Deep in thought, Master Bitter Cicada nodded. "Then, have you been to Roaring Tiger Hall, Fellow Cultivator Qi?"
Qi Zhongdao's face was as gloomy as the bottom of a pot. He gnashed his teeth. "The people of the Grand Mystery Sect have already paid them a visit. It is a pity that the negotiation did not go well. Therefore, I hope that Leader Dan Fengzi, Fellow Cultivator Yan Liren, Master Spiritual Vulture, Master Bitter Cicada, and other fellow Cultivators can go together and persuade Roaring Tiger Hall to consider the big picture."
It was obvious that the 'not going well' that Qi Zhongdao mentioned was not just a normal 'not going well'.
The Super Yuanying, who was the leader of the Great Qian Cultivators and had the ultimate treasure of the Ancient Sages Sector, the Heaven Flipping Seal, was infuriated, too.
Qi Zhongdao had a point. Naturally, Li Yao and the rest of them followed his lead. The high-level Cultivators of the dozens of sects marched toward Roaring Tiger City in a thousand streaks of colorful brilliance, carrying their distinctive flags.
On their way, Li Yao intentionally approached Dan Fengzi. "Leader, I didn't know that the Purple Pole Sword Sect would be so generous as to offer food for the disaster victims."
Dan Fengzi chuckled but hesitated. Looking at the high-level Cultivators of the other sects nearby, he said in a low voice, "There are other reasons behind the whole thing. Let's talk about it later. After all, we will follow the Grand Mystery Sect's lead. Whatever the Grand Mystery Sect does, we will do."
Pausing for a moment, he said again, "You must watch your words and actions after we arrive, Elder Spiritual Vulture. Roaring Tiger Hall boasts two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators, ten at the peak of the Core Formation Stage, and countless low-level Cultivators. It is one of the most distinguished sects in the southeast and even more prosperous than many sects in East Peace County.
"Also, Roaring Tiger City, their headquarters, is a new city that has been built in the past ten years. The Tiger Apparitions Array is a top-tier defense array, and the Crouching Tiger Cannons are powerful remote magical equipment, too.
"On our side, although we have many banners and experts, and at first glance, it looks like the six great sects have joined hands, but most people are not united. Who would be willing to be the first to charge forward and take on the hundreds of Crouching Tiger Cannons in the Seven Deadly Tiger Evils Formation?"
"Also, those who are capable of flying tens of thousands of kilometers in only a few days and crossing the flood area are all high-level Cultivators. Therefore, the leaders of the major sects are all here. Look. Even our empyreal swordsmen can't keep up with them and have to stay in the camp in the rear, can't they?
We lack mortal armies and low-level cultivators to wear down the enemy's formations and cannons. If we just rely on high-level cultivators to charge in, we will suffer great losses. "
"Sect Master, what do you mean?"
Li Yao bulged his eyes and pretended to be surprised. "Are you planning to attack Roaring Tiger City?"
"That will depend on Daoist Righteous One."
Blinking his eyes, Dan Fengzi said, "It's obvious that if we want to weaken 'Mother White Lotus' Wan Mingzhu 'and prevent her from gathering enough ghouls to attack East Peace County, we cannot let too many disaster victims die in hatred.
"If we want the disaster victims to die without hatred, we must at least let them have a full meal and die with a full stomach.
"As for food, where can we find food right now? Other than East Peace County, which is surrounded by the White Lotus ghoul army, the Cultivators in the fortresses scattered in the southeast have food.
But will the Cultivators of the local sects listen to us and hand over their food obediently?
"Roaring Tiger Hall is the largest Cultivation sect in the southeast other than the many sects in East Peace County. I can guarantee that countless pairs of eyes are gazing at Roaring Tiger Hall right now.
"If Roaring Tiger Hall is willing to hand over a lot of food, the other sects will be easy to negotiate.
"If they can't bite the tough bone that is Roaring Tiger Hall, the other local sects will certainly follow their example and refuse to hand over any food."
"However …"
Pondering for a long time, Li Yao said, "Master Righteous One does have a point. If the White Lotus ghoul army savages the southeast and destroys a lot of farmlands, there will be a serious shortage of rice and wheat in the world of Cultivators. It will do nobody any good. Are the local sects so inconsiderate of the big picture?"
"Considerate of the big picture?"
Dan Fengzi chuckled. "Hehe. Hehehehe. Please take a look, Elder Spiritual Vulture. We've arrived at Roaring Tiger City."
Li Yao lowered the tip of his sword and narrowed his eyes, looking ahead.
Before he saw Roaring Tiger City, he heard sobbing, shouting, screaming, and moaning.
Disaster victims
Hundreds of thousands of disaster victims formed quite a few thick, black torrents. Driven by their survival instincts, they flooded over from all directions toward Roaring Tiger City, which was the highest place in the hundreds of square kilometers nearby.
But they were all blocked outside of Roaring Tiger City by colorful light beams, which formed a hellish camp of disaster victims outside of the city.
