169: The Deathly Struggle of the Netherworld Old Ghost

"Ah—!"

Netherworld Old Ghost's screams tore through the sky; his bloated ghost-body twisted and deformed in the lightning.

The skulls on the soul suppressing banner exploded one by one, and the banner itself ignited with a ghostly green fire.

After seeing the sneak attacker before him, Netherworld Old Ghost nearly exploded with rage.

"Lin Chuping! You actually ambushed me!"

"You despicable scoundrel!"

Lin Chuping, suspended in mid-air, pouted at Netherworld Old Ghost's shouting.

What's wrong with a sneak attack?

He hadn't even used the Thirty-Six Stratagems yet.

However, now was the time to show off; if not now, then when?

"Netherworld Old Ghost, you have committed countless evils, harming untold numbers of Souls. I hereby sentence you to death. Do you have any objections?"

As Lin Chuping spoke, he walked through the air as if on solid ground, step by step, towards Netherworld Old Ghost, until he stepped out of the protective barrier and stood before Netherworld Old Ghost.

He looked down at Netherworld Old Ghost from above.

At this moment, Netherworld Old Ghost no longer had his previous Aura, being firmly pressed to the ground by the Thunder Punishment's might.

"System, this angle is great. I like it."

"Host, is this why you always float in mid-air like a bird-person every time you make an appearance?"

Lin Chuping's eye twitched, ignoring the System's intermittent fits.

"System, what do you know? This is called Aura oppression."

Netherworld Old Ghost didn't do this well enough. As a ghost, facing the Mortals below, he actually stood obediently on the ground to command the battle.

Where is his advantage?

"Host, try to make Netherworld Old Ghost stand up."

"I won't!"

This angle is perfect right now. Why stand up?

To compare heights with him? Although Lin Chuping was confident in his height of 183 cm, in this bizarre world, that height might not be so good.

* * *

Netherworld Old Ghost looked at the Soul named Lin Chuping before him and became even more furious.

"You are Lin Chuping? Qingzhou is your territory?"

They were both Souls, so why could he only manage the dark and sunless Netherworld, while this person could walk freely in the Mortal world?

Oh, right, he could even command lightning.

What a lucky fellow.

"Why you? Why all of you!"

Netherworld Old Ghost roared, opening his gaping maw. Before long, all the remaining ghosts around him were sucked inside.

The ghostly Qi that had been scattered by the Thunder Punishment recondensed, forming an even more hideous demonic body.

Lin Chuping silently took a few steps back, watching him perform, his eyes like someone who had just seen gold coins.

To him, Netherworld Old Ghost now equaled Incense Value.

As long as he didn't leave his jurisdiction, he could cash it in today.

However, his "Incense Value" seemed to have something else to say, and it wouldn't hurt to listen.

* * *

Netherworld Old Ghost suffered the heavenly Thunder, but he didn't seem to vent his anger on Lin Chuping, the culprit. Instead, he aimed his aggression at Li Shun.

"Li Shun, come out! I want you to pay with your life!"

"Your Li family are all sinners! I want them dead!"

"More than ten years ago... the Li Imperial Family slaughtered my entire clan of seventy-two for the sake of refining an immortality Medicinal Pill!"

"Only I narrowly escaped and was adopted by my Master. At that time, I swore I would get my revenge!"

"But alas, the heavens were blind. Before I could grow strong, a great fire descended, turning years of planning into empty talk."

"The Li family is not the Imperial Family of Great Yan; they are the sinners of Great Yan!"

"May they die a terrible death! And you, you actually protect them! I curse you..."

Lin Chuping frowned slightly, and the lightning in his hand softened a bit.

Although he didn't believe in the inherent goodness of human nature, Netherworld Old Ghost's evil was likely a product of his environment.

For a moment, he didn't know whom to pity.

In this world, for the weak, birth itself was a sin.

Netherworld Old Ghost still had a chance for revenge. Who knew how many others died silently, unable to make a ripple?

Forget it, he should pity himself instead, with endless debts and endless monsters to slay.

* * *

Li Shun didn't react, perhaps discussing countermeasures backstage.

Netherworld Old Ghost gradually shifted from cursing to madness.

"Refining Medicinal Pills with living human flesh and blood, hahahahaha..."

"You still don't know, do you? Perhaps not only the flesh and blood, but even the Souls will disappear entirely."

If not for this, he wouldn't be so deranged.

He searched bitterly in the Netherworld for three years, yet found no trace of his family.

Of course, there were also his Master and Senior Brothers who died with him in the fire.

There must be a great conspiracy behind this.

Alas, he feared he would fall here today, just one step away from revenge!

He was unwilling!

If he had known, he would have acted back in the Old Capital!

"I, Netherworld Old Ghost, dominated the Netherworld, and the worst thing I did was merely commandRevenant to kill people..."

"If the Li family can be emperors, then what am I?"

"What am I?!"

Bloody tears flowed from Netherworld Old Ghost's ghostly eyes.

Li Shun slowly emerged from the crowd on the city wall, his face pale, looking indeed heavily injured.

"Nonsense... Nonsense! How could the Grand Ancestor Emperor... do such an inhuman thing?"

"Hahahaha!"

Amidst his wild laughter, Netherworld Old Ghost pulled out a blood-stained jade token from his embrace. "Do you recognize this? The Li family's Alchemy Order!"

On the jade token, the four gilded characters "By Heaven's Decree, Alchemy" were particularly dazzling under the lightning.

Some older Cultivators immediately changed color; this was indeed the style of a secret imperial order.

"I have survived until now... just to make the Li family pay their blood debt!"

A trace of complexity flashed in Lin Chuping's eyes, but it quickly cleared: "Wrongs have their source, debts have their owner. You should not implicate innocent commoners."

"Innocent?"

Netherworld Old Ghost sneered, "Those nobles who prolonged their lives by eating human blood Medicinal Pills back then, which one of them wasn't supported by the common people?!"

"Moreover! I was originally after Li Shun. You people insisted on blocking my way and seeking death, yet you say I implicated the innocent!"

"Ridiculous!"

With that, he violently tore open his chest, a pitch-black heart beating fiercely: "Since you are so eager to die, today, I will make all of Qingzhou perish with me!"

"Stubborn and unyielding."

Lin Chuping sighed. This Netherworld Old Ghost had been blinded by hatred. How many innocent people were there? All these Souls would be driven and ultimately perish under the Thunder Punishment.

And those six gleaming new ghosts... clearly newly killed.

Good heavens, not enough Souls, so he's killing them now, is he?

Even like this, he still dared to boast.