Chapter 57 – Ghost Hell Region
Liu Ming formed a sign with his hand and proceeded to jump on his cloud and fly in the direction Elder Ghost had pointed in.
Once Liu Ming exited the milky white light screen, he entered a desolate area shrouded in black mist. The entire sky was covered densely in a black cloud. There was not a single hint of sunlight which gave people a stifling feeling.
Liu Ming started to use his Dark Bone Method and instantly felt threads of cold Miasma energy rapidly rush into his body. Although this made his body feel very uncomfortable, the Fa Li in his Spirit Sea seemed to immediately pulsate.
Liu Ming sighed.
This Ghost Hell Region really was just like people said; cultivating the Ghost Spirit Method and other Miasma Methods would be largely accelerated, but the body would not be able to withstand the devouring Miasma energy.
Thus he could only abandon the idea of using Miasma energy to help cultivate his Fa Li.
After traveling one and a half kilometers, Liu Ming had yet to come across any ghosts and finally saw the Miasma River which Elder Ghost had pointed to.
However, once he flew closer, he couldn’t help but bitterly smile.
The Miasma River in front of him, rather than being a river, was more like a large stream.
It wasn’t any wider than ten feet, and the river water was not transparent at all. Instead it was composed of an incredibly mud like yellow color. Furthermore, on top of the river was a white fog which continued to spiral above river, and it gave off a strange feeling.
Liu Ming got off his cloud on top of a black rock that was close to the Miasma River. Before he could think about how to catch a Ghost Faced Fish, a “pu” sound rang in the air and a white object jumped out of the water.
Startled, Liu Ming reflexively shook his sleeve, and a large black rope shot out. After an indistinct movement, it furiously whipped at the object jumping out at him.
The white object let out a peculiar cry after being hit, but could only flop on the ground.
Liu Ming finally had time to look at the object he had just hit.
Astonishingly, it was an extremely unusual fish-like creature that was approximately half a foot long. The lower half of its body was exactly like a black carp, but the upper half was a small and hairy cyan ghost head. Further, there were two black claws on its abdomen.
At the moment the fish’s mouth was open and faintly, one could make out two rows of sharp and fragmented teeth. It looked exceptionally frightening.
“It seems like this thing is the Ghost Faced Fish.” Once he recovered from his shock, Liu Ming laughed.
The Soul Shackling Chains fiercely whipped at the fish again, smashing viciously on its ghost head.
The Ghost Faced Fish let out a peculiar shrill cry once again before fainting on the spot.
Liu Ming then took out a net fish basket and used the Soul Shackling Chains to put the Ghost Faced Fish in the basket.
Soon after, he walked off the stone and donned an air of cautiousness as he crept closer to the Miasma River.
This time, nothing jumped out of the river.
However, Liu Ming’s brows furrowed, and he once again sent out the Soul Shackling Chain into the shallow depths of the Miasma River before quickly retracting it.
The front end of the Soul Shackling Chain astonishingly was covered by a layer of frost!
Liu Ming sucked in a breath of cold air!
Unexpectedly, this Miasma River was incomparably cold.
Thus, Liu Ming did not dare stand too close to the Miasma River and instead stayed a fair distance from it as he followed the stream.
In the end, a Ghost Faced Fish would jump out of the water every short distance. Each fish was about a foot long to a couple of inches short.
Liu Ming naturally did not hesitate to use his Soul Shackling Chain to knock them out and put them into the fish basket. Not even an hour had past and he had already gathered seventy-eight Ghost Faced Fish to fill the fish basket to the brim.
He then immediately jumped on his cloud and flew back.
……
“Not bad, these are the Ghost Faced Fish that I need. This Miasma Compass now belongs to you.” Once Elder Ghost saw Liu Ming descend from the sky with the basket full of Ghost Faced Fish, he spoke exultingly and proceeded to toss the silver compass to Liu Ming.
Although Liu Ming was somewhat taken aback, once he received the silver compass he gave the fish basket in his hands to the other party.
A “pu” sound rang out.
The originally seated Elder Ghost unexpectedly stood up, but both of his legs were not human legs. Instead an immense pair of shiny, jet-black eagle legs appeared, and he then grabbed the largest fish with them. The fish immediately entered his mouth and a crisp sound of digestion followed.
“Not bad, the taste of this Ghost Faced Fish is still memorably delicious.” Elder Ghost chewed while critiquing with an enraptured expression.
Although Lei Ming had the Miasma Compass in his hands, he couldn’t help but be dumbstruck.
“Haha, Junior Bai, it seems that you have been duped into catching Ghost Face Fish.” From within a nearby stone room walked out a youth. Once he realized Liu Ming’s circumstance, he couldn’t help but laugh.
“Huh; it’s Senior Du. Would senior mind elaborating on the dupe that you mentioned earlier?” Liu Ming turned his head toward Disciple Du and was slightly taken aback.
