lebration and her brother had to attend.As time drew closer to noon, more people continued to arrive. The hall was already filled with a majority of guests chatting in small groups except for Xiao Yu'...Chapter 627: Devouring

Xiao Yu saw the ghost rushing towards him and immediately showed a look of joy.

The ghost was soon swallowed by Xiao Yu. After swallowing it, his head gradually returned to its original size while his belly slowly began to swell up.

Xiao Yu's eyes slowly closed but then he suddenly changed expressions, opening his eyes wide as something inside his round belly started moving wildly.

It was worth noting that the ghost just now had very strong power. If Xiao Yu's Demon-Slaying Sword didn't have the righteous and mighty aura specifically for suppressing evil spirits, Xiao Yu’s sword strike might have missed its mark. However, it was because he knew this that he chose to attack.

It turned out that just now, Xiao Yu had planned to digest this ghost when it was mentally unstable, but once he began his technique, the ghost instantly went berserk and tried to break free from Xiao Yu's stomach.

The form of Xiao Yu's spirit had only recently stabilized. If left unchecked, it might really be broken out of him. It was worth noting that the essence of Xiao Yu's spirit was fog-like in nature; however, a qualitative change brought about by quantitative changes had resulted in an actual physical form, which meant there wasn't anything impossible about it being torn free.

Xiao Yu could have used the righteous and mighty aura to completely erode the ghost away, but he hesitated because with this ghost's strength, he could fully restore his spirit to its original state.

"Soul Refinement Technique, Second Form: Soul Forging Heaven and Earth." Feeling the ghost's madness, Xiao Yu pondered for a moment before solemnly shouting it out loud.

Though at first hearing, Xiao Yu’s voice was not particularly high, there was an imposing tone to his words that sounded like morning bells and evening drums, directly entering one's soul and making people feel irresistible magic upon hearing it.

The technique just now used by Xiao Yu was the Soul Refinement Technique's Second Form, which he had never employed before. Although he had mastered this form of the technique for some time, he had never actually used it; later on, due to his spirit being injured, he didn't have another chance. This time around, Xiao Yu hadn’t planned on using it either until this ghost's strength forced him into action.

As Xiao Yu's words fell silent, a golden symbol suddenly appeared on his abdomen and then disappeared. With the vanishing of this symbol, his violently restless stomach gradually calmed down and quickly shrank to its normal size.

The moment his stomach returned to normal, his figure rapidly thickened. In fact, it wasn’t truly thickening; rather, it was because his previously somewhat intangible soul had transformed into a tangible entity using the power of this ghost, thereby restoring his soul’s strength to its peak state.

After opening his eyes, Xiao Yu stretched his body and felt a surge of energy coursing through him. This was the first time since dealing with Zhuosimo that he felt so good.

However, soon after, Xiao Yu's expression returned to its stern demeanor. The matter here wasn't fully resolved yet, so now wasn’t the time for rejoicing.

The ghost just now was incredibly powerful; it seemed his mortal self couldn’t have been an ordinary person either. Such a person’s memories were precisely what he needed right now. After all, the previous ghost had merely been a minor figure, but this one was different—thus Xiao Yu wanted to search through its memories.

Very soon, Xiao Yu completed his search of the ghost's memories and only then did he fully comprehend everything here.

It turned out that in life, this ghost had been a disciple of a major Onmyoji (a shaman or exorcist) from Japan. The Onmyojis from Japan were essentially similar to the Qimen Cultivators back home. They originated very early on when Japanese invaders stole cultivation methods from China, thus forming their own lineage of Onmyojis; therefore, both Onmyojis and Qimen Cultivators belonged to the same cultivator lineage.

The jade symbol array here was also set up by this ghost's master, though after setting it up, his master left.

After the entire province of Sichuan was liberated, they were afraid that this base would be exposed. Even back then, biological weapons couldn’t just be used casually, let alone with Japan having lost the war. If anyone found out about this place, it could face worldwide opposition. Of course, this was only the case because they were a defeated nation; if Japan had won back then, none of this would have mattered. They could use such means however they wished without any complaints, as nobody would speak up for a defeated country, let alone share in its spoils.

So these Japanese people basically didn’t go out. Only two soldiers who knew Chinese left with the map of the place and hoped to take away the research materials after some time had passed, turning this location into their secret weapon buried in China for a potential resurgence in the future.

