Chapter 1143 He Sold His Soul to a Devil
“Yeah. Demonic Ghost Kings are all in or above the Integration Realm. If a flock of Demonic Ghosts has a Demonic Ghost King as the leader, their reproduction ability will be stronger. They’re not the kind to be trifled with in the Cultivation World.”
Yue Wuwei gazed at the crowd and explained, “Demonic Ghost Kings are born in a place called Darkland. If you kill one Demonic Ghost King, the other kings in Darkland will know about it and come to seek revenge. This is the most terrifying part about them.”
“That’s too horrible, isn’t it?” Mu Xue tucked her chin in horror.
“That’s to say, the war in the Sea Dragon Star Area has to end right now?” Li Mu asked in disbelief.
“Maybe.” Yi Hou gave a wry smile and said, “Even if we are to continue with the war, we will have to wait until the Demonic Ghost King, who had been causing a ruckus, is done with his robbery. Now he has taken more than half of the forces’ fleets, in the rest of the war, there will be fewer fleet battles. Then, the battles on the ground will become even more intense.”
“A Demonic Ghost King? A clown?” Zhang Han was lost in thought.
“Whiz, whiz, whiz, whiz, whiz!” The group was at the s.p.a.ce station of Bluesand.
All of a sudden, nine Thunder Kings appeared in their vicinity.
Hearing that a Demonic Ghost King had appeared, the Snowfall Alliance rushed over to deliver the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps.
It seemed that the Snowfall Alliance was also terrified.
“I’m the representative of the Snowfall Alliance. Please take the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps you ordered.”
“Okay.”
Soon, the handover was done.
But right at this moment—
“Buzz!”
All of a sudden, dark clouds began to gather in the void ahead.
It was as if something extremely formidable was about to emerge.
“This…”
The faces of everyone present changed drastically.
The Snowfall Alliance’s s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p instantly flew away without looking back.
But just after it flew for some distance—
“Whiz, whiz, whiz, whiz, whiz!”
Heavy firepower suddenly appeared and blocked its way. No matter how hard it tried to defend, it could not resist the attack of more than 500 s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps.
“Kaboom!”
This s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p burst into flames in s.p.a.ce.
Everyone on it was killed.
“We gotta go. Prepare to enter the secondary s.p.a.ce,” Yi Hou exclaimed in shock.
“It’s too late.”
Yue Wuwei furrowed his brows and said, “Let’s see what the clown wants to do.”
From the cold look in Yue Wuwei’s eyes, one could tell that if this Demonic Ghost King dared to make trouble for them, he would not mind killing him.
“Daddy.” Feeling a little nervous, Mengmeng held Zhang Han’s palm with her small hand.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry.” Zhang Han smiled and touched Mengmeng’s head to comfort her.
“Why did the Demonic Ghost King come here?”
“Did those Demonic Ghosts follow the Snowfall Alliance’s Thunder Kings here?”
“They wouldn’t rob us, would they?”
“The Demonic Ghost King’s aura is really terrifying.”
The faces of everyone present paled a little.
They couldn’t imagine that the highly mysterious Demonic Ghosts would appear before them.
It was the first time for them to see such a scene. Even Zhang Mu, Deep Flame, Zi Yan, Zhao Feng, Nina, Mo Wen, and Li Mu had never seen a Demonic Ghost before.
The dark clouds were rolling more and more fiercely.
In fact, each of the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps in that fleet was shrouded by the black mist.
Even the entire bodies of the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps had been dyed black.
What was even more alarming was that this black mist seemed to be emitting a mysterious glow.
There were no living people in any of those s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps. Still, everyone felt as if thousands of cold eyes were watching them from the fleet.
What kind of terrifying clan was the Demonic Ghost Clan on earth?
“Swis.h.!.+”
The black mist spread again, as though it was going to devour this place.
The nearest of them were only hundreds of meters away.
“The clown is about to show up.”
Yue Wuwei’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Judging by its scale, this pack of Demonic Ghosts is just a fledgling.”
