Red Flower Ghost Mother Zhu Ying had disciples who opened a shop in Mingyu Immortal Market, and over the years they made a considerable fortune. They purchased a large amount of resources and managed to craft several Magical Treasures that had eluded them for hundreds of years. She felt that her strength was incomparable to her past self.

Originally, she had a favorable impression of Shi Feiyang and even thought about visiting him in Mingyu Immortal Market in the North. However, she never expected Shi Feiyang, like a fierce dragon crossing a river, to aim at wiping out all four local snakes in one fell swoop.

Among the four evil sects of the border mountain, Ghost Mother Sect was the strongest. In the Human World, their usual business involved Feng Shui Masters, fortune-telling, summoning spirits, and dealing with the afterlife...mainly consisting of nuns and matchmakers.

"Sangu" includes nuns, Daoist priestesses, and divination priestesses. The Ghost Mother Sect integrates the beliefs of both Buddhism and Daoism, and its devotees, who spread the teachings in the Human World, come in the forms of nuns and Daoist priestesses.

The "Liupo" are more complex: tooth fairies engage in matchmaking and human trafficking; matchmakers are responsible for arranging marriages; witch doctors draw Talismans and cast Spells to expel evil; devout old madams, also known as brothel madams, openly run brothels in the city and engage in either high-level or low-level prostitution operations, some of which take place in Daoist Temples and convents, with their identities overlapping with the nuns and Daoist priestesses mentioned earlier, all strong-armed into becoming prostitutes of sorts; herb fairies sell medicine and midwives handle childbirth.

All these four sects started from the common folk and developed through Jianghu before moving towards religion. Even after mastering Spells, these sects still relied on their believers for sustenance, and as they couldn't forget their roots, business management always continued.

The business of tooth fairies and witch doctors in the Ghost Mother Sect conflicted with that of the Pima Sect, causing many disputes. However, as the leader among the four sects, they had the upper hand within their territory in Xiangxi. Internal competition within the four sects was normal, but when external forces intervened, they had to join forces against them.

When Zhu Ying first heard about this matter, she wanted to try diplomacy before resorting to war, intending to send disciples to Dai Family Field to negotiate with Shi Feiyang. However, before they could depart, news arrived that Shi Feiyang had gathered disciples from Qingcheng Sect and Snow Mountain Sect and had thoroughly purged all the forces of the four sects in Changsha City. All groups engaged in forcing people into prostitution or usury, impersonating gods, and monopolizing the market were eradicated. Those who resisted were killed on the spot, and leaders guilty of heinous crimes were taken to be turned into Zombies. The rest were shackled by their scapulas and handed over to the local government for legal punishment.

For so many years in Xiangxi, the four sects had rooted themselves deep, from the government to the local gentry, making it difficult to shake their power.

Shi Feiyang had sent a document to Emperor Tianqi earlier on. Emperor Tianqi preemptively replaced the local officials and specially dispatched Mr. Wei to lead the imperial guards. A total of three thousand soldiers from the central to local levels arrived to coordinate with the State Preceptor, aiming to purge the entire Hunan region completely.

Upon seeing Shi Feiyang take such actions, Zhu Ying knew that any sort of reconciliation was impossible. In such circumstances, even with good personal relations, they had to meet on the battlefield, let alone the fact that they had no relationship and had never met each other!

All the figures from the four evil sects were ruthless, and they gathered at Ghost Mother Mountain to discuss their strategies.

They first traced Shi Feiyang's movements: "Since acquiring the Heavenly Demon Immortal Slaying Sword at Yellow Mountain, that surname Shi has entered Dai Family Field and has not shown his face since. He only sends groups of young recruits to handle affairs. These youngsters have shallow Daoist power, and their swordsmanship is rudimentary at best. However, they can form an extremely formidable Sword Formation, and once trapped inside, it becomes difficult to escape, leaving one vulnerable to thunder strikes and sword slashes until death."

Zhu Ying snorted coldly, "Since he himself refuses to show up, we'll first eliminate these claws he's stretched out, and then we'll all attack Dai Family Field together!"

This Red Flower Ghost Mother's power was indeed nothing to scoff at. She was dressed in black, wearing a shockingly vibrant red flower on her head. At first glance, it looked garish, but her aura quickly subdued others—cold, sharp, as if being targeted by an evil ghost from Hell.

