations was extremely complex. To fully unleash its power, the people presiding over it had to possess profound Daoist mastery and a deep understanding of the array itself.

The Wheel Turning Grand Formation held massive power and required five Daoists controlling it simultaneously to function. Under normal circumstances, the five of them coordinated well enough. However, under the crushing pressure of a great enemy, their teamwork began to fracture. The Yin energy inside the array was stirred by the Ghost Mother. Once the hundreds of Infant Spirits scattered the wandering ghosts of Xinhu High School, they threw themselves at the edges of the grand formation, biting and tearing at it, willing to shatter their own souls just to break through.

The Three Yin Sect Daoists looked ashen. Before coming here, they never could have imagined this apocalyptic scene even in their worst nightmares.

"She Qian, I can't hold on much longer!"

"Senior Brother She, when will the sect's reinforcements arrive?"

"Let's drop the array and retreat to the sect! A Ghost Mother has appeared; we have to report this to Lord Snake!"

Under the Ghost Mother's pressure, the black-clad Daoists were as anxious as ants on a hot pan, each of them harboring thoughts of retreat.

"Shut up! Do you think you can escape if you drop the grand formation? This Ghost Mother is Gao Jian's helper. Our only chance of survival is to stay inside the array and use Gao Jian as a hostage!" She Qian yelled, showing an uncharacteristically fierce side. I glanced sideways at him and took a closer look, only to realize that this despicable bastard had already summoned his older brother's ghost to act as a decoy. His actual body had quietly slapped on two Swift Movement Talismans, making it clear he was ready to bolt at any moment.

"Hey! Don't let She Qian fool you idiots! He's using his brother's ghost as a decoy to pull the wool over your eyes!"

I called him out just in time. Furious that his cover was blown, She Qian acted decisively. Without a moment's hesitation, he shattered the Soul-Guiding Drum in his hands. Riding that ear-piercing drumbeat, he detonated the seven talismans hovering in front of him. "Gao Jian, green mountains do not change, green waters flow eternally! Next time, the King of Hell himself will come to claim your life!"

The Wheel Turning Grand Formation exploded from the inside out. Yin energy blasted outward, blotting out the sky. My ears rang loudly, and my body felt as if it were being swept away in a torrential flood. I didn't know how long it took before the crushing pressure around me slowly began to ease.

I collapsed to the ground, covered in blood and suffering from numerous minor injuries. My arm was fractured, and gravel had torn several bleeding gashes across my face.

'I have a live stream tomorrow night, but I'm covered in bruises and cuts. What am I supposed to do?' I turned my head to look at Wang Yu. The child's expression had softened significantly, but his injuries still didn't look promising. 'This kid needs to get to a hospital immediately.'

I struggled weakly, but my body felt completely out of my control. Glancing up, I realized that every joint in my body was bound by black hair dripping with Yin energy.

'This...' I weakly moved my arm and felt it brush against something. Looking over, I saw four human heads lined up right next to me. 'It's the four Three Yin Sect Daoists. Looks like She Qian was the only one who got away.'

I gasped. The array was broken, and they were dead. Today, I had gained a profound understanding of just how terrifyingly powerful a Ghost Mother could be.

A wave of bone-chilling cold swept over my lower body as the black hair yanked me up. Only then did I see the Ghost Mother standing right next to my legs.

Her body was like ice, her face like frost. Black hair draped over her figure, flowing around her like a gown of dark gauze.

This was my second time meeting her. Compared to the first time, she had grown so much stronger that she stripped away any thought of resistance.

'The Ghost Mother probably doesn't know that Lu Jin only kidnapped Wang Yu to get to me.' Sweat beaded on my forehead. After a moment of hesitation, I pointed at Wang Yu, then at myself. "I did my best."

After saying that, I prayed in my heart, hoping this vicious fiend wouldn't take her anger out on me.

The Ghost Mother didn't approach Wang Yu. It seemed she didn't want the child to see her in this state. After drawing the Yin energy out of Wang Yu's body, she simply stood beside me, scaring me so badly my heart pounded out of my chest.

A few seconds passed. The Ghost Mother stared at my miserable state and seemed to make a decision. She made a very sudden move.

The black hair parted, revealing the pale skin beneath. She pressed her palm against my Kidney Aperture. Immediately after, twisted faces surged out of her body and were forced directly into my Kidney Aperture.

"What are you doing?" Powerless to resist, I looked at the Ghost Mother with a bitter expression. Her face remained blank, and she gave no reply.

One, two...

She bound the Infant Spirits within my Kidney Aperture, serving them like food straight to the Three-Eyed Ghost Infant's mouth. The Ghost Infant devoured them in massive bites, its aura growing increasingly robust. In tandem, the Yin Meridian in my body began to widen. Dim yin apertures were activated one after another until the Yin energy finally formed an endless, living cycle within me. My Yin-Yang Ghost Art officially stepped into the Third Stage. With Ghost Art Minor Success achieved, my Yin Meridian now protected my body, allowing me to chase down and capture souls with my physical flesh.

"So you were just trying to repay me. You should have said so earlier! Keeping that cold face scared me to death." Just as I relaxed, I suddenly felt that something was wrong. The Ghost Mother hadn't stopped. She was still relentlessly forcing Infant Spirits into my Kidney Aperture, allowing Yin energy to fill every single inch of it.

Five, six...

"That's enough! That's enough, you can stop now!"

Nine, ten!

When the tenth Infant Spirit was forcibly stuffed into my Kidney Aperture, my entire body violently convulsed. It felt as if a set of shackles had been broken open within me, and a burst of incredibly pure Pre-Heaven True Qi erupted from my Kidney Aperture out of thin air!

'My Life Lock opened?' My eyes glazed over as a series of fragmented images suddenly flooded my mind.

In the very first image, a man who looked neither like a monk nor a Daoist priest stood in front of me, smiling as he said something.