The Mysterious Soul Nurturing Pagoda

Chapter Eleven: The Mysterious Soul Nurturing Pagoda

Inferior Ghosts were practically worthless. Unless one needed cannon fodder, few cultivators who practiced Ghost Taming Art would bother to sacrifice Essence Blood to refine such an Inferior Ghost.

However, disappointment aside, the feeling of annoyance didn't linger in Lei Dong's mind for long. After all, Spirit Ghosts were inherently rare and unpredictable. Lei Dong hadn't truly expected his first captured Yin Soul to be a high-grade one, let alone a Top Grade Spirit Ghost. That would be even more illusory and hopeless than buying a lottery ticket and expecting to win the jackpot.

He didn't deal with the Inferior Ghost for the time being and continued to practice Qi and meditate. This time, Lei Dong was wiser, and only late into the night did he head towards the Mass Grave with renewed vigor. His luck was decent this time; after circling the outskirts for about half an hour, he encountered a Yin Soul. Following the established procedure, he severely injured it and absorbed it into the Soul Nurturing Pagoda. Being more skilled than the previous night, he managed to injure the Yin Soul with just one blow. After the battle concluded, Lei Dong's Profound Yin True Qi still had more than half remaining.

He hesitated for a moment before running far away to recover to about eighty percent strength. Taking advantage of the time before dawn, he managed to capture a second Yin Soul. Only then did he return to the Myriad Ghost City inn, feeling utterly exhausted. He then spent an entire day, until the evening of the next day, to fully recover his strength. Gazing inward, he saw that the Profound Yin True Qi filling his body seemed to have become slightly more refined. He had a realization: this was likely the result of continuous combat, consumption, and replenishment, which had stimulated a sliver of his potential.

The human body is inherently the most intricate thing in the world. Cultivation, in essence, is the continuous stimulation of the body's latent energy. Even before Lei Dong's transmigration, scientists had researched this extensively. The human body would stimulate its potential to adapt to new environments or when provoked by danger, driven by instinct for survival. In this world, most sects generally acknowledged this. Otherwise, they wouldn't offer generous rewards to entice disciples to undertake dangerous missions, intending to temper them and uncover their potential. If not for this, it would be safer for everyone to simply stay home and cultivate in seclusion. In fact, all sects knew that no matter how outstanding someone's aptitude, without enduring trials and tribulations, they would ultimately struggle to achieve greatness. Which Ancestor on the Golden Core Path hadn't undergone countless life-and-death trials to achieve their accomplishments? On the path of cultivation, there were countless bottlenecks. Merely practicing Qi and meditating, even with the best aptitude, wouldn't guarantee breakthroughs.

Regardless, this was a good thing. Any progress in cultivation, however small, was cause for celebration.

However, with joy comes worry. The two Yin Souls captured after a night of hard work were still worthless Inferior Ghosts.

Thus, Lei Dong lingered in the Mass Grave near Myriad Ghost City for over three months.☞💔  ☠🌷 As his control over the dark green Small Sword and the Soul Nurturing Pagoda grew more proficient, the Profound Yin True Qi consumed with each use continuously decreased. His cultivation also grew day by day. Although it was far from enough to impact the second layer of the Qi Refining Stage, he had still made significant progress compared to before.

From capturing two Yin Souls per night, he eventually reached a point where he could capture up to seven in a single night. Lei Dong's Soul Nurturing Pagoda now contained four hundred and eighty Inferior Ghosts. Yes, all Inferior Ghosts. The sheer rarity of Spirit Ghosts made Lei Dong almost want to laugh and cry. He knew that it was possible for a Spirit Ghost to appear only once in ten thousand Inferior Ghosts. Having only captured nearly five hundred Inferior Ghosts, the absence of a Spirit Ghost was entirely normal. Yet, experiencing this low probability firsthand, he couldn't help but feel a sense of loss.

However, it wasn't entirely without gain. During his three months wandering the Mass Grave, he had picked up a few items: a Ghost Face Mushroom with decades of growth, dozens of Soul Devouring Grass, and a tattered shield-shaped Magic Item. Apart from the shield-shaped Magic Item, he sold the rest directly in Myriad Ghost City. Although the total value wasn't even worth a single Spirit Stone, he obtained three bottles of Lesser Vitality Pills.

