Elite Resentful Spirit

Lin Xu's expression eased. "Here they come!"

With a thought, he set the candlelight flickering. A line of fire shot out, coiled around the foremost wronged soul, and dragged it into the lamp in the blink of an eye.

"Crackle~"

The tiny flame crackled and popped, its light illuminating a twisted afterimage. A faint scream cut off abruptly within the fire.

Lin Xu glanced at it and nodded in satisfaction. "Thirty-four Dharma Coins. Not bad."

When he looked back at the shadows in the mass grave, it was as though he were looking at a pile of wealth waiting to be harvested.

The spirit lamp in his hand moved at his thought. Its flame stretched out like tentacles of streaming light, sweeping up wronged souls one after another. A continuous crackling rang out as wisps of blue smoke rose from the flames and transformed in moments into Dharma Coins that overflowed from the lamp.

Lin Xu's expression remained calm. He tilted the spirit lamp slightly, and the Dharma Coins rained into a hidden pouch in his sleeve.

In moments, more than a dozen wronged souls had all been refined, and the Dharma Coins had piled up to nearly half a pouch.

"Woooo~"

As if angered by Lin Xu's actions, a more piercing howl came from deep within the mass grave. A sinister wind sprang up, and a chilling figure slowly rose from a fissure between the graves. Inky resentment Qi coiled around it, and its eyes were as red as blood.

Name: Wronged Soul (Elite) · Blue

Race: Ghost

Level: 3

Strength: 7

Agility: 12

Constitution: 0

Spirit: 16

Intelligence: 5

Health: 1120/1120

Mana: 1600/1600

Talent: Unceasing Resentment · Blue (Passive) Releases a blast of resentment Qi at the moment of death, dealing spirit damage to targets within ten paces and inflicting [Slow]. The effect increases with the difference between the two sides' spirit; its obsession from life remains undispelled, allowing it to revive 1 minute after death. Cooldown: 1 day

Skills: Spirit Bewilderment · White (Expert)

Spectral Binding · Blue (Advanced) Weaves resentment Qi into a net, seizing souls and binding spirits from a thousand miles away. Those caught become like withered wood, capable only of howling in anguish

Soul Searching Hand · Blue (Intermediate) Condenses Yin Qi into claws to tear at souls

Resentment Shuttling · Blue (Intermediate) Can teleport between shadows, formless and traceless, leaving enemies unable to guard against it

Evaluation: Its form is ever-changing, its movements impossible to predict. A blade in the dark of night, it takes lives without a trace

"An elite-template resentful spirit!" Lin Xu's scalp went numb, and his expression grew grave.

He had never imagined beforehand that an elite-level resentful spirit would appear at this little burial mound!

"Wooo~"

Invisible waves of soul power surged toward him like a tide. The space between Lin Xu's brows trembled slightly, and a vision appeared before his eyes: the militiamen behind him suddenly betrayed him, their rakes chopping toward the back of his neck as a chill pierced straight to his marrow.

The spirit lamp in his hand flickered, and the great sun shone brightly in his sea of consciousness. The illusion before him vanished like smoke in an instant.

Holding his breath and focusing, he made the flame of the spirit lamp in his hand flare up, illuminating the path of the black Qi swirling around the resentful spirit.

He formed a hand seal and shouted, "Bind!"

The flame darted out like a snake, heading straight for the resentful spirit.

The resentful spirit roared in anger, blood-red light bursting from its eyes. A strand of Yin Qi sliced through the air and caught the tongue of flame halfway there. The two locked in a stalemate in midair, hissing as they burned.

Just then, the Yin soldier corporal had already reacted. He ordered the five Yin soldiers to fan out and surround it at once, and their rust-covered iron spears thrust out in unison toward the resentful spirit.

The iron spears pierced the black mist, but it was like stabbing into empty space. They only stirred the resentment Qi into a roiling mass.

The resentful spirit had quietly dissolved into black smoke. An instant later, an illusory shadow appeared behind the Yin soldier corporal, its pitch-black fingers suddenly clutching at his neck.

Lin Xu instantly tipped the spirit lamp in his hand, sending a line of blazing white fire shooting straight through the resentful spirit's phantom form.

At the same time, the spear in the Yin soldier corporal's hand swung back like a swimming snake, its butt slamming into the phantom behind him.

"Aaah~"

With a scream, the resentful spirit's phantom form was pierced by the line of fire, and black smoke poured out in all directions.

