Seized by the System

Under the guidance of the Heavenly Spirits Clan, Vigilante A successfully found an encampment of a squad of malevolent spirit guards.

The encampment was situated by the bend of a river.

Thick Yin Energy floated above the river. Judging by its concentration, and compared to the previous Yin Energy Realm, it was over ten times more abundant.

On the riverbank, there was a military encampment. A dense Ghostly Energy settled as spirit heads could be seen moving up and down among the military camps.

At times, some large malevolent spirits would walk out of the military encampment and jump into the river to bathe and rinse themselves.

These malevolent spirits were huge in size. Every one of them was as large as tens of meters to hundreds of meters. They could even freely shift and alternate between solid and ethereal states, which clearly demonstrated their extremely high cultivation base.

Their temperament was indeed very violent. Those malevolent spirits that were bathing and rinsing in the river were evidently powerful creatures, and there would be conflict occurring among them from time to time, where they would beat up one another while the water around them surged and plummeted in waves.

If this place were to be compared to the valley where the Heavenly Spirits Clan formerly lived, one would be a high-rise villa while the other a rural shack.

“Indeed, while the house of the rich reeks of flesh and wine, there are frozen bodies lying by the roadside (TN: A Chinese proverb criticizing the unreasonable economic disparity in a society). Clan Leader Scarlet Eye, no matter where it is, the situation is the same.”

In the System Hotel, Fang Ning was speaking to the clan leader of the Heavenly Spirits Clan, the tall-looking specter.

Scarlet Eye was his name, which was derived from his background and natural trait. He was a spirit born from the eyes of a person from the Celestial Clan.

That person from the Celestial Clan was good at Flame Magic, so he, too, inherited such a natural trait.

Among spirits and souls, this was an extremely rare natural trait. After all, spirits themselves were innately predisposed to fear flames and sunlight.

However, due to his declining Yin Energy, he did not have enough magical energy to use this natural trait to cast spells. Otherwise, he could have still defeated the ghouls while they were strong.

Clan Leader Scarlet Eye was observing this outside scene through the large screen provided by the System Hotel and strongly agreed with the words of his benefactor.

“This river should be the Malevolent Spirits River. I heard that whenever the malevolent spirit commanders manage to collect any high-quality seeds of malevolent spirits, they will soak them in this river and wait for them to slowly mature. The malevolent spirit guards will also use this river to strengthen their magical energy. This one stretch of river is enough for millions upon millions of spirits and souls to survive, but now it’s only providing for tens of thousands of malevolent spirit guards. This is a long stretch of river, and the malevolent spirit guards chose to make an encampment at the part of the river that’s concentrated with Yin Energy. Nonetheless, this is just one part. There are still many more similar places like this one.”

As he spoke, Clan Leader Scarlet Eye seemed to be recalling his previous living conditions, as his tone of voice was interlaced with envy and abhorrence.

He went on. “The Yin Energy of this Malevolent Spirits River will also decline with the entire World of Spirits and Souls, yet every once in a while, they will send troops out to hunt other spiritual creatures to be thrown into the river, so as to continue maintaining its current state. When our Heavenly Spirits Clan used to be stronger, many of us had already been hunted down and killed by the malevolent spirit guards.”

At this moment, Vigilante A’s eyes gleamed as he stared at the malevolent spirits bathing in the river.

They were different from the spirits he encountered before. Their bodies were rich with Yin Energy all over, and there was no sign of Death Aura lingering among them at all. At once, he could tell that these were beings with potent magical energy.

“So many of them?” Sir System exclaimed excitedly at Fang Ning. “The power level of every malevolent spirit guard is at least at Sea-level, and the malevolent spirit commander even has a power level that’s above Ocean-level. Based on what Scarlet Eye said, there are tens of thousands of such malevolent spirits. We did it. We’re really going to make a fortune now!”

“Calm down, calm down. Your current problem is not having recharged enough money, so you won’t be able to farm them just yet.” Fang Ning quickly pacified the excitement.

“Oh, you’re right. Although I can get stronger in battles, I won’t be able to withstand a group attack by so many malevolent spirits. Help give me some idea…” Sir System pleaded.

“Hahahaha, I never expected the God of Combats System to ever ask me how to fight a battle. I feel so honored.” Fang Ning laughed.

“Stop wasting time and hurry up,” Sir System said with dissatisfaction.

“Haste won’t get you what you want. To farm these malevolent spirits, the real problem doesn’t lie in our tactics. The key is to wage a war with a just cause. If not, we’ll be going against Chivalry Rules,” Fang Ning said warily.

“Now, that’s a real problem. I’ve never even thought of this point. They haven’t offended me, and the mysterious voice that previously ambushed us may not be someone from this group of malevolent spirits as well.” Sir System finally calmed down.

