Demon Cultivator in Abyssal Era

Chu Xiu spread out his Divine Sense and cautiously descended.

The inner area was vast and boundless. Chu Xiu’s Divine Sense couldn’t even reach the end, resembling a dark valley devoid of life. As the two descended, the concentration of Yin Qi sharply increased. Even with the Jiang Family’s cold-resisting artifact, both felt a slight chill.

Finally, after several more minutes, the two reached the bottom.

At this moment, the concentration of Yin Qi here was a thousand times that of the outer world, even forming a faint mist. Here, Chu Xiu’s Divine Sense could only extend up to five hundred meters at most, something he’d never imagined possible with such a thick concentration of Yin Qi.

Chu Xiu thought for a moment and decided to wave his hand, releasing the ghosts from his Soul Banner. Once these ghosts appeared, they began greedily absorbing the surrounding Yin Qi like fish in water, their Soul Bodies visibly becoming more solid.

This made Chu Xiu sigh, the Hundred Demons Melting Furnace World is indeed a paradise for ghosts.

With this level of Yin Qi concentration, if Chu Xiu let the ghosts from his Soul Banner roam freely for three years, their average Level would likely rise by at least four or five Levels.

Thus, Chu Xiu began nourishing the ghosts while exploring the inner layer. Within less than a quarter of an hour, he already found two more materials and four General Tier ghost creatures.

”These two hundred and fifty billion were surely well spent,” thought Chu Xiu with satisfaction.

Of course, the inheritance site isn’t easy to find. Chu Xiu was a bit lucky to have found it. Others, like the two Heroic Spirits who started their exploration earlier than him, have yet to find the location of the inheritance site.

This also made Chu Xiu realize the importance of teamwork and intelligence. Without Jiang Miaoyin, he would be wandering like a headless fly, with probably much less gain.

While Chu Xiu was pondering, he suddenly felt a blast of Yin wind on his face. This wasn’t something unusual, given the dense Yin Qi and countless irregular air currents intertwining at this valley’s bottom, creating a complicated fluid state.

However, what puzzled Chu Xiu was that this gust of Yin wind did not dissipate immediately as usual; instead, it grew stronger.

It seemed as if some force in front was pushing these air currents.

Realizing something, Chu Xiu quickly collected all his ghosts and took Jiang Miaoyin to a corner. Moments later, not only did the wind not die down, but it became even more intense!

In the distance came sounds like ancient horns, melding into the Yin wind as if the furious wind itself were roaring and howling in anger, making one’s skin crawl.

A short while later, an unbelievably large creature appeared before the two.

It floated in the air like a whale swimming, yet it was thousands, tens of thousands of times larger than a whale. Even the Celestial Dragons Chu Xiu had seen in the Ancient Trials could not compare!

The two hid under an overhanging rock, barely catching the silhouette of the massive creature swimming overhead, feeling like they were waiting for a luxurious supertanker to pass.

It was a full five minutes before that enormous figure disappeared from their sight.

”It must be at least twenty kilometers long, right?” Jiang Miaoyin marveled quietly, ”I can’t believe I was right, this surely is a [Heroic Spirit] ghost creature!”

”No,” Chu Xiu surprisingly shook his head, ”[Heroic Spirit] level ghosts are called Ghost Kings, and it’s extremely difficult for a ghost to advance to become a Ghost King. If they could advance merely by accumulating Yin Qi, the Exorcist Civilization wouldn’t have failed to cultivate a single Ghost King in all these years.”

”Even if a [Heroic Spirit] level ghost does exist, it would be in the Nine Great Sacred Lands.”

”The gigantic form of this ghost is merely because the growth of its Soul Body has expanded beyond the constraints of biological structures.”

”Is that so?” Jiang Miaoyin scratched her head, ”So that creature...is just puffed up?”

”It’s not that,” Chu Xiu chuckled, ”It just means its Tier is still King Tier. In a real battle, it may not be any weaker than a typical Heroic Spirit, especially in large-scale battlefields where it can be far more useful than an average Heroic Spirit.”

”I’ve encountered such opponents before. Although just at King Tier, defeating it head-on was almost impossible.”

Chu Xiu recalled the Earth Dragon and Celestial Dragon. Against the former, his True Sin Punishing Demon Saber could barely leave a scratch on its massive body; the latter forced him to nearly self-destruct all his ghosts to barely stop it.

