Ghost Immortal

Zhang Gengtou finished speaking haltingly, and finally the fierce light in his eyes disappeared.

He lay sprawled on the ground like an old dog, panting heavily, too weak to even struggle, and was still begging for mercy.

"I've told you everything you asked. Spare my life, and I'll give you all the spirit stones hidden in the courtyard, as well as the watchman's inheritance. I just don't want to leave like this..."

Li Feng sneered, "When you killed innocent bystanders, did they beg for their lives? If I were in your hands, would you let me go?"

Zhang Gengtou had nothing to say; he had already resigned himself to his fate.

If Li Feng had fallen into his hands, there wouldn't have been so many problems; he would have killed him outright.

Without saying another word, Li Feng unleashed a burst of lightning from his right palm, a bolt of electricity as thick as a thumb, which shot directly into Zhang Gengtou's skull.

The ghost cultivator's body was already riddled with holes from the corrosive Yin energy. After the lightning entered his body, Zhang Gengtou convulsed violently and stopped moving.

His charred skin emitted blue smoke, and the remaining yin energy was completely evaporated by the lightning.

The body lay limp on the ground, like a withered tree struck by lightning.

Li Feng didn't stop, and continued to deliver the finishing blow.

He took out a fragment of the immobilization talisman from his pocket, pressed it to the forehead of Zhang Gengtou's corpse, and at the same time cast the soul-binding technique recorded in the broken book.

Spiritual energy surged from his fingertips, and grayish-black mist rose from the corpse's head.

Zhang Gengtou's vengeful spirit was forcibly pulled out of his corpse.

The ghost twisted and struggled in the air, and Zhang Gengtou's outline could be vaguely seen, but it was more blurred than when he was alive, like cotton wool soaked in sewage.

It opened its mouth and howled, trying to break free from the binding spell.

Li Feng expressionlessly tightened the spiritual energy vortex, compressing it into a fist-sized gray-black sphere, which he held in his palm.

Unlike the previous vengeful black sphere, the ghost cultivator's spirit was heavier, possibly because he had just died.

The surface of the sphere still shows distorted human face patterns, and it feels icy cold to the touch, even colder than the temperature of a vengeful spirit.

"peak."

The armored giant emerged from the darkness, its eerie green eyes fixed on the gray-black sphere in Li Feng's palm.

It whimpered softly, clearly more eager than when it first saw the fragments of the demon soul, wanting exactly what Li Feng had in his hands.

"The yin spirit of a ghost cultivator should be more to your liking than fragments of a demon soul." Li Feng casually tossed the gray-black sphere toward Gao Feng.

Gao Feng stretched out his large, bluish-gray hand to catch it and stuffed it into the mouth hole under the iron mask without hesitation.

Just like last time, it inhaled forcefully, and the gray-black sphere turned into gray-black smoke that seeped deep into its mouth.

This time, the commotion was much greater than when it devoured the fragments of the demon soul.

The Yin energy within Gao Feng's body surged dramatically, like a ladle of cold water being poured into boiling oil, causing it to explode.

Thick, grayish-black mist spewed from the gaps between the armor plates, the mist interspersed with a ghostly green light and a faint purple glow.

Three colors of light intertwined, enveloping its enormous body.

Its size swelled up again.

His original nine-foot-tall body grew to nine feet five inches in one go, his shoulder width also increased, and his two arms became as thick as stone mills.

The most noticeable change is on its head.

The two protruding horns finally broke open, and two curved bull horns grew obliquely from the sides of the skull. The horn surfaces were covered with dark gold patterns, exactly the same as the bull demon horns that Li Feng had eaten before.

But unlike the bull demon, Gao Feng's bull horns glowed with eerie green flames at the tips, like two lanterns lit on his head.

Its claws grew from three inches to five inches in length, and their color changed from bluish-black to eerie green. Thick black liquid dripped from its claws, hissing as it fell to the ground, corroding small pits into the blue bricks.

After Gao Feng devoured the fragments of the demon soul, his spiritual power was equivalent to that of a peak ten-inch spiritual root.

Now, the fluctuations in spiritual energy have broken through the upper limit of the spiritual root stage and entered a completely new level.

If the spiritual power at the Spirit Root stage is like a stream, then the spiritual power now is a great river.

It surges and roars, its depths unfathomable.

This guy has really been raised to be a half-demon.

The old bald man's booklet mentioned that if a corpse refiner devours enough demon souls and yin souls, it may be able to break through the shackles of the spiritual root stage and evolve into a half-demon.

The half-demon corpse refiner possesses the powerful physical body of both a zombie and a demon beast, and also has intelligence, making its combat strength far surpass that of cultivators of the same realm.

The booklet says that a half-demon is equivalent to the early stage of the Qi Refining Realm in Taoist cultivation, but Li Feng does not have detailed information on the Qi Refining Realm and cannot make an accurate comparison.

