Chapter 65

After Liu Ming made up his mind, he immediately put away the map and continued to fly away into the distance on a cloud.

Seven days later, in a black forest of strange trees, Liu Ming stood motionless under a giant tree, his eyes slightly narrowed, gazing at three monkey-like green-furred ghost creatures on the tree.

These three ghost creatures consisted of one large and two small ones. The two smaller ones were only about a foot tall, with light green fur. The larger one was about four feet tall, with dark green fur all over its body, and even had a green, short horn on its head. It occasionally made a threatening low growl at Liu Ming, baring its teeth.

These were low-level ghost creatures known as "Rotten Horn Monkeys" from the Netherworld.

Adult Rotten Horn Monkeys were agile, strong, and could exhale a putrid gas. With a bit of cultivation, they could possess the strength of a low-level ghost, making them a good choice for a spirit companion.

Liu Ming flicked his sleeve, and the Soul Binding Chain shot out like a venomous snake, directly lashing at the larger Rotten Horn Monkey.

After a few strange cries, the two smaller Rotten Horn Monkeys leaped and jumped to other trees to escape. Only the largest one, with a fierce look on its face, dodged the black chain and, with a spread of its arms, transformed into a green shadow, pouncing down from the tree.

Its ten fingernails were black and sharp. Even before it reached Liu Ming, a putrid smell had already enveloped him.

Liu Ming, however, did not dodge or avoid it. Instead, he quickly recited some words and, with a wave of his hand, a red fireball shot out with a hiss.

The scorching heat from the fireball instantly dispelled the putrid smell, and the pouncing Rotten Horn Monkey, fearing the fire, let out a strange cry. Its several-foot-long tail suddenly swung, and it moved sideways to avoid the fireball.

But at that moment, the black chain silently coiled back, tightly binding it before it could react.

With a "bang"! The Rotten Horn Monkey, unable to move, crashed to the ground in front of Liu Ming. Due to the corrosive effect of the Soul Binding Chain, its fur began to smoke, and it let out a cry of pain.

Without a word, Liu Ming lifted his foot and tapped its head.

With a "boom"! Under the force, the Rotten Horn Monkey's head was buried deep in the soil, and it immediately fainted.

Liu Ming took a deep breath, bent down, and grabbed the Rotten Horn Monkey, slinging it over his shoulder. He began to perform a spell, and a gray cloud appeared under his feet. He urged it forward and flew out of the forest, heading further away.

Half an hour later, Liu Ming appeared in a cave far from the black forest, and he threw the Rotten Horn Monkey on the ground.

The entrance to this cave was hidden under a large rock, making it quite secret. The inside was also spacious, about several dozen feet in size.

When Liu Ming discovered it, it was empty, and he didn't know what kind of large ghost creature had created it and then abandoned it.

Since he had found the Rotten Horn Monkeys the day before, he had first searched for a secret place nearby before taking action today.

Liu Ming looked at the Rotten Horn Monkey on the ground, confirming it was still unconscious. He took out a light black gourd from his sleeve, removed the stopper, and poured some light yellow powder onto the ground.

He walked around the Rotten Horn Monkey, forming a light yellow circle, then stepped into the circle, sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.

After a while, when Liu Ming opened his eyes again, he began to perform a spell with his hands.

Black mist began to rise from his body, increasing in quantity.

At the same time, some light gray spiritual patterns appeared on his face, neck, and arms, quickly spreading to every inch of his body.

With a "puff"! Liu Ming moved his arm, lifting the Rotten Horn Monkey close, and pressed his other hand on its crown.

He began to recite incantations, and the black mist around him transformed into tentacles, dancing wildly. The gray patterns on his body flickered and surged into his hand, then disappeared into the Rotten Horn Monkey's head.

The Rotten Horn Monkey, which had been motionless, suddenly woke up, its eyes turning red as it began to struggle.

But Liu Ming's hands were like steel bands, firmly holding the ghost creature, and the gray patterns on his body surged out even faster.

After a moment, the Rotten Horn Monkey began to foam at the mouth, and its struggles became weaker.

Liu Ming, seeing this, smiled, and his incantations became more urgent.

But in the next moment, countless black veins bulged on the sides of the Rotten Horn Monkey's head, and with a muffled sound, they burst.

