Chapter 9: Sudden Change

  In the forest, a thrilling battle was unfolding. Lin Yunfeng unleashed his incredible yin-yang sword technique, while Zhang Aoxue's divine sword emitted an extraordinary purple glow. The two joined forces, leaving the ghostly creature no place to hide, and it ultimately chose to die together with them, charging straight into the yin-yang sword.

  At the same time, Lu Yun launched his unique mental wave in a split second when Lin Yunfeng and Zhang Aoxue were not paying attention. With a high-speed vibration of 4,800 times per second, he broke through the external true energy shield of the ghostly apparition and hit its physical body in an instant. This was something that Lin Yunfeng and Zhang Aoxue did not know about.

  Only the ghostly figure in mid-air, flipping and turning, its body moving at an incredible speed, was completely invisible, only a black gas burst open, a eerie and terrifying voice pierced through the entire forest, extremely frightening. At the same time, the ghost's body also happened to collide with the yin-yang sword above, instantly exploding into black gas, which was shattered by the powerful force of the yin-yang sword, destroying half of the ghost's true form and destroying most of its cultivation. This was just a single moment, if it weren't for its speed being too fast, moving away in an instant, it would have been destroyed completely.

  Zhang Aoxue's treasured sword suddenly let out a long, mournful dragon cry that shook the heavens. The momentum was terrifying and its power unmatched. In an instant, purple light gathered into a massive net that enveloped the heavily injured ghost demon, quickly closing in on it and leaving it no place to escape. A dark shadow darted back and forth within the purple light, but couldn't break free. It let out eerie, sinister howls from its mouth, and each time it came into contact with the purple light, the black energy mass shrunk a little. Slowly, the black energy mass dissipated into wisps of green smoke, disappearing along with the eerie voice within Zhang Aoxue's purple light.

  A purple glow flashed, and the forest instantly dimmed. Zhang Aoxue descended gently like a fairy riding the wind. On this side, Lin Yunfeng also wiped away the sweat on his forehead, smiling as he walked towards Lu Yun. It was clear that Lin Yunfeng had expended a lot of true energy and internal power to wield the yin-yang sword technique, causing severe consumption of his primordial spirit. He needed to go back and rest well.

  Lu Yun smiled and said, "Sister's swordsmanship is truly unparalleled and extremely brilliant. Cloud Feng's yin-yang law sword is also formidable, I really admire it immensely. Now that the ghost has finally been eliminated, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. By the way, Cloud Feng, judging from your expression, you seem to know something about the origin of that ghost, tell me and let me gain some insight."

  Lin Yunfeng smiled complacently, looked at Zhang Aoxue beside him, and hastily said: "Sister, this time I also have a little credit, let's just say it's to make up for the last time, I hope sister won't remember that matter again, okay?"

  Zhang Aoxue calmly said, "The treasure sword is now in hand, and I don't want to dwell on the past. Since we both came from Yi Garden, let's consider this matter settled. Don't mention it again in the future, I'm going back." After finishing speaking, he slowly walked away.

  Lu Yun glanced at Lin Yunfeng and said softly, "Let's go back with Shifu instead. You can tell me about the origin of that ghost on the way." After finishing speaking, he looked at the snow-white figure and a hint of a calm smile appeared in his eyes.

  Lin Yunfeng gave a slight push to Lu Yun, and the two of them instantly became parallel with Zhang Aoxue. Lin Yunfeng didn't know if it was intentional or not, but he lightly pushed Lu Yun towards Zhang Aoxue's side, while he himself walked on the outside, intentionally or unintentionally blocking Lu Yun's path, forcing him to lean in closer to Zhang Aoxue. Lin Yunfeng smiled and said: "Lu Yun, when we talk about that ghostly entity, it's not just a matter of taking something from someone else. That belongs to the Ghost Sect, or rather, it's one of the most difficult roles to deal with in the world of ghostly objects. In the legendary realm of ghosts, ghosts are divided into ordinary ghost spirits, followed by ghostly spirits that are ten times more powerful, then ghostly entities that are ten times more powerful than ghostly spirits, and finally, there are the most powerful ghostly immortals. What we encountered today is precisely that legendary ghostly entity. If it weren't for Aoxue Shifu being here, we would have been in danger, don't you think?" After finishing speaking, he gave Lu Yun a deliberate glance.

