Chapter Fifty-Nine: Substitute Puppet, Ghost Soldiers Passing Through!

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Zhang Qiang watched the readings on the energy meter in his hand fluctuate wildly, then burst into hearty laughter. “Well now, you wretched spirits are so pathetic and still dare to frighten me? Let’s see how I deal with you!”

With that, Zhang Qiang leaped straight into the black mist.

This fool didn’t even wait for the mist to envelop him—he simply jumped in headfirst.

Behind him, Song Yuyan was dumbfounded, never expecting her senior brother to be so bold.

After jumping in, Zhang Qiang turned back to Song Yuyan and said, “Junior Sister, remember this: when you choose a husband in the future, you must pick someone like me—brilliant, gifted, and utterly unafraid of demons or ghosts.”

At this point, as if struck by some madness, Zhang Qiang pointed his coin sword at Lin Yi and added, “You must never marry someone like that scoundrel—such a coward!”

Lin Yi was in the midst of pretending to fall, not expecting that Zhang Qiang’s contempt would only deepen, to the extent that he’d call him a scoundrel and a coward outright.

The dead naturally keep silent; Lin Yi couldn’t be bothered to argue with someone whose life was as good as over.

Holding his coin sword, Zhang Qiang swung it fiercely at one of the armored ghostly figures.

The aura of a C-rank martial artist surged from Zhang Qiang, making him look formidable indeed.

Empowered by the coin sword, faint star-like lights shimmered around him in the black mist—an effect brought by the Stellar Sect’s cultivation technique.

Whenever those spectral figures encountered the coin sword, a hissing sound would erupt, and the specters would vanish one after another.

Zhang Qiang had already swept away a whole line of ghostly shadows. Seeing the shattered armor and the bisected phantoms, his smile grew wider.

“Haha… You think you can challenge me? Is this the best you can do?”

The crowd erupted in cheers.

“No wonder he’s Master Zhang—invincible and unstoppable! Kill, kill, kill! Slay these vicious ghosts!”

“Yes, kill them all!”

“Whew, thank goodness Master Zhang is here to protect us! But… why isn’t that dog’s blood working?”

Voices praising Zhang Qiang rang out everywhere.

Yet, amidst the jubilation, the crowd realized the black mist was creeping ever closer.

With the mist’s approach, an icy chill began to seep into everyone’s bones.

Earlier, the gales had already chilled them to the core, but as the mist drew nearer, it felt as though they’d plunged into wintry waters—utterly bone-chilling.

Many people lay shivering on the ground, and the trembling earth seemed to shake even more violently.

“No, no… what’s happening to me…? Weren’t these just E-class malevolent spirits? Why is this happening…?”

Within the black mist, Zhang Qiang’s earlier laughter had turned to despair; his face twisted in terror and agony.

The faint starry glow that had shimmered over him was now visibly fading away.

The armored specters he had just cleaved apart were reforming, piece by piece.

Tendrils of black mist began to coil around Zhang Qiang.

Quickly, his face turned deathly pale, drained of all color.

Every time the black mist passed through his body, it seemed to sap something from him. Zhang Qiang swiftly withered, his flesh shrinking to skin and bones.

In no time, he was reduced to a skeletal figure, eye sockets sunken, his screams growing weaker and weaker.

In the end, Zhang Qiang became motionless, frozen in place.

As the black mist continued to swirl—

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—it was as if he had replaced one of the armored ghost soldiers within their ranks.

Yet, unlike the surrounding translucent specters, Zhang Qiang’s body was still solid, his Stellar Sect robe making him stand out starkly.

It all happened so quickly.

From the moment Zhang Qiang mocked Lin Yi to now, as he fell in line among the spectral soldiers, barely a few dozen seconds had passed.

The crowd shrieked in horror.

“Ahh… Master Zhang looks like he’s turning into a ghost! Look, his eyes are empty…”

“We’re doomed—if even Master Zhang, with all his cultivation, ends up like this, what hope do we have?”

Those who had fallen to the ground tried to struggle up, but the violently shaking earth made it impossible.

Just as the crowd had said, Zhang Qiang’s eyes were now utterly vacant, his irises fading into blankness—a clear sign of possession and corruption.

Lin Yi frowned. He still couldn’t make sense of what was happening.

So much ominous energy had accumulated; it was unimaginable.

How strong could a C-rank, third-rate martial artist really be?

This was not something Zhang Qiang could possibly handle.

Now, Zhang Qiang had dug his own grave—successfully, and his end was imminent.

Clap, clap, clap, clap—

At last, the Divine Execution Sutra began to flip its pages.

