Chapter 609: Chapter 411: Strength Update 2

’How is this possible!?’

The Second Cave Master of the Black Ghost Cave was horrified.

He could be locked onto in his current form!

This was something he’d never imagined. The mysterious Spirit Refiner was catching up, and he was incredibly fast.

’Is an early-stage Nascent Soul Cultivator this fast?’

’And... how is the mysterious Spirit Refiner only at mid-stage Core Formation?’

Faced with this situation, the Second Cave Master of the Black Ghost Cave had far too many questions.

’The mysterious Spirit Refiner must be using his full strength to chase me. At a time like this, he couldn’t possibly be suppressing his aura, so mid-stage Core Formation really is his actual Realm.’

The intelligence on the mysterious Spirit Refiner’s Realm wasn’t wrong—he really was at mid-stage Core Formation.

When he was first ambushed, the Second Cave Master of the Black Ghost Cave had mentally classified the mysterious Spirit Refiner as a Spirit Refiner at the Peak of Core Formation.

’To have this level of strength at just mid-stage Core Formation... If the mysterious Spirit Refiner ever broke through to the Peak of Core Formation, he would be unstoppable.’

The Second Cave Master of the Black Ghost Cave knew this wasn’t what he should be thinking about right now.

He was about to be caught; thinking about such things was useless. The only question that mattered was whether he would survive.

’Profound concealment techniques, powerful Attacking Methods, terrifying perceptive abilities, and now even his speed is this astonishing!’

’What *is* the mysterious Spirit Refiner’s weakness?’

The Second Cave Master of the Black Ghost Cave didn’t know. As he was rapidly overtaken, this was his final conscious thought.

"Finally dead for good this time."

After capturing the formless black gas, Fang Yun directly annihilated it with his Spiritual Power.

The wisp of black gas was extremely fragile. The challenge was detecting its formless presence and catching up to it.

Fang Yun had to unleash his full speed to capture it.

Next up was exterminating the Chu Family, a Foundation Establishment Ghost Cultivator Influence.

The Chu Family’s Grand Array was already active, the Yin Qi it produced blotting out the sky.

The recent commotion would surely have been detected, but this meant little to Fang Yun. At most, a few Qi Refining Ghost Cultivators from the Chu Family might escape. He would prioritize killing the Foundation Establishment Level Ghost Cultivators and converting them into Talent Points to be tallied at the start of next month.

When the Grand Array detected fluctuations in Spiritual Power, Patriarch Chu activated the family’s Grand Array without a second thought.

The fluctuations were coming from the area where the Second Cave Master of the Black Ghost Cave was resting and cultivating.

When the Second Cave Master came to serve as their Guardian, Patriarch Chu had been overjoyed, as had the other high-ranking members of the family.

With the Black Ghost Cave’s strongest Second Cave Master guarding their Chu Family, they wouldn’t fear the mysterious Spirit Refiner even if he did show up.

The current situation clearly indicated that the mysterious Spirit Refiner had appeared.

And he had chosen the Second Cave Master of the Black Ghost Cave as his first opponent.

Patriarch Chu was secretly relieved. ’Thankfully, the mysterious Spirit Refiner didn’t make me the first target. If he had, I would already be dead.’

This conclusion was based on the intelligence gathered on the mysterious Spirit Refiner.

The mysterious Spirit Refiner had managed to silently eliminate multiple Foundation Establishment Influences. The Foundation Establishment Ghost Cultivators from those factions couldn’t even send out a scrap of information, which meant the mysterious Spirit Refiner could finish them off before they even had a chance to react.

"Wait! Something’s wrong! What is happening?"

The Grand Array had just been activated when Patriarch Chu noticed an anomaly.

’Why is there only a fast-moving fluctuation of Spiritual Power, with no sign of a powerful Yin Power fluctuation at all?’

As a late-stage Core Formation Ghost Cultivator, the Second Cave Master of the Black Ghost Cave was incredibly powerful. A battle between him and the mysterious Spirit Refiner should have unleashed immense fluctuations of Yin Power.

But now, the Grand Array showed nothing of the sort.

There did seem to have been a burst of Yin Power fluctuation a moment ago, just before the Spiritual Power fluctuation was detected.

The current situation—the complete absence of Yin Power fluctuations from the Second Cave Master—could only mean one thing.

At this moment, Patriarch Chu had no choice but to accept the truth, however unwilling he was.

The Second Cave Master of the Black Ghost Cave had fallen! Slain at the hands of the mysterious Spirit Refiner.

If even the mighty Second Cave Master of the Black Ghost Cave was dead, the doom of their Chu Family was also sealed.

For Patriarch Chu, there were now three things he had to do.

