Chapter 241: Love Conquers All?

  As Ying was coming back to her senses, Bing was doing everything he could to delay the Demon God Thief. After using Swift Devil to charge in, he rose both of his shields to smash into the ghostly being far above himself. As his shields clashed against something, Bing was soon swiftly sent flying into a wall on the opposite side of the room. With a sharp pain running up his back and head, Bing quickly realized that his great strength as a body cultivator meant little in this "battle."

  If he could be overpowered that easily, this fight was going to be less of a fight and more of a, "How long can Bing last before his body breaks down and shatters?" To prevent something like that from happening, Bing gathered his qi to use his most powerful technique. Yin of Destruction and Yang of Creation. Multiple arms began to shoot out from his body as he needed utmost concentration and qi control to properly use this martial art.

  That sharp spike in qi as he began forming the technique wasn't unnoticed by the ghost or anyone else. Everyone could see the explosive aura of qi surrounding Bing's large figure. Shang did his best to hurry the Ghost Restraining Array, he was creating but at the same time, not to the point where he would make small mistakes and ruin the entire formation in his haste. A somewhat hurried pace without waste.

  For a ghost of this level, he needed to use some of the talismans his master gave him for emergency's sake. Sky-ranked talismans were enough to work on those stronger than the spellmaster's own realm to some degree anyway. Shang didn't expect this formation to be greatly effective against the ghost but it would definitely be helpful nonetheless. Seeing Bing sacrifice himself so willingly once again only filled him with more respect toward the guy.

  Demon God Thief initially scoffed at Bing's secret technique. From how much qi was required to use it, it looked like he was about to give it everything he had. As a martial artist and his senior, how could Demon God Thief think of avoiding such a move from his junior? He planned to stand his ground and take it with everything he had.

  At least, that was the plan until the little fatty actually formed a qi sphere in the center of all his hands. The previous spike in qi was nothing compared to this one once it was actually formed. Demon God Thief narrowed his eyes. He felt his soul shiver at the sight of that glowing orb. A technique on this level had to be a heaven-ranked technique if not near it. To think a lucky fatty like this would make his way into his tomb and already have a heaven-ranked technique. Wasn't he scared of heaven's wrath by craving too many good things?

  Demon God Thief was a martial artist and this boy's senior, but he was also an incredibly clever scoundrel that lived long enough to tell when things like honor, respect, and morals were to be discarded. When his soul shivered at the boy's technique before it was even completed, his life-preserving instincts kicked in. He instinctively used his wind-martial arts and tripped the boy in deep concentration. As the boy was taken off his feet and slammed back-first onto the ground, Demon God Thief expected the technique to violently recoil as the wielder lost his focus.

  But that isn't what happened at all. Miraculously, this boy was somehow able to enter a concentration so deep that his only focus was properly forming the technique of his move and excluding all of his surroundings. In that boy's perspective, was he, the Demon God Thief, even in his eyes anymore!? A concentration like this isn't something one could gain just because they wanted to or even tried all their life for. It's a type of concentration only gained through moments of luck and great intensity.

  Just like how receiving enlightenment on a martial art or cultivation. It's something decreed by the heavens and not something that could be gained just by simply wanting it. Demon God Thief couldn't believe that he pushed this boy so far that he needed to concentrate so deeply. While he felt a little embarrassed that he scared the boy so badly, he was also a little nervous about how to disrupt him from fully completing the technique. He had a feeling that trying to avoid it or take it head-on wouldn't work. Seeing as the boy can grow so many arms, cutting off his arms probably wouldn't work.

  To deal with this possible sudden threat to his life, Demon God Thief chose the simplest action. To just kill the boy before he could complete it. A concentrated invisible blade of wind began to form in front of the Demon God Thief's finger. Just before the killing wind blade was fully formed, Shang managed to complete the array and activate it. With this formed array activating, Demon God Thief's concentration briefly broke and so did his wind blade technique.

  Demon God Thief glared at the little spellmaster, promising to let him experience a little pain as well. The ancient ghost vanished before reappearing in front of Bing with a terrifying dagger picked up from one of the gold piles. With how deeply the fatty was concentrating, he didn't even notice Demon God Thief slowly stabbing the knife into his belly. It didn't take long for the specialty of that particular dagger to activate.

