The First Immortal of Destiny

SWISH!

With the beheading of the Human Ghost General, Wei Bai, the other armored soldiers collapsed to the ground as though their souls had been yanked away.

Decaying heavy armor, shields, knives, and spears littered the ground, clanging loudly and stirring up a cloud of rust-colored dust.

Naturally, with this, their army formation disintegrated!

Looking at the lifeless Human Ghost bodies on the ground, Shen Mo had an epiphany. It turned out that the Human Ghost General was the most critical nexus of this army formation! Once he was slain, the formation would break down. The other armored soldiers, who relied on the formation for coordinated action, immediately became husks with a soul but no spirit. It was akin to a magic artifact losing its master's control and becoming utterly devoid of power!

"Damn it!" Li Zhong exclaimed. He rummaged through the Human Ghost General's remains and then complained disdainfully, "The weapons of these ghost things are nothing but scrap metal. Even if I sold them all, they wouldn't be worth ten Spirit Stones. There's no soul core inside them either… All this hard work, and not a single benefit gained."

These Human Ghosts were not living beings. Their bodies were only thirty percent flesh and blood; the rest was a Soul Body formed from condensed ghostly Qi. However, they were not pure Soul Ghosts, so naturally, they could not produce soul cores.

In other words, aside from creatures like Hungry Ghosts and Heavenly Demons, no one else would be interested in them. Slaying them offered no benefit at all to cultivators.

"I have other uses for these Human Ghost corpses. How about I give you one thousand Spirit Stones in exchange for these thousand or so corpses?" Shen Mo's expression shifted as he suddenly made an offer.

Chen Mengze, Jiang Yingying, and Peng Chenshu all knew that Shen Mo possessed a Soul Refining Flag. They assumed he wanted to refine these Human Ghost bodies into the flag. Therefore, none of them showed any signs of curious scrutiny.

Little did they know that even if he refined these husks—which possessed a soul but no spirit—into the Soul Refining Flag, it would be utterly useless, only adding over a thousand immobile and defective Soul Generals to its ranks.

However, Lu Ming, Yao Ting, Li Zhong, Song Fang, and the others were unaware of the Soul Refining Flag. So, when they heard Shen Mo wanted to buy these corpses with Spirit Stones, they couldn't help but feel puzzled.

"Junior Brother Shen, what use do you have for these soul corpses? Don't tell me you're cultivating a method that requires ghostly Qi?"

Shen Mo just shook his head slightly with a smile in response to Li Zhong's inquiry, remaining silent.

Seeing this, Lu Ming and the others realized Shen Mo didn't want to reveal his methods, so they curbed their curiosity.

Then, Shen Mo took out one thousand low-grade Spirit Stones from his Universe Bag and let them divide the stones among themselves. Based on the effort each had contributed during the battle, Li Zhong and Song Fang received slightly more Spirit Stones. While Chen Mengze and the other four received slightly fewer, no one objected, as this was only a small portion of their gains from this trip. Greater rewards lay deeper within the Underground Palace! There was no need to get upset over a few, or even a dozen, Spirit Stones.

"You all go ahead. I will catch up with you after I deal with these Human Ghost corpses!" Shen Mo said with a gentle smile.

Everyone understood his meaning and walked towards the open palace door, leaving Shen Mo alone with the Human Ghost bodies scattered on the ground.

Shen Mo activated his Flawless Dharma Eye. Only when they were far away did he take out the Soul Refining Flag. He then summoned seventeen Minor Heavenly Demon Soul Generals and ordered them to devour the corpses on the ground.

