61: Chapter 61, Fourth Level – “The Realm of Blade Wind”

"Xu Mo, what's wrong? We need to hurry and catch up!" Zhao Tie climbed up from the ground, patted the dust off himself, and asked with a dazed look, "With just the few of us, it'll be trouble if Old Ghost has set an ambush."

Zhao Tie's tone was very natural, as if there had only ever been these few people in the team.

Looking at Zhao Tie's oblivious face, Xu Mo felt as if his heart was being squeezed hard by someone.

The rules had erased a teammate once again.

And aside from this bloody wound on his arm, no one remembered that vanished 'ghost'.

"Chase him! We absolutely cannot let him seize the initiative on the next level!"

With a wave of his hand, Xu Mo led the furious crowd and plunged headlong into the darkness leading to the fourth level.

As everyone arrived at the fourth level of Mictlan—the 'Realm of Blade-Winds'—the howling of the arrow rain was completely cut off.

Before they could even adjust their breathing, a suffocating dryness instantly sucked the moisture from their nasal passages.

Their field of vision suddenly became extremely open, yet it was so desolate it made one's skin crawl.

Above was a vault of heaven as pale as bone ash; before them was only a deathly silent grey Gobi desert.

On the ground, besides hideous black rocks, there were only countless skeletal remains weathered as sharp as razor blades.

"Hooo—"

The sound was very light, yet sharp, like fingernails frantically scratching a blackboard.

Those were countless fine, high-speed air currents frantically slicing through the air.

"This wind... isn't right."

Ah K was a thin young man; at this moment, he stared at the yellow sand swirling across the sky, his teeth chattering uncontrollably. "It's like it's alive... staring at us."

Before his voice could fade.

The gale originally blowing from the left swirled in mid-air without warning, like a pack of sharks smelling blood, and abruptly turned to pounce toward the group.

Yellow sand filled the sky, and countless translucent Wind Spirits manifested distorted human faces within the dust, opening dark, cavernous mouths to let out shrill shrieks.

"Hide behind the rocks! Quick!"

Zhao Tie roared at the top of his lungs, his muscles bulging instantly as he braced that already pitted tower shield firmly at the very front.

The group scrambled toward a massive weathered rock dozens of meters away.

However, in this ghostly place, physical common sense was a joke.

That strange wind didn't crash into the front of the rock at all; instead, like a venomous snake that had attained spirit, it performed a bizarre drift the instant before impact, bypassing the cover and biting hard from behind.

"Aaaah!!"

Screams of agony instantly tore the formation apart.

Zhao Tie's proud Rock Skin was no different from a sheet of A4 paper before these black winds.

Countless tiny wind blades, like invisible scalpels, instantly sliced open his flesh. The blood didn't even have time to flow before the gale sucked away its moisture, forming dark red scabs.

Ah K fared even worse; half his shoulder was sliced so deep the bone was visible. He looked as if he had been thrown into a meat grinder; his protective item flickered just once before shattering into dross with a 'snap'.

This was not a wind of nature at all.

Every wind blade that scraped past didn't just cut flesh; it was a slow slicing of the soul!

The sensation of pain was magnified tenfold, and his mind was filled with hallucinations of being cut into a thousand pieces.

"It's over..."

Zhao Tie fell to his knees, his tower shield slipping from his hand as he watched helplessly while a second, even more violent wave of Wind Spirits converged into a massive ghostly face, descending upon them.

A situation of certain death.

"What manner of lonely souls and wild ghosts dare to show off their meager skills before this Palace Mistress?"

The invisible Pei Duo curled her lip, her eyes full of disdain.

She lightly flipped her small hand.

An oil-paper umbrella, painted with a black-and-white double fish pattern and exuding an ancient ink fragrance, appeared out of thin air above everyone's heads.

[Underworld Treasure: Yin-Yang Umbrella]

"Open."

Pei Duo's red lips parted slightly.

In an instant, two profound air currents—one black and one white—poured down, transforming into a slowly rotating Taiji energy shield that firmly protected everyone in the center.

Sizzle sizzle—

The moment those terrifying Wind Spirits, capable of slicing gold and breaking jade, struck the black-and-white currents, they were like snowflakes falling into boiling oil, letting out shrill wails and instantly dissolving.

"Thinking of running already?"

Pei Duo flicked her finger, and an enchanting crimson lotus suddenly flew out.

