Chapter 92 - Family Souls Please Subscribe

The Golden Core Elder, when he was a child, was gaunt and feeble, his family murdered, leaving him an orphan.

The governmental authorities didn’t settle him well; every household had its own difficulties, who would dare to take in another child?

He drifted to the streets, becoming a beggar, and amidst the bullying by other beggars, he grew up.

Hatred twisted his thoughts, he swore that when he grew up, he would take revenge and repay those who had bullied him.

The desire to grow stronger also made him somewhat deranged, and during one of his begging episodes, he found himself in a place where many an immortal soared through the skies.

It broadened his horizons, and when the Immortal Sect was recruiting servant disciples, he went to test for a Spiritual Root and found out he could join the Mount Tai Sect as a servant disciple due to possessing one.

From then on, he cultivated there, which became his new home, progressing step by step from servant disciple to outer sect disciple, and when his cultivation was high enough, to an inner sect disciple.

As time passed, and he attained a certain level of cultivation, he began to have the mature capability for revenge starting from the initial stage of Foundation Establishment.

Thus, he took on tasks from the sect, and during this period, had the chance to investigate the bandits that had harmed his family and the entire village back then.

Over the years, he had also made inquiries; the governmental authorities had not captured those people, allowing them to remain at large for many years.

He tracked down those men, finding that the bandits from yesteryear, who were once in their prime, had now become old men, living the rich life of a stockade lord with their children and grandchildren full around them.

How could he be soft-hearted?

In an instant, he annihilated the fort, having been left alone back then to seek his revenge, and this time, he did not spare a single one of them.

The bandits’ stockade instantly became a river of blood, with screams and cries for help.

Hidden in the mountains, they had ambushed unsuspecting travelers.

The governmental authorities could never apprehend them, but now they were all dead, their decaying bodies unnoticed.

After taking his revenge, the Golden Core Elder returned to the Immortal Sect.

By now, his heart had become twisted, developing a savage determination to become stronger.

During another mission, he found several Magical Treasures and also stumbled upon a damaged tome.

The tome detailed how to control Ghost Cultivators, how to become a Ghost Father, and dominate the Cultivation World.

The Golden Core Elder picked up this tome and began to cultivate, and also re-tempered those Magical Treasures.

By the time he became a Golden Core Elder, he started scheming, planning to collect the souls of this world into the Hell Palace.

He also unleashed a pandemic, killing the farmers of several ordinary villages, then collecting their souls into his dominion space to fuel his ambitious enterprise.

The Golden Core Elder rested for a while, just as he was about to cast a spell again.

All of a sudden, he felt the Hell Palace Treasure turn as cold as ice for an instant; how could the treasure, which was perennially spring-like, become so cold?

“Not good…”

The complexion of the Golden Core Elder changed; he knew something had happened inside the Hell Palace, something beyond his control.

To keep the Hell Palace from being so cold, he cast a spell, warming the treasure with a Spiritual Fire.

Huang Chen, whose soul was inside the Soul Summoning Bell, along with his fellow disciples, felt the cold influence of the neighboring Hell Palace Treasure, and their souls trembled from the cold.

“Master, what has happened?”

Huang Chen knew this was not a mere change in weather, it must have been man-made; he knew some were capable of casting Ice Spells, turning water into ice.

“Master doesn’t know either, still checking…”

The Golden Core Elder responded with this, feeling that the Hell Palace Treasure’s successive changes these past days were too abnormal.

Could it be the dragon spoken of by the ghost cultivator?

But how could a dragon enter his dominion space?

Wasn’t the treasure controlled by him, and without him using his spell to attract, neither people nor creatures could enter the space?

Or could there be another flaw in the Hell Palace?

The Golden Core Elder was inspecting the Hell Palace Treasure, to see if there were any cracks or the like.

Within the Hell Palace, the Ice Spell cast by Eryao suddenly turned the eternally spring-like palace cold…

turning ice to snow capriciously.

Jiang Tang felt that the Ice Spell was effective against the space, hence he employed it again, turning all the areas Eryao had passed through into ice, with snowflakes fluttering down through the dull, black night sky.

“Ao ao…”

Demonic Beasts hiding in their caves suddenly felt the abnormal chill, and they sneakily looked toward the cave entrance.

Discovering ice blocks sealing the entrance, preventing air circulation and causing a stifling feeling, the Demonic Beasts started digging away the ice blocks blocking the entrance.

Then they detected the breath of living beings; it was the breath of humans, different from their Demonic Beast breath, and smelling it made them want to devour these humans.

Ignoring that it was nighttime, with their eyes capable of seeing outside from the cave, they prepared to deliver a fatal strike when the living being approached.

Jiang Tang had yet to notice anything amiss.

“Moo…”

“Howl…”

“Meow…”

Eryao, also being a Demonic Beast, understood a bit of the beast language, and could guess the meaning of their chatter despite being from different species.

Eryao detected something abnormal and quickly warned Jiang Tang, “Daddy, we gotta be vigilant, some demonic beasts have spotted you.”

“Oh, what’s the strongest realm of the demonic beasts?”

Jiang Tang felt he had been careless again, thankfully Eryao had reminded him.

Otherwise, if the enemy landed a lethal blow on him, he would be dead.

