The First Immortal of Destiny

Dense ghostly qi congealed into black clouds.

Within the black clouds, countless ghosts of various terrifying shapes squirmed madly, roaring soundlessly!

Clusters of Grade II talismans exploded, their spirit light flaring brilliantly.

It was as if a huge stone had been dropped into a lake of black tide.

As the rolling clouds of ghostly shadows were pushed away, an astral qi shield materialized.

At the same time, Shen Mo burst out of the Ghost Tide, riding a broadsword.

He held the Dragon Sparrow Sword in his right hand.

This middle-grade profound-level Flying Sword was covered in tiny notches and cracks, looking like it wouldn't last much longer.

In his left hand was the Soul Refining Flag, pulsing with Bloody Fiend.

The Ghost Bride, Master Hong Jue, and other powerful Soul Generals had once again been torn to shreds by the endless ghosts. They were currently reforming within the blood-red miasma of the flag.

Seven Big Dipper Swords—whether fully formed Dao swords or mere sword embryos—formed a vibrantly colored bracelet, circling his wrist.

However, Shen Mo had not deployed a Sword Array.

The Nine-Extreme Crystal Sand Aura protecting him had been significantly worn down; the astral qi shield it projected was thirty percent weaker than when he started.

In the future, I'll inevitably need to add various rare ores to restore its power.

His Blue Soul magic robe and Red Carp inner armor were once again tattered and torn, looking as if they'd been fished out of a rubbish heap.

Even Shen Mo's body was covered in wounds, large and small.

Without exception, all were from the bites and tears of numerous ghosts, or blasts from the Skills of vicious ghosts.

If not for Shen Mo's relatively formidable external magic, he would have long since been reduced to a skeleton, his flesh and blood devoured by the horde of ghosts.

WHOOSH!

The low-grade profound-level broadsword he kept for emergencies shot out from under his feet at Shen Mo's hand seal.

Instantly, innumerable evil ghosts, treading on the black clouds, surged towards him again.

Just how many powerful ghosts has Tianshun Country transformed into? Why are there more the more I kill? Shen Mo thought, his expression grim as he swallowed a Sweet Rain Pill.

In the past few days, he had slain if not a thousand, then at least eight hundred Class II ghosts, and countless Class I ghosts.

But the number of ghosts stubbornly pursuing him hadn't decreased; it had increased.

Even the middle-stage and late-stage Class II ghosts he specifically targeted showed no signs of diminishing!

He traveled by sword, fighting as he fled, covering nearly half the territory of Tianshun Country.

Every new place he reached, he encountered an endless Ghost Tide.

There was no time to catch his breath; he was almost constantly engaged in fierce combat.

This rapidly depleted his prepared Elixirs and talismans.

Now, very few remained.

In exchange, his Soul Refining Flag had gained over a dozen late-stage Class II and a hundred middle-stage Class II Soul Generals.

Additionally, numerous soul cores left behind after the Soul Ghosts were eliminated pushed the Dragon Elephant Blood Fiend Body to the point where its Dragon Body was on the verge of Perfection.

My body's Purple Knack Spiritual Qi recovery can no longer keep up with consumption. My Qi Restoring Pills, Qi Coalescing Pills, and other Elixirs are almost depleted! Barring any surprises, I can only hold out for about three more days.

Once Shen Mo distanced himself from the Ghost Tide, he stopped the Ghost Bride and other Soul Generals from reforming.

He only summoned the Gold Piercing Ghost, Jinshan, to stay by his side, guarding against surprise attacks from other vicious ghosts.

He also retracted his Flawless Dharma Eye.

No need to look; for miles around, it's all just a dense swarm of vicious ghosts.

Even the Nine-Extreme Crystal Sand Aura was retracted into his body's chakras, maintaining only its most basic defensive power.

Now, he had to be meticulous with every bit of Mana.

This shouldn't be happening! The Death Jaw trial isn't meant to be a deathtrap! An ordinary cultivator at the second layer of the Qi Gathering Realm would have been devoured, with not even bone fragments remaining by now. I've managed to survive this far, so why haven't I completed the trial and left this Dungeon? Could it be I misunderstood the hints for Death Jaw? Survive the cataclysm of Tianshun Country, and then I can leave the Death Jaw Dungeon...

