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

Chapter 257 Domain
Faced with Chu Xiu's question, Jiang Miaoyin remained silent for a moment.

After a long pause, she took a deep breath, looked up and said frankly, "Senior, I don't want to hide it from you either, but the killer's talent is just too abnormal, no one wants to provoke him."

"At the time, I wasn't sure you could beat the killer. Even if you did, you'd still have to face his endless harassment. I had already lost a substitute spirit. You should know how precious a summon that can give its user a second life is."

"The killer is not good at investigation, so for me, pretending to be dead to get rid of his harassment is the best solution."

"Then why did you change your mind in the end?" Chu Xiu asked.

Jiang Miaoyin chuckled, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "Isn't this still greed? Those twenty-seven Holy Spirits were right in front of me back then. Those are twenty-seven King-level beings. Who could resist?"

Chu Xiu smiled and said nothing more.

He wasn't the type to care about such trivial matters. Everyone is selfish, especially in the abyss. Naïve and innocent people would have long since turned into unnoticed skeletons.

It was quite remarkable that Jiang Miaoyin was able to subconsciously lend a helping hand when the Holy Spirit attacked him.

What he's more concerned about now is
"Have you discovered any connection between the murderous ghost puppet and its original form?" Chu Xiu asked.

He originally thought that after his divine sense was greatly enhanced, he would be able to follow the clues of the spirit puppet and kill the murderer's main body directly. After all, no matter what kind of remote control method there is, there must be a channel for control and information transmission. The more powerful the puppet, the more obvious this is.

Unexpectedly, he still couldn't see any connection this time, as if the spirit puppet was just an independent entity.

“I didn’t find it,” Jiang Miaoyin shook her head. “The most troublesome thing about the killer is that he doesn’t control it remotely, but rather through ‘soul transfer.’ You could say that the spirit puppet was his original body until the moment it died.”

These words made Chu Xiu frown even more: "Even if it's a soul transfer, there has to be a process of movement, right? A soul doesn't just appear and disappear out of thin air."

He had been keeping watch, intending to kill the murderer when the spirit puppet was destroyed and the killer's soul returned to its body.

But he found no trace of the soul moving at all.

Jiang Miaoyin smiled wryly: "Senior, have you forgotten his talent? He uses a special method to maintain an unstable spatial channel between the spirit puppet and the original body. This channel is very fragile and difficult for a physical body to enter, but it is an excellent place for a spirit to escape."

"The exact method of manipulation is unknown, but some seniors have speculated that it was probably connected to a certain part of the spirit puppet through a spatial channel. As long as the spirit puppet's external body collapses, it will automatically start to escape."

"Oh, by the way, someone once tried to use mental attack skills to directly obliterate the soul of the murderer, but each of his spirit puppets has a special arrival array. When the mental attack exceeds a certain limit, it will automatically open a spatial passage to escape."

Chu Xiu was stunned after hearing this; this guy had thought of everything too thoroughly.

He finally understood why Jiang Miaoyin was so afraid of the murderer.

This is an inescapable, deadly ghost! The title "murderer" is truly fitting. Indeed, there are no wrong nicknames, only wrong names.

And as expected of an SSS-level talent, it's truly outrageous.

But then Chu Xiu thought of something.

He apparently got three legendary Hands of Deprivation during his last trial, but he didn't use them.
Although they are of the general rank, combining three of them can create a king rank.

Thinking of this, Chu Xiu's expression suddenly became strange.

On the other side, Jiang Miaoyin mistakenly thought that Chu Xiu was afraid of the killer, and quickly added: "But senior, you don't need to worry too much. It is not easy to make a spirit puppet with a strong [concealment] attribute. You have destroyed two in a row, so the killer probably doesn't have many left."

"Low-quality, trashy puppets are useless; we'll just kill them one by one when they come."

"Hmm." Chu Xiu gave a perfunctory reply, his mind already racing with ideas on how to capture the killer's true form.

As he pondered this, he walked forward and soon arrived at the massive bronze gate.

This bronze gate is nearly 100 meters high. Although it is called bronze, it is actually made of some kind of mysterious metal with a similar color. Even after so many years, there is no trace of rust on its surface.

Chu Xiu flicked it lightly, and it immediately produced a crisp sound. The place where it collided with Chu Xiu only left a shallow mark.

"What a hard substance," Chu Xiu exclaimed.

He extended his divine sense and probed behind the bronze giant gate, but there seemed to be some kind of magical array engraved behind the gate, blocking Chu Xiu's probe.

