Releasing the Fierce Ghost

Li Hai glanced at the token before tossing it into his pocket.

He then reached back and pulled out the jade box known as the Soul-Binding Cocoon.

According to the old man, this box sealed an evil spirit that had wiped out every member of this outpost, making it extremely dangerous.

Yet, it was precisely this danger that piqued Li Hai's immense interest.

Therefore, he intended to release it.

As for the old man's previous insistence that the box be handed over to the Demon-Slaying Division headquarters for processing, Li Hai felt that was far too much trouble.

Since it had to be dealt with regardless, he might as well put it to good use by feeding it to the Guiyou Grotto-Heaven to unlock a new structure.

With this in mind, Li Hai strolled out of the warehouse to the open ground outside, then raised his hand and ripped the talisman off the jade box.

Hiss~~

With a faint, ethereal chime, an extremely sinister and eerie atmosphere instantly flooded the area surrounding Li Hai.

However, upon sensing this evil energy, he sighed with a hint of disappointment:

"After all that, it's just a Fierce Soul-level ghost. I thought you'd be much stronger."

That said, judging by the churning evil aura, this ghost—also at the Fierce Soul level—was clearly far superior to Asu, likely having reached the peak of the Fierce Soul tier.

"Heh heh heh, no matter. Let me see what new tricks you have to offer."

Amidst his laughter, Li Hai, whose face was pale, cyan, and covered in corpse spots, suddenly levitated ten zhang into the air, thick and profound waves of resentment and evil energy erupting from his body.

Simultaneously, an Invisible Evil Spirit, ferocious and constantly restless, appeared unnoticed in the dark void around him.

ROAR!

The moment this Invisible Evil Spirit appeared, it acted like a starving wolf that hadn't eaten in a century, sniffing and roaring as it dove toward the ground, darting and patrolling the surrounding area.

It sought to find the unknown ghost that had escaped the jade box and was now hiding somewhere unknown.

As it patrolled, the Invisible Evil Spirit cackled wildly, seemingly mocking the ghost's cowardly act of hiding itself.

This blatant provocation naturally infuriated the evil spirit.

In the next moment, a sound like thousands of tiny snakes and insects slithering rapidly suddenly emerged from the cracks and fissures in the training ground floor beneath Li Hai.

However, when Li Hai looked down, he realized that what was slithering through the cracks were not snakes or insects, but countless thousands of mangled, blood-smeared fingers.

These myriad fingers crawled out of the ground like a swarm of maggots, and once emerged, they quickly assembled like building blocks into horrific human shapes—some female, some male, some children, and some elderly.

As these hundreds of "people" slowly stood up from the ground, they simultaneously raised their heads, staring fixedly at Li Hai in the air with gray-white eyes made of fingernails, cursing in unison with various voices:

"You deserve to die... You deserve to die... You deserve to die... You deserve to die... You deserve to die... You deserve to die... You deserve to die... You deserve to die..."

These invisible curses felt like tangible poison arrows; the moment they left the mouths of these hundreds of "people," they converged into a river, surging toward Li Hai above with a thunderous roar.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

Because the torrent moved with such incredible speed, Li Hai was completely engulfed before he could react, plunging into a boiling ocean of Evil Intent.

Under the impact of such frenzied Evil Intent, not to mention ordinary people, even a top-tier Steel-Grade Martial Artist with an iron will would have their mind eroded and soul melted, reduced to a mindless vegetable.

Yet, after falling into this torrent of Evil Intent, Li Hai remained miraculously unharmed. Instead, he absorbed it all, then twisted and expanded in a bizarre fashion, suddenly shattering into thousands of horrific, mangled fingers that rained down onto the ground, mixed with dripping blood.

That's right—after this Finger Ghost appeared, Li Hai had clearly seen its personal interface, learned all its skills in a single thought, and pushed them to their highest level.

The ghost's personal interface was as follows:

Character Name: Unknown
Rank: Ghost Path → Fierce Soul
Skills: Ghost Body Soul Remains, Delicate Ghostly Fingers, Red Dust Yin Gathering Method (Fragmented)
Traits: [Ghost Body Level 2], [Ghostly Image Level 2], [Demon Finger Level 2], [Evil Intent Level 2]
Stronger Fragment: None

As the foundation for all ghosts, Ghost Body Soul Remains needs no explanation. The ghost's true signature techniques were the two major Ghost Path sorceries: Delicate Ghostly Fingers and the fragmented Red Dust Yin Gathering Method.

The former allowed the ghost to split and divide into a massive number of severed fingers carrying its own consciousness, then overwhelm enemies like a swarm of insects.

Beyond this quantity-based attack, this sorcery could also independently control a small number of fingers for precise operations, detailed enough to use those fingers like building blocks to assemble various humans, animals, and objects.

Finally, as long as the surrounding Yin energy remained, those severed fingers could continuously multiply and deform under the evil power of Delicate Ghostly Fingers.

As for the Red Dust Yin Gathering Method, it was a new Yin energy absorption technique, entirely distinct from the Evil Land Yin Gathering Method and the Golden Ridge Yin Gathering.

The former two methods absorbed evil energy from cursed lands and deep mountain forests, respectively.

The Red Dust Yin Gathering Method, however, absorbed the toxic Yin energy hidden within the mortal world.

And just as the Evil method allowed a ghost to manipulate the myriad evil energies of a cursed land, and the Golden method allowed it to conceal its breath and vanish, this Red method granted the ghost a unique, eerie ability.

That is, it could refine and store the Evil Intent and worldly hatred of human hearts, then converge them into a river to bombard its opponents.

However... no matter how bizarre or powerful these skills of the Finger Ghost were, they now belonged entirely to Li Hai.

Therefore, when those thousands of severed fingers he had split into landed on the ground, they also began to stack and assemble, quickly forming blurry human shapes that gathered into a squad and cursed back at the hundreds of "people" the Finger Ghost had become:

"You are the one who deserves to die... You are the one who deserves to die... You are the one who deserves to die... You are the one who deserves to die... You are the one who deserves to die... You are the one who deserves to die... You are the one who deserves to die... You are the one who deserves to die..."

Whoosh~

Instantly, the invisible curses of hundreds of "Li Hais" also condensed into a torrent of Evil Intent, rumbling toward the "group" of Finger Ghosts who were left completely stunned by the sight.

BOOM!

In an instant, the vast, dilapidated training ground was completely covered by surging, boiling waves of Evil Intent. Every scene within it began to blur and distort, as if it were an oil painting splashed with boiling water.