Nine Astra Skies

The difference between dark spirits and evil spirits was that dark spirits were formed by a person’s heavy resentment after death. They often carried a strong grudge while evil spirits were born from devouring the souls of the dead. The former contained murderous resentment and the latter had no consciousness, and only knew to feed on Celestial Chi, souls, and flesh and blood. Dark spirits were often stronger than evil spirits.

Ye Chen wondered why this dark spirit was locked here.

Ye Chen’s Astral Body swept over the dark spirit and seemed to freeze instantly. The cold dark energy exuding from the dark spirit made Ye Chen shiver.

What a terrifying dark spirit!

The power of this dark spirit was simply unfathomable. Ye Chen could not tell its true strength at all!

Hum hum hum!

At this time, the Soul Pearl on Ye Chen’s chest started vibrating and issued a fierce warble.

Ye Chen hurriedly grabbed the Soul Pearl. It had also seemed to feel the existence of the dark spirit and trembled. He did not know where the dark spirit came from and did not dare to use his Astral Body to try and find out. Instead, he looked in another direction and found a shocking scene.

There was a short but relatively strong Human Puppet around peak Mystique Venerable Rank. His bare arms were engraved with strange inscriptions. He walked toward a corpse and suddenly stretched out his hand as if grabbing something. Ye Chen watched as he picked it up. In the hands of the Human Puppet was a Soul.

The Soul kept struggling, wanting to break free but completely unable to. An unwilling and painful expression appeared on its face.

While carrying the Soul, the Human Puppet walked to the dark spirit and stopped around ten meters away. Then, it suddenly threw the Soul toward the dark spirit.

The Soul seemed to still have a trace of consciousness from when it was still alive. It revealed fear through its expression when it saw the dark spirit that was chained up, and struggled to escape.

The dark spirit locked by the chain gave a strange laugh. It then opened its mouth wide and took a sudden breath. The air around it instantly centered on the dark spirit’s mouth, forming a huge whirlpool. The Soul kept struggling and screaming but still could not break away from the whirlpool and was sucked into the dark spirit’s belly.

The dark spirit’s body emitted a red light after swallowing the Soul and showed a greedy and satisfied expression. The Soul was swiftly digested by the dark spirit.

Ye Chen was terrified at what he saw. These Human Puppets were serving the dark spirit and feeding it! The Human Puppets did not have a respectful attitude toward the dark spirit and did not obey it. It was clear that someone was orchestrating this behind the scenes.

The more Ye Chen thought about it, the colder he got.

Those people set up the Exclusion Zone and specifically dug a place like this under the Exclusion Zone to feed the dark spirit. This might have lasted for tens of thousands of years. Just who was capable of something like this?

What were they planning by feeding the dark spirit?

According to Great Emperor Mingwu, the Exclusion Zone was set up by an organization called the Tribunal Council which made the laws for all countries. It could be seen just how powerful they were.

Ye Chen’s Astral Body swept the area. Besides the dark spirit and the Human Puppets, he did not find anything except for an ancient tomb in a corner. He could not tell when the tomb was built but it was crumbled and out of shape. Most of it was hidden in the soil but Ye Chen could vaguely feel its magnificent outline.

Ye Chen’s Astral Body was unable to enter the tomb. The tomb was built entirely of stone and covered with odd carvings. As soon as Ye Chen’s Astral Body went close to the tomb, he would be bounced off.

The dark wind blew in gusts in the cave, like a ghost castle.

Ye Chen counted. Excluding the bound dark spirit, there were sixteen Human Puppets and three Giant Bats.

The three Giant Bats seemed to be responsible for transporting the bodies from the outside while the Human Puppets were responsible for collecting and picking up the bodies. There was a clear division of labor.

Ye Chen faintly felt that everything here definitely hid a big conspiracy. However, with his current strength, he could not defeat these Human Puppets at all.

The secrets of this world gradually unfolded before Ye Chen’s eyes and he was naturally worried. If the Tribunal Council was as strong as Great Emperor Mingwu had said, what they were plotting would not just involve one or two countries. What did those people want? In the eyes of the world, the Tribunal Council was the supreme existence that maintained world order. However, behind the glamour lay many hidden things.

Ye Chen frowned. These things were not matters Ye Chen could manage now. After pondering, he first told Little Tanuki what his Astral Body saw.

“Little Tanuki, what should we do now?” Ye Chen asked Little Tanuki.

Little Tanuki also frowned, deep in thought. Her expression was just like a human’s. There was an indescribable sort of cuteness.

Little Wingsy looked at Ye Chen and then at Little Tanuki. He also wanted to see what Ye Chen’s Astral Body saw.

“Screech screech screech!”

At this time, they suddenly heard a sound from behind. It came from the direction of the cave entrance.

Ye Chen’s expression paled. His Astral Body quickly flew behind to investigate and saw a Giant Bat carrying the corpse of someone from the Nanman Kingdom and was rapidly flying over.

“Take cover!” Ye Chen hissed. He hid in the corner of the cave between a few boulders.