  Just as Bing's orb was on the verge of exploding, Demon God Thief quickly escaped to the farthest part of the room from Bing. Bing, on the other hand, was sent flying past Ying and Jie as he came back to the world in horrific pain. With another crash into the wall, Bing could barely hold himself up. But then, he saw something that briefly washed away all of the pain.

  Ying was back! She could take care of this old ghost and he could rest for a little bit. At least, that was how he hoped things would turn out... Carefully pulling out the serrated dagger from his stomach, Bing tossed it toward Jie. Jie caught it by the hilt and carefully inspected the impeccable craftsmanship of the knife.

"It disrupts the qi of those it stabs... I don't know if it'll work on him but its better than the sword you have now..." Bing told her as he dropped to one knee.

  Yep, this pain was bad. After being stabbed by that dagger, he couldn't even hold up his muscle form anymore. He had to get his qi back under control and heal up his internal injuries... While he was relieved that he didn't have to fight anymore, he also hoped that the three of them would be enough to deal with the ghost.

"We just have to deal with him, right?" Ying asked Jie.

"Yes... Then everything in this room is ours." Jie nodded.

"Follow my lead, then. But don't get in the way, I'm really pissed off right now." Ying entire body was radiating with purple flames.

  Her giant demonic sword turned into a mass of violet-purple flames before the ground beneath her cracked and she disappeared. Jie only realized that Ying moved once she felt the shockwave of the air blasting back towards her from Ying's jump. Pushing the embarrassment she felt at being outclassed by all these people, she ran over to give her support any way she could. She suddenly felt multiple impacts against her chest, looking down she realized they were talismans.

"We have to be quick or those talismans will drain your qi empty." Shang had a similar number of talismans on himself.

  Jie felt her strength rising to levels she's never felt before thanks to Shang's talismans. She wanted to let the excitement go to her head but watching Ying actually pushing the ghost back with her sword swiftly shut that down. In her heart, she knew even with this boost, she still wouldn't be enough to catch up with Bing or Ying. But right now, her inferiority wasn't important. All she had to do was support Ying to the best of her abilities and kill this ghost.

  Ying slashed, sliced, and chopped the ghost with everything she had after seeing what he did to Bing. She gave it no time to rest. Her sword attacks seemed to flow endlessly and never stop. Shang gave his support by throwing lightning talismans towards the ghost to disrupt his attention and movements. Jie bided her time carefully for when the ghost decided to make some distance from Ying or Ying knocking it down below.

  Demon God Thief was ashamed and eternally furious that he was pushed to such a point by mere children! To think that the mystic flame he stole to protect his tomb would be the very thing that might kill him! His soul was screaming at him with everything to not allow that flame to touch him. This forced him into a heavy defensive position. He had to make sure that not a single ember of the purple flame touched his spiritual body or a piece of his soul would be burned away.

  Unfortunately, accomplishing that task was easier said than done. Because of the annoying spellmaster below, quite a bit of his soul has been burned away by this stupid girl who didn't seem to know the meaning of restraint! Demon God Thief used a majority of his qi to blast her to the other side of the room. Then, he focused his attention on the little spellmaster who quickly started to run once he noticed Demon God Thief gave him attention.

"I'm not done with you, yet!" Ying flipped through the air multiple times as she landed on the wall with her feet before shooting off towards the ghost once more. The wall cracked and broke apart from the force of her jump.

"Annoying wench!" Demon God Thief's attention was forcefully brought back to the girl only for him to suddenly feel lightning running through his body.

  A talisman attached itself to his back! That damn spellmaster again! With the pure lightning energy running through him, he momentarily couldn't move his ghostly body. Demon God Thief could only laugh as he felt that ungodly-sized blade cutting through his body. How embarrassing to be defeated like this... By some brats that probably haven't even grown any hair down there yet.

"Fine. Take my treasure... Damn brats. You earned it, I guess..." Demon God Thief's soul was burned into nothingness.