First, have the family’s Ghost Cultivators flee—all of them, from Foundation Establishment to Qi Refining. Second, send out word of what was happening. If they could just get the message out, it would mean they had already surpassed all the other Foundation Establishment Ghost Cultivator Influences. None of those annihilated factions had ever managed to send out a single scrap of information. The final task was to use the Grand Array to stall the mysterious Spirit Refiner for as long as possible.

He quickly completed the first two tasks.

Then, Patriarch Chu noticed another problem.

He saw that on the Core Array Plate of the Grand Array, the position of the Spiritual Power fluctuation had vanished entirely.

The mysterious Spirit Refiner had concealed himself again, and even the Grand Array was struggling to lock onto him.

’I can’t get a lock on him. The Grand Array is useless. I have to run, too.’

Patriarch Chu had just made up his mind. The thought had barely faded when he collapsed to the ground, all signs of life gone.

His life force had drained so quickly that he was dead before he could even react.

This was, naturally, Fang Yun reaping his harvest.

A ghostly wail erupted from the Chu Family’s ancestral land, echoing in all directions.

The Ghost Cultivators of the ancestral land knew exactly what that sound meant.

"The Grand Array is active. Has the mysterious Spirit Refiner arrived?"

"That sound... Run! We have to run!"

"I don’t understand. The Grand Array is active, so why are we running?"

"Now is not the time to understand! Just run! Only a family Foundation Establishment Elder has the authority to send out that sound!"

The Chu Family’s Qi Refining cultivators began to scatter and flee.

But the vast majority of the Chu Family’s Ghost Cultivators could not escape their fate of being harvested.

...

「Black Ghost Cave.」

Deep within an underground cavern.

Countless Ghost Tokens were displayed here, with five placed in the most prominent position.

These five Ghost Tokens represented the five current Cave Masters of the Black Ghost Cave.

Without any warning, one of the Ghost Tokens shattered, the crack extending all the way to its base.

"This is bad! That’s the Second Cave Master’s Ghost Token!"

Seeing this, the Black Ghost Cave Elder guarding the Ghost Tokens immediately rushed to report to the other Cave Masters.

Besides the Second Cave Master, the strongest remaining Cave Master in the sect was the eldest of them all, the Great Cave Master.

He sprinted toward the Great Cave Master’s residence at top speed.

"Great Cave Master, terrible news!"

"What’s happened to cause such a panic?"

The Great Cave Master looked at the Elder and felt a sense of foreboding, for this was the Elder in charge of guarding their Black Ghost Cave’s Ghost Tokens.

"The Second Cave Master... has fallen."

"What did you say?" The Great Cave Master could hardly believe what he was hearing.

He had thought the worst news the Elder could possibly bring was that all the Elders sent to reinforce the Dragon Demon Palace had been killed. Instead, he was met with the devastating news of the Second Cave Master’s death.

"The Second Cave Master has fallen..." the Elder guarding the Ghost Tokens repeated.

The fall of the Second Cave Master... what did that mean?

He was their Black Ghost Cave’s strongest Cave Master, a man who had been expected to one day reach the Peak of Core Formation.

Without a doubt, the Second Cave Master’s death had to be the work of the mysterious Spirit Refiner.

The Second Cave Master was stationed as the Guardian of the Foundation Establishment Chu Family, which meant the Chu Family was now facing the mysterious Spirit Refiner.

"How could this be..."

The Great Cave Master murmured to himself.

The Second Cave Master’s fall was a devastating blow to the Black Ghost Cave; their overall strength had just plummeted.

Most critically, the Second Cave Master hadn’t managed to send back a single piece of information before he died.

That was a terrifying prospect.

They needed to completely re-evaluate the mysterious Spirit Refiner’s strength.

To be able to kill their Black Ghost Cave’s Second Cave Master, and to do so without allowing him to send back any information, meant that the mysterious Spirit Refiner’s power had already surpassed that of a normal Spirit Refiner at the Peak of Core Formation.

The Great Cave Master believed that with the Second Cave Master’s strength, he could have held his own against a normal Spirit Refiner at the Peak of Core Formation. Even if he couldn’t win, escaping shouldn’t have been a problem.

"Reporting to the Great Cave Master!"

Before long, another Black Ghost Cave Elder arrived. He glanced first at the Elder who guarded the Ghost Tokens before turning to the Great Cave Master.

"What news do you have? Speak quickly."

"Yes, Great Cave Master." The Elder immediately reported his news. "A message came from Patriarch Chu. He said that when he detected the mysterious Spirit Refiner’s Spiritual Power fluctuation, he could no longer sense any of the Second Cave Master’s Yin Power fluctuations."

"I see..."

The Great Cave Master of the Black Ghost Cave felt a wave of powerlessness wash over him.

This news told him that in front of the mysterious Spirit Refiner, their Second Cave Master had stood little chance of fighting back.

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