My Portable Spirit Farm: Rise of the Humble Servant

Chapter 220: The Old Ghost Escapes

As Han Liren desperately neutralized Chen Ping’s relentless Arts, a profound, suffocating frustration gnawed at him. If he possessed even a single decent Dharma Artifact, he wouldn’t be forced into such a pathetic, passive defense. He could have slaughtered this junior with a wave of his hand.

It was all because this wretched rat had stolen his Storage Ring.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Violent explosions detonated One After Another across the jadeite chamber. Water and fire True Essence slammed together, mutually annihilating in roaring blasts of scalding steam. Unrelenting shockwaves tore through the cavern, violently ripping up massive chunks of the exquisite jadeite floor. The entire tomb quaked as if the earth itself were tearing apart.

Chen Ping pushed himself to the absolute limit. Sword light crisscrossed like a meat grinder; fire dragons roared and churned, unleashing the horrific power of his peak Foundation Establishment sixth-layer cultivation.

Han Liren relied entirely on his centuries of combat experience and his flawless mastery over Arts. He blocked, redirected, dodged, and dismantled Chen Ping’s ferocious barrage. Though forced onto the back foot and looking increasingly ragged, the ancient master showed no fatal openings.

Their figures blurred, colliding and separating at terrifying speeds within the confined space. Stray sword energy, hellfire, shattered water dragons, and icy shrapnel painted the cavern in a chaotic storm of destruction. The once-pristine jade walls were reduced to a pitted, scorched ruin.

In the blink of an eye, they had exchanged dozens of blows.

Chen Ping only grew more ferocious, his True Essence surging like an endless tidal wave. Conversely, Han Liren’s stolen face flushed an unnatural, violent crimson. The horrific strain of forcibly elevating his host’s cultivation was taking its toll. A barely perceptible tremor fractured his aura.

Now! A lethal, predatory light exploded in Chen Ping’s eyes.

Seizing the microscopic gap in the old ghost’s breathing cycle, Chen Ping merged his forty-nine flying swords into a single, heaven-rending rainbow of metallic light, aiming straight for Han Liren’s heart. Simultaneously, he thrust both palms forward. His ten fire dragons fused into a colossal, apocalyptic flame serpent, cutting off every conceivable avenue of retreat.

It was an absolute killing blow.

Yet, facing this inescapable execution, Han Liren didn’t panic. Instead, a twisted, vicious reluctance flashed through his eyes. He made a painful choice.

“Soul Siphon Wave!”

Han Liren snapped his head up. The dimming green hellfire in his eyes erupted into a blinding, ghastly blaze!

Chen Ping’s heart seized. Before he could react, an intangible, invisible force—completely bypassing physical distance and defenses—slammed directly into his soul.

“Ugh!”

It felt as if two red-hot iron spikes had been brutally driven through his skull. Excruciating agony! Vertigo! Nausea! His vision instantly blacked out.

His Sea of Consciousness roiled in absolute torment. Without his hyper-focused direction, the lethal sword formation and the apocalyptic fire dragon instantly faltered, their devastating momentum collapsing into a sluggish crawl.

This old ghost actually has a soul attack?! Chen Ping thought, horrified. Though his soul was vastly stronger than a Foundation Establishment Grand Perfection cultivator’s, he couldn’t survive a sustained barrage of this. If the ghost spammed this technique, Chen Ping’s only option would be immediate Self-Destruction.

But Han Liren was in no condition to press the attack. He forcibly swallowed a mouthful of blood as he endured the agonizing backlash. The Soul Siphon Wave was a high-tier divine ability; using it placed a catastrophic burden on a soul that was already severely weakened by the recent Body Seizure. That single strike had violently torn a corner of his newly anchored spirit. It would take months of deep meditation to repair the damage.

Worse, his forced cultivation boost was evaporating. If he stayed, only death awaited him.

A grazing shockwave from Chen Ping’s faltering attack clipped his shoulder, drawing a fresh trickle of blood from his lips. But a frontal victory had never been his goal.

His figure blurred, instantly reappearing beside Han Jingying, who was trembling violently on the floor. He clamped an iron grip onto her arm.

“Go!” Han Liren barked.

Dragging the terrified girl, he stepped onto a hidden teleportation platform that had silently activated in the corner of the tomb. His free hand slammed onto a specific archaic rune at its edge.

Hum! The platform instantly erupted with a blinding, hyper-intense blue light. Ancient runes spun madly around them.

“Old ghost, don’t you dare run!” Chen Ping roared, his eyes bloodshot as he fought through the tearing agony in his skull.

He violently commanded his flying swords, transforming them into a devastating metallic river that bombarded the platform.

But he was a split second too late.

Whoosh!

The blue light flashed, and Han Liren and Han Jingying vanished without a trace. The torrential river of swords slammed into empty space, merely pulverizing the edge of the stone platform and sending jade shrapnel flying into the walls.

Only Chen Ping’s heavy, ragged panting echoed through the ruined cavern. The violent Qi fluctuations from their clash still hung thick and heavy in the air.

Clutching his throbbing forehead, his face pale and livid, Chen Ping glared at the dimming platform. Frustration and absolute, icy killing intent boiled in his eyes.

“Damn it!” He slammed his fist into the jadeite wall, shattering the stone on impact.

The intense pain in his Sea of Consciousness hadn’t fully subsided, but the sheer humiliation burned far hotter. Since obtaining the Jade Pendant and skyrocketing in power, this was the first time he had suffered such a massive, bitter setback!

And it had happened even after he revealed his hidden peak Foundation Establishment sixth-layer cultivation! He had actually been outmaneuvered by an old ghost barely sustaining a fifth-layer Body Seizure!

The timing of that Soul Siphon Wave had been diabolical. It had struck at the exact millisecond his focus peaked for the kill, exploiting the microscopic relaxation in his guard. If his Divine Sense hadn’t been perpetually nourished and reinforced by the Jade Pendant, that strike wouldn’t have just caused pain and vertigo—it would have shattered his soul and left him completely comatose.

Violet Palace old monsters… none of them are simple. Chen Ping took several deep breaths, forcibly swallowing his churning blood and rage.

Regret was a useless emotion. The immediate priority was to sweep the battlefield for loot and evacuate. Despite the escape, he still controlled the board.

He glanced back at the empty platform. The girl being taken by Han Liren was a loose end, but…

Chen Ping patted the Soul-Nurturing Wood container secured in his robes. He still held Han Jingying’s natal soul essence. With a thought, he could instantly cripple or kill her, no matter where in the world she hid. It was an invisible guillotine resting on her neck. Unless she was suicidal, she absolutely wouldn’t dare leak his secrets.

For now, she posed no threat. The real nightmare was the reborn Han Liren.

He was a ruthless, calculating ancient monster armed with centuries of Violet Palace experience. Once he fully recovered his cultivation, or worse, ascended back to the Violet Palace realm, he would become an apocalyptic problem.