The method used here—where these ordinary ghosts were fed upon to enhance personal power—was suggested by this person. They also anticipated that when Japan would attempt its comeback, even in ghost form, they would contribute to the empire's efforts.

But they were just ordinary ghosts, and even after consuming the souls of regular people, their digestion was slow. Therefore, it took nearly half a century for these ordinary ghost souls to be completely consumed.

After Xiao Yu got an overall understanding of this place, he quickly left and headed towards another direction. The area where Xioa Yu stayed was located on the west side, while the east side was where the military headquarters of this base was situated. According to the ghost's memory, some old Japanese ghosts were there.

As Xioa Yu walked in the other direction, he swallowed all the souls of the Japanese soldiers here. The ghosts in this place could now escape, and if they really managed to do so, it would be a disaster for nearby civilians.

Luckily, Xiao Yu found out about this place now; otherwise, if he had settled people there without knowing about it, that residential area might have turned into a death zone!

As Xioa Yu floated in the air and looked at the wall opposite him, several powerful yin energy waves, which were many times stronger than ordinary Japanese ghost souls, were present on the other side of this wall. The ghosts inside that room had already sensed Xiao Yu's existence, making their aura very unstable.

Xiao Yu knew that this was one of the most important rooms here—the command center for the Japanese soldiers.

Looking at this room, Xioa Yu flickered and entered it. Inside, several ghostly figures dressed in Japanese general uniforms were floating mid-air. Although their faces had a pale green hue, they exuded tangible blood煞之氣 (blood煞 qi).

Seeing these ghosts wrapped in thick blood煞 qi, a vicious expression appeared on Xiao Yu's face. How many people must have been killed to produce such blood煞 qi!

Xiao Yu was very certain that this dense blood煞 qi was the result of spilling Chinese blood. Therefore, their fate was already sealed, not to mention that he was at the peak state of his current stage.

"Humph." Xiao Yu coldly snorted as the demon-slaying sword in his right hand vanished instantly, only to be replaced by the mysterious patterned judge's pen.

With the judge's pen in hand, Xioa Yu began writing and drawing on the register of yin souls. As he wrote and drew, a wisp of black mist from his yin soul immediately seeped into Xiao Yu’s judge's pen, causing his yin soul to thin slightly.

Note that to activate the Judge's Pen and Book of Ghosts, it consumes Xiao Yu’s original yin qi. Fortunately, his yin qi has been replenished here; otherwise, given his initial state upon entering this place, using these items once might cause his yin qi to instantly dissipate!

As Xiao Yu's original yin qi flowed into the Judge's Pen, every time it wrote a character in the Book of Ghosts, that character would flash with a dark and eerie glow.

"Ah!" When Xiao Yu finished writing on this page, the ghost opposite him turned into a black wisp of smoke and entered the Book of Ghosts.

When Xiao Yu was done writing on the page, the Book of Ghosts automatically flipped to the next one. Xiao Yu continued writing on the new page; though it may sound complicated, in reality, everything happened in an instant, so before these ghosts could react, they were sucked into the Book of Ghosts.

Regarding these few ghosts, first, their bodies carried a thick aura of blood煞qi (blood煞vital energy); secondly, Xiao Yu didn't intend to let them off easily. These ghosts weren’t just one but each carried a heavy aura of blood煞qi, and for this to occur, they must have personally killed over a thousand lives.

Moreover, these thousands of lives were mostly ordinary Chinese civilians, so Xiao Yu wanted them to pay the price by enduring soul burning torture.

After Xiao Yu had captured all these ghosts, he looked around and then left. During his journey through the weapon storage area, he saw bacteria in glass bottles and bacterial weapons loaded into artillery shells.

The entire base was almost thoroughly explored by Xiao Yu on this trip, so he knew its layout very well. The construction here was entirely that of an underground fortress, with exits sealed off—due to being underground, they were likely blocked with dragon-breaking stones and covered in earth. This must have been the work of the soldier who escaped.

As Xiao Yu prepared to leave, he suddenly noticed a beast skin on a table in this room, while a skeleton sat behind a chair at that table.

Seeing this scene, Xiao Yu understood that the skeleton was likely the commander of this base. The items on his desk seemed significant, so Xiao Yu floated over and observed the beast skin on the table.

When Xiao Yu saw the beast skin, he sensed there were things written on it.ng him from visiting it. Thus, they asked Baisan for guidance.The helicopter journeyed westward, circling several mountain peaks before passing through a small town-like area and coming to rest at the...