Chapter 133 Trading with Ghosts

The moment Qiao Gongliang's figure disappeared, I suddenly sheathed my twin blades, gathered my qi, and sprinted towards the mountainside: "Ye Yang, you command the Yin soldiers to continue attacking the mountain, surround it completely, and prevent anyone from entering or leaving."

Ye Yang merely frowned and raised the magistrate's seal again.

I, however, quickened my pace in an instant: "Xia Xia, cover me!"

With a series of leaps, my feet were already treading on the river surface. Xia Mengying raised her longbow, closely following me towards the opposite bank. Silvery-white water splashed beneath our feet as the entire Yin soldier formation roared past overhead.

At that moment, if we had only looked up slightly, we would have seen the war boots and hooves of the riders rushing to the battlefield. Further ahead was a battlefield where figures and will-o'-the-wisps intertwined.

The ghosts had no blood, yet they used will-o'-the-wisps to dye the mountains and rivers.

"Xia Xia, clear the way for me with your arrows!" I shouted, twin blades crossed, as I charged into the fray, deflected the Yin soldiers in front of me, and headed straight for the tomb passage.

By the time I had rushed to the center of the battlefield, Xia Mengying's long arrows were also whistling towards me. The first arrow grazed my cheek before plunging into the enemy ranks, and the grand and righteous aura attached to the arrow exploded, clearing the way for me. I threw myself into the enemy formation.

Before I could steady myself, a large number of soldier souls swooped down from my left and right. Countless soldier souls passed by me, the cold light of their blades flashing in my eyes, but none of them attacked me. Instead, they charged towards the incoming arrows.

The sole purpose of those soldier souls was to block Xia Mengying's arrows.

The grand and righteous aura on the arrowheads burned like raging flames, decimating soldier souls in swathes. However, more soldier souls charged down from the mountain, fearlessly facing the arrows in the air.

Xia Mengying shouted anxiously, "Li Po, don't charge any further! They're trying to surround you!"

However, amidst Xia Mengying's cries, I charged deep into the enemy ranks. Countless soldier souls finally formed an encirclement behind me, trapping me in the middle of the battlefield.

Ye Yang roared from below the mountain, "All troops, charge! Save him!"

Under Ye Yang's urging, the Yin soldiers surged towards the mountaintop like a raging tidal wave. However, the soldier souls in front of me opened a path.

Surrounded by thousands of soldier souls, I quickly charged into the tomb entrance and headed straight into the depths.

Qiao Gongliang was already waiting for me there. As if meeting an old friend, he gestured towards a stone in the tomb chamber and said, "You've arrived. Please, have a seat! It's very safe here. Even ghosts and gods can't get in."

I looked around the tomb chamber and found that it was covered with pages from a book. Qiao Gongliang had used this book to isolate an independent space within the tomb.

I sat down on the stone and said, "Mr. Qiao, you lured me here. You don't want to negotiate with me again, do you?"

"Haha... you know the answer already!" Qiao Gongliang patted the coffin beside him: "This is my coffin, the coffin that has trapped me for hundreds of years. Inside the coffin is also hidden an evil weapon, the Cold Flame (Leng Yan), ranked sixth among the Ten Great Evil Weapons of the world, as well as the Qiao family's ancestral book of war. I'll give them all to you."

As if afraid that I wouldn't understand, Qiao Gongliang continued, "The reason I can gather soldier souls is not only because of human lives, but also because of this book of war. If you take it to the Confucian School, you can at least get a position as an outer elder. Maybe, you can even become an enshrined guest."

I said lightly, "There's no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Mr. Qiao, you're investing so much. What do you want me to do?"

Qiao Gongliang sighed, "If possible, I really wouldn't want to give you even a cent of investment."

"But I know that I can't live any longer. After this battle, I will die no matter what. It's better to use my life's savings to buy you a chance to make a move before I die."

Qiao Gongliang stood up and said, "Originally, my plan here was just as you guessed, just to escape from this coffin and do what I haven't finished."

"However, a red-robed ghost official from the underworld suddenly came to my door. He asked me to follow his instructions and find a way to involve the Black and White Impermanence (Hei Bai Wu Chang) behind you in this mission. Hehe..."

Qiao Gongliang sneered, "If the only ones making a move this time were your Two Realms Hall (Liang Jie Tang), I wouldn't let any of you go back. But now I've become a pawn in the power struggle between the Yin Marshal and the civil officials. Even if I win, I'll be silenced."

Qiao Gongliang sighed deeply, "Qiao Gongliang has been invincible for half his life, but I can't fight against the underworld."

"I've always wanted to jump out of the coffin, but I didn't know there was an even bigger coffin waiting for me."

"Don't you think this world is like a huge coffin? We live in the coffin, just waiting to slowly rot, and finally return to dust without any awareness."

"I know I can't jump out of this coffin, but I'm not willing!"

Qiao Gongliang looked up at the sky, "There are so many things I haven't done, so many wishes unfulfilled!"

Qiao Gongliang said, "I know you don't want to compromise with ghosts. However, I can change the method."

"I'll use my life's savings and my return to the underworld as a reward to hire you to make a move once, okay? Let's call it a business without an employer!"