An Unscattered Soul

Xuanguo Estate.

The residence.

After Chen Mu and Chen Yao returned, they went their separate ways, each returning to their own courtyard.

During that time, Chen Mu found time to visit Ning Qiang once more. Afterward, he returned to his bedroom and cultivated the Golden Jade Art until dusk.

After that, Chen Mu summoned the system interface and once again used Soul Roaming to enter the Netherworld.

Upon the withered yellow Grave Soil.

Chen Mu's soul shadow appeared without a sound. The first thing that entered his eyes was Geng He's ghostly shadow. He floated there, and cracks had appeared on his pallid face, beginning at his temples.

The cracks spread downward, crossing the two streaks of brown blood tears and covering his entire face. Even the black rope around his neck showed signs of decay.

Wisps of black smoke drifted away from his body, yet he himself had not scattered.

Seeing this, Chen Mu thought for a moment before saying, "Your wife has already passed away. You should know that by now. But your daughter is living well, and the child she gave birth to is quite clever. I can look after them a little in the future."

Geng He's obsession clung to him, so he should already have known what had happened in the mortal world. His refusal to completely scatter now was most likely because he still had some lingering attachment to his only daughter.

Upon hearing Chen Mu's promise, Geng He's soul shadow finally changed. The cracks across his face rapidly spread and grew denser until his entire face seemed to shatter like a mask.

The black rope around his neck decayed and fell away with it, turning into specks of black mist that vanished.

Finally.

Only the illusory figure of a middle-aged man remained. He bowed toward Chen Mu, then transformed into countless white points of light, completely falling apart and disappearing without a trace.

As Geng He's soul shadow completely vanished, a prompt rang out beside Chen Mu's ear once more.

Prompt: You obtained 25 Soul Points

He was still hiding this much...

If he had been this shrewd while alive, he wouldn't have ended up in this state.

Chen Mu looked at the place where Geng He had completely dispersed and gave a slight shake of his head.

By now, he had more or less understood the source of the Soul Points. They most likely came from the Soul Points accumulated by these Netherworld Ghosts. After a Netherworld Ghost's obsession dissipated, all its Soul Points would belong to him. The system converted this Soul Points into pure Soul Points that could directly strengthen him.

That also explained why the stronger the Netherworld Ghost he encountered, the more Soul Points he could obtain.

Geng He's situation was clearly because what he had done in the mortal world had not been enough to completely erase his obsession. Thus, he had stubbornly remained, refusing to scatter until Chen Mu came to the Netherworld. Only after Chen Mu promised to "look after them a little in the future" was he finally satisfied, his obsession completely dispersing and vanishing.

He had not seemed this shrewd while alive. After death, with only a wisp of obsession remaining and even his consciousness gone, he still knew to demand a little more from Chen Mu. It made Chen Mu laugh despite himself.

But he did not really care.

With his status, looking after Geng He's daughter was nothing more than a word from him. If Geng Rong's son displayed some talent in the future, he could even recommend him for an official post. In any case, it would all be a simple matter.

Chen Mu almost wished Geng He had hidden more—several hundred or several thousand Soul Points would have been even better. After all, these Soul Points were practically being given to him for free, without requiring much time or effort.

Speaking of which, he had yet to encounter an especially difficult obsession to eliminate. So far, they had all been fairly simple to resolve. Perhaps his luck had simply been good.

Chen Mu did not linger.

After Geng He completely dispersed, he continued drifting forward.

Then he encountered a new ghostly shadow.

This ghostly shadow did not look frightening. It was an extremely aged old man, with prominent cheekbones and deeply sunken eye sockets. He was so old that he looked as though he might collapse into pieces at any moment.

Yet the clothes on his body were incomparably luxurious: brocade robes and an embroidered python robe. Such a python robe was not something just anyone could wear. At the very least, the wearer had to be a marquis or duke to possess the qualification.

Ji Xiang

Origin: Anping Marquis

Resentment: Born the sole legitimate son and inheriting the title, yet Heaven's law was unjust. It granted him power, immense wealth, and countless beauties, but denied him longevity. He lived only to the age of ninety-six before his lifespan reached its end.

