Chapter 1020: Yin Spirit Condenses into Form

Han Li was not surprised by this. Coming to such a remote place, finding a scripture was already a significant stroke of luck.

After a few hours, when Han Li finished searching the last building and returned to the Stele Pavilion of the Spirit Forging Hall, he hesitated as he looked at the layer of white light barrier.

It was still early, and he had ample opportunity to explore other areas, but doing so seemed to involve some risks.

Who knew if other cultivators had already finished searching a particular area and would also proceed to other locations?

If he encountered the old man surnamed Fu and his group, it wouldn't matter. Even Old Devil Qian or the Poison Saint Sect members wouldn't faze Han Li. However, if he ran into the first wave of cultivators who entered this mountain, it would be a major problem. It was highly likely they would immediately attack him.

However, Han Li was somewhat unwilling to remain trapped here and wait for the spatial crack to reopen several days later.

Han Li had a change of thought and couldn't help but laugh wryly.

Even if he stayed here, if someone else finished searching other places, wouldn't they actively seek out the Spirit Forging Hall? Furthermore, according to his calculations, after so much time had passed, it was likely that Old Devil Qian and his group, who had gone to several important locations in Mount Kunwu, had already encountered the first wave of cultivators, and might even have started fighting.

If that were the case, it would be better to search a few more places while others were preoccupied, perhaps even taking advantage of the chaos. After all, if he could find something as valuable as the Grand Yin True Flame in this small Spirit Forging Hall, other locations should also yield some gains.

Moreover, with his current abilities, even if he were surrounded by several late-Nascent Soul cultivators and couldn't win, he was confident he could escape.

After weighing the options in his mind, Han Li no longer hesitated. He took out his Three-Flame Fan, and after its three-colored flames flashed, it easily broke through the light barrier before him. He then headed directly down the mountain.

Almost simultaneously, in a hall beneath Mount Kunwu, bathed in a faint blue light, the Big-Headed Freak, the Ancient Devil, and an early-Nascent Soul cultivator from the Ye family were surrounded by seven or eight red-haired, bare-bodied evil spirits.

Each of these evil spirits had a greenish face and protruding fangs, emitting gloomy qi from their mouths. As their fingers moved, streaks of dark claw-light lashed down at the three cultivators, covering them completely.

The Big-Headed Freak and his companions, trapped amidst swirling gray gloomy qi, had deployed several layers of differently colored light barriers using defensive magic treasures. No matter how fierce the gloomy qi or how sharp the claw-light, they couldn't shake the barriers in the slightest.

However, in contrast, the yellow flying sword wielded by the freak, and the black small sword and white jade ruler activated by the Ancient Devil and the other Ye family elder, despite radiating myriad lights, were equally ineffective against these evil spirits.

Whether the flying sword sliced an evil spirit in two or the ruler smashed a ghost's head to smithereens, as long as other evil spirits simultaneously sprayed gloomy qi at the point of impact, the defeated evil spirit would immediately recover and vigorously charge forward again. Each one seemed to possess an immortal body.

At this moment, the Ye family elder rubbed his hands together, then flung them, sending a series of crimson fireballs into an evil spirit's body, blasting it into oblivion. However, as gloomy qi gathered nearby, the spirit immediately reappeared and ferociously lunged at the light barrier once more.

"Seventh Uncle, Elder Han, this won't do," the Ye family elder said anxiously. "These evil spirits have been nourished by the gloomy qi of this place for untold tens of thousands of years, and have clearly cultivated to the realm of 'Yin Soul Condensation.' Ordinary spells and magic treasures simply cannot kill them. Only extreme yang cultivation methods or treasures can be effective."

"Hmph, if it were that simple, I would have acted long ago," the Big-Headed Freak snorted coldly, replying somewhat annoyed. "These evil spirits are not just at the Yin Soul Condensation realm; they are all merely avatars of a single Ghost King. As long as we cannot kill all of them simultaneously, they will immediately revive in the gloomy qi. I haven't used my full power yet; I've just been looking for its true body."

"They're all avatars?" The elder was startled.

"Indeed," the Ancient Devil said calmly. "Otherwise, even if they were evil spirits who had cultivated Yin Soul Condensation, after us repeatedly killing them so many times, they should have suffered significant vital energy loss. But look, do they show any sign of fatigue? It seems this Ghost King intends to wear us down to death before coming out to deal with us." He then pointed his black small sword, which pierced through another evil spirit.

"So that's how it is," the elder said, his expression subtly changing as he glanced at the gray surroundings. "It's a pity that our Fifteenth Brother, in the previous layer, was hit by the Shadow Spraysand of that Black Shadow Snake, and only his Nascent Soul escaped. Otherwise, his extreme yang divine ability would have been most suitable for dealing with these evil spirits."

"There's nothing we can do about it," the Big-Headed Freak sighed. "Who could have imagined there was truly such a demonic snake in the world that could hide in shadows and suddenly burst out from Nephew Ming Li's own shadow to ambush him? Even I didn't have time to help. Moreover, the snake's venom was so potent that Nephew Ming Li's physical body completely necrotized in moments."

"This junior did not mean to complain, Seventh Uncle," the elder said. "It's just that this Demon Suppressing Tower is truly strange. Not only is it built upside down, with the entrance at the top and the spire pointing downwards, but the demonic spirits become harder to deal with on each successive layer. We've spent so much time, yet we've only reached the seventh layer. And Elder Han said this tower should have nine layers; it's hard to imagine what kind of demonic creatures will appear in the next two layers. Do we really want to continue?"