After careful consideration, Shen Mo felt his understanding wasn't wrong.

Perhaps the problem lay in the choices he had made during the cataclysm.

If I had found a desolate, uninhabited place and hidden carefully, I might still have encountered many ghosts, but surely not to this extent.

Since he had made his choices, Shen Mo wouldn't indulge in useless regret.

Worst case, I'll just fight to my heart's content!

BOOM!

A powerful evil ghost, a thousand feet tall, its body covered in grotesque faces, hands, and feet, leaped up from the ground.

The resulting yin wind nearly sent Shen Mo tumbling.

A monstrous hand, like a small mountain, slammed down towards Shen Mo from above.

The faces on it twisted in agony, continuously emitting hair-raising, mournful screeches that vaguely resonated, causing Shen Mo's soul to tremble and his head to ache with tinnitus.

Fortunately, the Gold Piercing Ghost, Jinshan, was beside him. It spat out gold and silver ingots that pelted the colossal hand, slowing its descent.

Then, faithfully fulfilling its duty as a Soul General, it charged headlong into the giant ghostly hand.

BANG!

The Gold Piercing Ghost, Jinshan, shattered its Soul Body on impact and returned to the Soul Refining Flag to reform.

The giant hand, covered in faces and limbs, was also blasted into wisps of ghostly qi, unable to coalesce for the moment.

"Slash!" Shen Mo commanded.

He urged his slightly battered Dragon Sparrow Sword forward, unleashing the most powerful killing strike of the Shangqing Swordplay at the giant composite ghost.

CRACK! CRACK!

A strange shattering sound echoed.

The Sword Light swept past, and a hideous gash instantly appeared on the giant composite ghost.

Then, like a vase struck by a heavy blow, its body exploded inch by inch, ghostly qi erupting outwards.

Shen Mo had no intention of refining this giant composite ghost into his Soul Refining Flag.

He had encountered this type of ghost before.

Aside from its immense size and soul-shaking screeches, this kind of evil ghost wasn't exceptionally powerful.

However, the Mana required to refine it was as much as refining a hundred early-stage Class II ghosts.

The cost-benefit is terrible!

Since it was an amalgam of many ghosts, killing it would even cause a large number of low-class ghosts to burst forth.

Unless he continued attacking them, he wouldn't obtain a single soul core.

Shen Mo ignored the newly emerged low-class ghosts.

The Ghost Tide, like black clouds, was surging towards him from all directions. If he didn't leave now, he'd be in trouble.

SWOOSH!

SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

Several Grade II talismans shot out.

They transformed into an earthen prison, firebirds, a wind wall, and other effects, momentarily blocking the converging Ghost Tide.

Shen Mo once again soared into the sky on his sword, making his escape.

Are these relentless waves of the Ghost Tide deliberately arranged by the Dungeon? After all, even in the Ghost Nation Ruins, there weren't so many powerful ghosts that would relentlessly pursue a single cultivator. But here, in the Ghost Zone that Tianshun Country has become, I'm like a beacon in a black sea, constantly attracting hordes of ghosts that surge towards me like moths to a flame.

「 」

PHEW!

Shen Mo landed his sword on a desolate mountaintop.

This area had originally been the most barren and sparsely populated part of Tianshun Country.

Consequently, now that it had become part of the Ghost Zone, the number of ghosts here was far less than in other places.

For a rare moment, Shen Mo had a chance to catch his breath.

He circulated the Purple Knack Sutra, continuously absorbing the increasingly thin nature's spiritual energy and converting it into Purple Knack Mana within his Qi Sea Dantian.

Just as the Mana in his three Dantians recovered to eighty percent, he suddenly felt a tremor in his heart.

Activating his Flawless Dharma Eye, he saw dense, dark clouds of the Ghost Tide surging towards him from all directions.

At the very forefront of this wave stood an evil ghost clad in a yellow python robe, its gaze fixed on him with palpable malice.