The Grand Finale 1

Gou Ming saw that words could not sway me, so he gave up and concentrated his magic power into the formation, making it even stronger.

After the complex hand seals he performed, vengeful ghosts were continuously generated within the formation; as soon as one was dissipated, another stronger one immediately appeared.

Grandfather, Fourth Uncle, the Old Blind Man, and even Zhang Sheng were all covered in injuries from the beating.

After Gou Ming had finished toyed with the people in the formation, he turned his eyes to me and laughed.

He only tightened his hand, but the air around me felt as if it had frozen, tightening around my throat so that I couldn't breathe.

I put my hands to my neck, trying to save myself, but my futile actions only made Gou Ming laugh more.

Now I regretted it—regretted my ignorance and foolishness for not following Grandfather and studying hard. If I had studied a few more spells, perhaps I could have lent Grandfather and the others a hand, instead of being this helpless.

Just as I could no longer endure it, the force on my neck lessened. I only saw Gou Ming give a light wave of his hand, and I flew outward, slamming hard into a tree trunk before rolling several times on the ground.

I didn't know why he didn't kill me. Or perhaps I was just a tiny ant that he was too lazy to finish off.

Grandfather, who was dealing with the vengeful ghosts in the formation, saw me injured and became distracted:
"Zhong Lăng!"

A ghost seized the opportunity, using its claws to slash at Grandfather's chest. He raised his arm to block, and a large wound appeared across his entire arm; the Dragon-Subduing Sword also fell to the ground.

Seeing the critical situation, Fourth Uncle backed away and took a handful of beans from his cloth bag, scattering them in front of Grandfather:
"Ten Thousand Feet of Spiritual Spirits,
Scatter beans to form soldiers!"

Countless clay figures appeared, raising blades and swords to block the vengeful ghosts for Grandfather. Previously, Fourth Uncle's use of this move was very powerful, but now the effect was very small, only holding out for a few seconds before the entire army of clay people turned back into beans.

Because he had used too many powerful spells, Fourth Uncle's combat strength had decreased significantly, and he was wounded in many places, though fortunately none were fatal.

Everything was happening before my eyes, yet I could only watch blankly, unable to do anything.

I could only lament my own uselessness. But I didn't know that every time I felt despair, a thick black smoke appeared around me, and my eyes gradually turned red.

In my mind at this moment, there was only one thought: *"Give up, resistance is futile, it cannot change the result. Give up, give up..."*

At this moment, the Old Blind Man seemed to realize something and spoke up in panic:
"This is bad, he wants Zhong Lăng to lose control from agitation to refine the Dual Zombie Blood Art."

Fourth Uncle was also startled upon hearing about the Dual Zombie Blood Art:
"He actually dares to use this forbidden art?"

Fourth Uncle turned to look at me and shouted:
"Zhong Lăng, you must stay calm! Your emotions right now will only help you turn into a Jiangshi. Once your reason is gone, you will no longer be human, just a mindless corpse that only knows how to eat flesh and drink blood."

Grandfather also knew the danger of the situation and tried to calm me:
"Zhong Lăng, you are the grandson of my Chu Hai; you won't let your emotions take away your reason, right? Grandfather believes in you."

Gou Ming was looking toward me and laughing happily, but hearing Grandfather and Fourth Uncle speak, he angrily waved his hand. All four people in the formation were forced to spit out blood, and ghosts continuously rose from the ground in the formation, wounding everyone.

"Shut up, all of you!"

I used all my strength to close my eyes, trying not to pay attention to the scene of my relatives being tortured half to death.

*"Zhong Lăng, you can do it, right? You can't let him succeed in his intentions; you must try, you can't give up easily."*

But the voice from before was like hypnosis, echoing in my head. Although my eyes were closed, the images of the blood-covered, wound-riddled bodies of Grandfather, Fourth Uncle, the Old Blind Man, and Zhang Sheng were more than I could bear.

At the moment I was about to give up, Su Er's gentle voice echoed in my ear:
"Zhong Lăng, I believe you can do it. You won't easily lose to your emotions, right?"

Su Er's voice helped my reason return. *"That's right, you can do it, Zhong Lăng! You can't let everyone down."* My eyes slowly stopped being red, and the black Qi around me gradually dissipated.

Gou Ming thought he was about to succeed, but he didn't expect a single sentence from Su Er to break it, and he became so angry he wanted to kill her.

His action truly was an intent to kill Su Er. He reached out his hand, and in an instant, Su Er appeared before him. Now, her neck was gripped tightly by him, and his other hand emitted a green Qi, striking her straight in the chest.

"Bitch, you dare to ruin my plans!"

Su Er was injured, spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood. The blood splashed onto the old face of Gou Ming, but he didn't mind; instead, he laughed with delight like a child who had found a favorite toy.