In reality, Chu Xiu only destroyed the control of the Celestial Dragon. To kill it in its complete form, even tripling his Ghostly Legion might not suffice.

Enemies of that level could, quite unexaggeratedly, be called [Heroic Spirits].

”What should we do now, senior?” Jiang Miaoyin asked.

Chu Xiu thought for a moment and said, ”The ghost creatures’ strength in this inner layer area exceeded my expectations. Fighting here could cause unknown variables. Let’s sweep the resources in the outer layer first.”

”Alright!” Jiang Miaoyin’s eyes lit up, ”Then, senior, about my earlier proposal...”

”What I find will be entirely mine; what you find will be divided 80/20,” said Chu Xiu.

”Yay!” Jiang Miaoyin’s eyes gleamed brighter as she sweetly exclaimed, ”Thank you, senior!”

Though 80/20 may seem harsh, it’s actually a huge opportunity. Without Chu Xiu’s shielding, Jiang Miaoyin wouldn’t dare venture deep into the inheritance site.

Though in her usual collaborations with other Heroic Spirits it’s around the same ratio, Jiang Miaoyin understood that was for her family’s sake. For Chu Xiu to offer her a twenty percent share far exceeded her expectations.

She playfully blinked, ”Senior, turns out even though you’re usually aloof, you do cherish past bonds.”

Chu Xiu gestured dismissively, ”It’s just to expedite the exploration. Don’t slack off.”

The enormous inheritance Blessed Land had a depth of at least twenty to thirty kilometers, forming an absurdly large three-dimensional space when combined with its area. Try as he might, on his own, Chu Xiu figured it would take half a year to thoroughly search this section.

Jiang Miaoyin’s response, meanwhile, had her softly smiling, ”Don’t worry, with you treating me so well, senior, I’ll certainly give my all and not let you down.”

Chu Xiu always felt this girl seemed inclined to make ambiguous remarks but could only resign to a helpless wave of his hand before summoning ghosts from his Soul Banner, outlining a rough plan, and began searching along the rock wall.

Jiang Miaoyin, meanwhile, sat on one of Chu Xiu’s refined corpses, with Instantaneous’ mother body hovering above her. Numerous Instantaneous offspring kept pouring out, swimming in all directions.

However, clearly, the high concentration of Yin Qi greatly affected Instantaneous’ performance. Shortly after leaving the mother body, their speed noticeably slowed. A layer of ice crystals visibly covered their surface, spreading into Instantaneous’ gelatinous interior, as if to fully encase it soon.

Jiang Miaoyin gave a low shout, and numerous inscriptions floated off her fair skin into the surrounding Instantaneous. With the inscriptions’ reinforcement, their bodies rapidly transformed, gaining a Yin Qi-shielding layer instead of being gelatinous and transparent. A small flame ignited within them, making them resemble Kongming Lanterns floating in the air from a distance.

More astonishingly, the Instantaneous continued transforming. Within a mere quarter-hour, not only had their skin thickened, but they even grew nearly Soul-Type wings to absorb Yin Qi as a fuel source!

”Impressive,” Chu Xiu couldn’t help but praise.

Yet performing such powerful Divine Techniques was obviously no easy matter for Jiang Miaoyin. Her face paled, breath weakened, shrinking her frame, making her appear pitiable.

Chu Xiu thought for a moment, then with a wide gesture, created a barrier of Demonic Qi around her to further isolate the surrounding Yin Qi.

”Thank you, senior,” Jiang Miaoyin said, a hint of scheming triumph flashing in her eyes.

Unperturbed, Chu Xiu merely commanded his ghosts to disseminate and focused on searching the nearby area.

As time went on, the two continued exploring the Blessed Land at ease, making new discoveries almost daily.

Materials, ghost creatures, and even the corpses of exorcists who perished here two thousand years ago, along with their damaged artifacts and equipment.

While exploring, Chu Xiu also ensured his ghosts absorbed Yin Qi for cultivation. Although normal cultivation was surely much slower than Devouring Soul Bodies, it still added up over time for a notable enhancement.

In this way, Chu Xiu welcomed a rare period of peaceful reflection, spending three months immersed in focused exploration and cultivation, the time fleeting by.