“Jeje, looks like this opportunity isn’t one where Foundation Stages can help….” After going through nine rebirths, the Ghost Kingdom’s prince had a spirit sense far above what anyone of the same level had and he was the first person to notice the suppressive power—even earlier than Fang Xing had. When he’d first arrived at the basin, he grabbed a bit of the air and gave it a sniff before understanding dawned on his face. It was then that he called one of the hemp-wearing followers over to give some advice with a sinister smile.

　　Under the command of his prince, the Ghost Kingdom general activated Mystic Eye and checked everyone around the basin before returning to whisper to Li Ying, “Your Highness, the three fairies of temptation from the northern mountains, two of the four elites of the western deserts, and one of the five disciples of the Snowy Mountain are here….”

　　Li Ying opened his large, blood-filled mouth before grabbing a blood grape offered to him by a beauty at his side. “Don’t touch the people under the three fairies and leave those from the western deserts’ elites alone as well,” he commanded with a lazy wave of his hand. “As for the rest, we’ll have them all!”

　　The Ghost general was a little surprised. “The Snowy Mountain….”

　　Li Ying snickered. “Although the five disciples of the Snowy Mountain might be very renowned, in truth, only Chu Huang, Xiao Xue, and that long-legged Ye Gu’yin can be considered worth noticing—all the others are nothing at all. That last-ranked Snowy Mountain disciple was the one who was wounded by Ghost Four earlier, right? Don’t worry about him and take everything from his people. I’d like to see if he wants to keep his life or not!”

　　The Ghost general hesitated a bit. “Your Highness, I also saw a horse carriage on the other side from us. It bears a large banner and it seems to belong to Fang Xiaojiu, the one who finished off four clans….”

　　After some surprise, Li Ying let out a peculiar laugh. “The Fang Xiaojiu who Huangfu ordered to capture?”

　　The Ghost general nodded. “Should be, yes!”

　　Li Ying laughed. “Ending four clans on his own, what might! But for him to dare show up here with his name without anyone daring to annoy him, he does seem to be something. You don’t need to worry about him; go ahead and take everything from the Snowy Mountain disciples as planned. I want to see if he’ll dare to stop me. If he truly doesn’t care about dying, I wouldn’t mind catching him and exchanging him for valuables from Huangfu.”

　　After receiving the order, the Ghost general bowed and left before waving his hand. The imps around Li Ying’s palanquin disappeared before quietly distributing themselves around the area, intent on surrounding the basin in its entirety. Once the imps had finished distributing themselves, the Ghost general’s expression became cold and—after drawing a long breath—he slowly floated into the air and coldly demanded, “All cultivators, listen up. Kneel and receive the commands of our great prince….”

　　His voice was loud and sharp like an iron blade that cut in all directions. All those who’d been muttering amongst themselves were surprised by this and looked towards him in confusion, although not a single person actually kneeled at the command. All cultivators held a certain degree of arrogance, so who would actually kneel towards anyone who asked? Seeing this, the Ghost general’s expressions chilled even further and he sharply asked, “Do you want taste the suffering of the cycle of reincarnation?”

　　As the Ghost general’s voice faded, loud voices could suddenly be heard rising up from all directions. “Kowtow to receive the order, those who do not kneel shall be punished….” These words came from all the imps who’d scattered out earlier, who called out with different pitches and tones combining into a chaotic mess that made people feel rather uncomfortable. It almost felt as though it was a demonic curse piercing into the depths of everyone’s heart, making them feel timid and unable to endure. The Foundation Stage cultivators might be able to weather through, but many of those in Spirit Stage began to show pale faces, and it didn’t take long before some couldn’t endure any longer and fell to their knees amidst cries of pain.

　　Of course, a majority of the cultivators didn’t kneel and simply creased their brows, uncertain as to what Li Ying was trying to accomplish.

　　The Ghost general didn’t force everyone to kneel. A small portion was kneeling, most were frightened, some were showing doubts, but—in line with his true goal—everyone’s attention was now focused on him. He smiled and continued on, “His Highness the Prince has ordered that all Spirit Stage cultivators present shall temporarily become a subordinate of Ghost Kingdom. You shall all immediately thank His Highness for his kindness!”

　　All the surrounding imps became excited after hearing this and began banging on their drums or blowing into their oboes.

　　“Just what kind of drugs is he selling in that gourd of his?” While all the cultivators were confused and unable to understand what Li Ying intended, the Ghost general suddenly sneered before raising his hand into the air and dropping it quickly downward. The eight or so Ghost soldiers around the palanquin all let out loud laughter before flying off in different directions, each holding a black sack that they quickly opened and revealed towards the cultivators.

　　“Wha—”

　　Suddenly, the ear-piercing cries of babies could be heard and hundreds of blood-red shadows flew out from the cloth sacks. Each shadow was the size of a fist, and they threw themselves into the crowd as fast as lightning like rays of bloody light that were difficult to avoid.

