Mysterious Soul Nurturing Pagoda

Chapter Eleven: Mysterious Soul Nurturing Pagoda

After several breaths, the Yin Soul remained translucent and ghastly white. Whenever a Spirit Ghost was appraised, it would show a trace of gold. The higher its quality, the richer the golden hue. A Top Grade Spirit Ghost would be almost entirely golden, while the highest-quality Heavenly Spirit Ghost would not only be golden all over, but a lustrous, subdued dark gold. Seeing not a trace of gold in this pale, ghastly mass, Lei Dong couldn't help feeling disappointed, though he still wasn't ready to give up hope. After appraising it again and again, he confirmed that it was indeed just an Inferior Ghost.

Inferior Ghosts were practically worthless. Unless they needed cannon fodder, few cultivators who practiced the Ghost Taming Art would waste their Essence Blood on refining one.

Still, his disappointment and frustration didn't linger in Lei Dong's mind for long. Spirit Ghosts were the sort of thing one could only hope to encounter by chance. He hadn't truly expected his first captured Yin Soul to be a high-grade, much less a Top Grade Spirit Ghost. That was even more unlikely than buying a single lottery ticket and expecting to win the grand prize.

He left the Inferior Ghost alone for the time being and continued cultivating through seated meditation. This time, Lei Dong had learned his lesson. He waited until deep into the night before heading straight for Mass Grave. His luck was fairly good: after wandering around the outskirts for a little over half an hour, he came across a Yin Soul. He did as before, grievously wounding it before drawing it into the Soul Nurturing Pagoda. He was more practiced than the night before and managed to injure the Yin Soul with a single strike. By the time the fight was over, he still had more than half his Profound Yin True Qi left.

After a moment's hesitation, he ran farther away and recovered to eighty percent of his strength. Before dawn, he managed to capture a second Yin Soul. Only then, exhausted, did he return to an inn in Myriad Ghost City. He spent the entire day recovering, and didn't regain all his strength until the following evening.

When he examined his body, he found that his abundant Profound Yin True Qi seemed to have grown a little purer. He had a feeling that this was the result of repeatedly fighting, exhausting his energy, and replenishing it again—a process that had stirred up a trace of his latent potential.

The human body was the most exquisite thing in the world. Cultivation was about continually awakening the body's hidden energy. Even before Lei Dong had crossed over, scientists had long been studying how the human body could adapt to new environments or unlock its potential when stimulated by danger, driven by instinct to survive. Most sects in this world acknowledged this as well. Otherwise, they wouldn't offer generous rewards to lure their disciples into dangerous missions, hoping to temper them and bring out their potential. If not, everyone might as well stay home and cultivate in seclusion, where it was safe. Every sect knew that no matter how talented someone was, without weathering storms, they would never amount to much. Which Ancestor on the Golden Core Path hadn't endured countless brushes with death before achieving success? The road of cultivation was full of hurdles. No matter how gifted one was, simply meditating and practicing Qi might not be enough to overcome them all.

Whatever the reason, this was a good thing. Even the slightest improvement in his cultivation was worth celebrating.

But where there was joy, there was sorrow. The two Yin Souls he had spent most of the night capturing were still worthless Inferior Ghosts.

And so Lei Dong spent more than three months wandering the Mass Grave near Myriad Ghost City. As he grew more skilled at controlling the Ink Green Small Sword and the Soul Nurturing Pagoda, the Profound Yin True Qi consumed each time steadily decreased. His cultivation also continued to improve, though he was still nowhere near ready to break through to the second layer of the Qi Refining Stage. Even so, he had made considerable progress.

At first, he could capture two Yin Souls in one night. Eventually, he managed to catch as many as seven. His Soul Nurturing Pagoda was now packed with four hundred and eighty Inferior Ghosts. That was right—all of them were Inferior Ghosts. The odds of finding a Spirit Ghost were so low that Lei Dong could hardly laugh or cry. He knew that one Spirit Ghost might appear for every ten thousand Inferior Ghosts, so it was perfectly normal that he hadn't found one after capturing nearly five hundred. But now that the dismal odds had landed squarely on him, he still couldn't help feeling dejected.

Still, the Inferior Ghosts weren't his only gains. In three months of wandering the Mass Grave, he had picked up a few things: a ghost-face mushroom with decades of growth behind it, dozens of Soul-Devouring Herbs, and a damaged shield-shaped Magic Tool. He sold everything except the shield in Myriad Ghost City. The total was worth less than a Spirit Stone, but it still earned him three bottles of Lesser Vitality Pills.

