Chapter Eleven: The Mysterious Soul-Nourishing Tower

  ……

  After a while, the yin soul still maintained its semi-transparent and pale white state. Any spirit ghost, when making this identification, will present a hint of golden yellow. The higher the quality of the spirit ghost, the more intense the golden color is. If it's an extremely high-quality spirit ghost, almost the entire body is golden. As for the highest quality Tianling Ghost, not only is the whole body golden, but also has a dark gold color that is dull yet full of texture. Seeing no hint of golden color in this pale white mass, Leidong's heart couldn't help but feel a wave of disappointment, yet still had some lingering hope. After repeated identification, it was confirmed that this was undoubtedly an inferior ghost.

  But any inferior ghost, has almost no value at all. Unless some cannon fodder is needed, there are not many cultivators of the Ghost Controlling Technique who would use their heart and soul to refine such an inferior ghost.

  However, disappointment is just that - disappointment. The frustrating thoughts didn't linger in Leidong's mind for long. After all, a Linggui was something that could be encountered but not sought after. Leidong hadn't really expected to catch one either; capturing the first Yīn Hún would already be considered top-grade, an extremely rare and precious spirit. That was even more unlikely than buying just one lottery ticket and expecting to win the jackpot.

  For the time being, he didn't deal with that inferior ghost, but instead continued to practice his breathing exercises. This time, Lei Dong learned from his mistakes and waited until late at night before sprinting towards the chaotic burial mound. His luck was still pretty good this time around, and after circling around the outer perimeter for about half an hour, he encountered a yin soul. Following the same procedure as before, he heavily injured it and absorbed it into the Nurturing Soul Tower. Since he was more familiar with the process than last night, he only needed one strike to injure that yin soul. After completing the battle, Lei Dong's Xuan Yin True Qi still had a bit more than half left over.

  After a brief hesitation, he ran far away and recovered to 80% of his original strength. Taking advantage of the fact that it was still dark, he caught another yin soul. Only then did he return to the Wangu City Inn with some fatigue. It took him an entire day, until the evening of the second day, to recover all his energy. Upon introspection, he saw that the Xuan Yin True Energy in his body had become slightly more refined. He felt a sense of enlightenment, thinking that this was the result of constantly fighting and consuming energy, and then replenishing it, which triggered a spark of potential.

  The human body is the most exquisite thing in the world. Cultivating the truth also means constantly stimulating the potential energy within the human body. Scientists before the Thunder Movement had already studied how humans can tap into their hidden potential to adapt to new environments or respond to danger, driven by instinct to survive. Most sects in this world acknowledge this point. Otherwise, they wouldn't use rich rewards to entice disciples to take on dangerous tasks to temper and uncover their potential. If not, it would be safer for everyone to just stay home and cultivate in seclusion. In fact, all sects know that even if someone has excellent qualifications, without experiencing the trials of wind and rain, they will find it difficult to become a great talent. Which ancestor on the Golden Elixir Great Path hasn't achieved success after going through countless life-and-death tests? On the path of cultivating the truth, there are countless checkpoints. Even with good qualifications, relying solely on practicing qigong and meditation won't guarantee breaking through each one.

  In any case, this is a good thing. To improve one's cultivation even by a single thread or hair is something to be delighted in.

  However, with joy comes worry, after busily capturing two Yin spirits for half the night, they were still low-value inferior ghosts.

  Thus, Lei Dong lingered in the vicinity of Wan Gui Cheng's burial grounds for over three months. As he became more adept at controlling the Ink Green Sword and the Nourishing Soul Tower, the amount of Xuan Yin True Qi consumed each time decreased. His cultivation also grew day by day, although it was still far from reaching the level where he could break through to the second layer of the Refining Qi stage. However, it had improved significantly compared to before.

  From catching two Yin souls in one night at first, to finally catching seven in one night. In the soul tower that Lei Dong was moving, 480 inferior ghosts had been installed. Indeed, they were all inferior ghosts. The probability of a spiritual ghost was so low that it made Lei Dong almost cry and laugh. Although he knew clearly that among ten thousand inferior ghosts, there might be only one spiritual ghost. He had caught nearly five hundred inferior ghosts, but no spiritual ghost was an extremely normal thing. However, when this low probability really happened to him, he still couldn't help feeling a sense of loss.

