Chapter 20

"Indeed, the path of cultivation is truly fascinating and extremely perilous. It involves battling the heavens, other cultivators, and oneself. A single misstep can lead to one's soul dissipating, leaving no chance for reincarnation." Su Xing sighed deeply, his face showing a myriad of emotions, his heart filled with solemnity as he once again felt that the path of cultivation was no trivial matter.

The old tree swayed its bare branches, and the featherless fledglings chirped. Su Xing got up and pushed open a window, allowing the air to circulate between the inside and outside of the room. The dry and crisp air wafted in, refreshing his heart and lungs.

Su Xing gazed at the clear autumn sky, and even the gray and overcast sky of the netherworld seemed beautiful to him.

"Does the netherworld have four seasons?" Su Xing said lightly, his turbulent emotions gradually calming down, like the still water of an ancient well. He suddenly chuckled, "Ghosts have no internal organs, so where do the delicious dishes like Mapo Tofu go? I can't figure it out!"

Thinking about this absurd question, Su Xing laughed to himself, feeling much better. He decided to open a window for cultivation, not to keep the old house closed.

After all the preparations were complete, Su Xing returned to the mat, sat cross-legged, and opened the thin pages of the *Nili Sutra*. The preface contained several elegant lines, introducing the outline:

"Life has few days of sunshine and many of darkness. Good and evil change, not in the same way.

"Disrespecting parents, committing crimes against the emperor, one dies and enters Nili. There are deep and shallow levels. There are eight levels of Fire Nili and ten levels of Cold Nili.

"Halfway into the earth is Fire Nili, at the boundary of heaven and earth is Cold Nili. Those who were evil before and good afterward... the wicked do not change, and in Nili there is no joy. If one enters Nili and remains wicked, one goes deeper into Nili.

"Those who, though fierce and evil, do not kill and love life, and those who do not eat meat, benefit from hidden virtues and live longer and healthier.

"Nili is the name for the netherworld, and the *Nili Sutra* is also known as the *Eighteen Nili Sutra* or the *Eighteen Hells Sutra*, with a total of eighteen levels, corresponding to the eighteen levels of the Ghost Officer and Ghost Clerk realms.

"Completing the *Nili Sutra* leads to the perfection of the Ghost Clerk realm, and taking one more step leads to the Ghost General realm!"

Su Xing read the *Nili Sutra* carefully. Although the language was obscure, it seemed somewhat familiar, and the ordinary words contained profound truths. He first practiced the method of condensing the ghost body mentioned in the preface, refining it again to facilitate cultivation.

Su Xing had a photographic memory, and after reading the dozen or so pages of the *Nili Sutra*, he had memorized the cultivation techniques. He closed the *Nili Sutra* and placed it aside, closed his eyes slightly, sat cross-legged, and formed the Nili Seal, beginning his cultivation.

The wind blew through the grass, and it seemed like several hours had passed, but it was only a few minutes. Su Xing sat solemnly, and a pale yellow gas slowly rose from his slender body, circling around him, then re-entering his body and emerging again.

This process repeated several times, and as the number of cycles increased, the color of the pale yellow gas gradually faded until it disappeared. Su Xing's ghost body seemed more solid than it was a few minutes earlier.

The pale yellow gas was actually residual Yellow Spring Water. Su Xing refined half of the Yellow Spring Water in his body according to the method described in the *Nili Sutra*, and stored the other half for emergencies. Even so, his ghost body was extremely solid, far surpassing ordinary ghosts. His ghost body was almost indistinguishable from a human, and it cast a shadow under the sun.

After condensing his ghost body, Su Xing began the first level of the *Nili Sutra*, the First Nili, which involved condensing the first of the seven soul wheels.

The First Nili is called "The Beginning of Speech and the End of Death." People in this Nili see each other and want to fight, but there are no weapons, yet they have weapons. They kill each other without end, yet they do not die. When someone speaks of not dying, the wind blows and they heal, and this continues without end. Then they fight with hot iron swords and iron maces, and the fighting continues for a long time.

This is the type of person. They are tall and large.

Su Xing's lips parted slightly, and he murmured the first level's cultivation technique, his hands rapidly forming the Nili Seal. His fingers, trained by various jobs, were incredibly agile.

Suddenly, as if in a hallucination, the desolate courtyard darkened, the grass bent low, the old tree branches swayed violently, and the fledglings stopped chirping. A strong wind blew, rushing through the only open window, and the other windows rattled.

If there were other ghosts present, they would have been shocked, shouting, "Pervert, this isn't absorption, this is swallowing!"

Other ghosts couldn't compare because Su Xing's ghost body was incredibly solid, and the speed of absorbing Yin Qi was almost ten times that of ordinary ghosts!

Su Xing skillfully ran the *Nili Sutra*, and the Yin Qi absorbed into his ghost body quickly transformed into ghost qi, gathering in the Life Soul. Su Xing prepared to first condense the Vitality Soul Wheel.

The Vitality Soul Wheel, which controls strength, can amplify one's strength several times over.

Swish! Swish!

A vast amount of ghost qi gathered in the Vitality Soul region, colliding like water and forming a vortex.

