Jing Qian left most of the corpses of the five great sea monsters untouched, keeping only the parts that looked tasty and handing them over to Xili for storage.
The remaining materials he fed to the five Nine-Linked Ghosts, replenishing their drained energy.
Now that he had mastered the method of fishing the void, his demand for low-grade resources had plummeted. Such materials were best used to nourish his ghosts.
He descended into the lair of the Violet-Eyed Great Turtle, rummaging through its hoard. He found a decent amount of lower-tier resources, which he packed away entirely. Among them, however, was a single crystalline turtle egg of exceptional quality.
That was a rare delicacy, just the kind of item the Kitchen Lord's Shop craved. As a supreme-grade ingredient, it would fetch an exorbitant price at the Kitchen Hall, easily worth at least a fifth-grade portion of Fate-Fire.
After tidying up the battlefield, he commanded his five great ghosts onward, driving them deeper into the Vast Sea in search of new prey.
From here on, the ghosts would be venturing into the true heartland of the sea monster tribes. Jing Qian could only hope that the closer they drew to the core, the more frequently great monsters would appear.
Then, with another flash, he slipped once again into the Sea of Resentful Souls.
The ghosts he had stationed there had already pinned down a seventh-rank wraith beneath their weight, leaving it unable to move.
Jing Qian didn't hesitate. One sword strike ended the creature, and with the Hell Scroll, he devoured it.
On the scroll, the twenty-fifth great ghost was etched into being.
Truthfully, Jing Qian was pushing his luck. He came to the Sea of Resentful Souls again and again, stirring up havoc, until its mistress was already seething with rage, yet still he didn't stop.
But what choice did he have? Nowhere else in the entire Ying Futuo Realm had so many wraiths and malevolent spirits gathered.
Hunting and enslaving ghosts was the fastest way to raise his strength. Even knowing that returning here was the utmost provocation to the Ghost Bride, he grit his teeth and came anyway.
This time, though, he was far more cautious.
After slaying the seventh-rank wraith, he used his Entwining Karma to sever the thread of causality that bound the ghost to its mistress, then anchored the strand to a reef at the sea's bottom.
As long as that thread remained, the Ghost Bride would not sense his presence for a while.
Since her last rampage devouring ten thousand wraiths and storming the Kitchen Hall, Jing Qian had realized something crucial: every ghost in the upper layers of the Sea of Resentful Souls was already her private stock.
She used her karmic threads to bind them, raising them here like penned cattle.
Jing Qian's actions, slaughtering and devouring her wraiths, were nothing less than a weasel sneaking into the henhouse.
If she discovered him again, he couldn't even predict the consequences.
Three strikes and you're out. This third descent into the Sea of Resentful Souls was the absolute limit, for now.
Once she uncovered his trick of manipulating karmic threads, he'd have to lie low for quite some time.
Which was why he intended to make this raid count as a final feast before winter set in.
Combining the powers of Worldly Insight and Entwining Karma, he could clearly perceive the tangled web of karmic threads spread throughout the Sea of Resentful Souls.
They were everywhere, dense and inescapable.
At their source, deep in the seabed, they wove into the Ghost Bride's wedding gown.
It was the divine art she used to enslave the wraiths. But now, it had become Jing Qian's map, a guide to stealing her "chicks."
He studied the chaotic yet intricate web before him for a long while, finally teasing out a pattern.
These karmic threads often quivered. The stronger the ghost, the less frequently its line would twitch.
A ninth-rank minor ghost's thread might shiver seventy or eighty times in the span of a quarter-hour. But those of a sixth-rank or higher? Almost perfectly still.
Jing Qian targeted only the unmoving lines and followed them deeper.
At that level, the ghosts lay in the innermost reaches of the Sea of Resentful Souls.
Jing Qian hid within a dimensional fold, descending ever deeper into the sea.
