Chapter Eighty-Seven: The Dragon-Fish Demon Commander, Swordsmanship Duel

Han Chong repeatedly sought to strike at the leftmost of the three heads, yet the creature was cunning beyond measure, willing to risk having one ghostly arm broken in order to shield it completely.

Meanwhile, the other two heads of the fiend spewed thick streams of malevolent qi, attempting to slow the force of Han Chong’s sword.

But to their shock, the azure-green flame he breathed proved capable of suppressing that ghostly qi, and seemed inexhaustible besides.

The three revolving ghost masks clamped shut their gaping mouths, then in an instant spun through ten different expressions—joy and sorrow, rage and grievance. In a moment, the air above the manor was filled with a ghastly chorus.

The hundred-odd swordfighters who heard it saw visions of their own, as though they had fallen into a sea of ten thousand ghosts. Their deepest fears were stirred up, and many were on the verge of madness.

As for Han Chong, who stood only a stone’s throw away, the illusions and assaults of the ghostly voice were even more terrifying; an ordinary cultivator falling into them would likely go mad at once.

In such moments, attacks of illusion were ten times more perilous than direct combat. Many whose cultivation seemed peerless, though outwardly mighty beyond compare, harbored in their hearts some being or thing they feared to the marrow; once their state of mind collapsed, the lightest consequence was a shattered spirit, and the gravest a descent into qi deviation and demonic frenzy.

Yet Han Chong only gave a cold smile. The last time, his spirit had been dragged by Little Gray’s evil spirit ghost eye into that sinister nether realm; compared with that, what he faced now was ten times more crude. To use such a trick on him was truly idiotic.

The Heavenly Ghost saw Han Chong sneering, his eyes blazing with gold, while a faint golden radiance also shrouded his head in protective brilliance. He was not the least bit shaken by the terror of the tenfold ghost song, and still drove his sword forward with cold, savage calm.

The Heavenly Ghost was struck with terror and ceased the ghost-sound incantation. One of its heads instead turned toward the distant rear and roared:

"If Lazy Fish Head does not make a move now, I shall report him to Lord Flood-dragon Spirit and charge him with negligence and idleness!"

There was another expert?

Han Chong’s heart tightened. He had never expected that in the siege of a mere mortal manor, the Wraith organization would actually dispatch three top-ranking Wraith Marshal–level powerhouses.

But this also confirmed his suspicion: this ten-aspect Heavenly Ghost was not purely a summoned fiend. Within it, a ghost marshal was surely controlling the whole.

Otherwise, after Han Chong had destroyed one of the formation’s anchor fiends, it could never have retained such terrifying strength—indeed, it was even more ferocious than Little Gray.

Before the so-called Lazy Fish Head could appear, Han Chong attacked with ever greater ferocity, vowing to shatter the body of this ten-aspect Heavenly Ghost.

Otherwise, even he would find it difficult to face three Wraith Marshal–level enemies at once.

Yet this creature’s defenses were truly impenetrable. In a short time, it was difficult to break through its line and thrust straight for its head. More importantly, its cultivation lay several tiers above Han Chong’s; techniques such as immobilization, flame-spitting, and demon-slaying were of little use.

Fortunately, he still had three skill points available, and among the Earth Fiend Arts there was still one more technique to choose.

Split Body: the trunk of the body may divide and recombine; one may also form multiple avatars, or divide other things as well. At profound levels, it can even divide into countless myriad forms.

Han Chong’s body seemed to blur into overlapping afterimages, and from it he actually divided out a duplicate of himself, identical in every respect. Qingming Sword in hand, the avatar lunged from the flank toward the Heavenly Ghost’s head.

Han Chong instantly felt that nearly thirty percent of the vital energy within him had been drawn out by the split body, and did not dare attempt to release a second avatar.

"How is this possible!" the Heavenly Ghost cried out in alarm. Such an avatar immortal art was something it had never even heard of.

It was hard to believe that it could appear on such an unknown nobody, and at once the seamless armor of its defense seemed no different from having no defense at all.

Setting aside the surprise of the swordfighters below, a long, ringing dragon howl suddenly came from the lake outside the manor, startling everyone.

There emerged a strange creature with a dragon’s head and a fish’s body, its whole form blue-white in color, nearly two and a half feet across and more than thirteen feet long. As it tossed its head and swished its tail, monstrous waves surged skyward and pressed toward the manor’s high walls.

