Chapter 209: Chapter 209: Encountering a Ghost
 

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The fog rose swiftly.

In an instant, Zuo Yongjun and his men were surrounded by fog from all directions, with visibility plummeting rapidly.

At the same time, the temperature of the surrounding space also dropped.

White frost began to form on the grass and leaves on the ground, as the chilly air spread silently and incessantly.

“Form up!”

Zuo Yongjun realized the situation was grim and immediately shouted in a deep voice, “Repel the enemy!”

The ten well-trained Imperial Guards, without a second thought, took the Firearm Machine Crossbows from their backs, loaded the arrows with practiced ease, and took up a defensive formation.

Some members of the Imperial Guard Bureau were recruited from among elite troops, while others were trained internally.

No matter their origin, they all possessed rich combat experience and displayed extreme discipline.

The ten Imperial Guards surrounded Zuo Yongjun and Wu Song, took up their Firearm Machine Crossbows, and crouched down partially.

Crossbow arrows gleaming with cold light pointed in diverse directions.

No matter where the enemy emerged from, they were ready to meet them with a painful blow!

At this moment, the surrounding fog became even denser, and strange sounds began to enter everyone’s ears.

The coy laughter of women, the frolicking of children, the idle chatter of the elderly, the cursing of wives…

It seemed like everyday street noise, yet it whirled around one’s ears like the murmuring of ghosts and spirits.

Even tightly covering one’s ears could not block it out, making one feel annoyed and irritable.

Though the Imperial Guards were all strong-willed, after listening for a moment, many showed signs of annoyance.

Their hands holding the bows and crossbows no longer as steady as rock.

“What evil spirit dares to cause chaos here!”

Seeing this, Zuo Yongjun suddenly glared and bellowed with a voice as thunderous as a lion’s roar, “Begone!”

Following his shout, the surrounding fog, carrying the chill, suddenly rolled back, and the Imperial Guards, disturbed by the phantom sounds, trembled, their eyes emitting a fierce gleam, instantly revealing their killing intent.

Their fighting spirit was immediately roused by Zuo Yongjun’s shout, and their minds returned to being firm and focused.

“Hehehe~”

Laughter echoed from all around.

Shadowy figures flickered in and out of the fog, drifting like menacing specters.

Evil Wraiths!

Zuo Yongjun’s eyes twitched, and he ordered in a low voice, “Evil-Dissipating preparation!”

As soon as he spoke, the ten Imperial Guards immediately bit their tongues and sprayed a mouthful of blood essence onto their Firearm Machine Crossbows.

The Firearm Machine Crossbows were incredibly powerful, and when paired with special crossbow arrows, could penetrate the Body Protection True Qi of Innate Martial Artists.

But against Evil Wraiths, their effectiveness was much less.

Especially against these incorporeal wandering spirits, they could hardly cause any damage.

So, the arrows had to be smeared with blood essence.

The blood essence of a Martial Artist contained Yang energy, which had a significant restraining effect on wandering spirits and other Evil Wraiths.

In fact, the Blood Fiend Energy that the Imperial Guards had cultivated on the battlefield could also effectively annihilate wandering spirits.

But unless these Evil Wraiths made a close attack, there was no opportunity to use martial prowess.

Caught in a dangerous place, a quick resolution was necessary, and intuition told Zuo Yongjun that the longer they stayed here, the more dangerous it became!

He shouted sternly, “Fire!”

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The ten blood-soaked crossbow arrows shot into the fog like lightning.

“Agh!”

Pitiful screams suddenly rose up.

The wandering spirits struck by the crossbow arrows vanished like paper figures set ablaze, disappearing in a breath.

The Firearm Machine Crossbows, with their powerful force, pierced through one spirit and, without losing momentum, continued to pierce through another.

One volley took down more than a dozen wandering spirits, a truly splendid achievement!

But joy was far from Zuo Yongjun’s heart.

For he felt the surrounding malign aura growing denser by the moment, and feared that the wandering spirits that had appeared were merely an appetizer.

