In an instant, an overwhelmingly dense Yin energy surged toward Spirit Turtle Peak like a tidal wave. Within moments, it formed a vortex of Yin energy several thousand meters in diameter. Within the vortex, a dense, sprawling mass of over ten thousand orbs of green, ghostly light filled the sky.
Those were the soul-lights of nearby beasts and devil creatures.
How is this possible!!!
Gazing at the vortex of Yin energy spanning thousands of meters and the densely packed Devil Beast souls within, even Jiang Yourong felt her scalp go numb with dread.
At her peak, Jiang Yourong wouldn't have given a ghost tide of this magnitude a second thought. The problem was, she was now just a remnant soul! Inside the vortex, ninety-nine percent of the souls belonged to ordinary beasts, and the strongest among them were only comparable to the second or third level of the Foundation Establishment Stage. However, their sheer number was overwhelming—over ten thousand in total.
"Ling'er," Jiang Yourong swallowed hard. "Did you summon these ghostly things?"
GULP. The girl in green swallowed audibly, on the verge of tears from fright. "I-I don't know!"
"Auntie! Auntie! Auntie!" she cried out. "I summoned the souls, but what do we do now? Can we even use this many Soul Pets?"
Jiang Yourong: (‧_‧?)
Make use of them? Who the hell raises tens of thousands of Soul Pets?! She vaguely remembered her own first successful soul summoning. She had only called forth two or three little spirits, the souls of cats and dogs. They could only be considered beast souls, not even having crossed the threshold to become devils. But this girl, Ling'er, had gone and pulled in a goddamn army the size of a small beast tide. Was she planning to conquer Spirit Turtle Peak? With so many Devil Souls, if this wasn't handled properly and they started to riot, the entire Spirit Turtle Peak would probably be razed to the ground. Both Wang Xiu and Ling'er would be torn to shreds.
It seems I have no choice but to burn my soul power and fight them, a look of grim determination flashed in Jiang Yourong's eyes. She was now just a wisp of a remnant soul. If she burned her soul power, the slightest miscalculation could cause her to dissipate completely, damned for eternity. But with Jiang Ling'er as the last descendant of the Jiuli Immortal Sect, she couldn't allow any harm to come to the girl, no matter the danger.
However, just as Jiang Yourong braced herself, ready to fight the Devil Souls at a moment's notice, something unexpected happened.
As the army of Devil Souls approached Spirit Turtle Peak, their spiritual forms began to sway violently, as if they were trembling in extreme terror.
Are they... kowtowing? Jiang Yourong swallowed hard, staring at the souls arranged in concentric circles around the courtyard. She was aghast. That was Wang Xiu's courtyard. The boy seemed so unassuming. How could he summon so many Devil Souls? And he could suppress them to this extent! They always said the Divination Sect was the best at communing with spirits and specters. Was this how they did it?
What is that!
Just as Jiang Yourong reeled in shock, the Green Lotus Sky-covering Array materialized over Wang Xiu's courtyard, appearing as if it was being forced open from within. Cracks spiderwebbed across the lotus petals before they exploded outward with a boom.
Then, a majestic phantom of the Ming Emperor, a thousand feet tall, materialized above the courtyard. Its body was pitch-black, wreathed in Order Chains and radiating an aura of death. Beneath the Ming Emperor's phantom, layers of illusory purgatories appeared, filled with countless vicious Ghost Kings roaring and struggling in their bonds. Yet, despite their terrifying power, their struggles were useless. The Ming Emperor stood upon these purgatories as if reinforced by countless small worlds, rendering each layer as immovable as a sacred mountain.
Simultaneously, an immense and majestic pressure erupted from Wang Xiu's courtyard, blasting out in all directions.
BOOM!
In that instant, all the color drained from Jiang Yourong's face. She felt an unbearable weight, as if entire mountains were pressing down upon her. From the depths of her very soul, an instinctual terror arose—a trembling urge to kowtow and worship, to prostrate herself before this phantom like a loyal hound.
How is this possible! I'm a Great Power Remnant Soul! Even though I only have the combat strength of the Foundation Establishment Stage right now, not even a true Great Ability could force me to feel this urge to kowtow! This... Just what is this kid's background? Where did he learn such a monstrous technique? Resist! I have to resist, even if it kills me! If I kneel to this boy, how could I ever show my face again? What right would I have to teach Ling'er cultivation?
Jiang Ling'er, on the other hand, didn't feel much pressure. Her eyes were wide with amazement. "Auntie, look! All the Devil Souls are kneeling toward Senior Brother Wang Xiu's courtyard!"
"Huh? Auntie, why are you kneeling, too?"
The corner of Jiang Yourong's mouth twitched. "I... I just felt that floating was getting tiring, so..." She coughed. "Kneeling is much more comfortable."
