Chapter 2714 The Mad City Lord's Love-Hate Relationship 37
Outside the cold palace, the sounds of battle shook the heavens.
The Imperial Preceptor hovered in mid-air, his body surging with spiritual energy. Behind him was a dense crowd of disciples from the Imperial Preceptor's Mansion and various talented individuals who had rushed to the scene, completely surrounding this desolate palace garden.
Only a handful of people were surrounded in the center.
Yin Chaosheng stood in the dilapidated courtyard, his black hair disheveled, his face even more stunning in the grim atmosphere. He coldly looked at the enemies around him. Jin Chen stood half a step in front of him, firmly protecting him behind her.
Jin Chen held only a long sword in his hand.
An ordinary longsword, yet it made the Imperial Advisor wary, and everyone dared not approach.
Standing behind Jin Chen were only Chu Jiushan, Liu Shuoyue, Zang Huai'an, and Hei Yi, their expressions solemn yet resolute.
"Jin Chen!" The Imperial Advisor's voice was icy. "Do you truly intend to defy the righteous path of the world for the sake of this vengeful ghost?"
Jin Chen didn't even lift his eyelids, only asking indifferently, "The righteous path? Do you even have the right to define the righteous path?"
Before he finished speaking, his body moved slightly, and his seemingly ordinary sword moves made the exquisite techniques that made him famous become full of flaws under the sword, as vulnerable as a child wielding a stick.
"puff!"
As the sword flashed, the several layers of spiritual energy shields hastily erected by the Imperial Advisor shattered like paper.
She groaned, blood staining her Taoist robe, and fell heavily to the ground from mid-air.
The Imperial Advisor struggled to raise her head, filled with humiliation. She prided herself on her profound cultivation, believing she could even fight the old Imperial Advisor, yet she couldn't even last three moves against Jin Chen!
Just who is this child?!
Seeing the strongest national advisor defeated in one move, the other cultivators were horrified and involuntarily shrank back.
The Imperial Advisor coughed up a mouthful of blood, staring at Jin Chen with venomous eyes. Knowing that a direct confrontation was futile, he turned and shouted loudly, trying to incite the crowd.
"Fellow practitioners, you have all seen it! This child possesses extraordinary strength, yet he willingly associates with vengeful ghosts and harms humanity!"
"If we retreat today, he will surely help this Ghost King wreak havoc on the human world in the future! Do you intend to stand by and watch the human world turn into a ghost realm? Jin Chen! If you slaughter humans for this vengeful ghost today, you will be abandoned by all cultivators in the world and cursed for eternity!"
Her words were highly inflammatory, and the initially fearful cultivators showed indignation on their faces upon hearing them.
"That's right! Those who are not of our kind will surely have different hearts!"
"Jin Chen! Do you really intend to make enemies of all living beings for the sake of a mere ghost?" someone shouted.
Anger flashed across Liu Shuoyue's cold face as she stepped forward. "Within the Ghost City, there are countless innocent souls who cannot be reincarnated and have nowhere to go! They were mortals in life, and they are trapped in the Ghost City after death. What wrong have they done?"
"That's sophistry! Humans and ghosts are different!" another person shouted, sticking out his neck.
Chu Jiushan pointed at the man's nose, "Pah! You hypocrites! Don't you have any relatives or friends who have passed away in recent years?"
“I’ve been to the ghost town! It’s no different from the capital. There are evil spirits that harm people, but there are also souls who just want to live a peaceful life! They regard it as their home and their hometown. What right do you have to exterminate them one after another!”
His words silenced many cultivators.
Yes, whose family doesn't have deceased relatives?
If the soul goes to such a place after death...
"...So, are we just going to let the ghost city exist and let the Yin and Yang remain in chaos?" someone asked blankly, their momentum already greatly diminished.
Jin Chen flicked his wrist, twirling his longsword in a flourish, and the fierce sword energy that filled the sky suddenly subsided.
