Chapter 39: Innate Primordial Spirit

"You little mongrel!?"

On another battlefield, Xi Luo, having witnessed Pan Hu collapse into unconsciousness with her own eyes, let out a low roar.

Unfortunately, entangled with the Ghost King, Xi Luo could only watch helplessly at this moment.

Although Xi Luo was the Mountain God of Flying Peak.

If one were to truly weigh her current combat strength, she was only a hair stronger than the naturally gifted Pan Hu.

After all, her combat power had been greatly diminished from her battle with Rui Fu some time ago.

Afterward, she had used an explosive skill capable of boosting her strength for a short period.

Therefore, as long as the Ghost King could endure the initial burst of power, the danger posed by Xi Luo would drop sharply.

In fact, for the Ghost King, who was the manifestation of the Nether Owl, this was not difficult at all.

As the strongest of the Malignant Spirits, the Ghost King possessed the "Undying Body" common to all Malignant Spirits; simply shattering its form was completely meaningless.

Only by completely destroying the beast spirits within the Ghost King's body was it possible to kill it for good.

Thus, unsurprisingly, the ensuing battle between Xi Luo and the Ghost King entered a phase of sustained attrition.

Neither side of the battle was thinking of breaking away from the other anymore; instead, they were fully focused on ending the fight quickly.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Xi Luo, transformed into a Red Leopard, trod upon fire clouds and spat out flames.

Every assault successfully shattered the Ghost King, significantly eliminating the roaring beast spirits within its body.

Conversely, while the Ghost King’s counterattacks lacked the massive momentum of Xi Luo’s, they pushed trickery, shrillness, and gloom to the extreme.

Every attack carried a terrifying curse, weakening the opponent in every aspect from physical stamina to spirit.

From time to time, one could hear the Ghost King’s shrill howling—it was the most nauseating form of mental pollution.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The ear-piercing sound of metal clashing spread throughout Black Cloud Marsh.

If the battle between Xi Luo and the Ghost King was a clash of divine abilities and spells, then the battle between Li Boyang and the Four-Armed Ghost God was one of pure physical attack.

Relying on his Indestructible Diamond Body.

The Four-Armed Ghost God swung his arms, colliding with the Sword Pellet time and time again.

Even if occasionally pierced by the rotating flying sword, the Four-Armed Ghost God could recover from his wounds in an instant.

Just as the Nether Owl had said, in the dead of night, he, transformed into a Ghost God, was an invincible existence.

This was the nature of a ghost, and also the privilege of a god.

"I am a god now!"

"And gods are invincible!"

Screaming with a wild, arrogant look on his face, the Nether Owl was clearly influenced by his own obsessions and resentment, becoming incomparably insane and conceited.

After all, if a "god" were truly invincible, he would not have set his sights on Li Boyang’s physical body in the first place.

[Brainless fool, actually abandoning wisdom for the sake of power.]

A cold voice entered the Nether Owl’s heart, and the golden Sword Pellet paused in mid-air at this moment.

The next second, baleful energy from beneath the earth surged upward, gathering continuously near the Sword Pellet.

This sudden scene directly stunned the Nether Owl, who had been planning to continue his attack.

Whoosh!

Accompanied by the gathering of baleful energy, the earth began to tremble, and the crust began to collapse.

In an instant, a small-scale earthquake occurred in this Black Cloud Marsh and quickly spread to the entire Hundred Lands Mountain Range.

"Gathering Baleful Energy to Refine Form? Ghost Square Secret Technique?"

Staring with dilated pupils at the baleful energy still gathering, the Nether Owl identified the essence of this phenomenon in a single word.

"How do you know my Ghost Square Secret Technique!?"

The "Ghost Square Secret Technique" was the Nether Owl’s method for refining Malignant Ghosts, and also the untold secret of the High Priest of the Ghost Square Kingdom.

If the Nether Owl had not accidentally transformed into a fierce ghost and used the power of a pill furnace to capture the Ox-Headed Yin God, he could never have achieved his current Ghost God body.

It was precisely because he understood the difficulty of mastering the "Ghost Square Secret Technique" that the Nether Owl wore such an expression of disbelief.

"You refined me into a sword soul, yet now you ask me how I know the Ghost Square Secret Technique?"

The cold voice rang out again, only this time, the voice had a concrete source.

The endless baleful energy gathered into a human shape.

It was a man whose attire and appearance were completely out of place in this era.

Short sleeves and long trousers, a buzz cut, plus that sense of youthfulness that could not be hidden no matter what...

This was precisely the image of Li Boyang from his past life.

Clang!

Looking from afar, one could see him holding a golden longsword, standing in the air, his entire body devoid of any sense of malice or balefulness.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, the Nether Owl would not even have been able to imagine that the other party could be the manifestation of baleful energy.

"Besides, this is not the 'Ghost Square Secret Technique' you speak of..."

Li Boyang spoke the truth; the form he manifested by borrowing baleful energy was not some Malignant Ghost.

So-called ghosts and monsters are powerful existences born when a soul attaches itself to some kind of substance.

The stronger the resentment and the deeper the obsession, the stronger the ghost or monster.

When these powerful ghosts and monsters meet certain established conditions and undergo a further transformation, the so-called "Malignant Ghost" is born.

From this perspective, Li Boyang, with his soul attached to the Divine Firmament Sword, was actually a special kind of Malignant Ghost.

An undying soul, the Divine Firmament Sword...

If Li Boyang hadn't ultimately killed the Nether Owl in return and reincarnated as a human again, he would have been the strongest Malignant Ghost under the Nether Owl’s command.

"Impossible! You are clearly right now..."

The Nether Owl just wanted to retort, but suddenly widened his eyes in disbelief.

Because the Nether Owl discovered that what Li Boyang said was actually the truth; his current state was far more complex than that of a Malignant Ghost.

Modeling after the human body’s Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams, the circulation of meridians and acupoints...

Li Boyang had stunningly reconstructed a body independent of his physical flesh—a spiritual body existing between being and non-being.

Whoosh!

Endless baleful energy circulated within his body, finally converging into the Divine Firmament Sword in his hand.

Most importantly, compared to those Malignant Ghosts born of gathered resentment.

Li Boyang in this form was not only clear-headed and rational, but had also nurtured a transcendent spirituality.

That was the most fundamental and purest part of a biological being’s mental consciousness.

It was a spiritual essence that was innate and did not rely on acquired experience or learning to exist.

It was precisely because of the existence of this spark of spirituality that Li Boyang was not considered a Malignant Ghost now.

"What exactly are you now?"

Perhaps out of fear of the unknown, the Nether Owl’s voice even began to tremble.

"I am also curious... what state I am in right now."

Feeling his resonance with the earth’s ley line baleful energy, Li Boyang murmured with equal curiosity.

"Even though I lost my physical body, I have still retained my complete self and emotions..."

"I seem to have become a 'god' like Rui Fu, a 'god' gathered from the vital energy of the earth’s ley lines."

"Whether it is baleful or auspicious, it is merely a choice for a 'god'."

As if to verify Li Boyang’s words.

The Divine Firmament Sword in his hand actually radiated a gentle, jade-like aura at this moment.

"If I must choose a suitable name for this state of mine..."

"I think the term 'Primordial Spirit' is quite fitting."

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(End of Chapter)