[Karma Fire Red Lotus]

The palm-sized flame entered the gale and expanded violently with the wind.

BOOM—!!

The originally grey sky was instantly illuminated blood-red.

The Karma Fire burned backward along the wind's path, and those previously arrogant Wind Spirits instantly turned into torches, twisting and dissipating in agony in the air.

In just three seconds.

The Realm of Blade-Winds, which had looked like the end of the world just a moment ago, had now become calm and tranquil, with not even a grain of sand daring to rise.

Only the oil-paper umbrella remained, quietly suspended in mid-air, hanging down ten thousand silk tassels, bringing a small taste of the Underworld's shock to this barbaric land.

Ah K, having escaped death, stared blankly at the oil-paper umbrella above. His knees went weak, and he reflexively moved to kneel toward the void again.

"Thank you, God Xiuolotl! It is the deity who has saved us once more..."

"Get up!"

Xu Mo grabbed Ah K's collar and hauled him up by force.

He pushed the blood-stained glasses on the bridge of his nose and pointed at the slowly rotating oil-paper umbrella, his voice cold and harsh:

"Open your damn eyes and look clearly! This is an oil-paper umbrella! This is a Taiji diagram! This is the stuff of our ancestors!"

"Would an Aztec deity use this thing? That Old Ghost has been playing us for fools from the very beginning!"

Ah K was stunned, his lips mumbling but unable to speak.

Xu Mo turned to look at Lin Sa, his gaze deep. "Lin Sa, you should have felt it long ago. That power... is very familiar."

Lin Sa tightened her grip on her dagger and stared at the umbrella, a flicker of heat flashing in her eyes. "That's right. Whether it's a person or a ghost, the one protecting us is definitely one of our own. And an incredibly strong one at that."

"Let's go! Let's go slaughter that traitor!"

With a wave of Xu Mo's hand, the four-person team, their morale greatly boosted, quickly crossed the Gobi under the protection of the oil-paper umbrella.

After the storm subsided, the scene ahead gradually became clear.

A black temple half-buried under a sand dune was revealed.

The temple's style was crude and bloody, the walls covered in mottled murals.

Xu Mo quickly scanned the murals, his footsteps pausing slightly.

"This records the legend of Xiuolotl."

Xu Mo pointed at one of the paintings, interpreting at a rapid pace: "During the creation of the Fifth Sun, the gods needed to jump into a fire pit to sacrifice themselves to power the sun. All the gods jumped, except for this Xiuolotl, who was afraid to die."

"He first turned into a stalk of maize, then into an agave plant after being discovered, and finally into an Axolotl hiding in the water, but he was eventually dragged out and executed."

"A cowardly god afraid of death..." Zhao Tie spat. "No wonder that Old Ghost believes in this; like god, like worshipper."

"Stop talking; the altar is just through here!"

The group passed through the temple, and at the end of their vision, a sacrificial stone gate standing on the edge of a cliff finally appeared.

And on the other side of the stone gate, a hunched figure was sneakily peeking out from behind a rock.

It was precisely Old Ghost!

This fellow was just about to take a photo when he saw Xu Mo and the others rushing out completely unscathed; his face instantly turned whiter than a dead man's.

"He's over there! Don't let him get away!"

Xu Mo's eyes turned sharp, killing intent boiling over.

Lin Sa said nothing, her legs exerting force as she charged out like a cheetah.

Zhao Tie followed closely behind; although he lacked his shield, he was a heavy tank in his own right.

"Help... help!"

Seeing the murderous Lin Sa closing in, Old Ghost was scared out of his wits, frantically pulling out a bone shield to block in front of him.

"Die!"

Lin Sa's wrist flicked, and the Soul-Hooking Chain shot out like a venomous snake's tongue, drawing a bizarre arc in the air to bypass the bone shield's defensive blind spot and stab directly toward Old Ghost's heart.

This strike was a certain kill!

Just as the Soul-Hooking Chain was about to pierce Old Ghost's heart.

CLANG—!!

A deafening sound of clashing metal exploded.

An ancient long saber radiating an obsidian luster slashed down through the air, blood-light flowing along the blade, directly knocking the Yin-energy-laden Soul-Hooking Chain away.

Lin Sa felt a violent shock in the web of her thumb and was forced back three steps by the counter-force, her expression instantly becoming grave.

From behind the sand dune, five men draped in animal skins with bright oil paint on their faces slowly walked out.