The sudden notification left Chen Mo momentarily stunned.
The little maid who had just served him during his bath was now surrounded by surging energy. A blue light blossomed between her brows, and within it he could just make out a miniature scripture.
As the pages turned, characters poured out and condensed into chains, binding the mass of black mist in place.
"Throat Spirit, Tiger Valor; Breath Spirit, Draw Fluid... Hey, stop spacing out! I can't hold him for long!"
The little maid's voice was urgent.
The black mist writhed and struggled with all its might, while the blue light flickered fitfully.
Chen Mo suppressed his shock for the moment. Vitality Essence gathered in his palm, and he struck at the black mist from a distance.
The Faceless Man knew that this essence was the bane of ghostly energy and didn't dare meet it head-on. He opened his mouth and sucked in, swallowing all the black mist. His true form appeared: a huge, greasy fat man.
He brought his fingers together like a blade and, without hesitation, plunged them into his chest. Then he dragged them downward, ripping his chest open by force!
No blood flowed from the wound. Instead, countless eerie lights shone within it.
Like the eyes of a ferocious beast, they sent a chill down the spine.
"Without the Soul-Summoning Banner, I can only nourish ghosts with my own body, feeding them my flesh and blood while enduring the agony of a hundred ghosts gnawing at my heart day and night!"
"It's been three years! Do you know how I've lived these past three years?!"
"Since you stole my treasure, I'll let you experience the agony of being devoured by vengeful ghosts!"
Seeing that he couldn't escape for the moment, the Faceless Man's ferocity only flared.
This was the emperor's doorstep, crowded with experts. He had to end this quickly. If he alarmed a grandmaster, he'd never get away!
He plunged both hands into his chest and wrenched it open. In an instant, a sinister wind howled, and countless black shadows shrieked as they lunged at Chen Mo. Meanwhile, the Faceless Man's fat body rapidly withered, as if all the air had leaked out of him.
The little maid watched, her face deathly pale.
"He commands a hundred ghosts to devour souls and seize spirits... Be careful! He's a fifth-grade Ghost Envoy. Whatever you do, don't let those ghosts get their claws into you!"
As an Occultist, she often dealt with spirits, but only in the course of capturing wandering souls.
A wandering soul was a lingering obsession left behind by a dead person. It drifted aimlessly through the world, and if it didn't attach itself to something, it would dissipate within a few days.
Ghosts, however, were entirely different. They were usually born alongside evil, or refined from living souls. They were vicious, fed on the flesh and spirits of the living, and even possessed all manner of sinister abilities!
Chen Mo was already among the best of his generation, but he hadn't yet condensed a Martial Soul. He had no way to resist a hundred ghosts tearing at him...
But it was already too late. In the time it took to draw a breath, Chen Mo had been swallowed by a writhing mass of ghosts!
Their shrieks and gnashing made one's scalp crawl!
"Chen Mo!"
The little maid was frantic. She ignored the Faceless Man and sent the blue characters surging toward the ghosts.
The Faceless Man broke free in an instant. A sinister grin twisted across his blurred features as his black-mist-wreathed hand reached for the little maid's back!
"A sixth-grade Occultist? What a promising talent. She'll be perfect once I refine her into a ghost. I'm sure she'll help me take my cultivation technique to the next level!"
"Leave your life—"
Suddenly, the sounds of gnawing stopped. The room fell silent for a brief moment.
The ghosts huddled together froze. Emerald-green light shone through the gaps between them!
"Gyaaah!"
The next moment, as if they'd encountered something horrifying, they shrieked and scattered in every direction!
Chen Mo's figure emerged with them.
Blazing emerald flames enveloped his body. The black ghostly energy melted away like snow beneath the summer sun, while the ghosts around him gradually turned transparent and insubstantial.
He raised his hand. Black script appeared on its back, and the ghosts were sucked straight into it!
At the same time, an exceptionally pure energy flowed into his spiritual platform.
Chen Mo felt utterly refreshed, as if he were floating among the clouds!
