Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 587 The Soul is the Spiritual Form, a Terrifying Cultivation Speed
There were sixteen figures clinging to his left and right shoulders.

Calling them figures is a bit inaccurate, because these people, or rather, these things that can only be called human for the time being, are human in shape, but they are all in a spirit state, floating in mid-air with only half of their bodies;
It wouldn't be accurate to say they were lying on my shoulders; to be precise, they were biting. They were all opening their mouths wide and biting my shoulders, their mouths bulging as they chewed with great relish. You could tell from the blissful expressions on their faces that they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Combined with the playful words these spirits had just uttered, it was clear that he had been entangled with them ever since he arrived in this world. His frail skeletal appearance, his previously muddled state of mind, and the inexplicable surges of manic emotions within him were all clearly their doing.

"Hey, look, is that kid looking at me?"

Xia Hong's mind raced, but in reality, only a moment had passed.

The spirit creature on his left shoulder met his pupils and asked the other spirit creatures a question with some uncertainty.

"I see you are courting death!"

It was one thing to not be able to see them before, but now that he saw these dozen or so spirits and understood why he had been lost in the darkness, Xia Hong felt not only lingering fear but also a surge of overwhelming rage.

Sizzle sizzle...

With a furious shout, just then, the Soul-Illuminating Lamp in front of him lit up completely. After it lit up, it transformed into two beams of light that rushed into the dark red bone-like pupils behind him.

The two eyes of the bone structure shone brightly instantly, and at the same time, an oil lamp quietly lit up three feet above Xia Hong's head.

"Using the body as a boat and the soul as a guide, gathering spirits in the eyes, and igniting the netherfire on the head—so that's what it means!"

As Xia Hong came to his senses, he looked up at his surroundings again, and the once pitch-black environment had instantly changed drastically.

Everything in the world has quietly turned blue!
It wasn't a bright blue, but a strange, eerie blue, almost identical in color to the light emitted by the Soul-Illuminating Lamp above its head. Since the world and everything around it were this color, the lamp above its head became completely inconspicuous at this moment.

call out…………

The moment Xia Hong saw the spirit, he realized that the Yang Mirror in his left eye had returned to normal. So, after shouting in anger, his left eye immediately shot out a beam of shattering divine light, which struck the spirit directly.

At the same time, the Soul-Suppressing Cauldron within his body was completely restored, and a warm feeling spread rapidly from his body to the surrounding area, instantly raising the temperature within a five-kilometer radius.

No, Xia Hong can no longer feel the temperature at this moment.

What's being improved should actually be called brightness!

"what…………"

Struck by the shattering divine light, the spirit immediately let out a miserable scream. Its already erratic form instantly disintegrated, and then it turned into a tiny speck of light, flying into the dark red bone structure behind Xia Hong.

"what…………"

This was just the beginning. The Soul-Suppressing Cauldron had already taken effect. The remaining dozen or so retreating and fleeing spirit creatures hadn't even flown a few meters before they suddenly burst into flames, then let out sharp screams, and just like the first one, turned into specks of light and were continuously absorbed by the bone structure.

The bone structure that had absorbed those spiritual light points was recovering at a visible speed. As the bone structure recovered, Xia Hong, who had been somewhat dazed, quickly began to clear his mind and his thoughts became clear.

"The spiritual form, or the venerable form, refers to the soul body, while the skeletal form should be the vessel of the soul. My mind was previously muddled, my emotions inexplicably out of control, and I was unable to calm down and think of a solution because I was entangled by these dozen or so evil spirits..."

"Ah...ah, spare me, spare me, sir!"

The dozen or so spirits screamed in agony as they were burned by the fire emitted by the Soul-Suppressing Cauldron. However, these spirits varied in strength, with the weaker ones turning into black smoke in an instant. Only two of the stronger ones were still holding on.

However, the two creatures did not attempt to escape; instead, they turned back and repeatedly kowtowed and begged for mercy in the direction where Xia Hong was.

Xia Hong's eyes flickered slightly. He first let the flames burn one of the heads to ashes, and only when the last head was burned to nothingness did he turn off the Soul-Suppressing Cauldron.

