Chapter 944: Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon

Almost in the blink of an eye, Sang Qian was dragged down.

Zu An was startled. He had only meant to tease her, as ancient wells were instinctively linked to ghosts and monsters in the movies he'd seen in his previous life. But he never expected such a turn of events. If anything truly happened to Sang Qian, he would likely live with a guilty conscience forever.

He rushed over. Just then, a burst of fire erupted from the bottom of the well, and a graceful figure shot out. It was Sang Qian. Her face was filled with terror. Upon seeing Zu An, she clung to him like a family member, shrinking behind him and trembling while clutching his arm.

Zu An then remembered she was a fire elemental cultivator. He couldn't help but chuckle, "Since you can use fire elements, those hairs would have turned to ash the moment they touched fire. Why were you still so scared?"

"Don't talk about it..." Sang Qian covered her ears, her legs turning to jelly at the thought of the recent scene. She thought, *Oh no, oh no, I'll probably have nightmares every day now.*

"Ah Zu, what was that thing?" Zheng Dan instinctively moved closer to Zu An as well. As a woman, she naturally felt a shiver of fear towards such things.

"That should be the main culprit," Zu An replied, his eyes fixed on the well entrance.

Following his gaze, Zheng Dan and Sang Qian instinctively pressed closer to him. Numerous black hairs, like vines, were spreading out from the well entrance, constantly growing as if limitless.

As the hairs encircled the trio, Sang Qian's face turned ashen. Despite her fear, she was no ordinary woman. She gathered her courage and unleashed fire elements towards the hairs. What made her eyes widen was that the hairs didn't incinerate on contact with fire as before; instead, her flames quickly dissipated. She urgently tugged Zu An's sleeve and said, "These hairs are strange. They seem to be protected by a peculiar cold energy. My fire can't burn them. Is their cultivation ice-based?"

As if her recent attack had backfired, she felt a biting coldness and shivered uncontrollably. Immediately afterwards, she felt a warmth in her palm, and the chilling sensation instantly receded. She felt much more comfortable. She looked down at the hand he was holding, her cheeks slightly flushed, but this time she said nothing.

"They're cultivating something sinister, not ice," Zu An said, releasing her hand at the appropriate moment. He then looked towards the well entrance and coldly demanded, "What demon dares to play tricks here!"

"Hee hee hee..." A harsh, grating sound, like that of a night owl, echoed from the bottom of the well. "Who dares to disturb my slumber!"

Feeling an inexplicable pressure, both Zheng Dan and Sang Qian's faces changed. They hurriedly urged, "Let's go, they're very powerful."

To their surprise, Zu An remained still. "Don't worry," he said. His voice had an inexplicable calming effect, and the two women gradually settled down.

"Thinking of leaving? No one is leaving today." A figure shrouded in a black robe slowly ascended from the bottom of the well, wisps of black mist coiling around him.

"In a way, this counts as black silk, right?" Zu An was impressed by his own ability to wander off into irrelevant thoughts. He felt a little annoyed. Seeing the long black hair, he had initially expected a beautiful female ghost, like in TV dramas. Who knew it would turn out to be such an ugly monstrosity?

Unlike Zu An, who was relaxed, Zheng Dan and Sang Qian nervously swallowed. The person before them exerted an inexplicably immense pressure. Only half of his incredibly pale face was visible; it was so gaunt it looked like a skull, mere skin and bones. His eye sockets were deeply sunken, and his eyes, unlike those of normal people, glowed with a reddish light, making it impossible to tell if he was human or ghost.

"Tsk tsk tsk, two beautiful young women. Your blood must be even more fresh and nourishing." The half-human, half-ghost creature gazed at the two women, a flicker of excitement in its eyes. Having cultivated dark arts, he was extremely sensitive to yin and yang energy, so he naturally saw at a glance that the two were women disguised as men.

Hearing his words, goosebumps rose all over the two women.

