Chapter 1294: Wrath of the Xing Beast

Right at this moment, a burst of black light descended from the heavens to encompass the entire cloud of white smoke, and the balls of white light were struggling with all their might to break free, but were ultimately powerless to resist and sucked away.

Before long, all of the white smoke and orbs of light had been devoured by the black light, which then rapidly shrank down to form Weeping Soul.

Her aura had swelled drastically, but it was a little unstable.

"Are you alright?" Han Li asked.

"I'm fine. It's just that I've absorbed too much ghostly power at once, and it's filled with violent killing intent, so I'm going to need some time to refine it," Weeping Soul replied, then immediately sat down with her legs crossed.

Shi Chuankong flew over to Han Li's side with a complex mix of envy, admiration, and indignation in his eyes as he sighed, "I thought I had already been able to make very good progress of late, but you continue to leave me far behind, Fellow Daoist Han."

"I've merely been very lucky. Given your aptitude, you'll be sure to surpass me very soon," Han Li said with a faint smile.

Shi Chuankong rolled his eyes and turned his gaze elsewhere, while both Violet Spirit and Jin Tong were staring at Han Li in a stunned silence.

"Why are you two looking at me like that? It's like you've never seen me before," Han Li chuckled.

"I've never seen you like this before," Jin Tong replied with a smile.

"Alright, let's stop fooling around. Weeping Soul is going to need some time to refine the ghostly power of that bleak soul, so we'll have to wait for her for now," Han Li said.

Jin Tong and Violet Spirit nodded in response before sitting down together, and Shi Chuankong also sat down with his legs crossed as he turned to Han Li and said, "With you on our side, we have nothing to fear!"

Right at this moment, Gui Wu's voice suddenly rang out beside Han Li's ears.

"Fellow Daoist Han, can you tell me just how powerful you are right now? I thought I had already given you quite a lofty appraisal, but it appears that I'm still underestimating you."

"I'm not going to answer that. You can think whatever you like," Han Li replied in an indifferent manner, and Gui Wu gave an awkward chuckle before falling silent.

Two days passed by in a flash, and during this time, there were many more ghostly beast attacks, but no more bleak souls appeared.

Weeping Soul's disorderly aura was quickly settling down, and after another day, her eyes abruptly sprang open as he let loose a long cry that sounded like a cross between the call of a phoenix and the roar of a tiger.

Everyone was snapped out of their meditative states as their attention fell upon her, and it was clear from her aura that she had made very significant strides in her cultivation during this short span of time.

Furthermore, a series of black patterns that resembled true spirit bloodline patterns had appeared over her skin, and a blurry, black shadow had also surfaced on her back.

It was unclear what the shadow was, and right as Han Li was pondering the matter, the answer was provided by Gui Wu.

"It looks like she's beginning to awaken the Xing Beast bloodline in her body."

"Is there a tribe of Xing Beasts in the underworld?" Han Li asked in an intrigued manner.

He had known for a long time that Weeping Soul was a Xing Beast, but he had never been able to find out exactly what a Xing Beast was.

"Of course. The Xing Beasts are a very mysterious tribe that resides deep in the underworld and are very rarely sighted, with the Infernal King having been the only exception to this norm. They're vastly renowned across the entire underworld for their extremely formidable innate ability. While it's true that your powers are very impressive, once Weeping Soul fully awakens her Xing Beast bloodline, you may not be able to withstand her innate ability," Gui Wu chuckled.

"Is that so? I'm certainly looking forward to seeing that," Han Li replied.

The long cry ringing out from between Weeping Soul's lips quickly subsided, and she rose to her feet with an apologetic expression as she said, "Sorry to have kept all of you waiting for me for three days."

"There's no need to apologize, Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul, it's only right for companions to look out for one another. I must offer you my congratulations," Shi Chuankong said with a smile, but internally, he was feeling quite glum.

Han Li's powers were far superior to his, and it appeared that Weeping Soul also had his measure.

As for Jin Tong, she hadn't displayed her powers this entire time, but it was clear that she was not to be underestimated, either.

"Let's go, we've already been delayed for quite some time here," Han Li said, and the group continued onward.

In the wake of Han Li's display of power, the group felt sufficiently confident to speed up in their travels, and after a few more days, they had already reached the central region of the Hundred Ghost Forest.

