Chapter 91: Profound Spirit Soldier

Chapter 91: Chapter 91: Profound Spirit Soldier

This tiger’s roar wasn’t aimed at the outside world. It exploded within Chen Yue’s own Sea of Consciousness—a true roar of the Heart Tiger, a bellow from his Divine Soul.

Wherever the sound wave passed, it was like the first ray of light at the dawn of the universe.

"HISS!"

Under the ferociously powerful roar of the Heart Tiger, the dark arms gripping Chen Yue’s consciousness let out an indescribably shrill shriek before dissolving into wisps of smoke.

The dark gateway, which seemed capable of devouring everything, was struck head-on by the tiger’s roar from within his Sea of Consciousness. The countless tormented faces carved upon it let out silent wails as the door trembled violently.

The terrifying suction force from behind the door faltered, then shattered.

The sensation of reality instantly washed back over him like a tidal wave.

Chen Yue’s pupils snapped into focus, his gaze returning to the ground beneath his feet.

The Ghost Fire in the broken skull’s eyes had been completely extinguished, leaving only an empty, deathly still head.

The entire mental clash, the descent of his consciousness, had perhaps lasted only a brief moment in the real world.

But in that single moment, life and death had been decided.

Chen Yue’s right foot, which had paused a mere inch above the Alchemy Ghost’s skull, resumed its descent with even greater force than before.

"THUD!"

There was a soft, muffled sound, but no explosion of Ghost Qi.

Beneath Chen Yue’s foot, the Alchemy Ghost’s shattered skull crumbled like a dried mud brick, turning into a puff of grayish-white dust.

The disintegration spread rapidly, from the head to the neck, to the remaining half of its chest, and to the right hand still clutching the handle of the Pill Furnace...

The Alchemy Ghost’s entire remaining body disintegrated inch by inch, turning completely into the same grayish-white powder.

Staring at the remains of the Alchemy Ghost, now just a pile of ordinary grayish-white dust at his feet, Chen Yue slowly let out a long breath.

The exhale seemed to carry away his frayed nerves and depleted Mental Power. His body swayed as an intense wave of emptiness and fatigue washed over him.

Clearly, the Qi Force in his Dantian was still abundant and the strength in his limbs had not waned, yet Chen Yue felt as if his entire body had been hollowed out.

It wasn’t physical fatigue, but the aftershock of the immense drain and jarring of his Heart Spirit.

In his Sea of Consciousness, the barrier formed by his Heart Nourishing Technique and Heart Spirit Gang Qi, while still present, had dimmed considerably. Fine, unhealed cracks even marred its surface.

Recalling the dark gate that had suddenly opened in his Sea of Consciousness and the countless ghostly hands that had reached out from it, Chen Yue felt his scalp crawl.

If the Heart Tiger formed by his Tiger Roar Golden Bell Shield hadn’t spontaneously roared from the core of his Martial Dao Will at the final moment, violently tearing apart the entire spiritual assault, his current fate would have been unthinkable.

’That last Source Point I acquired... I hesitated about using it back then...’ A flicker of relief crossed Chen Yue’s eyes as he thought of this.

When facing Gu Yiqiu’s pursuit, he had decisively spent a Source Point to elevate his Tiger Roar Golden Bell Shield to the Great Success level. Later, he had invested another without hesitation, pushing it into the Perfection Realm.

In hindsight, that decision had been incredibly wise.

There really were life-or-death moments in the world that happened in a flash, with no time to play any trump cards—just like that eerie eye contact and mental assault from the Alchemy Ghost.

If he had been the least bit stingy, unwilling to use a Source Point to improve his strength, his Tiger Roar Golden Bell Shield would have been at a lower level, and he likely wouldn’t have survived that encounter.

Suppressing his lingering fear and relief, Chen Yue took a deep breath, forced his spirits to rally, and turned to look at Shen Dujiang and Lin Quan.

