Chapter 181: Chapter 151: Bing Ding Fire Usurps Sunlight and Moonlight; Marriage is Decreed by Fate

Yin creatures are formless by nature, making them extremely difficult to kill completely.

Qi Cultivation Cultivators who have not yet opened their Primordial Gate, solidified their Brain God, or learned any Technique and Daoist Skill are typically helpless against them.

This is also why Fierce Ghosts often claim lives in the mortal world, and why Mortals can only seek help from Cultivators.

The charlatan Daoists of the martial world know, at most, a few tricks from the Fire Manipulation Technique. How could they possibly deal with a yin spirit that has gained some power?

Especially in [Fengdu], some ghosts have achieved success in their Cultivation. Turbid yin converges, baleful qi gathers, and they form solid bodies that are even harder than refined iron. They cannot be killed by the blades of Magical Artifacts, making them all the more difficult to handle.

Just like the tiger-headed Fierce Fiend before them, Yang Xun was channeling all his power into the Black Slaughter Lock. The heavy, python-like iron rings vibrated violently, but it was as if they were lashing against a giant statue cast from bronze and forged from iron. At most, they kicked up a few sparks, unable to cause any fundamental damage.

Unless one used a Ding Fire Dao Skill. However, the countless Ghost Countries in the bottomless abyss were all formed from an endless accumulation of dense, baleful yin. Human Cultivators were unable to absorb Spiritual Energy here to replenish their Primordial Essence.

This shift in power allowed the ghostly yin creatures to run rampant without restraint.

’A mere ghost at the Qi Cultivation Eighth Layer, a creature I could kill with a wave of my hand, is actually trying to act all high and mighty.’

Jiang Yi moved with the gait of a dragon and the stride of a tiger. The ground beneath his feet seemed to shrink on its own, and in an instant, he was before the tiger-headed Fierce Fiend.

His Dao Embryo, already at the Mid-Stage, thrummed violently. His muscles and bones shifted, his internal organs hummed, and his qi and blood churned like a boiling cauldron.

He seemed like a soaring dragon ascending to the Ninth Heaven, his presence overwhelmingly fierce!

THUMP!

With a muffled sound, the tiger-headed Fierce Fiend instantly exploded, like a watermelon smashed by a heavy hammer.

Its solid body was like something thrown into a deep fryer, SIZZLING and searing in agony!

Jiang Yi hadn’t even made a move, yet the tiger-headed Fierce Fiend already couldn’t withstand the wave of virile, hot energy washing over it.

"Spare... spare me!"

It only managed to squeeze out a few words before Jiang Yi’s raised palm came crashing down, unavoidable as a sky full of dark clouds!

The bodily form it had just struggled to coalesce was immediately crushed in his grip.

His boiling qi and blood were like a column of beacon smoke, pinning down the tiger-headed Fierce Fiend.

Jiang Yi felt his entire frame move with the force of a landslide, a tremendous power welling up naturally from within him—enough to overturn hills and shatter mountain peaks.

Even a body forged of iron and cast in bronze would be dented by a single blow.

Jiang Yi spread his five fingers and grabbed the tiger’s head. He clenched his fist, and the bodily form it had just re-materialized completely disintegrated.

’Time to refine it instantly!’

Jiang Yi took a light breath, like a dragon-whale swallowing the sea, and the air whined around him.

He used his Divine Sense to capture the defeated tiger-headed Fierce Fiend, treating it as a ball of Spiritual Energy to be refined into his body.

His bones and organs acted like great millstones, grinding away the baleful intent, melting the turbid yin, and turning it into threads of nourishment to advance his Dao Embryo.

"If you dare to run, I’ll do the same to you—I’ll eat you too."

Jiang Yi turned to the fox-headed thrall ghost, the divine light in his eyes piercing it like a sharp sword.

"I wouldn’t dare! This lowly one absolutely wouldn’t dare! SQUEAK SQUEAK!"

The thrall ghost was so scared its soul nearly scattered. By the end, it couldn’t even form coherent words, letting out an animalistic squeak instead.

Jiang Yi paid no more mind to the other minor ghosts. Having just devoured a Fierce Fiend, his Dao Embryo, which had swallowed the dense yin qi, felt another five percent full, and his whole body felt faintly bloated.

’I’m actually a little stuffed.’

He muttered, still not fully satisfied, and turned to look at Yang Xun:

"Sorry for the scare, Grandpa."

"Ah Yi, since when did you have these Body Refinement skills?"

Yang Xun’s eyes widened in utter disbelief.

Seeing Jiang Yi destroy the tiger-headed Fierce Fiend so effortlessly... with such physical prowess, he could probably fight and kill even a Cultivator at the Qi Cultivation Eighth or Ninth Layer on the spot if they were caught off guard.

A smile played on Jiang Yi’s lips as he said slowly,

"Previously, when I went down the mountain with Senior Brother Han, I had a fortunate encounter in Hanyang Prefecture and learned some ’Aura Concealment’ and ’Body Refining’ techniques."

Yang Xun raised his bald eyebrows, his face instantly breaking into a grin:

"Excellent! With more skills under your belt, you’ll face fewer risks when you’re out adventuring in the future!"

Jiang Yi glanced around. The ghost village was like a dense fog being blown away by a strong wind, gradually thinning out.

The half-foot-tall earthen shrine, which had been gathering yin and refining sha, also collapsed with a CRACK.

’An artificially created Underworld is, in the end, just an illusion.’

Jiang Yi mused thoughtfully:

’When a Daoist Lineage is destroyed, who knows how many white bones are buried beneath, how many potential Dao Materials who should have succeeded.’

If he guessed correctly, these earthen shrines were the nodes that constituted the myriad nations of the Underworld, just like the hubs of a grand formation.

Back when the Ghost Dao flourished, this half-foot-tall earthen shrine would have been patrolled by ghost soldiers and ghost generals, with Ox-Head and Horse-Face permanently stationed here.

If a Human Cultivator dared to cause trouble here, the Ten Halls of the Yin Department would investigate. With a single stroke of his brush, the Judge could cloud their Primordial Spirit and drastically reduce their lifespan. Even a Foundation Establishment True Master would have to submit to the law.

’But now, it’s all for my benefit.’

A pleased look appeared on Jiang Yi’s face. If he could dig up all these hubs to replenish his Dao Embryo, he might be able to push it to the Great Success stage. Then, even withstanding a Flying Sword would be a simple matter.

"Grandpa, stand guard for me for a little longer."

He instructed Yang Xun, then immediately sat down cross-legged and began to consolidate his Mid-Stage Dao Embryo.

Jiang Yi knew very well that ordinary Cultivators would never dare to be like him, absorbing yin qi to strengthen themselves.

The reason was simple. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Yin qi naturally carries a ’turbid nature’ and contains impurities, making it far less suitable for Cultivation than Purifying.

This was like how a person could eat grains to fill their stomach, but chewing iron sand as food was simply courting death.

Especially when gathering and refining energy during Cultivation, the yin qi had to first pass the Primordial Gate before sinking into the Inner Mansion.

The Fierce Fiend’s chilling intent, the filthy turbid currents, and the damp winds of Evil Spirits mixed within it would inevitably taint the Brain God.

Over time, a Cultivator’s Primordial Spirit would easily become disordered, their temperament would change drastically, and they would lose their true self.

This was also one of the drawbacks for the Ancient Demon Cultivators.

Even though their Cultivation at the Qi Cultivation Twelfth Layer would advance by leaps and bounds, once they surpassed the Foundation Establishment Fifth Layer, they would begin to suffer tribulations and pay their debts.