Chapter 126: Spirit-Eating, Severed Arm Rules, Company Information

Although he didn’t know exactly what had happened, since they’d caught someone, there would inevitably be a breakthrough.

There are people who can withstand torture, but they are extremely rare; sometimes human willpower is far less steadfast than imagined, and physiological instincts exert a far greater influence than one might think.

So Louis wasn’t very worried about breaking her silence.

With his resolve settled, Louis turned his gaze to his prize this time—the severed arm.

Back in the classroom, he hadn’t examined it closely; now, in the car, he could finally take a proper look at what this thing really was.

It was the size of a normal human arm, partially shriveled, with a skin-tight-bone appearance, but not entirely devoid of flesh—it had clearly been specially dried, making it less fragile to handle.

However, this treatment made it difficult for him to determine the age of the arm’s original owner at a glance.

At that moment, Louis took out his talisman and placed it against the arm’s upper arm—but received no reaction.

So it had nothing to do with evil spirits, demons, or malevolent deities; it was merely a form of special power. This was important.

He didn’t know how strong its spirit-summoning ability was or how the process worked, but it certainly couldn’t be unlimited; judging from the dozen or so semi-spirits just now, it wasn’t weak at all.

That was fine—he only needed to have someone use this severed arm to continuously summon spirits, then consume them and craft soul stones, greatly accelerating his cultivation progress and skill development.

What a wonderful treasure~

He opened a safe in the car, placed the arm inside, then held his breath and focused his attention inward, toward his abdomen.

Spirit-Eating Witchcraft belongs to the category of ancient witchcraft, where rituals emphasized interaction with heaven, earth, and nature—and this art was no exception.

After swallowing a soul, the five viscera must grind away its obsessions, malice, and murderous intent using the Five Elements—metal, wood, water, fire, earth—but this process has a threshold; if you’re not exceptionally gifted, you must possess cultivation base to protect your viscera, or else you’ll be ripped open from within before you even begin.

Additionally, you need a heart capable of suppressing them, firm and unwavering—whether through natural calm, persuasion, or ferocity, as long as you can hold them in check and prevent them from influencing your mind, the two together will allow you to enter this witchcraft.

Now, Louis was using internal qi to shield his five viscera, transforming them internally, while firmly anchoring his spirit.

Begin the process.

Aaaaahhhhh!!!

Silent screams began swirling around Louis’s ears; the spirits of the dozen or so semi-spirits and a few base-level ones, crushed and churned within his viscera, began violently surging.

Unfortunately, they were only semi-spirits—under the protection of his internal qi, they had no chance to resist.

The problem was the extreme noises—wailing, begging, cursing—voices of men, women, old, young—all layered together, like being trapped in a swarm of flies that you couldn’t kill off in a hurry.

Louis couldn’t help but frown; sound affected people—sometimes merely hearing it caused the mind to automatically conjure images, thereby influencing one’s self.

Fortunately, Louis had a hard heart and wasn’t easily swayed; he even saw this as a good opportunity to refine his spirit, helping him break through to the Yin Spirit realm later—he should probably do this more often, swallowing a dozen spirits at once to train his spirit.

Soon, after fifteen minutes, Louis had ground down several semi-spirits; his eyes gleamed sharply, and he felt extraordinarily alert.

He could stay awake all night and still feel as fresh as if he’d just woken up!

“Marvelous~”

At that moment, the car stopped—they’d arrived at Rebirth Prison. Louis paused his grinding, taking the chance to recover his internal qi; as soon as the process halted, the clamor in his ears faded abruptly.

The car beside him also stopped; Yulencar rushed over, staring curiously at the prison.

Louis carried the safe toward the prison; behind him, the family members remained silent, dragging the wounded woman inside.

Soon, after entering the password, they took the elevator down to the underground base.

Yulencar said nothing the entire time, lips pressed tight, eyes wide with shock.

A prison!

