Chapter 634 - 393: Ghoul Trait II

Chapter 634: Chapter 393: Ghoul Trait II

The woman from the Li Clan whimpered, but no tears fell.

"I was born in the 22nd year of the Da Hong era. Here in this Land of Imprisoned Souls, I suffered the daily agony of having my soul torn apart by ten thousand snakes. Now, I am finally free. Thank you for saving me, Young Master..."

Han Ning grunted in acknowledgment. Seeing the woman’s figure about to dissipate, he sent out a wisp of Spiritual Power to stabilize her Soul Shadow and asked one last question:

"Besides you, what else is in here? What is this place?"

"This is the Land of Imprisoned Souls, forged by the Jade-Faced Young Master. Within it are forty-nine Soul Refining Evil Towers, imprisoning six evil beings of varying strength. I was only held in the first courtyard. The creatures beyond will be far more terrifying. Please be careful, Young Master..."

The Li Clan woman’s legs gave way and she knelt on the ground again, clear tears now streaming from her eyes. "I beg you, great master, to slay that fiend. If there is a next life, this humble woman would be your beast of burden to repay this debt."

Han Ning’s expression was cold. He did not reply.

The Li Clan woman said no more. She rose, bowed to Han Ning, and peacefully closed her eyes. Her Soul Body gradually faded, transforming into a flash of white light that vanished from the world.

Ma the Third was having a vivid, erotic dream. He dreamed that he and the mistress of the manor were smitten with each other. After everyone else had fallen asleep, she had secretly come to him to confess her admiration...

"Don’t be naughty, my lady~"

In his sleep, Ma the Third felt something repeatedly brushing against his eyelids, making them itch and disturbing his rest.

He opened his eyes and saw a brightly colored paper-craft arm. Its peeling paper skin scraped gently against his cheek in the faint breeze.

His gaze shifted downward, and he saw clearly what he was holding in his arms.

"AH!!!"

...

Han Ning glanced back at the room the scream had come from, then returned to the side room and called out to Li Changxi.

A moment later, two completely desiccated corpses lay on the cold ground of the courtyard.

There was also one "desiccated corpse" with a hint of life still in it, clutching its stomach and vomiting nonstop as it squatted beside Li Changxi.

Li Changxi looked sorrowful, murmuring a Transmigration Spell he had learned from his master.

Then, from one of the corpses, he pulled out a section of pale white finger bone and a semi-solid red mass:

"Mr. Han, these are the Tier Eight and Tier Seven Extraordinary Traits for the Culinary Scientist path. Please, take them."

Han Ning put the two Extraordinary Traits into his satchel and asked, "Your Curse, is it gone?"

"A little... but it doesn’t seem to have disappeared completely." Li Changxi’s face was pale as he stared at the endless rows of Ancient Towers in the distance.

"It’s going to be very dangerous from here on out. I can’t guarantee your safety."

After a moment of silence, Han Ning looked toward the exit.

"You two should head back first. I’m going to try and enter the next courtyard."

"But... Mr. Han, the first courtyard was already this dangerous. The monsters further in... we should just let the Foreign Affairs Team handle it."

Li Changxi hesitated.

"If the Foreign Affairs Team comes, I’ll never get another chance to come in here."

Han Ning shook his head and paid Li Changxi no more mind. He followed the courtyard path toward the deeper parts of the estate.

Egg Pancake, Little Fatty Silkworm, and Frost Jade followed close behind him.

Li Changxi gritted his teeth, finally picked up his companion’s corpse, and dragged the still-vomiting Ma the Third toward the exit.

’If I follow Han Ning, I’ll only be a burden,’ he knew.

...

He walked for over a hundred meters along the bluestone path.

A tall stone wall blocked his path.

In the middle of the wall was a large, vermilion gate.

The gate was shut tight, plastered with blood-red talismans.

Han Ning did not enter immediately.

He had just gained 6,700 Energy, which he had to convert into combat power first.

Without any hesitation, he converted the Energy directly into Attribute Points and allocated them to Egg Pancake and Little Fatty Silkworm.

BOOM!

A torrent of Spiritual Energy converged.

Both of these Soul Beasts possessed Monarch Level Spiritual Bodies. As long as their physical potential hadn’t been reached, there were no bottlenecks to their breakthroughs.

Egg Pancake’s body swelled in size as its long-vanished Dragon Power returned. But unlike the dark red Dragon Power of a Giant Dragon, a Flood Dragon’s Dragon Power took the form of deep blue lightning.