  Lu Yun smiled and said, "Right, you're right. This time it was all thanks to Ao Xue Shijie and you, or else I would have been done for." After finishing speaking, he took a glance at Zhang Ao Xue beside him, but she had a cold expression, her face devoid of emotion, like an iceberg that kept people at bay, yet still exuded an irresistible charm. Lu Yun took a deep breath, and the faint scent of orchids instantly left a lasting impression on his mind, perhaps forever unforgettable.

  Before long, the three of them traversed the dense forest and walked out of this primitive forest. The three of them walked quietly, Lin Yunfeng always found Lu Yun to talk to, while Zhang Aoxue just listened without saying a word, and the three of them seemed somewhat discordant. Before long, the three of them had left the forest for two miles, at which time an image suddenly appeared in Lu Yun's mind, very clear but extremely mysterious. Lu Yun immediately stopped in his tracks, instantly turned around, and looked at that piece of forest. Suddenly a strange scene appeared before him, startling Lu Yun.

  In the center of that forest, a dark black air column suddenly rose into the sky. When it reached about ten feet high, it was enveloped by a layer of red light from all sides, and for a moment, the red light surged strongly, suppressing the black air column. But immediately, the black air column burst out with intense black light, instantly breaking through the red light, struggling to free itself and rush into the sky. Above the entire forest, two magnificent and beautiful air masses, one red and one black, were constantly confronting each other, rising and falling in turn, appearing alternately, extremely beautiful but filled with tense atmosphere.

  Zhang Aoxue and Lin Yunfeng both took several steps forward before they noticed Lu Yun's actions, and turned their heads to look at him. As a result, the strange scene in the empty tree forest was seen by both of them, and their faces changed color at the same time, knowing that something big had happened there.

  Lu Yun said calmly, "This forest is actually an array, it should have been left by a predecessor of the Xian Tian realm a long time ago. It's also possible that our ancestors in Yi Garden left it to suppress the gloomy yin energy deep within this forest and the cold pool. Who would have thought that today, that yin energy broke through the seal set by our ancestors, evaded our attention, and successfully rushed out? Now what do you think we should do?"

  Lin Yunfeng's expression turned serious as he said, "Just by looking at that black light pillar, we can roughly understand that this time, the ghostly energy is extremely powerful. With our three people's strength, it's probably not easy to eliminate them, and at most, we can only temporarily suppress them for a while. I think we should first go back and try our best, if it doesn't work, then we'll have no choice but to seek help from Yi Garden."

  Zhang Aoxue's face was calm, and she said in a low voice: "Since it has been discovered, it must be eliminated, no matter how powerful it is." As soon as the words fell, the purple light reappeared. On her head, the treasure sword stood horizontally, rotating quietly, with a faint purple glow flashing around it, looking very mysterious. Zhang Aoxue's body suddenly shot up into the sky and landed on the sword, flying with it. The figure was incredibly beautiful, leaving Lu Yun and Lin Yunfeng stunned.

  Lin Yunfeng gently pulled on Lu Yun's sleeve, gazing at Zhang Aoxue in the sky, and said in a low voice: "How about our Yi Garden's number one beauty? Not bad, right? I heard that Li Hongfei from Qianyuan is also pursuing her. That guy is said to have high cultivation, be arrogant and look down on others, and be unstoppable. If our Yi Garden's most beautiful flower were to fall into his hands, it would be infuriating! What do you think? Honestly, Lu Yun, as a good friend, I think that with my appearance, I'm not quite suitable for her. But looking at you, I think you're just right for her, haha, a match made in heaven! Go for it, buddy, don't embarrass me, such a beautiful beauty would be wasted on someone else, what a pity, isn't it? Haha." After finishing speaking, a sly smile appeared on his face, and his body instantly disappeared from Lu Yun's side.

