The Master of Beasts-Chapter 708 - 210:

"Inside..."

Shaking his head, Hei Mu was at a loss for words: "City Lord, you should see for yourself. It's not dangerous, but what's inside is quite horrifying."

"Oh, then I'll take a look!"

"Boom"

A sturdy Zuyan was the first to land at the bottom of the large pit, a trace of annoyance on its rough, large face. Such a cold environment was really not to Zuyan's liking.

Shaking off its large foot that was stained with something unknown, Zuyan's eyes emitted a hint of golden light. After carefully surveying the surroundings, it said dully, "No danger."

Chen Jiuge, standing at the edge of the pit, heard Zuyan's voice before slowly descending to the bottom.

"Boom"

A bright torch appeared in Chen Jiuge's hand. His eyes narrowed as he crouched down, dabbing the black liquid on the ground. In a deep voice, he said, "Is this ghost blood?"

"Isn't this amount a bit exaggerated?"

Ghost monsters also have blood, but the total amount of a ghost's blood is only about one-tenth that of a human's. Yet, this wide passageway was covered in ghost blood. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

This amount of ghost blood would require at least tens of thousands of ghosts to be drained!

Walking on the sticky ghost blood pathway, Chen Jiuge and Zuyan continued to the end of the passageway, where they were confronted with extremely narrow cages, each only large enough to hold a child of about ten years old.

"Hmm?"

Passing by rows of empty cages, Chen Jiuge suddenly spotted a dark, gleaming single horn in a corner.

The horn wasn't big, only about ten centimeters long, with a bit of dark flesh still attached.

"This should be a Shadow Ghost's horn!"

Ghost monsters have appeared for many years and have naturally been named by cultivators to facilitate dealing with them when encountered.

The abilities of Shadow Ghosts are noteworthy among ghost monsters. They have a single horn whose power resembles the shadow manipulation technique from Naruto. Once hit by the invisible light emitted from the horn, a cultivator cannot move and Shadow Ghosts are one of the more troublesome ghost monsters.

"Master, here!"

Zuyan, who had gone ahead, suddenly let out an exclamation!

Chen Jiuge quickly advanced to the secret chamber where Zuyan was.

What appeared were numerous torture devices. Judging by their grotesque designs, it was clear what effect these devices had on the tortured.

The torture devices were covered with congealed dark blood, and with a little force, one could break off solid pieces of dried blood.

Pushing open a small door in the corner of the chamber, inside were the corpses of some cultivators. These bodies were particularly shriveled, and some had even been gnawed on, leaving only pitiful remnants.

On the dark bed lay a Shadow Ghost corpse with its belly cut open. Nearby lay another corpse, supine on the ground, clutching a piece of jade tightly in its hand.

Pulling out the jade, Chen Jiuge began to read.

"Day one, after numerous ghost monster tests, it appears ghosts have the same senses as humans, but their senses are relatively duller or more subtle!"

"Day seven, I've made a very important discovery. Some ghosts with solid soul bodies can merge with some immortal weapons to become their artifact spirit, but this requires the ghost to be in extreme pain!"

"This is hard to achieve. A ghost's senses are awfully dull, but thankfully, not all ghosts are like this. The Shadow Ghost is an exception, and I believe more ghosts will be different. I need a lot of ghosts!"

What followed in the jade were records of tests on the senses of numerous ghost monsters. Pain was the most convenient and fastest method.

Reading the records of various cruel tests made Chen Jiuge somewhat nauseous. If he were to witness it in person, he thought he might vomit. It was simply too brutal!

Further on, Chen Jiuge found that he couldn't read the contents of the jade anymore. It must have been recorded using the Puppet Sect's secret technique, containing very important information that probably couldn't be shown to outsiders.

On the last few pages, new text appeared.

"Something's wrong, very wrong. Clearly, in earlier tests, these ghost monsters were compliant, but now I feel their glare isn't right!"

"Wait, these puppets, these ghost puppets are glaring at me strangely."

