Cultivating immortality relies on spatial abilities; defying fate to become the protagonist.

Chapter 38: Devouring Ghosts
"Grandmaster Uncle, let's... let's team up!" Song Huifang said somewhat shyly.

Gu Shihhan glanced at the group, nodded in agreement, and instructed, "You can team up! Since you've consumed too much spiritual energy, you can recover here! I'll protect you!"
Seeing that the group had sat down to meditate, Gu Shih-han advised, "Don't absorb the spiritual energy here. Use spirit stones instead; it's safer!"

"Alright!" The five sat together, holding spirit stones in their hands, and began to regulate their breathing. An hour later, they all woke up from their meditation.

Xingbai retrieved all the information about the Devouring Demon from the ancient books.

The Devouring Demon is not a true demon in the strictest sense.

They were originally the resentment of vengeful ghosts who were unwilling to enter the cycle of reincarnation. Over time, the resentment devoured each other, eventually forming individuals and developing a certain level of intelligence.

They devour anything with a spirit, especially souls.

Even in the Immortal Realm, the Devouring Ghost is a formidable opponent, possessing considerable destructive power.

Because they have no specific form and mostly exist in a fog-like state, they can ensnare people without their knowledge or awareness.

It is said that even a Great Immortal with bad luck might be devoured by a Devouring Ghost, and his entire life's cultivation would vanish into nothingness.

Listening to Xing Bai's rambling, Gu Shihan felt a sense of urgency. Looking at the thick fog drifting in from the sky, she reminded everyone, "Be careful!"

Song Huifang and her group of five quickly became alert. In less than a quarter of an hour, they were surrounded by green eyes. These were originally ordinary plants, but under the influence of the mist, they became the eyes and vanguard of the demon-devouring creatures.

After several battles with the plant puppets, Song Huifang and her companions learned some tricks of the trade.

Everyone tacitly began the massacre, but maintained a strict formation throughout.

The Five Strict Formation is the most common team combat formation in the cultivation world. Although it is common, its defensive power is not weak. The only requirement is that the cultivators forming the formation are of similar strength and cooperate well.

Seeing that the others were not in danger, Gu Shihan did not join them.

She and Xingbai worked together seamlessly, eliminating one green eye after another, turning them into pieces of scrap wood.

Gu Shihan's mind wasn't on the plant puppets; her goal was to devour the ghosts. Only by eliminating the ghosts could she achieve victory.

"Ah... Ooh..." The plant puppets seemed to feel pain and twisted, their green eyes overlapping, and a series of horrific scenes appeared before everyone's eyes. The various distorted screams made people's hearts tremble.

Gu Shihan looked at the five people who were somewhat frightened and said, "Don't be afraid. This thing has become a spirit. Shut down your hearing! Everyone be careful! The Invisible Howl is a technique of the Great Devouring Ghost. It gathers sound into an artifact to attack people's souls, making it impossible to defend against!"

Of course, Gu Shihan was unaware of all this; all the credit went to Xing Bai.

"Grandmaster Uncle, is there really a Great Devouring Ghost? Where is it?" Song Huifang asked.

With a few clanging sounds, Gu Shihan suddenly thrust her sword in one direction.
The Wood Flame in his left hand followed closely, unleashing several sword strikes in quick succession, leaving only a sharp shriek before silencing everything. "They escaped?"

The group had been hunting green-eyed creatures for two hours straight, and their hands were starting to feel weak.

Gu Shihan scattered a handful of talismans, and the green eyes lost their brightness, dimming, and the pressure lessened considerably.

"Finally, I can rest easy for a bit. That Great Devouring Ghost is very elusive and just won't show itself. What should we do?" Ling Hai said somewhat discouragedly.

Gu Shihan didn't rest. Relying on the light of merit within her body, she vaguely caught sight of a shadow hiding in a crevice in the rocks in the distance. That must be the Great Devouring Ghost. When her eyes met a pair of dark eyes in the air, she couldn't help but narrow them, and her body reacted simultaneously.

The moment their eyes met, the Great Devouring Demon sensed danger. It roared and attacked Gu Shihan with an invisible howl, while rushing towards the lush trees, intending to use the plant puppets to cover its escape.

"Oh dear! This human is terrifying!"

The Great Devouring Ghost's senses are extremely sharp; it knew something was wrong the moment it made eye contact with Gu Shihan.

In particular, it sensed something about Gu Shihan that chilled it to the bone. Although it didn't know what chilling felt like, its immediate thought was to run far away.

"Grandmaster Uncle, come back!" Song Huifang shouted.

"Don't worry about me, protect yourselves! There are talismans in the storage bag!" Gu Shihan tossed down a storage bag full of talismans and chased after the faint shadow.

Gu Shihan weaved through the bushes, and before the plant puppets could stop her, she was reduced to ashes in the fire.

The Devouring Ghost ran ahead, with Gu Shihan chasing behind. The Devouring Ghost was very frustrated. It never imagined that one day it would lose control of the situation and be chased by a mere human cultivator.

The Great Devouring Demon watched as flames, tinged with red, hurtled towards it. It felt it had no way to avoid them, but for the sake of its life, it had no choice but to flee.
A cultivator with merit must possess merit. The Great Devouring Ghosts have heard from their ancestors that their first natural enemy is a cultivator with merit, because only a cultivator with merit can accurately see their bodies, and... and merit is something they cannot touch; touching it will cause it to dissolve.

The swaying shadows of the trees, once their paradise for devouring ghosts, now only think of escaping for their lives.

The female cultivator behind it could see through everything. The plant puppet could no longer help it escape. What should it do?
"Woo woo..." A fierce glint flashed in the eyes of the Great Devouring Demon, and it rushed quickly towards the bottom of the black cliff ahead, where there was something that even the Great Devouring Demon feared, hoping to save itself.

As the Great Devouring Ghost descended, the flames in Gu Shihan's hand caught up with it. Soon, the Great Devouring Ghost turned into mist and dissipated, leaving behind only a Heavenly Ghost Pearl the size of a soybean.

This Heavenly Ghost Pearl is even harder to obtain than the Heavenly Nether Pearl, and its effects are far superior. Refining it can enhance the strength of one's divine soul.

Gu Shihan wiped the sweat from her forehead. She was tired, but the harvest was good.

In particular, with the disappearance of the Great Devourer, many of the plant golems also returned to normal, no longer having their green eyes.

Gu Shihan looked down at the bottom of the black cliff. A faint smell of blood and stench wafted in the air, along with the aura of death and resentment.

"Xingbai, how do you feel?" Gu Shihan asked.

"Hanhan, there are cultivators down there, but they're definitely not good people. You need to be careful."

Before Xing Bai could finish speaking, several ghostly figures rushed up from the bottom of the black cliff and pounced on Gu Shihan.

Gu Shihan retreated several feet away from the Black Cliff. Her divine sense did not detect anyone around her. The Red Lotus Karmic Fire burst out of her body, and after ten breaths, only a few Heavenly Nether Pearls remained.

"Hanhan, Xiaohonghong is really helpful. Should we still go check out Black Cliff?"

"Go! If it's a cultivator down there, then he must have a reason why he can't act, otherwise he wouldn't have sent a ghostly figure to make a move." Gu Shihan drank a few sips of wine, which restored a lot of his spiritual power, before he slowly descended on his sword.

Gu Shihan descended the cliff, but she was not reckless. Her body was covered by the Red Lotus Karmic Fire, and she activated a magical artifact to protect against attacks from divine sense.

(End of this chapter)