Suddenly, Gou Ming threw Su Er hard to the ground and turned to block a sword strike from Wu Ming.

He let out a shout, and Wu Ming's sword shattered into pieces.
She was also injured by some force.

"Wu Ming, do you want to die?"

"Gou Ming, you used me once again to harm my beloved Yao. Today, I won't let you have your way."

Wu Ming was trying to prop her red umbrella against the ground, using it to pull herself up. Her face no longer held its former coldness; her eyes were full of determination.

Gou Ming looked at Wu Ming, gritting his teeth as he said:
"Wu Ming, have you forgotten that you only exist today because I helped you?"

Wu Ming looked up at the sky and laughed through her tears:
"Did you help me, or was it because I still had value for you to exploit? Because I believed your words, I lost my beloved Yao again; this time he has truly left me, ha ha ha."

Gou Ming saw Wu Ming going mad and ignored her, casually saying:
"Wu Ming, what do you have to kill me with? Remember, if I wish, your soul can be dissipated at any moment."

Wu Ming suddenly fell silent, blood-tears flowing from her eyes as she looked straight at Gou Ming:
"True, I cannot kill you, but I can make you lose something."

"Stop!"

Hearing this, Gou Ming's expression changed. He called out to stop her and reached out to catch Wu Ming, but it was too late.

Wu Ming threw the red umbrella to the ground, her mouth murmuring something. To the naked eye, her soul was gradually fading, and a faint green flame slowly appeared on her soul.

Wu Ming was using the Soul Burning technique. Grandfather once said that Soul Burning is extremely painful; as long as the soul hasn't completely dissipated, one must endure the pain. Soul Burning is a punishment in the underworld, given only to the most wicked souls.

Burning the soul meant vanishing forever.

The first Soul Burning I saw was my mother's. She burned her soul to save me. Fortunately, her soul was in the underworld then, so there was still a chance for purification, but Wu Ming using this technique in the mortal realm meant there was only one path: never to be reincarnated.

Wu Ming smiled, reaching her hand forward as if to grab something, whispering:
"Chu Yao, have you come to fetch me?"

Afterward, her soul slowly vanished.

At this moment, something unexpected happened: Gou Ming's left arm, which was controlling the Spirit Summoning formation, naturally disappeared.

Previously, because he wanted to control Wu Ming, he had merged his left arm with her. Only with one's own body could one easily control her.
He didn't expect Wu Ming would dare to burn her soul, catching him off guard.

The Old Blind Man seemed to realize something; he bit his fingertip, drew a symbol in the air, and used his other hand to strike it in all directions.

The earth shook for a moment and then stopped. Gou Ming spat out a mouthful of blood because the formation was broken. The old man's blood was black; that's right, he was already a Jiangshi, no longer human.

The group broke the formation thanks to Wu Ming's sacrifice. Just as we thought everything was about to end, the Old Blind Man's hoarse voice rang out:
"Don't relax yet! While he is weak from the magical backlash, eliminate him now!"

Fourth Uncle hurriedly took a box of cinnabar from his cloth bag and poured it directly onto the Gold Coin Sword without hesitation.
I wonder if Fourth Uncle felt the loss; I remember once at the temple, he stared at this box of cinnabar for a long time, unwilling to use it.

It happened very quickly. After scattering the cinnabar, Fourth Uncle didn't hesitate to strike Gou Ming with the sword.
The Gold Coin Sword pierced straight through Gou Ming's chest; the cinnabar on the sword immediately emitted black smoke upon contact with his flesh.

Gou Ming looked up at the sky and screamed in agony, his right hand grabbing the sword in his body.
"Clink, clink, clink, clink!"
The sound of the ancient coins falling to the ground was piercing.

Even with a sword through his heart, the old man was still alive.
Seeing the situation was bad, Fourth Uncle ignored the Gold Coin Sword and quickly backed away.

By this time, I had reached Su Er's side and helped her up.
"Su Er, are you okay?"
At that moment, Gou Ming truly intended to kill Su Er; if Wu Ming hadn't intervened, I fear...

"I'm fine."
Su Er leaned on my strength to stand up. Although injured, it wasn't anything serious.

I saw the blood still on Su Er's lips and felt even worse; I couldn't help but pull her into my arms:
"Don't ever do something so foolish again."

Su Er was a bit flustered by my sudden action, then she smiled softly and patted my back to comfort me:
"Zhong Lăng, are you crying?"

My voice was a bit hoarse:
"I'm not crying, I'm not."

Su Er smiled helplessly and said:
"Alright, I know you're not crying."

I let her go.
Placing both hands on her shoulders, I forced Su Er's eyes to look straight at me:
"Don't change the subject. Promise me, Su Er, no matter the situation, you won't do anything to harm yourself again."

Su Er looked into my eyes and affirmed every word:
"I promise you, except for matters involving you, I won't foolishly do anything dangerous again."