An underground base!

How many things had Louis been doing behind the scenes?

Instantly, she felt joy and excitement—Louis clearly wasn’t content to be idle; if she could become part of this, it boded extremely well for her future.

Yulencar was clever; she’d already imagined some of the arrangements Louis might make for her, but she stayed silent—sometimes, things understood between two people are better left unspoken; letting the other take the lead benefits everyone.

Louis didn’t care what Yulencar was thinking; he simply ordered his men to take the woman to interrogation.

“Bring a voluntary subject.”

He then entered a steel room.

He placed the severed arm on the table.

Seeing Louis didn’t stop her, Yulencar stepped inside as well.

“This is my experimental chamber. From now on, if any supernatural incidents occur, err on the side of killing rather than letting them slip—inform me immediately.”

Louis suddenly said.

Yulencar nodded.

This time, Yulencar had done well—she left the scene promptly and told him about it; otherwise, she might have missed this treasure.

“I’ll grant you access permission to this place.”

“Also, remember to cultivate the art I taught you every day—otherwise, I won’t be able to entrust you with important matters in the future.”

“Yes!”

The iron door banged open; a burly man dragged in a “limp noodle.”

The man’s face was pale, his dark circles heavy, his eyes devoid of any hope; he simply sat there, radiating a deep, crushing despair.

Louis looked at the big man, who quickly replied, “Young Master, this guy’s a drug addict—he injured his internal organs during a drug fight, and tests revealed late-stage lung cancer. He doesn’t have long to live. If we transfer money to his family, he’ll do anything.”

Late-stage lung cancer—yes, there was no saving him.

Louis nodded. “Grip this hand and respond to me. You must obey every order during the procedure—otherwise, you get nothing.”

The man nodded. “I… really get the money?”

Louis gave a glance; soon, a bank transfer record was brought over.

Seeing the string of zeros, the man’s eyes lit up; he stared at Louis and nodded fiercely. “Fine. Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it.”

Louis’s face remained expressionless.

He didn’t care whether this man had hidden pain or tragic past—he only needed obedience.

Soon, Louis dripped a drop of bull’s tear, then added one for the curious Yulencar, and the spirit-summoning began.

The man gripped the hand. “Respond to me.”

As he spoke, sweat broke on his forehead, but when he opened his eyes, nothing happened.

He looked confusedly at Louis, still clutching the severed arm.

But Louis frowned.

Suddenly, his frown eased—he lifted a section of peach wood paneling on the wall.

The next second.

A semi-spirit with rotten teeth and one missing eye burst in, sitting down on the chair opposite the man.

Louis smiled.

Indeed, this thing worked—except that the room's peach wood lining had blocked the spirits from entering, causing the earlier failure.

So the plan to cover the entire underground base’s walls with peach wood should continue—it’s clearly effective.

Now, let’s see how my buffet service works—what’s the process, what’s the speed?

Louis smiled faintly, turning to look at the man, gripping the hand and trembling violently, and the semi-spirit across from him.

“Don’t be nervous—we’ll take it slow.”

……

After two hours of experimentation,

Louis had deduced a series of rules regarding the severed arm.

First, it could indeed summon spirits, and seemed to carry a degree of compulsion and allure.

Especially the allure—it didn’t tempt the spirits, but the contactors; anyone who said “Respond to me” would become semi-open, able to see spirits while their soul became extremely sensitive—so when spirits invaded, they delivered a soul-deep pleasure akin to drug addiction!

Louis suspected this ability was originally controllable—perhaps the arm’s original owner had possessed it as an active power—but now it was clearly out of control.

Also, its summoning range was limited—only a district within a city, not the entire city as Louis had initially imagined, but still quite substantial and realistic.

Additionally, the ceramic layer and inscribed incantations previously wrapped around the arm had suppressed its power; now that they were removed, the arm could summon stronger spirits, no longer limited mostly to semi-spirits with only a few true ones.

