Chapter 59 – Ghost Bees and the Black Desert
Once Liu Ming made up his mind, he immediately put away the map and continued to fly.
Seven days later, within a peculiar black forest, Liu Ming stood motionless underneath a gigantic tree that was dozens of meters tall. He squinted his eyes and gazed at three monkey-like green-furred ghosts in the tree.
Among the three ghosts, one was big and the other two were small; the two small ones were only a foot tall and their green fur was of a lighter shade. The larger one was four feet tall and was covered in forest green fur. Furthermore, on its head was a small green horn. He would often bare his fangs at Liu Ming and threateningly growl.
It was a low leveled ghost called “Rotten Horn Monkey.”
A grown Rotten Horn Monkey was extremely fast and nimble. Its strength was not low, and it was able to spit corrosive gas. One would barely have to foster it in order for it to have a Warrior level strength, and thus it could be considered a fairly good Spirit Ghost choice.
Liu Ming’s sleeve shook, and the Soul Shackling Chains shot out like a viper toward the Rotten Horn Monkey.
After a few odd cries, the two small Rotten Horn Monkeys promptly leaped toward the other trees in an attempt to flee. Only the larger one revealed an ominous glint and in a flash dodged the black rope. It spread its arms and transformed into a green blur as it leaped off the tree.
Its ten jet black fingertips were as sharp as knives, and before they had reached Liu Ming a breath of corrosive gas appeared. However, Liu Ming did not dodge. Instead, he mumbled something and a moment later, a scarlet flame flew out of his hand with a “pu-chi” sound.
The torrid flame instantly expunged the corrosive gas and made the Rotten Horned Monkey feel a sense of extreme fear. A peculiar screech rang out, and its tail that was several feet in length suddenly spun; the monkey unexpectedly shifted horizontally and avoided the ball of flame.
Yet at this time, the black rope swiftly reappeared, overcame the monkey’s vulnerable defense, and firmly snagged it.
A “peng” sound resonated.
The Rotten Horned Monkey was not able to move and resolutely smashed to the ground in front of Liu Ming. Moreover, because of the erosion caused by the Soul Shackling Chain, the green hair on its body started to emit a cyan smoke. It couldn’t help but let out cries of pain and anguish.
Liu Ming didn’t say anything and raised his foot. He proceeded to tap the monkey’s head with his foot.
“Hong!”
Under an excessive force, the majority of the Rotten Horn Monkey’s head was immediately buried in the ground. Its two eyes rolled completely around as it passed out.
Liu Ming let out a soft sigh and grabbed the Rotten Horn Monkey. He held its shoulder and started to perform a technique.
Suddenly, a gray cloud appeared under Liu Ming’s legs and he flew out of the forest toward a distant place.
An hour later, Liu Ming arrived at a cave that was quite far from the black forest and threw the Rotten Horn Monkey, that was on his shoulder, onto the ground.
The entrance to this cave was located under a large stone and was well hidden. The interior was also quite large with a couple dozen square yards.
When Liu Ming found it, the interior was completely empty. He did not know what type of powerful ghost had made and abandoned it.
Liu Ming had discovered the Rotten Horn Monkeys in the area one day ago. Instead of hunting them immediately, he initially sought a hidden area in the vicinity before making his move today.
Liu Ming observed the Rotten Horn Monkey on the ground, and when he was sure it was unconscious, he retrieved a light black gourd from his sleeve. He then pulled the cork and poured a light yellow powder on the ground.
Afterward, he walked around the monkey once to create a light yellow powder circle around it. Subsequently, he strode into the circle and sat down. Slowly, he closed his eyes and started to meditate.
After a while, Liu Ming opened his eyes once again and started to rapidly conjure a technique.
Many tendrils of black gas poured out from his body at an ever increasing rate.
Meanwhile, Liu Ming’s cheeks and the exposed skin on his arms and neck started to reveal faint gray Spirit Markings. They quickly spread to every inch of his body.
“Pu!”
Liu Ming’s arm moved and brought the Rotten Horned Monkey closer. His other hand prodded and then stilled at its head.
From his mouth came a soft mutter, and the black gas on Liu Ming’s body instantly transformed into a violent tentacle. The gray inscriptions on his body moved slightly and then impetuously rushed toward his hands on the monkey’s head. They subsequently bolted and disappeared into the Rotten Horn Monkey’s head.
The originally quiet and motionless Rotten Horn Monkey immediately woke up, revealing its extremely red eyes as it started to incessantly struggle.
However, Liu Ming’s two hands seemed to be made of steel and firmly grabbed onto the ghost. At the same time, the rate at which the inscriptions rushed to his hand and into the monkey became quicker.
A short while later, the Rotten Horn Monkey started to vomit green spit and its struggling instantly became much weaker.
When Liu Ming saw this, his face revealed delight and his incantation sped up once again.
In the next moment, however, black veins on both sides of the Rotten Horn Monkey’s head abruptly appeared, expanded, and unexpectedly exploded.
A green liquid immediately spewed out in all directions.