The implication was, “Why are you showing off in front of me? Believe it or not, I can crush you.”
“He’s coming!” Li Mu cried out in surprise.
“Ah!”
Mengmeng was staring at the black mist in front of her. The mist did not scare her. Yet, she was frightened by Li Mu’s shouting.
“Bang!”
Zhang Han casually waved his hand. Next, Li Mu was sent flying.
“Why did you shout for no reason?” Zhang Han said disgruntledly.
He then stroked Mengmeng’s head and said, “There, there. Daddy is with you… It’s fine. Don’t be afraid. In truth, the Demonic Ghost King is very cute sometimes.”
The others were all bereft of speech.
“How could you a.s.sociate the word ‘cute’ with the Demonic Ghost King?”
“Swoos.h.!.+”
All of a sudden, the black mist began to churn violently.
It was as if a Big Devil was about to step out of the black mist.
It also seemed that a colossal monster would climb out.
But what they saw next was beyond their expectations.
A two-meter-tall… toy-like clown slowly appeared in front of the thick mist.
He really looked like an enlarged toy.
Apart from the pair of light red eyes, his arms, legs, and other body parts were not well-proportioned.
“Hiss…” The clown’s voice was extremely hoa.r.s.e.
He stared greedily at the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps in front of him.
“Hahahaha.
“s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps!
“Give me the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps!
“Give me!”
The clown spoke to them.
He meant that he wanted this batch of s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps.
“This clown is the Demonic Ghost King?”
“Er…”
“How powerful is he? I can’t examine his aura at all.”
“He seems to be very, very powerful.” The group discussed in low voices. Their faces were written with graveness.
They just heard about the clown a few days ago. Unexpectedly, they would confront him head-on right now.
“Humph!”
Yue Wuwei snorted coldly. Beams of bright light suddenly burst out from his eyes.
It seemed that he was about to make a move.
Yi Hou’s heart jolted with excitement.
“Senior Yue is truly powerful. He is a mighty figure in the G.o.d Transformation Realm. It seems that he knows a way to handle the Demonic Ghost Clan, doesn’t he?
“Great!
“Then we won’t lose more s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps!”
He was pleasantly surprised.
But what Zhang Han said next instantly struck him dumb.
“Elder Yue, you don’t need to attack.”
“Huh?” Yue Wuyi was stunned. “If we don’t take action, he won’t let us go.”
“It’s okay.” Zhang Han looked straight at the clown in front of him and showed a mysterious smile, saying, “Give him… 80 percent of our s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps.”
“What? Give him our s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps? Are you serious?” Yi Hou asked. His expression froze in place.
“Yes, I’m serious.”
“Well, okay.” Yi Hou smiled bitterly and looked at Yue Wuwei.
“With your temper, are really you going to compromise?” Yue Wuwei had a bewildered look on his face.
“Let him have the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps first.”
Zhang Han shook his head slightly and said, “To be honest, I know this clown.”
“Pfft…”
“What?”
“Master, you know the Demonic Ghost King?”
“Good Lord!”
Everyone present was dumbfounded.
“Pa.s.s on the order. Everyone shall board the aircraft and fly out. We’ll give up 80 percent of our s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps. Just do as I said.” Yi Hou gave the order.
The others soon boarded aircraft and transport s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps and went away.
Then, jets of red light abruptly shot out from the clown’s eyes. The black mist began to swirl, as though thousands of Demonic Ghosts were roaring and poised to attack.
However, the clown seemed to be dreading something.
Even though the mist surge, he and his clan didn’t really strike.
After those people all left their s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps, 80 percent of the fleet slowly flew toward the mist and was swallowed by it.
The swirling mist then calmed down a lot.
“Hahahahaha.”
The clown had fixed his eyes on Zhang Han’s s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p as if he was staring at a certain attractive figure through the window.
“Sizzle!”
There was a flash of lightning in Zhang Han’s eyes, which vanished in an instant.
“s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps!
“Me!
“Give me!”
It seemed that he wanted more s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps.
Yue Wuwei frowned again.
“Is he messing with me?”
