57: Chapter 57 The Deadly Scheme of Yinshan

In the deep fog of the deep-water area in the southern suburbs of Jiangzhou.

Inside the hall of the Mingyue Cruise Ship, as the final auction item made its appearance, the atmosphere fell into an eerie, dead silence.

The cold white beam of the spotlight hit the center of the auction stage.

On a cart built from some unknown aged wood, a half-person-tall black clay urn sat quietly.

The surface of the urn was extremely rough, pasted with a thick layer of dark brown substance.

The mouth of the urn was sealed crosswise by pieces of black talisman paper covered in crimson runes.

There was no wind, yet the edges of those black talisman papers were trembling slightly, faintly emitting a harsh sound similar to countless fingernails scratching the inner wall.

A strong stench of corpses, mixed with the fishy and rotting scent of an underground river, instantly swept across the entire venue like an invisible tide.

Inside Box Number Eight on the second floor.

The moment that urn appeared, Lin Ye narrowed his eyes sharply.

The Pure Yang Dao Body was the most sensitive to such evil and ominous things.

He could clearly feel the instinctive resistance and agitation of the Qi and blood within his body.

This smell, and these vicious black runes.

Yinshan Sect!

That night, he had just struck dead a shriveled old man from the Yinshan Sect across the air with thunder and fire.

Tonight, at the finale auction item of this cruise ship, he actually ran into the handiwork of this bunch of evil cultivators who specialized in eating dead men's meals once again.

"Distinguished guests, look closely."

High above the platform, the auctioneer Ghost Hand Seven emitted two strange laughs like a night owl.

In his only remaining right eye, a trace of fanaticism and madness that ordinary people could hardly detect was dancing.

"This is the finale supreme treasure — [Xuanyin Hundred Ghosts Zun]!"

"Sealed within this clay urn is an unformed Ghost King fetus. As long as it is nourished with a large amount of living people's vital blood, within seven days, it can refine a peerless Ghost King that obeys every command! Starting bid, fifty million!"

Ghost Hand Seven's introduction instantly caused everyone in the hall to gasp.

A Ghost King that obeyed every command?

In this troubled world plagued by demons and monsters, if one could possess a Ghost King as a bodyguard, it would practically be equivalent to having an extra immunity talisman.

Many profit-driven noble family representatives and wealthy businessmen all burst out with greedy lights in their eyes.

"A bunch of idiots."

Lin Ye sat on the leather sofa, coldly spitting out four words.

Leng Yue picked up her teacup, gently taking a sip of warm water, her dark red eyes looking down through the glass curtain wall at the restless mortals below with a trace of pity.

"Inside this urn, there is not a shred of vitality of a Ghost King fetus; it is packed full of the resentment of fierce ghosts tortured to death."

"Once the seal is torn open, everyone on this ship will become blood food for those resentful spirits."

Leng Yue exposed the heavenly secret in a single sentence.

Lin Ye clenched his fists tightly.

Those madmen of the Yinshan Sect clearly suffered a huge loss last night, and somehow found out that Jiangzhou had a cruise ship auction gathering the wealthy tonight, intentionally setting up this death trap.

They wanted to use the vital blood of the wealthy and noble living people filling this ship as sacrifices, laying out a slaughter blood formation here!

The micro-light on the retina flickered frantically, and the system's metallic voice carrying a bit of combative spirit rang crisply in his mind.

"Ding! "My Lord, Please Behave Yourself" System prompt: Detected the [Hundred Ghosts Devouring Soul Formation] laid down by the Yinshan Sect."

"The lives of a ship full of people hang by a thread. Please have the host finalize a strategy to break the formation within three minutes, demonstrating the absolute suppression of the Xuanmen orthodox!"

The light screen unfolded, displaying three options:

[Option A: Protect oneself — Drag the two wives, the fatty, and Young Master Qin, break the back window of the box amidst the chaos, and jump into the river to escape.]

