Deep within the cavern space, there was a gigantic cave. The cave wound downward, like a bottomless abyss, with no knowing where it led.
At this moment, Mo Fan was completely stunned by the scene inside the cave.
He saw countless enormous golden webs spread throughout the cave, and on these massive webs were densely packed soul bodies.
These soul bodies were stuck to the webs like swarming insects. No matter how they struggled, they could not break free from the restraints of the spider silk. As a result, they all let out shrill, miserable screams, like evil ghosts wailing in grief.
Mo Fan discovered that every single golden web had no fewer than ten thousand soul bodies stuck upon it. In this cave alone, just within his line of sight, there were dozens of such golden webs.
This meant that there were at least several hundred thousand wandering souls within this cave.
No, in truth, the number of wandering souls was far greater than that.
Mo Fan took a deep breath and cast his gaze toward the enormous abyss deep within the cave. He saw that many golden spider webs were also densely interwoven there.
“Great King, I am afraid that all the wandering souls of Moonwatch Valley are here.”
Bai Yi was equally shocked at this moment, but soon a look of delight appeared on his face. With so many wandering souls, if he were to devour them, his cultivation would surely rise rapidly.
Although most of these wandering souls were merely the spirits of ordinary people, their sheer quantity was overwhelming.
To a ghost cultivator, soul bodies were supreme nourishing treasures.
“Moreover, I can sense that there is a mysterious aura deep within the abyss that is strongly drawing me in.”
Bai Yi frowned slightly as he spoke, sounding a little uncertain.
“Oh?”
Mo Fan’s heart stirred upon hearing this. He glanced at the wandering souls on the webs before him and immediately understood a few things.
Clearly, these wandering souls had most likely also been attracted by whatever lay within the abyss. They had all entered this cavern, only to be caught in one sweep by the webs laid out by the Nine Nether Ghost Spider King.
What puzzled Mo Fan was why the Nine Nether Ghost Spider King had not devoured these wandering souls.
Why had it captured so many wandering souls and kept them here?
Since he could not figure it out for the moment, Mo Fan did not bother to think further. Whatever its purpose was, a heaven defying opportunity lay right in front of him. If he did not seize it properly now, it would be hard to come across such a chance again in the future.
Forget it.
“Bai Yi, what are you standing around for? Hurry and devour all these wandering souls. These are excellent resources for your cultivation.”
“Alright.”
With Mo Fan giving the order, Bai Yi no longer hesitated. He immediately transformed into a wisp of ghostly mist and rushed toward the wandering souls on the webs.
Bai Yi was different from these wandering souls. Most of them were formed from the spirits of people who had died tragically in Moonwatch Valley. They were not only weak, but also relatively muddled in consciousness. That was why they were drawn by whatever lay in the abyss, then rushed in like moths to a flame, only to be trapped here by the webs.
Bai Yi, however, was different. His cultivation was strong and his mind was clear, so he would naturally not be trapped by these webs.
As he devoured the wandering souls, he avoided the webs and did not dare to get too close. His speed was astonishing. In just a few breaths, he could devour all the wandering souls on an entire web.
Gradually, the ghostly mist that formed Bai Yi became thicker and more powerful. He kept moving deeper into the cave, leaving behind one empty web after another.
Seeing this, Mo Fan’s heart stirred. He immediately flew forward and raised his hand, summoning a mass of Netherworld ghost flame.
Boom.
In an instant, the ghost flame ignited upon the golden web.
Those terrifying looking golden webs were like paper in front of the Netherworld ghost flame. They were completely burned away in the blink of an eye.
Mo Fan’s eyes lit up at the sight. He activated the ghost bead within his body, and a layer of Netherworld ghost flame instantly covered his entire body.
He then flew straight toward the depths of the cave. Wherever webs blocked his path, they were pierced through by the ghost flame on his body and burned to nothing.
“Follow me.”
Before long, Mo Fan caught up to Bai Yi. After leaving behind a single sentence, he dove rapidly down into the abyss.
Wherever Mo Fan passed, all webs were destroyed. The wandering souls upon them were not harmed by the Netherworld ghost flame. Instead, they were freed, only to be immediately devoured by Bai Yi who followed closely behind.
In this way, the two of them accelerated, charging straight toward the bottom of the abyss.
Boom. Boom.
During this time, Bai Yi broke through two major bottlenecks in succession, directly advancing from mid Ghost King stage to peak Ghost King stage.
“Good heavens, your breakthrough speed is even faster than this king’s.”
Mo Fan was both shocked and delighted by this.
“All of this is thanks to the Great King’s help. Otherwise, I would never have obtained such an opportunity.”
Bai Yi was also extremely excited, but he knew very clearly who had given him everything.
“This king has long regarded you and Black Robe as my own siblings. With opportunities like these, they naturally should be given to my own people first.”
Mo Fan smiled faintly and said no more, focusing fully on burning through the golden webs below.
Bai Yi followed behind, devouring endlessly. Even he himself no longer knew how many wandering souls he had consumed. His entire form grew larger and larger, until in the end it almost seemed to fill the entire abyssal space.
“Great King, I cannot eat any more. I need to properly digest this first.”
In just a short while, Bai Yi wore a bitter expression. He realised that his speed of transforming these wandering souls could no longer keep up with his rate of devouring them. He had also reached a bottleneck and could not eat any further.
“Huh?”
Mo Fan was momentarily taken aback, but he immediately nodded.
“Alright. Cultivate properly on your own. This king will have Jing Lei guard you.”
As he spoke, he opened his mouth and spat out a bolt of lightning, which transformed into a lightning beast and stood guard beside Bai Yi.
This lightning beast was formed from Mo Fan’s ancestor realm sacred weapon, the Jing Lei Divine Spear.
After giving birth to a weapon spirit, the Jing Lei Divine Spear possessed self awareness and could handle many matters for Mo Fan. Being a lightning attribute divine weapon, it was almost a perfect counter to yin soul type creatures, making it ideal to guard Bai Yi at this moment.
“Thank you, Great King.”
Bai Yi nodded gratefully. He said no more, closed his eyes, and began cultivating in preparation for a breakthrough.
“Do well. Do not disappoint this king.”
Mo Fan encouraged him briefly, then flew further downward.
“This king will first investigate below.”
After burning through an unknown number of layers of golden webs, Mo Fan finally saw the bottom of the abyss. There, he saw a black object resembling a massive millstone, over a hundred zhang in size.
On the millstone was a recessed opening, from which astonishing ghostly energy was pouring out, almost condensing into visible black light. It attracted countless wandering souls, who rushed frantically into the opening.
“Ka ka ka.”
As the wandering souls continued to pour in, the millstone began to rotate, emitting mechanical clicking sounds.
With the rotation of the millstone, the ghostly energy within the opening grew more and more terrifying, and the aura of the millstone itself seemed to continuously strengthen. The sight made Mo Fan deeply uneasy.
“What exactly is this thing?”
Mo Fan extended his spiritual sense, preparing to probe inward through the opening of the millstone.
The moment his spiritual sense entered, he discovered that it seemed to contain a world of its own. At the centre of that world was an enormous pitch black pill. The astonishing dark light was being emitted precisely from this pill.
Countless wandering souls flew toward the pill, attempting to devour it.
However, at that moment, gears of heaven and earth appeared and slowly began to turn. Those wandering souls were instantly erased, turning into the purest soul energy. Most of it was absorbed by the manifested gears, while a small portion condensed upon the ground, forming a brand new pitch black pill.
