Chapter 244: Evil Spirit Possession

Inside the Phoenix Forbidden Zone, at the convergence of three trees, three candles had long since burned out, leaving only a thick layer of dried wax soaked into the wood.

Xu Qing stood among the three trees, looking up towards where the ghost city had vanished. At the same time, he channeled his spiritual power into his storage bag, confirming that the items he had bought were still there.

"Items from the Ghost Market cannot be taken out during the day; they can only be used at midnight," Xu Qing murmured to himself. This was a piece of information he had obtained. Recalling the scene at the Ghost Market earlier, many speculations arose in his mind.

"That monk's head mentioned the Golden Crow?"

"Could it be a foreign race once refined by the Golden Crow?" Xu Qing pondered for a moment, then left the three-tree area. After a quick look around, he sped off into the distance.

As for the Ghost Market, he felt his judgment was likely correct. The specifics could naturally be explored when he had the capability. Therefore, Xu Qing stopped pondering the matter and swiftly increased his speed through the jungle.

Apart from the Ghost Market, his mission in the Phoenix Forbidden Zone also involved collecting some highly venomous beasts and plants.

"If all goes well, this time I should be able to make the little black bugs break through their limitations and start regenerating, which won't affect my plan to re-refine the Forbidden Poison Pill."

Xu Qing's speed grew faster and faster. Along the way, he occasionally checked his direction, searching for the required poisonous herbs. Thus, a day passed.

The Phoenix Forbidden Zone was significantly less dangerous during the day than at night. Xu Qing kept to the outer regions, and given his current cultivation and combat strength, he managed to deal with the fierce beasts he encountered without much trouble.

He also found some of the medicinal herbs, but the journey was not entirely without peril. At dusk, Xu Qing spotted a patch of red grass in the distance, which gave him a strong sense of danger. With just a glance, the red grass twisted eerily, and numerous eyes sprouted from it, opening one by one to stare at Xu Qing.

A malevolent aura emanated from those eyes. Xu Qing's body trembled. He felt an intense itch all over his skin. As he rapidly retreated, his Life Flame ignited within him, and his Life Lamp expanded, only then managing to ward off the malevolence.

After distancing himself, he lowered his gaze to inspect his body. On his arm, Xu Qing saw a half-formed eye that had appeared at some point. It was half-formed because it hadn't fully developed and wasn't yet open. However, its eyelids and eyelashes were clearly visible, making it look identical to the eyes on the red grass.

This eye was extremely bizarre; Xu Qing's Fiendfire couldn't burn it away, nor could he dig it out. Even his shadow could only temporarily force it out of his body, but once the shadow moved away, it would grow back. And clearly, as time passed, the eye continued to grow. Xu Qing felt it would open within a few days at most.

Xu Qing had no desire to discover what would happen once it opened. So, he controlled his shadow to momentarily separate the eye from his body, then activated the Golden Crow Refines All Souls technique, finally refining and dissipating the half-grown eye.

"This Phoenix Forbidden Zone is very perilous," he muttered.

Xu Qing looked at his arm, then thoroughly examined himself again, ultimately clearing over thirty more eyes from his body. These thirty-odd eyes were far from fully developed, most being just like seeds. What truly alarmed Xu Qing was that they hadn't grown on the surface of his skin but rather within his internal organs. He could imagine that if he had checked later or been negligent, once they had time to grow and open, the consequences for him would have been dire.

Xu Qing took a deep breath. As dusk faded and night fell, he became even more cautious, choosing a tree hollow and crawling inside.

"I have enough poisonous herbs; next are some venomous beasts..."

He didn't plan to travel tonight, intending to wait until dawn, as his next targets were primarily active during the day. He also intended to try integrating the ominous venom into the little black bugs tonight. So, while silently waiting for midnight, Xu Qing began setting up formations and scattering poisonous powder outside the tree hollow. After ensuring his safety, he closed his eyes and meditated.

Night fell, and the tree hollow was silent. Outside, occasional strange cries echoed, and as Xu Qing listened, it was as if he were back in the ruined city from years ago.

"I wonder when I'll be strong enough to... ignore forbidden zones and dangerous areas," Xu Qing murmured to himself.

Time passed, and soon midnight arrived. As the surrounding cold continued to spread, white mist escaped Xu Qing's mouth with each breath. The chill, which he hadn't felt in a long time, reappeared. Xu Qing was sensitive to cold, but since he established his foundation, as his cultivation grew stronger and his combat power increased, he rarely felt cold anymore. But today... he felt it again.

"Something isn't right." A sharp glint appeared in Xu Qing's eyes. Although he had felt the temperature drop in the forbidden zone at this time last night, it was nowhere near as intense as now.

Xu Qing's mind stirred. His Life Flame ignited instantly, and he entered the Mystic Radiance state. He then burst out of the tree hollow to survey his surroundings. The next moment, Xu Qing's expression darkened. He saw large amounts of mist suddenly appearing in the distant jungle. As the mist spread, it enveloped everything, and the ghost city from yesterday had silently reappeared.

This time, Xu Qing didn't blow the ghost flute. He had also checked his surroundings and found no summoners. This left Xu Qing no room for hesitation, and he immediately sped off into the distance at full speed.

Behind him, suspended in the air above the descended ghost city, the monk's head, bound by chains formed from countless arms, slowly rotated. It gazed in the direction of Xu Qing's escape, its voice echoing like thunder once more.

