C726 When Enemies Met
Yu Yuan soothed Yuan Lianyao, advising her to remain beneath Shadow Mountain and to avoid any rash actions.
He then re-entered the Crucible of Evil and, enveloped in the cauldron's eerie glow, flew beyond the confines of Shadow Mountain.
Shortly thereafter, he emerged from the mountain.
White Bone sat forlornly at the base of the mountain, idly playing with pebbles in front of his pale, bone-like feet.
The diminutive Spectre, childlike in stature, clutched a stone, his vibrant green eyes gleaming with lively interest.
He seemed oblivious to the impending danger.
A flamboyant red sedan, borne aloft by four diverse and formidable Celestial Shades, floated through the void.
The curtains of the sedan parted to reveal an elderly woman clad in gray.
With a gentle smile, the gray-clad old lady watched White Bone, unhurried in her speech.
Hundreds of ghostly beings, comprised of Earth Specters and Celestial Shades, converged from all directions, encircling the modest Shadow Mountain.
The old lady in gray remained calm and collected, as if she were awaiting something.
White Bone continued to squat on the ground, preoccupied with the stones.
As the Crucible of Evil took flight, the old lady in gray shifted her gaze to the cauldron, displaying no sign of surprise, as if she had anticipated Yu Yuan's presence within.
Inside the cauldron, Yu Yuan furrowed his brow.
He sensed that the old lady in gray had arrived with a plan.
Though they were of equal rank as Spectres, the invaders had the upper hand in sheer numbers.
This region was White Bone Spectre's domain, yet none of his followers were in sight.
Despite Shadow Mountain not being White Bone Spectre's place of cultivation, it was unusual for a rival Spectre to besiege him with a multitude of followers without any of his own coming to his aid—this defied all reason.
In an instant, nearly a thousand ghostly entities had encircled Shadow Mountain and White Bone.
At that moment, a gaunt Celestial Shade with the air of a well-read scholar approached cautiously from a distance.
"Lord White Bone," he greeted, bowing timidly from behind the sedan.
"White Bone, I owe my effortless arrival to your capable assistance," the old lady in gray said with a warm smile, gesturing for the scholarly Celestial Shade to step forward. "The human cultivators are quite cunning. They practice necromancy by harnessing the Lunar Spirit, and they are adept at strategizing."
"Yes, it was he who informed me of your injury," the voice said.
"White Bone, had I not known you were wounded and that he was secretly aiding me, I would never have dared to intrude upon your domain to seek trouble," the speaker continued.
"You, White Bone, rank third among all the spectres in the Land of Terror, while I, Cuion, don't even make the top ten—I'm merely thirteenth," Cuion lamented with a sigh.
At that moment, White Bone, who had been idly playing with pebbles, finally rose from his crouched position.
He gazed at the scholar, a human cultivator transformed into a Celestial Shade, who had served him loyally for over a decade, and asked in puzzlement, "Why?"
"I, too, wish to become a spectre," the scholar confessed.
"Do you find the pace of cultivation in my territory too slow? Do you think that with my death, you could ascend to spectrehood more swiftly?" White Bone inquired.
The scholar nodded slightly, "I could have waited, but not anymore. The Land of Terror is entering its golden age, and I desire to rapidly progress to spectrehood."
"Ah," White Bone responded coolly, then added, "Then hasten to your death."
The scholar recoiled quietly.
The pebbles that White Bone had been toying with in his skeletal hand were suddenly flung outward.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The air was filled with a piercing screech as the pebbles hurtled through it, streaks of ghostly white lightning flashing into existence.
"White Bone! That's quite disrespectful, isn't it?"
Cuion let out a cold snort and burst forth from her vibrant red palanquin, attempting to intercept the flying pebbles.
But the pebbles, charged with electric energy, vanished into nothingness just as she emerged.
Cuion's gaze snapped to the scholar.
The body of the Celestial Shade, penetrated by the ghostly white lightning, could not reconstitute itself and began to fade away.
His face blurred, yet it was etched with fear and rage. "Cuion!"
He was no fool; he realized that Cuion had not truly exerted herself. Her emergence from the palanquin was merely for show.
Cuion had not intervened to shield him from White Bone's deadly assault!
"You, transformed into a Celestial Shade by human hands, are an outsider in the Land of Terror," Cuion said, her voice devoid of warmth. "Did you not realize that I, Cuion, evolved from a Terra Fiend into a spectre? I despise all humans, and even in death, my disdain remains."
"No human cultivator has ever transformed into a ghost under my grandmother Cuion's command, and none ever will."
She observed the emaciated scholar as he slowly faded away, leaving no trace of his existence.
The four Celestial Shades carrying the palanquin, along with the nearly thousand ghosts swarming around Shadow Mountain, watched the scholar's demise with sneers.
It seemed they had long known that the scholar stood no chance of earning Cuion's trust.
"White Bone, this man's name is Yu Yuan, correct?"
Cuion's tone shifted abruptly, "I've heard of him. He turned his back on the Everlands, just like your own subordinate betrayed you. Such a man doesn't deserve to live in this world. White Bone, I'll soon devour his three souls of heaven, earth, and man, and savor the taste of his soul."
Yu Yuan burst into laughter.
"Laugh it up now, for when I consume your soul later, I hope you can still laugh as loudly," Cuion said with a malevolent glare, licking her lips as if relishing the thought of the feast before her.
"Yu Yuan, someone has betrayed you," White Bone remarked.
"Who?" Yu Yuan was taken aback.
"Cuion, who informed you of his name? And it seems you've come not just for me, but for him as well?" White Bone inquired coolly.
"You're quite informed," Cuion did not deny. "Someone desires his cauldron. I plan to trade it for several precious items and later vie for the Ghost King's throne!"
"Is it Mo Yan from the Devil Palace?" Yu Yuan probed.
Cuion's gaze flickered, neither confirming nor denying. "I'll be sending you off. Besides you two, that girl in Shadow Mountain won't survive either."
The deceased scholar, a confidant of White Bone, had informed Cuion about Yuan Lianyao's arrival and White Bone's protective measures.
Yu Yuan's mind stirred uneasily at the mention of Yuan Lianyao.
"Yu Yuan, you're a traitor to the Everlands. Yuan Lianyao's association with you seals her fate—it's no loss if she dies," Mo Yan's voice emerged from the vibrant red palanquin. "Even if the Ruby Hand learns of this, I can justify my actions. I'm sure Faang Yao would have nothing to say on the matter."
"Mo Yan!" Yu Yuan's face was a mask of ice as he spat out the name. "I should have known it was you!"
"To think the real body would dare venture into the Land of Terror; truly, you have no sense of your own mortality," Mo Yan boasted from within his sedan chair. "Just wait. Once I slash through the Crucible of Evil's dark veil with the Shadowblade, you'll experience the agony of having your corporeal body exposed to this forsaken place."
"Try it," Yu Yuan challenged, his voice a low rumble.
"No rush, no rush," Mo Yan chuckled, his tone leisurely and assured. "Sister Qin, there's no need for secrecy. Everything is within my grasp. Come forth."
Yu Yuan's gaze sharpened.
A kilometer away, behind the silhouette of another Shadow Mountain, a female Lunar Spirit emerged.
It was none other than Lin Yue, the woman from the Taintborn who had arrived with Faang Yingzi aboard the Cloud Cruiser.
She must have been the one to inform Mo Yan of Yu Yuan's presence in the Land of Terror, alongside White Bone, and managed to convince Cuion in such a short span of time.