He saw that the Half-Headed Ghost and the Headless Ghost, which had been ferociously fighting earlier, had at some point abandoned Shen Dujiang and Hu Shaoyu. They were now frantically fleeing for their lives into the depths of the alley, vanishing into the fog in the blink of an eye.

Clearly, the complete demise of the Alchemy Ghost had made the two Ghostly Objects instantly realize how terrifying their opponent was. How could they dare to linger for a second longer?

Shen Dujiang, supporting the still-shaken Lin Quan, hurried over to Chen Yue.

He looked Chen Yue up and down. Seeing no obvious injuries apart from a slightly pale face, he breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Are you all right? That thing just now..."

Recalling the Alchemy Ghost’s phantom-like Body Technique, terrifying brute force, and that final, heart-stoppingly eerie silence, Shen Dujiang was still shaken.

He had wandered the Jianghu for many years and had seen his share of ghosts, but he had truly never encountered one so powerful.

Or rather, had he ever met a ghost of this caliber, he would already be dead.

Hu Shaoyu also sidled over, his gaze toward Chen Yue filled with awe and a barely perceptible trace of terror.

He never would have imagined that this little Youlin County was hiding an expert so terrifyingly powerful that he could slay a master of the Marrow Refining Realm.

And just a short while ago, he had tried to take advantage of this man’s hurry to leave the city by demanding an exorbitant guide fee of one hundred taels of silver...

At this thought, Hu Shaoyu felt his throat go dry. He swallowed hard, his gaze darting toward the cooling corpses of Xu Zhang and Yin Mo Li nearby, which only made him feel more apprehensive.

Chen Yue forced a smile. "I’m fine, I just overexerted my Heart Spirit."

As he spoke, Chen Yue wasted no time. He quickly walked over to the bodies of Xu Zhang and Yin Mo Li, crouching to search them thoroughly.

He found a few gold leaves, some scattered silver taels, and several vials of Elixirs.

Finally, Chen Yue’s gaze fell upon the broken Pill Furnace left behind by the Alchemy Ghost.

Chen Yue paused in thought, then circulated his Gang Qi to protect his palms and tried to lift the Pill Furnace.

It was cold to the touch, but its bone-chilling, corrosive power had greatly diminished, as if the evil energy contained within had mostly dissipated with the Alchemy Ghost’s demise.

"This thing..."

Shen Dujiang frowned, staring at the Pill Furnace in Chen Yue’s hands.

"I think they’re called Spirit Soldiers? They’re artifacts forged by powerful Ghostly Objects from their own Ghost Qi and resentment, or through some special opportunity. Each has its own bizarre purpose."

Hearing this, Hu Shaoyu chimed in.

"Boss Shen is right. I’ve traveled all over in my younger days and have seen people use them. They say a Martial Artist just needs to infuse it with their Inner Strength to get a general idea of its function, or even activate some of its abilities."

"The only thing is, using them consumes a great deal of energy, and prolonged contact with items from Ghostly Objects can be harmful to one’s Heart Spirit."

’A Spirit Soldier? Infuse it with Inner Strength?’ Chen Yue’s interest was piqued.

He looked down at the Pill Furnace and carefully infused a wisp of pure Qi Force from his Vast Firm Essence Technique into it.

The moment the Qi Force entered it, something strange happened.

The broken Pill Furnace began to actively absorb Chen Yue’s Qi Force. Then, to the astonishment of Chen Yue, Shen Dujiang, and Hu Shaoyu, it began to shrink in on itself.

There was a brief flash of light.

The weight in Chen Yue’s hand vanished. The Pill Furnace was gone, replaced by a miniature version of itself hanging from his right index finger.

This Little Pill Furnace was cool to the touch, but it no longer leaked a trace of sinister cold. Had they not seen it with their own eyes, it would be impossible to imagine that it had been a huge, broken Pill Furnace just moments before.

"This..." A look of surprise crossed Chen Yue’s face as well.

The transformation was completely unexpected. Chen Yue tried gently shaking the Little Pill Furnace; it felt no heavier than a regular metal trinket.