"ROAR~"

Egg Pancake compressed the Spiritual Energy on its own, absorbing the dense energy into its body.

In just one or two minutes, it grew from just over twenty meters to more than sixty meters long, becoming an Extraordinary IV Soul Beast with a body thicker than two men.

And Little Fatty Silkworm was not to be outdone.

The Attribute Points strengthened its physical form, directly giving its body the ability to withstand highly compressed Spiritual Energy.

"COO! MEE!"

It was shrouded in an inky black mist.

Its eagle-like eyes radiated a sharp, intimidating, cold light.

Sharp feathers drifted down from within the swirling black mist.

Immediately, new, tougher feathers grew to replace them.

Its height broke past nine meters.

Three sharp, diamond-shaped feathers grew on top of its head, forming what looked like a crown.

Its jet-black plumage shimmered with an eerie, dark purple halo, yet it still couldn’t conceal the powerful muscles beneath the thick feathers.

Using the technique of hyper-compressing Spiritual Energy, Little Fatty Silkworm also broke through to the level of Extraordinary IV.

Now, with most of the Energy used up, Han Ning put the remaining few hundred points into Frost Jade.

Frost Jade lacked the powerful Spiritual Bodies of the other two, and it also had no combat experience. It only broke through to Awakening IV.

Even so, Frost Jade’s body and soul had reached their limits.

Its body grew, changing from the size of a small puppy to that of a Tibetan Mastiff.

Behind its pair of white ears, two wisps of ethereal blue Fire burned perpetually.

They would be good for illumination.

"WOOF!"

After its breakthrough, Frost Jade’s bark had become deeper.

It stuck out its wide tongue and happily licked Han Ning’s palm.

Its fluffy tail wagged back and forth with joyous speed.

Its fur had grown thicker, feeling soft and remarkably smooth to the touch.

The three Soul Beasts had grown stronger.

The vitality and Spiritual Power that fed back to him were also considerable.

Han Ning could feel that his physical body had been enhanced by about 30%, and his spirit by 10%.

’To significantly increase my Spiritual Power, raising my Tier is the most important path. It’s a shame I lack the other materials, or I could break through to Tier Seven right here.’

’I have to enter dangerous places like this to grow stronger quickly. If I just stay in the city, it would take forever to get stronger...’

His Soul Beasts’ increase in strength gave him more confidence to venture deeper into this strange ruin.

They were now more than ten times stronger than when they had first entered.

"Let’s go. Let’s see if we can find any more good stuff."

Han Ning said with a smile to the Soul Beasts beside him, then patted Little Fatty Silkworm’s feathers and pointed at the closed gate.

"Blast it open!"

"COO!"

Little Fatty Silkworm walked up to the gate, raised a limb sturdier than a mechanical arm, gathered its power, and struck.

BOOM!

The gate shattered.

The scene within rippled like water.

...

The weather today was not very good.

Dark clouds blotted out the sun, and a dreary, drizzling rain had been falling for three straight days, making Rongzhou City all the more dim, damp, and muddy.

Although the heavens were not cooperating, it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the Wanbao Commerce Association’s staff, who were up and bustling about before dawn.

The reason was simple: today was the Third Miss’s wedding day.

Just as the sky was beginning to lighten, Miss Yun, who hadn’t slept a wink all night from nervousness, was woken by her handmaiden.

"Xin’Er, do you think... looking like this... Ou Lang will find me unattractive?"

Miss Yun sat at her dressing table, staring blankly at her reflection in the Copper Mirror.

Her eyes were sunken, her face was colorless, and a deep exhaustion was hidden in their depths.

Although her father was strongly against it, and although Ou Lang had failed the imperial examinations, she couldn’t help that she loved him and was determined to marry him.

"My lady, you are a natural beauty. The line of men pursuing you could stretch from Rongzhou City all the way to Qianzhou. How could Young Master Ou possibly find you unattractive?"

"My lady, it’s getting late. We should begin."

"Mm..."

The handmaiden, Xin’Er, carefully let down her mistress’s long, black hair. Holding an exquisite rhinoceros horn comb, she began to gently brush it through.

The changes in their mistress’s body were something the handmaidens knew better than anyone.

What was once a head of thick, lustrous black hair now had strands of withered, yellow hair hiding within it, and patches of her scalp were faintly visible underneath.