Gao Feng is very strong now, much stronger than his master.

Gao Feng lowered his head, and a gray-black light appeared in his dark green eye sockets.

Intertwined with the previous purple and green light, three different colored will-o'-the-wisps burned in the eye sockets.

It knelt on one knee, bowed its head to Li Feng, and remained submissive.

Li Feng reached out and pressed his hand on its newly grown horns, giving them a curious squeeze.

The bull horn was cold and hard, and one could feel the violent demonic power flowing inside.

If this demonic power gets out of control, it can blast everything within a ten-zhang radius into flat ground.

However, within Gao Feng's body, it was steadily suppressed by the malevolent energy of the vengeful spirit, thus achieving a balance.

"Get up, you're the one who's really cheating."

Gao Feng stood up and silently retreated behind him, his movements becoming increasingly natural.

Li Feng turned around and walked back to Zhang Gengtou's corpse, looting the spoils.

After the Ghost Realm completely collapsed, the courtyard returned to its original state.

This is the most remote corner in the south of the city. The courtyard is not big. Three dilapidated brick and tile houses form a small courtyard. Half of the courtyard wall has collapsed, and some broken furniture and sundries are piled up in the corner.

The withered locust tree is still in the yard, but it is completely dead. The bark has cracked, revealing the hollow and rotten heartwood inside.

Li Feng first searched Zhang Gengtou's corpse.

The corpse was charred and shriveled, its clothes long since torn to shreds by lightning, but the hidden pocket close to its body was still there.

He took out a copper key from a hidden pocket, inside which was an oilcloth bag and a few pieces of silver.

The oilcloth package was opened, revealing a thin booklet with a cover made of yellow paper, on which four large, crooked characters were written.

The Night Watchman's Secret Records

This is the legacy passed down by the night watchmen.

Li Feng opened the booklet and quickly glanced through it by the moonlight.

The contents of the booklet are similar to those of the corpse carriers' booklets. The first half records the origins and rules of the night watchmen's lineage, while the second half records specific cultivation methods and techniques.

Night watchmen belong to the lowest of the low, and their history is even longer than that of corpse carriers.

The earliest night watchmen were said to be officials in the Zhou Dynasty court responsible for telling time. Later, they drifted to the common people and gradually evolved into methods of exorcising ghosts and warding off evil spirits.

Unlike the corpse carriers who cultivate by absorbing the corpse's energy, the night watchmen rely on "suppressing evil spirits."

He used his own yang energy and the sound of the clapper to suppress the yin energy, and in the process of suppressing it, he absorbed the yin energy to temper himself.

This is a method of using yang to control yin.

The night watchman sleeps during the day to nourish his yang energy and comes out at night to ward off evil spirits. Day after day, year after year, his yang energy grows stronger and stronger, and his ability to ward off evil spirits becomes more and more powerful.

But Zhang Gengtou had clearly gone astray.

Instead of suppressing the evil spirits, he actively harmed people and stole their souls, turning the night watchman's methods into ghost cultivation.

The spells recorded in the booklet were also altered beyond recognition; the clapper became a blood-stained cleaver, the guiding lamp became a lantern with human heads, and the soothing bell was reversed into a soul-capturing bell.

Li Feng flipped to the last few pages of the booklet and found a new entry. The handwriting was crooked, and the ink was still fresh; it had been written recently by Zhang Gengtou.

"I have been cultivating for forty-three years, and have been stuck at the eight-inch spiritual root for a long time. Recently, the black aura has become very strong. I used the Soul-Capturing Bell to collect nine wandering souls, refined them into my body, and my cultivation has greatly increased. I have broken through to the nine-inch spiritual root. If the black aura continues, the ten-inch spiritual root is within reach, and the Qi Refining is promising."

Below that is a line of smaller text, written in even more illegible handwriting, as if it were written in a state of extreme excitement.

"Tonight, I've collected three more wandering souls. The ghost cultivators in the city are feasting in the darkness, ignoring everything. If I can collect thirty more, I can attempt to break through to the Qi Refining stage. At that time, apart from those old monsters in the City Lord's Mansion, there will be no one left to challenge me in Qingyan City!"

Li Feng closed the booklet and gave a cold laugh.

Even on his deathbed, this old man was still dreaming of breaking through to the Qi Refining Realm. Fortunately, he met me.

Otherwise, who knows how many more innocent people would have been harmed by him.

He tucked the booklet into his pocket and used a brass key to open a large wooden box in the corner of the yard.

The wooden box contained some miscellaneous items, with a small cloth bag at the very bottom.

After the cloth bag was opened, ten spirit stones were neatly stacked inside.

The first time Li Feng saw a spirit stone, it was the universal currency circulating in this world.