Chapter 265: Wandering Souls

“Alright, alright! Today, I’ll show you exactly what you—”

Thud!

An arm silently pierced through his chest. Chen Luo, who had been facing him moments before, now stood behind him, the entire movement so seamless that the Boulder Peak Master hadn’t detected even a ripple of magical energy.

“Primordial Qi of Heaven and Earth? Core Formation?” A flicker of shock crossed the Boulder Peak Master’s eyes. The magical energy he had just summoned was forcibly dispersed, and the stone in his hand, charged with sparks of fire, was now in Chen Luo’s possession. All his preparations had been rendered useless. Strangely, he could sense a faint trace of the Primordial Qi of Heaven and Earth emanating from Chen Luo.

Isn’t that qi only accessible to Core Formation cultivators? he wondered. And what is that sliver of silver…?

Chen Luo offered no explanations.

With a sickening crack, the Boulder Peak Master’s neck snapped like a brittle twig. With a flick of his Soul Banner, Chen Luo collected the Boulder Peak Master’s Divine Soul, along with his Magic Artifacts and the Pouch of Holding he had seized the previous night.

The entire process was effortless, without the slightest ripple of resistance.

For Chen Luo, killing a Boulder Peak Master who had exhausted most of his spiritual energy was trivial. During his seven years at the God Lake Immortal Sect, he had faced opponents like the Sect Leader of the Corpse-Raising Sect and the Valley Master of Nine Poisons Valley—both Core Formation cultivators!

Although Chen Luo had mostly been on the defensive during his previous encounters with the Corpse Kings, he had still managed to reach their level. Now, turning back to kill the Boulder Peak Master, who hadn’t even condensed a Pseudo-Core Seed, felt like bullying a child. Moreover, for added security, Chen Luo had borrowed the power of the Silver Carapace Corpse King.

After withdrawing his palm and stowing the Soul Banner, Chen Luo pressed his hand onto the Boulder Peak Master’s head.

Retrieve.

A pale gray energy surged into his palm, successfully adding one to his tally of external brains.

The Boulder Peak Master’s Lingering Will was surprisingly weak, consisting of only one fragment. Having cultivated to such a level, he had long been aware of his lifespan. Before departing for the Sect, he had resolved all his other attachments, leaving only this final Lingering Will unfulfilled.

After absorbing the Lingering Will, Chen Luo grabbed the Boulder Peak Master’s corpse and tossed it over the edge, mimicking the man’s actions from the previous night.

A burial on the Flying Boat would be too conspicuous. Besides, there was no soil for a grave.

Buzz!

The wooden Giant Whale Flying Boat shimmered with a pale golden light, its camouflage patterns deepening as it seemed to transform into a semi-transparent creature. Aboard the vessel, everyone could feel its speed increasing.

“We’re entering the Bridge of Helplessness,” Zhao Long announced, his expression darkening as he swiftly suppressed his aura.

Looking up, they saw the sky above had plunged into complete darkness, all light extinguished except for the spectral Spirit Fire that flickered like burning bone ash. Below, countless grayish-white shadows emerged from the abyss, spreading across the horizon like an endless swarm of ants. At the forefront loomed a massive cliff waterfall, its pitch-black waters cascading into the abyss. A dilapidated, crimson wooden bridge stretched from the dark river toward a gray landmass shrouded in thick mist, its blurred contours vaguely resembling a temple.

A Ghost Temple?

Chen Luo’s thoughts drifted to the place where his old brother Han Jiu had fallen—a Ghost Temple that even the Spring-Autumn Gu couldn’t withstand, a place of absolute ill omen. No wonder even a True Immortal from the Qiong Hua Sect had failed to resolve this place.

Fueled by the burning spirit essence, the Flying Boat surged forward at blistering speed.

Fortune and misfortune have no gate; humans alone invite them. The retribution for good and evil follows as closely as a shadow.

A cacophony of eerie sounds rose from below. Everyone on the Flying Boat sat cross-legged, channeling their cultivation techniques to resist the unsettling noises.

Chen Luo also felt a disturbance in his Divine Soul. It was as if someone were chanting sutras incessantly into his ear, accompanied by the mournful tones of a suona, the rhythmic tapping of a wooden fish drum, and the jingling of copper bells. An uncontrollable irritability washed over him, threatening to induce hallucinations or even cause his three souls to leave his body.

“Senior Brother! Don’t listen to those sounds! There’s a great demon behind them!” Mei Qin said with difficulty, her eyes barely open as she saw Chen Luo still gazing at the Ghost Temple below.

“I’m fine,” Chen Luo replied.

He wasn’t actually observing the wooden bridge or the Ghost Temple. Instead, he was communicating with the Mummified Brain within his mind. The moment he laid eyes on the Bridge of Helplessness, the Mummified Brain instantly transmitted a message:

From the Mummified Brain’s perspective, the area below was a cultivation ground imbued with an alternate form of Spiritual Energy.

Ghost Cultivators…

Chen Luo recalled Xue Ning, the woman who had summoned the Ghost Temple during his assassination attempt on Roshana. He had sensed something unnatural about her then, and now it clicked: she was likely a Ghost Cultivator.

Apart from the Mummified Brain, all the other externalized brains, including Chen Luo’s, could only discern vague outlines of the grey land, resembling temples or palace complexes.