Xia Hong slowly walked to the dying spirit and reached out to grab it, but his hand passed right in front of the spirit.

“I can use the Shattering Divine Light, and I can use the Soul-Suppressing Cauldron, but these are all external methods that directly kill. How can I deal with them directly…”

Xia Hong lowered his head in thought, looking at the skeletal structure behind him, a guess slowly emerging in his eyes. Then, he unleashed his full power.

"He only has 65 jin of strength left, and has recovered about half of it!"

The bone structure had been largely devoured by more than a dozen spirits, and only a portion of it had been restored after the spirits were killed.

Xia Hong frowned. After unleashing his full power, the skeletal structure behind him seemed to come alive. He reached out again to grab the spirit that was now just a head.

As he made the movement, the dark red skeletal figure behind him also stood up and reached out to grab the spirit creature.

"really……"

Bone structure—they practically grabbed that head in their hands!

“A spirit of the Manifestation Realm cannot activate its Bone Form on its own. To use it, one must unleash its full power. So even with such a weak spirit body, I would have to exert all my strength to deal with them on my own. The key is that even after I activate my Bone Form, the power I can unleash seems to be less than its…”

Xia Hong looked somewhat surprised, because he sensed that the spirit body he was holding in his skeletal frame was showing signs of breaking free.

You must know that this spirit was burned once by the Soul-Suppressing Cauldron's fire, and now only its head remains. If it can break free with just its head, wouldn't it be no match for it if it were in its previous full-strength state, relying solely on its bone structure?
Xia Hong frowned and looked around. With the Soul-Illuminating Lamp above his head lit up, his vision had extended far. The key was that the main color of the Dark Realm was blue, and in this environment, the fluorescence emitted by spirits was very conspicuous.

He could see many spiritual creatures floating in all directions. Although most of them were similar in form to the dozen or so spiritual creatures he had killed, there were also some medium to large ones, and they were all different in form, including beasts, animals, plants, and even water and gas, which looked extremely strange.

Xia Hong lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then finally turned his gaze to the head being held by the skeleton, and asked in a deep voice, "Where is this place? Who is this Jade Skull Lady you just mentioned, and where is she?"

The head struggled for a moment, then realized it couldn't break free from Xia Hong's bone structure. It had already resigned itself to its fate and immediately spoke when asked the question: "The Dark Realm, Qishan Realm, this place is called the Misty Swamp Forest. To the west is White Bone Mountain, and Lady Jade Skull is the master of White Bone Mountain."

Qishan!

Upon hearing this name, Xia Hong was stunned, and his expression immediately changed.

"The Yin-Yang Mirror of the Demon Lord of Qishan in the Dark Realm has also descended into the Ice Abyss!"

"The Demon Lord of Qishan... the Yin-Yang Mirror of the Demon Lord of Qishan, how could you have this thing? How is this possible? Ah... ah..."

Xia Hong first heard the name Qishan from Master Wusheng; the second time was when he passed through the Bone-Eroding Path in the ninth year of the Great Xia Dynasty, when he used the Shattering Divine Light to deal with General Black Wind, but the other party saw through it and mentioned it again.

Although it was only two sentences, Xia Hong remembered it exceptionally well.

The power of the Yin-Yang Mirror goes without saying. Since he and He Yuanhun divided the two mirrors in the first year of the Great Xia Dynasty, its ability to shatter into divine light has repeatedly helped him escape danger and defeat powerful enemies.

This mirror has an incredibly impressive history!

Almost any monster can be recognized. The White Dew Monster, including all the monsters encountered later, can be recognized at a glance. It is powerful and has an amazing background. Based on these two points alone, it can be deduced that its true master, the Qishan Demon Lord, is an extremely terrifying existence.

Can someone who claims to be the Demon Lord in a place like the Dark Realm be a simple character?

I stumbled into the Dark Realm by accident, and to make matters worse, I ended up in the Qishan Realm!
Xia Hong's expression was somber. Suddenly, he thought of something, looked up and gazed around, his eyes finally settling on the east side, and his body jolted.

Having just regained his sight, he had only glanced around hastily without looking closely. Only now, upon closer inspection, did he realize that what he had previously thought was a black cloud in the sky to the east of his location was actually a majestic mountain rising abruptly from the ground.

