"What the hell is this?"
This kind of thing couldn't scare Xu Hei, but it certainly piqued his curiosity.
With a wave of his hand, he used the Gravity Technique to grab Hou Siping's head from a distance and brought it back into the cave.
Along the way, the eerie head kept laughing, its pupil-less eyes staring intently at Xu Hei, meeting the butcher's ugly face.
Xu Hei brought it back to the cave, intending to study it further.
Suddenly, a bloody hole appeared in the center of Hou Siping's forehead, and a ghostly infant figure with sharp fangs emerged, lunging at Xu Hei.
Xu Hei remained unfazed, raised his hand, and pointed. His Flying Sword sliced through the air but hit nothing.
The ghostly figure split into several parts, transforming into countless streams of light that burrowed into the butcher's body from all directions. Xu Hei immediately felt his body go numb, his skin swelling with countless boils, and his limbs moving chaotically. The numerous corpse puppets within him seemed to gain their own consciousness, trying to break free.
It felt like losing control!
Xu Hei's expression changed. He had killed Hou Siping, and his Golden Core was gone, so he couldn't possibly have any strength left to resist.
There was only one possibility: this ghostly figure was placed inside him by someone else.
Xu Hei made a quick decision, taking out Xu Bai's box of copper coins, transforming them into a Money Sword that merged with his Flying Sword, emitting a dazzling golden light, protecting him with auspicious energy, and exterminating all evil!
"Slash!" Xu Hei shouted, thrusting his Flying Sword into the butcher.
A crisp sound echoed, as if stabbing into a barrel of water. A sharp, piercing scream erupted from within the butcher, and the chaos within immediately ceased.
The sound was like a baby's cry, like nails scraping on a metal board, making Xu Hei's scalp tingle.
He thought of an evil faction spell, the Ghost Infant!
He had discovered it in some jade slip miscellanea he found in the storage bag of an elder from the Snake Catchers Sect during his idle time.
The process of refining a Ghost Infant was extremely vicious and utterly depraved, something Xu Hei couldn't even describe.
But one thing was certain: this Ghost Infant was placed in Hou Siping's sea of consciousness by someone else. It fed on the nutrients of the sea of consciousness until it grew strong enough to devour the entire primordial spirit, taking its place.
By then, Hou Siping would no longer be Hou Siping, but the grown Ghost Infant.
Xu Hei's eyes were cold and merciless. The Money Sword slashed again, and the Ghost Infant howled in agony, unable to withstand it, and emerged from the butcher's body, turning into a wisp of ghostly spirit, attempting to escape.
Xu Hei pursued, throwing all the copper coins, forming a large net of money that sealed off the Ghost Infant's escape route.
Then, he brought down his sword.
With a sharp, piercing scream, the Ghost Infant's body became illusory, vanishing into smoke, leaving only some Divine Sense fluctuations.
Xu Hei considered capturing it with the Soul-absorbing Flag but decided against it after some thought. He ignited a fire, burning it completely.
With that, the eerie feeling disappeared without a trace, thoroughly eradicated!
Xu Hei looked at the remnants of Hou Siping's head and sighed, casting a flame to set it ablaze.
"This person was so cunning and deceitful, yet unaware of his own situation, reduced to a vessel for a Ghost Infant. How pitiful," Xu Hei lamented.
Those captured as slaves not only risked their lives mining and drilling at sea but also had to have their blood drawn regularly.
In the end, those with profound cultivation were reduced to vessels for nurturing Ghost Infants.
Their lives were completely drained, every usable part exploited.
Their flesh devoured, bones gnawed, blood drunk, and even their Divine Sense wasn't spared. The Sea God Sect was utterly depraved.
Xu Hei suddenly felt a sense of desolation. Initially, he was furious with this person, but after witnessing the Ghost Infant's parasitism, he felt a twinge of sympathy.
Even if Xu Hei didn't kill him today, Hou Siping would have died eventually.
However, this person insisted until his death that it was the scholar Lin Ziye who sent him, which made Xu Hei even more suspicious.
"Whether you're lying or not, I won't spare the mastermind behind this!" Xu Hei vowed silently.
He decided not to worry about whether it was Lin Ziye or someone else and would investigate once he got out.
The method of cultivating Ghost Infants must have been done by a protector, but which one of the four protectors was it? So far, only the Nightmare Demon Lord and the Yehuo Demon Lord were known.
Additionally, Xu Bai's copper coins were indeed effective, seemingly having a strong restraining effect on evil spirits.
With a thought, the Money Sword within Xu Hei's body separated and transformed back into individual copper coins, returning to the box.
Good deeds yield good returns. Reflecting on the past, when he traveled a thousand miles to save Xu Bai, the rewards he reaped continued to this day.
"First, set up a formation, then refine this person's Golden Core."
Learning from past lessons, Xu Hei spent the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn setting up an illusion formation at the cave entrance and blocked it with rocks.
East Sea, Penglai Sea.
This was a secluded secret realm, existing since ancient times, continuing to this day, and giving birth to many exceptionally talented great demons.
The outside world was lacking in Spiritual Qi, gradually thinning, but the Penglai Sea remained as abundant in Spiritual Qi as in ancient times, a paradise everyone yearned for.
Today marked the annual day for recruiting demonic beasts, and the Penglai Sea was bustling once again.
"Have you heard? A genius demonic beast has appeared in the Penglai Sea, a white snake with incredible strength."
"Of course, I know. This white snake single-handedly wiped out a ship of Sea God Sect members and was discovered by Elder Green Turtle, who took it as a personal disciple."
"That's terrifying! Compared to her, Hai Meng, Bopu, Qingluan, and Er Gou are nothing!"
"This is undoubtedly the strongest immortal seedling of the year!"
"The strongest in years!"
In the Penglai Sea, a group of seagulls gathered on an island, chattering non-stop. Their discussion centered around the newly joined white snake in the Penglai Sea.
One seagull with a sly appearance chuckled, "I also heard that the elders of the sea snake lineage were in an uproar upon hearing the news, planning to snatch the white snake away!"
"Snatch? She's already been taken as a personal disciple by Elder Green Turtle. How can they snatch her?" a seagull asked.
The demonic beasts of the Penglai Sea were not from a single lineage but divided into multiple factions. Conflicts often erupted over the competition for quality disciples, becoming a common practice.
After all, as long as a disciple achieved victory in the year-end competition, their faction would receive a massive amount of resources, fostering healthy competition.
"I guess they might use some underhanded methods."
The sly seagull laughed, "As long as that white snake willingly leaves Elder Green Turtle's tutelage, it's just a matter of words since the recruitment isn't over yet."