Chapter 425: Arhat Fist Has Outstanding Effects

Before Zhao Po could fully recover from his shock, the four companions felt a colossal, frigid current of spiritual energy surging upward from the bottom of the pool.

Entangled in rotting pondweed and dripping with dark water, a vengeful wraith flew out, casting a freezing gaze at Lu Yang that carried a flicker of wariness.

"Well, well, well. Mastering the Universe in a Sleeve at such a tender age—as expected of the Great Xia Empire, a land teeming with natural treasures. What an incredible genius!" The drowned ghost, his face a mask of mortality, stared intently at Lu Yang, deeming him the greatest threat.

Since there was no fluctuation from a magical treasure, it had to be a spatial spell; to swallow an entire pool of water with a sleeve could only be the Universe in a Sleeve!

To master such a high-difficulty spell at the Golden Core stage, what absolute peerless genius was this!

Lu Yang narrowed his eyes slightly and shouted a demand, "Oh? By that logic, you aren't a native wraith of Great Xia? Where do you come from, and why have you appeared in Hanshui City?"

The drowned ghost let out a cold sneer, utterly dismissive of Lu Yang's interrogation. "Why on earth should I tell you?"

These little brats before him possessed raw talent for spells, but there was an entire major realm separating them. What made them think they could defeat him?

They simply did not know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth.

With that, the drowned ghost turned on his heel to flee.

What a joke. If he could run, why would he fight?

"Thinking of running? Take a fist from me!"

Meng Jingzhou was the first to strike, unleashing the Arhat Fist. Buddhist chants reverberated through the air as Pure Yang True Fire cloaked the surface of his knuckles, fluctuating wildly.

"So hot!" The drowned ghost had not anticipated such speed from Meng Jingzhou. Caught off guard, he took a direct hit. Buddhist techniques and Pure Yang True Fire were among the absolute finest methods for suppressing wraiths; with the two stacked together, the drowned ghost could not block it at all!

"Exerting the combat power of the Nascent Soul stage while only at the Golden Core stage, and this technique... you aren't from the Corpse Driving Sect!" The ghost's carelessness had cost him the upper hand.

"It seems that if I don't eliminate you little brats, I won't be leaving today!" The drowned ghost gnashed his teeth, though he had originally been unwilling to stir up trouble.

"Hmph. Drowning a mortal in a water basin—and a malicious ghost like you still hopes to escape?"

"Damn it, what does me drowning a mortal have to do with you? You cultivators of Great Xia are just infuriating!" The drowned ghost cursed loudly. The aquatic domain was his home ground, but that home ground had already been stripped away by Lu Yang. Under these circumstances, he had no desire to fight.

But since he could not leave now, he might as well fight to the end!

"The Marsh as an Abyss!"

An inky domain of water spread out from beneath the drowned ghost's feet. The water was as viscous as blood, arriving beneath the feet of the four companions in the blink of an eye.

A bone-chilling cold traveled from the soles of their feet straight to the crowns of their heads. It took immense effort just to move their bodies. Worse still, upon being touched by the inky water, their breathing grew labored, as though they were suffocating.

Those at the Golden Core stage could complete an internal cycle within their bodies and had no true need for breath; they shouldn't have felt suffocation at all, yet this inky domain possessed the power to drown them all in dry land.

Lu Yang pressed his index and middle fingers together and shouted, "Break!"

The inky water receded, and everyone snapped back to reality.

What just happened was not reality, but an illusion—a method frequently employed by the drowned ghost. Fortunately, Lu Yang's cultivation technique happened to be the perfect counter against illusions!

With the illusion shattered, endless water weeds tangled around everyone. This was the manner of the ghost's own death, and it had now become one of his abilities.

"Sweep!" The Azure Peak Sword thrust toward the ground, and endless sword qi spread across the dirt, severing the roots of the water weeds.

"Attack together! The Decapitation Form!"

"Arhat Fist!"

"Tyrant Barbarian King Fist!"

The three struck simultaneously, assaulting the drowned ghost. The ghost shifted his body slightly, leaving an afterimage in place as his true form instantly materialized behind Mangu. A strand of water weed appeared in his hand, wrapping tightly around Mangu's neck.

This kid looked simple and honest; he should be the easiest to handle.

Mangu didn't even bother looking behind him. He violently jerked his head backward, smashing into the drowned ghost until the spirit was completely dazed, involuntarily releasing the water weed from his grasp.

