An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 252 Inside the Soul Palace
"Guardians of the Holy Spirit?"

“That’s right. Senior probably doesn’t know the specific structure of the Soul Palace yet. This is information that our Jiang family only recently obtained.”

Chu Xiu nodded. It was a tradition for the four major families to help each other. The [Heroic Spirits] who obtained the other two maps and explored them in advance were most likely connected with the four major families. It was not surprising that they shared some information.

"According to the speculation of several seniors, during the natural disaster launched by the Ghost King, most of the power should have been concentrated in the [Soul Palace], relying on the Holy Spirit to defend it."

"The so-called Holy Spirit is a soul that the Exorcist Civilization creates using a special method. It is a soul that can exist for a long time and is almost immortal. Even if this soul is destroyed, a soul core will remain deep in the Soul Palace to slowly recover its energy."

Jiang Miaoyin's words made Chu Xiu understand instantly, because the ghosts in his soul banner also had the characteristics of a [soul core]. Even if their soul bodies were destroyed, they could recover as long as they had enough soul nourishment. This was also why Chu Xiu was willing to let his ghost army self-destruct.

She continued, "Perhaps because the [Soul Core] does not possess the aura of life, it was not hunted by the attacking ghosts. In the [Soul Hall] of the cities where the seniors went, the soul cores of the holy spirits were not destroyed, and the guardian holy spirits were also reborn over a long period of time."

"I just saw that you possess a soul-type summon. You've come here to refine ghosts and enhance your own summons, haven't you?"

Chu Xiu nodded. Although the Soul Banner was far more wondrous than ordinary summoned creatures, this understanding was not wrong.

Jiang Miaoyin continued, "The soul of that guardian holy spirit has been completely solidified into a special form. Although it is called a spirit body, it is actually more like a puppet that fights with a soul body. To refine it, its solidified structure must be destroyed, which will severely damage the soul body. Therefore, even if the level is not low, it is useless to you, senior."

"But I can first use special means to transform it into a cursed spirit, and then use my talent of [Cursed Spirit Fusion (SS)] to forcibly erase the solidified structure. Therefore, only my daughter can maximize the value of this thing."

"Moreover, according to information from our clan, during that great catastrophe, almost all the powerful beings used the Soul Palace as the final place to defend the city. Therefore, the Soul Palace must have accumulated a large number of high-level souls that died. Compared with this huge number of souls, those Holy Spirit Guardians are not worth mentioning."

"Furthermore, there is another advantage to cooperating with my daughter."

"What?" Chu Xiu asked.

Jiang Miaoyin winked playfully: "Then I will owe you a favor, senior."

Chu Xiu: "."

"Senior, what kind of look is that? Favors in the Jiang family are very valuable. Besides, my daughter just told you so much gossip. Even if she didn't do anything right, she certainly put in the effort, right?"

Chu Xiu: "."

"How about I dance for you?"

Jiang Miaoyin gently lifted her skirt and twirled around. Her posture was very girlish, yet her figure was curvaceous, perfectly combining the innocence of a young girl with the charm of a young woman.

But Chu Xiu remained unmoved, utterly speechless, and waved his hand helplessly: "Let's do as you say, as soon as possible."

"Hehe." Jiang Miaoyin smiled slyly and clasped her hands in a fist salute: "Yes, sir!"

As soon as she finished speaking, her hands, which had been clasped together, quickly crossed. Her ten fingers moved swiftly like nimble butterflies, and with a roar that sounded like that of an ancient beast, a huge creature emerged from behind Jiang Miaoyin.

This creature was a deep, eerie green, with a chilling transparency that made its internal organs visible through its skin, like jelly. It had no facial features or limbs, and resembled an incredibly large earthworm, wriggling as it flew toward the city center.

During its flight, many smaller individuals, similar in appearance to itself, continuously fell from the creature's belly. As soon as these creatures landed, they swam rapidly in all directions.

“This cursed spirit is called ‘Setsunagi.’ It and its offspring can form a spreading domain wherever they go, and I can know all the information within that domain.”

Chu Xiu glanced at it and found that the so-called domain was actually somewhat similar to the scattered divine sense. This monster called Setsunagi had an extremely strong soul and used a method similar to divine sense to explore the surroundings. It also had the ability to transmit information to its superiors.

"However, its precision and strength are far inferior to my divine sense, and it feels at most equivalent to a B-level divine sense talent."

"It's a pity I'm only a general, my divine sense coverage is too small. Once I reach the [Heroic Spirit] level, I can find the location of the Soul Palace with a single scan of my divine sense."

Of course, Jiang Miaoyin has her advantages as an assistant to the [Heroic Spirit]. This strange cursed spirit moves very fast and can even penetrate physical objects to enter underground.

The woman wasn't exaggerating; in less than five minutes, Jiang Miaoyin's eyes lit up: "Found it."

In the distance, countless small Setsunagi combined with each other to form a giant green glowing baseball bat.