The youth who just talked was wearing a blue robe and had a long and narrow curved blade on his back. His features were grim and callous and he was the Du Hai from Baleful Yin Faction.
Ever since that time, after Liu Ming and the others offended Ou Yang Xin, their relationship improved greatly. Further, they even joined hands to complete a few contribution points missions; each time, they were left extremely satisfied.
Thus Liu Ming, Du Hai, and the others were quite close.
“This Elder Ghost is actually the ghost that Six Yin Master subdued in his time. Apart from proficiency in some hallucination methods, it can make its upper body exactly like us humans even though it really is not a human, it has no actual skill. Therefore Six Yin Master sealed him nearby the teleportation formation and made him take charge of safeguarding the formation and the disciples. After all, the Miasma here is too thick, so only ghosts can stay here for an extended period. Regarding his Miasma Compass, it really is just a simple totem; every disciple who comes here can get one for free. However, because this Elder Ghost likes to eat the Ghost Faced Fish in Miasma Rivers, he frequently masquerades the compass as a gift and makes new disciples catch food for him. In reality, even if you did not go catch him Ghost Faced Fish, he would still have to give the compass to you.” Du Hai faintly laughed as he spoke.
“I see!” Liu Ming was somewhat dumbstruck and after his gaze swept across Elder Ghost, he found that there was a light silver chain wrapped around an eagle leg which was attached to the stone wall.
At this moment, Elder Ghost seemed to turn a blind eye to Liu Ming and Du Hai’s conversation as he incessantly devoured one fish ravenously after the other.
This made Liu Ming somewhat moved.
“That’s right, Junior Bai, since you don’t even know about this, did you come here by yourself?” Du Hai’s smile disappeared and his brows furrowed as he asked.
“Junior really did plan on traveling by himself. Don’t tell me that senior is here to also catch ghosts?” Liu Ming calmly replied.
“I did not spend time on the Spirit Communication Technique, so I cannot catch any ghosts. However, I was planning on searching for a few native Spirit Plants with Xian Yun to bring back.” Du Hai shook his head and replied.
“Senior Mu really did come. Where is she now?” Liu Ming was quite surprised but after a brief glance around he was unable to find her familiar figure.
“Xian Yun is renting a Spirit Room to rest; I can take you to see her. Junior shouldn’t rush to leave this area now. This Ghost Hell Region is rather dangerous and junior should listen to our advice before setting out.” Du Hai zealously said.
“Since senior believes I should, I will naturally obey.” After pondering a while, Liu Ming nodded his head in affirmation.
When Du Hai saw this, he excitedly brought Liu Ming to a stone room.
A little while later, Du Hai knocked on the door and from within walked out the young and beautiful Mu Xianyun.
Once she saw Liu Ming, she was slightly dumbstruck and after evaluating Liu Ming again, she asked in an astonished voice, “Why are you here, Junior Bai? Could it be that you have already advanced to a Middle Spirit Apostle? And in addition you have cultivated the Spirit Communication Technique to a proficient level! Junior has undergone large changes since the last time we met.”
According to ordinary disciple cultivation speeds, Liu Ming already advancing to a Middle Spirit Apostle was quite shocking. Comparatively, the change to his external appearance after washing his marrows was something that many people accepted quickly.
After all, Barbarian Ghost Sect had many cultivation methods that let one’s appearance completely change.
“I had just recently received a bit of opportunity and luckily broke into the middle stage of a Spirit Apostle. Otherwise, I would not be in such urgent need of a compatible Spirit Ghost and instead would be focused on increasing my strength.” Liu Ming was naturally modest as he spoke.
“Tsk tsk. No matter what method, although a Three Spiritual Pulsed disciple becoming a Middle Spirit Apostle isn’t unheard of, there are not too many cases. Happening in such a short time is even more rare. It seems that Senior Du and I must show respect for Junior Bai’s unbelievable performance.” Mu Xianyun deeply looked at Liu Ming before sweetly smiling.
“Senior must be joking! Senior Mu and Senior Du seem to have been to the Ghost Hell Region before and thus should be very familiar. Perhaps you could give some advice to me.” Liu Ming said with a solemn expression.
“Since junior is so anxious, we will discuss information regarding this area first. I know that junior perhaps may have heard some things about this area before, but I can guarantee that the Ghost Hell Region’s actual peril is much higher than you could possible imagine. I have even seen seven or eight Sect Disciples lose their lives here. It’s not like what they say outside where only a few disciples die.” Mu Xianyun’s jade features froze over.
“That’s right, although the Sect will have ten to twenty of its disciples in the Ghost Hell Region standing guard, every new disciple that enters has a large chance of not returning. Most of these people are eaten by a terrifying ghost or perish in the Two Large Calamity Areas.
“Two Large Calamity Areas?” When Liu Ming heard this phrase, he was a bit astounded. After hearing the rest, he was further stupefied.