“I have seen the Lion King and the Tiger King, who are at the Transformation Stage.

They might be the highest in cultivation in this space.

There’s also the Wolf King and leopards with Demon Core-level cultivation.”

“What?

Why didn’t you say that earlier?”

Jiang Tang was somewhat alarmed.

His cultivation was so weak that even a Wolf King could easily annihilate him, not to mention the Lion King and Tiger King with such high levels of cultivation.

Equivalent to the Nascent Soul Stage in humans, they were three major realms above him and could extinguish him effortlessly.

Eryao wanted to say, “Daddy, you never asked?”

At the moment, Eryao was only able to quickly manifest a ring of light, enclosing himself and his master within it.

Letting the ring drift, they could see the outside, but from the outside, they were invisible.

The demonic beasts realized it wasn’t as cold anymore, with the ice starting to melt.

The scent of living beings had vanished as well, as if it had all just been an illusion.

It was as if the demonic beasts had smelled delicious food that had suddenly disappeared, leaving them greatly disappointed.

If it weren’t for the darkness outside, they would have surely come out to investigate.

During the day’s battles, many demonic beasts had been wounded.

While recuperating, they were also in search of food to sate their hunger.

Enclosed in Eryao’s ring of light, Jiang Tang felt the presence of his kin calling out to him, but the space was so vast.

They moved slowly, and before the ring of light was discovered, the ghosts that had been fleeing were once again active.

“My child”

“Brother Jiang Tang”

Familiar voices once more echoed in Jiang Tang’s mind, sounding closer and closer, as if they were calling out to him from just beside him.

Jiang Tang felt it wasn’t an illusion.

He looked outside the ring of light and noticed many ghostly flames with red eyes.

It was hard to see clearly in the night; he couldn’t tell if these were souls or ghost cultivators.

To confirm his suspicion, Jiang Tang shouted from within the ring, “Mom and Dad, brothers in the village, are you calling me?”

Outside, there was the sound of ghastly wailing that was quite terrifying, “Wuuuah…”

But there was no reply to his call.

Jiang Tang gazed at the pairs of ghostly red eyes outside and couldn’t determine whether they were souls or ghost cultivators.

However, these did not seem to be his parents or villagers.

Unable to discern whether the figures in the dark night were ghost cultivators or spirits, Jiang Tang was at a loss.

How could he find his relatives?

“Eryao, can you illuminate the outside?”

When Jiang Tang asked Eryao if it could light up the sky outside, Eryao thought back to the past when it had no such skill.

It wondered if after its advancement, it had acquired this ability.

So Eryao utilized its Demon Core, and a pearl-like bead appeared on its dragon head, brightening the night outside.

“Hehe, Daddy, can you see it now?”

Jiang Tang watched the previously ghostly red eyes outside.

Many appeared to be ghost cultivators clad in black robes, now shielding their eyes from Eryao’s brilliance with their sleeves: “Ah…”

In an instant, the ghost cultivators felt blinded, unable to see anything, just as if they had gone blind in daylight.

They covered their eyes with their hands, then groped around as they walked.

Jiang Tang saw these figures that seemed to be ghost cultivators but couldn’t spot his parents or relatives among them.

“Eryao, can you hover the ring of light above the spot where those ghost cultivators are standing and make a turn?”

“Daddy, what exactly are you looking for?”

Eryao still couldn’t understand why Daddy wanted to search.

Could there be someone Daddy knew in this place?

“Eryao, I heard my parents calling me, and other relatives too.”

“Grandpa and Grandma?

How can Daddy’s relatives be here?”

“I don’t know!

Isn’t it said that ordinary people from the Yang Realm get reincarnated when they die?

Yet, I hear the voices of my kin here.”

After a moment of silence, Eryao searched its inheritance for answers.

“Daddy, I don’t know if this space is an Ancient Treasure.

If it is, it might be controlled by someone who has captured many souls, preventing these ordinary people from being reincarnated.”

“Could this be a conspiracy?” Jiang Tang wondered if his parents and relatives, who had died during a plague from eating dead rats, were deliberately harmed by someone.

Was it possible that someone was orchestrating this plot?

If that were true, and that someone was controlling the conspiracy, were they planning to turn all these souls and the demonic beasts within into puppets?

With this thought, Jiang Tang felt that the person controlling everything was too sinister and despicable.

In the world of cultivation, there’s a principle that cultivators do not harm ordinary people.

Jiang Tang resolved to find his family, to uncover the truth, and to eliminate the devilish person behind it all.

“Daddy, I’ve noticed some abnormalities in the space these past few days.

The spirits seem to be holding a grand assembly as though someone is controlling them.

For example, the attack on the demonic beasts tonight also seems orchestrated.”

“Eryao, Daddy has the same feeling.

Now I need to find the truth, and you have to help me.”

“Mhm, I shall assist you to the best of my abilities.

Daddy, look…

among those ghost cultivators, is there a clump of black mist?

The ghost cultivators are continuously biting and sucking in the dark fog.”

Previously unnoticed by Jiang Tang, under the illumination of Eryao’s Dragon Ball, one of the ghost cultivators who had covered their eyes now seemed somewhat accustomed to the light.

They no longer shielded their eyes but were biting and clawing at clumps of dark mist.

“Eryao, what is that black mist?”