Chapter 107: Total Annihilation

The cage of thunder shrank to within two yards of him. The Ghost Sect messenger beside him had already been reduced to charcoal, billowing with thick black smoke; his entire body was carbonized.

Qi Haichuan felt his head spin. He bit his tongue lightly to regain his focus and fend off the extremely tenacious and sinister warrior before him. This man had gone for the kill the moment he appeared, not uttering a single word. Every move was life-threatening, and he favored desperate tactics that traded injury for death—clearly the behavior of a ruthless man accustomed to life-and-death struggles.

A series of thunderclaps echoed across the sky. The cage formed by the giant lightning serpents on the ground grew smaller and smaller, and Qi Haichuan's golden baleful energy looked thinner by the second. Ling Chi pushed himself to the limit, driving the thunder crystals within his body.

Dozens of lightning serpents, as thick as barrels, merged into one and poured down upon Qi Haichuan. His golden baleful energy shattered instantly. The giant lightning serpent did not stop, and even with his internal energy for support, Qi Haichuan was left with numb limbs and charred skin. The moment the boundless agony struck, his mind slowed.

Qi Haichuan reached toward his waist, intending to retrieve a Summoning Talisman to call upon the Five Ghosts to fight for him. However, to Ling Chi, his movements were as slow as a tortoise. A blade of light slashed across his right hand, and the bone-deep wound forced a shrill scream from Qi Haichuan.

Ling Chi remained icy calm, immediately pressing his advantage and raining hundreds of blade strikes upon Qi Haichuan. Qi Haichuan was no longer able to defend himself, and bits of flesh were stripped from his body one after another.

*Crack.*

Ling Chi snapped his collarbone with one strike, then swung his blade around to crash into Qi Haichuan’s chest, breaking all twelve ribs at once. Lightning plasma surged into Qi Haichuan’s abdomen, triggering a series of explosions.

Qi Haichuan collapsed, vomiting blood. The bleeding from his abdomen had stopped; the high temperature of the lightning had roasted him black, sealing his wounds. Ling Chi stood with his blade resting on the ground, looking down at Qi Haichuan, who was gasping in agony.

"Hah... I... I am a Xiangzhu of the Holy Sect. You cannot... kill me. If you do, the Holy Sect will slaughter your hometown and leave you a wandering ghost."

Qi Haichuan invoked the Ghost Sect, desperate to survive. Seeing Ling Chi’s gaze fixed intently on his waist, he suddenly realized something. He reached out to unfasten his storage bag, but Ling Chi severed his hand with a single stroke.

"That belongs to me. You are not to touch it."

This was the first sentence Ling Chi had spoken. He flicked his blade to cut the belt, and with a nudge of his horse-chopping saber, the storage bag fell into his hand.

The palm-sized bag was delicate and archaic, feeling weightless in his hand. Ling Chi tried to open it but could not gain entry. Qi Haichuan finally realized why he was going to die; this storage bag was the only one the Ghost Sect possessed in the Northwest Circuit. He had been responsible for traveling between provinces to collect human essence pills and wealth, which was why the Ghost Sect had bestowed the treasure upon him. He never expected to be undone by the very item meant to aid him.

"As long as I am alive, you cannot open this Universe Bag." Qi Haichuan did not believe this man would dare kill him; the Ghost Sect spanned every province, and even the Jing'an Department had to steer clear of them. "Spare me, and the Universe Bag is yours. I only need to voluntarily withdraw my soul imprint, and you can plant a new one to become its new master."

"Spare my life, and you shall have the friendship of our Ghost Sect. You wouldn't want to offend the Ghost Sect, would you?"

Qi Haichuan was still probing while he spoke. A behemoth like the Ghost Sect was something almost no one wanted to provoke.

"Oh? So it is called a Universe Bag. Thank you for the information."

"But you, a lowly Ghost Slave, talking about the friendship of the Ghost Sect? In my eyes, the friendship you speak of is no better than dog excrement."

