52: Chapter 52 The Inheritance of Witchcraft

The whistling of ghostly winds filled his ears, and the shrieking of ghosts and wolves sounded like steel needles, piercing his eardrums and causing his Divine Soul to tremble.

The sensation of weightlessness lasted only for an instant; the next second, his feet landed heavily on the ground.

It was not the bluestone slabs of the Luo Prince Mansion, but mud.

The sky was pitch black, devoid of sun, moon, or stars; there was only endless darkness, like a blood-soaked black cloth draped tightly over his head.

In the distance, flickering green fires drifted about in the darkness.

Around him, the area was densely packed with ghostly shadows.

Vicious ghosts with green faces and fangs, resentful spirits with disheveled hair, and walking corpses with broken limbs—countless Yin entities surrounded him completely.

Pairs of greenish eyes stared fixedly at him, drool dripping down their fangs and landing in the mud with a sizzling, corrosive sound.

They were waiting, waiting for him to make one wrong step so they could pounce and tear him to pieces.

Wu Xi subconsciously attempted to raise his Qi.

Boom!

His Dantian felt as if it had been struck by a ten-thousand-catty boulder; his muscles felt heavy, as if filled with mercury, making it impossible to lift his arms.

Nine-tenths of his strength was gone, leaving only the foundation of a Mortal body.

His cultivation was completely sealed off.

Just then, the sound of ancient drums suddenly exploded from the depths of the darkness.

Dong, dong, dong.

The drumbeats were slow and heavy, each one striking directly at his Divine Soul.

His heart beat uncontrollably in rhythm with the drums; when the drums stopped, his heart stopped, and when the drums sped up, his heart raced wildly, as if his life and death were completely gripped by these drumbeats.

Wu Xi suddenly looked up.

In front of the darkness, a phantom appeared.

A wizard wearing ancient witch robes, his face covered by the same Zhong Kui mask as Wu Xi's, was dancing step by step to the rhythm of the drums.

It was a Nuo dance.

The movements were archaic, vigorous, and eerie to the extreme.

Every lift of the hand, every turn, every bend, carried the majesty to suppress ghosts and gods in all directions.

His footsteps landed in the Void Realm; although there was no sound, they were perfectly synchronized with the drumbeats.

With every step taken, the vicious ghosts rushing toward him instantly turned into fly ash, unable to even let out a scream.

Wu Xi understood instantly.

This trial was to perform the Nuo dance.

Following the drumbeats, following this phantom, he had to complete this ancient Nuo dance in its entirety.

Just as he realized this, the drumbeats suddenly changed.

Dong-dong-dong! Dong-dong-dong!

The dense drumbeats sounded like a rainstorm hitting a tin roof, and the phantom's movements instantly accelerated, twisting in a way that completely defied common sense.

Wu Xi forcibly drove his stiff body to lift his arms, following the phantom.

For the first movement, his arm bent backward, elbow pointing outward, with his fingertips needing to touch his back.

He exerted force suddenly, and halfway through the bend, his bones emitted a creaking friction sound; sharp pain drilled straight into his brain along his arm, his tendons stretched to the point of snapping.

Gritting his teeth, he forced his fingertips to touch his back, matching the movement.

The second movement followed immediately.

His waist had to bend backward at an angle that completely defied human anatomy, his upper body parallel to the ground, his knees straight, his head tilted back until he could see his own heels.

As soon as Wu Xi bent his waist, a sharp pain of his spine about to break surged, his vision went black, and his muscles twitched frantically.

He gritted his teeth to hold on, but he was still half a beat too slow.

The drumbeat was wrong, and the movement was wrong.

Instantly, the surrounding vicious ghosts, like hungry wolves smelling blood, lunged at him.

A green-faced demon opened its gaping maw and bit down on his arm, sharp fangs piercing directly through skin and flesh, tearing off a chunk of meat.

Sharp pain instantly swept through his entire body; Wu Xi shuddered violently, fresh blood spraying into the mud along his arm, immediately attracting even more vicious ghosts.

Another resentful spirit lunged, its claws raking across his back, instantly opening five bloody gashes deep enough to see bone.

Wu Xi gritted his teeth, not uttering a single sound, and kicked away the lunging demon, but more ghostly shadows had already surrounded him, their foul breath spraying onto his face, ice-cold and piercing.

The drumbeats continued to explode, and the phantom's movements continued.

Wu Xi stared fixedly at the phantom's movements, his eyes bloodshot.

He learned, following along over and over, and failed over and over.

Each time he failed, a vicious ghost lunged, leaving a wound on his body deep enough to see bone.

One arm broken, three ribs fractured, the flesh on his back almost completely gnawed away, his face and legs covered in mangled wounds, his entire body dyed red with blood.

The black mud was filled with his blood, the scent of which attracted even more vicious ghosts, surrounding him in impenetrable layers.

His consciousness had begun to blur.

