**Chapter 17: Myriad Ghosts Devouring the Body**
**Chapter 17: Myriad Ghosts Devouring the Body**
Madame Gao listened grimly to the screams coming from the bar. She turned back and gave an order.
A black-clothed Ninja emerged from the shadows and knelt on one knee before Madame Gao.
"Hai!"
"Who's there?"
Just then, Madame Gao suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. It was the same feeling she had experienced back in K'un-Lun when facing the enraged Thunder God.
That feeling of life and death being held in another's hand, of hanging by a thread.
Madame Gao let out a low cry, sweeping her hand back. The Tang Dao within her wooden staff unsheathed, and a white light flashed in the night sky.
The sharp Blade Qi tore through the night sky, the cold light chilling, causing Kingpin beside her to instinctively bristle.
*Chizheng* A thumb-thick iron railing was instantly split in two by the Blade Qi.
No one. Madame Gao twirled the Tang Dao in her hand, her gaze sharp as she scanned the surroundings.
Over a dozen black-clothed Ninjas emerged from the shadows on all sides, backing Madame Gao and surrounding her protectively.
That feeling was still there. Madame Gao tightened her grip on the Tang Dao. Her back felt a needle-like pain.
At this moment, on the Rooftop, in a world invisible to ordinary people, thousands upon thousands of Vengeful Spirits filled the entire Rooftop.
Vengeful Spirits crowded against Vengeful Spirits, some even overlapping, appearing like double exposures.
They stared fixedly at Madame Gao, like starving ghosts presented with a grand feast.
However, in their eyes, the living people on the Rooftop had flames representing Yang Qi burning atop their heads and shoulders.
These flames seemed capable of scorching their souls, preventing them from approaching for the moment.
"Who's there?"
The Mystic Art from K'un-Lun had honed Madame Gao's five senses to an almost supernatural degree.
Although she couldn't see the surrounding Vengeful Spirits, she could feel something observing her. That overwhelming malice spurred her to immediately swing the Tang Dao in her hand.
Two black-clothed Ninjas with their backs to Madame Gao were instantly decapitated by her blade. Blood spurted high, spraying over a dozen other black-clothed Ninjas.
Yet, these dozen black-clothed Ninjas stood like wood, not moving, still loyally protecting Madame Gao.
Kingpin watched Madame Gao, who seemed to have fallen into a state of frenzy. He instinctively retreated a few steps, gripping the thick cane in his hand.
His cane was specially customized and could fire lasers and smoke, catching opponents off guard.
Over a dozen well-trained gunmen simultaneously blocked in front of him.
"Madame Gao?" Kingpin looked at the frenzied Madame Gao with some apprehension.
Just then, the spraying blood completely ignited the fierce aura of the countless Vengeful Spirits on the Rooftop.
These Vengeful Spirits frantically lunged at Madame Gao, tearing and biting.
It seemed that something had broken the barrier between Yin and Yang, allowing the Vengeful Spirits, who were originally unable to touch living beings, to gain the ability to attack physical entities.
In an instant, countless bloody gashes appeared all over Madame Gao's body from the tearing and biting.
"Ah!"
Madame Gao let out piercing screams, wildly swinging her blade in all directions.
Sharp Blade Qi bloomed like flowers in the night sky. Where the Blade Qi crisscrossed, it left marks all over the Rooftop.
Six or seven black-clothed Ninjas were even dismembered directly by the Blade Qi.
However, this sharp Blade Qi seemed to exist in another dimension for the Vengeful Spirits, causing them no harm whatsoever.
The Vengeful Spirits swarmed forward. Wounds from tearing and biting appeared on Madame Gao's body, and pieces of flesh fell from her, being devoured by the countless Vengeful Spirits.
In just a few dozen breaths, right under the noses of Kingpin and the accompanying Hand Ninjas, Madame Gao was reduced to a white bone picked clean.
"Go! Get out of here!"
Kingpin looked at the white bone left behind by Madame Gao, covered in teeth marks. Even for a Gang Boss like him, who had experienced countless life-or-death crises and killed without blinking, he felt a chill run down his spine.
Kingpin led his gunmen in a hurried retreat from the Rooftop. On the empty Rooftop, only a bloody white bone remained, along with a group of Hand Ninjas frantically swinging their blades at the air.
"Vengeful Spirits that haven't undergone Refinement are still somewhat wary of the Yang Qi of living people after all!"
On the Rooftop, the remaining Hand Ninjas were cleaning up Madame Gao's remains.