[Reward: Swimming Ace title. Consequence: Everyone on the ship dies completely, and when The Ninth Bureau investigates, you will take the blame for fleeing in fear of crime, living in the sewers for the rest of your life.]

[Option B: Break the game with money power — Have Young Master Qin smash out one hundred million to win the urn, then take the urn to find an uninhabited barren mountain and wild ridge to deal with it slowly.]

[Reward: Big Sucker Medal. Consequence: The Yinshan Sect evil cultivators will secretly detonate the formation; the money is spent, and life is still lost.]

[Option C: Flip the table, smash the place — Directly expose this vicious kill formation! Utilize the newly mastered [Lightning Summoning Talisman], giving this bunch of rats who only dare to hide in the sewers a taste of the nine heavens' thunder shock!]

[Reward: Husband Points + 400, intercept [Yinshan Sect Secret Order], thoroughly making a name for oneself in the Jiangnan metaphysics world.]

Lin Ye's mouth curved into a sharp, cold smile.

Ever since inheriting this Funeral Shop, he deeply understood one principle: to deal with those desperate mad dogs, only by being madder, more ruthless, and more domineering than them could one completely beat them into submission.

"I choose C!"

The moment his thought settled.

Inside VIP Box Number Three, Gu Changfeng's arrogant voice already resounded through the microphone across the entire venue:

"Sixty million! This Ghost King, this young master wants it!"

The wealthy businessmen in the hall looked at each other in dismay; coerced by the Gu family's background, for a moment no one dared to voice a bid.

A trace of mockery flashed across the depths of Ghost Hand Seven's eyes, raising the human leg bone in his hand, preparing to strike the gong.

"Bang!"

A deafening loud sound suddenly exploded on the second floor.

The entire heavy bulletproof glass of VIP Box Number Eight was forcefully shattered by an extremely violent strand of Pure Yang Qi!

Countless glass fragments poured down like a rainstorm, smashing onto the open space around the auction stage, startling the guests in the audience into retreating repeatedly.

Lin Ye held the seven-section peach wood sword covered in thunder-strike patterns upside down with one hand, stepping out of the box's window frame in one step, standing with a straight posture on the observation terrace extending from the second floor.

He looked down condescendingly at Ghost Hand Seven on the stage, his voice mixed with Daoist true Qi, exploding like a thunderclap on flat ground inside the entire cruise ship hall:

"Buying a broken nightstool filled with corpse water for fifty million, and still delusional about hatching a Ghost King? Ghost Hand Seven, you abandoned disciple of the corpse-driving lineage, in order to borrow the evil magic of the Yinshan Sect to prolong your life, you truly don't even want your face anymore!"

"Wanting to drag a full ship of people to be buried with you, have you asked the sword in my hand?"

As soon as these words came out, the whole audience was in an uproar.

The wealthy businessmen and rogue cultivators in the hall all changed their expressions.

The ferocious name of the Yinshan Sect was notoriously stinking in the metaphysics world; anyone tainted with a relationship with them would definitely come to no good end.

Inside Box Number Three, Gu Changfeng's face turned livid. He rushed to the window abruptly, pointing at Lin Ye and cursing loudly:

"Lin surnamed! Don't you make false accusations! Lacking money to bid yourself, you ran out to ruin this young master's good deed? Elder Sun, this person is disrupting the venue, take him down immediately!"

Elder Sun, who was standing behind him, was just about to make a move.

Yet Ghost Hand Seven on the high platform suddenly let out a series of miserable and harsh frantic laughter.

"Hhahahaha... What a sharp-eyed junior! It's just a pity that you discovered it too late!"

Inside Ghost Hand Seven's only remaining right eye, it was instantly swallowed by a pitch-black dead Qi.

His originally hunchbacked body swelled violently, and black bloodstains burst open on the surface of his skin.