Sure enough, the next moment, the ground nearby began to bulge, and one after another, zombified corpses dragged themselves up from the earth.

These corpses had blue-black skin and were all dressed as villagers. Despite their fierce and distorted faces, one could still discern their former appearances as men, women, the old, and the young.

“Uncle San, Aunt Qi!”

Wu Song, gripping his long saber, was on the verge of exploding with rage.

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He recognized many familiar faces, all of whom were villagers from the Wu Family Village.

His own kin!

“Retreat!”

Zuo Yongjun drew his twin swords with his backhand, leapt up high into the air with a sudden bound, and pounced on several approaching zombies.

With a flash of sword light, the heads of two zombies flew into the sky simultaneously.

Before Zuo Yongjun even landed, he kicked out with both feet, sending the headless corpses flying.

This Innate Master used the momentum to roll backward, driving his twin swords heavily into the ground.

Splat!

Where the blades fell, two streams of dark zombie blood spurted out.

“Kill!”

Zuo Yongjun pulled out his long sword and charged forward like a tiger bursting from its cage.

Wu Song and ten Imperial Guards followed closely behind.

Wu Song was extremely reluctant, but military orders were like mountains, not allowing for personal decisions.

He could only suppress his sorrow and anger deep in his heart.

Zuo Yongjun continued to slash, killing seven or eight zombies, and carved a bloody path together with the Imperial Guards.

However, the surrounding fog became even thicker, the sinister aura was all-pervasive, and it was impossible to discern any direction.

Zuo Yongjun’s sense of crisis grew stronger and stronger.

He stopped and shouted lowly, “Body Protection!”

All the Imperial Guards took out a talisman from their bosoms and stuck it to their palms, then breathed out a mouthful of blood mist onto it.

As soon as these talismans were stained with essence blood, they burst out with spiritual light, enveloping their entire bodies.

These were the Essence Blood Talismans for body protection that Wang Chen had bestowed earlier.

With the enhancement of spiritual power, the guards were as if covered with an extra layer of spell shield, greatly increasing their defense.

Zuo Yongjun also took out a talisman.

Unlike the guards, he used his Innate True Qi to force out fresh blood into the talisman paper, then fiercely slapped it forward.

The Evil-Dissipating Essence Blood Talisman!

The exploding spiritual light from this talisman was like a blazing sun, instantly breaking through the layers of fog, clearing the surrounding nefarious aura while flying forward, and incredibly creating a passage!

The fog formation had been breached.

“Go!”

Zuo Yongjun waved his hand, signaling the Imperial Guards to go first.

He turned around, his fierce gaze focusing toward the direction they had come from.

In the midst of the fog, eerie shadows loomed!

“My lord!”

Wu Song stopped beside Zuo Yongjun, gripping his long saber tightly.

He wanted to stay and fight shoulder to shoulder with him.

“Go!”

Zuo Yongjun said in a low voice, his tone resolute and unshakable, “Find the Immortal Master!”

Wu Song’s hand showed bulging veins, and his face turned red with effort.

Then he turned his head and caught up with the Imperial Guards ahead.

Zuo Yongjun stood his ground, raising his swords, with Body Protection True Qi emerging from his body.

His expression was somber to the utmost, his feet slowly sinking into the soil.

The fog ahead dispersed, revealing the huge figure of a strange creature, its sinister red eyes fixed dead on Zuo Yongjun.

By this time, Wu Song had led the Imperial Guards out of the fog.

And they had escaped the boundaries of the desolate village.

Turning back, he could no longer see Zuo Yongjun’s figure.

Wu Song clenched his teeth, pulled out a new talisman from his bosom, spat essence blood on it, and threw it fiercely into the air.

The next moment, a dazzling, bright flare shot straight into the sky and burst open high above!

Two hundred miles away, atop Falling Thunder Peak.

Wang Chen, who was practicing the Five Suns Qian Thunder, suddenly looked in the direction where the flare had burst.

———

The second update is here.

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