He had noticed the large amount of fluorescence emanating from the base of that majestic mountain before, but assumed it was due to the distance and the gathering of many spiritual beings, creating such a visual effect.

At that moment, I suddenly realized that the fluorescence was so bright even from such a distance. If it were closer, how large would the area of ​​fluorescence be?
A guess flashed through Xia Hong's mind, then he swallowed slightly and asked the head in his hand:
What is that white fluorescence beneath the mountain?

The spirit's head was stunned for a moment, then following the direction Xia Hong pointed, it saw the location and its pupils immediately filled with deep fear. It whispered, "Those are the billions of spirit forms imprisoned by the Demon Lord. The Dark Realm has no physical form. The Demon Lord captured these spirit forms and kept raising Qishan. It is rumored that he wanted to break through the dome of the Dark Realm and descend into the Great Abyss."

Dayuan?

Upon hearing the name, Xia Hong frowned slightly, then looked up at the sky of the Dark Realm. It was similar to what he had seen before, all he could see was a deep blue, and he couldn't see anything else at all.

But when he looked through the Soul-Illuminating Lamp above his head, he made a new discovery.

Behind the deep blue light, a faint hint of frost-white appeared!
No, not just a little, but a vast expanse of frost-white. If it weren't for the obstruction of the eerie blue light, it would be a world completely covered in white frost.

"So, the Great Abyss is just the Ice Abyss, only the name is different. The Demon Lord of Qishan has always wanted to go down into the Ice Abyss. What does he want to do there?"

Xia Hong's heart skipped a beat, then he continued to ask, "How do you spirits classify your strength? What is the strength of the Jade Skull Lady you just mentioned? How far is White Bone Mountain from here?"

The conversations between these spirits had already revealed a lot of information: Li Baobao, Xiahou Yong, and Jiang Yiqing had all gone to White Bone Mountain. He could not care about Li Baobao's life or death, but he could not care about Xiahou Yong and Jiang Yiqing.

Both of them only have the cultivation level of the Cold Resistance level. Not to mention the spiritual form, they haven't even formed a bone form yet. It's a mystery how they survived.

"The lowest level in the Dark Realm, which is an unformed spirit like me, is usually called a scattered spirit; if the spirit takes shape, it is called a demon spirit; if the spirit can be completely solidified, it can wield underworld weapons and wear underworld armor, and is called a demon soldier; above that is the demon general who has formed a physical body; the realm beyond that is only known as the demon king, but I don't know the specifics."

Despite the brief introduction, Xia Hong's expression turned serious after listening to it.

He was at the Manifestation Yang level, with a skeletal golden body over eight zhang tall. He couldn't even control a scattered spirit at its peak. If it weren't for the Soul-Suppressing Cauldron and the Yang Mirror, he would only be waiting to die.

"The White Bone Forest is to the west, about 70 kilometers away from here. Lady Jade Skull is the lord of the White Bone Forest. She has seven great demon generals, three thousand demon soldiers, and tens of thousands of demon spirits under her command. Although her strength is only at the early stage of the Demon King level, she has the powerful backer of Ancestor Blood Sky. No Demon King in the surrounding area dares to provoke her and usually avoids her."

"And who is the Blood Sky Ancestor?"

"The Demon Lord of Qishan has seventy-two ancient demons under his command, and the Blood Sky Ancestor is one of them. He is ranked thirty-eighth and has extremely terrifying strength. He is deeply trusted by the Demon Lord and has been sent to the Great Abyss."

"What is an ancient demon?"

"Well, I heard it from those wandering spirits..."

Xia Hong looked at the head in the bone profiler's hand, his eyes flashing slightly.

"My lord, spare my life! I am very familiar with the Misty Swamp Forest area, and I know all the dangerous areas around here. I can lead you there..."

boom!
Before the scattered spirit could finish speaking, Xia Hong's bone form quietly exerted force and directly crushed its head. Just like the previous scattered spirits, its head turned into a ray of spiritual light after it shattered and was directly absorbed by the bone form.

