Ghostly Apparition

The bone horse had first been struck by the Special Yin Soul, then frightened into fleeing. Its injuries had finally begun to show, and its speed was several times slower than before.

The bone horse's once sturdy skeleton had begun to turn gray, its white bones now covered in crack after crack. Some of the joints had even come apart. Several pieces of cartilage beneath its jaw had apparently been jolted loose at some point. The faint soul-light within the bone horse, which symbolized its health, was also much weaker than before.

Riding the bone horse all the way, dodging and weaving, stopping and starting, Hu Donghan finally left the inner region of Lonely Soul Ridge and entered its outer region. At the same time, he let out a sigh of relief.

After finding a safe place, Hu Donghan dismounted and let the bone horse rest and recover its yin energy. As for himself, he reached out and touched the battered Bronze Ring on his finger, releasing the Ghost Wraith he had obtained earlier.

Before Ghost Wraiths were cultivated with the Ghost-Summoning Technique, they all looked the same. They were merely translucent spirit bodies, with Ghost-Spirit Light inside them that represented their grade.

The jade slip bestowed upon outer disciples by the Yin Soul Sect had already explained in great detail how to distinguish Ghost Wraiths.

From lowest to highest, Ghost Wraiths were divided into six grades: Mortal Ghost, Low-Grade, Mid-Grade, High-Grade, Supreme-Grade, and Heavenly Ghost. The method of judging their grade was to look at the color of their Ghost-Spirit Light.

A Mortal Ghost's Ghost-Spirit Light was white, like the Ghost Wraith Hu Donghan had just acquired. A Low-Grade Ghost Demon's Ghost-Spirit Light was green, while Mid-Grade, High-Grade, and Supreme-Grade Ghost Wraiths corresponded to blue, red, and purple respectively. As for the legendary Heavenly Ghost, no one knew the color of its Ghost-Spirit Light.

Ghost Wraiths of different grades also had vastly different growth potential. A Mortal Ghost could generally only grow to the peak of the Qi Refining Stage, and at best might reach the Foundation Establishment Realm. Other grades of Ghost Wraiths had their own limits as well. A Supreme-Grade Ghost Wraith, for example, had a great chance of reaching the Spirit Transformation Realm. Heavenly Ghosts, meanwhile, were beings as elusive as legends. It was said that Heavenly Ghosts had no limit to their growth. If properly cultivated, they might even reach still higher realms!

Of course, the higher a Ghost Wraith's grade, the rarer it was. For Mortal Ghosts, one might appear after clearing out eighty or ninety Yin Souls. A Low-Grade Ghost Demon, however, required at least five or six thousand Yin Souls before one might appear. As for Mid-Grade Ghost Fiends, High-Grade Ghost Fiends, Supreme-Grade Ghost Wraiths, and the like, the difficulty rose a thousandfold at every step! The Mass Grave Mounds, graveyards, and Yin Soul Valleys controlled by the Yin Soul Sect were countless, yet throughout the entire Yin Soul Sect, only one Nascent Soul Realm patriarch possessed a Supreme-Grade Ghost Wraith.

Once someone possessed a Supreme-Grade Ghost Wraith, even a cultivator with the worst five-element spiritual roots might be admitted into the inner sect as an exception, or even become a true disciple. This showed just how important Supreme-Grade Ghost Wraiths were!

As for Heavenly Ghosts—they had always been nothing more than a legend within the Yin Soul Sect. No one even knew what a Heavenly Ghost looked like.

The Ghost-Spirit Light inside this Ghost Wraith is only white. In other words, this Ghost Wraith I obtained after such painstaking effort is merely an ordinary Mortal Ghost. Still, I never had much expectation for it to begin with. Even if it is only a Mortal Ghost, it is enough for me to test the True Exposition of the Ghost Path.

Next, I need to collect some Wandering Souls to feed ghosts, then return to Overlapping Peaks and make further plans...

After sitting in meditation with his eyes closed and recovering a little spiritual power, Hu Donghan rose to his feet, preparing to return.

"Eh? Where did the bone horse run off to?"

Only after standing did Hu Donghan suddenly realize something was wrong—the bone horse that had been kneeling nearby to recover had somehow vanished.

He looked into the distance in every direction but could not see any trace of the bone horse. After scanning the surroundings, he followed the marks it had left on the ground.

After chasing it for several hundred meters, Hu Donghan examined the surroundings and realized something else was wrong.

The direction the bone horse had taken actually led toward the inner region of Lonely Soul Ridge!

Why would the bone horse run into the inner region of Lonely Soul Ridge? Forget it. Whatever the reason, I'll go take a look first. If it has gone too deep, I can only leave on my own.

Having made up his mind, Hu Donghan pursued it another li into the inner region of Lonely Soul Ridge. At last, he spotted the bone horse in the distance—and the sight before him left him stunned.

The bone horse was right ahead.

And directly in front of it was a Corpse Bone Pit!

The Corpse Bone Pit was packed densely with countless corpses. Only a small portion belonged to humans; most were animals. Some had already rotted away, while others remained completely intact. Around the Corpse Bone Pit, the corpse qi and yin energy formed by all those bodies completely separated the area from its surroundings, like a thick blanket of fog.

This corpse qi, if used to nurture corpses...

Thinking of the corpse-nurturing methods in the True Exposition of the Ghost Path, Hu Donghan's heart burned with excitement.

In his previous life, Hu Donghan had searched everywhere for a place filled with corpse qi, only to find none. In the end, his three zombies had evolved into Walking Corpses only by absorbing human vitality. Yet in this life, he had found a corpse-nurturing ground so easily! With such a place, combined with the great Corpse-Nurturing Art from the True Exposition of the Ghost Path, Hu Donghan was confident he could cultivate a Bronze-Armored Corpse within three years!

According to the records in the jade slip bestowed by the sect, this Corpse Bone Pit should have been formed when the sect seized wild beasts from outside the Soulbreak Mountains and slaughtered them here specifically to nurture ghosts. Over time, it accumulated so much corpse qi...

After sorting through the information in his mind, Hu Donghan understood the sect's methods of nurturing ghosts.

Every ghost-nurturing ground should have at least one Corpse Bone Pit like this. The ghost-nurturing ground in Lonely Soul Ridge probably isn't even among the largest. The sect even has ghost-nurturing grounds where Golden Core Realm patriarchs hunt ghosts! How dense must the corpse qi be in places like those?!

As he thought of this, excitement gleamed in Hu Donghan's eyes.

Ah... what a pity. My strength is still insufficient, and I haven't even mastered the introductory Ghost-Nurturing Art. As for spending time nurturing corpses, that is even more out of the question.

Right now, the most important thing is to first learn to command this Mortal Ghost. If the Ghost-Nurturing Art in the True Exposition of the Ghost Path can be used together with the Ghost-Summoning Technique, then the Corpse-Nurturing Art should be no different. For now, increasing my strength is what matters most!

Shaking his head, Hu Donghan drove the chaotic thoughts from his mind, and clarity returned to his heart.

For now, he still needed to return to Overlapping Peaks and cultivate.

(End of Chapter)