She didn't rely on her subordinates and took action herself, first encountering Dai Heng Yu and others in a gang fight in Baoqing Prefecture.

The gang members each held a bamboo pole and formed a formation, with chickens perched atop the poles, chanting Spells while wielding small knives, deflecting the Flying Swords of the young disciples.

But three of their Squad Leaders had already fallen to the Heavenly Thunder Sword Formation inside the city, and the remaining members naturally could not withstand the assault. They were slashing and retreating, on the verge of collapse.

Zhu Ying descended from the sky, and upon seeing her, the gang members were unsure whether she was friend or foe and retreated to the side of the road, exclaiming, "It's the Ghost Mother!"

"Step back; I'll deal with these ignorant youngsters." She, dressed in black silk with a lithe and exquisite figure, exuded an extremely icy demeanour as she looked at the youngsters. "I heard that you can be resurrected after death? And yet, you're not Zombies. I'm curious, if I capture your Primordial Spirits and refine them into my Myriad Ghosts Treasure Mirror, I wonder if you'll still be able to resurrect within my mirror!"

With that, she waved her robe sleeve, summoning the Earthly Sha, and a massive surge of chilly black smoke covered the sky and flooded toward the opposing side like a tidal wave.

Dai Heng Yu and Bai Qi among others were on high alert, while the youngsters were thrilled, "It's the BOSS! An even more powerful big BOSS! Quick, form the array! Don't let her escape!"

The fearless group of kids charged forth, surrounding the Ghost Mother in the center.

First, twelve of them set up the Heavenly Thunder Sword Formation around the Ghost Mother, encircled within the black wind and Evil Qi, their hands forming Sword techniques, manipulating the Heavenly Thunder Treasure Swords as they sparked with radiance and wrapped in electrical arcs, each striking a dramatic pose.

Twelve Flying Swords enveloped in electric light simultaneously shot towards the Ghost Mother in the center. The Ghost Mother's hands, swirling with black Qi, unleashed Netherworld Ghost Claws, sweeping left and right, grabbing all twelve swords in hand.

The youngsters were shocked, "Damn, this BOSS is so powerful! If we kill her, she'll definitely drop good loot!"

Their hands formed Sword techniques, and they forcefully expelled True Qi to make the treasure swords in the Ghost Mother's possession tremble violently, sending out bursts of golden lightning to blast her.

Unbeknownst to them, Zhu Ying's Daoist power was so strong that only those like the Three Immortals and Two Elders could possibly harm her with Taiyin Divine Thunder, causing her to be wary. The thunder emerging from the swords couldn't break through her defenses; the golden lightning continued to strike without penetrating the protective layer of Evil Qi surrounding her.

"Just at this level?" Zhu Ying said disappointedly, rubbing her hands together and crushing all twelve Heavenly Thunder Swords into a pile of scrap iron. Then, with ghost claws swiping left and right in the air, she directly extracted the primordial spirits of the twelve youths and grabbed them into her palm.

The twelve bodies collapsed to the ground with a crash, and the others, reacting, hurriedly released their Flying Sword Magical Treasures and attacked Zhu Ying with their full capacity. Zhu Ying soared into the air, her claws reaching out to snatch more spirits. Each swipe captured three to five primordial spirits, and in an instant, all one hundred and eight youths' spirits were taken.

Bai Qi and Li Zhenchuan's weapons, a Flying Sword and a Flying Spear, came from the Yuan River treasure ship and were of different quality. Along with Dai Hengyu, Xu Chao, and others who had more experience in Jianghu, they realized the danger and quickly retreated.

The Ghost Mother wouldn't let them escape and chased after them, enveloped in a surging black evil Qi.

Just then, a Flying Sword, like an ink dragon, streaked across and blocked her way, and behind the sword appeared a Taoist with a long black hand and beard.

"Hundred Birds Taoist!" Zhu Ying recognized Gongye Huang.

Gongye Huang said, "I promised Shi Dao friend that I would protect his disciples safely and not let them suffer at your hands."

