Chapter 9: The First Stop in the Interception – The Land of the Yin-Yang Ghost Path!

On the other side, on the outskirts of the Heifeng Mountains, gusts of cold wind blew. Guided by the System, Xiao Ming found a secluded cave obscured by vines. The entrance exuded a faint, ominous Yin Qi.

The cave was narrow at the entrance, but the deeper he went, the heavier the Yin Qi became, and the light grew increasingly dim. After walking less than a hundred paces, mournful wails echoed from ahead, and several translucent vengeful spirits, having sensed the scent of a living person, lunged at him with bared fangs and brandished claws! These were minor monsters naturally spawned from the combination of the dissipated ghost energy left after the Yinji Ghost Way practitioner had passed away and the local Yin veins.

"Hmph, ants." Xiao Ming did not dodge or evade, a trace of contempt flashing in his eyes. He circulated his Cultivation Technique, and a tiny black vortex appeared in his palm, erupting with a terrifying suction force!

Those few vengeful spirits didn't even have time to scream before they were swallowed and refined by the vortex, transforming into pure Devilish Qi to nourish his own body. The entire process was effortless and comfortable.

He ventured deeper, following the same method, swallowing all the low-level ghost creatures that blocked his path, his cultivation base even advancing slightly. Finally, he reached the deepest part of the cave, where a massive underground cavern appeared before his eyes.

In the center of the cavern, a bottomless, gloomy cold pool radiated bone-chilling coldness. On the dilapidated ancient altar beside the pool, ghost Dao runes flickered on and off, surging with ominous energy.

However, what truly gripped the Soul was not this Legacy altar.

Behind the altar, in a corner of the cavern shrouded in shadow, an eternal, extreme cold was silently permeating, as if the air itself were about to freeze. Following the source of that chill, a coffin was quietly floating in the air, a foot off the ground.

It was carved entirely from ten-thousand-year profound ice, yet it was not a transparent crystal; rather, it resembled a piece of extremely pure, mysterious cold jade polished by time for millions of years. The coffin body did not reflect light; instead, it seemed to swallow all the surrounding light and sound, presenting a deep, restrained dark blue, like a frozen night sky.

Looking inside from afar through the barrier of profound ice, the view was hazy; one could only vaguely glimpse the silhouette of a slender, graceful woman lying quietly within. The details were hard to discern, as if separated by a dream that would never end. This ethereal figure added ten parts of mystery and eerie beauty to this ice coffin.

She floated there silently, radiating an eternal, unchanging dead silence and solemnity.

"Legacy altar... But where is the vengeful Soul?" Xiao Ming scanned the area, silently remaining vigilant in his heart.

He slowly approached the altar. Sure enough, when he stepped into the altar's range, it suddenly erupted with ink-green evil light!

"Hum!"

A solid and powerful phantom of an old man's remnant Soul roared out, carrying the pressure of the Nascent Soul Stage and monstrous greed, rushing directly into Xiao Ming's Sea of Consciousness!

"Hahaha! How many years has it been! Finally, a Physical Body has delivered itself to my doorstep! Kid, your body is mine!"

"I was waiting for you!" Xiao Ming was not alarmed but delighted. The Heaven-Swallowing Demon Art, combined with his Chaotic Heavenly Demon Physique, operated at full power. At this moment, he was like a bottomless black hole, radiating a powerful suction force, as if everything around him were twisting in his direction.

"A remnant Soul dares to be presumptuous? Swallow for me!"

The old man's remnant Soul crashed into Xiao Ming's Sea of Consciousness. Before he could even feel happy, he sensed an instinctive fear, as well as a massive suction force frantically pulling at his remnant Soul. He let out a blood-curdling scream, his expression one of disbelief: "No! What kind of Cultivation Technique is this?! Ah—!"

In just a moment, this remnant Soul of the Yinji Ghost Way that attempted Possession was completely swallowed by Xiao Ming. Its pure Soul Power and the complete Legacy information of the "Yinji Ghost Canon" flooded into Xiao Ming's mind and Dantian like a tide.

