Chapter 63 – Trouble and Harvest
Although the White Bone Scorpion no longer had any wounds, Liu Ming easily communicated with its consciousness and even found the presence of his own spirit imprint inside.
He finally heaved a sigh of relief.
Sure enough, his previous thoughts were correct, since the White Bone Scorpion Ghost’s spirit had also entered the mysterious space, the Spirit Communication Technique was still effective after being in the space and then returning.
Liu Ming immediately moved a hand and removed the black rope from the White Bone Scorpion. Simultaneously, the silver inscription on its forehead disappeared as he stood up while faintly laughing.
However at the same time, Liu Ming suddenly felt his originally exhausted Spirit Sea shake. A spiral of extremely pure energy violently rushed forth and caused the Fa Li in his body to expand at an incredible rate.
Liu Ming was initially shocked, but quickly became exalted. He formed a sign with his hands and began cultivating with a calm breathing.
After a bit of time, half of the Fa Li he had before he entered the mysterious space was recovered. Suddenly, the energy in his Spirit Sea changed and became extremely cold and resembled an extremely condensed version of the Miasma around him.
Liu Ming perceived the cold energy in his body start to expand. He felt as if his entire body had fallen into an ice house and was incomparably rigid.
Liu Ming alarmingly tried to stop his cultivation method, but despite his efforts, his fingers would not budge at all. The cold Miasma energy in his body continued to rush forth like a flood and poured into his Spirit Sea.
Liu Ming face was incomparably white and after barely managing to gaze down, he astonishingly discovered that his formerly lustrous and plump hands were quickly becoming withered. In addition, other parts of his body were also starting to shrivel and began to vaguely illuminate a greenish color.
“Transformation into a Ghost!”
Liu Ming was startled and a term from the ancient text appeared in his mind. At the same time, he suddenly understood where the cold Miasma energy came from.
Most likely, it came from the White Bone Scorpion’s Miasma which was engulfed by the bubble after the bubble exhausted Liu Ming’s Fa Li. After recently being purified together with the rest of his Fa Li, it was now transferred back to Liu Ming.
Although Liu Ming could use this Miasma to enhance and increase his Fa Li, the cold Miasma energy would make his body transform into a Miasma attributed Ghost and from then on, he would be a ghost instead of a human.
Liu Ming thought of these things in the blink of an eye and grew gloomy.
The peculiar cold energy in Liu Ming’s body kept growing, and his Fa Li seemed to have frozen over. He was unable to move any of his Fa Li.
In a state of panic, Liu Ming unexpectedly hardened his heart and ignored the dangers of having his Fa Li backlash. He then violently shook his Spirit Sea with the help of the power of his conscious.
The originally solid Spirit Sea slightly shook and a trace of Fa Li finally flew out.
Liu Ming borrowed this trace of Fa Li to start the Dark Bone Method, with the intention of forcefully controlling all of the cold energy even at the price of inflicting heavy injuries on every body Meridian.
However, once the Dark Bone Technique was performed, something incredible happened.
A portion of the cold energy suddenly split in two. One became pure Fa Li, while the rest entered Liu Ming’s bones half way through the Dark Bone Method cultivation and disappeared without a trace.
Liu Ming was shocked but facing this situation, he could only try to prevent himself from becoming a ghost. He was naturally unable to worry about other things and continued to expedite his Dark Bone Method.
A peculiar scene emerged.
Liu Ming’s Spirit Sea kept pumping out the unusually cold Miasma energy while the Dark Bone Method was continually used. This caused the cold energy to either turn into Fa Li, or disappear into his bones.
The two factors of the Miasma coming back from the bubble and becoming assimilated into Liu Ming had finally reached a temporary equilibrium.
Because of this, Liu Ming finally stopped his transformation into a ghost.
After the time it takes to have a cup of tea (10 minutes), Liu Ming’s Spirit Sea slightly shook and the flow of cold Miasma energy suddenly stopped.
When Liu Ming discovered this, he was extremely happy and wildly expedited the Dark Bone Method without pause.
An unknown period of time passed by and the last trace of cold Miasma in Liu Ming’s body was finally melted away by the Dark Bone Method. His body also returned to normal
Liu Ming stopped the technique and examined his newly reformed plump and lustrous hands before letting out a long sigh. He was still quite afraid in his heart.
If he was only a little bit slower in his reaction, then he might have very well ended up becoming a ghost. One that wandered this Ghost Hell Region until he was either killed or tamed.
However, the Dark Bone Method’s ability to dissolve the cold Miasma’s corrosive properties made him extremely surprised.
Liu Ming thought, “If it really was like this, then wouldn’t he be able to stay in the Ghost Hell Region and cultivate for a long period of time without being affected? That couldn’t be right, otherwise why could Liu Ming not cultivate when he first arrived here and performed the Dark Bone Method? This showed how the pure Miasma in his body was quite different from regular Miasma.”
After all, the Miasma was first from the White Bone Scorpion and had undergone the mysterious bubble’s ingestion before being spat back out in a purer form. Thus the attribute had been drastically changed.
Liu Ming shook his head as he thought of this.