  Lu Yun was stunned, unable to believe that Lin Yun Feng would say such a thing while holding onto him. Looking at the snow-white figure in the distance, he couldn't help but feel moved, but how did she see him? Perhaps it was just a memory after all. He lightly shook his head, no longer thinking wildly, and Lu Yun also flew forward on his sword, soon arriving at the edge of the forest. At this time, both of them had already entered, and suddenly a purple aura filled the sky, instantly shooting up and suppressing the extremely fierce black air by a lot.

  Lu Yun did not immediately enter, but stood outside the forest, with black light flashing in his eyes. His mental divine wave rotated at a speed of 3,200 times per breath, instantly understanding the general situation inside the forest. Lu Yun's mental divine wave suddenly reached the depths of the cold pool and came into contact with a rapidly rotating airflow that contained an extremely evil and eerie ghost energy. As soon as Lu Yun's mental divine wave approached the strange airflow, it was immediately drawn away by a peculiar power and could not detect any results. This was the first time Lu Yun had encountered such a situation, and he felt discontent in his heart. He once again increased the frequency of his mental divine wave to 5,400 times per breath and approached the rotating airflow again.

  This time, it was still bounced back, but due to the frequency suddenly increasing by one level, not all of them were bounced back. Many speed-running thought waves still sensed some things. Lu Yun's heart was shocked beyond measure, and once again raised the frequency of his mind wave to 6,400 times per instant. This time, however, nothing could be detected at all. This left Lu Yun stunned, unable to understand what was going on.

  Zhang Aoxue's divine sword shone brightly, and wherever the purple light reached, the black demonic energy would retreat in disarray. It was clear that this treasure sword could restrain the black demonic energy. Meanwhile, Lin Yunfeng exerted his full strength to unleash the "Demon-Slaying Sword", and the dark blue light enveloped an area of ten zhang in diameter, causing the black demonic energy to let out a shrill cry and disperse whenever it came into contact with the dark blue light.

  At this time, a black and shiny figure slowly gathered at the edge of the cold pool. The green eyes emitted an eerie glow. It was surrounded by countless black gases, like a black protective aura, tightly enveloping it inside. The body of this dark shadow was completely composed of black gas, and the bright black light was as if it were a real entity, extremely astonishing. Twelve ghostly apparitions appeared around, all of which were the same as the ones Zhang Aoxue and his two companions had encountered before, extremely formidable and very difficult to kill.

  At this moment, Zhang Aoxue's face revealed a bright glow, and the whole person was like a goddess, emitting a cold and holy aura. She stood quietly in mid-air, her hand holding a treasure sword that burst out with an unparalleled purple light, illuminating everything within a radius of ten feet in a deep purple-red hue. All the ghostly creatures under the purple light let out terrified screams, fearing the aura of the treasure sword in her hand. Meanwhile, the tall and dark ghostly figure beside the cold pool gazed at the purple longsword in the air with eyes flashing green eerie lights, letting out a series of shrill whistles from its mouth.

  At this time, Lu Yun outside the forest, after several experiments, finally made a major discovery about his own mind wave. He only realized now that using his mind wave to detect the other party's movement was not necessarily effective just because of its high frequency. To detect the other party's message, the most important thing is to adjust one's own mind wave to be consistent with the other party's frequency, so that it can be converted into a wave rate similar to the other party's, easily entering the other party's defense layer and detecting the desired information. This discovery played a huge role in Lu Yun's future cultivation and practice.

  Lu Yun's body suddenly appeared beside the cold pool, looking at the black ghostly shadow. Lu Yun was extremely surprised in his heart. Obviously, the strange airflow he had detected earlier was this black mysterious ghost shadow. Taking a glance at Lin Yunfeng not far away, he was now fiercely battling four ghostly apparitions with all his might. The "Demon-Slaying Sword" emitted a piercing blue-green light, dancing wildly in the air, and the surrounding airflow instantly formed a vortex, extremely powerful. The four ghostly apparitions had black light flowing around their bodies, rapidly moving, just like a black aura, slowly closing in on Lin Yunfeng, and slowly shrinking the circle.