[Ding! Congratulations to the Host for successfully swallowing the remnant Soul of the "Yinji Ghost Way"!]

[Congratulations to the Host for obtaining the complete Cultivation Technique: "Yinji Ghost Canon" (Earth Rank High Grade)!]

[Congratulations to the Host for a significant increase in Soul Power! Cultivation base Breakthrough to Golden Core Early Stage!]

Boundless power surged within his body. The aura of the Golden Core Early Stage flashed and vanished, quickly restrained by Xiao Ming. He let out a long breath and wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead.

Xiao Ming's gaze finally fell upon the floating profound ice coffin, and he walked closer.

When his gaze pierced through the mysterious ice wall and saw the figure in the coffin clearly, even with his Heart-Nature, a trace of astonishment couldn't help but flash in his eyes.

Lying quietly in the coffin was a woman dressed in ancient dark black palace attire. The style of the palace attire was extremely elegant and intricate, embroidered with dark gold spider lily patterns, forming an extreme and eerie contrast with her pale skin.

Her beauty was world-toppling, transcending the boundaries of life and death; it was a perfection of extreme tranquility. Her skin was not dead white, but like fine mutton-fat jade, exuding a warm yet cold luster. Her eyebrows were like distant mountains, her nose was exquisite, and her lips were a very pale cherry pink, like the first cherry blossom of early spring, carrying a fragile sense of beauty. Her long silver eyelashes, like frozen crystals, cast faint shadows on her eyelids, adding a touch of otherworldly dreaminess to her.

Her hands were folded in front of her, her posture as serene as a sleeping goddess, and her entire being radiated a secluded, cold, and Soul-stirring eerie beauty.

Beside the coffin, there were also a few ancient Jade Slips and a beast-skin scroll. Xiao Ming picked up the Jade Slip and scanned it with his Divine Sense; inside were recorded some cultivation insights and ghost-controlling secret techniques of the Yinji Ghost Way. As for the beast-skin scroll, it was a contract scroll, clearly stating that one only needed to drip a drop of essence blood to awaken and bind the ghost attendant sleeping in the coffin; she would be absolutely loyal to you, and you would be the only one in her eyes.

"So that's how it is. It saved me some effort." Xiao Ming understood. He had thought he would have to fight this ghost woman to make her submit.

He did not hesitate. Following the instructions on the scroll, he forced out a drop of essence blood containing his own aura and dripped it onto the profound ice coffin.

The essence blood merged, the scroll burned to ashes, and the profound ice coffin made a "crack" sound, slowly melting away.

A moment later, those silver eyelashes fluttered gently like butterfly wings and slowly lifted. What was revealed was a pair of amethyst-like eyes, as if bathed in moonlight. The purple was extremely pure and deep, carrying a misty haze and bewilderment upon waking, as if she were a Soul that had been lost for a thousand years.

Her gaze drifted blankly, eventually settling on Xiao Ming, who was standing in front of the coffin.

The moment their gazes met, the bewildered mist in her eyes dissipated rapidly. A sense of closeness, dependence, and absolute belonging, stemming from the instinct of her Soul, emerged naturally, lighting up those amethyst eyes and making them glow with astonishing brilliance.

She rose gracefully, her movements elegant and ethereal, landing lightly as a feather in front of Xiao Ming. She did not speak immediately but tilted her head slightly, using those pure and deep purple eyes to quietly and earnestly observe Xiao Ming, with a bit of newborn-like curiosity and exploration. It was as if she wanted to completely engrave the image of her master into the depths of her Soul.

Subsequently, she bowed gracefully, her skirt blooming like a black lotus. When she raised her head again, a faint smile, yet enough to make the moonlight lose its luster, curled at the corners of her lips. Her voice was ethereal and melodious, no longer carrying eerie ghost energy, but instead possessing a unique, mellow charm that seemed to penetrate the Soul.

"Master~"

Xiao Ming looked at this ghost attendant with peerless beauty and unique temperament, feeling the closeness and submission transmitted through the Soul connection, and the corners of his mouth lifted in satisfaction.

"Very good. From today on, you shall be called... 'You Li'."