As for the shield-shaped Magic Item, Lei Dong decided to keep it for his own use, provided he could repair it. Upon returning to the Myriad Ghost Cave, he learned from the gatekeeper's restriction that Chen Ge had already come out of seclusion and had left him many messages. Reading through them one by one, he discovered that Chen Ge had accepted a mission and had intended for the three of them to complete it together. However, after waiting for Lei Dong for a long time and fearing they would miss the mission deadline, he had gone ahead alone. Of course, they had not returned yet.

Taking the broken shield, he found the old man in the Artifact Refining room. After a perfunctory appraisal, the old fellow declared it a Lower Grade defensive Magic Item and demanded a repair fee of one Spirit Stone, nearly causing Lei Dong to kick him in the face. During this time, his knowledge had grown, and he knew that an ordinary Lower Grade Magic Item was worth at most one or two Spirit Stones. Charging one Spirit Stone just for repairs was outright extortion. Of course, Spirit Ghosts could also be bought and sold. Unfortunately, even the lowest quality, unrefined Lower Grade Spirit Ghost commanded a sky-high price of ten Spirit Stones, far beyond what Chen Ge could afford.

Returning to his room in frustration, Lei Dong, with a sufficient number of Yin Soul Inferior Ghosts, prepared to study them carefully. This time, he was determined: if he couldn't research the special effects of the Soul Nurturing Pagoda, he would first sacrifice a few Inferior Ghosts to increase his strength. After all, without Spirit Ghosts, he couldn't just keep waiting. Even if Chen Ge was willing to take him on missions, he would only be a burden. As for Spirit Ghosts, he would search for them slowly once his strength improved.

Feeling slightly displeased, he merged into the Soul Nurturing Pagoda and surveyed the densely packed Inferior Ghosts within. A sense of frustration welled up in his heart. Why couldn't there be a single Spirit Ghost among so many Inferior Ghosts? The biggest difference between a Spirit Ghost and an Inferior Ghost wasn't just the former's potential for continuous strength growth. More importantly, after being blood-sacrificed, a Spirit Ghost's strength would immediately surge, and with good Qi circulation, it might even come with some innate spells.

Of course, it wasn't that Inferior Ghosts were entirely without value. In fact, with Lei Dong's current strength at the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage, dealing with one or two Inferior Ghosts was manageable. However, if he were entangled by three or four at once, his chances of survival would be slim. If Lei Dong were to blood-sacrifice a few Inferior Ghosts, he would possess considerable advantages in a fight against other cultivators at the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage.

Unfortunately, as everyone's cultivation realm advanced, Inferior Ghosts, if not stagnant, had limited growth. How could Lei Dong not feel disheartened? More importantly, blood sacrifice consumed a great deal of Essence Blood and Vital Energy. It often took a month or more to recover after sacrificing a single Yin Soul, requiring significant nutritional supplements during that period. Sacrificing useless Inferior Ghosts was truly heartbreaking.

He took out both Soul Nurturing Pagodas. Most of the Inferior Ghosts, nourished by the Soul Nurturing Pagoda, had already recovered to their optimal state. Lei Dong, filled with anticipation, transferred a spirited Inferior Ghost into the mysterious Soul Nurturing Pagoda. He immediately merged his consciousness with the mysterious Soul Nurturing Pagoda to observe the effects.

The Yin Soul Inferior Ghost, which had a plump and nourished soul body, let out sharp cries and darted around like a wild beast encountering a wildfire the moment it entered the mysterious Soul Nurturing Pagoda, wisps of white smoke rising from its body. Lei Dong's spirits lifted as he continued to observe closely. Before long, the Yin Soul's color began to dim, as if its Soul Force had been drained. It curled up in a corner, groaning.

After about an hour, the Yin Soul completely dissipated, vanishing without a trace. Lei Dong watched for a long time but couldn't discern anything. He continued to throw another Yin Soul in. After more than an hour, the same process repeated. After throwing in over a dozen, Lei Dong finally grew annoyed. He channeled a breath of Qi, sending in over a hundred Yin Soul Inferior Ghosts. Since these Inferior Ghosts were not valuable, he wanted to see how many Yin Souls this mysterious Soul Nurturing Pagoda would devour before it was full.

Vaguely, a thought flickered through Lei Dong's mind. Could it be that this Soul Nurturing Pagoda was indeed devouring Yin Souls?

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