  Zhang Aoxue in mid-air, at this moment was exerting her divine might, a purple light burst forth, just like the scorching sun in the sky. The powerful aura instantly enveloped every part of the forest, suppressing those ghostly creatures to let out shrill cries one after another, clearly they were extremely fearful of her divine sword. Lu Yun's body flashed, slightly avoiding a ghostly specter, his longsword instantly left its scabbard, a red light burst forth in great splendor. The sword carried the power of splitting heaven and earth, instantly rapidly vibrating, forming countless vibration waves, incredibly powerful, instantly striking out. Only to see hundreds of swords gathering into one sword, just like a fire dragon, shining with dazzling brilliance, instantly chopping into the body of a ghostly specter.

  In Lu Yun's mind, this sword was extremely powerful, and the ghost should have been destroyed or at least severely injured. However, the result shocked him. The ghost's body flowed with a black light, instantly becoming illusory, making the powerful sword seem like it had struck empty air, without any effect. After the sword passed, except for cutting down several trees ten feet away, there was no harm done to the ghost. A black gas flowed, and in front of Lu Yun, the ghost instantly recovered its original form, staring at him with a gloomy smile. The shallow green eyes revealed a hint of evil, which was very frightening.

  Lin Yunfeng glanced at Lu Yun, feeling a bit worried about his safety. After all, he had only been practicing for a year and was still far from being strong enough. Lin Yunfeng shouted loudly: "Lu Yun, quickly come closer to me! This time, these ghosts are much more powerful than the first one. That black ghostly shadow by the pool is likely to be the legendary Ghost Immortal, which we can't handle right now. Come over quickly, I'll use my Yin-Yang Sword Technique again, hoping to kill some of them and break out to seek help, hurry up!"

  Lu Yun's face changed as he heard the words, and his body quickly shot towards Lin Yunfeng. At the same time, when he stood up, Lu Yun suddenly emitted a wave of spiritual energy with a speed of 3,600 times per second, instantly attacking the ghostly creature's body 3,600 times. Lu Yun was in mid-air, a strange smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. The 3,600 attacks were launched in an instant, shattering the seven layers of aura surrounding the ghostly creature. Immediately afterwards, the high-speed vibrating spiritual energy wave instantly shook its divine consciousness to destruction, and its body turned into a wisp of green smoke, completely annihilating it. This was something that made Lu Yun extremely happy, but he didn't show it on his face.

  Zhang Aoxue's divine sword flashed across the sky, emitting a dazzling dark blue color. Within that dark blue hue, a faint purple color was subtly intertwined, making it difficult to discern. With her hands grasping the hilt, the purple explosive divine sword resembled a heavenly dragon at the horizon, accompanied by a flashing purple glow that danced around her, sweeping and slashing in all directions, leaving no match. The entire forest was enveloped in a layer of purple radiance, and from afar, it seemed like a cluster of purple star clouds, breathtakingly beautiful.

  Lin Yunfeng saw that Lu Yun had arrived by his side and loudly said: "Lu Yun, quickly activate the 'Yi Tian Fa Jue' to protect your body, and use all your strength to guard me. I want to cast the 'Yin Yang Fa Jian', and have a final showdown with these ghostly creatures, hoping to eliminate some of them."

  Lu Yun's body was instantly surrounded by a flowing light, and a mysterious blue-green aura appeared around him. The Yi Garden is based on the I Ching, belonging to the Taoist school. The protective true energy cultivated through the Taoist school's spiritual practice is blue-green in color, which is the original color of the Three Purities. Just like the Buddhist golden light protection, it is all gold in color. Lu Yun's long sword emitted a red glow, and at this moment he displayed the "Lihuo Tiangang Sword Technique" with ten layers of power, without any reservation. Suddenly, a red glow burst into the sky, enveloping the entire forest, and under the purple light, a red color appeared, forming two strange lights, one red and one purple.