“Something is approaching from the lower left,” the Immortal Sect Leader suddenly transmitted.

“A Yin Soul wielding a sword is behind us to the right,” the Core Formation brain from the Cave of White Immortal provided a clearer warning.

Chen Luo held back, unsure of the creatures’ capabilities. Moments later, the Giant Whale Flying Boat’s protective restrictions flickered, alerting the cultivators piloting the vessel.

“Something’s coming,” Zhao Long warned. He swiftly retrieved two sheets of talisman paper from his Pouch of Holding, forcefully suppressing the spiritual disturbance affecting his Divine Soul, and ignited them with a surge of spiritual energy.

The upper halves of the talismans instantly burst into flames, their crimson incantations shimmering like fresh blood.

Boom!

The talismans struck the Yin Souls squarely. Instead of exploding into fire, they transformed into glowing red ropes that tightly bound the spectral figures. The lightning-fast Yin Souls had no time to react and crashed headfirst into the Flying Boat’s protective barrier.

Zhao Long swiftly leaped up, seized the two Yin Souls, and landed gracefully.

The commotion jolted everyone out of their meditative states. Except for two Foundation Establishment cultivators in the early stage, the rest of the group gathered around. Including Chen Luo, there were seven of them.

As they approached, they noticed that these Yin Souls were unlike the banesouls they associated with Soul Cultivators. Their faces were pale, and their bodies were translucent. A bone-chilling cold emanated from them, a cold that pierced deep into their Divine Souls.

Chen Luo was intrigued. He wondered how these Yin Souls had formed and whether they would enhance his Soul Banner if absorbed.

“Don’t kill them!” Mei Qin warned urgently. “If a Yin Soul dies, the entity below will sense it.”

Thump!

Before Chen Luo could respond, the two Foundation Establishment cultivators who had been sitting cross-legged, resisting the ambient sound, suddenly collapsed backward onto the ground. The group turned to see their faces frozen in a ghastly blue pallor, as if they had succumbed to extreme cold. Yet their bodies showed no visible injuries. They had inexplicably perished, leaving no trace of how they had been attacked.

The Flying Boat continued its journey, carrying its seven passengers in tense silence.

“Their souls are gone,” a female cultivator said gravely, crouching to examine the two dead disciples.

“Who killed them?”

“I don’t know.”

The female cultivator shook her head. Chen Luo also studied the corpses.

The Ghost Temple collects souls. These two have been seized and turned into Wandering Soldiers to fill the vacant positions. The Mummified Brain observed and narrated the events with detached objectivity.

It was precisely this complete lack of understanding of how the attack occurred that was so terrifying.

Nether Souls are top-grade materials for Soul Banners and can be captured as needed. As long as the Soul Token remains intact, the Ghost Temple won’t detect the transgression.

Could they really be used to refine Soul Banners?

Chen Luo memorized the term “Soul Token” and resolved to personally capture a Yin Soul Patrolman.

Before long, three more Wandering Soldiers flew toward them.

This time, Chen Luo didn’t wait for Zhao Long to act. Spiritual energy surged from his arm, coalescing into three massive, ethereal hands that seized the Yin Souls mid-flight. Trapped within the glowing grasps, the struggling spirits emitted spiritual energy fluctuations comparable to nearly ten spiritual energy dragons.

It was no wonder the two Qiong Hua Sect disciples couldn’t withstand it; the combined power of ten spiritual energy dragons already surpassed the early Foundation Establishment stage.

Chen Luo seized the three Yin Soul Patrolmen, dragged them onto the Flying Boat, and used his magical energy to compress them into three gray orbs. At the core of each orb, he found the so-called “Soul Tokens”—small, thumb-sized amulets.

He retrieved the three Soul Tokens and tossed them aside.

“Senior Brother!”

“Senior Brother Chen, please don’t act rashly!”

Seeing Chen Luo’s actions, everyone panicked. Killing Wandering Soldiers on the Bridge of Helplessness was practically suicide. A Wood True Man had attempted such a feat in the past, only to vanish without a trace.

Ignoring their pleas, Chen Luo grabbed the three Yin Soul orbs and threw them into the Soul Banner, along with the red-haired woman he had snatched from the Boulder Peak Master earlier. With four substantial banesouls suddenly added, the aura emanating from the banner’s surface intensified considerably.

“A Soul Refiner?”

Seeing the Soul Banner in Chen Luo’s hand, a flicker of awe appeared in the eyes of Zhao Long and the others. Only a madman would dare to refine souls!

Fortunately, the anticipated disaster didn’t materialize. Discarding the Soul Tokens had indeed avoided attracting the Ghost Temple’s attention. A collective sigh of relief swept through the group, and Zhao Long’s eyes began to gleam with ambition. He grabbed the two Yin Souls he had previously restrained, preparing to emulate Chen Luo’s method of extracting their Soul Tokens for refining.

High-quality Yin Souls like these would fetch a handsome price back at the sect.

“You’d better not do that,” Chen Luo warned. He had only managed to extract the tokens with guidance from the Mummified Brain. If Zhao Long and his companions tried to imitate him, they would undoubtedly trigger the tokens, alerting whatever lurked within the Ghost Temple.

“Whatever’s inside these Yin Soul Patrolmen is connected to the big guy down below.”

Zhao Long’s hand froze mid-action. He coveted the potential gains, but his desire to survive outweighed it.