Zhu Ying's face remained cold as she opened her hand, revealing a cluster of little human souls, "You were on that mountain earlier and only now stopped me; what about these boys, are you not concerned about them?"

Gongye Huang replied, "They are not disciples of Shi Dao friend, so I am not concerned."

Zhu Ying was speechless and suddenly laughed out loud, "Fine, fine, fine, I'll do Gongye Dao friend a favor. I'll spare those few boys for now. But you go back and pass a message to that Shi Dao friend for me. Tell him I had quite admired him and wanted to be friends. We've been entrenched in Xiangxi for hundreds of years, from fairy mountains to rural fields, with our Incense Fire Wish Power. If he pulls back in time, I can overlook the past. Otherwise, if he continues to push forward, we'll let him know that the Four Evils of the borderland mountains are not to be underestimated!"

Gongye Huang did not bother with her and merely protected Bai Qi and the others as they returned.

Zhu Ying took the one hundred and eight youths' primordial spirits back to Ghost Mother Mountain and recounted her journey to everyone.

Old Madam Cangbao hated Shi Feiyang deeply, and these youths as well, "Please, Ghost Mother, give them to me. I'll take them back, place them in corpse fire, and thoroughly refine them, scattering their souls!"

The Squad Leader of the group suggested that everyone divide up the youths' primordial spirits. His point was that since everyone was involved, they should all carry things out to the end, to prevent someone from wavering and secretly surrendering to Shi Feiyang.

Zhu Ying, however, said, "No need! I have the Mountain Treasure, Green Phosphorus Charge. You all know about it, right? Over the years, I have re-sacrificially refined it and still need some primordial spirits. I want to refine all of them onto the Green Phosphorus Charge, to increase the Magical Treasure's power!"

Her own treasure, which had a Seven-leaf Windmill in the front, underwent heavy refinement and upgrading after buying numerous heavenly materials from Mingyu Immortal Market. She removed the windmill and left only a green pointed tip at the front, surrounded by layers of iron leaves that resembled a bamboo shoot, exactly one hundred and eight of them, containing Heavenly Gang and Earthly Sha.

She returned to her sleeping cave, threw the one hundred and eight youths' primordial spirits into the furnace, and burned them with Ghost Fire, intending to refine each one onto the leaves.

These youths had never killed even a chicken or fish in the Earth world and had only undergone a few months of training after their arrival. While they had become accustomed to physical pain, they had never imagined there was torture worse than physical torment—refining the soul, which was akin to being thrown into Hell.

The youths wailed and cried out loudly, running and trying to escape, but green fiery hell surrounded them on all sides, offering no path to freedom.

They prayed to the Yuanyang Emperor, but there was no response.

Their cries reached neither the heavens nor the earth.

The Ghost Mother, accustomed to such sights, continued with the soul-refining process outside the furnace. Her Green Phosphorus Charge was already well refined. After another seven days and nights, the souls would be refined into it.

She was pleased with these young souls, who had all begun cultivating the Nine Heavens Mysterious Scripture... Although they had only just entered the threshold, their root bone qualifications were excellent. Where else could one find so many disciples from Orthodox Sects to capture and use for refining Magical Treasures?

Shi Feiyang naturally knew that these youths were suffering soul refining here but did not rescue them. The Gua Xiang indicated that Deng Yin was actively developing his following, with the numbers increasing every day. However, the enemy blurred Yin Yang and concealed Heaven's Secret, and with the immense population on Earth, he could not locate them.

All he could do was to grow his own power base on Earth. If need be, he would consider sending Gongye Huang over; otherwise, a great disaster was inevitable on Earth.

He knew it was cruel to these pampered youths, raised in a greenhouse environment, but there was no helping it—time waited for no one. If the Blood God Child descended upon Earth, they wouldn't fare well. They needed to endure; those who couldn't would be weeded out and replaced. For those who survived, it would add to their trials, and he would then teach them more advanced spells.

The way of the Immortal Law and Longevity Technique was hard to come by. More importantly, he wanted to ensure they understood that this was the real world, not a game where they could endlessly respawn or log off at any time. This mindset had to be fundamentally overturned, or they would fall into a Demon Path Illusion Realm, unable to distinguish between real and fake.

Shi Feiyang was harsh to others, but even harsher to himself...

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