But to summon spirits that were all true ones.

Louis suspected its upper limit might not be just base-level spirits, but possibly ordinary ones like Mary Shaw—or even high-tier ones like the Flesh-Eating Demon.

No wonder the creator used those methods to suppress it—if several Mary Shaws or Flesh-Eating Demons appeared at once, things would get wild.

Clearly, the creator had anticipated this and imposed the seal.

But this reminded Louis of something.

Could the woman who attacked him be connected to the one who created this arm—or someone who was after it?

The students playing with it didn’t matter, but when he acted and destroyed the spirits, he clearly wasn’t just playing—he was targeted?

Louis pondered briefly; this possibility seemed plausible. Whether true or not, he’d know once the interrogation results came in.

Until then, he’d continue cultivating—digest all the spirits inside him.

Spirit, energy, essence—unified as one; when spirit is complete, energy is full; when energy is full, essence is abundant—this cycle repeats endlessly.

His spirit wasn’t yet complete, but he already felt the benefits—vibrant spirit, sharp mind, less fatigue, and even that sharp instinct to sense the sniper during the gunfight—all benefits of a strong spirit.

The Five Elements grinding wheel within his viscera turned, each spirit howling in agony, spewing venomous curses one after another—but none could harm Louis.

They only provided him with more power.

When his internal qi ran low, he rested, ate, refined and restored it, then resumed; once he’d digested the spirits inside, he’d call the man back to summon more…

Beside him, Yulencar, bored, began cultivating the art Louis had taught her.

For a time, the room fell silent.

Until three hours later.

Knock knock knock.

The door banged.

Louis ended his cultivation, “Bring her in.”

His driver said, “Young Master, the interrogation results are in.”

Snap! Snap!

The woman was carried in.

The woman now looked utterly broken; her fingernails had been pulled out, and faint puncture wounds from needles were visible…

Yet Louis and Yuelunca remained expressionless.

“This woman has strong willpower, but she still couldn’t hold out—she confessed her background.”

“She was originally a CIA operative stationed in the Middle East. After her child fell ill, she divorced and quit her job. Desperate for money, she committed multiple murders and robberies. During one robbery, she was seen by a witness and tried to kill him to cover her tracks.”

“But the man had formidable combat skills—he was also an expert with firearms. After a fierce struggle, she was defeated and then absorbed into a company now known as W.”

“However, as a peripheral member, she was not trusted and knew little—she only knew to follow orders and guard special items assigned by the company.”

“She received a bounty after each mission, plus a high salary.”

W Company?

What kind of enterprise is this?

“Anything else?”

The driver said, “She’s worked for the company for three years so far, guarding four special items. This severed arm is the fifth—codenamed F-Zone, Point R, Item Five.”

“F-Zone refers to Fuluolidazhou, Point R refers to Orlando, and Five is the item’s designation.”

“She only revealed this much. Regarding other details about the company, she swore she’d only answer after meeting you.”

The driver spoke thus.

Louis nodded. It seemed the woman had conditions for speaking.

“Speak. What do you want?”

“You won’t let me go—I know that. I only ask that you change my daughter’s name and send her to an orphanage. Please, hurry.”

Louis’s eyes gleamed with amusement. “How do you know I won’t spare you? What if I do?”

“I’ve seen too many people like you—psychopaths. I nearly killed you. You won’t spare me.” The woman laughed hoarsely, her mouth full of blood foam.

Louis smiled too.

“Fair enough.”

As if she were some innocent soul—a CIA operative in the Middle East, multiple robberies and murders for money, likely dozens of deaths?

At least I don’t harm the innocent.

But she was right about one thing: he wouldn’t spare her. She had aimed a gun at him, tried to assassinate him. Had he not possessed some skill of his own, he might have been badly wounded, forced to wait for his family and Gu Yi to rescue him—or worse.

So how could he possibly spare her?

(End of Chapter)