  Lin Yunfeng's body burst forth with a brilliant green light, his hands clasped together in front of his chest forming a strange hand seal. His entire being hovered in mid-air, one meter above the ground, as if he were a celestial deity. A dazzling radiance erupted from his body. Suddenly, Lin Yunfeng let out a thunderous roar that shook the surroundings. He then began to chant: "Heaven and earth, all things, yin and yang, the three realms and five elements, obey my command! Yin-yang sword of law, annihilate ghosts and slay immortals! Shatter, rend, destroy, annihilate!"

  In an instant, the air around him surged and the entire forest was filled with an overwhelmingly powerful force. Lin Yunfeng's body hovered in mid-air, and a burst of light suddenly broke through above his head, revealing a gleaming red and green dual-colored Void Sword that had appeared out of thin air on top of his head. In the blink of an eye, the burst of light vanished, and the Void Yin-Yang Sword exploded with dazzling brilliance, its length stretching to over ten zhang as it faced the wind. Countless talismans flashed across the sword's surface, crystal clear and constantly radiating outward from top to bottom in a stream of red and green light.

  Lu Yun was below Lin Yun Feng, surrounded by countless black gases on all sides, constantly looking for an opportunity to attack him and devour his soul. Unfortunately, as soon as they approached his body, they would be repelled by the mysterious blue "Yi Tian Fa Jue", unable to get close. Lu Yun's current opponent was a ghostly creature, extremely cunning, and it was clear that when Lu Yun killed the ghost earlier, Lin Yun Feng and Zhang Ao Xue had not noticed, but these ghosts had. Therefore, when confronting Lu Yun, this ghost appeared to be very cautious.

  Zhang Aoxue had already killed two ghostly apparitions, but unfortunately, there were still four more by her side. Moreover, those four did not engage in a fierce battle with her, they just wanted to hold her back until she exhausted her true energy and then attack her. This made it temporarily impossible for her to deal with the four ghostly apparitions, so she could only kill some weak and small ghostly creatures.

  At the time when Zhang Aoxue was on a killing spree, the ghost fairy did not move, but stood quietly there, silently watching the three of them. In its green eyes, a sinister and evil gaze flickered. At this moment, when Lin Yunfeng displayed his "Yin Yang Fa Sword", the ghost fairy suddenly moved. A black shadow flashed by, and the ghost fairy's shadow suddenly appeared in front of Lin Yunfeng. The ghost fairy let out a sinister laugh, and a green light flashed through its eyes. In an instant, Lin Yunfeng's body shook violently as he was struck by the ghost fairy's strange and eerie green aura, causing his blood to churn and him to fall to the ground.

  Lu Yun sensed Lin Yun Feng's situation, the long sword in his hand bursting with red light, instantly blocking in front of Lin Yun Feng, stopping the ghost fairy from further attack. Lu Yun loudly asked: "Yun Feng are you okay? Is it serious?"

  Lin Yunfeng was sweating profusely, trying to wield his yin-yang sword while also circulating his internal energy to protect himself, which was already a great strain. Now that he had been struck by the ghost fairy's sinister and evil "Green-eyed Ghost Thorn", how could he possibly feel good? Yet he still stubbornly said: "Don't worry, be careful of its eyes, from there it can emit a green-colored energy thorn, very overbearing, be careful."

  Lu Yun said in a low voice, "Don't worry, you be careful, I'll take care of this." As soon as he finished speaking, he swung his sword horizontally and a bright red sword light flashed out, striking the ghost fairy. The ghost fairy just smiled gloomily and a black glow flowed over its body, easily dispelling Lu Yun's powerful sword attack. The ghost fairy's eyes shot out green lights that looked like a net, slowly surrounding Lu Yun in the middle. Lu Yun quickly dodged and weaved, avoiding the opponent's green lights again and again. Whenever he couldn't avoid them, he used his long sword to block them. However, every time he blocked one, a green mark would appear on the sword, weakening its red glow and reducing its power. This made Lu Yun increasingly endangered.

