Chapter 146: Ghouls and Goblins

As he spoke, the three thousand nether soldiers behind Li Chi were already in position.
The other three ghost kings—Chu Mei, Zhang Wang, and Zhu Liang—stood to his left and right. Nether winds raged around their bodies, and their black cloaks snapped loudly in the gale.
Er Pang gave a cold smile and said, "Before, you knew nothing of the Ancestor of Demons Lin Wu, but today, you will surely engrave it in your hearts!"
"Is that so? This general shall see just how formidable this Ancestor of Demons truly is!" With those words, Li Chi’s skeletal horse let out a startled neigh and charged toward Er Pang like an arrow released from a string.
A soul-depriving staff surged with dense nether qi and gloomy, eerie black energy.
Holding the horse reins in one hand and the staff in the other, he swept sideways. The powerful nether qi surged outward; ordinary nether spirits would likely have had their souls scattered instantly by such a blow.
At that exact moment, Er Pang moved.
With a flourish of the God-Killing Spear in his hand, a streak of red light flashed past. Li Chi felt only a shudder run through the staff in his grip, having no idea what had just transpired.
When he prepared to strike again and swung with all his might, his dark gold staff had somehow already snapped into two halves, one half tumbling to the ground.
Seeing this, Li Chi could not help but frown.
This time, Er Pang attacked again. The God-Killing Spear shifted through countless variations of offensive moves in his hands, and Li Chi could not comprehend his opponent's combat routine at all. He only saw the spear spin in a circle mid-air, and by the time he snapped to his senses, it had already crashed heavily against the skeletal horse.
The force was tyrannical, shattering the skeletal horse into scattered pieces of white bone across the ground.
Li Chi crashed to the earth, yet propped himself up with a single hand.
He had anticipated that he might not be a match for his foe, but he had never expected to be utterly crushed right from the start. However, from the moment he marched out of the city, he had never intended to return alive.
Even with only half a staff, he began forming hand seals, condensing a fierce wave of nether qi.
At that moment.
The other three ghost kings also surged forward.
Seeing the skeletal horse shattered, Li Chi raised his hand to form a hand seal, sending a wisp of nether qi darting forward. The broken bones on the ground immediately clattered and rattled, reforming instantly into a skeletal horse.
Leaping into the air, Li Chi mounted the beast once again.
Immediately afterward, Li Chi demanded a bronze chain from the nether soldiers. He brandished it, searching for an opportunity to bind Er Pang. The bronze chain was fitted with barbed hooks, razor-sharp. If it could lock onto an opponent's collarbones, no matter how formidable they were, it would all be in vain. That was the scheme Li Chi had devised.
The other three ghost kings understood tacitly, and they immediately unleashed ferocious attacks to draw Er Pang's attention.
However, the disparity in strength was simply too vast.
With a single move, Er Pang repelled the three ghost kings, and the skeletal horses beneath them were thoroughly destroyed as well. Ferocious and baleful qi swept across the area, forcing them back step by step.
Li Chi attempted to strike stealthily several times, but failed to find a proper opening.
The three ghost kings engaged Er Pang in combat using ghost arts that changed infinitely. Later on, Chu Mei used a wisp of soul consciousness to probe Er Pang’s mind, and she instantly conjured an illusion of Er Pang’s mother.
The moment his mother appeared, Er Pang froze.
This was his Achilles' heel.
"Eldest brother, the chance is here!" Chu Mei shouted.
Li Chi nodded. How could he not know this was an opportunity—and likely the only one? Flashing behind Er Pang, Li Chi manipulated the bronze chain with a hand seal, sending it whistling through the air with a swoosh.
Nether qi permeated the surroundings, and the bronze chain advanced menacingly.
The bronze hooks emitted a dim, chilling light.
However.
The very instant the bronze chain approached Er Pang.
Er Pang glanced sideways from the corner of his eye, reached out with a backhand grab, and actually caught the bronze chain. Following that, a burst of hidden strength surged through Er Pang's grip, and an aura of malevolent violence spread along the chain.
The nether qi on the chain was suppressed in an instant. After a series of popping sounds, the bronze chain shattered into scrap metal and scattered all over the ground.
The next second.
Er Pang had already arrived right before Li Chi.
Intimidated, the skeletal horse let out a frightened neigh.
Li Chi tightened his grip on the reins to steady the mount.
Er Pang leaped into the air, spun around, and brought his spear down heavily onto Li Chi's back. With nowhere to dodge, Li Chi plunged down from the skeletal horse.
Baleful qi blazed like red flames upon the God-Killing Spear. With another horizontal sweep from Er Pang, the skeletal horse was sent flying a dozen meters away, crashing to the ground and reverting once more into a pile of white bones.
Moreover, stained with the crimson hue of blood, those bones would never be able to reform again.
Li Chi fell to the ground, heavily injured and motionless.
The other three ghost kings immediately attacked, yet no matter who they were or what ghost arts they employed, they could not land a single effective blow on Er Pang.
Even when Chu Mei reused her illusion technique to manifest Er Pang's mother, this time Er Pang merely offered a cold smile and bellowed angrily, "My mother is long gone, her soul scattered to the winds!"
With that roar, a wave of ferocious qi erupted from within Er Pang's body.
The baleful force slammed into Chu Mei, instantly forcing her back into her true form as she crashed heavily to the ground, gravely wounded.