　　Dozens of Spirit Stage cultivators were affected and let out cries of horrors, but they were quickly left dumbstruck when they realized nothing seemed to have changed despite being struck by these bloody shadows. Not only were they not poisoned, their cultivation seemed to be unaffected as well.

　　The Foundation Stage guardians released loud growls and tried to block the bloody shadows for the Spirit Stages they were protecting, but a few Ghost soldiers quickly shot forward and ruthlessly attacked, killing all the Foundation Stage cultivators who tried to do so. Such violent methods caused the remaining Foundation Stage cultivators to shiver in fear, and soon no one dared try to stop the bloody shadows from scattering about.

　　The Ghost general released a bloody and ruthless laugh while standing in the air. “Hehe, after being hit by the Curse of the Blood Baby, you’d all best work for His Highness the Prince with utmost loyalty. Once that opportunity opens up, you will all enter and seek the fortunes within, and when you offer up your findings to His Highness, he will help you resolve the blood curse. If you have any other ideas, however—such as using the altar within to teleport away—or if you don’t work hard enough to obtain something good, then you’ll just have to wait for your body and spirit to corrode away….”

　　When everyone began to understand Li Ying’s intentions, they felt a sudden shiver at the thought. “He…. he actually intends to control all the Spirit Stages to gather the opportunities within….”

　　“Quick, hurry and escape! Once you’re hit with the Curse of the Blood Baby, you’ll never see the light of day again…” someone screamed amidst the panic, causing chaos to spread all around the basin.

　　Although Li Ying’s battle prowess was too terrifying for anyone to dare try to attack him directly, escape was still something that might be possible, and all the cultivators started dashing away like ants amidst the chaos—they’d rather give up on this opportunity altogether than be controlled by the Ghost Kingdom’s blood curse. However, the groups of imps surrounding them all laughed and let out wicked shrieks as they started to chase the fleeing cultivators.

　　The imps had expected this and were prepared well in advance. As soon as the area erupted into chaos, the imps chased after the fleeing cultivators to push a bloody shadow into their body before seeking out a new target. The area was in such a frenzy, yet the bloody shadows and chasing imps together were like a large net cast over heaven and earth.

　　Not all of the areas were covered by the net, however. The area around the three fairies, the western deserts’ two elites, and Fang Xing’s carriage weren’t bothered, but although Li Ying didn’t disturb them, none of them seemed to want to stand up for any of the cultivators there, either. The difficulty of facing off against Li Ying was well-known even within Jambu, and no one wanted to provoke this thing without a good reason….

　　Around Leng Ziyan, all the Wanluo disciples began to scream in panic and fear, “Shixiong Leng… please help us, Shixiong Leng….”

　　Right now, Leng Ziyan’s expression was frozen stiff as he stood on top of a Tiangang sword while playing an iron flute with great effort. The notes of the flute seemed to be some kind of spell controlling a countless number of powerful forces that extended twenty feet in all directions from him. Any bloody shadow that entered was distorted and drastically slowed, while some were destroyed outright and unable to harm the Wanluo disciples.

　　While the Wanluo disciples panicked, some began screaming towards Li Ying, “We are the disciples of Chufung’s Snowy Mountain. How dare you insult us, cultivators of Ghost Kingdom! Are you not afraid the five grand elders of our Snowy Mountain will bring you to justice?”

　　The words were so meaningless to Li Ying he didn’t even bother listening to them, and it was the Ghost general in the air who responded instead. “Justice?” he asked with a sneer. “Within this Mysterious Domain, might is justice! Bullying the weak is the correct method!” As his loud voice reverberated out, his body was filled with a terrifying ghostly aura and it flickered as he bolted towards Leng Ziyan from above. With a swipe of his hand, the ghostly aura behind him turned into a giant palm dozens of feet long that clawed down towards Leng Ziyan.

　　Leng Ziyan had no choice but to quiver his flute notes and cause an invisible force to shoot into the sky to drive away that giant hand, but this also caused the protection surrounding the Wanluo disciples to disappear. Around four of them were quickly struck by the blood infants, and the Wanluo disciples no longer dared to stay around him any longer. “Run!” someone yelped before they started scattering in all directions, but the imps on the sides had already focused on them and threw themselves at those disciples with wicked smiles.

　　Not many Wanluo disciples managed to escape, but—whether through luck or cleverness—one actually ran towards Fang Xing while crying out in terror for his help. “Fang— Shixiong Fang…. Please, help us, for Shifu Wanluo….” Behind him, a little imp with a wicked smile threw himself towards the disciple, and its bone-white claws had curled into a strangling pose even as it flew towards him in the air.

　　” Sigh ….” Fang Xing settled his forehead into his palm and let out a sigh. Seeing this, the Wanluo disciple assumed Fang Xing didn’t want to help him and was instantly scared out of his wits. The imp that was chasing after the disciple, however, was filled with joy and actually made a face towards Fang Xing before grabbing towards that Wanluo disciple….