Chương 152: Yin ghosts

Long Feng rose to his feet unsteadily as he leaned on a tree.

"Damn it! What in the world happened? And where is everyone?" He held his forehead against his palms and tried to recall what happened previously, but all he remembered was Hua Liuli's words and then they were all swept away by a very powerful force along with the Yin energy.

"I hope they are fine." He muttered before looking around. The first thing he noticed was the ambient Yin energy around. It was so thick that it condensed into drops of liquids on leaves and the ground. The Yin energy of the periphery of the Yin ghost forest wasn't even a tenth of this place. If he cultivated his demon Dao here, he would definitely get double the result with half the effort. He had an urge to sit down right here and cultivate in this place but his cautious nature stopped him from doing that.

That was because he had no idea what dangers were hidden here. He also remembered Hua Liuli's final words; they were to hide and try their best to survive for as long as they could. Due to the insanely dense Yin energy around, the entire forest itself gave off an eerily dangerous aura. Every tree, grass and even the floor gave off a scary feeling. Howls like those of wild beasts yet unlike them constantly echoed from nowhere, sounding right besides the ears.

Long Feng had no doubt that he was currently within the depths of the Yin ghost forest. The thought of this gave him the chills. This perhaps wasn't even the Yihua continent again. Who knew what part of the world he was? Even the profound martial deity at his peak wasn't able to leave this place unharmed. One could only imagine how dangerous this cursed land was.

"How are we so unlucky? Or does this have something to do with the Clear Sky Sect?" Long Feng murmured but instantly cleared that thought. Even the Yihua clan wouldn't dare to have any ideas about the Yin ghost forest. They would be exterminated before they even birthed their first thought. What then did an ordinary Blue Sky Sect counts as?

Even if the entire Blue Sky Sect including it's sect master and all elders were to charge into the Yin ghost forest, they probably would not even reach the mid parts of the forest alive.

"Then what exactly happened?" He clearly remembered Hua Liuli saying that the yin ghost forest's Yin energy storm occurred once every ten years. The previous one was merely three years ago. There should have been seven years more before another Yin energy storm occurred. What caused this sudden change? Before he could ponder on this matter, his ears picked up some sounds coming from behind him. Startled, he instinctively hid away and quickly built a concealment formation around himself.

A few minutes later, a few dozen creatures appeared. Calling them creatures was probably what fitted them. They were pale complexioned, transparent beings with humanoid figures but had no legs, only an upper body. They were floating on the air. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Looking at them, they looked like ghosts of the legend.

Any one with some brains could tell with a single glance that these were the main habitats of the forest, the Yin ghosts born from the dense yin energy of the forest! Long Feng practically stopped breathing so as to destroy any chance of being discovered. Those Yin ghosts paused at his previous position and looked around curiously. Some of them were even sniffing the air.

"I clearly sensed a human nearby. But it suddenly vanished along with it's scent." One of the leading ghosts said.

"Could it be hiding? It shouldn't have gone very far. Let's look around" Some distance away, Long Feng's brows twitched. It? What did they take humans for? Wild beasts? But he also felt aggrieved. He had only just figured out that each and every one of these ghosts were emanating auras far stronger than the blue sky sect's lady Bei! In other words, all of these damned ghosts were at least mid level Spirit realm cultivators! And the leading ghost was far stronger than the others!

Long Feng estimated that it was at the late stages of the Spirit realm! That was the rank seven to rank nine spirit realm! Even the blue sky sect only had a rank eight spirit cultivator who was the strongest in the sect! He almost cried out of his grievance. What kind of damned bullshit luck was this? How much bad luck had his ancestors accumulated for him to run into almost thirty Spirit level creatures?

"The humans are tricky. It would not be easy to find one who is purposely hiding. Besides, the soldiers are waiting for us to deliver the prisoners. We can't afford to waste time and annoy the soldiers or we will have a hard time surviving in the forest. As long as a human exists in these depths, they will not be able to escape." The strongest Yin ghost spoke in a raspy voice. He scanned the area one last time before leading the others away.

His words made Long Feng notice that there were some figures standing in the midst of the Yin ghosts. They were seven youths covered in bruises and chains. Their energies were sealed completely, making them no different from mortals. Their eyes were filled with despair and fear as they were dragged away by the Yin ghosts with no hope of resisting.

"Where are they taking them to?" Long Feng frowned. He didn't recognize the youths being led away but they should be among the youths who came to participate in the Blue Sky sect's test. It was ironic how a single ordinary test would end in such a tragedy.

"Are the blue sky sect's upper echelons aware of what is happening?" Long Feng had a feeling that the situation was not as simple as it seemed. The Blue Sky Sect shouldn't be able to do anything at all. Otherwise they would've already done something. Right now, he could either hide away and try to find his way out of this place in one piece, which was definitely an impossibility.

If even imperial realm masters would definitely be unable to survive at this depths, then he had zero chance of survival if he tried that. Besides, Yan Jian, Hua Liuli and Li Yue'er were somewhere in this cursed place and he couldn't leave safely without knowing if they were safe. He wouldn't feel at ease until he could find them. The second choice he had was to trail after the group of Yin ghosts who just left.

It was not as dangerous as the other choice and he could gather information on the situation and probably find Yan Jian and the others. Of course, that was relatively speaking. If he was discovered by those Yin ghosts, he would probably be chopped up. Even if he had ten lives, they wouldn't be enough for him to die. By then, he would have no tears to cry. Right now, he was stuck between a wall in front and a rock behind. Whichever choice he made could very possibly cause him to suffer and even lose his life.

After weighing the pros and cons, he gritted his teeth, reenforced his concealment formation and completely withdrew his aura before carefully trailing after the group of Yin ghosts. He made sure to keep a certain distance so as to thin the chances of being discovered. Luckily, the Yin ghosts spoke loudly and he could still eavesdrop on their conversation from this distance.

None of the Yin ghosts in the group spoke for a while, before one of the leading ones turned to the one who seemed to be the leader of this group with a peak spirit level strength.

"What do you think the soldiers and Monarchs are planning?" The leader replied with a slight frown.

"That is a matter of the higher ups. Both you and I have nothing to do with what they are planning. All you need to do is focus on your job and serve the soldiers well."

"Yes! Yes!! I understand. But you are very close to master. Did you happen to overhear anything from his words?" The questioner was insistent on knowing something. All the other Yin ghosts pecked their ears and listened. The leader's frown deepened but he still replied.

"Master is only a low grade soldier. Although he is about to be promoted to the mid grade soldier, he still has to reach the ghost deity level for that. For now, he is still a low grade soldier and has little access to secret information. According to master, the monarchs are planning to destroy the seal that surrounds this land and prevents us from stepping out. If the plan succeeds, this land will be conquered by our ghost race.

This plan has already been set in motion and what is needed is supplements to strengthen the soldiers. Human blood are the best supplements which is why the energy gathering formation was activated ahead of time to send in some humans from the outskirts of the forest in here. Once enough supplements have been gathered, the plan will definitely succeed and we will be free!"