  Lin Yunfeng exerted his full strength to control the yin-yang sword on top of his head, instantly moving it to the ghost fairy's head and covering her from below. The ghost fairy let out a furious roar as black light flowed around her body, colliding with the red and green glow of the yin-yang sword and producing countless dense explosions. In mid-air, numerous talismans were printed on the ghost fairy's outer black aura, instantly generating an extremely powerful destructive force that shook the ghost fairy's surrounding airflow, causing her dark light to dim instantly. This showed just how extraordinary the yin-yang sword was, a bane to all ghostly creatures. Even if one had cultivated to the level of a ghost fairy, they still couldn't withstand the attack of this yin-yang sword.

  However, the Ghost Immortal was still a formidable opponent, known as the strongest in the Ghost Domain. It wasn't that easy to eliminate him. This time, Lin Yunfeng's Yin-Yang Sword Art was different from before. Last time, it was just a single "Break" seal, but this time it included "Wound", "Split", "Break", and "Destroy", with the most powerful "Annihilation" technique inside, which was why the Ghost Immortal was forced to defend himself with all his might, his breathing weak.

  Lu Yun moved to Lin Yun Feng's side, carefully protecting his safety. Lu Yun understood that Lin Yun Feng's yin-yang sword was incredibly powerful, and judging from the ghost fairy's appearance, as long as Lin Yun Feng could hold on for a sufficient amount of time, there was hope to eliminate it. Unfortunately, the key question was whether Yun Feng could hold on? Lu Yun had already seen that Yun Feng was about to collapse, his true yuan being consumed at an alarming rate, and he was almost unable to support himself. And as for the ghost fairy, up until now, it hadn't been truly hit by the sword's attack on its main body, only having some of its surrounding ghostly energy broken, which didn't cause much harm to it.

  On this side, Zhang Aoxue's progress was not great either. Although she didn't fall behind, she clearly knew the intentions of those ghosts. After glancing at Lu Yun and Lin Yunfeng, a hint of anxiety appeared in Zhang Aoxue's eyes. She had already seen that Lin Yunfeng couldn't hold on much longer. The Tianxia Sword Technique that Lu Yun possessed was still effective against monsters, but it was useless against these ghostly creatures. Once Lin Yunfeng exhausted his true energy, the three of them would be in danger.

  Zhang Aoxue's body flashed, and in an instant, he appeared between Lin Yunfeng and Lu Yun. The purple-glowing divine sword that was suspended in mid-air instantly appeared above the Ghost Immortal, accompanied by a dazzling display of purple light, and hacked down fiercely. At the same moment, the four ghostly apparitions that were originally attacking Zhang Aoxue, along with the four ghostly apparitions that had begun to attack Lin Yunfeng, let out a simultaneous angry roar, and instantly went crazy, surrounding Lin Yunfeng in an attempt to destroy his yin-yang sword and rescue the Ghost Immortal.

  This time, Lu Yun's pressure increased greatly, and he couldn't take care of it at all. Lin Yunfeng was struck by a ghostly aura, causing his protective true energy to shatter, and he fell to the ground unconscious. The yin-yang sword in the air lost its controller and automatically disappeared. At this moment, Zhang Aoxue's divine sword happened to slash down, and the ghostly immortal let out a loud roar, bursting forth with a dense black aura that instantly dissipated his body, and he vanished from the three people's sight in the blink of an eye.

  Zhang Aoxue shouted loudly: "Lu Yun, take care of him, I'll guard you." After finishing, the divine sword's purple light burst out again, illuminating the entire forest once more, forcing those ghosts to retreat in a flurry, extremely wary of her sword. Lu Yun helped Lin Yunfeng up, tightly leaning against him, with his long sword continuously rotating around the two, firmly encircling them in the middle.

  Not far away, the ghost's eyes flashed with angry gaze, apparently having suffered a great loss under the yin-yang sword law, making it extremely furious. Around it were nine ghostly apparitions and ten ghostly shadows emitting evil powers, quietly forming a united front against Zhang Aosnow's divine sword. For a moment, the situation was at an impasse, with both sides waiting for an opportunity.

  What will be the outcome in the end? Will Zhang Aoxue, Lu Yun and Lin Yunfeng be safe or fall into desperation?