The blood pouring down from above had a very pungent stench. And, even though it was still far away, Wu Qi felt a burning pain on his skin as a scorching hot breeze came caressing at him. Clearly, it was not something he could easily handle, and he dared not to even touch it. Not having too many options, he pointed out his finger. Instantly, a jade tablet carved into the shape of a rhino looted from Lord Jade, golden in color and the size of a palm, flew out amidst a beam of golden light.
A low, deep roar echoed out, followed by the materialization of a ninety-feet long, massive and muscular, single-horned rhino above Wu Qi's head. As it appeared, it moistened its lips with the tongue and lowered its head to give Wu Qi a look. Then, it threw its head back and blew out a gust of white air. Immediately, gusts of strong wind blew across the entire space as nearly one hundred whirlwinds sprung up from the ground, messily soaring up into the sky like ghost claws stretching out from hell.
The violently spinning whirlwinds collided with the heavy and sticky stream of blood, shattering it into countless thumb-sized blood beads that splattered in all directions. Wu Qi did not care what the rhino would do. He just opened his mouth and sprayed out a stream of innate five elements energy onto its body. The rhino threw its head back and issued a loud, joyous roar into the sky as if it were in heat. In the next moment, a couple dozen whirlwinds moved closer to one another, merging into an about eighty-feet long, pitch-black whirlwind, rolling up all the blood beads as it thrust towards the couple.
The black whirlwind pierced through the air, leaving behind a couple dozens of eye-catching black beams of light in the sky while producing a long, sharp, and ear-splitting whistle that sounded very much like the screaming from countless foul ghosts. In a flash, it had arrived before the couple. The man was frightened. He screamed as his long robe burst open abruptly, turning into countless strips of thumb-wide white cloth, shooting in all directions. In just a blink of an eye, they weaved into a huge cloth net and blocked before the whirlwind.
The net measured about one mile in diameter, and each strip was fully covered with pale scarlet eyeballs. There were bizarre, evil gleams flickering within these eyes, sending forth a very discomfortingly evil aura. Even as the whirlwind brought all the blood beads and smashed heavily onto the giant net, an ear-splitting noise rose, sounding like someone had just poured a bucket of cold water into a wok filled with burning oil. Dark smoke with an extremely nasty smell rose from the strips of cloth while the twister vanished without a trace. All the blood beads were absorbed by the giant net, and the color of the scarlet eyeballs on the strips of cloth had become darker.
The woman gave Wu Qi a surprised look, nodding reservedly as she said with a smile, "It seems like you are pretty capable! Mm?"
She giggled, pointing her finger at Wu Qi as she said, "Usually, an Immortal with a strong cultivation base will also be full of vim and vigor. I am Goddess Wan Miao, a well-known good person in Qing Xu Immortal Pass. Fellow Daoist, if you are willing to donate some of your pure Yang energy to me, I'll definitely spare your life."
Wu Qi was taken aback as he gave this Goddess Wan Miao a glance. Pointing at the man, he smiled helplessly and asked, "Is he not your husband?"
The man maintained the same look on his face as he shook his head and said with a smile, "Wan Miao is indeed my beloved wife, but what does it matter? It is a good fortune to have her taking a fancy on you. You just have to donate her some of your pure Yang energy, then give us the Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom as well as all the herbs you looted from Myriad Herbs Hall, and we'll set you free."
Wu Qi blinked his eyes and shook his head. 'What a unique couple!' he thought.
Grinning coldly, he fished out about 500 gram of drunken dragon incense powder and sprinkled it into the air. "You think you can take advantage of me with that ugly look? Who do you think you are? Now taste my Bone Rotting Ghost Flame!" Wu Qi shouted sternly as he shot out a stream of true flame with a point of his finger, igniting all the drunken dragon incense powder and turning it into countless bright sparks that rushed towards the couple.
A fragrance filled the air as bits of spark streaked across the sky, indeed looking like ghost flame.
Seeing that Wu Qi was not moved by her suggestion, Goddess Wan Miao let out a shrill shriek as if he had just insulted her dignity as a woman. All her hair stood on their ends, and her body transformed into a pale-green, half-translucent ghost body as she charged towards Wu Qi with countless ghostly flame wheeling around her. "Ghost flame? What kind of ghost flame could hurt us, who are already ghosts?" she roared with a dreadful laugh.
Wu Qi's face fell instantly. This Goddess Wan Miao was actually a Ghost Immortal cultivated from a ghost spirit?
Ghost Immortals were not the same as the Heavenly Ghost from the Ghost Domain. They were Immortals cultivated from incorporeal ghost spirits by attracting Nether Energy into their bodies. Their cultivation techniques were unpredictable, and were famous for their dangerous, bizarre, savage, and eccentric natures, which made them the experts in hurting Immortal cultivators' souls. On top of that, they knew all sorts of curses and spells, which were all very difficult to defend against, especially poisons.
For all the other Immortals, the Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom was a lethal poison, but for Ghost Immortals, it was a supreme spirit herb that could improve their cultivation base and strengthen their ghost bodies, similar to the effect of a Ganoderma Horse. It was no wonder this couple would block off Myriad Herbs Hall's entrance and be so determined to rob the Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom.
Snorting coldly, Wu Qi fixed his gaze on the approaching Goddess Wan Miao. When she was less than a mile away from him, he pointed his finger out and unleashed a fist-sized ball of purple and green flame, thrusting it towards her at lightning speed. As she had just flown past the burning drunken dragon incense powder and was not hurt by it, she naturally thought Wu Qi could not pose her any threat. Hence, she did not even bother to look at the ball of divine flame of order.