Severe pain, blood loss, and the crushing pressure of the drumbeats on his Divine Soul made him nearly collapse several times.

Yet, every time, he bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, using the sharp pain to pull his consciousness back, staring fixedly at the phantom's movements, refusing to relax even a little.

Just then, he suddenly realized a fatal problem.

This Nuo dance was simply not designed for normal people.

Every movement completely defied the structure of human bones and the direction of muscles.

Even a Cultivator with heaven-defying cultivation, once their cultivation was sealed and they returned to a Mortal body, could not possibly complete it.

Forcing it would only have one result—bones and tendons shattered, dying of pain.

He finally understood why those sent in by the Third Young Master either went insane or died.

The first fatal flaw was that the movements of this Nuo dance were impossible for a Mortal body to perform.

This was fundamentally a dead end.

A normal person could not possibly pass.

Wu Xi's body had reached its limit.

His vision was blacking out in waves, his heart beating wildly in rhythm with the drums, as if it were about to burst the next second.

The ghost at the very front had its fangs touching his neck, its foul drool dripping onto his skin.

If he failed one more time, death was certain.

"A dead end?"

A crazy smile suddenly curled at the corners of Wu Xi's mouth.

"Normal people can't do it? Then I won't be human!"

This thought was like a lightning bolt; he suddenly drove the power of mutation, carved into his bones by the Three-Turn Heavy Origin Technique, from the depths of his flesh and blood!

Boom!

The skin and flesh on his back instantly exploded, a mist of blood spraying!

Slippery, cold Tentacles with suction cups and barbs crazily drilled out from his flesh.

Simultaneously, his bones crackled, his head morphed into an octopus-like form, his face covered by a mass of writhing Tentacles, his torso instantly covered in a layer of tough, rubber-like scales, huge, sharp claws sprang from his front and hind limbs, and a pair of long, narrow membrane wings unfolded from his back.

Violent power instantly surged through his entire body, the previous wounds healing at a speed visible to the naked eye, and broken bones instantly knitting back together.

The drumbeats exploded again.

Dong-dong-dong! Dong-dong-dong!

The dense drumbeats sounded like thunder, roaring crazily in his ears.

The phantom's movements became twisted and eerie once again.

This time, Wu Xi did not use his limbs to imitate.

He used the Tentacles!

The Tentacles danced crazily; some braced against the mud to stabilize his posture, some bent backward to precisely replicate the phantom's arm movements, some twisted into spirals to complete bends his waist could never achieve, and some raised high, matching the phantom's lifting motions exactly!

Every movement, every turn, every pause, landed perfectly on the drumbeats!

Movements that were impossible to complete with a Mortal body before became easy in front of these infinitely bendable, infinitely twistable Tentacles!

The drumbeats grew faster and more urgent.

Wu Xi's Tentacles danced more and more crazily, his entire being hovering and spinning in mid-air, thirty-six Tentacles like black lightning, carving out afterimages in the darkness, perfectly synchronized with the phantom's Nuo dance!

The surrounding vicious ghosts watched this crazy and eerie scene, and actually stopped their lunging actions instantly, freezing in place one by one.

In their greenish eyes, a look of extreme fear appeared, and they retreated step by step.

But just then, a new, fatal problem suddenly appeared.

His movements were perfectly synchronized with the drumbeats and the phantom's Nuo dance.

However, the Zhong Kui mask on his face had no reaction at all, remaining coldly stuck to his face, with no power flowing out.

Instead, an extremely cold aura seeped out from the mask, drilling into his Divine Soul through his seven orifices like countless venomous snakes, intending to gnaw at his consciousness and turn him into a lunatic.

Wu Xi's brain felt a sudden sharp pain, his consciousness began to blur again, countless hallucinations appeared before his eyes, and his ears were filled with the whispers of vicious ghosts, seducing him to stop, to give up, to sink.

"What is going on?"

"The movements are clearly all correct, why is it still not working?"

He suddenly remembered the words of the Third Young Master; those who were sent in before, even if they came out alive, all went insane.

"Could it be that there is a second fatal flaw?"

Wu Xi's brain spun rapidly; while using the Tentacles to desperately maintain the Nuo dance movements, he frantically sensed the aura within the mask.

In an instant, he understood.

This Nuo dance not only required the correct movements, but also had to be coordinated with the corresponding Cultivation Technique to trigger the witch power of the Zhong Kui mask, allowing the Zhong Kui divine image to manifest on his face, suppress ghosts and gods, and complete the Legacy.

Those people before only had the Zhong Kui mask, without the corresponding complete Cultivation Technique!

Even if they barely got the movements right, they had no Cultivation Technique to trigger the mask's power; instead, they would be backlashed by the cold, Yin aura within the mask, their Divine Souls would be contaminated, and they would eventually go completely insane!

This was the core of the dead end!

"But where is the Cultivation Technique?"