He landed calmly, his robes fluttering, his gaze sweeping over the crowd with a serene expression.
"Simply reinforce and seal the barrier that overlaps between the ghost city and the mortal realm, and the key to the barrier's formation lies beneath the moat of the capital city."
He looked at the Grand Preceptor with a mocking gaze, whose expression had suddenly changed, and said, "I am curious why, for so many years, there have always been people who have prevented you from getting close to the moat."
Upon hearing this, everyone was taken aback, and then suspicious gazes were cast upon the Grand Preceptor and her trusted disciples.
"Grand Preceptor, is what Young Master Jin said true? Why are you preventing us from reaching the moat?"
"Are you hiding something?"
Faced with the questioning of the crowd, the Imperial Advisor gritted his teeth, hating Jin Chen to the core, but dared not make a move in the face of the other party's unfathomable strength. He could only hiss and say, "...How can you believe his one-sided story!"
"When people die, they become ghosts and naturally enter the underworld for reincarnation! Those who linger in the mortal world are all vicious and wicked ghosts who are unwilling to be reborn! Ghost cities are the lair of these wicked ghosts!"
"You're talking nonsense!" Zang Huai'an retorted angrily. "You've never even set foot in the Ghost City, how can you make such a rash judgment!"
Then someone asked, "If we follow the usual procedure, the souls should indeed enter the underworld, but why have the souls of the dead mostly appeared in ghost towns in the last ten years or so? Why is the underworld... no longer receiving the souls of the dead?"
Yin Chaosheng, dressed in blood-red robes, stood beside Jin Chen with a complex yet indifferent expression. "Since more than a decade ago, Ghost City has completely lost its connection with the Underworld. All newly deceased souls are inexplicably drawn to Ghost City. I have tried to find the reason and send them to the afterlife, but I am powerless to do so."
Blackwing suddenly realized and clapped his hands: "No wonder those legendary fierce ghosts and demons that should have been suppressed in the underworld appeared in Ghost City!"
"Nonsense! Don't listen to his lies!" the Imperial Advisor shrieked, his voice trembling with fear.
"Will you curse again?" Jin Chen glanced at her indifferently, but only took half a step forward.
The Imperial Advisor was so frightened that she clutched her chest and spat out another mouthful of blood. Her breath instantly weakened, and she couldn't even speak. Her disciples hurriedly stepped forward to support her.
At this point, any cultivator present with a modicum of critical thinking ability had already made their own judgment on who was right and who was wrong.
Compared to the Grand Preceptor's flawed and self-serving accusations, Jin Chen and Yin Chaosheng's statements are a better explanation for the current bizarre situation.
Jin Chen looked at her and said, "Then, Grand Preceptor, what secrets are you and your deceased master hiding?"
The Imperial Advisor's face was ashen, his lips trembled, but he couldn't utter a single word.
Jin Chen then turned his gaze to those talented and extraordinary individuals who had previously been shouting for battle but were now silent as cicadas in fear.
Those whose gaze swept over him felt a chill run down their spines, broke out in a cold sweat, and knew they were in trouble.
I impulsively chose the wrong side just now, and now that the Imperial Advisor has fled, if this evil spirit wants to settle scores...
Jin Chen sheathed his sword. "Today's events were all caused by the instigation of the Imperial Preceptor. I hope that all fellow Daoists will be able to distinguish right from wrong in the future and not be easily manipulated again, thus causing unnecessary casualties."
Upon hearing this, everyone was first taken aback, then felt as if they had been granted a pardon. Overjoyed, they no longer cared about besieging the Ghost King and hurriedly bowed to Jin Chen.
"Young Master Jin is truly righteous!"
"It was our foolishness! Thank you for your mercy, young hero. Farewell! Farewell!"
In the blink of an eye, the once-fierce encirclement army scattered like birds and beasts and fled completely.
Outside the cold palace, tranquility returned.