But before he took any action, Zhang Han looked steadily ahead and said in a cool voice, “Ding Jiuming, this is enough.”
“Huh?”
Sect Leader Mu, Mu Xue, and the other people who knew Ding Jiuming suddenly altered their expressions.
“What, what’s going on?
“This clown is Ding Jiuming?
“How could this be?”
“Swoos.h.!.+”
As soon as Zhang Han said this, two rays of red light erupted from the clown’s eyes and swept at the Thunder King.
He was attacking!
The black mist churned and turned into a big hand, grabbing at the Thunder King.
“Rooooar!”
The clown’s demonic roar carried a note of mixed rage, bloodthirstiness, and wickedness.
“Swis.h.!.+”
At this moment, a jet of pale blue light surrounded the black mist.
In a slightly cold voice, Yue Wuwei said word by word, “Do you want to die?”
“Hiss…”
The black mist seemed to be pinned to the spot, unable to move anymore.
The clown’s eyes flashed with ferocity and viciousness.
But in the face of Yue Wuwei, he had no way to fight back.
“He, he is Ding Jiuming?”
Sect Leader Mu looked astounded. He hurriedly said, “How could he be Ding Jiuming? How could Ding Jiuming become this thing?”
“Yeah, what’s going on?”
Mu Xue was also in a daze.
She couldn’t a.s.sociate the imposing clown in front of her with Ding Jiuming even in her wildest dream.
Last time, Ding Jiuming went to the Lost Continent for the trial and saw a corner of the Cultivation World. Then, he abruptly disappeared. Now, when he showed up again, he became a hideous clown. What on earth had happened to him?
Mu Xue firmly believed everything Zhang Han said. If he said this clown was Ding Jiuming, then it must be the truth.
Moreover, after Zhang Han mentioned Ding Jiuming, everyone noticed that the clown’s aura instantly became more ferocious and aggressive. He was looking at them as if he had his own consciousness.
“What the h.e.l.l is happening?”
“He’s obtained the martial arts heritage of predecessors of the Demonic Ghost Clan.”
Zhang Han looked at the clown ahead, thought for a moment, and then added, “Or rather, he’s been devoured or possessed by a Demonic Ghost King. This case can be very complicated. It is possible that the clown is Ding Jiuming himself, or the Demonic Ghost King, or a new life formed by the combination of the two. But I think that Ding Jiuming is most likely to have been devoured.”
“Devoured?”
Sect Leader Mu’s face paled slightly. He asked, “So, is Ding Jiuming dead?”
“Not yet.”
Zhang Han suddenly knitted his brows and said, “Generally speaking, when the Demonic Ghost Clan awakens, they only need to reproduce. In other words, they only want to find a safe place to recuperate. They’re in their weakest days. But not long ago, we heard that the living creatures on several planets were wiped out, then many fleets were robbed. It shows that the clown still has Ding Jiuming’s consciousness. Maybe what he did to those planets was Ding Jiuming’s revenge. Oh, there is another possibility, which may be very close to the truth.”
“What is it?” probed Mu Xue.
At this time, even Yue Wuwei was a little curious.
“What’s the reason behind this? Even I myself can not figure this out. I know about the Demonic Ghost Clan. It’s a very fierce clan and also very difficult to deal with. The Demonic Ghosts are very vengeful. However, I know little about the Demonic Ghost King. But from Zhang Han’s words, he seems to know the Demonic Ghost King like the back of his hand.
“Who is this brat on earth?” Yue Wuwei was a little surprised.
Zhang Han had amazed him again.
Sometimes, it was hard to find answers to certain issues.
Under everyone’s gaze, Zhang Han eyed the clown in front of him and slowly remarked, “He’s sold his soul to a devil.”
“What?”
“His soul? His soul was sold to a devil?”
“Oh my G.o.d! Doesn’t it still mean that Ding Jiuming is dead?”
“This…”
The crowd was a little confounded.
They never thought this could be the answer. It was too unbelievable. Most importantly, could souls be sold?