Moreover, he was nearly turned into a ghost just now and it had been extremely terrifying. So even if Liu Ming was able to cultivate faster in this area, he absolutely did not want to experience it again.
Once Liu Ming thought of the White Bone Scorpion, he couldn’t help but turn his head and slightly pause.
All he could see was the White Bone Scorpion enshrouded in a large ball of green gas.
This ball of green gas was extremely thick, even Liu Ming was unable to see what the White Bone Scorpion was doing inside of it.
With this odd situation, Liu Ming frowned before thinking back to the Miasma energy that was just returned to him a few minutes ago.
Since the White Bone Scorpion entered the mysterious space with him, it could have also encountered the same energy feedback! If that truly was the case, then this situation would be a blessing rather than a curse.
With that thought in mind, Liu Ming’s heart slightly loosened and he sat down waiting on the side.
The time Liu Ming had to wait the time it took to have a meal (30 minutes).
When a peculiar cry resounded, the green gas dispersed and the White Bone Scorpion’s body reappeared.
After carefully examining the new scorpion, Liu Ming couldn’t help but be astounded.
The current White Bone Scorpion’s eyes contained a flickering green flame, its jet black hooked tail was shining a dark light, and its exterior scars were completely gone. Its body was even about half a meter longer than before and only the large hole wound on its side still existed. Simultaneously, the bones on its body were now slightly gray and white, no longer the original eerie white color.
Liu Ming was very surprised by this, and after communicating with its conscious, he became even happier.
Although the White Bone Scorpion had not completely recovered its strength, it had recuperated about seventy to eighty-percent of it. Once it completely finished healing, it would once again be able to actually fly.
When Liu Ming heard what items he needed to have to help the White Bone Scorpion recuperate, he couldn’t help but grin.
Due to suffering too serious injuries, the scorpion unexpectedly needed to eat other ghost bones in order to slowly recover.
With that was the case, Liu Ming would be unable to return now. He had to first collect a few ghost bones before he could return to the sect at ease.
After weighing his options, Liu Ming made his decision.
Despite having wasted a lot of time, Liu Ming still had half a month left. Looking for and finding a few low leveled ghosts would not be too hard in this time period.
Planning his route, Liu Ming ordered the White Bone Scorpion to stand guard in the vicinity for a while. At the same time, he used this time to inspect his body’s condition.
The bubble in his Spirit Sea had again disappeared without a trace and his Fa Li was even purer than last time. In addition, the amount of Fa Li left in Liu Ming did not drop too much, most likely due to the cold Miasma energy transforming into Fa Li.
When Liu Ming’s mind swept through every bone, his face couldn’t help but change.
He noticed that every bone in his body had become even whiter than before, and further emitted a glittering light. They were clearly a lot sturdier than before.
“This is…”
Liu Ming used his mind to touch a bone and immediately felt a trace of coldness. However, once he performed his Black Bone Method, everything went back to normal, without a trace of defectiveness.
Liu Ming continued to inspect other areas and when he found nothing wrong, he was completely relieved.
He retracted his consciousness and started to ponder about the mysterious bubble.
This bubble was incredibly mysterious and clearly resided in his body. There was also a possibility of it appearing again, and each time it appeared it seemed to consume more Fa Li than last time.
This time, if it was not for him being in the Ghost Hell Region and if he did not have the White Bone Scorpion use some sort of natural talent to absorb Miasma and supplement it for him, he would have likely died.
If this happened again in the future while he was in the middle of a fight, wouldn’t it be the same as death?
Of course, this bubble could make his Fa Li even purer, as well as help him enter the mysterious space. This above all, enticed him.
Thinking about this, Liu Ming got a headache.
After experiencing two ruptures, the gap between the bubble appearing seemed to become longer and longer. Perhaps it needed to meet certain conditions but at least for the near future, Liu Ming did not have to worry about this bubble appearing again.
Liu Ming mulled over it for a while, but was unable to find a solution to the problem. He could only put it at the back of his mind and wait until he returned to the sect before looking at it again.
What was important right now was to find other ghosts.
Thus, Liu Ming calmed himself before standing up and making a hand sign.
A gray cloud congealed under his feet and lifted him several meters from the ground.
Liu Ming then beckoned to the White Bone Scorpion.
“Pu!”
The White Bone Scorpion leaped up from the ground and landed easily on the gray cloud.
Liu Ming once again used the technique and the gray cloud instantly cleaved space as it zipped away.
……
Two days later, at the boundary of the black desert, a ghost that looked like something in between a sheep and a cow and was covered in a weak green flame was in the process of running for its life. The green flame around its body was extremely dazzling. However, not far behind was a hill of sand that was mercilessly chasing after it.
In the blink of an eye, the two of them had run like this for a few kilometers.
“Sou!”
The pursuing sand hill suddenly emitted a ray of black light which quickly pierced the running ghost’s body. The black ray then pulled backward with the immobile ghost hooked to it. Astonishingly, it was a fine dark scorpion tail.
A blood-curdling screech rang through the air.
The leading ghost instantly fell and was flipped with its feet to the sky while the sand hill behind it simultaneously burst apart. A white shadow flew out from within and pounced onto the leading ghost’s body.
Two large pincers appeared, and after furiously hacking, it cut the ghost into various chunks.