The Divine Execution Sutra had been silent for a while, making Lin Yi suspect there were no real monsters ahead.

But with what happened to Zhang Qiang, Lin Yi sensed it was about to react, because the black mist before him possessed a rudimentary consciousness.

Through the mysterious space of the Divine Execution Sutra, Lin Yi gazed ahead. The first thing he saw was an Earth-grade, low-tier spiritual well.

It really was a well, its edges lined with green bricks forming a square. From within, bursts of silvery-white energy particles surged, radiating an extraordinary power!

His vision shifted into the house. On the table, a lamp suddenly flared to life, illuminating a page of the Divine Execution Sutra in a brilliant glow.

In the picture, the scene depicted was almost identical to what Lin Yi was witnessing now.

The only difference, aside from one piece of information, was that in the depiction of the massive grayish-black mist, there were countless skulls.

These skulls floated within the mist, nearly fused with it, darting back and forth.

It wasn’t just human skulls—there were also those of oxen, horses, and various other beasts.

The skulls seemed to emit furious, thunderous roars, some tilting back, others shaking, all vividly clear.

“Ghost Soldiers Borrowing the Way: A Mysterious-Class, mid-tier energy cluster. Strange and ominous.”

This brief description left Lin Yi even more confused.

It was far too simple.

But just as when Lin Yi had previously battled the mermaid demon in the prison, when the Divine Execution Sutra had surrounded him with countless voices, explaining the nature of yin and yang spirits and the out-of-body soul.

Now, with “Ghost Soldiers Borrowing the Way,” the Divine Execution Sutra imparted a story to Lin Yi.

The story unfolded in an era reminiscent of the early Republic.

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At the time, the people still lived in dire poverty, and in a place called Ma Family Town, a series of strange events occurred.

The town’s largest clan, the Ma family, had recently behaved very oddly.

The Ma family controlled much of the town’s commerce; their gates were always bustling with traffic. But lately, their doors had been tightly shut, with hardly a soul in sight.

Some of Ma’s business partners were baffled. Every day the Ma family closed their doors, they lost vast sums of money—why would they do such a thing?

Clearly, the Ma family couldn’t bear such losses, so they soon began seeking solutions.

Word spread that they were looking for a master of yin and yang. Only then did people realize that the head of the Ma family, Old Master Ma Qingtian, had been troubled by his son’s affairs.

His son’s name was Ma Qijun. Ma Qijun’s wife had died of illness just days before, and since then, he’d been pining for her, weeping constantly, unable to eat or sleep. His already thin frame grew more and more emaciated.

After last night, Ma Qijun’s face was deathly pale, his energy utterly depleted. He kept mumbling, “My wife Ping’er is back… My wife Ping’er is back…”

Again and again, he repeated the phrase, as if possessed.

In those days, possessions were even more common than they are now.

As a result, all manner of masters appeared, giving the era a sense of flourishing diversity.

Ma Family Town boasted several renowned feng shui masters, including Blind Liu.

As the saying went: the lame, the blind, the deaf, and the ghost-handed.

Those who practiced feng shui and spirit work often suffered physical afflictions due to their limited cultivation and the risks of backlash. It was common for them to bear such deficiencies.

Blind Liu was fairly well-known. Ma Qingtian immediately invited him over.

Blind Liu used some of his own herbs and drew special talismans, which he attached to Ma Qijun’s body.

The Ma family members were all present, and many outsiders gathered to watch.

Blind Liu had Ma Qijun brought into the courtyard under the blazing sun.

According to Blind Liu, when one is possessed, sunlight is the best remedy.

Not long after the talismans were placed, Ma Qijun actually regained clarity.

But though he stopped mumbling his previous phrase, he began telling another story.

As soon as he finished, even though the sun was blazing, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.

Because what Ma Qijun described was truly terrifying.

“I… I saw… Ping’er, it was Ping’er… She was dressed in white, late at night… Ping’er was weeping at my bedside…”

“She kept crying and crying, saying her family was destroyed… that she’d been wronged… I… I am useless, not a real man… Father, please save Ping’er, please save her…”

Ma Qijun pleaded with Ma Qingtian.

After hearing his words, Blind Liu’s expression grew grim. He said, “Clearly, something happened to Ping’er’s family. Her ‘home’ is her grave. We must go check her grave.”

Everyone was startled by Blind Liu’s conclusion.

But on reflection, it made sense.

When they reached the cemetery, they discovered that Ping’er’s grave had been desecrated by grave robbers.

Ping’er’s corpse was in a filthy state—it was clear the robbers had done unspeakable things.