chapter 33

This was from a nightmare spirit?

Wasn’t Yin Xuezhuo a nightmare spirit?

Ji Yan was startled by this sudden realization. She was obviously caught off guard as she stared blankly at the fragrance of Black Ice Scales in the sachet.

Could…could this be something that belonged to Yin Xuezhuo?

Ji Yan looked around and saw a cloud of black mist gradually forming around her foot. The cloud of black mist slowly condensed into Yin Xuezhuo’s form, but Shao Xin could not see him.

Yin Xuezhuo didn’t disappear.

He was staring intensely at the sachet lying in Ji Yan’s hand. His pitch-black bottomless eyes were glowering with fierce killing intent as he scratched the walls next to him with his long black nails. A hole soon formed on the wooden wall that Yin Xuezhuo was scratching at and fine powders fell down like snow along where he was scratching the wall.

It seemed like he was crushing a piece of human bone into powder.

“Why is he afraid of the Black Ice Scales?” Ji Yan asked Shao Xin after she forced herself to look away from Yin Xuezhuo.

It seemed like she had stumbled upon a secret. The expression on Shao Xin’s face changed slightly when he suddenly whispered, “Did you know that he was formerly…a nightmare spirit? The reason he transformed into a nightmare devil was that he was raised and forced to transform into a nightmare devil by the person raising him.”

Ji Yan remembered that the original book had mentioned this fact. It was precisely because he was forcefully nurtured into a nightmare devil that he started hating humans from the depth of his heart and walked onto the dark path.

Shao Xin said, “The previous sect leader of Kunning Sect, Ming Shu, was a very ambitious individual. You know that he was the one who killed Sect Leader Yin’s father, right?”

Ji Yan nodded her head.

She was still feeling very uncomfortable around her neck. Ji Yan realized that she was still holding the Black Ice Scales in her hand, so she deliberately inched closer to Shao Xin to make Yin Xuezhuo angry. She grabbed a handful of melon seeds from the table and started eating them as she listened to Shao Xin’s gossip. She appeared very excited and interested.

“…” Shao Xin appeared somewhat speechless by her sudden excitement and interest. He paused for a moment before he continued speaking, “In the past, Taoist Ming Shu crossed the Sea of No Obligation to look for the spiritual sword. But by pure chance, he found a nightmare spirit not far from where the spiritual sword was located. The nightmare spirit was formed by the surrounding spiritual influences.”

“The nightmare spirit is something transformed by the spiritual influences of heaven and earth. It can absorb all kinds of spiritual influences. It also has the ability to cure diseases, save people, and kill people. In the first three hundred years, the nightmare spirit can only absorb some weak spiritual influences. But once it grows up, its body will become an inexhaustible ocean. It will become extremely powerful, so powerful that it can swallow up spiritual veins.”

“In order to take all the spiritual veins of the world as his own, Taoist Ming Shu captured the young nightmare spirit and imprisoned it. Once the nightmare spirit reaches adulthood, he will be able to use him to swallow up all the spiritual veins in the world and use them as his will. In order for him to have better control over the nightmare spirit, he fed the nightmare spirit flesh and blood of living beings and beasts. The nightmare spirit slowly turns into a monster day by day…These are all common rumors. You have heard of them before, right?”

Ji Yan nodded.

Not only did she hear these rumors, but she also read about this in the original book.

The original book also briefly mentioned Yin Xuezhuo’s past, so she was able to roughly understand how Yin Xuezhuo stepped onto the path of evil and forced into eternal damnation. But it was different after hearing his past from another person. It was hard for her to picture the cruelty and pain he must’ve gone through.

What kind of wicked torture did he inflict…to force a spiritual being into an evil being?

As if he had heard Ji Yan’s question, Shao Xin continued to explain, “A nightmare spirit was born with features, and its features were made from scales called Black Ice Scales. Each piece of the Black Ice Scale was like a vessel for spiritual power. The more spiritual influences that the nightmare spirit absorbs, the more powerful the spiritual power contained in the Black Ice Scales would be. If you cut off its scales, you can forge magical tools, use it as medicine, or even use it as a medium to attract the surrounding spiritual influences towards you.”

“Taoist Ming Shu had cut off all the scales from the nightmare spirit. Ming Shu would cut off its scales each time the nightmare spirit grew a new scale to forge a divine sword for himself.”

Shao Xin sighed as he explained, “After the nightmare spirit turned into a devil, his scales naturally started carrying devilish energy instead of pure spiritual powers. Soon, Taoist Master Ming Shu could hardly keep the nightmare spirit under his control as the spirits’ powers grew. There are only speculations as to what happened afterward.”

The scales were plucked out one by one…?

That must’ve been excruciatingly painful.

Ji Yan stopped eating the melon seeds. She no longer had the excitement and enthusiasm from before after she heard the story. Just picturing the scene where the nightmare spirits’ scales were plucked out one by one sent a shiver down her spine.