Along the way, they encountered some ghostly beasts that posed virtually no threat, and they also encountered another bleak soul that was slightly weaker than the previous one. Once again, it was slain by Han Li and devoured by Weeping Soul.

Thanks to the immense ghostly qi in the central region of the Hundred Ghost Forest, some spirit plants that were unique to the underworld had begun to appear.

However, collecting spirit plants was not their objective, so they continued onward without pause.

On this day, Weeping Soul found herself locked in battle against another bleak soul near a valley in the Hundred Ghost Forest.

This one was even more powerful than the previous two, and the two were clashing against one another over and over again, with the forces of their collisions creating countless spatial rifts around them.

The nearby forest had already been razed to the ground, while the clouds above had also been torn to shreds.

At this moment, Han Li and others were all passively observing nearby, having been requested by Weeping Soul to take no part in the battle.

"I didn't think that Fellow Daoist Weeping Soul would be able to take care of a bleak soul on her own," Shi Chuankong sighed.

"It's only because her abilities are particularly effective against all ghostly beings that she's able to accomplish such a feat," Han Li replied. "It looks like the battle is about to reach its conclusion..."

As soon as his voice trailed off, the black light up ahead suddenly reared up to dominate the opposing white light, and an indistinct, black shadow appeared within the black light.

The shadow was identical to the one that had appeared on Weeping Soul's back, but had become much clearer than before, and it was now possible to tell that it was a giant, black ape.

A panicked look appeared on the bleak soul's face as it turned to flee, but it was already too late as its head abruptly exploded, and an orb of white light flew out from within before being devoured by the black ape projection, following which the bleak soul's body exploded into ghostly mist that dissipated in all directions.

So this is the Xing Beast's innate ability. It seems to be able to directly strike at the target's soul,

Han Li thought to himself.

"Soul Devourer... As expected of the most powerful spiritual attack under the heavens," Gui Wu praised.

Han Li could sense that this Soul Devourer ability of Weeping Soul's posed a potent threat to his own soul, and his brows furrowed slightly at this observation.

With his mastery over the laws of time, he was well equipped to deal with all manners of strange attacks, but spiritual attacks were an exception as they existed outside the realm of law powers.

His soul and spiritual sense were far more powerful than those of his peers, thanks to his mastery of the Spirit Refinement Technique, but it would still be very difficult for him to withstand such an attack from Weeping Soul.

Right at this moment, the black ape projection vanished in a flash, and it seemed that it wasn't able to linger for long.

Immediately thereafter, the black light formed by Weeping Soul transformed into a swirling, black vortex that released tremendous suction force, taking only seconds to devour all of the ghost qi in the air.

The vortex then rapidly shrank down to reform Weeping Soul, and her aura had swelled drastically once again.

Clusters of glowing, black spots appeared over her body, culminating in a total of eight hundred and thirty-nine, which indicated that she was at the pinnacle of the early-Great Encompassment Stage.

At the same time, the same black patterns as last time resurfaced over her body, and they were far clearer than before.

An ecstatic look appeared on Weeping Soul's face upon seeing this.

Han Li and the others flew over to join her, and Jin Tong immediately praised, "That was incredible! What was that black ape projection just now? It took down that bleak soul in an instant!"

"Do you need time to refine the ghostly qi that you've absorbed?" Han Li asked.

"Not this time. For some reason, the backlash from this bleak soul's ghostly power is not that strong, so I can suppress it. Let's not waste any more time," Weeping Soul replied with a shake of her head.

"Could it be because you've begun to awaken your Xing Beast bloodline? In any case, this is certainly a good thing," Han Li mused.

With that, the group continued onward, but they hadn't gone very far before Gui Wu suddenly made an exclamation of surprise and elation.

"What is it?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.

"You are the luckiest man alive, Fellow Daoist Han! Set off in the ten o'clock direction!" Gui Wu urged.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, but he did as he was told.

Shi Chuankong and the others were puzzled by this sudden change in direction, but they followed along without asking any questions.

Before long, they arrived at an area under the shadow of a black mountain.

There was a green pond here, and the water inside was giving off incredibly potent yin qi.

Growing beside the pond was a cluster of bamboo trees that were swaying gently in the wind.

"You made such a big fuss just for these bamboo trees?" Han Li asked.

These bamboo trees were very abundant with yin qi, but aside from that, there didn't appear to be anything special about them.