Startled, the black gas on Liu Ming’s body vigorously lashed out and blocked the liquid shooting at Liu Ming.
However, because of this pause, a ball of black gas managed to emerge from the Rotten Horn Monkey’s newly headless corpse and speedily fled toward the exit of the cave.
Yet, once the black gas reached the boundary of light yellow powder, it seemed to collide with an invisible wall and recoiled back. It then perpetually threw itself at the invisible wall like a housefly, but was completely unable to step foot outside the encirclement
“Pu!”
A scarlet ball of flame rocketed forward, instantaneously engulfed the black gas, and completely erased it.
It was Liu Ming who had finally acted. Afterward, he threw away the Rotten Horn Monkey’s corpse gloomily.
“This is already the third time I have failed. I didn’t realize that taming a low level ghost was this challenging! It seems that the ghosts that I experimented with in the sect had been used by countless people in the past and lacked even the slightest amount of viciousness. Therefore I was able to easily use the Spirit Communication Technique to subdue them. On the other hand, the ghosts in the Ghost Hell Region are extremely vicious and and difficult to tame.” Liu Ming muttered to himself in a dejected voice.
No wonder!
Liu Ming had already risked traveling over five to six hundred kilometers from the base, but including the Rotten Horn Monkey in front of him, he had only seen three low level ghosts. When he tried to tame them, he had failed every time.
It seemed like he could only continue forward. Although he had traveled a long way from the base, the animal skin map still had a few low leveled ghost locations ahead of him. He may still have some chance of capturing a ghost.
Liu Ming could only think hopefully like this.
Thereupon he somewhat tidied up the cave, hopped on his cloud and left.
Three days later, Liu Ming appeared in a desolate highland, flying at a low altitude.
Suddenly, a rumbling sound came from the sky behind him. At first the sound was only faint, but it gradually grew to be deafening.
Liu Ming’s heart trembled, and he hurriedly looked behind him. What greeted him turned his face deathly white.
He saw that the gray sky had unexpectedly turned scarlet about a dozen kilometers away. The scarlet red “sky” then proceeded to slowly fly in his direction.
“Oh hell; I actually ran into a migrating Ghost Bee Swarm! But this isn’t right; this path should not be near any migrating Ghost Bees.
Liu Ming involuntarily cried out, immediately abandoned all previous plans, and abruptly urged his cloud to fly to one side.
He remembered distinctly that although this Ghost Bee Swarm was terrifying, as long as one stood clear of its migration path, he or she would be able to preserve his or her life.
However, though he rapidly changed directions and flew a few kilometers in that direction, he found that the red sky was growing closer and closer. There seemed to be no chance of escaping its reach, and he started to grieve silently in his heart.
The reason for this was because he had encountered an inordinately large Ghost Bee Swarm. A normal swarm of ten thousand wouldn’t cover this much area.
Without any other ideas, Liu Ming could only grind his teeth and evoke his Lighten Technique. He then stopped feeding Fa Li to the gray cloud under him and fell from the sky. After landing, he leaped to his feet and frantically started running away from the red sky.
Although the Soaring Sky Technique was very convenient, its maximum speed was not very fast, and it naturally wasted more energy than traveling by foot.
Liu Ming frantically dashed with all his efforts, and his speed was even faster than his flying speed! In a few moments he had turned into a small black dot.
However, at this time, the scarlet sky behind him was now within his vicinity.
The so called scarlet sky was composed of thumb-sized red Ghost Bees. Their bodies were shriveled and almost flat, but their tails were an eerie white with large stingers that would cause anyone’s heart to race.
……
Three days later, Liu Ming was standing in an endless black desert. Looking at the omnipresent black sand, he couldn’t help but bitterly smile.
Over the past two days he had used every method he could think of and finally escaped the clutches of the Ghost Bee Swarm, but in his befuddled state he had consequently stumbled into a strange and unknown desert.
This desert was clearly located over a thousand kilometers from the base and was not marked on the map. However, from the threads of cold air and the oppressive feeling, this area was extremely rich in Miasma. Thus there was a high probability of ghosts living here. On the other hand, this place probably also contained obscure dangers.
After considering his options, Liu Ming still felt that he was in no rush to return. Instead, he would explore the desert to find a suitable ghost.
But before doing that, he needed to replenish his virtually exhausted Fa Li.
Consequently, Liu Ming found a small hole at the bottom of a sand dune and retrieved his black gourd. He sprinkled a little yellow powder in a circle and sat cross-legged in the center.
One day later, his two eyes flashed brilliantly as they opened. The Fa Li in his body was close to being completely recovered.
Liu Ming did not hesitate and summoned the gray cloud. After jumping on, he withdrew his Miasma Compass and consciously flew in a direction.
A hundred kilometers away, a skeletal ghost in the shape of a decomposing human slowly walked about, the meager flesh left on its carcass visibly rotten.
Suddenly, the sand under its feet split apart, and two gigantic dark black pincers instantaneously caught its small legs and abruptly pulled down. The human shaped ghost was immediately pulled under the dunes.
The surrounding sand surged and the human shaped ghost disappeared without a trace.