"So this is soul power?"
He used Vitality Essence to dispel the ghostly energy, then used Soul Absorption to take in the soul power and strengthen his spirit...
And with the boost from Fierce Ghost Buster, he didn't have to worry about the ghostly energy clouding his mind. The rate at which he refined it had also increased dramatically!
Chen Mo's gaze grew unusually heated as he looked at the ghosts.
These weren't vengeful ghosts. They were experience points with legs!
Don't run!
Let me absorb a little!
With his palm raised, Chen Mo began chasing ghosts around the room.
Watching the man run around the room after the ghosts, the little maid and the Faceless Man both stared in a daze.
"Is he really a martial artist?"
"This is absurd!"
In no time at all, Chen Mo had devoured more than ten vengeful ghosts. The Faceless Man's blurred features twitched, and his heart seemed to bleed.
Not every living person could be refined into a ghost. They had to be driven by powerful resentment.
Those ten-odd vengeful ghosts alone must have required the ritual sacrifice of at least a hundred living people!
"Damn it!"
The Faceless Man clenched his teeth and pulled a palm-sized Bronze Lamp from his robes. He rubbed the wick with his finger, and a ghostly blue-green flame flickered to life.
In its glow, the vengeful ghosts' presence suddenly surged. They resisted Soul Absorption and burrowed, one after another, into the Faceless Man's open chest.
"Trying to leave?"
Chen Mo raised an eyebrow.
How could he let such a juicy treat go?
He flipped his wrist. An amber crystal fell into his palm, and he crushed it without hesitation!
On the attribute panel before him, a flashing "+" had appeared beside his martial arts and supernatural abilities.
"Soul Absorption, add a point!"
He upgraded Soul Absorption from "Beginner" straight to "Intermediate"!
The black Dharma Seal on the back of his hand writhed as if alive. Its characters grew clearer around the edges, and a hint of blood-red light glimmered across them.
At the same time, the pull of its absorption suddenly grew several times stronger!
The ghosts that had been burrowing into the Faceless Man's chest slowed, as if trapped in a bog. After a brief struggle, they were dragged backward against their will and sucked into Chen Mo's palm, one after another!
"One, two, five... Tsk, woohoo~"
The sensation of his spiritual platform filling with soul power made Chen Mo groan aloud.
Seeing that things had gone wrong, the Faceless Man grabbed the few nearby vengeful ghosts and shoved them all into his chest, then tried to flee.
"Stop him!"
Before Chen Mo's voice had even faded, the little maid had already acted.
The blue light between her brows flared brightly, and one blue chain after another bound the Faceless Man from head to toe.
"Quickly! I can't keep this up for long..."
"I know."
Chen Mo strode forward and plunged his hand straight into the Faceless Man's chest!
He activated Soul Absorption and devoured every ghost inside him!
After absorbing more than a hundred vengeful ghosts, Chen Mo's mind felt clearer than ever. His soul seemed ready to leave his body, looking down over the entire room. Not even the faintest stir of wind could escape his perception.
That was when he noticed eerie lights flickering in the room's four corners.
"A soundproof formation? No wonder nobody came in, even with all that noise."
"He prepared so thoroughly. Looks like he'd had his eye on me for a while..."
Chen Mo drew in his awareness. Looking at the shriveled husk he'd sucked dry, he gave the hand buried in its chest a twist.
"Let's have a heart-to-heart..."
"Is that all the ghosts you've got? Don't you have any more in stock?"
The Faceless Man: "..."
Though his features were blurred, the anger on his face was still plain to see.
"Little bastard, I'll tear out your tendons and break your bones, refine you into a vengeful ghost, and condemn you to eternal—"
Chen Mo's hand shifted, and he grabbed the still-beating heart.
"Now, tell me from the bottom of your heart. Do you have any more or not?"
"..."
The Faceless Man lowered his head and said in a trembling voice, "Boss, you've squeezed me dry. I swear, I don't have a single one left..."
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