THUMP.
"Ahem, actually, lying prostrate on the ground is even more comfortable." She snapped, "Don't mind me! What are you staring at me for? Go pick one you like and tame it while all these Devil Souls are suppressed!"
Jiang Ling'er nodded obediently. "Okay! But Auntie, you only taught me the Soul Summoning Curse. You haven't taught me how to refine Soul Pets yet!"
Jiang Yourong: (‧_‧?)
***
「Elsewhere」
At that moment, Wang Xiu wasn't feeling so great either. The power of the Nether Emperor's Prison-controlling Scripture had far exceeded his expectations. Originally, after getting the experience card for the perfected Nether Emperor's Prison-controlling Scripture, Wang Xiu had just wanted to test it out, so he tried casting the Soul Arresting Curse from the technique.
The result? That single Soul Arresting Curse had drained over seventy percent of the mana in his Dantian.
And one had to remember, while he was only at the fourth level of Foundation Establishment, his mana quality was far superior to that of his peers thanks to multiple critical-hit rewards. One part of his mana was as potent as six parts of theirs. Even so, this single spell had nearly sucked him dry. The mana cost was astronomical. The effect, however, was absurdly powerful. He had instantly summoned such a massive army of ghostly soldiers. If he coordinated them with a large-scale formation, they could easily besiege and kill an enemy at the peak of the Core Formation Stage. The problem was, with his mana depleted, he couldn't control them!
"Chant my true name to witness eternal life; through myriad rebirths, suppress the Nine Underworlds."
"Sacrifice!"
Wang Xiu shoved several Origin Replenishing Pills into his mouth to restore his flagging mana. Then, his hands formed a series of incredibly abstruse and profound seals in the air.
WHOOSH!
The next moment, these seals shot like meteors into the bodies of five enormous Devil Souls. The violently trembling Devil Souls instantly grew calm. Their soul-lights, which had been dozens of feet tall, began to compress, gradually transforming into five fist-sized Soul Eggs.
Wang Xiu stepped out of the courtyard and gathered the five Soul Eggs into his robes.
Then, he bit his right index finger and pressed it to the ground. "By nature's law, let foulness scatter! Let righteous qi endure, let evil banish!"
"Disperse!"
The last dregs of mana in Wang Xiu's Dantian vanished in an instant.
Afterward, the phantom of the Ming Emperor in the sky slowly sat cross-legged and formed a hand seal. A vast, suppressive pressure washed over the landscape. In the blink of an eye, the entire scene—which had resembled a dark doomsday with its pandemonium of a hundred ghosts and a stampede of a thousand beasts—dissolved like ice in the sun, vanishing completely within a few breaths.
PHEW!
Wang Xiu finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Thankfully, the disciples of the Sanqing Immortal Sect regularly cleared out the devil creatures in the area, preventing them from growing too powerful. Otherwise, his Soul Summoning Curse wouldn't have just brought Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment Stage Devil Souls. It might have drained him completely to summon some nasty things from the Core Formation or even Golden Core Stage. And if that had happened, with his mana depleted, he really might not have been able to keep control of the situation. This Soul Arresting Curse... better to use it as sparingly as possible in the future. It really messed with his head.
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Wang Xiu walked leisurely toward Jiang Ling'er's little courtyard.
He'd meant to use the Green Lotus Sky-covering Array to contain the phenomenon, but who would have thought the Nether Emperor's Prison-controlling Scripture would be so ferocious it would shatter the formation? A late-night haunting by more than ten thousand ghosts... the little girl must be scared out of her wits! Then again, it was good if she was frightened. Maybe it would convince her to switch to another branch sooner rather than later. That would save her a few trips to the archives after her official induction.
Holding onto the thought of "the less trouble, the better," Wang Xiu smiled and entered the Orchid Courtyard, fully expecting to find a little girl with a terrified, tear-stained face.
However, the moment he pushed open the gate, the sight that greeted him was not a little girl, but a woman sprawled on the ground. Her leopard-print clothes were in disarray, revealing a sexy figure so alluring it could cause a nosebleed.
This woman was propped up on her hands, struggling against the residual pressure from the Ming Emperor phantom. She had her head tilted high, and from Wang Xiu's downward angle, her cleavage was an unfathomably deep abyss.
...
Wang Xiu froze, a sharp intake of breath the only sound he made. Then, his eyes slowly began to light up.
This... could this voluptuous remnant soul also be something he'd summoned with the Soul Arresting Curse? If that were the case, taking a few more risks to summon souls in the future didn't seem like such a bad idea after all! Who cares about the Foundation Establishment Stage? Even a Core Formation Stage or Golden Core Stage Soul Pet couldn't possibly be as... enticing as this one!