Master of Strange Dao

"There was only an empty tomb left there, nothing but the Ghost King."

"I'm not here for the Ghost King. I was entrusted by someone to deliver a message to the Xi Family."

The ghost's expression changed and, without a word, turned around to lead the way.

Rounding the disorderly growing forest, Yu Ziqing faintly realized that this place was a maze; without the correct path, one could never reach his intended destination.

And flying over was out of the question.

He was now walking on the path toward that blessed land.

The people of the Xi Family seemed very cautious, leaving no obvious entrance, but somehow they extended the entrance into the maze of the Ghost Forest, making it a part of the maze.

Those unaware of the path would likely not find the entrance to that blessed land even if they leveled the entire Ghost Forest.

After walking over a dozen miles, that odd feeling slowly vanished. Yu Ziqing knew he had entered the blessed land.

However, the surrounding forest showed not a single change, transitioning very naturally.

Looking up, he noticed no other changes either.

Looking back, the path he came by had disappeared; yet Yu Ziqing could feel that if he wanted to leave, he just needed to walk through the forest to easily make his exit.

It seems the people of the Xi Family had thought of everything: easy to exit, hard to enter. If there were any problems, they wouldn't get trapped here.

Continuing along the forest for several miles and stepping out of the forest, the first thing he saw was a vast cemetery.

In the distance, a huge tombstone hundreds of feet high stood on the land, continuously swallowing the Death Qi of the area. The sky was dim, the sun unseen, the air heavy with yin qi, yet the ground emanated a relentless heat.

Indeed, this ghostly place was quite bizarre.

The most conspicuous landmark was the tombstone; it felt as if the yin and yang of heaven and earth were reversed.

The atmosphere became extremely strange; the Five Qi flowing inside him felt suppressed here.

With a thought, Yu Ziqing understood that this was another form of Alien Power suppression.

It was not just suppressing Qi Refining Cultivators but affecting everyone.

He let the Five Qi run in reverse, and the uncomfortable Five Little Ones immediately felt much better.

The sensation of returning to the normal world reappeared.

It was as if the heavy yin qi in the sky and the heavy yang qi on the ground, even heavier underground, felt very normal.

The ghost that brought Yu Ziqing gave a bow towards the distant tombstone and then quietly retreated.

Yu Ziqing looked around, seeing no one. He bowed, calling out loudly.

"I am Qing Ziyu, entrusted by Xia Yixing to deliver a verbal message."

As soon as his words fell, he saw a tomb's tombstone in the distant cemetery pull from the ground and transform into a shadow, flying towards Yu Ziqing.

Yu Ziqing lifted his eyelids, stood his ground, and in an instant, caught the tombstone. With a flick of his wrist, his hand glided across the surface of the tombstone, then spun it around and threw it back to its place.

The several feet tall tombstone heavily crashed back into its original position; the tomb exploded with a bang as a shadow burst out and instantly rushed towards Yu Ziqing.

Sensing the power contained in the shadow, Yu Ziqing slightly crouched and threw a punch.

In an instant, a muffled sound erupted and a massive wave of energy spread from Yu Ziqing's fist, the shadow howled and flew back.

The shadow moved swiftly, drawing trails in mid-air, and reappeared next to Yu Ziqing.

Yu Ziqing chuckled, extended one hand, and withstood a strike from the shadow. With thudding sounds on his arm, he flicked his wrist and caught the shadow.

A completely black cat with bulging eyes was caught by the nape by Yu Ziqing. It flailed in mid-air, its claws creating afterimages, at most leaving faint white marks on Yu Ziqing's skin.

"Meow?"

The black cat paused, opened its mouth wide, exposing its sharp teeth, and hissed at Yu Ziqing.

"Ha..."

Yu Ziqing copied, opened his mouth wide, showing his teeth, and replied.

"Ha!"

The flustered black cat, after a pause, snarled and spoke human words.

"Put me down, if you dare!"

Yu Ziqing complied kindly and set it down.

The shape of the black cat immediately disappeared, then attacked from behind.

Yu Ziqing clenched his fist, twisted his waist, and a power burst forth like a thrown spear, skimming past the cat's head. The power concentrated and did not disperse until it exploded after several dozen feet, shredding the nearby trees into splinters.

The cat's ears flopped as if instantly deaf; with its tail between its legs, Yu Ziqing held it, stroking its sleek black fur.

Seeing the black cat give in, Yu Ziqing held it in his arms while stroking it and asked.

"Is there no one around? Xia Yixing is in deep trouble; I was entrusted to deliver a message."

"Everyone's asleep," the black cat mumbled softly with its ears still flat.

"Well, could you wake someone up? Xia Yixing has been captured, if no one rescues him, he's done for."

"Oh..." the black cat wriggled its body, letting Yu Ziqing finish stroking its left side, then a few more strokes on the right side, before it finally jumped down and slapped a tombstone with its paw.

"Wake up, Xia Yixing is about to die."

The tomb slowly cracked open, and a woman with eyes closed and her body full of yin qi, floated straight up.