Chu Xiu swayed slightly and his body disappeared from the spot. In just a few breaths, he arrived above the target. With a belated explosion, a vacuum tunnel appeared where he flew!
Almost the instant he landed, more than a dozen figures pounced on him!

Before he could make a move, a sharp cry rang out from above, and a large amount of eerie green flames descended from the sky, blasting all the figures away.

"Clap!"

The creatures that fell to the ground turned out to be strange creatures made of steel bars and stones.

Chu Xiu glanced at it and chuckled, "Interesting."

The soul is easily disintegrated and requires a large amount of yin energy to nourish it. It seems that in order to survive in areas with low concentrations of yin energy, most of the creatures here use the materials of this world to create their own "physical bodies".

These strange creatures before us must be the transformed remains of the city's dead residents.

"Although they are just ordinary-level warriors, there are enough of them, so we can't waste them."

Chu Xiu raised his hand and waved it, and the ghosts in the soul banner immediately surged out and rushed in all directions.

Jiang Miaoyin, standing to the side, felt a little envious. Back then, there were at least a million wronged souls in the city, and now, nourished by the Yin energy, they were all plump and healthy, making them a great tonic for soul-type professions.

However, since the terms had already been agreed upon, she naturally wouldn't say more. She simply pointed downwards, and a large number of Setsunagi began to change shape and seep into the ruins. In the next instant, their bodies began to harden and expand, creating a downward passage in the blink of an eye.

As more and more eerie green creatures ventured into the passage, they cleared away the rubble and reinforced it. The length of the passage before him continued to increase, as if a completely new passage was being built right in front of him.

Even more, dozens of Setsunagi suddenly burst into flames, hanging on both sides like streetlights.

"Your spell spirit has quite a wide range of uses," Chu Xiu couldn't help but praise.

Jiang Miaoyin covered her mouth and laughed, "There are four more of these versatile cursed spirits. If you are interested, senior, you can talk to me about them in detail later."

Chu Xiu ignored him and flew into the constructed passage.

The passage was extremely wide, as if it had been built for giants. Walking through it, Chu Xiu felt as if he had stumbled into a land of giants.

The passageway is flanked by smooth stone walls, which once appeared to be covered with murals, but over the long years, these murals have become blurred and the stone walls have become pitted and uneven.

Suddenly, Chu Xiu raised his eyelids and looked to his side, where a huge ravine appeared on the stone wall. This ravine was dozens of meters long, like a hideous scar.

The further you go, the more similar ravines appear, densely packed on the walls, ceilings, and floors, gradually revealing bloodstains and bones, suggesting that a fierce battle may have taken place here long ago.

Chu Xiu looked closely and found the skeletons strange. They had limbs, but they were clearly very different from humans. Their average height was about four meters, and the volume of their skulls was much larger than that of humans. There were also ribs that rose up like railings protecting the area around their skulls.

"Is this what the Exorcist civilization looks like?"

Chu Xiu continued forward, and the traces of battle became increasingly dense. Bones were scattered everywhere, as if they were free—whole, broken, even crushed—and more and more strange creature corpses began to appear. Finally, Chu Xiu reached the end of the passage.

Countless skeletons were piled up here, blocking the exit like a small mountain. They were mixed with sand and stones, resembling a wall full of modern art.

Chu Xiu could imagine the scene: panicked residents shoving each other as they fled toward the end of the passage. Children fell to the ground and had their ribs broken by those behind them. But even if they were willing to step on the corpses of their companions, in the end, none of them could escape death.

In an instant, their flesh and blood were completely stripped away.

"Soul-type creatures have their own unique fighting style, and the effectiveness of most physical attacks will be greatly reduced."

"Senior should have a way to deal with this, right? Those guardian spirits are said to be very fierce, and my daughter is no match for them."

Jiang Miaoyin huddled behind Chu Xiu.

Chu Xiu did not answer, but simply raised his hand and waved it, blasting away all the white bones blocking the entrance.

He then strode deeper into the area.

After passing through the passage, there was a dark and incredibly spacious hall.

Through the light emitted by the burning Setsunagi, one could only vaguely see that the hall was supported by a dozen huge pillars that would require a hundred people to encircle. At the far end of the hall, there seemed to be an ancient altar, and several blurry figures lay near the altar.

It wasn't that Chu Xiu's perception wasn't strong enough, but rather that the hall was covered by a layer of tangible darkness that even flames couldn't penetrate.

Moreover, for some reason, after entering the hall, Chu Xiu felt that the surrounding air suddenly became much colder.

This cold is not cold in the physical sense, nor is it the cold caused by the invasion of yin energy. Rather, it is a kind of cold that comes from genetic instinct, like the involuntary trembling that occurs when watching a horror movie.

It was as if some terrifying monster lurked in the unseen shadows.

Chu Xiu was not careless and directly spread his divine sense. After advancing to the general level, the maximum extension range of his divine sense could reach three kilometers.

Of course, in order to improve the accuracy of his divine sense, Chu Xiu only covered a range of 500 meters around him.

