Altar

018 Altar

As Old Zhao attempted to interrogate the captured Barbarian scouts, they somehow activated a secret technique. Upon realizing their leader had also been defeated and captured, they all committed suicide.

Furthermore, the bodies of those who committed suicide rapidly dissipated, transforming into a gust of black energy that swept towards the door. Through the gaps, it surged out and onto the thugs and hoodlums waiting outside.

These individuals quickly consumed the black energy, becoming completely corrupted before desperately ramming the door.

After this brief transformation, Ming Shu and Old Zhao no longer hesitated. They rushed deeper into the gambling house, found the entrance to an underground passage, and, without forgetting to seal off doors and windows along the way, piled up obstacles.

Their goal was to delay the fully corrupted hoodlums as much as possible.

The scouts who were directly killed showed no change, but the ones who committed suicide all turned into black smoke.

This made Ming Shu secretly resolve that next time he encountered Barbarian scouts, he absolutely could not hold back.

Killing them all was the most important thing.

Having overcome the initial crisis, Ming Shu also recalled the Demonic Spirit's power back into the stone tower.

Conserve it.

The outer door had likely been broken by now. Before they could pursue him, he had to descend into the forbidden underground area to see what hidden dangers existed, requiring these experts to guard the entrance.

Initially, the tunnel was lit by torches and oil lamps. As they went deeper, the dim environment was illuminated only by a faint, eerie green glow emanating from gems, pearls, and Spirit Stones, emitting a soft light.

In the not-so-spacious underground area, they found a stone chamber containing an ancient-looking altar. Within it, clusters of faint Ghost Spirits were brewing.

They couldn't even be called Ghost Spirits yet; they were merely Soul Spirits plundered from the dead.

Each one appeared extremely weak.

Either they were severely injured in the previous battle, or they were newly captured. In the short term, these Ghost Spirits were incapable of forming effective combat power.

Ming Shu and Old Zhao lacked the knowledge and ability in this area. They didn't know how to deactivate or seal the altar, and simply staring at it wasn't a solution.

The sounds from above were getting closer and closer. Ming Shu dared not directly destroy the setup, fearing it might trigger an even worse situation.

As he hesitated, he tried to sketch the altar onto the Fate Book, adding the surrounding arrangements as well.

Old Zhao went to the entrance of the stone chamber to set up defenses for the upcoming battle.

Soon, Ming Shu finished the sketch. Although it wasn't very realistic, with the Demonic Spirit's power bolstering him, he found that his soul's strength had slightly increased.

His ability to sketch scenes from the outside world into the Fate Book had also been enhanced.

At least, it was a huge improvement compared to drawing it without ever having practiced sketching before.

After Ming Shu drew the position of the last Spirit Stone around the altar, the Fate Book finally reacted.

He wasn't sure if it was a record left by one of his past lives or an extraordinary ability inherent to the Fate Book itself.

This altar was used to nurture ghosts. It was invented by predecessors of the Daoist Sect. Some powerful seniors, having lost their bodies in great battles, but with strong Primordial Spirits, could still wander back to the sect.

The sect, sparing no expense for them, developed this set of soul-nurturing formations, which were eventually solidified and simplified into an altar and ritual.

It only required the consumption of Spirit Stones and Spirit Pearls, which had to be of the Yin attribute, to nourish their soul bodies.

This achieved a unique form of eternal life. The altar before them had been modified to be more cost-effective, capable of cultivating low-level Ghost Spirits.

These Ghost Spirits would erode each other within the altar, gradually nurturing Ghost Spirits of level two or three.

It took many years to nurture a level four Ghost Spirit, which was their limit.

Under normal circumstances, mortals would find it difficult to see these Ghost Spirits, making it convenient for them to be controlled for clandestine activities.

After the Daoist Sect moved north, they developed ghost-controlling techniques. Through rituals, they could command these Ghost Spirits to perform tasks.

After reading this explanation, Ming Shu felt a headache coming on. Destroying it directly would only release the Ghost Spirits within. Without the cultivators controlling them, they would attack any living being indiscriminately.

Because these were Ghost Spirits cultivated through secret techniques, they were the fiercer and more aggressive among Ghost Spirits.

Although Ming Shu wasn't afraid of them, he was worried about depleting his strength before the upcoming battle.

He didn't want to expend his power on this first.

Instead, the dozen or so hoodlums outside who had eaten the black energy and mutated needed to be dealt with first.

And behind the hoodlums, even more ordinary hoodlums had been drawn in.

This could only be considered manual labor.

Due to the sudden early action tonight, Ming Shu and Old Zhao had not received any further details of the plan.

The person who had previously notified them to evacuate had not met them, merely shooting a small piece of paper from afar, leaving behind not much useful information.

Ming Shu had no choice. After confirming that the altar posed no immediate threat, he decided to temporarily guard the entrance and await a turn of events.

Meanwhile, Chong Li and Ren Yuan had dealt with the secret room beneath the brothel. They also discovered an altar there, which was larger and nurtured even more Ghost Spirits.

Perhaps the brothel's Yin energy was heavier. Moreover, more life could be fed into it daily.

Not only could the souls of the dead be offered, but those of other creatures as well.

However, only human souls were worth nurturing and were the most in need of it. Other spirits could only serve as nourishment.

Over more than a decade, who knew how many lives they had consumed in the underground world of this county town.

The County Magistrate led his men to handle the aftermath outside, arresting a large number of people. Meanwhile, Sorcerers from the Sky-Toppling Observatory entered and sealed the altar.

These are the only tasks for now.

Chong Li led the Demon Hunters to the next location, a place marked as potentially having an Altar.

It was the gambling house where Ming Shu and his group were.

When Chong Li and Ren Yuan arrived, the gambling house's main entrance had already been completely smashed open.

They charged in and quickly found the entrance to an underground passage deep within the gambling house. Here, they encountered the thugs. They knocked them all out one by one and handed them over to the people following behind to be tied up and taken away.

Because the tunnel was relatively narrow, Ren Yuan's combat strength couldn't be fully utilized, so Chong Li had to lead the other Demon Hunters deeper inside.

Ren Yuan stayed behind to guard the entrance above.

As they gradually went deeper, Chong Li sensed Ming Shu, who was fighting using Demonic Spirits.

She finally understood why so many thugs had gathered here.

It was because Ming Shu was hiding inside.

The others also increased the intensity of their attack, striving to break through as quickly as possible.