Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

"Green Mantis Royal City?" A glint flashed in the eyes of the Ghost Demon General. "Where is this city located?"

Qu Wutong hesitated for a moment before saying, "The royal city is more than 300,000 li away from here, and has as many as 100,000 Green Mantis Clan members. The Green Mantis King's strength far surpasses that of the criminals, and is comparable to that of the various Supreme Saints."

Yanhuang Demon General sneered: "So what if it's the Green Mantis King? With the five of us joining forces, it's nothing but a skeleton in a tomb."

Qu Wutong said, "The esteemed saints have not harmed the sinners in Quling Village. Their mission is not to annihilate the Green Mantis Clan, but rather to seek something else."

"The Green Mantis Clan committed a great crime, yet the Supreme Saint spared them, only to subject them to a test. I suppose the Supreme Saints also need the Green Mantis Clan's service."

"Without the help of the sinners, the emperors would not have been able to easily conquer the royal city."

"Even if we kill the Green Mantis King, the Green Mantis clan in the city will suffer heavy casualties. Who will be able to serve the Supreme Saints then?"

Ghost Demon General smiled slightly: "The mere Green Mantis Clan is not worth our attention."

"You have been tainted by deathly aura for a long time, and it is unknown whether you can leave this fragment of the interface. No matter how many people die or are injured, it doesn't matter."

"If that's all you're good for, then you might as well obediently endure the soul-searching technique."

Qu Wutong was taken aback: "Death energy... Are you talking about spiritual energy, sages?"

"This is a test and punishment sent down by the Supreme Saint. Without spiritual energy, my Green Mantis Clan will only live better."

"The sinners have long wanted to leave this place... This fragment of the interface. If the venerable saints can help the sinners escape this inescapable hell, the sinners are willing to serve the venerable saints like slaves."

"Although our Green Mantis Clan is far weaker than the Supreme Saint, we are hardworking and conscientious."

"This fragment of the interface still contains at least several hundred thousand Green Mantis Clan members. If we could recruit them all, it would be of great use to the Supreme Saints. I hope the Supreme Saints will reconsider!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was somewhat intrigued. They exchanged glances, and the Ghost Demon Commander asked, "Then the Green Mantis Royal City should be the residence of the Green Mantis King, so why are there only 100,000 Green Mantis people?"

Qu Wutong replied, "The spiritual energy in this fragment of the interface... is permeated with death energy. My Green Mantis Clan suffers greatly from it. If we do not actively devour the flesh and blood of spirit beasts and absorb the death energy, we will be eroded by the death energy and die."

"According to the records, when the Supreme Saint first descended to test us, very few of my Green Mantis Clan members were able to withstand the death energy entering their bodies; less than one in a hundred survived."

"Over a thousand years have passed, and only now has my Green Mantis Clan been able to withstand the death aura. As long as we consume the flesh and blood of spirit beasts, we need not worry about being corrupted by the death aura."

"The purer the death energy within the body, the stronger the individual, and the greater their need for the flesh and blood of exotic beasts."

"However, the number of exotic beasts is limited. The royal city is near a mountain range, where ferocious exotic beasts emerge in endless streams. In addition, many spirit beasts are raised there. At most, it can only support 100,000 Green Mantis Clan members."

Everyone nodded slightly. The spirit beast was that kind of fat deer-like beast. The Green Mantis Clan called death energy "spiritual energy," and strange beasts containing death energy were called "spiritual beasts" by the Green Mantis Clan.

Yanhuang Demon General then asked, "Besides the Green Mantis King, who else in the Green Mantis Clan is as strong as us?"

Qu Wutong hesitated for a moment and said, "As far as the sinners know, there is only the Green Mantis King."

Qi Yan, the demon general, frowned: "The Green Mantis Royal City is more than 300,000 li away from here. How do you know of its existence and how do you know so much about the situation in the city?"

Qu Wutong said, "The sinners naturally cannot travel more than 300,000 li to reach the royal city."

"But eighteen years ago, a royal envoy came to Quling Village."

"This royal envoy is even more powerful than the criminals. It was from him that the criminals learned that our Green Mantis Clan has a royal city, and they had no choice but to bow down and submit to the Green Mantis King."

The Iron-Winged Demon General asked, "What brings this special envoy from the royal city here?"

Qu Wutong said, “It brought the Green Mantis King’s decree, ordering the sinners to find a group of extremely peculiar green mantises that are not afraid of death energy, yet whose strength is no less than that of those green mantises whose death energy is extremely pure.”

Chen Yuan's heart stirred, and he asked, "Did you gain anything?"

Qu Wutong said, "This matter is too bizarre. The sinners have never seen a green mantis that is not afraid of death, so they did not agree."

"But the royal envoy not only produced the Green Mantis King's decree, but also a spirit crystal containing death energy, from which the sinners could directly absorb death energy before they agreed."

Chen Yuan flipped his hand and took out the black crystal he had found inside the bone dragon: "Is this the spirit crystal you mentioned?"

Qu Wutong was taken aback, staring at the black crystal. Although his expression remained unchanged, his words were filled with shock: "Indeed, but the sinners have never seen such a huge spirit crystal."

