93: Shadowtown

After organizing the information he obtained from the memories of the three people, Xu Yan felt that the description of this Secret Realm in the school's academic affairs system—a world on the verge of collapse—was truly accurate.

Turning to look at the three ghosts being held by the black hand condensed by the Ghost Infant, he learned from the trio's memories that these three ghosts were a Glutton Ghost, a Starved Ghost, and a Wronged Ghost.

The Starved Ghost and the Glutton Ghost were Ghostly beings contained by the two followers. They were relatively easy to manufacture; by simply starving or stuffing a person to death, one could be created after consuming about a thousand people.

As for the Wronged Ghost, the chosen person needed to endure endless injustice and grievances while alive. Once these emotions reached a critical point, they would be given hope, only to die unjustly due to an accident right when hope was closest. This resulted in an extremely low probability of a Wronged Ghost appearing.

According to the memory of the Ghost Controller who came from a mid-tier Aristocratic Family, just this one Wronged Ghost required the sacrifice of most of the population of their family's county seat to nurture, and this was considered extremely good luck.

After containing the three Ghostly beings, the trio used various methods to cultivate them to the General Rank. Naturally, this process involved countless ordinary people used as cultivation materials, which explained why the auras of the three Ghostly beings were so mixed.

Looking at the three Ghostly beings that acted purely on instinct without any consciousness, Xu Yan sighed and called out, "Zhu Yan."

Immediately after, the chests of the three people who were slumped on the ground were pierced by a Spider Spear, and they slowly lost their vitality while unconscious.

With the death of the three people, the three Ghostly beings held by the large black mist hand showed signs of pain. As the pain intensified, a flicker of clarity appeared in their originally chaotic eyes.

However, this flicker of clarity was quickly overwhelmed by endless pain and despair.

If the previous wails were due to physical pain, the wails after recovering some consciousness were more like a mental and spiritual breakdown.

For them, the events preceding their deaths were memories they absolutely did not want to recall, especially those who had been stuffed or starved to death.

Furthermore, the memories of their actions after being refined—attacking their compatriots and family, devouring human flesh and souls—were unacceptable to their awakened minds.

It was precisely because of this that, despite their Hosts dying and the three Ghostly beings only being injured by the backlash, despite regaining freedom and possessing supernatural power, they ultimately chose self-destruction.

Xu Yan had the ability to stop this, but he did not intervene, choosing instead to quietly watch the three entities slowly dissipate before him.

Watching the three completely dissipated Ghostly beings and the three dead people on the ground, Xu Yan casually summoned a flame to ignite the three corpses, burning them to ashes which were then blown out of the cave by a gust of wind.

After finishing all of this, feelings of righteous indignation towards the Ghost Controllers families who treated ordinary lives as dirt, pity for the common people raised like livestock, or the desire to save them, did not appear in Xu Yan.

Xu Yan's heart was perfectly calm at this moment; he viewed everything purely from the perspective of an observer.

He casually recalled Xiong Nian into the Beast Taming Space. A high-bloodline, vital, and large Spirit Beast like Xiong Nian would be too conspicuous in this Secret Realm, which is predominantly Ghost Spirit-type, making it easy targets for Ghost Spirit-type Spirit Beasts and Heteromorphic Beasts.

He beckoned the Ghost Infant, who was reluctantly licking the last few pieces of spirit food nearby, to come closer. Then, he grabbed a handful of General Rank spirit food from his Storage Device and handed it over.

After the Ghost Infant pointed at itself in disbelief and then happily accepted the offering, Xu Yan instructed it to conceal its form and follow him as he headed toward the nearest town recalled from the trio's memories.

Perhaps due to the presence of the Ghost Infant, a Commander Rank Spirit Beast, they did not encounter any Spirit Beasts or Heteromorphic Beasts blocking their path, and they successfully exited the Dense Forest.

Following his intuition, he walked for about an hour in a certain direction until he arrived at a slightly dilapidated small town.

The sign at the town entrance stood crookedly, bearing the three characters "Ghost Shadow Town." Xu Yan stepped into the town and noticed a pervasive oppressive atmosphere. There were very few pedestrians on the street, and all of them looked pale.

Xu Yan proceeded down the street, where the doors and windows of the houses on both sides were tightly shut. Suddenly, a little girl rushed out of a corner and bumped into his leg. The girl looked up at him in terror, quickly recoiled, and ran back towards a house in the corner.

In response to this situation, the few passersby on the street adopted an attitude of "it has nothing to do with me, I didn't see anything." Their expressions remained unchanged, but their quickened pace betrayed their unsettled state of mind.

Xu Yan, on the contrary, became slightly interested. He slowly approached the house. Before he could make a move, the door opened automatically, and then a pushing force came from his back, attempting to shove him inside.

He had already sensed the presence of the thing behind him when he approached the house, but Xu Yan hadn't paid much attention. Just as it was about to make contact, a thin layer of wind covered his back.

Then, upon feeling the pushing force, he did not dodge or resist. Instead, he yielded to the force and allowed himself to be pushed directly into the house.

The interior of the house was very dim and permeated with a thick Yin Energy. Only a faint light shone in the very center, forming a circle of light.

The little girl who had previously looked terrified outside and led Xu Yan here was now standing in the circle of light, looking at Xu Yan with a strange smile.

Simultaneously, gusts of cold Yin wind blew through the house, accompanied by the sound of ghostly wails. Ghostly Shadows of various forms appeared around the little girl, looking at Xu Yan with covetous gazes.