"Yes, they want to kill me. Hahaha, but that's impossible. The core of these spiritual puppets is under my control – they're merely the artifact spirits of the puppets!"

"But their gaze is really disheartening. It seems I must enhance the refinement of the ghost's spirituality, making them obedient!"

In less than a year, the recorded contents had begun to change drastically.

"I was wrong. Although ghost monsters are diverse, they're fundamentally the same, and there actually is kin recognition among them."

"For the Puppet Sect and for my wife and children in the city, I had no choice but to completely seal this place off. Despite my great sacrifice, some still blame me!"

"Hahaha, I want to kill them, these wastes, these wastes....."

After several hundred words of bizarre ramblings, the jade came to its final page.

"What have I done, I actually killed all my fellow disciples, just like with the ghost monsters, draining their blood dry!"

"I'm probably going to die. I have a big suspicion – maybe ghosts can't be killed. The ghost monsters we've slain aren't really dead, they merely returned to the underworld, but this needs time to verify."

"For those who come later, I've already left a warning in the city. If you find yourself here, be wary of ghost monsters; they're not as fragile as they appear!"

"Finally, be especially careful of ghost puppets. They harbor great malice towards humans and are driven solely by slaughter!"

After reading to the end, Chen Jiuge felt a chill in his limbs: "Ghost monsters can't die?"

Shaking his head, Chen Jiuge muttered to himself: "Impossible, absolutely impossible. If ghost monsters truly couldn't be killed, why haven't those ancient ghost monsters reappeared over the years?"

"Perhaps the priority now is to escape and deal with the ghost puppet, the true culprit of all this devastation!"

"And what exactly is the spiritual puppet mentioned above? After combining with ghost monsters, they are actually capable of annihilating entire Puppet Sect cities. Isn't that power too exaggerated?"

"Forget it, anyway, there's probably nothing important here, let's leave it for now!"

......

In a lush and verdant forest, vibrant spirit birds flitted among the treetops, their clear calls continuously echoing through the air.

Yet, in such a vibrant place, three humanoid creatures were starkly out of place!

"Crackling"

The fragmented armor clattered and clinked. Three bloodstained suits of armor sat cross-legged beneath a towering tree.

"Mei, what do we do next?" The black armor emitted a steely voice.

The silver-white armor, Mei, seemed to be daydreaming and did not respond.

The blue armor let out a ghostly laugh: "What do we do? Of course, we continue to kill!"

The strange laugh seemed to awaken the daydreaming Mei.

"Wang, don't be impatient, take it slow!"

The blue armor, Wang, emitted a red glow from its eyes, and its armor plates quivered: "Don't be impatient, Mei, have you forgotten the cries of our kin?"

"Wang, that's not what Mei meant!" Liang pressed down on Wang's trembling body, speaking in a low tone.

"Liang, what do you mean by this?" Wang retorted unhappily.

"Why should we listen to Mei? You have the strongest power, let's go on a killing spree together and let humans taste the pain of losing loved ones, shall we?"

"I don't mind!" Mei shrugged indifferently.

Liang placed a faintly forceful hand on Wang's shoulder, producing a tooth-aching sound: "Wang, I hope you won't say such things in the future. Now, we three are the only true kin!"

"With this appearance, do you think our kin in the underworld will still accept us?"

Wang's body relaxed, and the glow in his eyes dimmed: "Probably not."

"Then listen to Mei. Mei has the best mind among us; you must believe in her!"

"Alright, so what do you say we do next?"

Mei lifted the silver-white helmet, extending a slender, silver-white hand, as sunlight filtered through the dense canopy, sparkling in her palm!

"What a wonderful world this is. Shouldn't we experience the life of cultivators in the True Realm?"

"Hmm?" Both Wang and Liang looked surprised. Could they really experience the life of cultivators in the True Realm?

Mei gently said, "Isn't there something called a Dao Artifact among the Immortal Weapons in the True Realm? Maybe we could be Dao Artifacts too!"