The Sea of Resentful Souls was one of the ten deadliest forbidden zones in the Ying Futuo Realm, perhaps the most dangerous of them all.
Unlike the Kitchen Hall or the Zhuo Ling Cave Heaven, where some form of communication was at least possible, here there was nothing but malice.
Only a handful of cultivators ever dared enter this deadly sea, and even then, they only skimmed the surface waters to snare a few minor wraiths.
Few dared to truly venture into its abyssal depths.
But Jing Qian had no fear. His cultivation system was a perfect fit for the Sea of Resentful Souls. To him, entering deeper felt like returning home.
The surrounding wraiths were all "good friends" to him; he could hardly resist inviting them all into the Hell Scroll as honored guests.
The dense Yin qi suffusing the waters resonated with his own Origin Qi · Yin, wrapping him in a warmth like a homecoming.
He even had a premonition that once his cultivation grew stronger, he would one day "buy a house and settle down" here, rooting himself in the Sea of Resentful Souls.
After diving for half an hour, nearly a thousand li beneath the waves, his first target finally emerged before him.
Without blood-pearls to lure them, finding a greater wraith was no easy task.
This time, Jing Qian didn't hesitate. With a single strike of his Flaying Sword Qi, infused with his Longevity-Bestowing ability, he cut down the six-rank Ghost Lantern.
The creature collapsed instantly, lifeless in the waters, leaving him free to drag it into his Void Realm and seal it away.
The karmic thread binding the Ghost Lantern, he temporarily fixed onto a reef before darting off in another direction.
He could barely suppress the Ghost Bride's karmic lines; in case they snapped at any moment, they might snap.
And once they did, his theft would be exposed. His "dear old friend" would surely greet him with a passion he could never endure, forcing him to flee for his life.
The window of time was short; he had to move fast.
Fortunately, the Longevity Sword Card bug was absurdly precise, arguably the strongest control ability against wraiths.
One day of stolen lifespan was enough to pin down a sixth-rank ghost for at least a quarter-hour.
Dragging such helpless prey into the Void Realm and tossing it into the Void Furnace for cremation took Jing Qian little effort.
Thus began an unprecedented harvest in the Sea of Resentful Souls.
Here, on the ghosts' home turf, he treated every wraith above the sixth rank like so many stalks of leek once found; not a single root was left behind.
If not for fear of the Ghost Bride, he might truly have moved in permanently.
For ten straight days, he didn't pause once, throwing himself wholly into ghost-hunting.
Suppressing sixth-rank ghosts wasn't easy; he needed the Void Furnace's Fate-Fire to refine them.
But with every new ghost subdued, his mana surged another ten percent. The growth in combat strength was immediate and undeniable.
How could he not give it everything he had?
In the end, he captured seventeen sixth-rank wraiths, cramming the Void Furnace to bursting.
Had Xili not been scared to tears and begged him to stop, Jing Qian would have kept going, still unsatisfied.
But just as he was about to pack up and leave, a new target caught his eye.
A crystalline karmic thread extended into a sea-floor cavern.
The cave glowed with a faint, jade-like radiance, seamless and smooth as if carved from pure stone.
Peering closer, Jing Qian saw a cold, strikingly beautiful female ghost. She lay curled on an icy bed, arms wrapped around a worm-like creature white as jade, fast asleep.
Thick waves of Yin qi spilled from the jade bed, which she absorbed fully into herself, refining her power and deepening her cultivation.
Jing Qian recognized the pairing of this ghost and her Meat-Worm spiritual construct; they had crossed paths before.
He hadn't expected that, just as he was about to leave, he would stumble upon them again.
Rubbing his hands together, he calculated fiercely before finally hardening his resolve.
This one he could not pass up.
Before him was not only a fifth-rank ghost of striking beauty, but also one carrying a spiritual construct.
She wasn't just strong, she was intelligent.
If he could suppress her and brand her onto the Hell Scroll, the benefits to him would be immense and comprehensive.