Struck by the combined attack of the Yin soldier corporal and Lin Xu, the resentful spirit's form twisted violently. Great clouds of black smoke dispersed, and even its soul body dimmed somewhat.

The black shadow dispersed again. When it re-formed, it had retreated more than three zhang away, resentment Qi boiling around it.

The surrounding mist seemed to be affected, roiling into a silent pantomime. Countless distorted faces appeared within it, their wails, cries, and curses intertwining into a spiritual vortex.

Lin Xu glanced at it. It was a scene from some time in the past: a group of armored soldiers bearing weapons were slaughtering unarmed civilians in a frenzy. Blood flowed in rivers, and cries of suffering filled the land.

Almost in an instant, the entire graveyard seemed to have become the killing ground of those days, the wronged souls' mournful cries piercing through time and space to strike his heart.

Almost at the same time, he heard the rush of wind behind his ear.

"Clang~"

A steel saber collided with the incoming rake, sending sparks flying.

A militiaman caught in the illusion had suddenly launched a sneak attack on Lin Xu, but Liu Jiayao, standing guard at his side, swung his saber and blocked it.

The candle flame in Lin Xu's hand flickered, enveloping his people. The militiamen who had been deceived by the illusion immediately came to their senses and pointed their weapons at the resentful spirit once more.

By then, the Yin soldier corporal had led a charge. The six Yin soldiers closed in from all sides, attempting to surround and kill the resentful spirit.

"Woooo~"

The successive failures seemed to enrage the resentful spirit. Black smoke spread, and its illusory form vanished in an instant, immediately putting Lin Xu on guard.

The next instant, black smoke appeared around one of the Yin soldiers, and a ghostly claw wreathed in black Qi viciously swiped at him.

The vigilant Yin soldier reacted at once. Without the slightest hesitation or fear, he turned, his spear flashing with a spectral light as he thrust it straight at the resentful spirit.

Almost at the same time, the resentful spirit and the Yin soldier struck each other.

The Yin soldier's translucent body shuddered violently. Where the ghostly claw passed, his body was torn apart like a sheet of paper.

His shattered body turned into a great cloud of blue-gray smoke and vanished without a trace in moments.

The elite wronged soul, struck by the spear, wailed in pain. A great transparent gash had been torn open in its ghostly body, which was wreathed in ghost Qi.

What a chance! Lin Xu thought. The spirit lamp in his hand flashed brilliantly, and its flame swept around the howling resentful spirit like a fire dragon. The fire burned, dispersing great clouds of ghost Qi.

"Spear Charge!"

The Yin soldier corporal became a streak of spectral light and pierced the wronged soul in an instant.

This time, a great hole was torn in the elite resentful spirit. Its spirit body churned violently, barely able to re-form.

Seeing the Yin soldier corporal swing his spear, about to completely disperse the wronged soul, Lin Xu stopped him with a thought.

The next instant, a tongue of flame swept out and pulled the elite wronged soul's tattered soul body into the spirit lamp.

The candle flame flickered slightly, suppressing the elite resentful spirit's feeble resistance.

"Water and Fire Refinement and Deliverance!"

A spiritual light flickered in Lin Xu's eyes. The flame inside the lamp suddenly blazed up, sweeping the resentful spirit into a vortex of intertwined ice and fire.

Yin and yang intertwined. The elite resentful spirit caught within screamed, but its grievous injuries had left it unable to resist.

Strands of gray-black impurities were drawn out, while a great amount of pure soul power nourished its tattered soul body, allowing it to re-form amid the union of water and fire.

Standing where he was, Lin Xu entered a state of Thought Overclocking and controlled his mana to refine and deliver the elite wronged soul. Around him, the Yin soldier corporal and the four remaining Yin soldiers formed an outer perimeter, the militia squad spread out in the middle, and Liu Jiayao watched his surroundings warily with a steel saber in hand.

An incense stick later, Lin Xu opened his eyes. "Everything I gained from refining the wronged souls went into it..."

Though he thought this, there was a hint of joy on his face.

With a thought, he sent a beam of light shooting from the spirit lamp, and a translucent phantom appeared before him.

It was the elite resentful spirit. The gray-black resentment Qi that had constantly wreathed it was gone, and its once smoke-like, illusory shadow had become a translucent human form. Its indistinct features shifted from time to time, one unfamiliar face after another appearing, seemingly never repeating.

Feeling the faint, intermittent mental connection, the smile on Lin Xu's face grew wider. "Let's go."