High Martial: I Use Everything as Swords

「Outside the city.」

A barren wilderness dotted with jagged rocks.

BOOM!

Han Feng, with a string of people in tow, slammed heavily onto the ground.

Dust flew into the air.

He stood perfectly still, his posture erect.

But behind him, Wang Meng and the others had tumbled into a heap.

"Oof!"

"My old back!"

Wang Meng was the first to scramble to his feet.

He habitually tried to pat the dust off his body, but his hand passed right through it.

He froze completely.

Then, his eyes lit up, and he threw his arms open, lunging toward Han Feng.

"Fengzi!"

"Damn it, man! You’re like a Celestial God come down to earth! You flew with us!"

Han Feng raised an eyebrow and extended a single finger.

He pressed it disdainfully against Wang Meng’s brawny chest.

Wang Meng’s massive frame seemed to hit something, and he stumbled back several steps.

He plopped right down on his butt.

His face was a mask of astonishment.

"I... How did I..."

"Never mind that."

Han Feng retracted his finger.

His voice wasn’t loud, but it reached everyone’s ears clearly.

"To put it simply, you are all Spiritual Bodies right now."

"You could also call yourselves Ghosts."

"Spirits."

That last word struck everyone’s hearts like a hammer.

’Spirits?’

Zhang Hao, Su Yue, Fan Jian, and the others who had just gotten up all stood frozen in place.

The ever-stoic Fan Jian subconsciously looked down.

He gazed at his own hands, which were translucent and faintly glowing.

For the first time, a look of bewilderment appeared on his face.

"Don’t get worked up. It’s just an analogy."

Han Feng scanned the group, taking in the shock, fear, and disbelief on his teammates’ faces.

He needed them to accept reality quickly.

"We’ve been dragged into an Illusion Realm made of Blood Sea Power. The mastermind behind this is the Blood Feeding Sect."

"Except for me, all of you were pulled in as Spiritual Bodies only."

"Your physical bodies are still back in the Trading Hall."

He paused, his voice growing even colder.

"In this Illusion Realm, you have no physical form and can’t physically affect most things."

"When Wang Meng threw that punch just now, it was no different from punching air."

Wang Meng looked aggrieved and muttered, "And here I thought I was just weak from hunger."

"So, the situation now is this,"

Han Feng said, word by word.

"I’m the only one who can fight."

That sentence instantly extinguished the joy of their reunion.

A chilling despair began to spread rapidly.

Zhang Hao’s mind raced as he forced himself to calm down.

He walked over to Han Feng, his voice hoarse.

"What do you know?"

"Explain the situation in detail."

’Just like a captain to grasp the key point instantly.’

Han Feng nodded and found a large, clean rock to sit on.

He recounted everything he had seen and heard since entering "Ping’an County," as well as the conclusions he’d drawn via his system.

He covered everything from the rules of Ping’an County and the trap of the residence registration to the soul-devouring "Soul-Stripping Mine" on West Mountain.

When they heard that the other students were in the mine, having their Divine Souls drained from them while still alive, everyone’s face turned ashen.

"Those sons of bitches from the Blood Feeding Sect!"

Wang Meng’s eyes were practically splitting with rage as he threw a punch at a nearby boulder.

But his fist passed through it without any resistance.

This sense of powerlessness only made him more furious.

"When I get out of here, I’m going to chop them all into mincemeat!"

Su Yue adjusted her non-existent glasses, her eyes flashing with a cold, rational light.

"A perfect, closed-loop Energy conversion system."

"It uses ’rules’ to make all the victims ’willingly’ accept their exploitation, thereby eliminating resistance and resentment on a spiritual level."

"The Divine Soul Energy refined this way would be extremely pure."

She looked at Han Feng and asked the crucial question.

"This must be the ’nourishment’ you mentioned that the so-called ’Holy Infant’ needs, right?"

"Exactly."

Han Feng nodded, delivering the final, fatal blow.

"Furthermore, I suspect the process is irreversible."

"Once your Divine Soul is completely drained, you’re well and truly dead."

"We have to go back and save them!" Liu Cheng cried out anxiously.

"Save them how?"

Fan Jian’s voice was as cold as ice.

"In our current state, we can’t even pick up a knife."

"What can we do if we go back, besides drag him down?"

His words plunged everyone into a deathly silence.

’He’s right.’

They were just a group of powerless "Ghosts" now.

Forget saving others; they had to rely on Han Feng just to protect themselves.

The atmosphere was oppressive to the extreme.

"Alright, stop moping around."

Zhang Hao clapped his hands, forcing himself to rally his spirits.

He looked at Han Feng, his eyes filled with absolute trust.

"Han Feng, you didn’t break us out of the County Magistrate’s Office just to let us wait here to die."

"Whatever plan you have, just say it."

In an instant, all eyes focused on Han Feng.

Han Feng met their gazes and said slowly, "It’s not so much a plan as a preliminary idea."

"The core of the Blood Feeding Sect’s operation is the ’Blood Sacrifice Workshop’ in the Back Courtyard of the County Magistrate’s Office. It’s protected by a Tier Three Late Stage Energy Domain, so I can’t force my way in."

"My original idea was for you to create a diversion in the city to draw out most of the ’Illusion Realm Law Enforcers’—that is, those Government Officials. That would weaken the defenses at the core, and I could use the opportunity to sneak in and strike at their heart."

Zhang Hao understood immediately. "But that’s all predicated on us being able to fight."

"Right." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Han Feng looked at his teammates.

"So our first priority right now isn’t saving people, nor is it getting revenge."

"It’s figuring out how to let you bunch of ’Ghosts’ pick up your weapons again!"

’Let "Ghosts" pick up weapons?’

It sounded completely impossible.

Wang Meng scratched his head. "Fengzi, how... how do we do that? You’re not going to burn some joss paper for us, are you?"

"Shut up!" Zhang Hao shot him a glare.