A large swathe of ghosts wandered around Chen Fan. Their faces, twisted and repulsive, emerged from the ghostly mist that enveloped him.
These ghosts continuously emitted sharp, mournful cries, and the soul's ripples incessantly invaded Chen Fan's mind, making it tremble.
“Return my life... return my life...”
Although he heard them in his ear, he felt like they also rang somewhere deep in his heart.
Despite Chen Fan's strong mental resilience, the constant cries began to irk him.
Chen Fan took a deep breath, suppressing his frustrations.
Suddenly, Chen Fan stabbed forward with the Heaven Piercing Spear.
The distorted air and the evil qi affecting the space disintegrated, eradicating every trace of the haunting ghosts and their evil aura.
Woo, woo. Woo, woo, woo...
Suddenly, an eerie wind swept through, triggering a transformation in the surroundings.
Ghostly qi and evil qi spread out in all directions, immediately enveloping Chen Fan. Now, he couldn’t see anything.
The air resounded with the chilling wails of ghosts, creating an atmosphere akin to purgatory.
Everything was a blur, and he couldn’t even tell the east from the west.
Suddenly, a streak of gloomy evil qi struck Chen Fan from the side like a domineering overlord, bringing with it a fierce wind, causing the protective primeval force around him to tremble.
Chen Fan hurriedly turned around and saw a devil within that evil qi.
The devil before him was entirely pitch-black, possessing a robust and towering figure. Its nails extended several feet, and its form comprised black smoke, shape-shifting inconsistently as if lacking a tangible body.
As the black smoke’s ghostly qi rolled, the devil’s face shrunk and lengthened, transforming into different faces. It appeared to be a composite entity, a fusion of numerous ghosts.
Chen Fan realized in a flash.
This was undoubtedly a type of devil, not a physical being but a spiritual one. It was much stronger than those wandering ghosts. Its component souls had cultivated to an extremely high level and were the most difficult to exterminate.
Ordinary cultivation techniques couldn’t harm such a Devil Spirit. If one encountered one of these, they could do nothing but wait for their deaths.
Only cultivation methods with overpowering righteous qi, possessing extreme Yang and fierce attributes, could effectively combat these vicious devils.
The evil qi, corpse qi, ghostly qi, and nefarious qi were all too rich in the depths of the Fiendish Corpse Mountain Range. When powerful martial artists died here, their souls did not perish but instead became tainted by the evil qi, transforming into devils.
These devils were all very incredibly powerful.
The Devil Spirit attacking Chen Fan was even stronger than some Ten-Thousand-Year Corpse Kings. At the very least, it was stronger than the sixth-level corpse king he had killed.
The devil was strong because of the exceptionally dense evil qi present here. If it were to leave this region saturated with evil qi, its power would diminish.
“Asura’s Ghost Hand!”
When this Devil Spirit’s sneak attack failed, it suddenly flickered and transformed into a black fog. As it transformed, a ghostly claw from Asura’s hell appeared.
A blue-green phosphorus flame ignited on the ghostly claw, creating flames that disrupted the air and formed a vacuum by drawing out all the air around.
The surrounding atmosphere instantly compressed, now as dense as a steel plate, as faint cracking sounds rang in the space.
The claw seemed intent on dragging Chen Fan into Asura's hell for eternal damnation, preventing any chance of reincarnation.
The methods of these Devil Spirits not only inflicted physical harm on martial artists but also affected their mental state.
This Asura’s Ghost Hand could claw a bloody gash on Chen Fan’s flesh in one go. Simultaneously, it would also attack Chen Fan’s mind. He would feel like he had fallen into Asura hell with no hopes of reincarnating, making him give up.
This claw could, therefore, even kill Chen Fan with a single slash.
Two streaks of thunderous light shot out from Chen Fan’s eyes as he suddenly thrust his spear.
It was like an ancient god had fiercely hurled a spear at the sun to bring it down.
The Heaven Piercing Spear completely punctured the Asura’s Ghost Hand. Immediately, the powerful Devil Spirit let out a miserable and mournful cry.
Suddenly, the Devil Spirit released an eerie soul ripple, piercing Chen Fan’s soul like a needle. He felt such intense pain in his brain that he screamed miserably while clutching his head.
The Devil Spirit transformed into a chilling black fog air current and swiftly lunged at Chen Fan, penetrating his protective primeval force and infiltrating his seven orifices, entering his body.
Immediately, Chen Fan felt a wave of chill all over. He was possessed.
As soon as the Devil Spirit entered Chen Fan, it immediately dispersed and turned into countless ghosts, navigating through his body and constantly emitting mind fluctuations, assaulting his mental strength.
“You are seeking death!”
Unfazed, Chen Fan smiled coldly and initiated a countermove.
All the primeval force in him suddenly contracted, converging deep into his dantian. The Devil Spirit was involuntarily pulled along and suppressed within his dantian.
The Devil Spirit sensed danger. Just as it was about to try breaking out of Chen Fan’s body, a furnace appeared. Its aura resembled that of hell, and it quickly swallowed the devil.
Tss, tss. Tss, tss, tss.
The flames burned the Devil Spirit, producing hissing noises that would send shivers down one's spine.
Miserable cries rang out from the depths of Chen Fan's dantian.
Typically, a martial artist faced certain death once a Devil Spirit entered them, becoming a feast for the spirit. It would devour the martial artist’s mind to nourish itself.
However, Chen Fan’s Heaven Seizing Furnace was the Devil Spirit’s nemesis.
“Such pure vitality origin aura...”
As the Heaven Seizing Furnace revolved, it was useless even if the Devil Spirit had three heads and six arms or a thousand tricks. It was bound to be refined by the furnace.
The heaven-refining flames surged, eradicating all the devil's resentful thoughts, evil qi, and malevolent intentions. Only an exceedingly pure vitality primeval qi remained, flowing into Chen Fan.
Evil ghosts were spiritual entities. So, once their evil qi and resentful thoughts were eliminated, only the purest vitality essence remained. To Chen Fan, this essence served as the greatest nourishment.
The vitality from the Devil Spirit equated to the vitality essence from the corpse cores of two to three sixth-level Yuanfu realm ancient corpses.
Chen Fan's aura experienced a remarkable rise, bringing him to the brink of reaching the sixth level.
“These ghosts and devils are searching for fresh bodies to seize control for their use. So sad. I should let go of everything and allow them to enter me.
“I’ll lure them and then use the Heaven Seizing Furnace to refine them all.
“These wandering ghosts are great tonics for me. They will take me to the sixth level!”
A light flickered unusually brightly in Chen Fan’s eyes.