Chapter 772: 異類

The Flying Yaksha ventured deep into the ghost realm. Besides accidentally disturbing some resentful souls, it did not encounter any particularly powerful spectral beings.

This space was vast, with mountains of bones, testifying to the countless ancient cultivators who had met a tragic end here. Their souls were imprisoned, their sanity lost, turning them into resentful spirits, condemned to eternal damnation.

However, the ghost realm had boundaries.

The Flying Yaksha reached the very edge, touching a sheer cliff.

Piles of white bones, broken swords, and shattered armor bore witness to the horrific battles of the past.

Other than that, there was nothing obviously out of place.

Qin Sang ordered the Flying Yaksha to continue its exploration to one side, then he himself stepped out of the range enveloped by the demonic flame's aura.

He vanished into the ghostly mist, appearing before a small pile of skeletons, and flicked his finger, sending out a burst of strong wind.

*Crack!*

A skeleton was struck by the wind and shattered on impact.

Startled by Qin Sang, several white figures instantly burst forth from the bone pile and lunged at him. These resentful souls opened their mouths wide, their cries filled with intense hatred.

Sensing the aura of a living being on Qin Sang, they became even more frenzied than the ones the Flying Yaksha had encountered, craving his fresh flesh and blood.

Facing the snarling, clawing resentful souls, Qin Sang's expression remained calm. He snorted coldly and reached out, grabbing forward.

True essence erupted from his palm, gushing out to form a pouch that enveloped all the resentful souls, then abruptly tightened.

The resentful souls instinctively sensed something was wrong, but they were powerless against Qin Sang. Enveloped by the true essence, they were compressed into a fist-sized ball of ghostly energy.

Qin Sang beckoned, and the ghostly energy floated into his palm.

The resentful souls shrieked incessantly within the ball, their pale, distorted ghostly faces appearing one after another, mouths agape in silent screams, eyes hollow.

Qin Sang watched the resentful souls with cold eyes; their screams had no effect on him whatsoever.

After a moment of contemplation, his gaze shifted, and he softly commanded, "Condense!"

His true essence surged, and mysterious, eerie restrictions materialized. Instantly, his true essence turned black under the influence of these restrictions, becoming profoundly sinister.

Simultaneously, the black true essence began to compress inward.

The resentful souls trapped within shrieked in agony, their expressions becoming even more terrifying, yet they were completely powerless to resist.

Qin Sang was activating a secret technique he had obtained from Yi Tiannie, attempting to refine spirit threads. This technique was a sinister and wicked art derived from both demonic and ghostly cultivation paths.

Unlike the previous time in the Bear Mountain region, these resentful souls, once refined by the dark art, left nothing behind. Their spiritual essence had long been corrupted, making reincarnation impossible.

The resentful souls vanished, and in Qin Sang's palm appeared a segment of spirit thread, coiling around his fingertips like a living thing.

Qin Sang's face lit up with joy. "The resentful souls here can indeed be refined into spirit threads! Unfortunately, these threads require a banner pole to exist long-term, and I haven't refined the poles yet. I'll have to wait until my next visit to the Seven Killings Hall to come back and condense them. Still, this is a huge, pleasant surprise. Based on what the Flying Yaksha just explored, there's a vast number of resentful souls in this space. Refining a dozen or so Ten Directions Yama Banners won't be a problem. After I leave, I just need to focus on preparing the spirit formation for melting the Profound Iron Pillars..."

Thinking this, Qin Sang dispelled the spirit thread in his hand. He chose to explore in the opposite direction from the Flying Yaksha, intending to thoroughly scout every corner of the ghost realm to prevent any unforeseen incidents.

On his next visit, he would need to concentrate solely on refining the spirit threads, with no time for other distractions.

Qin Sang and the Flying Yaksha split up, searching the ghost realm from left and right. Qin Sang unsealed his Corpse Core, allowing the corpse energy to shroud him, concealing his life force, which enabled him to perfectly blend into the ghostly mist.