A voice, slightly tinged with dissatisfaction, suddenly rang out.
"Bastard, who are you?"
The black-clothed Ninja Leader named Shuzhi glared at the figure who had appeared on the Rooftop without anyone noticing, demanding. Tang Song, however, seemed not to see these black-clothed Ninjas. He scanned the countless Vengeful Spirits on the Rooftop.
After all, these were Vengeful Spirits raised in the wild. In terms of ferocity, they couldn't compare to those refined by the cultivators of Heshan Dao.
He had once seen a Heshan Dao cultivator fighting someone in the Jambudvīpa World.
That Taoist priest had refined Fierce Souls and kept them in a White Bone Banner. With a shake of his hand, thousands upon thousands of Fierce Souls were released, directly devouring the flesh and blood of the opposing Rogue Cultivator until nothing was left.
In contrast, his Vengeful Spirits were somewhat timid when facing the three Yang Fires on ordinary people. If he hadn't used a Straw Effigy to cast a spell, it was hard to say if these Vengeful Spirits could have even gotten close to Madame Gao.
However, these Vengeful Spirits weren't entirely useless. If refined properly, they could be a trump card.
After all, this wasn't the Jambudvīpa Continent. There were no cultivators here, and only a few people could see these spirits.
"Baka!"
The ignored black-clothed Ninja Leader suddenly dashed forward, swinging his blade directly at Tang Song.
"Noisy!"
Tang Song glanced out of the corner of his eye, opened his mouth, and two white lights flashed.
These two white lights were as fast as lightning, circling and weaving nimbly around the black-clothed Ninjas on the Rooftop. Like swallows returning to their nest, they transformed into two masses of White Qi and were inhaled by Tang Song.
*Plop, plop~*
Corpse after corpse of black-clothed Ninjas knelt to the ground, their heads rolling everywhere.
The smell of blood instantly permeated the entire night sky.
...
*Thump, thump...*
Matthew Murdock leaned against the railing, his hand trembling slightly. The pounding of his heart echoed in his chest.
Fear. This word hadn't appeared in his world for over a decade.
Ever since his father's tragic death and his own blindness, Matthew had never known fear again.
He became Daredevil, traversing the darkness of New York, punishing evil.
He had seen too many vicious villains, gangs trafficking humans, stuffing people into barrels, filling them with cement, and throwing them into the sea.
He had even seen legendary Vampires, feeding on human blood, raising people like livestock.
In the face of these things, Matthew felt no fear, only rage.
He destroyed gang Strongholds one by one, flushed their goods into the sea, and tied them up along with their evidence, dumping them at the police station entrance.
Facing the legendary Vampires, Matthew chose to stab his cane into their hearts.
Dread, fear. Matthew had thought these emotions would never appear in him again.
But, Matthew touched his heart. The vigorous pounding proved that he was indeed afraid.
When Matthew was young, he was blinded by radioactive material spilled from a passing truck while trying to save a blind man;
His other four senses were enhanced, and he developed a new fifth sense: radar sense.
With this organ, Matthew could see many things that ordinary people couldn't, such as the densely packed spirits on the opposite Rooftop.
...
The death of Madame Gao of The Hand caused a huge stir in the New York Underworld.
As Southeast Asia's largest assassin organization, The Hand's influence in New York was second only to the Underworld Emperor, Kingpin.
Madame Gao, as one of The Hand's Five Fingers and their representative in New York, many Bosses in the Underworld quietly waited for The Hand's retaliation.
As for the target of retaliation, for the well-informed Underworld, the news of The Hand's raid on Tang of the Cleaners was no longer a secret.
But contrary to everyone's expectations, The Hand, usually arrogant and overbearing in the Underworld, chose to lie low. Not only did they not retaliate, but they also withdrew their personnel, like a venomous snake coiling back into its hole.
On the other hand, Kingpin's reaction was also strange. Some veteran brokers in the Underworld revealed that Kingpin was contacting certain entities in the true Underworld, attempting to strike some deals.
Thus, under the wary gaze of many interested parties, Tang Song greatly expanded his territory, dealing in firearms, cars, crude oil smuggling...
He even unceremoniously seized two streets' worth of Jeffrey's business in the prostitution industry.
After half a month of commotion, Tang Song took down several of The Hand's Strongholds and took over half of The Hand's business in New York. Just as all the Bosses in the New York Underworld felt Tang Song was rising too quickly and grew wary,
Tang Song suddenly stopped. He had gained about two hundred new subordinates and began consolidating his territory and conducting business.
(End of Chapter)