The Ten-Thousand-Ghost Grand Art really is hardcore. Ryan Ling instantly cranked his defenses to max, but even so, it felt like he was getting jabbed all over by needles. And that was just the surface—the real nightmare was the horde of ghosts gnawing away inside. These things chomp on anything and everything, even his protective qi waves. Somehow, they can swallow those too.
“Master, this Ten-Thousand-Ghost Grand Art is seriously terrifying. Every single one of these things is a true fierce ghost—once summoned, they won’t stop until they’ve chewed up every living soul inside this sealed-off world. You need to get out, don’t worry about us! With your strength, you can definitely break through!” Beside him, Warren Yuan slowly woke up, tears in his eyes as he spoke to Ryan.
Right after he said that, a weaker Taiyi Sect guy in the distance let out a miserable scream and died on the spot.
Seeing how savage the Ten-Thousand-Ghost Grand Art was, and that Ryan was still trying to protect his crew, the rest—Jason Lin, Harvey “Million” Jin and the others—started shouting too.
“Boss, run! Don’t let us drag you down. We die, whatever—but you can’t die!”
“Yeah, bro, get out of here! Forget about us, your life matters way more!”
With Jason and Harvey yelling, the other brothers joined in—including zombie Frank Qin, who kept croaking, “Go, go!” After hanging around Jason and the crew, he’d clearly picked up a lot of human speech, and now his eyes were already glistening with tears.
“Enough! If we live, we live together. If we die, we die together! We’re brothers—I, Ryan Ling, will never abandon you!” Ryan didn’t waste words. With a sweep of his arm, he pulled everyone under his protection.
Right then, every last one of those seven-foot-tall tough guys—Warren Yuan included—started bawling. The whole crew’s hearts were tied together like one rope.
Meanwhile, the Taiyi Sect and Golden Sword Gate experts on the other side were green with envy. Even though their two groups had teamed up, their defenses were nowhere near Ryan’s level.
“Such touching brotherhood! I’m almost moved—too bad you’re all about to get wiped out. Go die!” Mason Ma snarled, and a swarm of fierce ghosts lunged at them.
These fierce ghosts were on another level. Ryan Ling might be a Seventh-Grade Spirit Officer, running the life and death of all Harbor City, but these ghosts were like mountain bandit overlords. Even flashing his official status meant nothing—they didn’t give a damn about Ryan.
On top of that, he was out of stamina, his Fire Eyes couldn’t activate yet, and even if they could, there were just way too many ghosts—covering the whole mountain, more pouring out every second. No way he could burn them all, not even close.
Plus, the Hell Furnace inside the Demon-Snaring Bowl was technically open, but with Ryan’s current strength, all he could do was crack it open—he couldn’t really unleash its power. Against this many rampaging ghosts, that trick just wasn’t enough.
But the real killer with the Ten-Thousand-Ghost Grand Art wasn’t just the endless horde tearing at you—it was their combined devouring force. If you couldn’t wipe out almost all of them in one shot, just killing a third wouldn’t cut it; you’d still lose!
All kinds of thoughts spun through Ryan’s mind. His defensive qi wall was already half gone—if he didn’t do something now, he’d get eaten alive.
“Screw it, we’re breaking out together!” Ryan took a deep breath. After that brief rest, he’d only regained maybe twenty percent stamina, but there was no time to hesitate. Plus, half the Taiyi Sect and Golden Sword Gate people were already dead—if he waited any longer, they’d all be toast.
“Kill!” Warren Yuan, Jason Lin, and Harvey “Million” Jin all shouted. The last few experts from the two sects charged over too. Right now, they were all victims—teaming up gave them a shot, but if they split up, they’d be wiped out for sure.
“Trash! You think teaming up will save you? You’re just begging for death! Ten-Thousand-Ghost Grand Art—ten thousand ghosts gnawing! I told you, everyone here dies today. Seal off every exit!” Mason Ma screamed. Instantly, a tidal wave of green human heads pressed in like locusts, blocking every path—up, down, left, right, north, south, east, west. Under the crushing weight, the ghost heads stacked up like a mountain, at least a hundred layers thick in places.
