The First Immortal of Destiny

Hasn't he left yet?

Looking at the Ghost General, Shen Mo felt a complex mix of emotions. For him, it had been just over twenty days since he fought alongside Zhang Taian on the city walls of the Tianshun Country's capital within the Death Jaw, jointly confronting the Ghost Tide. Seeing him again now, his old acquaintance was still his old acquaintance! Yet, this was the late-stage Class III Soul Ghost from before he entered the Death Jaw Dungeon.

In contrast to Shen Mo's sentimentality, Chen Mengze and the others' faces changed drastically. After they left the Death Jaw, they heard Peng Chenshu recount their previous experiences. They knew that Ghost General was a formidable ghost, impossible to resist and extremely brutal and bloodthirsty. Consequently, they each took out their magic artifacts, talismans, and even their ultimate techniques, intending to work together to seize a glimmer of survival from the Ghost General's grasp!

What particularly caught Shen Mo's attention was the magic artifact Geng Zheng produced: a top-grade Profound-level Flying Sword. Its spirit light shimmered, and its sword intent was overwhelmingly sharp. Clearly, this was the "great opportunity" he had obtained from the Death Jaw!

Ghost General Zhang Taian ignored their hostility. His scarlet gaze, filled with anger and madness, was fixed solely on Shen Mo! After all, from its perspective, just two hours ago, Shen Mo had rescued its prey from its clutches and successfully escaped into the Death Jaw.

SWOOSH!

The Ghost General's figure vanished in an instant. When it reappeared, it was already in front of Shen Mo.

SURGE!

Blood light surged on the Soul Refining Flag, and the imprints of the soul fragment belonging to Ghost General shone brightly.

The moment he saw the Ghost General, Shen Mo was prepared. He knew the power of a Class III ghost; no matter how hard he tried, he hadn't even been able to escape the early-stage Class III Heaven Abandoned Ghost King. Resisting the even more formidable Ghost General was out of the question!

However, within the Death Jaw Dungeon, he had used the Soul Refining Flag to refine a portion of Zhang Taian's soul. He had been waiting for this very moment!

As the incomplete imprint on the flag lit up, the Ghost General's body suddenly stiffened. The ghostly hand reaching for Shen Mo halted in mid-air. Even as a Class III Soul Ghost, it was still restrained by the Soul Refining Flag! Shen Mo saw a flicker of confusion and bewilderment in its crimson eyes; even its madness seemed to recede slightly.

"Gather!" Shen Mo silently chanted the Soul Refining Spell in his mind.

Blood-colored rainbows surged from the flag, coiling around the Ghost General's body like blood pythons strangling their prey.

This is bad! With my current Cultivation Realm, it's impossible to refine a late-stage Class III Soul General. Shen Mo's expression changed dramatically. The Mana he had just recovered was exhausted in a mere breath. Even his soul felt a tearing sensation, as if it were being pulled into the Soul Refining Flag to become fuel for Bind Soul and soul refining. All along, the Soul Generals Shen Mo had refined had never been more than one great Realm above his own! For example, Soul Ghosts like the Ghost Bride, the soul of Master Hong Jue, and other cultivator souls. Now that he had tried with such a powerful entity, problems had indeed arisen!

SWISH!

The Soul Refining Flag shook, and all the soul-binding blood rainbows retracted. Shen Mo made a decisive move, immediately stopping the Soul Refining Spell and quickly swallowing a recovery elixir he had obtained from Chen Mengze.

Thankfully, the incomplete imprint remained. Even if he couldn't command it as effortlessly as his other Soul Generals, he could still barely manage to suppress the Ghost General and prevent it from attacking them.

With my current cultivation strength, I can only refine Soul Generals at peak Class II or below.

Even if I could overwhelm and suppress a Class III creature, I likely wouldn't have the power to draw it into the flag.

From the looks of it, I'll need to reach at least Layer VII Qi Gathering to refine an early-stage Class III Soul General.

As for Ghost General…

I shouldn't even dream of it before advancing to the Spirit Sea Realm!

