Chapter 24: Breath Tornado

The enormous blade-light swept past, and the dense fog opened, then closed again.

But the sight revealed within that brief gap was already enough to terrify anyone.

What exactly was this layer of dense fog?

Why were wandering souls roaming beneath a bright blue sky?

Where had so many ghosts come from?

Even if every person in all of Little Forest Town had turned into a vengeful ghost, there still could not possibly be this many. They nearly filled the entire field of vision!

Of course, everyone now understood as well that with such dense numbers of ghosts wandering about, there were probably no living people left in all of Little Forest Town.

Of the seven major towns under Maple Forest City’s jurisdiction, one had already been lost.

At a moment like this, it was still Wei Yan’s calm voice that rang out first, suppressing the chaos:

“Those skilled in fire-element dao arts, draw a fire line fifty steps from the formation as a warning perimeter. Everyone else, destroy the wandering souls inside the perimeter as quickly as possible!”

Five-element dao arts were the most fundamental dao arts, and there were quite a few cultivators skilled in the fire element. Following Wei Yan’s command, clusters of flame rose fifty steps away from the group. Then, under the guidance of Wei Yan’s deputy, these flames instantly connected, drawing a circular line of fire.

Outside the fire ring, the ghosts temporarily retreated.

The wandering souls trapped within the fire ring instantly became frenzied.

At this moment, Li Jianqiu suddenly sheathed the flame-covered sword in his hand, formed seals with both hands beneath his chin, then decisively lowered them diagonally to his sides. Two blazing swords of flame appeared in his hands just like that.

The twin swords moved like swimming dragons, carrying him instantly into the mass of ghosts. One sword dispersed ghosts, two swords shattered souls.

At the same time, a streak of sword light circled around in an instant, and countless ghosts were annihilated one after another. When the sword light withdrew, Jiang Wang’s vigorous figure was revealed.

Purple Qi Comes from the East Sword Manual, first killing form!

Everyone was startled. They had not expected this cultivator, who had not yet condensed his dao vortex, to be able to destroy souls purely with swordsmanship. His efficiency was even higher than many of theirs.

The moment Jiang Wang moved, Zhao Rucheng also acted. His long sword spun like lightning, cutting through a path of ghosts.

Normally, no one saw him putting in much effort, but in his use of the Purple Qi Comes from the East Sword, he was actually not much worse than Jiang Wang.

Among everyone present, only Du Yehu and Ling He looked at each other helplessly. The ordinary martial force they specialized in truly had little effect against transcendent hostile targets like ghosts. If they purely stimulated their blood energy, they could indeed destroy a few ghosts, but faced with so many wandering souls, how much blood energy could they afford to stimulate?

In fact, Jiang Wang had not hidden the Purple Qi Comes from the East Sword Manual from them. It was just that Du Yehu firmly believed in his own fists, relied on no external object, and had no interest in swordsmanship.

As for Ling He… it was probably indeed a matter of talent. His progress was slow, and even now, he had not mastered any killing form, making it impossible to use in real combat.

Back then, as the eldest brother among them, the only one whose effort was no less than Jiang Wang’s, the fact that his combat strength had not fallen behind had been built entirely on sweat.

The situation on the field seemed excellent, but discerning people knew it was already dangerous.

The ghosts currently appearing were all ordinary wandering souls. Since so many ghosts had gathered in Little Forest Town for unknown reasons, there had to be evil ghosts, vengeful ghosts, and perhaps even ghost generals!

This was no longer a situation this squad could handle. The best plan now was to break away from combat as quickly as possible.

But after traveling all this way, they had long since lost their sense of direction within the dense fog. Outside the fire line, layer upon layer of ghosts surrounded them. How could breaking through be easy?

Wei Yan stepped beyond the fire ring, allowing the ghosts to swarm over and tear at him. The mottled and worn-looking armor on his body merely trembled lightly, and the ghosts that had nearly clung to him scattered and vanished.

But there was no joy on his face. Instead, he stepped back into the fire ring and said in a deep voice, “Who is skilled in wind-element dao arts? Try to disperse this fog!”

Although he was asking everyone, his gaze fell on Wang Changxiang.

Compared with the five-element dao arts of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, wind-element dao arts were relatively uncommon. But Wang Changxiang happened to be an expert in this path.