As for the shield-shaped Magic Tool, Lei Dong decided to keep it for himself—provided he could get it repaired. Back in Myriad Ghost Cave, he learned from the Gatehouse Restriction that Chen Ge had already emerged from seclusion and had left him several messages. After reading them one by one, Lei Dong learned that Chen Ge had accepted a mission and had originally planned for all three of them to complete it together. But after waiting a long time for Lei Dong to return, Chen Ge had feared they would miss the deadline and gone alone. They hadn't returned yet.

Carrying the broken shield, he went to find the old man in the Refining Room. After an impatient appraisal, the old fellow said it was a low-grade defensive Magic Tool and demanded a Spirit Stone for the repair. Lei Dong nearly kicked him in the face. By now, he had learned enough to know that an ordinary low-grade Magic Tool was worth, at most, one or two Spirit Stones. Charging a whole Spirit Stone for repairs was nothing but extortion. Of course, Spirit Ghosts could be bought and sold too. Unfortunately, even the cheapest low-grade Spirit Ghost, one that hadn't undergone Blood Sacrifice, cost a staggering ten Spirit Stones—far beyond what Chen Ge could afford.

Back in his room, Lei Dong was still seething, but now he had enough Inferior Ghosts to conduct a thorough study. He had made up his mind: if he couldn't uncover the Soul Nurturing Pagoda's special function, he would Blood Sacrifice a few Inferior Ghosts and strengthen himself first. He couldn't keep wasting time just because he didn't have a Spirit Ghost. Even if Chen Ge was willing to take him on missions, he would only hold the others back. He could search for a Spirit Ghost later, once he had grown stronger.

In a sour mood, he immersed himself in the Soul Nurturing Pagoda and looked over the densely packed Inferior Ghosts inside. Frustration welled up in him. With so many Inferior Ghosts, how could there not be a single Spirit Ghost among them? The greatest difference between Spirit Ghosts and Inferior Ghosts wasn't merely that the former could steadily grow stronger. More importantly, after a Blood Sacrifice, a Spirit Ghost's strength would surge on the spot—and with luck, it might even gain some kind of innate spell.

Of course, Inferior Ghosts weren't entirely worthless. Given Lei Dong's current strength at the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage, he could handle one or two Inferior Ghosts. But if three or four pinned him down at once, he'd be in grave danger. If Lei Dong performed a Blood Sacrifice on several Inferior Ghosts, he would have a considerable advantage in a fight against other cultivators at the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage.

The trouble was, as everyone's cultivation advanced, Inferior Ghosts could hardly keep up. Maybe they didn't remain entirely stagnant, but their growth was limited all the same. How could Lei Dong not feel frustrated? More importantly, Blood Sacrifice consumed a great deal of Essence Blood and vitality. After performing a Blood Sacrifice on a Yin Soul, it often took a month or so to recover, and he would need plenty of nourishing food during that time. It hurt to waste so much on an Inferior Ghost that was barely useful.

He took out both Soul Nurturing Pagodas. With the nourishment of the pagodas, most of the Inferior Ghosts had already recovered to their best condition. Full of anticipation, Lei Dong transferred a lively Inferior Ghost into the Mysterious Soul Nurturing Pagoda. Then he immediately attuned his mind to it and watched to see what would happen.

As soon as the Yin Soul Inferior Ghost, whose Soul Body had been plump and well-nourished, entered the Mysterious Soul Nurturing Pagoda, it acted like a beast caught in a wildfire. It shrieked and darted around, wisps of white smoke rising from its body. Lei Dong's spirits lifted, and he watched closely. Before long, the Yin Soul's color began to fade, as if its Soul Force had been drained away. It curled up in a corner, moaning.

About an hour later, the Yin Soul vanished completely. Lei Dong had watched the whole time, but couldn't make head or tail of what had happened. He tossed in another Yin Soul, and a little over an hour later, the same process repeated itself. After more than a dozen, Lei Dong finally grew irritated and transferred over a hundred Inferior Ghosts in one go. They weren't worth much anyway. He wanted to see just how many Yin Souls this Mysterious Soul Nurturing Pagoda had to devour before it was full.

A thought stirred faintly in Lei Dong's mind. Could this Soul Nurturing Pagoda really be devouring Yin Souls?