"The spiritual energy contained in the several spirit crystals that the sinners obtained before... and the death energy contained in them were far less pure than that of this spirit crystal."

Chen Yuan put away the black crystal and asked, "Where are those spirit crystals?"

Qu Wutong said, "The sinners have absorbed all the death energy within, and the spirit crystal has shattered on its own."

Qi Yan, the demon general, asked, "What kind of spirit beast can condense spirit crystals within its body?"

Qu Wutong said, "The sinners are not very clear either. Before that royal envoy came to Quling Village, the sinners had never seen the spirit crystal."

"However, after absorbing the death energy from that spirit crystal, the criminal's strength has increased considerably."

"Then, by hunting spirit beasts of similar strength in the wilderness, we can find spirit crystals inside their bodies."

"However, these spirit beasts are extremely ferocious, and in the past ten years, the criminals have only managed to hunt down three of them."

The demon general stroked his beard and nodded slightly: "In that case, it must be a beast with a cultivation level equivalent to a low-level demon general to condense spirit crystals within its body."

Ironwing Demon General interjected, "This black crystal contains death energy, which is the complete opposite of spiritual energy. It is more appropriate to call it a black crystal."

The demon general readily agreed and then looked at Qu Wutong: "You have repeatedly ventured into the wilderness to hunt strange beasts, have you ever seen a strange beast whose entire body is just bones, without a trace of flesh and blood?"

Qu Wutong shuddered, his voice trembling: "Do the Holy Ones perhaps intend to hunt divine beasts?"

A glint flashed in the eyes of the demon general: "Why is it called a divine beast?"

Qu Wutong's voice was filled with deep awe: "Our ancestors' records once described a spirit beast in the world whose body was nothing but bones. It was extremely powerful and could easily wipe out a village."

"When the criminals were hunting strange beasts, they encountered a giant skeletal bear, as big as a mountain, and the death aura surrounding it was extremely pure."

"Fortunately, the giant skeletal bear was still asleep at the time, otherwise I certainly wouldn't have made it back alive."

"Later, the royal envoy came to Quling Village. In addition to bringing the Green Mantis King's decree, which ordered the sinners to search for the traces of the strange green mantises, he also asked the sinners if they had seen a spirit beast whose body was only white bones, and called it a divine beast."

“The criminals did not fully trust the royal envoy at the time, so they did not tell him about it.”

"But before you holy sages, the sinners dare not conceal anything."

"That divine beast is enormous, even the tallest tree in Quling Village cannot compare to it. No matter how strong the several Supreme Saints are, they cannot fight against it!"

The Demon General Guixiao smiled slightly: "Even divine beasts are not invincible. Do you know why the royal envoy called it a divine beast?"

Qu Wutong said, "It didn't go into details, only saying that divine beasts are born to be favored by spiritual energy, able to mobilize it, and were once the mounts of spirit gods." "The sinners also asked why the Green Mantis King wanted to find divine beasts, but the royal envoy did not say so explicitly."

"It only said that if we could find traces of the divine beast, or discover the trail of that group of strange green mantises, we should go to the royal city to report to the Green Mantis King."

"The Green Mantis King will bestow more spirit...black crystals, and may even allow all the Green Mantises of Quling Village to enter the royal city, where they will be bathed in the glory of the Green Mantis King and will never have to worry about lacking spirit beast flesh and blood again."

“The criminal was already the elder of Quling Village at that time, so naturally he would not believe the words of this royal envoy.”

"The ancient texts left by our ancestors repeatedly warned that these bone spirit beasts are extremely powerful and must never be provoked."

"The sinners did not inform the royal envoy of the existence of that giant white bone bear."

Qi Yan, the demon general, asked, "Where is that giant skeletal bear?"

Qu Wutong hesitated for a moment and said, "It's located 13,000 li southeast of Quling Village, on a solitary peak in the wilderness."

"At that time, the sinner was just an elder of Quling Village. The spirit beasts within a radius of several thousand miles had been hunted to extinction. He was responsible for going deep into the wilderness to find new gathering places for spirit beasts."

"Unexpectedly, they encountered that giant skeletal bear, and from then on, they designated that solitary peak as a forbidden area, strictly forbidding any green mantises in the village from approaching it."

Qi Yan, the demon general, said calmly, "We are quite interested in this kind of divine beast. If you lead us to find this giant white bone bear, we can be temporarily spared the suffering of soul searching."

Qu Wutong trembled, blinked his two huge compound eyes, and hesitated, saying, "This sinner...this sinner obeys, but that giant white bone bear is truly terrifying. I hope that you holy beings will not take the risk."

He could only roughly sense the pressure emanating from the five people and did not know their true strength; he could only judge their strength based on their size.

Qi Yan Demon General remained noncommittal and then asked, "The royal envoy asked you to find the Green Mantis, which is immune to the corruption of death energy. Have you found anything?"

