... This vast expanse, shaped like a triangle spanning tens of thousands of li, belonged entirely to the Yinsha Sect's domain. Situated deep within the massive cleft formed by the main range of the Hengduan Mountains and the Yinsha Mountains, the area was perpetually swept by chilling, malevolent winds. This natural environment had consequently fostered countless Yinsha grounds across the enormous territory controlled by the Yinsha Sect.

The Phantom form, a bird radiating black light, darted across the sky, sometimes circling lazily, other times streaking forward. Lei Dong, however, was meticulously cross-referencing the ley lines and landmarks he recognized with his maps. After a considerable time, he finally brought the Phantom flying sword down outside a desolate valley shrouded in an eerie, cold wind.

Within the territory wholly controlled by the Yinsha Sect, there were a total of four major nations and seven minor ones. Each nation was governed indirectly under the sect's thumb. This location was within the borders of a state called Houchen, nearly three or four thousand li from the main headquarters at Wan’gui Ku (Ten Thousand Ghost Cave). The choice of this place was twofold: first, its distance from Wan’gui Ku provided a buffer should any trouble arise; second, Houchen had been embroiled in continuous warfare with neighboring states for decades, resulting in dozens of battles where more than a hundred thousand lives were lost. Compounding this, the common people suffered terribly amidst the ravaged land, leading to the proliferation of countless mass graves.

This entire region, known as the Yinsha Domain, naturally lent itself to the formation of Yinsha sites. When a large number of deaths occurred rapidly within a confined area, the surging resentment, coupled with the ambient conditions, could often condense into nascent Yinsha locations. Of course, the suitable environment was rarely just nature’s doing; the Yinsha Sect invariably played a manipulative hand from behind the scenes.

But none of this concerned Lei Dong. He was here simply to harvest Yin Souls, to enhance his Ghost Soldiers, sell them for spirit pills, and exchange them for elixirs.

Summoning his Bloodthirsty Minion and Shadow Minion—both having already reached the peak of the fifth level—he arranged them in a formation: one visible, one hidden; one leading, one trailing. The Bloodthirsty Minion was designated for primary assault, while the Shadow Minion stayed close to Lei Dong’s side as an unexpected contingency. This valley, spanning perhaps a hundred li in circumference, had once been a gruesome battlefield where over two hundred thousand warriors perished. Even after decades, one could still find countless pieces of rusted, deeply pitted armor and weapons half-buried in the valley floor, too decayed to even recognize.

The moment Lei Dong stepped into the area, a wave of chilling Yin energy washed over him, and the swirling, ghostly winds howled incessantly. His spirit instantly lifted; this atmosphere was far more potent than the commoner mass graves near Wan’gui Ku. Yet, he also became more cautious, knowing that a major battlefield often bred more formidable fierce ghosts.

Lei Dong himself had reached the peak of the fifth level. Furthermore, never having neglected the cultivation of the Duan Shen Jue (Spirit Tempering Art), his current divine sense was comparable to that of someone at the eighth or ninth layer of Qi Refining. Holding his breath and focusing his mind, he activated the Shen Cha Shu (Divine Scrutiny Technique). He projected his divine sense as far forward as possible, fanning it out in a wide arc, stretching nearly a thousand meters ahead. Although spreading his sense so thinly significantly dulled its sensitivity, the subtle disturbances caused by wandering Yin Souls still created ripples he could detect.

The so-called Divine Scrutiny Technique was merely a rudimentary application of divine sense—barely qualifying as a true spell. Simply put, it involved using one’s divine sense like a radar, scouting in all directions or focusing on a specific vector, just as Lei Dong remembered from older texts. Once anything stirred within the range covered by his sense, it would send an invisible ripple across the ethereal waves.

A cultivator employing the Shen Cha Shu could judge what had been sensed by observing the size, frequency, and nature of these ripples. However, the thinner the divine sense was spread, the more its acuity diminished. Thus, the Shen Cha Shu remained just an ordinary skill, not a formal spell. Lei Dong had merely spent a pittance of contribution points to acquire this highly practical method.

Using the Shen Cha Shu to locate Yin Souls was far superior to blindly searching with himself or his minions, which relied entirely on luck.

Indeed, to Lei Dong's delight, within the thousand-meter fan ahead, he detected seven or eight distinct fluctuations—slow-moving and not exhibiting strong reactions. If he had simply walked in a straight line using his old method, he might have encountered only one or two.