“The wrecked planets should be the places that Ding Jiuming hated. That’s why the Demonic Ghost Clan consumed a lot of energy to destroy them in its early days. They robbed fleets because they needed places to breed. The Demonic Ghosts in this pack are not large in number yet. They are still young and need some peaceful time to grow.” Zhang Han shook his head gently. He now appeared somewhat emotional.
He was also surprised that Ding Jiuming triggered the emergence of the Demonic Ghost King.
But it was impossible to guess whether the clown was still Ding Jiuming or the Demonic Ghost King.
“How do you know so much about this clan?”
Yue Wuwei was silent for a long time. Finally, he posed the question that had been bothering him.
“Swis.h.!.+”
Right after he said that, everyone fixed their eyes on Zhang Han again.
After all, they all felt that this was incredible.
Hearing this, Zhang Han smiled but said nothing.
He slowly s.h.i.+fted his gaze to the clown.
He chuckled inwardly and thought, “Because this Demonic Ghost King is something that I created in my previous life.”
At this time, Zhang Han was also taken aback.
He never thought that the clown and the Demonic Ghost Clan were actually a treasure he possessed back then.
The clown was just what the Demonic Ghost King showed to the world. Maybe it also had something to do with Ding Jiuming’s personality.
Did Ding Jiuming like clowns very much?
Or had he defined himself as a clown?
No matter what, the clown, that was the so-called Demonic Ghost King, was actually just a mask.
The mask was a Profound-grade treasure, which had mighty functions. Profound-grade treasures didn’t fall into the category of spirit treasures. Or rather, it was beyond the scope of spirit treasures. In the Cultivation World, it was extremely difficult to obtain Profound-grade treasures, because they could only be produced by nature or condensed by chance.
Zhang Han called the mask the Dark Mask.
It was because if he wore it, his evil tendencies and overflowing killing intent would affect his mind.
It also had another function, which was to seal dark creatures.
It just so happened that Zhang Han ran into the Demonic Ghost Clan at that time. Thus, he sealed the clan with the mask and refined the Demonic Ghost King. if the refining succeeded, it would become a great help to him in battles.
Sadly, Zhang Han encountered the Divine Thunder over the Sky before he finished the refining.
Now, to his amazement, he came across his Dark Mask here.
It had to be said that this was a bit too coincidental.
“I wonder if I can get my old supreme treasure back.” Zhang Han deliberated for a while.
Perhaps a lot of those treasures already had new owners.
Considering all his understandings about this issue, Zhang Han told them a series of his conjectures, which was the closest to the truth.
“Then what should we do?”
Sect Leader Mu frowned deeply and asked, “Is there any way to get his soul back?”
“There’s no way,” Zhang Han said. “He hasn’t died yet. If his willpower is strong, he may take control over the clown’s body. But even if he finds his old self back, he will not be the same Ding Jiuming again. It all depends on his luck.”
“Alas.”
Sect Leader Mu heaved with a deep sigh and said, “Forget it. This is his fate.”
“It’s also his choice,” Zhang Han said.
“Then what about…” Yi Hou suddenly opened his mouth and whispered, “What about our s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps? Are we really going to let him have all those s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps?”
“Since we already know the details and origins of this Demonic Ghost King and also have methods to tackle Demonic Ghosts, why don’t we attack them right now?”
This was what Yi Hou thought.
Even Yue Wuwei echoed, “The Demonic Ghosts are still very weak. Should we kill them?”
The people in the surroundings looked torn when they heard this.
Ding Jiuming was still in the clown’s body, but he was no longer himself.
Yet, Sect Leader Mu still felt a little uncomfortable about killing him.
“No, just give him the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps and let him go,” Zhang Han said.
“Why is that?”
“I’m raising a pig.”
Everyone was stumped for words.
“What does this have to do with raising pigs?”
Yue Wuwei, however, revealed a thoughtful look. Faint glints of inspiration flashed across his mind, but it seemed that he couldn’t catch them.
Zhang Han was the only one present who understood what was going on.
This clown was a new Demonic Ghost King.