Little Wingsy and Little Tanuki also hurriedly hid beside him.

Moments later, a Giant Bat flew over Ye Chen’s hiding place and suddenly slowed down. It circled in the air, making a strange shrill cry. The sound echoed back and forth in the cave as the sound wave spread. It seemed to have found something. It threw the body it was carrying on its claws to the ground and swooped down on Ye Chen’s position.

Ye Chen was shocked. The Giant Bat had found them!

Ye Chen cursed inwardly as the Giant Bat dived down at them. He hurriedly jumped to the side.

With a “boom”, Ye Chen’s hiding place was reduced to rubble. The rock crumbled like tofu.

What a terrifying beast!

After Ye Chen had jumped away, his right hand moved. A Celestial Chi Flying Dagger had already appeared in his hand. With a “whoosh”, the Flying Daggers flew out of his hand and shot at the Giant Bat.

The Giant Bat did not know the strength of the Celestial Chi Flying Dagger. Seeing the Flying Daggers coming toward it, it did not dodge and instead, swung its claws to catch it.

Bang!

The Celestial Chi Flying Dagger instantly cut through the Giant Bat’s claws, chopping it off, and piercing its body.

The Giant Bat screeched and struggled for a moment but did not fall. It lifted its claws and continued to charge at Ye Chen.

This Giant Bat was like a Human Puppet. It did not feel any pain even if its body was pierced.

“Big Brother Ye Chen, I’ll help you!” Little Wingsy jumped out from the side. He leaped five or six meters high and punched the Giant Bat.

Bang!

Little Wingsy’s fist hit the Giant Bat. Although the Giant Bat’s body was completely made of some sort of hard metal, it was dented by Little Wingsy.

Ye Chen’s Celestial Chi Flying Dagger had left a trace of Celestial Chi in the Giant Bat’s body. He said in a low voice, “Explode!”

With a loud “boom”, the Celestial Chi in the Giant Bat’s body exploded.

The Giant Bat screeched and struggled, and started to fall. It rolled a few times in the air but then continued to pounce on Ye Chen.

“What a tyrannical fella!” Ye Chen was shocked. It was not afraid of death at all. Seeing the Giant Bat’s claws sweeping toward him, Ye Chen hurriedly rolled away.

Boom!

The Giant Bat’s claws left three deep ravines on the rock wall, only several centimeters away from Ye Chen’s body.

Ye Chen stood up and jumped away. Another Flying Dagger appeared in his hand with a whoosh.

Thud!

Ye Chen’s Celestial Chi Flying Dagger once again hit the Giant Bat.

“Explode!”

Ye Chen dodged the Giant Bat’s attacks while shooting out Celestial Beast Flying Daggers repeatedly. Holes appeared on the Giant Beast’s body. One wing broke off and its right claw was also shattered.

The Giant Bat made of metal was astonishingly strong. An ordinary beginner Mystique Venerable One would be no match for it. If not for the fact that the Celestial Chi Flying Dagger was incredibly sharp, it would not have been able to break past the Giant Bat’s defense at all.

“How dare you bully Big Brother Ye Chen? I’ll beat you up!” Little Wingsy fiercely leaped onto the Giant Bat’s back and started pummelling it. His left hand grabbed the Giant Bat’s neck and his right hand squeezed into a fit that he used to bash the Giant Bat’s head.

The Giant Bat struggled ceaselessly and screeched. Its barbed tail swung toward Little Wingsy, hitting him. However, instead of piercing Little Wingsy, the sharp barb was bent instead.

Thud thud thud. Little Wingsy was smashed by the Giant Bat’s tail and fell to the ground after losing balance. He was so angry that he jumped to his feet and lunged at the Giant Bat again, pummelling it with his fists.

The Giant Bat swung its tail relentlessly.

Little Wingsy was thrown down again but he jumped up with another fist.

“Eat this! And this! I’ll beat you up!” Little Wingsy gnashed his teeth, adamant. During the first punch, Little Wingsy could only dent the Giant Bat’s slightly but the second punch had landed on the same spot. As the punches rained down, a large hole was eventually blown out from the Giant Bat’s head.

Ye Chen and Little Tanuki were speechless upon seeing Little Wingsy fight. They had tried to teach Little Wingsy martial arts techniques countless times, but it always went in one ear and out the other. Even now, he did not learn any martial art techniques. Every time he fought, he rushed up and smashed his opponent with his fist. He did not even know how to dodge if his opponent had attacked. However, Little Wingsy could use some evasive tactics in his primal form which might not be particularly suitable in his human form.

If not for the fact that Little Wingsy’s body was strong, Ye Chen would be very worried that something would happen to Little Wingsy. Ye Chen frowned at the Giant Bat struggling furiously. The Giant Bat was almost turned into a honeycomb and there were even two big holes in its head. How was it still moving? Ye Chen once again formed a Celestial Chi Flying Dagger and used his Astral Body to explore the Giant Bat’s body.