"Hmph, you're scared just from encountering a little danger?" the freak scolded impolitely, his voice turning cold. "The more powerful the things suppressed below, the greater the chance of finding a Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasure in the lower two layers. After all, only demons that even ancient cultivators feared would require a Heaven-Reaching Spirit Treasure to suppress them. Do you want our Ye family's centuries-long plans to all come to naught?"

"Seventh Uncle is right to scold me; this junior was a bit timid," the Ye family elder said, hearing this. He could only nod obediently while continuing to manipulate his magic treasure to fend off the lunging evil spirits.

"I found the Ghost King." Just then, the Ancient Devil suddenly spoke.

"What? Where is its true body?" The elder's spirits lifted, and he quickly asked.

The Ancient Devil's eyes flashed as he was about to reply, but suddenly his expression changed, and he let out a soft exclamation. Just then, a muffled 'bang' echoed from a distance. Immediately after, a flash of light appeared at the hall's entrance, and a huge green light sphere suddenly flew in. After the light receded, four figures of varying builds appeared from within the sphere.

As soon as these four saw the gloomy ghost shadows and the three trapped cultivators in the hall, they also exclaimed in surprise.

"Ye Yuesheng! Haven't you long since fallen? So it was the Ye family who unsealed it?"

The speaker was a cultivator with a green pattern on his face, none other than Hua Tianqi. And these four were, of course, the Four Elders of the Poison Saint Sect.

At this moment, Hua Tianqi, recognizing Seventh Uncle Ye, had an uncertain expression.

The three in the hall, upon seeing the Poison Saint Sect members, also had unpleasant expressions, especially since they were still temporarily entangled by the evil spirits.

"Well, well, if it isn't Fellow Daoist Hua," the freak said casually, a sinister gleam flashing briefly across his face. "To think the Poison Saint Sect is quite fast, entering this mountain so quickly. I wonder why fellow Daoists aren't seeking treasures elsewhere but instead came to this Demon Suppressing Tower?"

"Heh heh! That's what Hua and I wanted to ask you, Fellow Daoist Ye," Hua Tianqi said lightly, his eyes cold as he watched the freak easily shred an evil spirit with his flying sword. "And after not seeing you for several centuries, Brother Ye, it seems you quietly advanced to the late-Nascent Soul stage after faking your death. If those fellows from the righteous and demonic sects knew about this, they'd probably be restless, wouldn't they?" His mind, however, raced like lightning, pondering something.

"Senior Brother Hua, do these people also know about the rare treasure in this tower and specifically came for it?" A voice transmission from a Poison Saint Sect elder reached Hua Tianqi's ear, carrying a hint of worry.

In the last words left by the founding patriarch of the Poison Saint Sect, there was a brief mention of a rare treasure hidden within the Demon Suppressing Tower. However, what exactly it was remained vague and unknown. Nevertheless, the Four Elders of the Poison Saint Sect naturally wouldn't take this lightly, so their first destination was this Demon Suppressing Tower.

Although they had found other cultivators already present when they passed through the previous layers, they had originally thought that an ominous place like the Demon Suppressing Tower wouldn't be highly valued by the first wave of cultivators, and that their combined strength of four would be enough to deal with anyone who got there first. However, they never expected a great cultivator at the late-Nascent Soul stage to be waiting for them on this layer.

If not for Seventh Uncle Ye and his companions appearing to be trapped by the horde of ghosts, Hua Tianqi would surely have turned around and left without a second thought. A great cultivator at the late-Nascent Soul stage, plus two early-Nascent Soul cultivators, was truly beyond what the four of them could handle.

"I'm not sure," Hua Tianqi replied with a somber expression, his lips barely moving. "Perhaps like us, they only obtained fragmented clues." His eyes, however, remained fixed on the freak and his two companions, not blinking once.

"It seems, Fellow Daoist Hua, that you have no intention of leaving." As the Big-Headed Freak said this, a fierce light gleamed in his eyes. Immediately, he suddenly opened his mouth, and a silver light flashed and vanished.

In the next moment, a burst of silver light and a low roar suddenly erupted from a corner of the hall.

Immediately, a blurry gray ghost shadow appeared there. It was spitting out a thumb-sized gray round bead to block a silver flying fork, and was forced to retreat step by step, letting out strange 'wah-wah' roars.

Upon seeing this ghost shadow, the Four Elders of the Poison Saint Sect had not yet reacted. The Ancient Devil, standing nearby, silently moved his sleeve, and a mirror as black as ink suddenly appeared in his hand. He quickly swung it at the surrounding ghost shadows.

A dark, hazy light mist swept out from the mirror. All the evil spirits were involuntarily swept into the eerie black mist, and one by one, they let out screams. Their ghostly bodies were torn and shattered within the light mist, which was as sharp as a mountain of blades and a forest of swords.

However, although the Ghost King's true body was entangled by the silver flying fork, these evil spirits could not be revived by spells. But with a sharp shriek from the ghost shadow, their dispersed gloomy qi instantly transformed into dense, rolling masses of gloomy qi, immediately trapping the Ancient Devil and his companions tightly within.

Although the mist released by the Ancient Devil's mirror was powerful, it could not immediately break through.

Hua Tianqi's expression finally changed drastically.