A mortal cultivating immortality can nurture spirit beasts.

Chapter 166 Killing Xuan Gu

"This is—" Nangong Wan asked with some curiosity.

"This is a spirit-sealing pillar!" Lin He explained. "It is generally used to seal rare spiritual herbs to prevent spiritual energy from leaking out. Another use is to suppress certain evil spirits to prevent them from transforming and escaping."

"Then what's below this is—" Xin Ruyin frowned upon hearing this.

"The one sealed below is an extremely powerful ghost. In life, it was a Nascent Soul cultivator, but its physical body was destroyed, forcing it to cultivate the ghost path. Once we go in, you must stand behind me."

Upon hearing that he had once been a Nascent Soul cultivator, both women's expressions turned solemn, and they immediately followed closely behind Lin He.

This spirit-sealing pillar was quite heavy, but it was no problem for Lin He. He easily pushed the pillar over, revealing a sinister-looking cave. The three of them immediately went inside and arrived at a square hall.

Lin He first looked at the pure white skeleton beside the pool. The skeleton lay half-reclined in the water, a small emerald arrow embedded in its head, pinning it firmly to the ground. Xin Ruyin, on the other hand, looked at a three-colored lotus in the pool, and as if realizing something, exclaimed, "Could that be the legendary Seven-Colored Lotus?"

"Hmph, Seven-Colored Lotus?"

Lin He casually waved his hand, and more than a dozen fireballs flew out one after another, all heading towards the Seven-Colored Lotus. Just then, a black shadow suddenly shot out from the bottom of the pool, and as soon as the black shadow flew out, it destroyed more than a dozen fireballs.

Xin Ruyin and Nangong Wan immediately recognized the true form of the dark figure: it was a black, monstrous snake with fleshy horns on its head.

"This is a trap. They deliberately disguised the Demon Crown Serpent as the Seven-Colored Lotus to lure people to pick it. Then, this highly venomous snake attacks and drags people into the water. The pool is also poisonous, so be careful not to touch it."

The two women nodded hurriedly. The demonic serpent, awakened by the noise, flew into a rage and immediately transformed into a black shadow to attack. Lin He simply grabbed at the air, and a golden handprint flew out, quickly seizing the black serpent's vital spot. With just a little force, the serpent was easily killed.

Lin He didn't even glance at the strange snake's corpse. Instead, he stared intently at the pure white skeleton. At the same time, he waved his hand, and more than a dozen fireballs flew out, as if he wanted to destroy the skeleton.

Just then, the skeleton, which had been nothing but an inanimate object, suddenly jumped up. Its body was surprisingly agile, easily dodging the fireball, and then it rushed towards Lin He and the other two.

At the same time, a cold, ghostly mist suddenly appeared in the entire hall, surrounding the three of them.

With a wave of her hand, Nangong Wan's Vermilion Bird Ring immediately grew larger to block the skeleton, while Xin Ruyin controlled a flying sword to assist.

"Hmph, ghostly mist and yin energy?"

Lin He snorted coldly, patted his spirit beast pouch, and a spirit beast resembling a small monkey appeared—the Crying Soul Beast.

Upon seeing the abundance of yin energy in the hall, the Soul-Crying Beast became extremely excited and immediately inhaled through its large nose, absorbing all the cold, ghostly mist.

"What!" A figure in emerald green, with an indistinct face and eyes as red as blood, stared at the Soul-Crying Beast in astonishment, looking thoughtful. "I didn't expect you to have such a beast? This is a bit troublesome."

Lin He was too lazy to say anything more to him. The Soul-Crying Beast inhaled again, and a beam of light chased after the emerald green figure.

"snort!"

The emerald green figure immediately condensed a emerald green ghost fire to block the rosy light. Seeing this, Lin He quickly took out the Golden Flame Cone, and a golden flame spread out to block the emerald green flame.

Seeing this, the Soul-Crying Beast continued to emit radiant light as it chased after the emerald-green figure.

