The banner, adorned with numerous fierce and terrifying ghost faces, protruded as if opening a gateway through hell to the human world when Su Jie waved the Ten Thousand Soul Banner.
The wind howled fiercely, and a massive number of Yin Souls escaped, obscuring both the sky and the earth, eventually morphing into a towering Ghost Mountain.
The mountain was a thousand feet high, with winding, narrow, and perilous paths. The stones of the mountain were based on white bones, and the springs were all blood, foul and unapproachable.
At the summit, there stood an ancient and weathered palace, within which there were several ghost generals, each about ten feet tall.
Some sat on rectangular divine thrones, dangling their legs, each stepping on a skull.
Others sat cross-legged on hexagonal altars, their hands caressing White Bone Relics.
Some stood upright as attendants, their bodies clad in armor, holding bone-breaking spears, exuding a chilling aura.
These ghost generals, numbering over thirty, were covered in an eerie ghostly aura. Originally motionless like clay statues in a temple, they suddenly began to move as Su Jie manipulated the Ten Thousand Soul Banner, confronting Wei Ji from afar with furious glares.
"Blood Evil Ghost Formation."
Su Jie uttered coldly, and the enormous Ghost Mountain split open, emitting earth-shattering noises, bursting forth like Heavenly Thunder.
The whole Ghost Mountain glowed like a red-hot iron block, all the enormous rocks and cliffs twinkling with a terrifying blood-light. The stench filled the air as blood continuously surged, and the ground shook violently as if it was going to overturn.
Thick blood fog encircled around Ghost Mountain, and the sickening wind it brought reeked enough to make one vomit. The blood, a crimson river, flowed steadily around the Ghost Mountain like a red ribbon in the void.
In the Blood River, dismembered limbs, viscera, hands, feet, and skulls floated...
Ghastly spikes topped Ghost Peak, with bodies resembling Cultivators hanging on them, still maintaining the horrendous states they were subjected to before death.
Wei Ji's complexion drastically changed. The originally dazzling aura of his Purple Jade Wind Umbrella was now overwhelmed with a blood-tinged evil aura as the Ten Thousand Soul Banner waved. Everything in sight took on a faint blood hue, including the Purple Jade Wind Umbrella.
Almost the instant the Ten Thousand Soul Banner formation was complete, the terrifying Blood River roared forth, charging directly towards Wei Ji.
Each Ten Thousand Soul Banner had its unique properties, and Su Jie's was characterized by its use of blood as the formation.
"Wind and Thunder Fan."
Wei Ji, no longer composed, wore an extremely serious look. Twisting the Purple Jade Wind Umbrella, he grabbed another Low Grade Magical Treasure from his Storage Bag.
The massive Wind and Thunder Fan, two meters long, was vigorously waved by Wei Ji. It started as a gentle breeze, escalating to a fierce tornado, and finally, it unleashed bone-crushing, flesh-melting wind storms, pushed to the limit by Wei Ji.
The Blood River was unstoppable, breaking through the fierce winds and exploding into millions of blood waves. The rolling Blood River was blown into tumultuous waves, but this failed to slow its advances.
When the Blood River collided with the Purple Jade Wind Umbrella, the scene resembled colossal tidal waves crashing against rocks, stirring up boundless tumultuous waves.
However, the power of the Blood River far surpassed any sea waves.
The Blood River, formed by Yin Souls, this most yin and evil of soul bodies, had the capability to contaminate a Cultivator's Magical Treasure.
One or two weren't noticeable, but in great numbers, even Wei Ji's Low-Grade Magical Treasures, the Purple Jade Wind Umbrella, and Wind and Thunder Fan, started corroding with a sizzling sound.
"To be so terrifying, it seems I need to get serious…"
Wei Ji took a deep breath, seeing the Purple Jade Wind Umbrella struggling to cope, its protective light screen severely damaged. His arms lit up with Star Light, and his fists connected into a Star Map, carrying a mysterious and unfathomable power, parting the Blood River in an awe-inspiring manner.
"Desolate Heaven Fist?"
Tang Peiqing tore a few strands of his beard, greatly shocked in his heart.
The oldest among them, having seen much of the world during his youth when he had traveled through the Capital of the Da Li Dynasty, knew that Desolate Heaven Fist was a deeply guarded secret technique of the imperial family, taught only to the direct descendants who cultivated it using the Emperor's Destiny. What merits and capabilities did this Wei Ji have to cultivate it?
This fist technique was supremely tyrannical, said to reach the highest divine place when practiced to its extremity, covering the whole body in Star Patterns and Star Light. One punch could invoke the machine of the Dao, termed as an Emperor-level cultivation technique.
Under the Star Light of the fists, the Blood River split and exploded, but Wei Ji's moment of relief didn't last. The real power of the Ten Thousand Soul Banner then came into play.
One by one, the ghost generals abruptly stood, stepping on the Blood River and rushing towards Wei Ji.
The leading ghost general, wielding a Battle Halberd, ferociously collided with Wei Ji's fist, exploding like thunder, pushing the vicinity's blood waves hundreds of meters apart, swirling and backwashing along the banks, unable to settle for a long time.
Instantly flung back, the ghost general's body cracked open with terrifying fissures, like shattered porcelain. A normal person would have been dead by now, but ghost generals are ghosts, not humans, hence they retained their full combat strength.
The ghost general flew hundreds of meters from the Blood River and surged forward anew, accompanied by dozens of other ten-foot-tall ghost generals in a charge.
"I don't believe I can't smash you. Bring it on, the more the merrier. I want to enjoy this fight."
Wei Ji's punches and kicks, domineering like falling meteors, consecutively shattered six or seven ghost generals, utterly annihilating them.
The sheer number of ghost generals indicated that both sides were headed for a war of attrition.
Seeing this, Han Ruyan floated over, entering deeply into the heart of the Blood Sea Array.
Han Ruyan possessed an ability to enhance Fierce Ghosts and ghost artifacts. The Ten Thousand Soul Banner, a ghost artifact, was also among those being empowered.
Almost as soon as Han Ruyan moved, the Blood River eerily calmed down, yet the ghost generals' bodies glowed with a dense, blood-like red light, escalating their combat abilities significantly.