Fierce Soul Puppet

Crack, crack, crack!

Before long, the sound of a skull shattering rang out. The entangled Iron Corpse struggled incessantly, but as Black Charcoal pressed in layer by layer, its head was crushed and chewed to pieces.

Eee, eee, eee!

As the corpse began to convulse, Black Charcoal swallowed it whole, then let out a satisfied cry.

It was over.

Watching Black Charcoal's movements, Bai Yu slowly stepped forward. Looking at the disheveled scene around him, his expression was inexplicably helpless.

He had discovered that Black Charcoal was not a picky eater. No matter what it was, it could stuff it into its mouth.

But its table manners were simply too ugly. The slime splattered all over its body, a sickening tangle of black and green, made one feel rather uncomfortable just looking at it.

After signaling for Black Charcoal to stand guard nearby, Bai Yu began to tidy up the battlefield.

The already rotten coffin had been mostly destroyed in the battle between the bug and the corpse, but the things inside had remained remarkably intact.

A crystalline ganoderma had grown from a large piece of coffin board. It was the size of a washbasin and gave off a faint blue glow.

"So it really is Coffin Fungus?"

"But at this size, it must be over five hundred years old, right?"

"If it kept growing, this Coffin Fungus would probably become a spirit."

Bai Yu said with a smile.

Coffin Fungus formed when the resentment that a corpse failed to expel after being buried in a corpse-nurturing ground was nourished by the power of moonlight and mutated. It was itself a supreme cultivation treasure beloved by zombies.

Seeing the vast amount of rotten wood beneath the corpse-nurturing ground, quite a few corpses must have been buried below. The Coffin Fungus they had nourished had all been devoured by the largest one among them.

In this way, the Coffin Fungus had in turn devoured the zombies underground, gradually growing until it became so enormous.

If Bai Yu had not discovered this place, that Iron Corpse from earlier would definitely have become food for the Coffin Fungus. With the passage of time, this thing would likely have become a spirit.

Thinking of this, Bai Yu could not help feeling fortunate. Thankfully, the Coffin Fungus had not developed its own spiritual intelligence. In its current state, it could be said to be Zhao Yun's greatest tonic.

He tore off the Coffin Fungus directly, and a chill aura spread across his palm.

Bai Yu curled his lip at the sight and tossed it straight into the grotto-heaven.

The moment the Coffin Fungus fell into the grotto-heaven, Zhao Yun, who had been very quiet, abruptly raised her head. The instincts of the Yin-Yang Corpse drove her to turn into a streak of light. After catching the Coffin Fungus, she gently held it in her arms and slowly absorbed the power within it.

"A fine start."

"Very good. Let's keep looking around."

Bai Yu said with a smile. Then, continuing to assess the currents before him, he followed the direction in which they spread and slowly advanced.

As he ventured deeper, the fog around him grew thicker and thicker, while the changes in the air currents became increasingly chaotic.

Although this made the situation more complicated, it posed no great trouble for Bai Yu, who possessed Delusion-Breaking Golden Eyes.

Just as he was about to continue following the green currents, faint gray lights suddenly appeared within the dense white mist.

"Careful. Something's approaching."

Bai Yu narrowed his eyes. The gray lights drew closer and closer, and once they condensed into shape, they turned out to be more than twenty Fierce Souls!

A closer look would reveal that the clothes these Fierce Souls wore were very familiar. Two of them were even dressed like disciples of the Heavenly Demon Sect.

In life, they had been disciples who entered the White Bone Mountain Range to train.

"Are these mountain hunters who died in the White Bone Mountain Range?"

"Why didn't their souls disperse? Why did they instead become Fierce Souls with the help of the surrounding mist?"

Yu Linglong stared at them in astonishment. In such a vicious environment, the soul of someone who had just died would be prey fought over by all manner of evil things within.

By all rights, they should have been utterly powerless after death. Yet now, not only had these people become Fierce Souls, but judging from their appearance, they had completely lost their reason as well.

Put another way, they had now become Fierce Soul Puppets!

"Not only that, after becoming Fierce Souls, they even retained their strength."

"I'm becoming more and more curious about what exactly turned them into this."

Bai Yu's eyes shone brightly as he looked at the dazzling green glow behind the Fierce Souls, his heart filled with anticipation.

"Young Master, let me try!"

Yu Linglong nodded. Looking at the Fierce Souls steadily approaching, she was eager to give it a try. After cultivating for so long, she had yet to fight once.

The moment her words fell, Yu Linglong took a step forward, her figure shooting out like lightning. Her azure magical power transformed directly into a powerful stream that blasted toward the Fierce Soul Puppets!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As the two sides clashed, dense demon qi and ghost qi erupted. Yu Linglong's attacks carried terrifying destructive power, but the dozen or so Fierce Souls felt no fear whatsoever and did not even attempt to evade.

As a result, their collision became exceptionally fierce.

Bai Yu was also somewhat surprised as he watched Yu Linglong. After awakening the Heavenly Fox Bloodline, even he could no longer tell whether she was a demon or a human.

But one thing was certain: at the same realm, Yu Linglong's strength was an utterly crushing presence against ordinary cultivators.

The battle lasted for more than ten minutes. At the instant an illusory fox tail emerged behind Yu Linglong, a strange blue light burst from her sapphire-blue eyes.

Blue light burst forth. Under its radiance, the fierce souls suddenly froze, then melted away at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Phew..."

"They really were hard to deal with..."

Yu Linglong pursed her lips and sighed.

Of the twenty-four Fierce Soul Puppets, every one possessed strength above the fourth level of Qi Refinement, while three had even reached the sixth level of Qi Refinement.

Yet surrounded by them, Yu Linglong had ended the battle in just over twenty minutes. It was clear just what heights her current strength had reached.

"Young master, there seems to be something inside these fierce souls."

Yu Linglong narrowed her eyes, then eagerly stepped forward. With a light beckoning gesture, a great number of black particles were drawn into her hand.

The particles were pitch-black, resembling sesame seeds, but the chill they emitted made even Yu Linglong's palm go numb. In the end, she had no choice but to wrap them in spiritual power.

Seeing the particles, Bai Yu furrowed his brow.

He racked his mind for the miscellaneous books he had read before, and soon, a glimmer of excitement flashed in his eyes.

"These seeds, if I'm not mistaken, should be Jade Infant Fruit!"

"A supreme material of the Foundation Establishment realm. It has the terrifying effect of stripping impurities from the human soul and strengthening soul power."

"Moreover, if Jade Infant Fruit is added while refining Foundation Establishment Pills, it can raise the pill's quality by half a grade!"

"At the same time, this is also an excellent material for refining Gu. Its soul-power-purifying effect is a universal remedy—no matter what Gu you refine, you can add it to improve the Gu's quality."

As he spoke, Bai Yu's heartbeat suddenly quickened. These fierce souls carried Jade Infant Fruit seeds, which meant that the reason they had become like this was because they were under the fruit tree's control.

In other words, somewhere nearby, there was a complete Jade Infant Fruit tree!