Chapter Thirteen: A New Way to Use Supernatural Powers

Seeing the ghostly face from the Blood Soul Banner rushing closer in an instant, Xue Dan stretched out his right hand toward the floating longsword at his side and shouted, "Come!" No sooner had the words left his mouth than the sword, as if obeying a command, flew into his grasp. Immediately, Xue Dan began to move the sword before him in swift, precise strokes, as though the air itself were his canvas and the blade his brush.

Threads of faint blue-green light shimmered like silken strands in the air, weaving together into a softly glowing Bagua diagram. As soon as it formed, Xue Dan hurled it at the oncoming ghostly visage. With each increased sweep of his hand, another Bagua appeared, taking shape swiftly and then being launched at the airborne ghostly face.

"Ha!" With a thunderous shout, Xue Dan sent forth a massive Bagua, several meters tall, which soared through the air toward the spectral visage. The ghostly face let out a shrill, mournful wail, as if unable to withstand the blow, and splattered apart, scattering blood-red mist in every direction.

"Such pathetic tricks, and you dare to—" Xue Dan’s mocking words were cut short as the blood mist suddenly coalesced in midair, forming countless tiny skulls that rained down upon him like a storm of blood.

A surge of terror gripped Xue Dan. He could not retreat—behind him lay the unconscious Lei Yan. Gritting his teeth, he stood his ground. Swiftly, he traced a Bagua with both hands before his chest and thrust it upward. With a swift gesture, he cast a spell, and a translucent, blue-green, semi-circular shield enveloped both himself and Lei Yan.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The countless blood-stained skulls crashed tirelessly against Xue Dan’s barrier. Gradually, blood began to trickle from the corner of his mouth, and cracks appeared on the shield.

With a deafening crash, the shield shattered. One after another, the skulls struck Xue Dan’s chest; as soon as one broke, another took its place. He was sent flying backward, battered relentlessly by the spectral onslaught. Strangely, the skulls made no move against the prone Lei Yan, instead focusing all their fury on Xue Dan.

He could distinctly hear the sound of his ribs fracturing. After crashing through several trees, his thin frame finally hit the ground with a heavy thud, raising a cloud of dust.

“Hahahahaha…” In the sky, Lei Wanchun laughed triumphantly.

Xue Dan struggled to his feet, trembling. As soon as he steadied himself, a sweet taste rose in his throat and he spat out a mouthful of blood, staining the ground and his robes a vivid red. Dizziness clouded his vision, and agony wracked his body, as though he were about to fall apart.

“Damn it…” Xue Dan’s voice was barely more than a groan. Blood seeped unceasingly from the corner of his mouth, and it was clear he could barely hold on—but still, he refused to fall. From Lei Wanchun’s restraint toward Lei Yan, Xue Dan suddenly realized something. “You don’t want to harm that child now,” he said, “so you plan to use him as the main soul for your Blood Soul Banner!”

Lei Wanchun sneered. “Exactly! I’m going to make this useless brat my main soul. If I were really the ancestor of the Lei family, would I treat him like this?”

“If he’s not the ancestor, then who is he?” At that moment, Lei Yan awoke. Though his eyes remained closed, he could hear Xue Dan and Lei Wanchun’s conversation clearly.

“The Lei family? Could he be the one rumored to possess the Body of Nine Suns?” Lei Wanchun’s words shocked not only Lei Yan, but even Xue Dan, who hadn’t imagined that the person he sought was so close at hand.

“Haha! He does have the Body of Nine Suns, but he’s also a cripple with withered meridians!” Lei Wanchun mocked.

“A cripple?” Xue Dan was momentarily stunned, not understanding Lei Wanchun’s meaning.

Suddenly, Lei Wanchun’s laughter grew even more sinister. He fixed Xue Dan with a malevolent grin. “Since you know everything, you can become the secondary soul of my Blood Soul Banner!” With a flash of crimson light, the venomous banner whipped in the wind, howling. Wails echoed from within, and the tiny skulls in the air coalesced once more into a massive ghostly face, which charged at Xue Dan.

Xue Dan’s expression grew grim as the ghostly face bore down again. Though he had only just entered the Nascent Soul stage, his cultivation was that of a ghostly healer; most of his efforts had been devoted to the medical arts, leaving him with little in the way of attack spells. He bitterly regretted not having learned more of his master’s poison techniques.

He reached to his waist and retrieved a blue pill, swallowing it whole—a medicine reserved for life-or-death moments. There were three such pills: the blue granted ten years’ worth of cultivation, the red a hundred, and the violet extended life for a single day, after which death was certain.

The blue pill melted instantly, its medicinal energy surging through his limbs like a beast unleashed. Gritting his teeth, Xue Dan shouted, his robes billowing as though caught in a storm. His once frail frame swelled slightly with newfound power. He summoned the fallen longsword back to his hand with a single word: “Return!”

The sword shot back to him. With another incantation and a powerful cry—“Sword of Splitting Light and Shadow!”—the longsword above his head divided into two, then four, until thirty-two swords hovered in the air. Sweat poured down his brow; he knew this was his limit. With a mighty shout, he commanded, “Go!”

The swords formed a precise Bagua formation and shot toward the ghostly face. At that moment, the ghostly face had already reached him, a wave of bloodlust in its wake. Yet as the bloody aura met the blue-green glow of the swords, it dissipated instantly, unable to advance. Thus, the swords and the ghostly face became locked in a fierce stalemate.

While Xue Dan and Lei Wanchun were locked in deadly combat, neither noticed the subtle transformation overtaking Lei Yan’s body. Faint blue light began to emanate from the center of his brow, gathering above him and spreading out like a great net across the sky.

Xue Dan felt his strength ebb again, nearly collapsing. The blood poison from the Blood Soul Banner gnawed at his body, and even a century of cultivation could barely hold it at bay. An unnatural, bloody mist crept across his face.

“Ha!” With a sudden shout, the light from the swords flared blindingly. The ghostly face recoiled, retreating several paces with a wretched howl as the crimson glow around it faded. At the same time, Lei Wanchun felt a crushing pressure in his chest—he coughed up a spray of blood-red mist.

“The Nascent Soul stage truly is formidable…” Lei Wanchun had to admit the difference in power. If he possessed such cultivation, Xue Dan would long since have been consumed by the Blood Soul Banner.

Just as Lei Wanchun prepared to make another move, Xue Dan quickly swallowed a second pill, this one red. The moment it entered his body, his blood surged like a raging river. The pain was overwhelming, forcing him to one knee. His body swelled, muscles bulging, blood oozing from his pores.

“Divide and transform again!” Xue Dan roared, now like a wrathful demon descending to earth.

In a flash, the swords in the sky multiplied from thirty-two to one hundred and twenty-eight, spinning like a monstrous blender that shredded the ghostly face relentlessly. The specter wailed and retreated, but finally, with a final, desperate scream, its form burst apart, crashing to the ground in a stinking pool of blood.

With the Blood Soul Banner destroyed, Lei Wanchun felt utterly drained, collapsing from the sky as he spat out a mouthful of blood.

At that moment, Lei Yan was overwhelmed by what he had just experienced. It was as if his strange ability had transformed into a vast projector, casting every detail of the outside world clearly into his mind, the movements unfolding as if slowed by several times, like a film played in slow motion.