He tried infusing a trace of Qi Blood into it again. The charm grew slightly warm, and he felt an extremely faint connection form, but nothing else happened.

’I need to get out of here first.’

Chen Yue quickly suppressed his curiosity and tucked the Pill Furnace charm into his clothes.

This was no place to linger. Though the Alchemy Ghost was dead, the blood sacrifice organized by the Divine Flame Cult and Youquan Prefecture was still underway. There was no telling how many more Ghostly Objects were still in the city. They had to escape as quickly as possible.

"Let’s go."

Chen Yue barked the command and wasted no more time. Supporting Lin Quan with one hand, he unleashed his Vertical Cloud Thousand Layer Step and shot toward the city wall, which was now in sight.

Shen Dujiang and Hu Shaoyu immediately snapped to attention and followed close behind.

This time, perhaps deterred by the Alchemy Ghost’s death or perhaps just due to luck, they encountered no more Ghostly Objects or cultists before reaching the base of the city wall.

Chen Yue looked up at the towering wall and said to Shen Dujiang and Hu Shaoyu, "Stay close."

With that, Chen Yue grabbed Lin Quan and pushed off from the ground. His body shot upward like an agile ape. He took several steps on the vertical surface of the wall, using the momentum to propel himself higher. In just a few bounds, he had easily carried Lin Quan over the battlements.

Watching Chen Yue easily vault the wall while carrying another person, Hu Shaoyu rushed up to Shen Dujiang, who was about to make his own ascent, and whispered:

"Boss Shen, my Body Technique is poor, and I couldn’t even grab my most important belongings. Could I trouble you to give me a lift?"

Shen Dujiang glanced back at Hu Shaoyu and nodded. "Hold on tight."

With that, he grabbed Hu Shaoyu’s shoulder, gave a low cry, and pushed off the ground, leaping into the air with him.

Shen Dujiang’s own movement technique was quite good. Even carrying another person, he only needed to push off the wall twice before clearing the battlements and rejoining Chen Yue and Lin Quan.

The four of them leaped down from the wall, their feet landing on the soil outside the city.

From the powerful Chen Yue to the terrified Lin Quan, everyone couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

"We’re finally out," Shen Dujiang said, wiping the cold sweat from his brow and glancing back with lingering fear.

Even though Chen Yue had just demonstrated the terrifying power to kill a Marrow Refining Realm expert and even annihilate the dreadful Alchemy Ghost, logically, there shouldn’t be many threats left to him within Youlin County.

But that was, after all, only speculation.

How much power did the Divine Flame Cult and Youquan Prefecture still have hidden in the city for the blood sacrifice they had planned for so long?

Was there an entity even more bizarre than the Alchemy Ghost lying in wait?

No one could say for certain!

To stay in the city meant constantly facing these unknown perils.

Chen Yue glanced back at the city behind them, shrouded in dim light and black fog. "This is still no place to linger. Let’s keep moving. The farther, the better."

Having caught his breath, Hu Shaoyu quickly pointed to a dirt road ahead and said:

"To get to Celestial State Prefecture, we go this way. We’ll pass through a few towns like Qingshi Town and Riverbend Market. We might be able to rest there and restock on rations and water."

Shen Dujiang, however, shook his head.

"We’ll need to be extremely careful in those towns. The Divine Flame Cult and Youquan Prefecture are powerful, and their ambitions are vast. Their blood sacrifice might not be limited to just Youlin County."

Chen Yue and Hu Shaoyu listened and nodded grimly. Shen Dujiang had a point. Until they understood the situation outside the city, caution was paramount.

Just as Chen Yue was about to speak, his expression suddenly changed. He whipped his head around, his gaze shooting back past Youlin County toward the vast mountain range beyond.

At almost the same instant, Shen Dujiang and Hu Shaoyu also seemed to sense something and spun around to look.

Even Lin Quan, whose senses were far duller than a Martial Artist’s, seemed to be gripped by an invisible dread and instinctively turned to look back as well.