Wu Xi's consciousness was about to be completely swallowed by the cold aura, the hallucinations before his eyes becoming more and more real, the whispers in his ears becoming more and more piercing.

His Tentacles had begun to tremble slightly, his movements about to fail to keep up with the drumbeats.

At this moment of life and death, a torrent of memories suddenly rushed into his mind!

In ancient times, humans and ghosts lived together, Yin entities ran rampant, and wizards used square-topped Zhong Kui masks to communicate with gods, used Nuo dances to trigger the witch power of heaven and earth, and used the Ghost-Eating Technique to devour evil, protecting the Human Race.

Through the passage of time, the Witch Dao gradually declined, the Legacy of Zhong Kui driving away ghosts flowed into the folk, and the witch power of Zhong Kui was gradually personified, known by the world as Zhong Kui.

This Zhong Kui Ghost-Eating Technique was never a Dao Spell created out of thin air, but evolved from the ancient Zhong Kui Witch Dao Legacy, the fundamental method for the ancient Witch Race to protect the Human Race!

The moment the torrent of memories rushed through, Wu Xi's mind instantly cleared.

While dancing the crazy Nuo dance with his Tentacles, he operated the complete Zhong Kui Ghost-Eating Technique within the depths of his Divine Soul!

Cultivation Technique, movements, drumbeats, breathing—at this moment, they were perfectly synchronized!

Boom!

A heaven-shaking loud noise erupted from his body!

Brilliant golden light suddenly exploded from the Zhong Kui mask, instantly illuminating the entire boundless darkness!

The angry eyes on the mask suddenly opened!

It was not the mask's eyes; it was Wu Xi's eyes!

Two golden rays of divine light shot out from the eye holes of the mask, carrying the supreme majesty to suppress the ghosts and gods of the Nine Netherworlds, sweeping across the entire dark space!

The divine image of Zhong Kui was completely manifested on his face, perfectly fused with the mask and his blood, flesh, and Divine Soul!

At this moment, all the vicious ghosts in the entire dark space instantly let out screams of extreme misery, collapsing one by one in the mud, trembling, not daring to even lift their heads, excreting waste, unable to even produce a single thought of resistance.

Those vicious ghosts that had lunged to bite him earlier, the moment the golden light swept over them, directly turned into fly ash, their Divine Souls completely dissipated, never to enter Reincarnation again!

The wizard phantom in the darkness stopped the Nuo dance.

He turned around, facing Wu Xi, and slowly bowed, performing the most ancient witch ritual.

Subsequently, the phantom turned into a brilliant ray of golden light, instantly rushing into the center of Wu Xi's eyebrows.

Boom!

The entire illusion began to collapse violently!

The pitch-black sky cracked with countless huge fissures, the mud ground collapsed crazily, and the surrounding vicious ghosts all turned into fly ash, dissipating without a trace.

The drumbeats stopped, the ghostly winds dispersed, and the sound of ghosts crying and wolves howling completely vanished.

Wu Xi only felt his vision go dark, and was once again grabbed by a suction force, the world spinning.

When he opened his eyes again, he was already back in the courtyard of the Luo Prince Mansion.

The sunlight was blinding; the Zhong Kui mask on his face had disappeared, leaving only a faint, square-topped mask mark between his eyebrows, which flashed and disappeared, hiding into his skin.

The wounds on his body had all healed, leaving not even a single scar.

The courtyard was deathly silent.

The Third Young Master stood on the steps, his eyes wide, his mouth slightly agape, holding the jade thumb ring, his face full of disbelief.

He had sent in thirty-seven people from beginning to end, and not one of them had ever been able to walk out in one piece, let alone Wu Xi, who had gone in for less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, and had come out with the Legacy, his aura surging!

Beside him, Mr. Xiangli had long since stood up from the stone stool, the teacup in his hand deformed, not even noticing that the cold tea inside had spilled all over himself.

His eyes were full of shock, staring fixedly at the witch mark between Wu Xi's eyebrows that had flashed and disappeared, unable to speak for a long time.

Wu Xi stood on the spot, closed his eyes, and felt the information within his Divine Soul.

The original Zhong Kui Ghost-Eating Technique, after merging with the Witch Dao aura, had undergone an earth-shaking transformation, directly evolving into a Spell.

[Soul Absorption to the Void]: Above, it can slash the souls of Immortals and gods; below, it can devour the vicious ghosts of the Nine Netherworlds.

In a single thought, the soul flies away and the spirit scatters, never to enter Reincarnation again—it is the supreme killing technique of the ancient Witch Dao.

At the same time, an ancient poem was also carved into the depths of his mind, which was the clue left by the ancient Witch Dao Legacy:

Gods slaughtered, ten thousand witches perished, Fires burned, the Human Race toppled.

Witch blood splashed the Mortal world, Zhong Kui shattered the Nine Abysses.

Where does the remnant lineage return? Meishan, the Great Blessed Heaven.

What path do the common people seek? One Wu Xi breaks through all heavens!