At the same time, the sky began to pour with torrential rain, battering at everyone’s eyes, yet the dragon-fish’s two vertical dragon eyes were huge as lanterns, gleaming with blue-white light.

With another dragon cry, this creature actually treated the heavy crossbow’s giant bolts as nothing. With a thunderous crash, it smashed the manor wall apart, and behind it countless demon-ghosts followed surging forward like a tide, without further obstruction.

Here, Han Chong’s true body attacked like a storm of wind and rain, and at last his avatar, sword in hand, reached the Heavenly Ghost’s head from the rear flank, condensing a sword-qi azure serpent that finally pierced the leftmost head of the fiend, shattering it bit by bit.

Cracks swiftly spread throughout the ghostly body.

With a series of wet, spitting sounds, the body of the ghost actually split apart into eight different fiends, collapsing and falling to the ground.

Among them, the one at the center had the strongest aura, yet its body was the smallest, like that of a dwarf.

Its head bore a one-inch curved horn; its skin was dark green, its eyes were white without pupils, its four claws were sharp, and from its back sprouted bat wings and a whip-like tail. Its mouth hung slightly open, revealing a mouthful of needle teeth. The sight of it sent a chill down the spine!

The dwarf ghost marshal’s mouth twitched. Looking at the two Han Chongs wielding swords, it was filled with terror and no longer thought of attacking, instead retreating backward.

And the dragon-fish marshal had already smashed through the manor’s hundred-zhang buildings. Though numerous hidden weapons and mechanisms could wound it, without anyone to control them, many of the deadliest devices were never triggered.

Yet after witnessing the scene of Han Chong’s two bodies defeating the ten-aspect Heavenly Ghost, a wary look appeared in its dragon eyes, and it abruptly halted. The Iron Shark marshal and the dwarf ghost marshal darted to its two flanks, confronting Han Chong together.

The dragon-fish changed form and became a noble-looking man with blue-white scale armor, handsome features, and a slightly languid bearing, with dragon horns upon his head.

The Iron Shark marshal then transformed into a giant iron-armored brute over ten feet tall, though his face was pale and his gaze timid.

"Lazy Fish Head, this brat is a hard nut to crack. My Heavenly Ghost body has been broken, and Iron Shark has suffered heavy injuries. If we fail again this time, I fear what awaits us will be Lord Flood-dragon Spirit’s wrath!"

The dwarf’s shrill ghostly voice carried deep fear.

"Ha. Leave this boy to me." Though the noble man’s eyes held some caution, he still chuckled softly as he spoke.

A confidence that could pierce the clouds and soar skyward was plainly evident in him, yet the other two deeply agreed and did not at all think he was boasting.

Blue-white light flickered, and from the hands of the horned nobleman there slowly condensed a seven-foot sword of utmost sharpness.

Han Chong lifted his brows slightly. This dragon-fish marshal actually did not use his true form to fight, but intended instead to duel with swordsmanship?

One must know that the great majority of demon races devoted themselves to cultivating their own demonic bodies, and very few nurtured magical treasures or specialized in orthodox arts and sword techniques.

For precisely that reason, Han Chong’s heart grew heavier. This creature’s swordsmanship was clearly no ordinary thing.

With a thought, his avatar gripped the Qingming Sword and unexpectedly unleashed an attack of a hundred sword lights, similar to the sword art used by Mount Mi Heaven Sword, striking out in assault.

As he had comprehended the method of controlling the Heaven Sword, he had naturally absorbed the inner formula of the Demon-Subduing Sword Manual contained within it, and in no respect was it inferior to the enlightenment Mount Mi Heaven Sword had accumulated over decades.

It was only that the avatar’s strength was limited and could serve only as a probe; he wished to see what level this creature’s swordsmanship had truly reached.

Yet the other merely curled the corner of his mouth and, with a light slash of his sword, sent out one-foot-long blue-white sword qi, each strand bearing both keenness and the demonic qi of water mist. Like fish leaping across a great river, they became a sword-wave more than ten feet wide and over thirty feet long, crashing toward the avatar.

The avatar’s sword rain was extinguished without the slightest power to resist beneath that sweeping wave of swords.

A crushing defeat.

Han Chong was inwardly shaken and hurriedly ordered the avatar to evade, while he himself gripped the hilt of the Heaven Sword with both hands and brought it down in a mighty cleaving strike toward the onrushing sword wave.