His divine sense only penetrated a dozen meters before being pushed back by a strange force.

"The formation here is still in operation, it seems that a sentient ghost has been born."

As Chu Xiu spoke, four high-ranking ghost generals appeared beside him. They hovered in mid-air, placed their hands on the bronze giant door, and then their soul bodies trembled, and thousands of tons of force surged out, pushing the bronze giant door inward.

The bronze gate emitted a harsh scraping sound, like a colossal creature roaring and groaning.

"Senior, I'm here to help you!" Jiang Miaoyin shouted.

Another cursed spirit emerged from behind her. This cursed spirit was shrouded in black mist, like a cloud, but inside it had a skeleton similar to metal.

Chu Xiu sensed a familiar presence above him.

"Using those guarding the Holy Spirit for fusion?"

"Yes, thank you for your help, senior." Jiang Miaoyin responded sweetly, but then the cursed spirit stepped forward and pushed, and the bronze giant door immediately made an even louder noise. A gap was pushed open in the middle, and an extremely cold aura surged out from it.

Chu Xiu was somewhat surprised; the power of this cursed spirit was terrifying, its physique probably approaching 20,000.

"This woman is not to be underestimated either."

Without thinking further, Chu Xiu focused his gaze on what lay behind the massive bronze gate.

In that narrow gap, barely wide enough for one person to pass through, was a swirling gray mist. Within the mist, there seemed to be nothing at all; it was an empty space.

"Such a strong yin energy," Jiang Miaoyin said.

Chu Xiu nodded.

He had felt something was strange before. The [Exorcist Civilization] uses ghosts to fight, and the exorcists all need to cultivate Yin energy. The city's operation also uses Yin energy as its core energy source.

In any case, the city should have been located in a place with abundant yin energy. However, the city outside just now only had a slightly denser yin energy than other places, which was completely insufficient for the exorcist's cultivation.

At first, he thought that the formation that gathered Yin energy had been damaged over a long period of time, but now it seems that some entity has gathered all the Yin energy of the city here.

"Such dense Yin energy likely gives birth to an extremely powerful ghost, Senior, please be careful," Jiang Miaoyin warned.

Chu Xiu nodded, and a surge of demonic energy immediately erupted, surrounding him. Then he stepped forward.

He wasn't afraid much; on the contrary, he was somewhat looking forward to it. If he could absorb the soul of this ghost nurtured by such dense Yin energy over two thousand years, it would allow his ghost army to take another leap forward in strength!
Furthermore, it's not impossible that another "Legendary" item might be discovered.

"Clap."

As Chu Xiu stepped in, the dense Yin energy around him immediately seemed to have encountered its nemesis, swirling back in all directions.

Jiang Miaoyin followed closely behind him, and the two strolled into the mist.

Within this gray fog, divine sense was greatly affected, its coverage limited to only about 500 meters. Jiang Miaoyin's probing spirits also seemed to be greatly weakened. The girl kept frowning, cautiously looking around.

However, even after they had been gone for a long time, the surroundings were still shrouded in a gray mist. There were no enemies, no buildings, nothing at all, only the extremely dense yin energy that constantly eroded their bodies.

Jiang Miaoyin shrank back and shivered.

"Senior, something's not right here."

Chu Xiu did not reply, but narrowed his eyes, a faint golden light rising in them, as if it could see through all illusions and reach the deepest part of the fog.

Suddenly, as if some mechanism had been triggered, the gray mist surrounding the two began to surge violently!

"Boom!"

A resounding boom, like the grandest of bells, rang in their ears, followed by an extremely authoritative aura: "How dare you! You trespass on the sacred altar!"

As the voice faded, the surrounding gray fog began to dissipate rapidly. To the astonishment of the two, the world around them seemed to suddenly gain color. Dim yellow lights appeared out of nowhere, stone pillars carved with savage beasts rose from the ground, and bricks were laid beneath their feet.

Not only that, there are flower beds, fountains, the Yin Sha Cannon unique to the Exorcist civilization, soldiers five meters tall and wearing heavy armor, and giant ghosts hundreds of meters long that roam the air.

In the blink of an eye, their surroundings had undergone a dramatic transformation, as if they had traveled back two thousand years to the heyday of the exorcist civilization before its demise!

In front of Chu Xiu and his companion stood a tall throne, upon which sat a strangely-looking humanoid creature. His gaze was deep, yet filled with intense malice as he stared at the two of them.

Chu Xiu felt Jiang Miaoyin beside him suddenly stiffen, and a look of fear appeared in her eyes, which was extremely rare!
"This, this is a domain!"