If it were the former Demonic Ghost King, when he saw Zhang Han here, he would have been scared stiff and then run away immediately.
But that was not what happened. It should be because the Dark Mask had refined the old Demonic Ghost King.
Even if the refining hadn’t been a complete success yet, it was pretty much the case now.
To grow up, the Demonic Ghost Clan needed to consume a lot of resources and devour a large amount of dark energy.
If they stayed with Zhang Han, they would enjoy a leisurely life.
Then, it would take too long for them to reach adulthood.
Hence, Zhang Han planned to leave them in the cultivation world. When they grew up, he would take them back. This was what he meant by raising pigs.
What made Zhang Han feel confident about this was that he had sensed a faint connection between him and the Dark Mask.
It was perhaps due to the causality or because he refined it back then.
The Dark Mask did not belong to him now, but he could still feel that he was linked to it.
Therefore, after thinking for a while, Zhang Han decided to let the Demonic Ghosts leave.
It depended on luck whether he could take them back or not in the future. Anyway, Zhang Han didn’t care much about it.
“Are you really going to let them go? Cultivators could hardly come by the Demonic Ghost Clan twice in their lives,” Yue Wuwei said.
“Yes. Let them go.” Zhang Han waved his hand.
Yue Wuwei was silent for a second. But then, he withdrew his energy.
“Whoos.h.!.+”
The immense energy that covered the black mist slowly dissipated.
The clown seemed to have noticed that there was someone difficult to deal with inside the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. Also, he seemed to have sensed that there was another person he was afraid of in the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.
“Hiss, hiss!”
The red light in the clown’s eyes slowly faded. He looked directly at the Thunder King that Zhang Han was riding and revealed a weird smile.
The black mist then swept away 80% of the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps, including the 10 Thunder Kings that had just been delivered here.
“Thump!”
Hundreds of s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps leaped into the secondary s.p.a.ce and disappeared.
“They’re gone.”
“The 10 Thunder Kings we ordered just arrived. Yet, they were robbed before we even got a chance to ride them.”
“They’re not robbed, okay? Our boss gave those s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps to them.”
“The clown… The Demonic Ghost King. I’ve had an eye-opener today.”
Everyone began to discuss what just happened.
Even Mengmeng asked Zhang Han a lot of questions.
The clown was both frightening and unforgettable. He was simply too special.
Yi Hou shook his head and looked at the remaining s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps around.
“Um… I don’t think we’re able to continue with our journey. With so few s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps, we’ll be courting defeat if we go challenge the Tiger Talisman Royal Family now. Shall we go back to the Cloud Shadow Sky first?” Yi Hou asked in a low voice.
“Why can’t we continue to fight?” Li Mu suddenly refuted. “The clown didn’t just take our s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps. It will definitely seize the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps of the Tiger Talisman Royal Family. Judging from his demeanor, he is obviously going to loot the entire Sea Dragon Star Area. As we guessed a few days ago, since there are fewer s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps, the battles on the surface of the planets will become mainstream.”
“Now there are some changes on our side, the Tiger Talisman Royal Family will undergo the same thing. Let’s wait and see what Sect Leader Li and the others will say about this. I’ll report this to them,” Yi Hou said, walking to the side to contact Li Hao and Liu Qingfeng.
The fleet, which now only consisted of more than twenty s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps, came to a stop and parked near the s.p.a.ce station.
After Yi Hou talked to Li Hao, he pa.s.sed on a series of messages.
“On the Tiger Talisman Royal Family’s important strategic planet, Luomu Star, more than a hundred s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps have been robbed.
“A total of 235 s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps on the s.p.a.ce stations on three of our planets have been s.n.a.t.c.hed.
“All the major forces had some s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps be plundered in the past few days.
“The families in the Chaotic Region have taken action. The Guang family sent people to hunt down the clown. But they escaped as soon as they saw the overwhelming black mist.
Zhang Han chuckled when he heard the news.
It seemed that he was mocking the Guang family for overrating their abilities.
“Dad, what level is that clown at?” Mengmeng asked curiously.