Cultivation: From Servant to Revered Immortal

Chapter 53: Chapter 53: The Strange Ape

Facing those eyes, Zhou Xun’s heart felt cold, as if his Divine Soul was being grasped by something.

But in an instant, that feeling vanished, as if it was just an illusion.

Looking again, the ghost-child-like creature’s gaze had changed, seemingly filled with a certain longing.

Suddenly, there was another ”bang,” and one layer of the light shield around Zhou Xun extinguished. He hurriedly took out another one to activate and replenish it.

At the moment that sound emerged, the eyes of the ghost-child creature brightened a little.

The feeling was as if it had seen some... delicacy?

Zhou Xun felt peculiar.

Suddenly, he thought of a possibility.

”Could it be that this ghost-child-like creature feeds on this?”

With this thought, Zhou Xun held onto a testing mindset and took out that Small Banner.

The moment the Small Banner appeared and encountered the Ghostly Mist surrounding it, it emitted a faint glow, while the Ghostly Mist around its body scattered as if meeting a natural enemy.

Then, centered around this Small Banner, a cavity about five zhang in size formed, and the bizarre shadow ceased its secret attacks.

At the same time, the ghost-child on the Small Banner looked increasingly eager.

”Brother, what is this treasure of yours that can dispel the Ghostly Mist?” Wang Erniu, seeing this, was overjoyed.

Lin Xueying also showed a surprised expression.

”Obtained by chance, only today did I know its use!” Zhou Xun explained, focusing his attention on the Small Banner.

He wanted to try controlling this Small Banner,

Slowly injecting Mana, the Small Banner still showed no reaction.

Branding it with Divine Sense also showed no signs of success.

Lin Xueying, seemingly seeing through Zhou Xun’s thoughts, spoke:

”I’ve read in ancient Scripture that ancient Magical Artifacts require Sacrificial Refining through Blood Refining Technique!” And then she recited an incantation.

”Thank you!”

Zhou Xun cupped his hands.

Immediately, following the incantation’s method, he forced out a drop of Essence Blood while reciting the incantation.

Visibly, the drop of Essence Blood merged into the Small Banner and then vanished.

And Zhou Xun established a faint connection with this Small Banner.

Looking at the anxious ghost-child on the Small Banner, in the next moment, Zhou Xun acted on a thought.

A two-inch sized creature appeared on Zhou Xun’s shoulder.

Judging by its appearance, it resembled a small monkey, its whole body covered in short golden fur that subtly glowed. Its nose was strangely prominent and unusually large, occupying almost half of its face.

Upon appearing, this little monkey became exceptionally lively, climbing up and down Zhou Xun’s shoulder.

Suddenly, its gaze focused forward at a certain spot, then excitedly tapped its nose several times.

Next, its nose twitched, and a cyan light darted out, directly illuminating the pitch-black dense mist ahead.

Where the cyan light reached, the black mist seemed to encounter heaven and earth, dispersing completely.

Only a gray-black, semi-transparent Ghost Shadow remained illuminated in the center, unable to move.

Judging by its appearance, its hands and feet bore some resemblance to a human.

The little monkey, upon seeing this, became even more excited, its nose twitched again, and the cyan light withdrew, swiftly pulling back the Ghost Shadow.

It grew smaller and smaller until it finally entered through its nose.

The little monkey patted its belly as if quite satisfied, showing a look of lingering interest.

Zhou Xun, witnessing this, exhibited a hint of excitement.

This monkey could actually suppress the black mist here. The Ghost Shadow that left several people helpless, it could feed on—in truth, such a Spirit Beast is extremely rare in the world.

”This monkey is indeed remarkable, elder sister, do you know its origin?” Lin Xue’e, surprised, looked at the small monkey on Zhou Xun’s shoulder and asked Lin Xueying.

In her heart, her elder cousin was omnipotent, all-knowing.

”I have no idea!” Lin Xueying shook her head. According to scripture, the Ghost Realm is extremely difficult to deal with.

Unexpectedly, today they encountered its nemesis. This beast’s origins are certainly extraordinary.

”With Brother’s monkey, we can finally rest easy!” Wang Erniu’s face was full of delight.

”In that case, let’s continue forward and leave this ghostly place!” Lin Xueying suggested.

Everyone had no objection, so they calculated the direction based on where they fell and chose the nearest spot to exit.

...

Regarding Wu Guangxiao’s descent, upon entering the Ghostly Mist region, his whole body’s Mana instantly shrank, and even the Flying Spiritual Artifact underneath him became unstable.

Fortunately, being a Middle-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, his cultivation was powerful, and he quickly managed to control the Flying Spiritual Artifact.

Landing on the ground, he immediately stored the Artifact.

At this moment, like Zhou Xun, ninety-nine percent of his Mana was unusable, and his Divine Sense was compressed to only two zhang around him.

Taking out his usual defensive Magical Artifact, a Top-Grade Golden Bowl, he infused Mana into it.

However, the Golden Bowl remained motionless.

But his remaining usable Mana was too meager, equivalent to a Middle-Stage Qi Refining Cultivator. He couldn’t activate this Top-Grade Level Magical Artifact.

Wu Guangxiao was alarmed at heart.

Thus, all the Artifacts on him became unusable.

As a Middle-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, Wu Family Grand Elder, the lowest grade of Artifacts in his possession were High-Grade, and even Premium among High-Grade.

In the outside world, they provided a reliable advantage.

Yet here, they became a disadvantage.

The Artifact level was too high and couldn’t be activated.

Thus, he realized the Tier Two Talismans he had couldn’t be activated either.

He took out a Tier Two Middle-Grade Defense Talisman, which indeed couldn’t be activated.

Then he took out a Tier Two Low-Grade, but it still didn’t work.

Fortunately, for commemoration, his Storage Bag still retained two Tier One High-Grade Defense Talismans. Upon trying, they worked.

Not long after activating the Talisman, he encountered the same Ghost Shadow as Zhou Xun.

But he was, after all, a Middle-Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Even within the Ghost Realm, he could still use Divine Sense.

Although Mana was suppressed, basic Magic could still be cast.

And that Ghost Shadow, in terms of attack power, was merely akin to a Fourth-Layer Qi Refining cultivator.

With his Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s experience, after some twists and turns, he finally killed the Ghost Shadow.

Thereupon, he identified a direction and moved quickly.

When he landed, he aimed at Lin Xueying and others’ direction.

According to his estimation, they certainly couldn’t go far.

...

Zhou Xun and others, with the magical little monkey, didn’t encounter much danger, smoothly progressing for more than an hour like this.

The Ghost Realm is not overly large, nor overly small.

The group couldn’t perform Flying Escape, and amid the Ghost Realm, could only slowly advance at a mortal’s walking pace.

During this period, Zhou Xun even named the little monkey ”Cyan Ape.”

”Cyan,” derived from the cyan light the little monkey emitted, ”Ape,” taken from its monkey-like appearance.

Along the way, Cyan Ape consumed seven or eight Ghost Shadows.

The originally somewhat dry fur also became glossy.

Seemingly greatly replenished.

”At the current pace, at most two more hours, and we can traverse this Ghost Realm!” Zhou Xun estimated internally.

Before falling, he had specifically observed the entire Ghost Realm.

Just then, ahead, an unexpected change occurred; the black mist suddenly stirred intensely.