It wasn't that Shen Mo was deliberately guarding against them. The Soul Refining Flag had now transformed into an exotic treasure. Moreover, it was an exotic treasure that inspired wariness! The Heavenly Demon Soul Generals inside it could continue to grow by devouring creatures, and they could even be promoted to Class III and Class IV Soul Generals! If this news got out… I'm afraid that with his current strength, he wouldn't be able to keep this flag at all! It might even bring about a fatal catastrophe. Think about it: if the Golden Core patriarch of the Riverside Sect found out he possessed such a unique magic treasure, how would he react? The best-case scenario would be for him to hand over the Soul Refining Flag, which would then be destroyed. After all, Shen Mo knew this clearly. He wouldn't engage in the ruthless slaughter of mortals and cultivators just to continue refining this flag, just to cultivate a Class III or even a Class IV Soul General. But how could others know his intentions? Even if they did know his intentions, how could they possibly risk nurturing a powerful demon head by allowing him to continue possessing the Soul Refining Flag? Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Shen Mo would not easily use the Soul Refining Flag. Moreover, the fact that the Heavenly Demon Soul Generals within the flag retained their Heavenly Demon characteristics was something he hadn't even revealed to Zhao Lingyin, Uncle Chen, or Chen Mengze. It wasn't that he didn't trust them, but there were too many ways in the cultivation world to search memories. Shen Mo himself had learned the Soul Searching Spell! To be on the safe side, it was better not to reveal this matter to anyone. As for the friends who previously knew he owned this flag… that wasn't a major issue. An unmutated Soul Refining Flag is merely a very common evil cultivator's magic artifact. Among the disciples of the Five Great Sects, it's quite common to slay evil cultivators and acquire one or two of their magic artifacts. Only those who recklessly slaughtered mortals and cultivators would end up on the Defense Division's blacklist!

HISS!

HISS! HISS!

As the seventeen newly manifested Minor Heavenly Demon Soul Generals consumed the Human Ghost corpses, their auras grew steadily stronger. After they had devoured over a hundred of the soul bodies, their Realm advanced from the middle-stage of Class II to the late-stage of Class II.

"Go in!" With a shake of the Soul Refining Flag, Shen Mo recalled them into it.

About the time it would take to drink a cup of tea passed.

His expression flickered slightly. He then formed seals with his hands once again, manifesting a group of formidable Soul Generals. There were a total of eighteen Soul General figures, including powerful ones like Master Hong Jue, the Ghost Bride, and Green-skinned Ghost Tieshan. By now, all of them had been Demon-corrupted and transformed into mutated Demon Soul Generals! Thus, he no longer feared his Soul Generals being Demon-corrupted when fighting powerful primal Heavenly Demons.

These Human Ghost soul bodies should be enough for them to advance to the peak of Class II, Shen Mo thought. With a mental command, he had these newly promoted mutated Demon Soul Generals continue to devour the soul bodies on the ground.

「A few Shichen later.」

Outside the palace gate, aside from piles of dilapidated heavy armor and weapons, not a single Human Ghost corpse remained. Even the Human Ghost General, Wei Bai, had become food for the mutated Demon Soul Generals.

The terrifying mutated Demon Soul Generals, exuding a dense, bloody, demonic aura, stood obediently before Shen Mo.

By now, the mutated Demon Soul Generals in the Soul Refining Flag… Eighteen had reached the peak of Class II, nine were in the late-stage Class II, and thirty-one were in mid-stage Class II. Among the Minor Heavenly Demon Soul Generals, thirty-six were at mid-stage Class II. The remaining two hundred or so, all newly refined Heavenly Demons, were still at the early stage of Class II.

On the Tianshan Mountain battlefield, besides slaying demons, Shen Mo had also refined many early-stage Class II Heavenly Demons into Soul Generals.

However… with my current cultivation base, it's not easy to manifest them all at once! It would be fine if they just stood still. But once deployed in battle, the Mana consumption from my body would be terrifying. Being able to simultaneously command five peak-stage Class II Soul Generals was already my limit!

After some calculation, Shen Mo had a rough idea of his peak combat strength when going all out. If he encountered a powerful demon head like Heavenly Demon Wan Wu again, he could essentially pummel it at will.

The blood-red curtain rolled back. The figures were drawn back into the Soul Refining Flag.

I wonder how Senior Sister Chen and the others have fared? Shen Mo took out the Thunderstroke Sword and flew deeper into the Underground Palace.