Wang Changxiang did not hesitate. He immediately drew two fingers across in front of him, using wind blades to clear away the surrounding ghosts. Then his hands moved like butterflies weaving through flowers, changing seals rapidly. Finally, he joined his hands before his lips, index and middle fingers touching each other, while thumbs, ring fingers, and little fingers each pressed together. Through the triangular area formed by his middle and ring fingers, he opened his mouth and breathed out.

That gentle breath passed through his fingers and suddenly grew violent, rotating and expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye before crashing straight into the dense fog. It was like a violent divine dragon roaring inside the heavy mist.

Wind-element dao art, Breath Tornado!

This wind was no ordinary wind, but one of the Eight Winds: the Eastern Mingshu Wind.

The Mingshu Wind signified the emergence of all things.

Used here, it was perfectly timed.

Not every sixth-grade cultivator could master a dao art of such power. Yet Wang Changxiang could wield this art before even opening the Gate of Heaven and Earth. He could not be called anything but formidable.

After completing the dao art, Wang Changxiang’s face turned pale. Clearly, this dao art was no small burden for him either. He barely steadied himself and said, “I’ll leave the rest to everyone.”

Wherever the roaring tornado passed, the dense fog was driven away.

For the first time since entering Little Forest Town, everyone could see the place clearly.

Candied hawthorn sticks leaned against a wall. A rice shop stood next to a soy sauce workshop. The banner of a restaurant still fluttered in the wind.

Everything seemed as if it had never changed—if not for all those wandering souls.

The wandering souls inside the fire ring had already been swept clean, but those outside the ring still gathered and lingered like ants. They instinctively feared the flames, but out of instinct, they were equally unwilling to abandon these living people brimming with origin energy.

“Damn it!”

This cry of alarm sounded like a warning bell.

Everyone saw that just as the roaring tornado passed, the dense fog in the distance gathered again.

This fog could not even be fully dispersed by Breath Tornado.

“Let’s use this chance to withdraw first,” Li Jianqiu suggested in a deep voice, holding his twin flame swords.

Within the gap created by Breath Tornado, everyone was already able to determine the way back. With the strength of this group, as long as no ghost general appeared, they had a great chance of safely retreating while fighting.

Wei Yan held his saber and stared at the approaching dense fog, no one knowing what he was thinking.

His deputy also grew anxious.

“My lord, the current situation in Little Forest Town is no longer something we can handle! The army must be mobilized. Besides, everyone in Little Forest Town is already dead. There’s no meaning in us remaining here. Why not…”

Wei Yan interrupted him.

“The ghosts we have seen so far are all ordinary wandering souls. Not a single one has clear intelligence. You must understand, there are so many ghosts here. This does not make sense.”

Wang Changxiang frowned and said, “There are no cultivators in all of Maple Forest City’s territory who specialize in ghost-controlling arts. The matter here should still be left to the city guard army. Once the army arrives and its killing aura surges through, these wandering souls will collapse without needing to be attacked.”

“The Qingjiang water race is restless, and the city guard army has gone to suppress them. By the time they return… it may be too late.”

Wei Yan had no choice but to reveal an extremely weighty piece of information.

The Qingjiang was a great river running through the entire Qinghe Commandery. The Green Willow River outside Maple Forest City was one of its tributaries. But the Qingjiang water race had long since formed an alliance with the Zhuang court, so why would they suddenly become restless?

Jiang Wang thought silently.

It was only “restlessness,” which meant the Qingjiang water race was still exercising restraint. But when a major matter involving the water veins of all Qinghe Commandery was concerned, the authorities absolutely could not take it lightly. Therefore, mobilizing the city guard armies from various places was only proper.

The Heart-Devouring Human Demon appearing…

The Qingjiang water race growing restless…

Little Forest Town filled with ghosts walking in broad daylight.

These matters seemed unrelated, yet faintly, there seemed to be an invisible hand pinching them together.

“Something is wrong.”

Wei Yan shook his head, already having made his decision.

“Everyone follow me and charge forward. If I do not stop, no one is allowed to stop! Anyone who falls behind leaves their fate to the heavens!”

Without waiting for anyone to persuade him, the moment he finished speaking, he raised his saber and stepped beyond the fire ring, leading the charge deeper into Little Forest Town.

As his deputy, Zhao Lang naturally followed without hesitation. Then came Li Jianqiu and Wang Changxiang.

They had all experienced many trials. Although they did not approve of Wei Yan’s decision, they knew even better that at a time like this, their forces could not split.

Finally, the entire team quickly moved.

With Wei Yan as the arrowhead, they stabbed fiercely into the depths of Little Forest Town!

(End of Chapter)