Chapter 449: A Chinese Ghost Story: The Composite
Akainu furrowed his brows in confusion. "He didn't kill the Taoist swordsman?"
"Then how did Ning Laoye, who now radiates demonic energy so intensely, come to be?"
As a hardline general of the Justice Alliance, Akainu deeply disdained this kind of behavior. A scholar who couldn't even uphold justice was unworthy of respect.
Smoker also looked at the ghost woman curiously.
Nie Xiaoqian's face turned pale as she explained, "At the time, Scholar Ning had little life left. Even if he accepted the Tree Demon Matriarch's offer of gold and riches, he wouldn't live long enough to enjoy them."
"And what Yan Chixia preached about self-sacrifice? He scoffed at it."
She paused for a moment, fear flickering in her eyes before she continued. "What he actually did... was peel back the bark of the dying Matriarch, consume the heartwood of the thousand-year-old demon, and then drink every drop of the Taoist's blood infused with spiritual power. That's how he became the current [Demonic Robe Scholar]."
That explained why the ghost women who were once under the Tree Demon Matriarch's control were now bound to Ning Laoye.
He had devoured the majority of both the Matriarch's and the Taoist's power.
Silence fell.
Only the eerie creaking of branches rubbing together could be heard.
Even Orochimaru's eyes showed a flicker of intrigue. He hadn't expected someone as composed as Ning Laoye to be so utterly deranged beneath the surface.
Smoker caught the most crucial detail. "Wait... you said all of this happened just half a year ago?"
"Yes..."
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. "Then why does Ning Laoye look like decades have passed? And why is he unable to leave his mansion?"
If what the ghost said was true, why would Ning lie to them?
Unless...
"He's disguising his weakness. Consuming both a demon's heartwood and a Taoist's blood must've created massive internal backlash. That's why he looks so aged."
Nie Xiaoqian nodded. "That's right. To suppress the chaos within him, he must consume Ghost Tree Hearts daily just to stay stable."
"If you bring him those Ghost Tree Hearts, once he recovers, he will absolutely kill all of you."
The Ghost Tree Hearts acted as a balancing agent—
They were the only way for Ning Laoye to suppress the raging conflict between the two opposing energies inside him.
Garp scratched his head and proposed the simplest solution. "Then why don't we just go back to Ning Residence and kill him now?"
If he was faking his strength, then this was the perfect time for the Navy Alliance team to consider taking him out.
"You can't."
Nie Xiaoqian shook her head urgently. "It's not that Ning Laoye can't leave the mansion—it's that even in his weakened state, as long as he remains inside, he can still kill all of you."
The Ning Residence itself was the source of his power.
To defeat him, they'd have to destroy the mansion first.
Orochimaru asked suddenly, "Then is there anything inside this Lanruo Temple that can destroy the Ning Residence?"
Nie Xiaoqian didn't understand the term "game item," but she understood the question.
She turned and placed her delicate hand on the massive peach tree behind her. "This tree is the corpse of the Tree Demon Matriarch. It wasn't fully consumed by Ning Laoye and was left behind."
"Ning Laoye used the Matriarch's remaining power to create the Ning Residence."
"If you fuse Ghost Tree Hearts into the Matriarch's corpse, it might reawaken—giving you a chance to destroy the mansion's foundation."
If that was true, then the Navy team could eliminate the weakened Demonic Robe Scholar.
"Is that so?"
After a moment's hesitation, Akainu pulled a Ghost Tree Heart from his inventory and tossed it toward the crimson tree.
The heart glowed faintly red upon contact and was immediately absorbed.
So far, it aligned with what Nie Xiaoqian had claimed.
Just as Akainu was about to offer more of the hearts—
Orochimaru reached out to stop him. His eyes locked on Nie Xiaoqian, and he asked coldly, "Based on your story, I have some doubts."
"If this peach tree is so dangerous to Ning Laoye, wouldn't he already be aware of it?"
"If so, why hasn't he tried to destroy it?"
Nie Xiaoqian froze, then stammered, "Ning Laoye can't leave the mansion, so—"
"But you can. You're a ghost under his control. Didn't you already leave the mansion?"
If he could manipulate her, he could've ordered her to burn the tree and eliminate the threat.
"Or, using you, he could lure the low-intelligence Ghost Tree Demons back to Ning Residence and destroy the tree that way."
After their close encounter, everyone had seen how powerful Ning Laoye's demonic aura was. He could easily obliterate Ghost Tree Demons.
Orochimaru shook his head. "Yet he gave this crucial task to strangers—to us. Doesn't that seem off?"
"Maybe there's another possibility…"
"You've been Ning Laoye's pawn from the beginning. You attacked us deliberately and left behind a summonable relic."
"And the urn just happened to be nearby in a Ghost Tree-infested Lanruo Temple. If we didn't trust Ning and chose to summon you, we'd end up doing exactly what you wanted—fusing the hearts into this tree."
Orochimaru's grin turned twisted, and killing intent poured out as he feigned deep thought.
"So let me guess... once we merge the hearts with the tree, does Ning Laoye fully recover? Or perhaps he regains the ability to leave the mansion?"
Faced with Orochimaru's sudden bloodlust,
Nie Xiaoqian's expression changed drastically. She spun and bolted for the courtyard wall, her figure floating weightlessly before landing atop it in an instant.
Thud!
A necrotic bone spear pierced through her chest, trailing with deathly aura.
She looked down, staring at the spearhead that had run her through. Her ghostly body began to rot away.
Hee hee hee...
A chilling laugh echoed through Lanruo Temple.
As her body decayed, the ghost turned to face them. Her once-soft gaze was now twisted with hatred and malice.
"If I don't complete my mission... Ning Laoye will punish me..."
She gripped the spear with both hands, slowly pulling it free.
Crack.
Five razor-sharp fingernails scissored through the shaft, snapping it cleanly.
"She was hiding her true power..."
Smoker's eyes narrowed. Gaseous purple dragons coiled around his arms as his figure vanished from sight.
Boom!
He crashed through the wall, purple mist corroding the earth like acid.
He turned to track her—but Nie Xiaoqian was already hovering in the air, her movements so fast he hadn't even seen her move.
Borsalino frowned, clearly alarmed. "Conservatively, she's stronger than the Ghost Tree Demon King we fought earlier."
As a Radiant Spear hunter and a Light-Light Fruit user, his [Agility] was among the highest—
Yet this ghost's speed surpassed even his.
"If you won't cooperate... then I'll have to kill you all."
Suspended in midair, Nie Xiaoqian's body began to visibly swell.
As if submerged in water, her flesh turned pale and bloated, and multiple slender arms began to extend from between her ribs.
Though delicate and graceful, those arms were horrifying.
Each one held a moist, beautiful severed head—those of the ghost women once controlled by the Tree Demon Matriarch.
Their eyes rolled in their sockets, mouths muttering nonsense.
[Nine Ghost Lantern: Nie Xiaoqian (Gold-tier)]: A fusion of nine ghostly spirits, forcibly combined by Ning Laoye into a single monstrous embodiment of yin energy.
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