Almost the instant he released his divine sense, Chu Xiu caught sight of a figure rapidly approaching him!
"Humph."

The Great Sun Guardian Shield appeared in front of him, and the sunlight, like the breaking of dawn, instantly dispelled all darkness, leaving only a blurry black shadow more than ten meters long!

"clang!!!"

Chu Xiu felt a tremendous force on his arm, and three huge scratches appeared on the Great Sun Guardian Shield. If they were any deeper, they would have pierced through it!
Chu Xiu's expression darkened slightly. He blocked with all his might, unleashing a burst of power of eight thousand points, and flung the dark figure away.

The dark figure, like a nimble cheetah, perched on a nearby stone pillar, staring intently at Chu Xiu.

Chu Xiu then realized that the blurry black shadow was not because it was too dark to see its specific appearance, but because its main body was a blurry black shadow! Only in some key parts such as claws, teeth, and spine did it have a solid, black alloy-like appearance!
"Senior, these are the Guardian Spirits! They will attack any creature that steps onto the altar!"

Jiang Miaoyin transmitted her voice from a distance.

Chu Xiu then realized that this guy was standing at the entrance of the passage, without taking a single step inside, just sticking his head out and looking around furtively.

"Are they using me as a thug? Or are they trying to test me further?" Chu Xiu shook his head with amusement.

However, at this point, he was in no mood to care about such trivial matters.

He looked ahead and saw dark figures emerging from the shadows.

Some of these shadows resembled tigers and leopards, others looked like flying eagles, and still others resembled monsters with three heads and six arms from mythology.

Of course, there were also humanoid shadows, all of which carried weapons with physical forms, and some even wore heavy armor. However, all of this equipment was tattered and damaged, clearly indicating that it had been destroyed in the previous battle.

"One, two, three, a total of twenty-seven King-ranks?"

"As expected of a civilization that has survived for tens of thousands of years and has a population of over 100 million, it truly possesses a powerful foundation." Chu Xiu stroked his chin.

"Go for it, senior!" Jiang Miaoyin shouted from afar, waving her little fist.

At the same time, a look of curiosity flashed in her eyes.

Soul-type creatures are extremely difficult to kill. There are a total of twenty-seven Soul-type King-level creatures. Even a Heroic Spirit would have to put in a lot of effort to kill them.

She was very curious about what methods this senior would use to deal with these guardian spirits!

Under her expectant gaze, with a low roar, the twenty-seven Holy Spirits seemed to have received some kind of command, and simultaneously opened their mouths towards Chu Xiu!
The next moment, a deafening roar exploded in the hall!

That roar was not just a simple roar, but a mental attack method unique to soul-type creatures!

Weak awakened individuals may even have their souls shattered!

Jiang Miaoyin, who was hundreds of meters away, felt dizzy and had a dull pain in her head as if a needle had been inserted into her brain, even though the sound was only lingering in her ears.

This made her look horrified. She thought to herself that it was fortunate that she had reached a cooperation agreement with Chu Xiu. Otherwise, if she had rashly rushed in alone, even if she had prepared special items to suppress ghosts, there was a good chance that she would have died directly from this attack!
Even if they were lucky enough to survive, they would be absolutely unable to fight again.

"Such a powerful attack, I'm afraid even the [Heroic Spirit] won't be able to withstand it."

Suddenly, Jiang Miaoyin froze, because she was horrified to find that Chu Xiu, who was at the center of the sonic attack, was standing motionless as if he had gone mad!
"this!"

Jiang Miaoyin froze on the spot, a very realistic but unimaginable thought rising in her mind.

Could it be that this senior was actually not good at mental defense and was instantly killed due to carelessness?

But how could the spirit of a "Heroic Spirit" who controls demons be so fragile?
Could it be that this person is not actually a Heroic Spirit, but merely a powerful King-rank?

In fact, Jiang Miaoyin had some doubts before, because Chu Xiu had not truly demonstrated the means that only a [Heroic Spirit] could do. Even the long flight could be explained by some kind of special tool.

Before she could figure it out, the twenty-seven Holy Spirits simultaneously shrieked and pounced on Chu Xiu from all directions!
The dense darkness inside the hall seemed to come alive, transforming into countless sharp black thorns that threatened to engulf Chu Xiu!
"senior!"

Jiang Miaoyin was horrified when a cursed spirit emanating a terrifying aura appeared behind her and rushed toward the center!

However, she was still quite far away, and even with all her might, she was still one step away from saving Chu Xiu!
Just as Chu Xiu was about to be completely torn apart, he suddenly opened his eyes.

The next moment, to Jiang Miaoyin's disbelief, a black aura far thicker and denser than that in the main hall surged out of Chu Xiu's body! Faced with that black aura, the darkness in the main hall was like an infant facing a tiger, and was directly pushed back with overwhelming force!
In an instant, all twenty-seven Holy Spirits were swallowed into the black aura emanating from Chu Xiu!
As the darkness slowly dissipated, only twenty-seven shattered soul bodies remained on the spot.

(End of this chapter)