Young kings were supremely talented, capable of reaching the Giant level.
Their number was limited in Jin, so each was very precious to the sects. They were treated just as well as the supreme elders.
In just one day, three young kings have fallen on the stage named Golden. This caused an even bigger commitment than the young lord of the Dark Realm killing forty-three geniuses.
Why? Because each young king could have entered the second round of this competition.
The youths here no longer dared to climb on stage against this reaper. No one had survived so far.
Only one young king was left in the jade hall, a talent from Central Royal. He didn’t have a big sect backing him off, but this precisely showed just how strong he was, getting so far without much help. Alas, he was afraid at this moment.
He met with Liao Cheng and Zhao Songyang at the capital. They enjoyed wines and beauties in the last several days so he knew their cultivation level relatively well. He would only be walking towards his death just like them.
He didn’t wish to die, but someone else wanted to deliver him to hell’s doors.
A sweet and gentle fragrance came with the breeze. The beauty was now standing in front of him with her long, black hair draping down. Her figure was as pretty as a painting. She had a cup of wine in her hand before speaking softly: “The two of them are your good friends. Young Noble, I’m sure you will have revenge for them. Drink this and go kill that Feng Ergou.”
Her long and slender fingers moved delicately. It didn’t look like she was trying to charm him at all due to her holy and elegant appearance.
However, each of her words was seductive and could make men forget their own last name. This was a kingdom-toppling demoness. Both Liao Cheng and Zhao Songyang died because of her comments.
This person named Xu Feng thought: ‘If I go fight right now, I’ll die just like the other two.’
He actually grew up in a wolf’s cave and struggled to survive before entering the human world. He was met with numerous failures and near-death events, fully aware of the evil within the hearts of humans. Though this woman was as pretty as a goddess, more beautiful than all the women he had met before combined, being seduced by her right now would end with his death.
“Cough! My goddess… I and the other two were merely acquaintances, not friends.” He tried to refuse.
Yao Ji sighed in response: “Are you afraid?”
“I’ve never been afraid of anyone.”
“Unfortunately, you’re afraid of Feng Ergou.” Her voice carried a sense of disappointment. Any man who heard this wouldn’t mind jumping into a boiling cauldron for her.
“Who says so?!” He slammed on the table and stood up. [1]
“A man in fear is a coward and will never be loved by a woman.” She continued.
“I’ll go fight him then!”
“Drink this cup first.” She finally smiled and brought the cup over. Her smile was even more beautiful before, drowning him and his mind completely.
He was thinking - death is nothing if she could have a better opinion of him.
He heroically drank the whole cup before jumping out of the balcony to reach the stage.
Princess Luofu came out of her mist, dressed in long, yellow dress and veil. Her aura was the same color as she said: “You’re really a demoness, if I were a man, you would be the cause of my demise as well.”
Yao Ji smiled naturally: “Princess, that’s too much. I’m not such an ugly girl.”
“You’re a hundred times uglier than the ugliest in the world.”
Just a few lines from her have brought an end to three young kings. She murdered people far easier than Feiyun.
“What are you holding?” The princess’ keen eyes saw that Yao Ji was holding a jade bottle for a split second before it disappeared.
“Nothing can hide from your eyes, Princess.” Yao Ji smiled as her hand lit up with a golden glow. It dispersed, revealing a jade bottle.
It had nine legs and two handles with the images of ghost talismans on all sides, painted with blood. It wasn’t made out of gold or stone, not grass or grass, and gave off a chilling aura.
As she slightly swung it back and forth, ghastly wails came from inside.
Luofu wasn’t weak like other princesses and was knowledgeable. After hearing the wails, she grimaced: “You’re grooming ghosts?”
Ghosts were intangible and unexplainable, even for cultivators. According to the ancient texts, ghosts were considered a type of soul, but not belonging to the three souls and seven spirits.
Living beings had three souls and seven spirits. The souls were Heaven, Earth, and Fate. The spirits were Vigor, Intelligence, Aura, Power, Central, Essence, and Heroism. [2]
After death, some of these ten entities would come together to form a “ghost soul”.
The ghosts might not have all ten; some would be missing.
The three souls also had another name - Embryo, Invigoration, and Nether. After death, the Nether Soul would disappear into the world.
This deficiency made the ghosts lose all sentience. They would just float around aimlessly and no longer qualified to stay in this world. A different one would call for them.
The Buddhists called this other world, “hell”. The daoists called it the underworld. [3]
But nothing was absolute in this world. A few powerful characters would leave a bit of their soul behind for these ghost forms.
Under special death circumstances, a strand of the souls would be left behind too. For example, dying to certain weapons, dying with great hatred, regrets, or desires…
Due to the broken nature of the soul, some ghosts were evil, just like the remnant intents.
They were special in that they could resist the calling of hell and stay in this world as a different type of creatures.
If these ghost souls wanted to become a specter, they would need to absorb their own kind of yin energy in order to cultivate the Essence and Power spirits.
These two spirits were what they were missing as well. Without Essence, the ghosts can’t have a form in this world. People can’t see it; they were as empty as air.
Some specters were strong enough to gather plenty of Essence, enough to take on a human form, or even physical flesh.
Without Power, the ghosts were harmless and couldn’t kill people. The more Power, the more battle potential.
“You’re quite knowledgeable, Princess.” Yao Ji opened the bottle and dozens of ghost souls came out. Three of them looked exactly like the three young kings killed by Feiyun earlier.
They had plenty of hatred so their expression was twisted. Amusingly enough, they were the “kings” among ghosts.
She closed it again with a faint smile as if this was no big deal.
“You’re from the Yin World?” The princess asked with a serious tone.
“Of course not, I’m a disciple of Yin Void and only came across these ghost-catching arts by accident.” Yao Ji showed off her white teeth and dimples before putting the bottle away.
The princess naturally didn’t believe her. Even a powerful treasure-masters can’t capture ghosts in broad daylight without being detected.
Moreover, the fifth disciple of the Grand Tutor, Daoist Ling Luan was sitting right there. If Yao Ji only knew some shabby techniques, he would have detected it instantly.
Grooming ghosts was taboo in the cultivation world. The users would be under attack by all once exposed.
“Are you not afraid of people from the Yin World coming to find you?” The princess asked again.
Yao Ji rolled her eyes and said: “Their biggest enemy is the Evil Woman, they don’t have time to worry about this little game of mine.”
The princess was good at reading people and knew that Yao Ji wasn’t telling the truth.
Meanwhile, Feiyun’s bloodthirst still horrified the crowd as he easily killed Xu Feng.
Another young king had fallen. The stage became quiet, no one else dared to come up.
“Brother Dongfang, why not go try, don’t you love devilish geniuses like him?” Li Xiaonan smiled.
Jingshui remained leisure: “The gambling hall will send geniuses here to kill him now that he had shown up. It is regrettable if I mess up this show. After all, 300,000 stones are on the line.”
Sure enough, plenty of unfamiliar faces appeared beneath the stage. Each was ready to fight with surging spirit energy.
Meanwhile, Yao Ji had taken Xu Feng’s ghost soul into her bottle and also noticed the billowing auras beneath. She knew that many insane geniuses have come and they would have pure souls like the beasts. “Haha, today is a great day.”