This was a chance worth going all in for.
He felt like Sun Wukong coming face-to-face with the White-Bone Spirit; if he didn't smash her with his staff, his thoughts would never be at peace.
Her cultivation was not low: a fifth-rank Earth Fiend ghost coupled with a fifth-rank spiritual construct. Normally, her overall strength was far above his own.
But in actual battle, Jing Qian had amassed countless tricks and means to condense the ultimate sword strike.
The comparison was like two nations at war: one a superpower with overwhelming advantages in economy, population, technology, and military; the other a destitute backwater.
Yet the weaker nation possessed a single tactical nuke, one decisive strike.
And more importantly, it held absolute initiative in when and how to use it.
That was the battlefield dynamic Jing Qian had shaped: everything under his control.
By now, his combat experience was vast.
He always positioned himself where he was safest, unleashing his strongest burst against the enemy's greatest weakness.
Outside the illusions of the Zhuo Ling Cave Heaven, he had never once allowed himself to be on the passive side of a fight.
Thus, when facing the Earth Fiend wraith before him, Jing Qian felt no fear.
He burned four precious flesh-buds, and for the second time in the living world condensed a strand of Burial Sword Light.
Then, he split off a full year of his lifespan and infused it into the sword light.
With the blessing of longevity, the strike became a blade of certain doom for wraiths.
Without hesitation, Jing Qian unleashed it.
At the center of the beautiful ghost's brow, a rift silently tore open in the void.
The next instant, the terrifying sword light lanced out from the rift, crashing into her forehead.
Immediately afterward, two black cat paws shot out, seized her by the hair, and dragged her straight into the spatial fissure.
This lovely ghost, who had been reclining peacefully in her boudoir on a soft bed, had been snatched away in an instant.
What justice was there in heaven?
Only then did the eruption of destructive spiritual force ripple through the cavern.
Along with it came a piercing insect cry.
"Ying!"
The Meat-Worm spiritual construct, jolted from slumber, unleashed all its power, rushing toward its master's side.
What shattered its mind, however, was that the master who had always lain beside it, mingling their powers, had completely vanished.
It reached out through the link between the spiritual construct and the host, yet no response came.
The Meat-Worm was left bewildered, unable to comprehend what had happened.
At that moment, a slender jade hand extended from behind and clamped onto its neck.
It was none other than the terrifying Ghost Bride in her crimson wedding dress, who had somehow already rushed to the site of battle.
But she had arrived one step too late.
She drew upon her divine art, enveloping the Meat-Worm, magnifying the bond between spiritual construct and host tenfold, a hundredfold, reaching deep into the hidden dimension.
Her face was like ice; her fury had reached its peak.
Yet her cultivation was still insufficient; she could not pierce the barrier of space to pinpoint the Void Realm.
Unable to endure her humiliation, she shouted in wrath:
"Will you intervene in this matter of the Sea of Resentful Souls or not?
Will you stand idly by while I'm so disgraced?"
Her words carried a heavy surge of power, echoing throughout the Sea of Resentful Souls.
Only after a long silence did a lazy male voice answer:
"Little sister, why feign ignorance? This Yanfu Son coming to bleed you dry, what could be more natural?"
"These are matters between you and my brother-in-law's disciple. Why should I interfere?"
As he spoke, a phantom formed from power appeared before her, a dashing emperor in a robe of black-gold dragon patterns.
The Ghost Bride snapped coldly:
"Don't spew nonsense. Yanfu Realm is long shattered. The Sea of Resentful Souls and the three sects below divided Yanfu's remnants. The Yanfu Dao no longer exists.
"This man merely stumbled upon some ghost-driving arts. With a cave heaven in hand, he dares strut before me.
"My cultivation falls short; I can't drag out the hidden cave heaven. All I ask is that you hook it out for me. The rest I'll handle myself!"
The so-called Emperor of the Sea of Resentful Souls shook his head, helpless before his younger sister. At last, he raised his hand.