“Exactly. Even with such a great temptation in front of us, we shouldn’t violate the rules. The stability of the system is most important while we slowly level up our power. If I wasn’t around to act as the primary brain, with your self-opinionated ways, you wouldn’t even survive two episodes in a television drama,” Fang Ning took the opportunity to take a hit at Sir System.

“Yes, Mr. Rich Boss, you’re right.” Sir System earnestly admitted. “Then how should we find a just cause to wage war with them?”

“While the house of the rich reeks of flesh and wine, there are frozen bodies lying by the roadside,” Fang Ning said impassively.

“Uh, why would you repeat yourself?” Sir System was initially puzzled, but then came to a sudden realization. “Brilliant, Mr. Rich Boss. You’re thinking three moves ahead. No wonder you insisted for me to bring along those weak specters. You’ve already planned this move since the start.”

“Uh…” Fang Ning wanted to confess that it was just a lucky hit, but how was it possible for him to admit this?

Instead, he put on a thoughtful expression and calmly said, “Hehe, you only know little about the wisdom of Master Fang.”

“Yes, yes, Mr. Rich Boss is always unpredictable. I can never do without your guidance.” Sir System admitted before asking again. “Now that the problem of waging a war with a just cause has been resolved, do go on and give some tactical guidance…”

“Isn’t it simple? You may not be able to swallow such a big group, but since it’s a military encampment, they must have various daily tasks to carry out. Just as Clan Leader Scarlet Eye said just now about their hunting task, in order to increase efficiency, they would never be collectively dispatched and should be divided into smaller teams. When that time comes, would you still have to worry about dealing with them?”

Fang Ning perfectly played his role as an inept advisor. If placed in a cartoon animation, Sir System would be a bear while he a fox.

“Understood,” Sir System said in a serious manner.

…

An opportunity came sooner than Fang Ning had expected, or it was the fact that the World of Spirits and Souls was deteriorating at a faster rate than he had imagined.

Vigilante A was spying on the military encampment from somewhere nearby. No more than three minutes had passed when he saw hundreds of teams of malevolent spirits leaving their camps. There were three of them in each team, and they were moving away in all four directions.

It seemed that this huge military encampment only stationed more than a thousand malevolent spirits.

These malevolent spirits were gathered from all over the World of Spirits and Souls and were far from reaching a “Sea-levels in abundance” extent.

Vigilante A picked one of the teams and transformed into a miniature green dragon to follow them undetected.

This type of strategy had been mastered by Sir System to perfection.

It had always used this form when exploring Mars and Magnetic Star previously. This method had been proved to be very useful, and until today, had never been discovered by others.

The team consisting of three malevolent spirits were flying in the sky at high speed in a very purposeful manner.

Around half an hour later, after flying over a distance of ten thousand miles, they landed in a marsh area.

The marsh was covered with a thick layer of Yin Energy. Although this could hardly compare with the Malevolent Spirits River, it was much stronger than what was seen in the valley inhabited by the Heavenly Spirits Clan before.

However, as the three giant malevolent spirits landed, the marsh fell into turmoil.

The spirits that were inhaling and exhaling Yin Energy every now and then had dived deep into the marsh.

“A bunch of garbage. Today’s your turn to pay your blood tax again!” the malevolent spirit that seemed significantly larger in size said.

As its voice faded, a female ghost with heavy makeup floated out from the marsh.

It was floating in midair, chuckling. “Isn’t this Captain Giant Spirit? This blood tax collection is rather frequent. I really can’t afford it. Please give me a few more days…”

As it was speaking, it threw a wink at them, but it naturally was a vain attempt that had no effect.

“Stop talking nonsense.” As expected, that Giant Spirit was not charmed, and said even more harshly, “Hurry up. Otherwise, I’ll kill you all!”

The female ghost’s expression faltered, and it quickly waved its hand below.

Then, a few odd-looking ghostly creatures floated up above the marsh. Their upper bodies were bound with a rope, their arms tied behind the back, and the rope was looped around their necks. Judging by their aura, if placed on Earth, these would be at least Lake-level powerhouses that were widely respected, having prestige and fortune. However, right now, they could only be trampled on by others.

“Such a pity. I wonder when we’ll be able to rake in blood taxes from those people from the Lower Realm. After all, the Lower Realm has limitless potential, unlike these run-down places that’ll probably dry up after a few more rounds of collection.” The deputy malevolent spirit took those creatures into his grasp and shook its head while speaking.

“It should come soon enough. I heard the Spirit Lords have invited a few experts to do research on this. I believe once it’s accomplished, we won’t have to come here every day to collect taxes anymore. We can live as leisurely as before,” the third-in-command malevolent spirit said in excitement.