"But how could a King-level ghost possibly create a domain!"

field?

The word startled Chu Xiu, but before he could ponder it further, he heard the figure on the throne speak again with murderous intent: "Those who trespass on the sacred altar shall be killed without mercy!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Chu Xiu suddenly realized that, without him noticing, the soldiers around him, the ghosts in the sky, and the Yin Sha cannons that had been set up all around him were now all aimed at him!

This startled him, giving him an extremely strange feeling. He clearly remembered that just a moment ago, these things seemed to be doing their own thing without noticing Chu Xiu and the other person at all, but now he felt that those Yin Sha Cannons had been aimed at him all along, rather than changing direction at the last minute!
Before he could figure it out, a deafening roar rang in his ears, and a large cloud of pale mist burst out from the Yin Sha Cannon, enveloping him from all directions!

"Humph."

Chu Xiu snorted coldly, and the demonic energy transformed into a giant hand that slapped upwards, dispersing the condensed Yin energy. However, a considerable amount of demonic energy was frozen the moment it came into contact with the pale mist, as if ice crystals were growing on the giant hand.

At the same time, soldiers and ghosts rushed towards him. Chu Xiu remained calm, patted the soul banner, and instantly a massive number of ghosts surged out to fight against them. He then looked at the figure on the throne and pointed lightly.

In an instant, a beam of emerald light shot out and struck the man squarely in the chest!
He understood the principle of "capture the king first to catch the thief."

However, the next moment, a bizarre scene unfolded. The figure struck by the Demonic Finger of Slaughter did not have its flesh and blood dissolved like a murderer. Instead, as a cloud of mist surged, even the wound on its chest disappeared.

Even more terrifying is that every guard and ghost killed by the ghost army will be resurrected perfectly at the same time in the original spot where they first appeared! Even the Yin Sha Cannons that have been fired do not need to be recharged; they are reloaded with ammunition just one second later, as if time has reversed!

But this was not a reversal of time, nor was it an illusion, because Chu Xiu could clearly feel that the damage caused to him by both the cannonballs and the guards was real!

These attacks were not mere harassment, but a coordinated attack capable of instantly annihilating a King-level opponent! The hundreds of guards nearby were all General-level, each possessing unique supernatural abilities, making them seem like living, breathing individuals.

The ghostly creatures hovering overhead included some enormous, king-level evil spirits, and the Yin Sha Cannons firing nearby were the core technology of the Ghost Exorcist civilization, no less powerful than the most lethal howitzers in the modern world!
Under this fierce attack, Chu Xiu's ghost army has even begun to suffer losses!
This caused Chu Xiu's expression to darken abruptly. He raised his hand and put away all the ghosts. At the same time, the [Imperial Five Dragon Crown] on his head lit up, and five roaring dragons appeared above his head!
The moment the five dragons appeared, a blazing celestial fire swept outwards, instantly incinerating all enemies. At the same time, the five dragons coiled together, sharing their magical power and mutually reinforcing each other. A continuous stream of celestial fire fell, burning the resurrected enemies!

However, Chu Xiu unhesitatingly unleashed the power of the five dragons, allowing them to fight autonomously!
There was no other way; he couldn't bear to see his hard-earned ghost army was wasted like this.

Taking advantage of the moment when the five dragons were holding off the enemy, he turned to Jiang Miaoyin and quickly asked, "What exactly is a domain?"

Jiang Miaoyin was taken aback: "Senior, you don't know?"

But she also knew that this was not the time to dwell on this, so she quickly explained the situation to Chu Xiu.

"Domains are usually a means that only gods can possess! Within a domain, a god is an omniscient, omnipotent, and all-powerful creator who can create or destroy anything at will!"

"Although one can use the power of a domain even without ascending to godhood, that is a skill that only a demigod can touch or master!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Chu Xiu's expression turned ugly: "You mean the ghosts here possess power that only a demigod could possibly have?"

“Not exactly,” Jiang Miaoyin shook her head. “Soul-type creatures, which are spiritual beings without physical limitations, are quite special. They are more likely to develop advanced power manipulation techniques. Many [Heroic Spirits] can open up their own domains.”

"Furthermore, this is a fixed area, that is, an area from which one cannot leave."

"Even so, it is extremely rare for this to appear on a King-level ghost! It represents the most glorious moment of the entire Ghost Exorcist civilization!"

"That is to say."

Jiang Miaoyin's expression was more solemn than ever before: "We may have to fight against the entire Exorcist civilization here."

(End of this chapter)