"With so many scattered spirits, do we really need someone to lead the way? Besides, the key right now isn't getting to the Bone Forest, but rather recovering our strength. With my current strength, I'm afraid I can't even make it seventy kilometers!"

If he didn't know before, that's one thing, but now that he knows he's currently within Qishan territory, how dare Xia Hong recklessly use the Yin-Yang Mirror?
Let alone the Yin-Yang Mirror, he didn't dare to use the Soul-Suppressing Cauldron recklessly.

The Demon Lord of Qishan!

If we attract such a terrifying being, everything will be over.

"The bone structure is the vessel of the soul; the physical body is useless here. So, if I want to improve my strength, I can only continue to improve my bone structure. This forces me to stay in place and cultivate. I've used the Yin-Yang Realm and the Soul-Suppressing Cauldron once, and they probably won't attract any powerful enemies, but I still have to use them cautiously. Moreover, I don't know the upper limit of these two methods. If I encounter something too strong and they don't work, then I'll be in big trouble..."

Ultimately, it all comes down to improving our strength.

These scattered spirits had previously revealed in their conversation that the aura of calamity could suppress the life of a spirit, so having the cultivation of the Calamity Body Realm gave one a certain ability to protect oneself.

"I did bring all the Tribulation Qi Pearls with me, and I also have a sufficient supply of cultivation pills, but to break through to the Tribulation Body stage in such a short time..."

impossible!
Xia Hong shook his head, giving up the idea of ​​breaking through.

However, cultivation must continue. Every bit of improvement is beneficial, as it is for the sake of survival. Leaving aside the dangers on the way to White Bone Mountain, how to rescue Xiahou Yong and Jiang Yiqing after arriving is an even bigger problem. Without strength, it is definitely not possible.

Having made up his mind, he stopped wandering around and found a relatively secluded area. After some concealment, he sat cross-legged, took out the pills he had on him, and began to cultivate.

But as soon as he started practicing, he immediately noticed something was wrong.

As he swallowed the Bone-Removing Pill, its medicinal power spread out, and the light spots that had just been absorbed by the bone structure also spread out along with the medicinal power.

At the same time, the relatively incomplete, dark red skeletal structure behind him, which was not yet fully restored, began to recover at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In less than ten minutes, his bone structure was completely restored, returning him to his original height of eight and a half feet, and his previously broken and damaged meridians had been restored.

As he continued his cultivation, about twenty minutes later, his bone structure began to grow larger at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Eighty-six feet! I... I didn't misread it. In just a quarter of an hour, it's grown to eighty-six feet... This..."

Xia Hong's face was full of horror as he repeatedly checked his bone structure to confirm that it had indeed grown to eight zhang and six chi. His pupils instantly filled with intense joy.

"The Dark Realm can improve my cultivation efficiency... no, no, it should be that it can rapidly improve my bone structure, and it's related to those light spots just now, which are the spiritual entities absorbed by my bone structure!"

Xia Hong suppressed his overwhelming joy for the time being, lowered his head and pondered for a long time, and finally a sentence suddenly came to mind.

"Void Fire... How do you possess the Great Void Karmic Fire... Spare me, spare me, my lord, spare me! I know how to enter the Netherworld. My lord possesses the Great Void Karmic Fire. Once inside the Netherworld, you can endlessly refine your soul and achieve the Supreme Venerable Form. Spare me..."

This is what the six-armed, blue-faced, and malevolent creature hidden within Yang Zun's skeletal structure said when he begged for mercy during the killing of Yang Zun.

"The bone structure should be the initial form of the Venerable One's appearance; the infinite soul refinement should mean this..."

A hint of speculation flashed in Xia Hong's eyes, but he suppressed his confusion for the time being and continued to immerse himself in the thrill of rapid improvement.

He didn't kill that six-armed, blue-faced, and vicious creature directly back then; its true form is now a sculpture in his yellow mustard bag.

"This six-armed, blue-faced monster should know a lot. Let's cultivate first, and then we'll call it out later to ask it for clarification!"

In twenty minutes, his golden body grew by 0.1 zhang. Experiencing such a terrifying cultivation speed for the first time, Xia Hong was naturally delighted and wished he could capture some more spiritual bodies and cultivate until the world turned upside down.

(End of this chapter)