At this moment, a light flashed on Su Xing's forehead, and a spark of inspiration flashed in his mind. Who said that the same soul wheel couldn't be condensed multiple times!

Thinking of this, he immediately put it into practice. His ghost body, like a whale, opened its "mouth" wide, swallowing the Yin Qi. The old house creaked, and the Yin Qi inside was about to collapse.

The speed of absorbing Yin Qi at ten times the normal rate was terrifying, and only Su Xing's ghost body could withstand it. When the Fourth Rank Ghost Officer Song Jing saw Su Xing, it was not only because of his soul but also because he had swallowed a large amount of Yellow Spring Water.

The large amount of Yin Qi absorbed from the outside was converted into pure ghost qi by the *Nili Sutra* inside his ghost body, surging into the Vitality Soul region from all directions. The intense collisions formed countless small vortices, which merged and saturated, eventually forming nine large vortices!

The Vitality Soul Wheel actually condensed into nine! This was... truly shocking!

"Not enough, still not enough!" Su Xing shouted anxiously in his heart. The vortices grew larger, requiring more and more ghost qi. Even at ten times the absorption rate, it couldn't keep up. Without enough ghost qi, the nine Vitality Soul Wheels, which were not yet stable, began to collapse!

"Oh no!" Su Xing's face turned pale, and his intelligent mind went blank, not knowing how to remedy the situation. This was his first cultivation, and he had been extremely cautious, yet an unexpected error still occurred.

"Too greedy, this was too hasty." Su Xing's face was pale, and he smiled bitterly, accepting his fate. He could only watch as the hard-earned soul wheels collapsed.

But at this moment, a deep light shone from a corner of his ghost body, a strange phenomenon. It was black but shone like a small sun.

"Ghost Qi Pill?!" Su Xing exclaimed, both surprised and delighted. The sudden turn of events was unexpected.

"It's the Ghost Qi Pill given by Luo Sen! Because I didn't understand the cultivation technique at the time, I didn't refine it, so it sank into a corner of my ghost body! I didn't expect it to save me when my ghost body was in crisis." Su Xing shouted joyfully, too happy to believe his luck, and quickly began to refine it.

Bang!

The Ghost Qi Pill dissolved, releasing a surge of pure and concentrated ghost qi, which was quickly absorbed by the nine large vortices. The timely ghost qi gradually stabilized the vortices, and they began to rotate steadily in the Vitality Soul region.

"Great, no wonder it's a Ghost Qi Pill condensed by a Third Rank Guard General, it really saved me." The crisis was averted, and Su Xing breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn't know that if his ghost body wasn't solid enough and his soul wasn't strong enough, ordinary souls couldn't withstand nine Vitality Soul Wheels, and the Vitality Soul region would have collapsed!

Truly, boldness brings fortune, and the unknown is fearless. Su Xing condensed nine Vitality Soul Wheels in the Vitality Soul region, destined to surpass other ghosts.

"Hmm?" Su Xing suddenly exclaimed, a hint of doubt flashing across his face, followed by a surge of joy. "I didn't expect that the dense Vitality Soul Wheels, rotating under high pressure, would begin to condense a trace of ghost essence!"

Even a trace of ghost essence is a symbol of entering the Ghost Clerk realm! Only a few ghosts can condense ghost essence in the Ghost Officer realm. If nothing goes wrong in the future, they will surely become formidable and awe-inspiring!

Today, happiness came too suddenly and too much. Su Xing knew he was not in a state to continue cultivating, so he decided to rest.

Improving one's cultivation is not just about relentless practice; it requires a balance of work and rest, a need for mental elevation, and sometimes a need for opportunities, rare treasures, or even...

Su Xing stood up from the mat, stretched his limbs, and checked his body. He found that he was in excellent condition, full of energy, and that the *Nili Sutra* had advanced to the Fourth Nili, the fourth level of the Ghost Officer realm.

The Fourth Nili, with nine Vitality Soul Wheels! Today was full of surprises.

Su Xing pushed open the wooden door of the old house and walked into the desolate courtyard, standing still like a spear.

"The Vitality Soul Wheel controls strength. I wonder how strong I am now?" Su Xing's lips curled slightly, and he rolled up his sleeves, taking a deep breath. He felt a force from deep within his soul, where the Vitality Soul Wheels were!

Instantly, Su Xing's strength increased tenfold!

"Roar!"

Su Xing shouted, a wave of energy surging, his long robe inflating like a balloon. He raised his fist and struck the ground with immense force, a surge of determination and resolve.

Boom!

The ground seemed to shake, and ripples spread around it. Dust and rocks flew up around Su Xing, and the ground cracked.

Crack, crack, crack. Small rocks fell, and the dust settled, revealing a fist-sized crater under Su Xing's feet. The crater was surrounded by spider-web-like cracks, some as thick as thumbs, extending over a meter. This was the power of just one punch!

The power of one punch, terrifying indeed!

"Oh." Su Xing was stunned, amazed by his own strength, and then burst into laughter.

"Ha ha ha... This is the feeling of having power!"

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