Seeing this,
the remaining two ghost kings gritted their teeth and prepared to fight Er Pang to the death. However, without even using his spear, Er Pang lashed out with a single punch. A gale of baleful qi swept the two ghost kings away like a violent storm.
They slammed into the earth, grievously injured by the malevolent force.
Were the Four Great Ghost Kings thus defeated so miserably?
Not a single nether soldier dared to initiate an attack. On the contrary, the demon army behind Er Pang surged with morale, roaring in unison like rolling thunder.
Facing the fifty thousand demon troops, the three thousand nether soldiers had long since been frightened out of their wits.
Yet, the heavily wounded Li Chi gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand up.
Not just him, but Chu Mei, Zhang Wang, and Zhu Liang as well—all of them stood back up, nether qi raging around their bodies as their presence swelled dramatically.
This scene actually caught Er Pang somewhat off guard.
For in the Qingcheng Realm, he had never witnessed such a sight; he had never imagined that the netherworld of today would still possess such loyal and unyielding defending generals. Those netherworld defenders of the Qingcheng Realm had nearly all surrendered without a fight or fled without engaging.
At this moment,
Li Chi formed a hand seal.
Immediately afterward, the black energy surrounding his body began to circle him like a black dragon.
"Chu Mei, Zhang Wang, Zhu Liang! Today, the city must never be breached! Come! The Nether-Ghoul-Goblin-Demon Formation!" Li Chi roared, and the other three ghost kings nodded simultaneously.
The four transformed into multiple shadowy phantoms, separating to occupy all four directions.
In an instant, countless ghost shadows appeared between heaven and earth, as if the four ghost kings had multiplied into hordes of fierce wraiths. Li Chi, Chu Mei, Zhang Wang, and Zhu Liang merged with these ghost shadows, making it impossible to distinguish which among them was their true physical body.
The next moment, four gigantic, ferocious ghost shadows materialized.
Outside the Ghost Gate Pass, they loomed like four guardian kings, rising a hundred meters into the sky and looking down upon all living things below.
"Those who trespass through my Ghost Gate Pass shall be executed without mercy!"
The voices of the four giant ghost shadows sounded like thunder rolling from beyond the nine heavens.
Fierce winds blew incessantly, sending sand and stones flying.
Seeing this, the nether soldiers behind the Four Great Ghost Kings had their morale drastically boosted. They, too, roared wildly and launched an assault. The demon army behind Er Pang naturally refused to show weakness and immediately charged toward the Ghost Gate Pass as well. However, as the demon vanguard rushed forward, they were swept away in large swaths by a single sweep of the giant ghost shadows' palms.
Er Pang stared at the giant ghost shadows, and the giant ghost shadows stared right back at him. Grasping their massive fists, they smashed down toward Er Pang with overwhelming force.
Mountains collapsed and the earth split, nether qi running rampant.
Yet, Er Pang stood right where he was, completely motionless.
As the fists slammed down, Er Pang raised his hand, blocking the blow with his God-Killing Spear. Following the parry, Er Pang leaped into the air. High above, he let out a roar and swept his spear horizontally. The baleful qi instantly blanketed the entire area outside the Ghost Gate Pass. A tidal wave of malevolent energy surged forward, transforming into countless phantoms of the God-Killing Spear that pierced straight into the bodies of the four giant ghost shadows.
For a moment,
wails of agony echoed across the heavens.
The giant ghost shadows collapsed, and the three thousand nether soldiers had long since been eradicated. The Four Great Ghost Kings crashed down to the earth, suffering catastrophic injuries. Er Pang appeared before them, pointing the tip of his God-Killing Spear at their chests.
"Open the city gates!" Er Pang said coldly.
"A soldier may be killed, but not humiliated! If you want to kill us, then kill us, but we will never open the city gates!" Li Chi declared. He even closed his eyes, having never expected to survive past this battle.
"Since that is the case, there is nothing more to say!" Er Pang replied.
The Four Great Ghost Kings had already resigned themselves to death, knowing full well that demons were merciless butchers. However, even with their eyes closed as they waited for a long time, absolutely nothing happened.
When Li Chi opened his eyes, he saw that his opponent was no longer standing before them.
"What is the meaning of this? Didn't he claim to be the Ancestor of Demons? Why isn't he killing us?" Chu Mei asked in confusion. In her understanding, wherever the demons marched, corpses littered the fields, leaving no survivors or even remaining souls; the demons symbolized absolute destruction.
Yet this person's behavior did not align with the standard conduct of demons at all.
It wasn't that they were tired of living; rather, this simply defied all reason.
"This person is definitely not the reincarnation of Luo Hou," Li Chi murmured involuntarily.
The three thousand nether soldiers had been wiped out, but the fifty thousand demon troops had suffered negligible losses. Outside the Ghost Gate Pass, Er Pang gazed up at the fortress walls and declared, "Since you refuse to open the gates, I shall destroy this Ghost Gate Pass today!"
With those words finished,
Er Pang leaped into the air once more.
The God-Killing Spear spun rapidly in his hands, wrapped in scarlet baleful qi like blazing flames. With a flick of his wrist, the spear whistled through the air, shooting forward like a released arrow.
Under the might of the God-Killing Spear, the fortress of the Ghost Gate Pass trembled on the verge of total collapse.