Chapter 564

The most typical example is the ultimate secret technique in the complete version of Restricting Spirits and Commanding Generals, presented by Feng Tianyang to the Wang family: Spirit Ingestion.

The core mechanism of Spirit Ingestion is that the user consumes spiritual entities—including corpses, animal spirits, [

and residual souls of human cultivators—to directly convert their energy and skills into one’s own power.

Although the power boost from “Spirit Ingestion” is far weaker than the orthodox method of “Spirit Possession” [

(allowing a spirit to inhabit the body), the enhancement from “Spirit Ingestion” is permanent.

The more spirits one consumes, the stronger one’s base strength becomes.

Yet “Spirit Ingestion” is a corrupt path disguised as a shortcut, accompanied by severe side effects and risks.

First, this kill-the-goose-for-the-golden-egg approach provokes intense hatred from the spirits.

Once the user stops forcibly restraining spirits, they are almost certain to suffer a spirit backlash.

Most severely, each spirit consumed forces the user to inherit part of that spirit’s former thoughts, emotions, and memories.

Prolonged abuse leads to multiple personalities, extreme brutality, and eventual loss of empathy.

The Wang family’s exception is Wang Bing, the eldest son of the Wang family, doted upon excessively by the patriarch Wang Ai and treated as a precious treasure.

This fellow’s arrogance and self-importance could be excused as the privilege of a noble family heir,

born into wealth and luxury, with his nose in the air, looking down on those of lower birth;

but his brutality—daring to act recklessly even on Dragon Tiger Mountain, disregarding the lives of others and spirits—

demands serious condemnation.

After all, the Wang family is one of the four great clans of the occult world; what does it matter that his great-grandfather is one of the Ten Elders?

The Dragon Tiger Mountain Tian Shi Fu has been passed down for a thousand years, leading the orthodox Zhengyi Daoist sect

secretly regarded as the foremost orthodox sect in the occult world, and the Old Heavenly Master is unquestionably the “Supreme Peak.”

Beating Wang Ai, his great-grandfather, would be no more than a single slap.

Not to mention the Company, the colossal entity representing the state’s oversight and balance of the occult world.

To display such brutality, such inhumanity, before all occultists and the Company,

aside from having lost his mind, Zhang Jie cannot conceive of any other explanation.

As the number of consumed spirits increases, the user’s physical form gradually transforms toward the spirit’s form,

eventually possibly losing human shape and self-awareness entirely, becoming a pure “spirit.”

Zhang Jie strongly suspects that the “General” in Restricting Spirits and Commanding Generals was born this way—a pure spirit with immense power,

whose self-awareness has been erased, capable only of being manipulated and shaped at will by its master.

Aside from the Wang family—or rather, the Spirit Ingestion technique within Restricting Spirits and Commanding Generals—

the only other figure in the occult world who can seize another’s true Qi for himself is Shen Chong, one of the Four Madmen of Quanxing, known as “The Seed of Calamity.”

Like Xia He, who was born with the innate ability to manipulate lust, Shen Chong is also a congenital occultist,

whose ability, based on its nature, is called “Usury.”

He can lend his own “Qi” to others; the contractee gains power rapidly by killing others and absorbing the dead’s Qi.

As payment, the contractee must surrender a fixed percentage of the Qi gained from each kill

as “interest” to Shen Chong.

As the number of kills increases, this percentage gradually rises, becoming true usury.

When the contractee kills more and more but gains less and less Qi, their sanity slowly erodes,

eventually becoming a mad enforcer ruled by murderous intent, a “debt slave” of Shen Chong.

Even with debt slaves as filters, Shen Chong dares not absorb others’ Qi recklessly,

for today’s fully insane debt slaves are tomorrow’s fate.

The Northern Dark Divine Art was the foundation of Zhang Jie’s early strength,

though his cultivation level long ago surpassed the low-to-mid-tier worlds like Tian Long,

Zhang Jie never abandoned it; instead, after incorporating the Devouring Fruit and Black Hole Meditation,

he elevated it further still,

making it a divine art capable of standing among the greatest in high-tier worlds like Feng Yun.

In other words, if Zhang Jie wished, he too could seize the true Qi of other occultists, as the Wang family and Shen Chong do.

And due to his supreme realm and immense power, he can completely erase the spiritual imprint within another’s true Qi,

without suffering the side effects of Spirit Ingestion or Usury—gradual madness, loss of humanity, and brutality.

Yet for Zhang Jie now, the true Qi of ordinary occultists is merely impurity to be purged;

absorbing others’ true Qi would only corrupt the purity of his own, making it entirely unnecessary.

What does catch his attention are the unique Qi abilities like Xia He’s lust manipulation and Feng Shayan’s spatial control.

Right now, he holds a cluster of Xia He’s Qi, collected from the bewitched water monkeys,

intending to use it as research material.

After sending Zhang Chulan off to train, Zhang Jie flipped his palm, and the pink Qi, radiating seductive melodies, appeared in his hand.

Under his control, the Qi slowly sank into his body.

The true qi, emitting seductive melodies, appeared in his hands.

“Master, come chase me!”

The instant the pink Qi entered his body, Zhang Jie’s vision flooded with countless beauties—plump or slender,

dressed in formal attire or sheer veils, even completely naked.

Each beauty offered herself to him freely; if he merely relaxed his will, he could embrace them all, enjoying boundless pleasure.

“Breathe, breathe!”

Zhang Jie’s breathing quickened, a flush rising on his face,

as if he were about to follow the fate of the earth monkeys—but his eyes remained utterly clear from start to finish.

Zhang Jie’s breathing quickened slightly, and a flush rose to his face,

Zhang Jie sneered inwardly; the seductive visions dissolved into boundless thunder,

and the plump and slender beauties, startled, turned pale,

gazing at him with tearful, pitiful eyes, as if begging for his mercy.

Zhang Jie remained unmoved; the thunder intensified threefold, and the seductive visions vanished entirely.

He still sat cross-legged in place—where were the beauties?

Merely illusions stirred by Xia He’s Qi.

“This true Qi has some merit.”

Zhang Jie closed his eyes slightly, thinking inwardly.

Had he not opened his mental defenses and allowed the Qi to act freely,

it would not have even caused a momentary distraction, let alone illusions.

But how many in the world possess his mental realm and cultivation?

Ordinary occultists, facing Xia He at full power, would instantly be overwhelmed by lust demons,

sinking into desire, becoming slaves to boundless craving, turning into mere beasts of flesh.

One could say that were it not for Xia He’s lack of malice, the occult world would be far more chaotic than it is now.

Indeed, just as Xia He is in truth a pure-love devotee,

though she manipulates lust and is labeled a demoness, she is not an irredeemably evil person.

This all begins with her innate ability, awakened at birth as a congenital occultist…

Although she manipulated lust and was regarded as a demoness, she was not an utterly wicked person.

All of this begins with the innate ability she awakened at birth as a primordial anomaly...