"The Golden Crow refined my clan! All Golden Crows must die!"

As it spoke, the head suddenly leaped outwards, soaring high. The arm-chains binding it stretched to an extreme length but couldn't stop it. After its leap, the head possessed immense power. When it forcefully crashed down onto the jungle outside the ghost city, large swathes of trees toppled. The head then surged forward, rolling like a ball, chasing after Xu Qing!

It rolled at an astonishing speed, toppling numerous trees in its path. The arm-chains behind it stretched and twisted, even causing the ghost city to rumble as if it might be shaken. All of this made Xu Qing's eyes narrow. A sense of crisis arose in his mind. His Life Lamp and Life Flame fully activated, and the Golden Crow manifested behind him, granting him extreme speed as he fled like lightning into the distance.

But the massive, mountain-like head behind him continued to roll in pursuit. Meanwhile, from the ghost city, a sharp sound emerged, and countless ghostly hands stretched out from within, chasing after the head. From a distance, Xu Qing was in front, with the head in pursuit, its speed limited by the connecting chains. At the same time, the ghostly hands extending from the ghost city were also chasing the head.

"Golden Crow..." During the chase, the head remained somewhat delirious, emitting savage roars. "All of them must... Die!!"

It screamed the last two words as it leaped into the air again, attempting to smash into Xu Qing in the distance. However, the chains on its body had reached their limit, abruptly halting the head's descent in mid-air.

Seeing the ghostly hands behind it closing in, the head smiled eerily, then suddenly exploded, transforming into countless small heads that landed and bounced, chasing after Xu Qing. Without the chains restricting them, these small heads moved at an even more astonishing speed. In an instant, a dozen or so rolled and leaped close to Xu Qing, opening their mouths as if to bite.

A murderous glint flashed in Xu Qing's eyes. He suddenly turned back, and the Golden Crow manifested behind him, abruptly swallowing towards the heads. Furthermore, black iron skewers flew out, heading straight for these heads. In an instant, the Golden Crow shrieked and inhaled powerfully. The black iron skewers also arrived rapidly. A booming sound echoed, and those small heads disintegrated into dust.

However, not a single bit of substance was absorbed. It was as if the heads were merely illusions, non-existent. Moreover, the scattered dust re-coalesced, reforming without any damage. One head even appeared beside Xu Qing's foot and bit directly into his calf.

Xu Qing's Life Flame suddenly expanded within him, causing the surrounding heads to recoil, yet they remained unharmed. They continued to chew, emitting indistinct sounds.

"Delicious, delicious, delicious!" "Weak, weak, weak!"

Xu Qing's face darkened. He knew it wasn't that the Golden Crow was weak, but that manifesting the ultimate power of the Golden Crow was beyond his current cultivation level. He looked down at his calf, where a piece of flesh had been bitten off. Usually, he was the one absorbing others; this was the first time he had been bitten.

At that moment, the small head flickered, licked its tongue, and displayed a strange smile, just about to charge. However, it was caught by an approaching ghostly hand and dragged back to the ghost city. Some of the other heads, however, evaded the ghostly hands and lunged at Xu Qing once more.

Xu Qing's expression was grim. He found that his Life Flame's power was also ineffective against them. Seeing another head menacingly rushing towards him, a cold light flashed in Xu Qing's eyes. Sensing Xu Qing's thoughts, his shadow instantly pounced, vigorously absorbing the heads' anomalous energy. The Adamant Sect Old Ancestor also refused to be outdone and swiftly pierced through them again.

Yet, the heads were equally ferocious, not dodging at all and biting at the shadow and the Adamant Sect Old Ancestor. As they tore at them, a head crumbled, and countless tiny bugs flew out of its eyes. These were Xu Qing's small black bugs, released by him during his escape. They attacked alongside his shadow, but it was still ineffective.

Destroying one only led to another forming, with even more emerging from all directions, boundless and surging from every side. Xu Qing's expression was grim. Knowing that entanglement was useless, he turned, unleashed his cultivation, and accelerated away. Thus, a night passed.

Throughout the night, Xu Qing ran furiously. If caught, he would quickly finish the fight and then continue fleeing, never allowing the heads a chance to surround him. Simultaneously, the ghostly hands continuously pursued, grabbing head after head and pulling them away.

It wasn't until light appeared on the horizon that Xu Qing, with a full burst of power, shattered one last head, and the pursuing heads finally vanished. All of them were caught by the ghostly hands and disappeared as the sunlight spread.

Only Xu Qing remained, sitting there, a fierce glint in his eyes as he stared at the location where the ghost city had appeared last night. His clothes were tattered, and though his flesh had regenerated, the bite marks faded slowly.

"What kind of thing is this? Shattering it does nothing, and it just reforms. Only those ghostly hands stretching out from the ghost city can control them."

"It feels like those ghostly hands are jailers, and that monk's head is more like a violent criminal that forcibly broke out of prison because of me..."

"Especially..." Xu Qing glanced at the bite marks on his body, his eyes filled with even greater ferocity.

"I need to find a way to kill it!" A chilling intensity gathered in Xu Qing's eyes. The Adamant Sect Old Ancestor, observing this, scoffed inwardly. "It's fine to bite me, but if it dares to bite the Demon Lord Xu, that head is doomed!"