Chapter 234: The Happening?

"Xiao Xi... I'm sorry I failed you, little sis... I just wasn't strong enough to avenge you..." He Yang has yet to completely depart from this world.

  With a missing heart, it wouldn't take long for him to die. At least, if everything went as it was supposed to. But the thing is, not just Golden Serpent Sect disciples were near the ancient building. Hundreds of ghosts hid in the surroundings, quietly watching the group of youthful young people. Biding their time to strike in hopes of gaining a great feast or living once more.

  So, when the group of disciples fled in terror from Hu Tao's suicidal attack, the ghosts who remained all charged toward the dying human to take over his body and reincarnate as a living human once more. Hundreds of ghosts fought to take control over a boy's quickly dying body. He Yang's body eerily rose into the air as the bones in his body began to twist, crack, and pop under the invasion of malicious spirits.

"I will never forgive you..."

"I will never forgive you..."

"I will avenge my sister..."

"IwillIwillIwillIwillIwillIwillIwillIwillIwillIwillIwillIwillIwillIwillIwillIwill..." He Yang repeated this mantra in his passing.

  Malicious qi and killing intent began to consolidate around his soul into a small sapling. With the fighting of various ghosts inside his body, he began to siphon some of that energy for himself. Inadvertently supplying that sapling with nutrients to grow even more concentrated. None of the ghosts realized their essence was being sucked away by barely conscious human festering in his hatred until it was too late. By the time one noticed, the battle for possession of the human body was already over. There was one ghost remaining.

"Eh? You're still here brat? I'm surprised no one devoured you." The ghost swaggered over to the boy in the fetal position. "But I guess I can take the honors. It's not like you'll be using this body much anyway anymore." His neck stretched to inhuman lengths as his mouth cracked open wide like a snake's.

  He Yang didn't seem to even recognize the spirit's malevolent aura as he was swallowed in one bite by the ghost. His mutterings never stopped even as he was being pushed down the esophagus. The insides of the ghost reached out to tear his soul apart piece by piece. As if his soul was a sweet delicacy that could only be enjoyed with careful meaningful little bites. Each portion of the soul was precious and deserves to be savored slowly.

  Seconds passed until He Yang successfully made it to the core of the ghost. Still curled up like a ball muttering away. None of the little hands inside the ghost could tear a piece from He Yang's soul and this greatly confused them. Since tearing wasn't working, they decided to rip a piece off instead. A soul-piercing scream came from He Yang's mouth when the pain hit him.

"Hu Tao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

  A monstrous amount of yin qi and soul energy exploded from within the ghost that instantly expanded its body to a huge size before popping like a blister. Its incorporeal form was soon sucked into He Yang's gaping mouth before all that was remaining of the hundred ghost battle was a young human boy curled up in fetal position with blood-red tears running down his eyes. It would take months before he could stand once more but once he did stand, he returned to his body. His body was left in front of the ancient building but there were no signs of anyone in his surroundings and the ancient building looked partially destroyed.

  None of this mattered to him at all. There were only two things on his mind. Hu Tao and getting stronger. He Yang picked up his sword with an otherworldly look in his eyes and began to swing away. Hours turned into days, days turned into months, and months would've turned into years but something strange happened on the 7th month, 1st week, and 3rd day of his training. Among the ghosts in the Endless Plains of Yin, news began to spread of the human doing nothing but swinging his sword for 24 hours every day. Eventually, one of the Seven Ghostly Kings came to investigate this rumor for himself. It was the Ancient Sword Immortal.

  At first, he did not say anything to the boy. He did nothing but simply watch. He Yang didn't interact with him either. It was difficult to say if He Yang could see anything at all, his eyes were glazed over as his mouth muttered some indiscernible words. This meeting eventually lasted over a month until the Ancient Sword Immortal was satisfied with what he saw.

  Ancient Sword Immortal slashed towards He Yang with a lethal sword technique that would surely take He Yang's life if he did not dodge. He Yang instinctively dodged and perhaps for the first time in eight months, acknowledging someone else's existence. His clouded eyes turned purple as he stared at the Ancient Sword Immortal.