When the divine flame of order as not triggered, its power was extremely reserved. As all of its magical power was hiding deep in the core of the flame, nobody could detect the frightening power of this innate divine flame even after scanning it with their divine will. Goddess Wan Miao had never seen an innate treasure such as this. Wearing a stately, ferocious smile on her face as if she now held the power of killing Wu Qi, she slammed straight into the ball of divine flame of order like a flying moth darting into the flame.
Poor Goddess Wan Miao! Although she was a Ghost Immortal with a cultivation base nearly approaching the Thirty-first Tier, she was greatly restrained by the divine flame of order. Divine Flame of Order was the bane of all fiends, ghosts, and demons, a natural enemy for all pure spiritual bodies. Since Ghost Immortals cultivated from ghosts, their immortal bodies were different from ordinary Heaven Immortals. They had the bodies materialized from the merging of their own souls and Nether Energy.
A tragic howl echoed out as her body began to burn ragingly, dancing violently in the air like a large human torch. The wild flame quickly squeezed into her body through her seven apertures. Dark smoke rose from all over her body while handful after handful of purple crystals kept darting out from within her. They were the soul crystals formed from her enormous soul will that she cultivated after spending countless years.
The man was struck dumb. He stared blankly at Goddess Wan Miao, who was entirely enveloped by a purple and green flame, and screamed at the top of his voice, "What the hell is this?"
Wu Qi said coolly, "You don't have to know that! Ghost Immortals? Hehe, just to let you know, the things I am not afraid of at all are actually Ghost Immortals!"
A tweeting of a sparrow rang out as the immortal sword which Daoist Yun Zang gave Wu Qi shot out together with a large sheet of flame. When the sword thrust out, the flame transformed into a huge bird that looked like a phoenix. As the flame pierced through the air, Goddess Wan Miao, who was severely wounded by the divine flame of order and had lost all her ability to defend herself, was instantly slaughtered by the immortal sword. Bit by bit, her enormous soul will essence was extracted and refined by divine flame of order. In the end, Wu Qi managed to gain himself a batch of over three thousand fist-sized soul beads.
With a flick of his sleeve, all the soul beads turned into a purple stream and flew into Wu Qi's hand, together with Goddess Wan Miao's storage ring. As the single-horned rhino threw its head back and issued a long cry into the sky above Wu Qi, he held the immortal sword in one hand, pointing it at the man as he said, "Now, it's my turn to rob you! Give me all your valuables and I'll spare your life!"
The man took a few steps back in panic. Between him and Goddess Wan Miao, it was always the wife who took the lead, because her cultivation base was four tiers higher than her husband. This man only had a cultivation base of peak Thirty-fifth Tier, and with the scent of the drunken dragon incense lingering in the air now, his cultivation base had been greatly reduced. He could barely bring an overall strength of Thirty-Sixth Tier into play now.
With the immortal sword in his hand and wearing a ferocious smile, Wu Qi approached the man. He pointed at the yellowish ocean and said, "An imitate Yellow Spring? Mm... It is still a nice treasure, so I'll take it as well. Give me all your valuables now, and I'll spare you an underwear so you can return home. Be haste, or you will have to return home fully naked!"
The man glanced around in panic. All of a sudden, he roared at the top of his voice, "Wan Miao is dead! What's the point for me to keep living in this world? I might as well fight it out with you! Can you kill my endless incarnations?"
Then, all his clothes ripped apart at the same time, revealing his body.
Wu Qi shrieked with fear as he sprung back instantly.
The man had a good-looking face, and could be considered a pretty boy with his elegant demeanor. However, he had a really nasty body. All his flesh was rotten, exposing many of his pale bones, with threads of muscles dangling freely. It was filled with countless thumb-sized insects, who had a thick layer of shell on the back and countless black hair growing on the abdomen. They were worming in and out rapidly between his rotten flesh and bones.
"What foul creatures are these?" Wu Qi cried out loudly with fear. Since he began cultivating, he had never thought a Heaven Immortal could look like this. Not only did this man have a rotten body, he was emitting a foul stench. Even though Wu Qi had kept a fairly long distance from him, the stench still forced tears out of his eyes.
"Bone Rotting and Burying Beetles!" The man said with a ferocious laugh, "They are Wan Miao's favorite! For her, I destroyed my own immortal body, turning it into a nest for all 3,600 Bone Rotting and Burying Beetles! Hehe, once they are matured, they can even devour Gold Immortals!"
The man waved his arms and cried out fiercely, "My children, kill him, eat him! Wan Mian, I'll avenge you!"
Bone Rotting and Burying Beetles? Wu Qi immediately thought of the record of them found in Scroll of Stealing. It was a frightening creature that ranked top 100 among all the poisonous insects throughout the universe. They could only live and evolve by constantly devouring the fresh meat of Heaven Immortals. If they were not fed with fresh meat for three days, they would die instantly.
After devouring sufficient amount of blood essence, flesh, and bones of Heaven Immortals, these insects would turn into cocoons and evolve. They would reach their adulthood after nine evolutions, and with a sufficient amount of adult beetles, they possessed an overall strength to devour Gold Immortals.
Most importantly, even if they were at the larval stage, their feces were a kind of an extremely vicious poison. If it were combined with another five rare poisonous plants and insects, including the Energy Rotting Ghost Mushroom, they could be concocted into the 'Immortal Annihilation Powder', a poison that could instantly kill mid-grade Gold Immortals.
A loud buzzing noise echoed out as all 3,600 Bone Rotting and Burying Beetles darted out from the man's body, swarming towards Wu Qi like a dark cloud.
Wu Qi's expression changed as he quickly moved backward for several miles.