After a rough search, Qin Sang was completely at ease.

It was safe here, inhabited only by resentful souls, making it an excellent place for refining spirit threads.

He ordered the Flying Yaksha to return, deciding to leave the Purple Mist Desperate Land and head for the Heavenly Pagoda. He had ample time and could thoroughly search for ancient teleportation arrays within the Pagoda.

Qin Sang's figure flickered repeatedly as he sped towards the exit of the ghost realm.

The Flying Yaksha was also making its way back.

It moved through the ghostly mist with swiftness and ease.

The gray-white mist parted, creating a path for the Flying Yaksha. Behind it, the mist surged, and faint, indistinct spectral figures seemed to appear and disappear.

Just then, Qin Sang, who was almost back at the entrance of the ghost realm, suddenly changed his expression. He abruptly stopped and turned his head to look in the direction of the Flying Yaksha!

Immediately, without hesitation, he activated the Nine Dragon Sky-Chariot Talisman and Sword Escape within the ghost realm. His escape light tore through the ghostly mist at an astonishing speed, racing away and startling countless resentful souls.

Before long, Qin Sang appeared in an open space, his face ashen as he stared at the empty ground.

The Flying Yaksha was gone!

A moment ago, Qin Sang had felt the Flying Yaksha come under attack.

The attack was extremely sudden; the enemy had appeared silently from behind it, and the Flying Yaksha hadn't sensed anything until it was already assaulted at close range.

Due to the distance, Qin Sang couldn't issue commands in time, so the Flying Yaksha had to rely on its instincts to react to the unexpected.

The Flying Yaksha resisted fiercely. The enemy's strength didn't seem to be overwhelming, as it couldn't subdue the Yaksha instantly.

But then something strange happened: for some unknown reason, the Flying Yaksha inexplicably ceased its resistance and was then dragged by an unknown force, pulled directly into the depths of the ghostly mist, vanishing without a trace.

What was even more alarming was that as it was being dragged away, the connection between him and the Flying Yaksha rapidly blurred, and then Qin Sang completely lost his spiritual link to it.

His connection with the Flying Yaksha was based on a soul imprint within its body, which indicated that his soul imprint had either been obscured or erased by the opponent.

This incident occurred without any warning, catching Qin Sang completely off guard. Through the Flying Yaksha, he had only perceived a blurry shadow, unable to even discern the opponent's appearance.

Qin Sang detected the anomaly and immediately rushed to the rescue with all his might, but he was a step too late. The Flying Yaksha had been dragged into the depths of the ghostly mist and vanished.

The area was empty and utterly silent.

"What was hiding in the shadows?"

Qin Sang's face was filled with indignation.

He and the Flying Yaksha had searched separately and confirmed that only low-strength resentful souls resided here. He never expected an unknown spectral entity to be lurking within the ghostly mist, secretly observing them and abducting the Flying Yaksha.

This entity not only possessed the ability to lurk and ambush but also understood how to target his soul imprint, indicating extremely high intelligence—a stark contrast to the common resentful souls.

How could such an anomaly have emerged within the ghost realm?

Apart from him, it was impossible for anyone else in the cultivation world to have passed through the Nine Nether Demonic Flames to enter this place.

Even if ancient cultivator souls had persisted, their sanity would have long been eroded over countless years, turning them into muddled resentful spirits. Could it be that a resentful soul had undergone an abnormal transformation?

Qin Sang's gaze sharpened, fixed on the direction where the Flying Yaksha had vanished. He summoned the Ten Directions Yama Banner and pursued at full speed.

All indications suggested that the opponent's strength was not high, but its methods were extremely peculiar.

As his cultivation advanced, the Flying Yaksha's utility would diminish, but it still possessed the strength of an early-stage Core Formation cultivator and remained a formidable combat asset. How could Qin Sang allow it to be inexplicably stolen?