The three youths and the solitary ghost clashed into a chaotic brawl once more. Watching three peerless prodigies besiege a Nascent Soul-level malicious ghost, Zhao Po had absolutely no idea where he could even step in to help.

The battle before him was no longer a place where he could intervene; this was a fight that belonged to the Nascent Soul realm.

"Didn't we agree that everyone was just at the Golden Core stage?" Zhao Po felt as though his own Golden Core cultivation was a complete fraud.

"Arhat Fist!" Lu Yang also unleashed an Arhat Fist, but ours was augmented with Samadhi True Fire.

The drowned ghost was well-prepared this time, dodging repeatedly. However, Lu Yang was mixing his punches with the "Earth Shrinking" technique, burrowing in and out of the ground in an unpredictable manner. One punch managed to strike the drowned ghost squarely on the shoulder.

Ignoring the burning pain brought by the true fire and the fist technique, the drowned ghost suddenly discovered something far more terrifying.

"My hair!"

The drowned ghost's hair usually hung in distinct, water-soaked clumps—a very characteristic look. Now, under the influence of the Arhat Fist, his hair was falling out in handfuls, completely unstoppable.

"Huh, so it actually works on ghosts too." Lu Yang was also slightly surprised. He had purely wanted to use Buddhist magic to suppress the malicious ghost; he hadn't intended to make him go bald.

"Eighteen Consecutive Hammers!" Mangu pulled out a massive iron hammer, frantically bashing the drowned ghost while blaring a recording of the Sages' Teachings.

"Are you a freaking Confucian cultivator?!" Feeling the righteous noble qi inherently radiating from the iron hammer, the drowned ghost's face warped in horror.

Studying Confucian classics over a long period could cultivate a gentleman's righteous qi. Although Mangu's learning progress was remarkably slow, his attitude was commendable, and his long-term studies had indeed granted him this noble aura.

The offensive methods of Lu Yang's trio were bursting with masculine, yang energy. The yin energy brooding above the pool was growing thinner and thinner. If this fight continued, the dark mist hovering here might be directly dispersed into nothingness!

The drowned ghost was infuriated. He had gone to great lengths to find such an excellent spot, only for it to be ruined by these three. Flying into a rage, he cried, "You... *cough*... don't... *cough*... force me... *cough*... Stop hitting me, I surrender."

If it were a one-on-one fight, Lu Yang would have used an Invincibility Pill to hasten the battle. But with three against one, it was an absolute stomp; there was no need to waste such a pill.

The drowned ghost lay sprawled out on the ground, completely devoid of the will to live.

The Arhat Fist, True Fire, Noble Righteous Qi... The drowned ghost wondered if he had failed to consult the almanac before stepping out today. There were only a few methods in the world that perfectly countered vengeful wraiths, and he had somehow run into every single one of them.

Losing his home-court advantage, facing methods specialized in suppressing spirits, and fighting geniuses who could battle above their realm—only a ghost could win under these conditions!

"We won just like that?" Zhao Po and the living corpse stepped forward, still dazed. The battle had begun and ended far too quickly for him to even follow the rhythm.

Zhao Po's talent was by no means weak, but compared to Lu Yang's trio, his natural gifts were a shade lesser, and his experiences were vastly inferior.

Though he frequently wandered the martial world and had experienced plenty of worldly affairs, his background paled in comparison to Lu Yang and the others, who routinely mingled with demonic cults, challenged higher realms, and stared death in the face without a care.

Lu Yang pulled out a Soul-Dispersing Talisman, scaring the drowned ghost into scrambling backward.

"Wait, wait, wait! No matter what I did, my crime doesn't warrant this!"

Lu Yang remained unmoved, his hands never pausing. "You've already drowned someone, and you have the nerve to say your crime doesn't warrant this?"

"It's a fake! It's all fake! The person isn't dead! If you don't believe me, look at the bottom of the pool—she's perfectly alive!" the drowned ghost shrieked in terror.

Lu Yang leaned over to peer downward. Sure enough, there was a living woman below. It seemed the living corpse had acted on preconceived notions earlier, mistakenly assuming the woman was dead.

Releasing his spiritual energy, Lu Yang formed a giant hand, plucking the woman upward and dropping her right next to the drowned ghost.

"Alright, speak up. What exactly is going on here?"