Qu Wutong hesitated even more, but meeting the indifferent gazes of the five people, it still opened its ferocious mandibles: "Before the arrival of that royal envoy, the sinners had never heard of green mantises that were not afraid of death energy, and there was no record of them in the ancient books left by our ancestors."

"But the royal envoy produced a piece of black crystal, and the Green Mantis King also issued a decree, so the sinners had no choice but to believe it."

"It also said that a green mantis, which was not afraid of the death aura, appeared near Quling Village decades ago."

“From then on, the sinners kept sending out green mantises from Quling Village to search for the traces of this green mantis.”

"However, the sinners did not want to use them to collect rewards, but rather to obtain from them the secret method to avoid the corruption of death energy."

"Since the sinner absorbed the death energy from that black crystal, the death energy in his body has become much purer, and his strength has greatly increased, but his dependence on the death energy has also deepened day by day."

“In the past, as long as criminals consumed the flesh and blood of spirit beasts every one or two years, the death energy in their bodies would not decrease, and their strength would not weaken. They did not have to worry about being eroded by the death energy in the world.”

"But since then, the effect of spirit beast flesh and blood on sinners has greatly decreased."

“Every three years, they must absorb the death energy from a piece of black crystal, otherwise the sinners’ strength will decline, and they will have no choice but to continue to venture into the wilderness to hunt powerful spirit beasts.”

"As long as we find those green mantises and get the secret method from them to be immune to the erosion of death energy, the criminals will no longer need to go to great lengths to hunt down those spirit beasts whose bodies have condensed black crystals."

The Demon General Yanhuang asked in bewilderment, "You could simply devour the flesh and blood of weaker spirit beasts. Even if your strength were to decrease, you would still be unmatched in Quling Village. Why be so fixated on hunting spirit beasts and seizing the Black Crystal?"

Qu Wutong said, "The spirit beast with black crystals condensed in its body is too ferocious. The sinner also had this idea. After absorbing the death energy from the two black crystals, he no longer insisted on it."

"But in the past, when the death energy in the bodies of criminals gradually thinned out, they only felt slightly uncomfortable. As long as it was not too thin, they would not be eroded by the death energy and die."

"But when the sinners stopped absorbing the death energy from the black crystal, the death energy in their bodies gradually thinned out, but it became extremely painful, and the death energy even showed signs of backfiring on their souls."

"The criminals immediately gathered all the green mantises in the village and, with all their might, hunted down a spirit beast whose body contained black crystals. They absorbed the death energy from the black crystals and managed to save their lives."

"During that hunt, over a thousand green mantises died in the mouth of that spirit beast."

"Later, the criminals no longer dared to be arrogant and hunted down two more spirit beasts."

"In three months, the sinners will lead the village's green mantises deep into the wilderness once again to hunt down a spirit beast that has condensed black crystal, so as to prevent the death energy from backfiring on their souls."

Qi Yan, the Demon General, frowned: "This death aura is so strange, like a death warrant, forcing the Green Mantis Clan to devour the flesh and blood of alien beasts, absorb the death aura, and actively merge into it."

"As long as the death energy in the body is thinner, it will be eroded by the death energy in the world."

"Once it has been purified to a certain degree, it cannot be diluted any further, otherwise it will still lead to death."

"This seems to be forcing them to constantly hunt alien beasts, absorb death energy, and increase their strength; if they don't advance, they will regress."

Yanhuang Demon General disagreed: "This deathly aura is a test sent down by those 'Supreme Saints,' so naturally it won't be easy for the Green Mantis Clan to pass through it."

Ghost Demon General nodded slowly: "Fellow Daoist Yanhuang is right. We must find out from the Green Mantis King how the death aura came about."

He looked at Qu Wutong: "Do you have any clues about the swarm of green mantises?"

Qu Wutong said, "But the wilderness is vast, and I have never found any trace of this green mantis."

"However, once an elder from Boluo Village came to Quling Village, and Boluo Village is located here..."

Yanhuang Demon General interrupted, "We learned the location of Quling Village from it, you don't need to say anything more."

Qu Wutong then continued, "Yes, according to the elder of Boluo Village, this green mantis once visited Boluo Village."

“The criminals immediately led the village’s green mantises there, but they did not disturb the green mantises of Boro Village.”

"After several months, we finally found an abandoned stone house around the village of Boro."

"This stone house is extremely secluded and leaves behind a very peculiar aura, completely out of place with the deathly atmosphere. It should be the temporary residence of that green mantis."

"However, that stone house has been abandoned for decades and has left no clues."

"The criminals searched the vicinity of Wuchong Village and Songliang Village again. These two villages are..."

Yanhuang Demon General said impatiently, "No need for further words, we have already been to these two villages."

The village where Zhi Jinfeng lived was called Songliang Village, and the other village was Wuchong Village.

Qu Wutong quickly changed his words: "A thousand miles away from Songliang Village, we found another stone house left behind by that green mantis."

"Although it has been abandoned for a long time, a sentence was carved on the wall, and it was carved in the language of the sage."

Yanhuang Demon General's expression brightened: "What was that sentence?"

Qu Wutong said, "When will this day end? I will perish with you!" (End of Chapter)