Of course, part of his decision came from the intruder's arrogance. To trespass here time and again if left unpunished, others might think the Sea of Resentful Souls nothing more than a public market.
He flicked his finger.
From his sleeve shot forth a white jade fishhook, which snagged the chittering Meat-Worm and cast it straight into the dimensional void, vanishing from sight.
This lazy emperor was, in truth, a second-rank powerhouse, the absolute ghost king who had seized the title of Underworld Wuchang Emperor.
By using the method of Fishing the Void within the realm itself, he could seek out hidden cave heavens with ease.
...
Meanwhile, Jing Qian had risked fire to snatch chestnuts from the blaze, finally abducting the ghost he had sought through three ventures into the Sea of Resentful Souls. His spirits soared with triumph.
He solemnly sealed the beautiful female ghost into the Void Furnace, to be refined with time until she could be fully subdued.
Once branded, a fifth-rank Earth Fiend ghost at his disposal would elevate his strength yet further.
Calling over Xili, he instructed:
"The furnace is crammed with ghosts now. To truly refine them, we'll need a great deal of Fate-Fire.
Sort through everything in the Void Realm. Classify it all clearly. Anything of sufficient grade, haul it to the Kitchen Hall and sell.
The rest I'll find a way to dispose of in the mortal world."
The Void Realm was cluttered with mountains of treasure materials and artifacts, accumulated from the countless storage treasures he had absorbed.
To him, they were useless junk. On the market, they were priceless resources for cultivation.
It was the perfect chance for him to cut off excess baggage, convert all of it into Fate-Fire, and turn that directly into power.
But just as he and Xili were carefully planning this, the lazy Good Corn suddenly bolted awake, shrieking:
"A hook! A hook is reaching for me!"
"Someone's trying to fish me!"
Jing Qian's heart jolted. In the next instant, he poured his full power into the Sumeru Life Pattern, sealing the Void Realm's defenses at maximum.
Yet as master of Sumeru, he saw it clearly: the dimensional barrier woven of Sumeru's power had been pierced.
A white jade fishhook thrust through, angling straight toward the Void Realm.
It radiated an overwhelming force far beyond what Jing Qian could resist.
Since his initiation into the Dao, he had run rampant with the backing of the Sumeru Cave Heaven.
This was the very first time anyone had breached it.
Jing Qian was on the verge of breaking down.
This was breaking defense in the most literal sense.
If not for Sumeru's protection, this eighth-rank junior cultivator would have been nothing more than a dandelion puff; one harsh breath from the great powers could scatter him into dust.
At that life-and-death instant, Good Corn leapt up and landed on top of Jing Qian's head.
It alone carried the highest pedigree here, being the true-seed descendant of a second-rank Void Mother Tree.
Facing such a terrifying enemy, Jing Qian is its greatest support.
It plucked off a single corn kernel and tossed it down before him. Jing Qian was struck with sudden inspiration and immediately shifted Sumeru's power from pure defense into a brand-new function.
At this moment of crisis, he opened his second fishing attempt into the Void!
A wormhole linking into a crossroads of time and space tore open upon the surface of the Void Realm.
This was the path the white jade hook was bound to travel.
Jing Qian then cast his own Fate Locking Needle, baited with Good Corn's kernel, and hurled it into the wormhole first.
His hook became a guiding beacon, and under Sumeru's power, the white jade hook failed to notice. It plunged in after his Fate Locking Needle.
A fishing friend had come knocking, and Jing Qian "warmly hosted," dragging the guest along to share the catch.
Generously, he even shared his secret fishing spot, one brimming with resources and fat fish.
Thus, the two hooks, one of a junior, one of an emperor, pierced into the Feathered Tuo Root World.
For the moment, Jing Qian narrowly escaped certain death.