Seeing Shen Mo suppress the Ghost General with the Soul Refining Flag, Chen Mengze and the others were struck dumb with amazement. They all rushed forward to ask Shen Mo for an explanation. After all, just two hours ago, he had been forced by the Ghost General to flee into the Death Jaw Dungeon. If he had possessed such means all along, why would he have risked entering the Death Jaw?

The fact that Tianshun Country had devolved into the Abandoned Ghost Zone wasn't something he needed to hide. Shen Mo selected the details relevant to Zhang Taian and briefly explained them, eliciting another round of sighs and expressions of regret from the group.

Just then, the Ghost General moved again. The scarlet in its eyes had faded considerably, replaced by a hint of clarity.

"Immortal... Master... Shen! It... is... you."

The Ghost General had spoken! Although its voice was exceedingly hoarse and indistinct, everyone managed to understand its meaning.

Shen Mo's heart jolted, but he soon felt a sense of understanding. Even the early-stage Class III Heaven Abandoned Ghost King retained a certain level of rationality and could converse with him. It wasn't entirely incomprehensible that Zhang Taian, being even stronger, could speak. What was truly surprising was that it still remembered him!

After all, Tianshun Country had turned into a Ghost Zone, and then into the Ghost Nation Ruins under the control of four mighty beings. Thousands of years had surely passed since then. So much time had elapsed. Shen Mo suspected it might be due to the Soul Refining Flag. The flag had refined a part of its soul, and being stimulated by the Spell, this might have restored some memories experienced by that soul fragment.

"It is I, General Zhang. We meet again," Shen Mo nodded, replying with a faint smile.

"Immortal Master Shen… a moment ago… this servant… did not wish… to kill you. You…"

Even though he had regained some clarity, Zhang Taian had, after all, died once. Having spent countless years in the Ghost Zone, it was already remarkable that he wasn't as mindless as other Soul Ghosts.

Particularly from its perspective: the first time it saw Shen Mo was on the walls of the Capital City. Now, after what felt like endless ages, their second meeting had been just two hours ago. Shen Mo's strength and appearance were almost unchanged from when Zhang Taian first saw him. This strangeness confused the muddleheaded Zhang Taian, who could only try to convey that his earlier attempt to kill Shen Mo had not been his true intention.

Zhang Taian perhaps also realized that communicating was difficult for him. His hand, wreathed in dense ghost aura, slowly reached into his chest and retrieved two items.

One was the wine jug, now empty of the spiritual wine.

The other was a low-grade Universe Bag.

When Shen Mo shared spiritual wine with him on the walls of the Capital City, Zhang Taian had taken the jug after it was emptied. It was only effective at preserving spiritual wine, ensuring its spiritual nature didn't dissipate. It wasn't made of precious materials and wasn't worth many Spirit Stones. Logically, after so many years, even a magic artifact would have long since decayed. However, this wine jug, nurtured by Zhang Taian's ghost aura, remained as good as new. It even possessed a faint luster characteristic of a Nether magic artifact.

As for the low-grade Universe Bag, it too was a gift from Shen Mo. Back then, Shen Mo had even placed many cultivation resources inside it. However, due to its material, it couldn't be nurtured by ghost aura like the wine jug. Now, this Universe Bag was dilapidated, clearly beyond refining or use, yet he still kept it on his person.

Seeing Zhang Taian treat these two objects as treasures, Shen Mo felt an indescribable emotion.

He rummaged through his own Universe Bag but couldn't find any spiritual wine. Only then did he recall that during his battle with the Heaven Abandoned Ghost King, he had used up all similar items. Swallowing his pride, he asked Chen Mengze for another jar of spiritual wine.

Zhang Taian lifted his face-guard, revealing a face that was similar to, yet distinctly different from, how it had been all those years ago.

GLUG! GLUG!

"HISS... Good wine!"

After drinking the spiritual wine, what he exhaled was not just the aroma of wine, but also wisps of chilling ghostly breath.