PD -Chapter 132 The Eighteen Great Evil Ghosts

“They’re here!”

At last, as the woman’s voice rang out, Shentu’s figure appeared from behind the enormous form of Black and White Impermanence.

Dark crimson light shimmered around her body as she stepped through the air and thrust both palms toward the fused Black and White Impermanence.

“By my blood and soul, I command the Underworld!”

As Shentu spoke, a gigantic, damaged seal shot from her hands and smashed toward Black and White Impermanence.

That was the Ghost Emperor’s Seal.

In an instant, the blood-red radiance of the seal enveloped the pair. Their charge toward Liu Xiaopeng and me came to an abrupt halt. By the time they turned around, it was already too late.

A massive crimson beam burst from the seal and instantly dragged them into a vortex of red light.

The red glow vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and darkness once again filled the gate tunnel as though nothing had happened.

The figures of Black and White Impermanence disappeared without a trace.

Liu Xiaopeng and I both let out long breaths of relief.

As Shentu slowly descended to the ground, I complained, “My dear Ghost Emperor, next time you decide to launch a sneak attack, could you maybe come out a little earlier? If you’d been a few seconds later, the two of us would’ve been finished.”

Shentu didn’t seem concerned in the slightest. After landing gracefully, she waved her hand and collected all the terrified souls that Black and White Impermanence had beaten into submission into the embroidered pouch hanging at her waist.

“I think my timing was perfect,” she said with a smile.

I sighed. This wasn’t the time to argue with her.

Shentu had already told us that among the ghost officials guarding Ghost Gate Pass were the Eighteen Great Evil Ghosts, each one extraordinarily difficult to deal with.

So far, counting Ox-Head and Horse-Face outside the city, we’d only managed to eliminate four of them through a combination of trickery, deception, and ambushes. There were still fourteen left.

Just thinking about it made me feel like I wouldn’t die in battle—I would die from exhaustion first.

And with our current pace, there was no way this qualified as a swift operation. Forget alerting the enemy; by the time we dealt with all eighteen, who knew how much time would have passed? The Underworld would certainly have learned of our presence long before then.

I was also worried that the commotion we’d just caused had already attracted attention.

If the remaining fourteen evil ghosts came at us together, we’d be completely screwed.

After voicing my concerns, I asked Shentu what her plan was going forward.

She smiled faintly, showing no concern at all.

“Relax. I wasn’t idle just now. While you two were keeping those idiots occupied, I set up a barrier covering a five-li radius around Ghost Gate Pass.”

“What kind of barrier?” Liu Xiaopeng asked.

During our planning sessions, Shentu had never mentioned anything about a barrier.

She glanced at him.

“Put simply, even if the Fengdu Emperor himself were observing the entire Youdu with his supreme Yin Sight right now, he wouldn’t be able to detect what’s happening here unless he personally came in person.”

I looked at her and suddenly remembered that Ghost Gate Pass had once been under her jurisdiction.

If anyone could control the situation here with ease, it would be her.

“Then what about the remaining sixteen Great Evil Ghosts?” I asked. “Don’t tell me they’re all inside that tower above the pass and we have to fight our way up floor by floor?”

From my earlier observations, the structure above the gate resembled a tower with exactly eighteen levels.

I figured perhaps one evil ghost resided on each floor.

Shentu froze for a moment before looking at me as though I were an idiot.

“When did I ever say you had to fight your way up floor by floor?”

I frowned.

Was she pretending, or had she genuinely forgotten what she’d said before?

So I replied, “Didn’t you say Ghost Gate Pass is guarded by the Eighteen Great Evil Ghosts? If we want to carry out our plans, don’t we need to seize the entire pass as quickly as possible?”

Hearing this, Shentu let out a disdainful laugh and shook her head.

“I never said you had to defeat all eighteen Great Evil Ghosts.”

“Besides…” she added with a sneer, “do you even have that kind of strength?”

She looked at us mockingly.

“Those two idiots, Black and White Impermanence, almost ate you alive just now. And you’re talking about the Eighteen Great Evil Ghosts?”

She shook her head again, clearly amused.

Her words irritated me, but unfortunately she wasn’t wrong.

I couldn’t refute her.

All I could do was curse the damn woman in my heart and swear that one day I’d beat down not only her current one-third self, but the other two-thirds as well.

“Even for me, if I hadn’t succeeded with that sneak attack, dealing with Black and White Impermanence would’ve been troublesome. And all I did was temporarily seal them with the Ghost Emperor’s Seal.”

“So stop dreaming about defeating all eighteen Great Evil Ghosts.”

“Then… what do we do now?” Liu Xiaopeng asked, frowning.

Shentu assumed her trademark pose, crossing her arms beneath her ample chest.

“I only told you that Ghost Gate Pass was guarded by the Eighteen Great Evil Ghosts. I never said we had to take down every single one of them.”

“Actually, we’ve already taken Ghost Gate Pass.”

As she spoke, she looked toward the entrance of the tunnel.

“What?” I asked, utterly confused.

“The four idiots you mentioned—Ox-Head, Horse-Face, Black Impermanence, and White Impermanence—aren’t part of the Eighteen Evil Ghosts.”

I froze.

That didn’t sound any better.

If anything, it sounded worse.

Didn’t that mean the Eighteen Great Evil Ghosts were still inside Ghost Gate Pass?

“After my accident,” Shentu continued, “Lord Yama stationed those four here to supervise the Eighteen Great Evil Ghosts. At the same time, they were probably meant to monitor my movements as well.”

Only then did I begin to understand.

A spark of excitement rose in my heart.

“So… the Eighteen Great Evil Ghosts are your people?”

“They used to be.”

A trace of melancholy appeared on Shentu’s face.

“Although I’m no longer their commander, they’ve already promised that they won’t interfere in today’s events.”

The moment I heard that, the tension in my heart eased considerably.

That meant we wouldn’t have to fight the Eighteen Great Evil Ghosts.

In fact, they might even act as our allies and help conceal our operation.

“But don’t celebrate too early,” Shentu continued.

“They only agreed to remain sealed inside the tower and not come down to participate in any pursuit or extermination efforts against us. If we alert the Underworld and large numbers of Yin soldiers arrive, or if other Ghost Kings or Ghost Marshals show up…”

She suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

The arms that had been folded casually across her chest dropped at once, her hands clenching into fists.

Her expression changed dramatically.

The moment Liu Xiaopeng and I saw her face, we knew something was wrong.

Just as we were about to ask what had happened, she looked toward the tunnel entrance.

Her voice turned dark and grim.

“We’ve been discovered.”