Zu An sighed. "Such two beautiful women, and your only desire for them is to drink their blood? Ah, you've cultivated these dark arts until you're neither human nor ghost, you've even lost a man's basic abilities. What's the point of living?"

Sang Qian and Zheng Dan's cheeks flushed. Although this guy was praising their beauty, why did it sound so strange?

"You're asking for death!"

Enrage points from Chi Tu +444+444+444...

The black-robed figure was furious. The black hairs on the ground instantly straightened, shooting forward like sharp arrows. If struck, one would likely be riddled with holes like a beehive.

Zheng Dan and Sang Qian were about to prepare to join the fight, but Zu An motioned for them not to. He shielded the two women behind him, as a shimmering wall of energy appeared before him.

The black-robed figure, Chi Tu, sneered inwardly. This move of his was specifically designed to counter cultivators' vital energy shields. It was a strategy of "breaking the surface with a single point," meaning even someone a level higher than him might not be able to block it. How powerful could this young man be at his age? And he planned to take it head-on? He wouldn't even know how he died. He even considered holding back some power to spare the young man's life, then slowly draining the blood of his two female companions in front of him, savoring the pleasure of their torment.

However, his smile quickly froze. He saw that when the sharp hairs struck the opponent's vital energy shield, they shattered inch by inch as if hitting a steel wall. He himself felt his qi and blood churn from the recoil force, making him extremely uncomfortable.

"How is this possible!" He stared in horror at the man before him. So young, yet so powerful in cultivation? It defied logic! Not only him, but Sang Qian was also shocked. Although she knew Zu An was a skilled cultivator, she hadn't expected his strength to have grown to this extent since they last parted ways. The black-robed man before her exerted a pressure indicating at least a seventh-rank master. Yet, Zu An had pulverized his full-force attack without even lifting a hand?

Zheng Dan, on the other hand, was much calmer. She had personally witnessed Zu An slaughtering a powerful red dragon when he was still weak. This current situation was nothing in comparison.

At this moment, Chi Tu's face became even more contorted. *I almost abandoned my physical body just to gain this power, yet he sacrificed nothing, his cultivation far surpassing mine. He's also more handsome, and he has two beautiful women by his side—a complete winner in life. What does all my effort even count for?*

His expression turned cold. *Even if your cultivation is higher than mine, you might not be able to defend against my unique secret technique.* He wasted no time, immediately activating his secret technique. A tangible, black, malevolent spirit suddenly materialized from thin air, like a vengeful ghost summoned from hell, and lunged directly at Zu An. Before it even reached him, the sense of evil and malice had already affected Zu An's spiritual consciousness.

Even Sang Qian and Zheng Dan, who had been secretly on guard, now felt terror in their souls. It was an unknown power that left them feeling utterly helpless.

"It's over!" Both women, excellent cultivators for their age, immediately recognized that this was an attack on the soul. Unless one had reached the Grandmaster realm and refined their soul, they would likely perish on the spot. No matter how high Zu An's cultivation was, he couldn't possibly be a Grandmaster.

The two women looked at Zu An in despair, but his face remained perfectly calm. "Hmph! Such a petty trick, trying to show off before a master! Great Mighty Dragon!"

He formed a hand seal and pressed it directly onto the head of the terrifying ghostly creature. The malevolent spirit shrieked, then instantly melted away like lingering snow beneath a scorching sun.

"Pfft!" Chi Tu finally spat out a mouthful of greenish blood, then collapsed onto the ground as if his body had fallen apart. That ghostly entity was his life-bound artifact, cultivated through his very essence. With its destruction, even if he miraculously survived, his cultivation would likely be less than half of his peak.

"It's you!" Chi Tu finally realized. The terrifying power emanating from Zu An was precisely what had damaged one of his ghost puppets not long ago.

"If you want to live, tell me honestly: why did you secretly use a jinx to harm my friend?" Zu An stepped forward, now standing before him, looking down at him.