Obsession: Return to life

Looking at the system's description, Chen Mu's face remained expressionless.

He had only just been thinking that the obsessions of all the Netherworld Ghosts he had encountered so far were easy to eliminate, and then he had run into one that could not be eliminated: a delusional old man who wanted to return to life. As for that resentment... was this humblebragging, or simply insatiable greed?

Moreover, Chen Mu had some impression of this Anping Marquis. If he remembered correctly, the man had died of old age more than ten days ago, right around the time Chen Mu had arrived in this world.

Dying peacefully at ninety-six was already an exceptionally long life among the Eight Dukes and Fourteen Marquises.

"You've lived long enough."

Chen Mu slowly spoke.

Ji Xiang's ghostly shadow floated in the air just like that. Ghostly light stared at Chen Mu from his sunken eye sockets. Upon hearing Chen Mu's words, that hunched bundle of old bones abruptly straightened.

Chen Mu naturally would not be frightened by a mere ghostly shadow anymore. Besides, the strength of the Anping Marquis's soul was even inferior to Cui'er's.

He gave a slight shake of his head.

Then Chen Mu simply moved away.

But the Anping Marquis's aged ghostly shadow seemed unwilling to let Chen Mu leave. It immediately followed after him, acting as though it had latched onto Chen Mu and would not stop until it had pestered him to the end.

Chen Mu had now reached the fifth-grade Magus Master realm, and he could sense far more things. He vaguely perceived that the Anping Marquis's ghostly shadow seemed to have forcibly entangled its obsession with him.

"Hmph."

Chen Mu stopped and let out a cold snort.

Toward a ghostly creature that had long since died and was left with only a fragment of obsession, yet still forcibly clung to him, he naturally had no intention of showing any courtesy.

He bent one finger and pointed.

Boom!!

A vast beam of sword light burst forth, instantly enveloping the Anping Marquis's ghostly shadow.

Amid the interweaving white light, it took almost no time at all for the beam to cleave the Anping Marquis's ghostly shadow into pieces, scattering it into clusters of light.

However, after completely erasing the Anping Marquis's ghostly shadow with a single strike, Chen Mu did not look relieved. Instead, his brow furrowed slightly as he looked toward the exploded points of light.

Only to see that after those points of light collapsed one after another, tiny black specks appeared within them. The black specks rapidly gathered together, transforming into a wisp of black Netherworld mist!

The wisp of black Netherworld mist hovered there in silence. It felt to Chen Mu like the same kind of thing as the black mists in the distance, only incomparably dim and thin.

Immediately afterward.

As the wisp of black Netherworld mist intertwined, it gradually spread outward and once more transformed into the Anping Marquis's ghostly shadow. It was exactly the same as before, without the slightest change.

"As expected, the Netherworld Ghosts of the Netherworld are different from those in the mortal world..."

Chen Mu watched this scene, deep in thought.

With the strength of the Anping Marquis's soul, if he had been in the mortal world, even if he had transformed into a vengeful ghost and harmed people, Chen Mu's Heart Sword would have caused his soul to scatter on the spot, leaving not even the slightest trace behind.

But in the Netherworld, after taking a strike from his Heart Sword, although his soul-body had shattered, it quickly recovered. Moreover, compared with before, it had not changed in the slightest.

The Netherworld Ghosts in this Netherworld all seemed to be tainted by that black mist to some degree.

And this black mist clearly possessed an indestructible quality. Even though it had been diluted by who knew how many times and was incomparably dim, there was still a qualitative gap between it and his realm, making him unable to destroy it.

Immortal and indestructible!

Chen Mu moved farther away again.

But the Anping Marquis's ghostly shadow immediately followed after him once more, acting as though it had forcibly latched onto him.

"What a nuisance."

Chen Mu shook his head, then stopped. Suddenly, he extended his hand and pointed a finger directly at the Anping Marquis's ghostly shadow. This time, he did not use any magic arts, but merely touched it.

The Anping Marquis's ghostly shadow did not react. It simply touched Chen Mu's fingertip.

More precisely,

it touched the dim white radiance covering Chen Mu's body.

Smack!!

The white radiance exploded as though struck by electricity.

In an instant, the winds and clouds changed color!