Without any hesitation at all, he raised the human leg bone in his hand and fiercely smashed it onto the black clay urn in front of him.

"The Yinshan Gate opens, Hundred Ghosts Night Parade! Kill for me!"

"Crack!"

The urn shattered, and the cross-sealed black talisman paper spontaneously burned instantly.

A fishy-smelling black fog, concentrated to the extreme, spewed out crazily from inside the urn body.

Accompanied by scalp-numbing, miserable ghost howls, hundreds of thousands of twisted and ferocious ghost faces condensed and formed within the black fog.

These resentful spirits had crimson eyes and would bite whoever they saw.

Several wealthy businessmen closest to the high platform didn't even have time to scream before they were enveloped by the black fog.

In just a few seconds, living people had all their vital blood sucked dry, turning into a few skin-and-bone dried corpses that collapsed desolately to the ground.

The entire auction hall instantly turned into a living purgatory. Terrified screams and cries resounded through the cruise ship.

"Monsters, how dare you!"

Inside Box Number Three, Elder Sun saw that the situation was bad and let out a loud shout, pulling out a copper coin sword from his embrace, leaping down from the second floor in a bound, attempting to block those spreading black fogs.

Gu Changfeng also panicked. He suddenly remembered the [Purple Gold Thunder-Fire Mirror] he had just spent an astronomical price of two hundred million to win at auction.

"This young master has Mount Longhu's supreme treasure in hand; what can mere fierce ghosts do to me!"

Gu Changfeng grabbed the Purple Gold ancient mirror like grabbing a straw for survival.

He bit his fingertips, pouring all his true Qi unreservedly into the mirror surface, attempting to stimulate the heavenly thunder and earth fire within it.

A strange change suddenly occurred!

The moment his true Qi surged into the ancient mirror.

That seemingly fierce layer of purple-gold light on the mirror surface instantly went out.

Immediately following, an extreme Yin evil Qi that had accumulated for who knows how many years burst out!

This evil Qi, like a poisonous snake hidden in the dark, poured back up along Gu Changfeng's arm.

"Ah!"

Gu Changfeng let out a miserable scream like a slaughtered pig.

His entire right arm holding the ancient mirror instantly formed a thick layer of black solid ice.

The sound of meridians snapping inch by inch was clearly audible; this arm could be considered completely crippled!

The Purple Gold Thunder-Fire Mirror fell to the ground, breaking into two halves.

This so-called supreme treasure was truly, as Lin Ye said, a fatal life-claiming talisman!

"Second Young Master!"

Elder Sun looked back with a distracted mind, and was immediately taken advantage of by two fierce ghosts, who bit onto his shoulders tightly, causing him to roll violently on the ground in pain.

The emotion of despair spread across the entire cruise ship.

The doors and windows of the hall had long been welded shut by Yin Qi, leaving no way to escape.

"Tiresome."

Right in this purgatory of ghost-crying and wolf-howling, a cold snort carrying endless majesty came out from the terrace of Box Number Eight.

Leng Yue had stood beside Lin Ye at some unknown time.

She looked down condescendingly at the rampaging Hundred Ghosts below, like an ancient deity viewing all living beings as mere straw.

Within her dark red eyes, the golden-red Red Lotus Karmic Fire leaped and burned.

She didn't strike; solely relying on that trace of released half-step Hanba coercion, she made those fiercely pouncing and biting fierce ghosts feel like they had encountered their natural enemy, emitting bouts of frightened lamentations, their bodies rigid in place, not daring to advance even half a step forward anymore.

Lin Ye seized the opportunity, his toes stamping fiercely on the edge of the terrace.

Like a spreading-winged flying bird, his posture was agile as he leaped down from the second floor.

While in mid-air, his left hand deftly pulled out a piece of yellow mounting paper covered in intricate cinnabar patterns from his pocket.

This was precisely the profound-grade spell he had just mastered this morning —

[Lightning Summoning Talisman]!