These kinds of fluctuating reactions certainly couldn't belong to small animals; no creature of flesh and blood, unless exceptionally powerful, could survive in an environment so saturated with Yin Souls.

To conserve his divine sense, he quickly charted a tentative path in his mind, then retracted it. He urged his minions to dash toward the nearest fluctuation point. Sure enough, he soon spotted a Yin Soul drifting aimlessly, completely oblivious to their approach. Without a word, the Bloodthirsty Minion stepped forward and delivered a light strike. As the Yin Soul wavered, seeming to dissipate but not quite, Lei Dong immediately enacted a hand seal and effortlessly drew it into the Soul Nurturing Pagoda. Naturally, with his current strength, he could have captured the soul directly without injuring it first. However, capturing an uninjured soul would trigger a more violent instinctive resistance, costing Lei Dong considerable true energy.

Therefore, to conserve true energy, it was better to have the Bloodthirsty Minion inflict a minor injury first.

Immediately afterward, he rushed without pause to the next wave point. On the way, he quickly checked the soul's aptitude; as expected, it was merely a low-grade ghost. Following the same routine, he collected all seven Yin Souls, taking only a few minutes in total. Such efficiency and speed made Lei Dong laugh; this performance was many times faster than his efficiency when he was only at the second layer of Qi Refining.

With minimal true energy expended, Lei Dong extended his divine sense outward again, casting the Shen Cha Shu to the side. This time, he found only five fluctuations, but one reaction was several times more intense than the others. This caused Lei Dong to sigh; it was certainly a wild ghost soldier. As predicted, upon arriving at that point, he found a first-level wild ghost soldier. Though of little intrinsic value, it was enough for the Bloodthirsty Minion to have a small snack.

And so it went. In one night, he swept up over five hundred Yin Souls and one wild ghost soldier. At dawn, he left the valley, flew several dozen li on his sword, and booked an entire courtyard at an inn in a mortal town in Houchen. He then settled in to meditate, circulate his energy with the Qi Condensing Pills, and refine soul beads—the latter being a task too routine to mention.

Every night, he would travel dozens of li by sword to this Yinsha Valley. On a good night, he might capture seven or eight hundred; on a poor night, four or five hundred. After ten such days, he withdrew from this valley and moved to the next dangerous location, a place hundreds of li away called Gui Xiao He Tan (Ghost Howl Riverbank).

After another ten days, he moved again. Over the course of roughly one hundred and twenty days, he crisscrossed more than a dozen famous, though not overwhelmingly ferocious, Yinsha sites. This left Lei Dong somewhat exhausted, yet immensely gratified; his storage sash now held one hundred and forty-two soul beads in their jade bottles. The total number of Yin Souls he had personally captured exceeded eighty thousand.

His luck had been middling, perhaps even slightly poor. Out of over eighty thousand Yin Souls, there were a mere six low-grade Spirit Ghosts. This led Lei Dong to wonder if acquiring a heaven-defying treasure had cursed his luck when it came to capturing Spirit Ghosts. He did encounter about ten wild ghost soldiers, one of which impressively reached the fifth level. However, with all three of his minions attacking together, that level-five wild ghost soldier was completely devoured.

Calculating the time, he realized the period was almost up. In another two months, the next sect mini-competition would commence, meaning he needed to hurry and refine mid-grade Spirit Ghosts to sell for Earth Spirit Pills. Otherwise, breaking through to the sixth layer before the next competition would be extremely difficult.

As dawn broke, the Yin Souls had retreated into some unknown recess. Just as Lei Dong was preparing to fly away on his sword, three streams of variously colored light appeared from several hundred meters away, descending rapidly and reaching him in less than ten breaths. The leader was a short, snub-nosed, ugly young man dressed in black. Judging by the style of his black robe, he appeared to be a third-generation disciple of the Yinsha Sect. However, the faint, shifting black luster emanating from the fabric suggested the robe was far from ordinary. Most remarkably, instead of a common flying artifact like a sword under his feet, he rode upon a swirling mass of black mist, within which could vaguely be seen faces contorted by ferocity, resentment, fear, and agonizing madness, as if struggling to break free. But in the blink of an eye, the faces twisted and melted back into the black fog.

The Malignant Ghost Shroud! Lei Dong’s heart turned cold as he recognized the treasure.

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