At this point, no matter how hard Ryan fought, he couldn’t kill them all.
And this gang of ghost-path bandits didn’t care at all that he was a Seventh-Grade Spirit Officer. Worse, his outer qi defense was about to collapse.
Bandits killing an official! It looked like that scene was about to play out in the ghost-path right now.
But right then, a voice suddenly rang out in Ryan’s ear: “Ten-Thousand-Ghost Grand Art? That kind of taboo ghost-control technique actually showed up in Dragonridge? Unbelievable!”
“System?” Ryan blinked, then quickly called out, “System, you’re just in time! You’ve gotta know this Ten-Thousand-Ghost Grand Art—quick, tell me how to break it!”
“Only the caster has the real way to break it—since it’s a forbidden art, outsiders can’t crack it!” The System looked troubled, shot a nervous glance, and added, “This guy’s nuts—he’s turned the whole mountain into a ghost lair and unleashed the Ten-Thousand-Ghost Grand Art. It might spill over into Dragonridge City. We have to stop him!”
“Then at least give me something!” Ryan pressed, getting more anxious by the second.
‘Ding-dong! Lord Ghost, Seventh-Grade Spirit Officer Ryan Ling’s reward for saving Harbor City—please confirm. Delivery in three days!’ An internal voice suddenly chimed.
The System froze. Ryan clearly heard it too. Last time he saved hundreds of thousands in Harbor City, the System promised a major reward—hadn’t delivered yet. Now, finally, it was here.
Ryan focused and saw that the reward was a set of badass armor, with a bold line of characters on it—Infernal Glass Ghost-General Armor.
“Got it! Leave it to your old man to think ahead—once you’ve got this Infernal Glass Armor, you can break the Ten-Thousand-Ghost Grand Art!” The System couldn’t help but grin, quickly explaining: This so-called Infernal Glass Ghost-General Armor is battle gear for a ghost-path general. Only a Ghost-General qualifies to wear it. Ryan’s current post is a Seventh-Grade Spirit Officer—a civil rank that can scare off small fry, but against these ‘mountain bandit’ fierce ghosts, it’s useless. Only a Ghost-General can make the whole horde submit!
And this armor? Lord Yama himself wore it back when he was a Ghost-General, so it’s loaded with killing aura. Suit up in this and you’ll be able to slaughter any fierce ghost, no problem!
“Awesome! Hurry up and give me the armor!” Ryan was fired up. Managing a whole city as a Seventh-Grade Spirit Officer was cool and all, but that’s still a civil post—if he leveled up to Ghost-General, that’d be pure dominance. And right now, going toe-to-toe with the Azure Dragon Society, what he needed most was that kind of authority.
“Alright, but by the rules it’s supposed to be yours in three days. For now, I’ll let you borrow it—maybe you’ll only get half its true power, but that’s enough to bust up the Ten-Thousand-Ghost Grand Art!” The System steadied itself, then yanked out the armor and told Ryan, “Kid, take the armor! From now on, you’re a Ghost-General of the Netherworld!”
In a flash, as soon as the System finished, a magnificent, imposing suit of armor landed on Ryan. Instantly, he felt like a whole new person—overflowing with raw power and battle aura. His demon-slaying Red Dragon Sword appeared in hand, and the helmet lit up with the glowing words “Ghost-General.”
Not many people could really see what happened—even Warren Yuan, a seasoned cultivator, just saw Ryan suddenly blazing with golden light. But the fierce ghosts, all those green heads, instantly jolted. One second they were ravaging and biting like crazy, the next, almost every single ghost froze. They’d all been stunned by Ryan’s new armor!
No matter how tough a fierce ghost was, in front of a Ghost-General, all they could do was tremble. Right now, every ghost had the same thought:
Fear! Seeing Ryan, they were genuinely terrified.
“What the hell? Why’d they all freeze up? Kill! You idiots, kill!” Mason Ma was dumbfounded—he’d been riding high, the big showdown was just about to hit the climax, and now everything stopped. He was seriously pissed.
But just then, inside the mass of fierce ghost heads, a blinding gold light exploded, and countless ghosts let out screams of terror like never before…