In the camp, cries shook the heavens and the earth, and there were victims in ragged clothes everywhere like walking corpses.
Some of the disaster victims were on their last breath. They were all dragged together to wait for death. Straightening their dry, thin arms where veins were bulging, they snatched at the sky. There was no telling what they were trying to grab.
Some of the young and middle-aged disaster victims who were slightly stronger were kneeling and begging at Roaring Tiger City, begging the deities to let them in. Many men were kowtowing to the giant rocks until their heads were bleeding. In the end, they collapsed and stopped moving.
A lot of disaster victims were also searching for dry trees, weeds, rats, earthworms, and anything that could be eaten. For a tiny earthworm, they could fight each other and bite each other like animals while rolling in the mud.
Bright black air soared up from the disaster victims who were struggling to survive and floated in midair, condensing into floccules that looked like dark clouds.
Inside the floccules, scarlet objects were vaguely condensed. As the disaster victims screamed, they became redder and redder, like weird eyes that were filled with negative emotions such as brutality, hatred, fury, and desperation. They stared at the ground coldly.
The air gave Li Yao a very uncomfortable feeling. The circulation of spiritual energy inside his body was somewhat stagnant, and he felt like vomiting. It was like the natural disgust that ordinary people had when they were faced with spiders and centipedes.
"It's ghosts and evil spirits!"
Dan Fengzi exclaimed. "I didn't know that such intense ghosts and evil spirits had been condensed in this place. It seems that Mother White Lotus will be able to get an army of ghouls if she shows some tricks."
Master Bitter Cicada chanted a Buddha's name in a low voice and walked out of the crowd. Stepping on a white cassock, he charged into the evil spirits.
Inside the evil spirits, almost a hundred clusters of black air that looked like skulls were immediately condensed. In earsplitting shrieks, they lunged at Master Bitter Cicada.
The sorrow on Master Bitter Cicada's face was even more intense. He shook his shoulders, and the enormous prayer beads flew to midair, only to be connected by him with his staff.
With the staff as the axis, the prayer beads revolved quickly and unleashed colorful mystic rays that sprayed on the hundred clusters of skulls.
The skulls were frozen in midair by the mystic rays. They shivered violently and blossomed like buds. In the middle of the black gas, hazy, fuzzy shadows in ragged clothes appeared.
The ignorant undead seemed to have just woken up from a dream. They did not know what was going on.
As Master Bitter Cicada chanted the scriptures, they seemed to have recalled everything in the past. The brutality around them was gone, and tranquility and delight appeared on their faces. Gradually, they turned into pure, transparent mist.
In the end, he disappeared without a trace amidst sighs of relief.
The undead were all purged by Master Bitter Cicada.
The originally gloomy and eerie sky regained some of its clarity.
The nausea of Li Yao and the other high-level Cultivators finally disappeared, too.
The so-called 'soul' was a group of very special waves. Normally, after a person died, they would soon disperse due to the lack of sufficient energy and material support.
However, if it obtained a trace of energy from the outside world through various coincidences, it would be able to maintain its natural frequency and form for a certain period of time without collapsing. Then, it would transform from a "soul" into a "ghost".
'Brutal ghosts', on the other hand, referred to the magnetic fields of spiritual waves that were highly unstable and disruptive because of the tremendous negative feelings contained in the special waves.
Such a magnetic field of spiritual waves could affect the material world as long as its intensity reached a certain level.
It was like how the magnetic field of a magnet could attract and interfere with all kinds of metals and make all kinds of metals magnetic.
If such a magnetic field invaded the brain of an ordinary person and triggered all kinds of bioelectric currents to manipulate their vision, hearing, and central nerves, they would be able to see all kinds of terrifying illusions. It was even possible that their body would suffer all kinds of wounds and changes by manipulating their nerve endings and bodily fluids. For example, their eyes would be bloodshot, their feet would be off the ground, their hair and fingernails would suddenly grow, and so on.
If it was serious, it could even interfere with and replace the original soul.
This is the reason why ordinary people say that they are "possessed by evil spirits" and "possessed by ghosts".
Human potential was infinite. Ordinary people did not know how to activate their potential under normal circumstances. The most likely time to activate their potential was naturally the moment before their death.
If one died of old age without any illness and had no worries, it was natural that they would not randomly stimulate any kind of potential.
However, if they had unfulfilled wishes, if they died in the most painful and miserable way, or if they had unavenged their greatest grudge, it was very possible that all the potential deep inside their brain would be activated when they were dying, resulting in a supernova-like reaction in their brain cells, resulting in a powerful ghost.
If that was the case, with the toughness of the soul and the firmness of the Cultivators' belief, they would not be scared of the ghosts of a few ordinary people.
What they were scared of was that a quantitative change would lead to a qualitative change. In such a situation, thousands of disaster victims had gathered together and died miserably because of hunger, plagues, and cold weather.
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