"Damn it!" The emerald green figure seemed to be getting impatient and hurriedly waved out streams of cold, ghostly mist to block the rosy light.

At this moment, Nangong Wan and Xin Ruyin had completely suppressed the skeleton.

"You—were you sent by that traitorous disciple, Ji Yin?"

"We have nothing to say to you, sir. You should just accept your fate."

The emerald-green figure, who had been dodging, burst into wild laughter upon seeing this. "I've already died once. Do you really think you can make me die again?"

A large ball of emerald flames flew out, completely extinguishing the glow of the sunset. The emerald figure stopped fighting the Howling Soul Beast and pounced on Lin He.

With a wave of his hand, countless emerald green claw shadows flew out, completely enveloping Lin He. Just as he was about to kill Lin He, they were blocked by an ancient shield.

This ancient shield was truly formidable in its defense, easily deflecting countless emerald green claw shadows. At this moment, a black arc of lightning shot out—it was the small emerald green arrow that had somehow reached Lin He's front. Fortunately, the ancient shield was there, and it managed to block it.

Seeing that their attacks were ineffective against Lin He, the emerald green figure lunged directly at the skeleton, and Nangong Wan and Xin Ruyin quickly released their defensive magic treasures.

However, the emerald green figure did not attack them at all. Instead, it merged with the skeleton and quickly transformed into a handsome young man, though his eyes remained bright red.

"Now I can have a proper contest with you all."

Just then, a green pellet suddenly appeared in Lin He's hand, which he tossed lightly.

"Hmph! What can a few mere bullets do to me? Wait, that seems to be—"

Immediately afterward, a ball of emerald green fire and lightning erupted completely. The power of the emerald fire and lightning was equivalent to the Yuan Yang Fire of a Nascent Soul cultivator. As soon as it exploded, the boy screamed and was severely injured. Just then, the Soul-Crying Beast took the opportunity to emit a beam of light and swept up an emerald green figure from the skeleton.

"No—you can't kill me! By the way, do you want to form your Nascent Souls? I know the whereabouts of the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng; it's a treasure that can increase your chances of forming your Nascent Souls—"

The glow emitted by the Howling Soul Beast suddenly paused, as if its master had been persuaded. Seeing this, the handsome young man quickly said, "It seems you've finally come to your senses. If you're willing to cooperate with me, then I will—"

The handsome young man wanted to say something more, but Lin He had already taken out a small bottle and absorbed his soul into it, while also attaching a talisman to it.

"That's it?!"

Nangong Wan and Xin Ruyin were both taken aback. After all, they didn't have much experience in fighting magic. Dealing with this kind of vengeful ghost, which had no physical body, would be a real headache.

Lin He smiled and pointed at the Soul-Crying Beast, saying, "Ordinary physical attacks are not very effective against this kind of thing. This Soul-Crying Beast is much more effective."

The Soul-Crying Beast looked smug and continued to absorb all the remaining Yin energy before finally being satisfied. It was then put into the spirit beast pouch by Lin He.

"This spirit beast is simply the nemesis of ghost cultivators; it's incredibly powerful," Nangong Wan exclaimed in admiration.

Lin He shook his head and said, "To get it, I offended the entire Qingyang Sect."

Nangong Wan and Xin Ruyin sighed upon hearing this, while Lin He collected the fragment of the Void Heaven Map left behind by Xuan Gu, the Golden Thunder Bamboo Arrow, and the small piece of rib bone.

"Let's go."

After killing the strange man, Lin He and his two companions immediately flew towards Tianxing City.

Several hours later, a dark rainbow appeared here. Looking at the now empty place, it said hatefully, "Xuan Gu, you still managed to escape. But so what? I am no longer the Core Formation disciple you could bully."

""

Lin He and his two companions returned to Tianxing City and soon opened a small shop in an area where ordinary people lived, named Lin Nan Xiao Xuan.