  However, apart from the inferior ghost, there were some gains. After wandering in the chaotic burial mound for three months, I picked up a few things: a Ghost Face Mushroom with dozens of years of fire, dozens of Soul-Devouring Grass, and a broken shield-type artifact. Except for the shield-type artifact, the rest were sold directly in the City of Ten Thousand Ghosts. Although the total value was far from being worth one Spirit Stone, I still obtained three bottles of Minor Cultivation Elixir.

  As for the shield-shaped artifact, Lei Dong decided to keep it for himself, provided he could repair it. Back in the Wan Gui Cave, he learned from the door seal that Chen Ge had already left and left many messages for him. Only then did he know that Chen Ge had accepted a mission, which they had originally planned to complete together as three people. However, after waiting for Lei Dong for too long without his return, fearing they would miss the deadline, Chen Ge went ahead alone. Of course, at this point in time, they still hadn't returned.

  He took the broken shield to the old man in the refining room, who appraised it with a look of annoyance and said it was a low-grade defensive artifact. He opened his mouth and asked for one spirit stone as the repair fee, which almost made Lei Dong kick him in the face. During this time, he also gained some experience and knew that an ordinary low-grade artifact was worth at most one or two spirit stones. The old man's repair fee alone was already one spirit stone, which was simply extortionate. Of course, spirit ghosts could also be bought and sold. Unfortunately, the price of a low-quality, un-blood-refined low-grade spirit ghost had already reached the sky-high price of ten spirit stones, which was far beyond Chen Ge's budget.

  Returning to his residence with a huff, Lei Dong decided to carefully study the sufficient number of inferior ghosts he had obtained. He had made up his mind that if he couldn't research the special effects of the Soul Tower, he would willingly sacrifice a few inferior ghosts to increase his own strength first. After all, without a spirit ghost, he couldn't keep wasting away like this, even if Chen Ge was willing to bring him along on tasks, it would still be dragging others down. As for the spirit ghost, he would slowly search for one after increasing his strength.

  A slightly unpleasant mood seeped into the Nurturing Soul Tower, gazing at the densely packed inferior ghosts inside. A wave of suffocation washed over his head as he wondered how not a single superior ghost could emerge from such a large number of inferior ones. The greatest difference between superior and inferior ghosts wasn't just that the former had potential for continuous growth in power. Most importantly, after a blood sacrifice, a superior ghost's strength would surge instantly, and with good luck, they might even gain some sort of innate magical ability.

  Of course, it's not that inferior ghosts are completely worthless. In fact, with Leidong's current strength in the first layer of the Refining Qi period, he can handle one or two inferior ghosts, but if he is surrounded by three or four at once, it will be a tough situation. If Leidong were to blood sacrifice an inferior ghost and fight against other first-layer Refining Qi cultivators, he would have a significant advantage.

  Unfortunately, as everyone's cultivation realm improves, the inferior ghosts don't stay in place, but their growth is limited. How can Lei Dong bear this? More importantly, blood sacrifices are extremely costly in terms of essence and energy. Often, after sacrificing a single yin soul, it takes about half a month to recover, during which time a lot of nourishment needs to be supplemented. Using blood sacrifices on inferior ghosts that aren't useful is simply heart-wrenching.

  Both soul-recovery towers were taken out, and the vast majority of inferior ghosts had recovered to their best state under the nourishment of the soul-recovery tower. Leidong transferred a spirited inferior ghost into the mysterious soul-recovery tower with great expectation. Then he immediately merged his mind with the mysterious soul-recovery tower to observe the effect.

  That originally plump and full-bodied yin soul evil spirit, as soon as it entered the mysterious Soul Nourishing Tower, was like a wild beast encountering a wildfire, letting out sharp wails as it wildly ran about, with white mist rising from its body. Seeing this, Lei Dong's spirits lifted, and he continued to observe carefully. Before long, that yin soul's color gradually darkened, as if its spiritual energy had been sucked dry, curled up in a corner and whimpering.

  About an hour later, the yin soul completely dissipated without a trace. After watching for half a day, Leidong still couldn't figure out what was going on. He continued to throw in another yin soul, and after more than an hour, the same process repeated itself. After doing this ten or so times, Leidong finally became somewhat annoyed, and with one breath, he sent hundreds of inferior ghosts into the tower. Anyway, these inferior ghosts were worthless, but he wanted to see just how many yin souls this mysterious Soul Tower needed to devour before it was full?

  Suddenly, a burst of thunder shook his heart. Could it be that this Soul Nurturing Tower was actually devouring the yin souls?

  ……