Green liquid immediately splattered in all directions.

Liu Ming was startled, and the black mist around him intensified, blocking everything that was flying towards him.

However, a black mist still escaped from the headless body of the Rotten Horn Monkey, spinning and flying towards the cave entrance.

But as soon as the black mist touched the light yellow powder circle, it was as if it hit an invisible barrier and bounced back, colliding randomly like a fly, unable to leave the circle.

With a "puff"! A red fireball shot out, instantly engulfing the black mist in flames, reducing it to nothing.

Liu Ming, after throwing the Rotten Horn Monkey's body, had a grim expression as he acted.

"This is the third time I've failed. I didn't expect that subduing a low-level ghost creature would be so difficult! It seems that the ghost creatures I experimented with in the sect had been tested many times and had no ferocity, so they could be easily subdued with the spirit binding technique. But the ghost creatures in the Netherworld are extremely ferocious, making them hard to subdue." Liu Ming muttered, his voice full of disappointment.

No wonder! He had already ventured about 500 miles away from the base, but including the Rotten Horn Monkey, he had only seen three low-level ghost creatures, and all attempts to subdue them had failed.

It seemed he could only continue forward. Fortunately, the animal skin map still recorded several places where low-level ghost creatures appeared, so there might still be a chance.

Liu Ming could only think this way. So he tidied up the cave and left, flying away on a cloud.

Three days later, Liu Ming appeared on a desolate highland, flying slowly at a low altitude.

Suddenly, a rumbling sound came from the sky behind him, starting faintly but quickly becoming deafening.

Liu Ming was startled and turned around, his face turning pale.

He saw that the sky about ten miles away had turned a deep red and was rapidly approaching him.

"Damn, I actually encountered a migrating ghost bee swarm! No, this route shouldn't be on the migration path of the nearby swarms."

Liu Ming exclaimed, but quickly dismissed other thoughts and urged the gray cloud under him to fly away to one side.

He remembered that although ghost bee swarms were terrifying, as long as he could stay far away from their migration path, he could save his life.

However, after flying several miles to one side, he found that the red sky was getting closer, and there was no sign of escaping its range. He was secretly distressed.

The only explanation for this was that he had encountered a super-large ghost bee swarm. Otherwise, a regular swarm of ten thousand or so ghost bees would not be like this.

With no other choice, Liu Ming gritted his teeth, quickly cast a lightness spell on himself, and, after retracting the gray cloud, leaped down from the air and ran away in the direction away from the red sky.

Although the levitation spell was convenient, it couldn't make him fly very fast, and it was better to conserve his magic power by walking.

With full effort, Liu Ming ran even faster than when he was flying, quickly becoming a small black dot in the distance.

At this moment, the red sky was just approaching.

The so-called red sky was actually composed of thumb-sized red ghost bees, with emaciated bodies but each with a white, sharp bone stinger, giving a chilling feeling.

...

Three days later, Liu Ming stood amidst an endless black sand dune, looking at the black sand around him, unable to help but smile bitterly.

Two days ago, although he had managed to escape from the ghost bee swarm using various means, he had ended up in this unknown and eerie desert in a panic.

This desert was clearly over a thousand miles away from the base, so it was not marked on the map. However, he sensed a faint chill and oppression from the air, indicating that it was a place with dense Yin energy, where ghost creatures might exist, but also unknown dangers.

After some thought, Liu Ming decided not to return by the original route immediately but to first search for suitable ghost creatures in the desert.

However, before doing so, he needed to recover his nearly depleted magic power.

So, Liu Ming found a sheltered spot at the base of a larger sand dune, took out the black gourd, poured some yellow powder to draw a circle, and sat down cross-legged inside it.

A day later, when he opened his eyes with a flash of light, his magic power had recovered to about 70-80%.

Liu Ming did not hesitate, summoned the gray cloud, and flew up into the air. He took out the Yin Luo Pan, chose a direction at random, and slowly flew forward.

About a hundred miles away, a human-shaped ghost creature, half of its body made of white bones and a few pieces of rotten flesh, was slowly walking in the desert.

Suddenly, the sand under its feet split apart, and two black pincers shot out, clamping its legs and pulling it down into a hidden pit.

After the sand rolled and buried it, the human-shaped ghost creature disappeared without a trace.