But luck was ill for Feathered Tuo Root World. A small border realm, already fragile, had recently suffered when the Fishing Hermit hooked away a Qiongqi. In barely any time since, it has now suffered three fishing intrusions in succession.
Such frequency was rare across the heavens and myriad worlds!
Yet the great powers of Feathered Tuo Root World were no fools. Twice already, they had lost two of their most promising, noble-blooded heirs.
If a third loss came so soon, their realm itself might not endure.
So when Jing Qian's Fate Locking Needle punctured the realm's barrier, it was instantly spotted by watchful defenders.
A massive willow branch stretched down from the clouds, snaring his hook and holding it tight.
The branch writhed with sentience, binding both hook and line and even crept along the causal thread, extending toward the Void Realm itself.
This was the most dangerous moment for any Void fisherman.
Fail to catch your fish, and instead the bait drags you down, the roles reversed, angler and prey swapped.
Normally, Jing Qian would have fled long before, abandoning even the Fate Locking Needle spiritual construct if need be.
But this time, he was not alone.
The white jade hook followed closely after, plunging into Feathered Tuo Root World.
Unlike his fragile Fate Locking Needle, this jade hook was the work of a true second-rank sovereign.
As it entered the realm, it displayed unmatched might.
A flawless white phoenix surged forth with vast power to meet it, trying to seize and bind the hook.
But though this Brightmoon Heavenly Phoenix bore a heavenly-sealed title, its cultivation was only third-rank Heaven-Mender, no equal to an Emperor.
Even fighting on its home ground, it was dragged helplessly along.
Fortunately, a Blue-Faced Lion-Camel, another third-rank with a heavenly title, rushed to its side. Together, they strained against the jade hook's pull.
Two third-rank titled monsters, combining strength, barely managed to hold the Emperor's hook at bay.
"Interesting…"
From within the Sea of Resentful Souls, the Wuchang Emperor realized what had happened.
He had been chasing a petty thief, wandering the void, yet this brat was clever enough to divert disaster, dragging him straight into another realm.
But he did not resent it. In fact, he was delighted.
A foreign realm was worth far more than a mere thief.
To stumble into it so easily, his luck was overflowing.
No longer restraining himself, the jade hook unleashed its full might.
The phoenix and lion-camel felt their fragile balance collapse. Both were about to be dragged away.
Just then, three overwhelming forces erupted from within the Feathered Tuo Root World. They poured into the phoenix, lion-camel, and willow branch, bolstering them with tremendous strength.
Looking closer, the realm's three great clans winged, scaled, and rooted had activated their grand formations, channeling the power of many great beasts to reinforce their champions.
With the arrays' aid, the phoenix and lion-camel swelled with power, regaining ground. Inch by inch, they even pulled the jade hook several yards back, locking both sides in a fierce stalemate.
But Jing Qian was finished.
He was no match for the third-rank willow tree to begin with. Now that it was strengthened further, his situation crumbled. Dragged toward the edge of the Void Realm, he teetered on the brink of being pulled into the abyss.
Above his head, the corn sprout shrieked hysterically, enduring its first true brush with death, crying for help loud enough to echo through the void.
As Jing Qian braced to open his Sword Casket, prepared to sever his losses like a warrior cutting off his arm…
Another hook pierced in from the side.
It latched onto the willow branch, yanking it outward, away from the Void Realm.
This hook was critical; it had just saved Jing Qian's life.
And he knew its master.
It was none other than the Dragon Angler, lord of the Zhuo Ling Cave Heaven, another second-rank power.
This realm had first been discovered by the Dragon Angler, and with the clash now blazing, how could a veteran fisherman resist joining?
Now three anglers had their hooks in the waters, turning this fishing hole into a storm of chaos.
Freed from imminent capture, Jing Qian grew docile, suppressing his aura to the utmost, hiding himself.
But even as he did, new upheaval stirred within the Feathered Tuo Root World…
-support me in Patreon for more chapter, 55+ chapters in there
patreon.com/LordoftheReader