"I will teach you the proper way of the sword to get the revenge you seek." Ancient Sword Immortal looked down at his student.

"..." He Yang simply balled his fists as memories flashed through his mind.

"Follow me. It would take centuries before you're ready to defeat whoever this person is at your pace. I have a shortcut that can cut that down into a tenth." Ancient Sword Immortal floated towards his domain in the Endless Plains of Yin.

  He Yang silently followed behind him as he sheathed his sword.

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"Where did everyone go?" Ying wondered.

"Something must have happened if everyone left before the plates were even collected..." Jie figured.

"Should someone be here?" Bing asked.

"So, this is the door that plate is for..." Shang saw the three indentations on the door of the ancient palace.

"Yep. The treasures are inside that building!" Ying shared.

"Earlier when we came here, there were hundreds of disciples here now there's no one here." Jie explained to Bing and Zhai.

"Something had to have taken place then if it could cause hundreds of disciples to flee." Shang shared.

"If that's true, we can only wait for the other two people to come here with the other plates. Tch! How annoying!" Ying clicked her tongue.

  She went out of her way to find a damn plate only to have to sit here and wait like the people she insulted earlier. Ying expected that the person with the other plate would show up before she did so that she could arrive with the final plate. And they were running out of time to finish the second portion of the test... There was no way Ying would allow herself to willing pass up on gaining another Mystic Flame for herself even if she had to fail the Grand Tournament. A Mystic Flame was incomparable to the rewards gained at the end of the tournament. Not that she expected to receive a reward in the first place. How could a Qi Consolidation realm cultivator stand a chance against the higher realm disciples still in the tournament? While Ying didn't plan to give up without a fight, she wasn't stupid enough to believe she could place top ten or three.

"Well eventually some of them should return, right?" Bing took a seat on the palace stairs.

"I agree. The treasures in this place are not something that is easy to skip out on even if you had to risk your life. Who knows what kind of treasures are held in a realm that's existed for thousands of years?" Shang took a seat next to the boy.

"I guess we just have to wait now." Jie sat on the opposite side of the stairs.

"Can't we just teleport in with one of your talismans?" Ying looked toward Shang.

"Usually treasure troves like this don't allow such a thing but I can try." Shang didn't want to tell her no without letting her see for herself that it wouldn't work.

  He took out a common sword from his storage ring and placed a talisman on it. The sword soon disappeared from everyone's sight and then a loud clang was heard behind them. They saw as the sword fell right in front of the indented door severely rolled up. Shivers went through their bodies as they thought of themselves trying to teleport through the door with a talisman.

"Damn it." Ying cursed as she sat between Bing and Jie.

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"So, you're one of these Seven Ghostly Kings, I've been hearing about..." Jing tossed the green skull in her hand up and down.

"You freak... What are you...?" Its skull rattled in terror as it looked at the unsightly girl slightly smiling at him.

Its terror soon turned into a horrific shriek as Li Li briefly shined a bluish-grey light from his soul lantern onto its skull for insulting his mother.

"Thank you, son. Now Mr. Ancient Fist Immortal, mind telling me a few things about this realm and of course, a few of your martial arts? Although I look very kind, I'm not as friendly to strangers. You've been around long enough don't you think? I would be doing the world a favor by getting rid of you. So, let's make both of us happy. You give me what I want, and my son won't enslave you for the rest of your existence." Jing gave him no other options.

"How about..." Jing gave Li Li a look. "Skreeeeee!!!!" Ancient Fist Immortal cried out in pain.

"I'm an immortal! I won't submit to torture!" He rightly shouted.

"You don't know how happy I am to hear those words. I never tortured a soul before but there's first for everything. This will be a very enlightening experience for me... Li Li! Make sure you're paying close attention. We're going to learn as much as we can about the fragility and resilience of ghosts thanks to Mr. Ancient Fist Immortal." Jing pulled out her old glasses and formed a ruler out of water.

"Thank you, Mr. Ancient Fist Immortal." Li Li's performed a polite bow as he thanked him with an innocent boy's voice.

"No... stop... No...!!!!" Unanswered cries rang out from the empty battlefield.