"What? You actually know about Ghost Slaves? I understand now. It was you who captured Wei Si, it was you!"

Qi Haichuan’s eyes widened as if in a final flash of clarity. He stared at Ling Chi in disbelief; someone had actually managed to uncover the secrets of the Ghost Sect.

Ling Chi had no intention of satisfying his curiosity. With a swing of his horse-chopping saber, Qi Haichuan’s head flew into the air, his face still frozen in an expression of sheer incredulity.

Nearly a thousand strands of lightning spiritual energy fed back into his body, increasing the number of thunder crystals within him. So what if he was at the eighth level of the Qi Sea? He would kill him all the same.

Ling Chi retrieved the Universe Bag and searched Qi Haichuan's corpse, finding nothing else, as everything must have been inside the bag. With a touch of extreme Yang energy, he incinerated the body and the head.

The dark, heavy clouds dispersed, and the lightning serpents vanished. All that remained was the ruins of the battlefield. With such a commotion, it was impossible that no one had noticed. Ling Chi tidied up briefly and vanished into the curtain of rain.

The battle had left Ling Chi feeling invigorated. Even though he had sustained minor injuries, they were negligible compared to his gains. He found a secluded spot and pulled out the Universe Bag. The trinket, weighing less than two taels, had been an obsession of his for a long time, and today, he had finally obtained it.

He had been in this world for three or four years, and at nearly sixteen, he finally possessed standard equipment. Ling Chi felt immensely satisfied and thanked the thunderstorm for its assistance. He opened the bag; since the original owner was dead, it had become an ownerless object. His divine sense slowly submerged into it, and an imprint uniquely his own merged with the bag.

A small space of two square yards appeared in his mind. It contained a variety of items: gold and silver coins piled like mountains, and a small box stacked neatly with banknotes and gold notes. Another small wooden box held a stack of twenty Summoning Talismans, along with a token and a booklet. Combined with the six he already had, he could now enjoy twenty-six "buffets."

He would save them and find more. He would take them all out in one go before the Ghost Clan realized what was happening. If he used them all now, the Ghost Clan would notice the sudden loss of so many Summoning Five Ghosts and might send experts above the Spirit Pearl Realm to investigate.

The token was engraved with the Ghost Sect’s secret contact signals, and the booklet contained the meeting points and methods for contacting his subordinates. Ling Chi’s eyes lit up—this would make his "work" much easier.

There were also some bottles and jars. Upon opening them, he found them filled with disgusting human essence pills. Ling Chi took them all out and burned them to ash. Although he found no spiritual herbs or precious materials, he was already satisfied. There was a pile of daily sundries left, but he couldn't be bothered to check them one by one.

After organizing, he placed all his belongings inside. Suddenly, he felt light, and for a moment, he found the sensation unfamiliar. He subconsciously reached toward his waist to steady his hilt, but his hand met empty air, and he realized he had put his sword away.

He took the horse-chopping saber out of the Universe Bag and tucked it into his belt. The weight of the blade returned, giving him a sense of security.

Back in its master's hand, the horse-chopping saber hummed with dissatisfaction.

"Alright, alright, I won't put you away unless it's necessary," Ling Chi whispered, patting the hilt.

The saber, *Zhu E* (Slayer of Evil), shared a psychic connection with Ling Chi. Through long-term tempering and infusion, it had developed a rudimentary consciousness and could at least express emotions.

*Zhu E* quieted down. Ling Chi tucked the Universe Bag into his robes. He looked through the booklet; Qi Haichuan had four messengers, and two were already gone. Because the Yu County stronghold had been uprooted, he had ordered the Zhu County stronghold to head to Wei County and join forces with the messenger there.

He had already slaughtered his way through Zhu and Yu, two of Sheng Prefecture's three counties. How could he leave Wei County alone? That wouldn't be fair to Wei County.