C29 The Black Claw Specter

En route to the entrance of the Soul Nurturing Ground, Wang Yan made a call to Luo Zu, finally piecing together the complex relationships at play.

The principal and Second Aunt were twin sisters, both having fallen for Second Uncle. Over a decade ago, in a fierce battle, Second Aunt was fatally ambushed by a villain from the Revolution Fraternity. This tragedy led Second Uncle to extinguish the flame of love in his heart, dedicating his life to vengeance. Years of conflict saw countless foes perish at his hands, his heart growing ever colder with each battle.

The principal sought to heal the emotional wounds of Second Uncle, but her advances were consistently rebuffed, leading to a prolonged impasse.

Luo Zu, serving as Second Uncle's bodyguard and secretary, secretly wished for a union between the two, but Second Uncle's stubborn nature left no room for the principal's efforts.

"Ah, such tormented souls," Wang Yan sighed, overcome with emotion. Love in this world, so entwined with life and death, was both tragic and lamentable.

...

The gateway to the Soul Nurturing Ground lay hidden behind the office building, safeguarded by the principal, a Level 10 beast tamer. Without the combined forces of the Big Dipper and the Sagittarius Six Stars, the entrance was impenetrable.

Crushing the key in his grasp, Wang Yan vanished in a ripple of spatial energy.

The journey through the void was serene. As the vertigo cleared from his mind, Wang Yan found himself in a new realm, shrouded in darkness and silence—devoid of animals, plants, wind, and celestial bodies.

The air was thick with an indescribable essence that, inexplicably, brought Wang Yan immense comfort.

"The Soul Nurturing Ground truly lives up to its name," he marveled, sensing a subtle yet undeniable enhancement in his Soul Strength.

Summoning Green and Gold, the two creatures explored their surroundings with wide-eyed wonder.

"Boss, where are we? It's so soothing here!" Goldie commented, scratching at the ground in search of something unknown, simply for the joy of digging.

Such mundane actions were never expected to lead to any mishaps.

Reality always has a way of surprising us, and this time was no exception. A white shadow emerged from the pit, moving at a leisurely pace.

"Damn!" Goldie exclaimed, flapping its wings in an attempt to slice the apparition in two. But to its horror, the wings passed through the figure as if it were a mere illusion, causing no harm.

"What in the world is this?" Wang Yan muttered, furrowing his brow at the sight of the white shadow emerging from the pit.

The figure was about half a meter tall, completely white, and floated aimlessly in the air, showing no desire to attack them. It resembled the ghosts from Western stories of his past life, seemingly harmless and only good for spooking the faint-hearted.

Green spat out a puff of poisonous mist, but just like with Goldie, it was as if the ghost didn't exist; the mist simply passed through it.

"Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!" Green hissed in confusion, pulling its tail out of the backpack, ready to strike, but Wang Yan stopped it.

"This is a soul entity. You can't touch it, let alone attack it." With that, Wang Yan unleashed a soul spike.

True to his word, as soon as the soul spike, formed from concentrated soul energy, made contact with the ghost, it evaporated into a puff of white smoke, leaving no trace.

Simultaneously, Wang Yan felt the soul energy he had expended swiftly replenishing itself. In under ten seconds, it was fully restored. Moreover, he sensed a slight increase in his soul energy.

"What an incredible place!" Wang Yan couldn't help but marvel. He had figured out what the Soul Nurturing Ground was all about.

Martial arts were ineffective, spirit beasts were of no use; only soul techniques could damage the ghosts. Due to the unique properties of this place, not only could one quickly recover spent soul energy, but it also had the potential to incrementally raise the ceiling of one's Soul Strength.

In essence, this was a sanctuary for soul technique cultivation.

With this realization, Wang Yan's excitement surged. If he were to spend a year here, his Soul Strength could easily bounce back to over 50 points, right? After investing some time to enhance Goldie and Green, they could handle threats like Earth Devil Star with ease. One would perish, two would fall, and even if a group of eight or ten attacked at once, Wang Yan would remain unfazed.

Wang Yan didn't rush Gold to continue digging holes. Instead, he led the two spirit beasts forward and quickly encountered a few roaming ghosts. It seemed the ghost unearthed earlier was just a fluke; these beings, lacking physical form, could traverse most substances with ease. Had he chosen to chop trees instead of digging, he might have stumbled upon ghosts just the same.

Dispatching several ghosts with ease, Wang Yan set his sights on a direction and pressed on, employing Soul Techniques to vanquish the specters. Remarkably, in the span of two hours, his Soul Strength had improved by 0.1 point, even while keeping his soul energy in balance. Fighting ten hours daily could guarantee an increase of 0.5 Soul Strength, amounting to 5 points in ten days, and 50 points in a hundred days.

A year spent in the Soul Nurturing Ground could boost Wang Yan's Soul Strength to 200 points, equivalent to a Level 10 beast tamer. What was this place? It was paradise! But that was just wishful thinking. If reaching Level 10 were that easy, the Flame Empire would have long been unbeatable.

Continuing his journey, Wang Yan soon encountered a different type of ghost. Unlike the previous, more benign specter, this one sported a pair of menacing black claws, clearly poised for attack. "Both of you, fall back!" he commanded the spirit beasts. They couldn't touch the ghosts, but the ghosts could almost certainly touch them. This might involve some interplay of physical and ethereal realms, and Wang Yan would have risked Green and Gold if he had no other choice. But for now, it wasn't necessary.

His Soul Spike, formless and intangible, struck the black-clawed ghost in an instant. As he had anticipated, this creature was a cut above the rest, with a stronger soul body and the ability to counterattack.

The black-clawed specter opened its mouth in a silent howl, sending Wang Yan's mind into a momentary haze. Before he knew it, the ghost was upon him. "This is bad!" The situation turned dire. Gold and Green were too far away to offer any help, and it was uncertain if they could fend off the attack.

Wang Yan tried to dodge, but his body couldn't keep up with the ghost's swift movements.

In that moment, his only option was to stand his ground and fight.

The second soul thorn struck the black claw ghost, causing its ethereal form to violently ripple as if it were about to lose cohesion.

Without wasting a second, Wang Yan unleashed another soul thorn.

Whoosh!

The black claw ghost finally vanished, but not before its talons grazed Wang Yan.

There was no pain, just a sudden onset of weakness and disorientation.

Clearly, despite its seemingly corporeal appearance, the Black Claw Ghost was fundamentally a soul.

Its attack left the soul severely depleted, teetering on the edge of weakness.

Should the soul energy fail to withstand the ghost's assault, it would utterly disintegrate.

"It appears tranquil, yet it's more perilous than any clash with spirit beasts or martial arts combat," Wang Yan thought, pretending to wipe sweat from his brow. Next time he faced a black claw ghost, he'd have to act fast—no room for hesitation.

"Boss, guess what I've found?"

Gold's voice rang out nearby. Wang Yan turned to see a soul fragment clutched in its mouth.

A mere 0.3 increase in Soul Strength, with a cap of 5 points—useless to Wang Yan now, but it could fetch some cash or be traded for credits.

Then again, Wang Yan had another choice: exchange it with the system.

400 points scored!

"Damn it, what kind of rip-off is this? The Fair Trading System promised 500 points for an exchange, and you're only giving me 400 for this fragment?"

Wang Yan couldn't help but swear as the system beeped.

After a solid ten minutes of cursing to no avail, he gave up.

Truth be told, the system wasn't all that bad. Sure, it had its pitfalls, but it was a far cry from those who'd only pay a fraction of the value.

Take diamonds, for example—buy them for 100,000 yuan, and you'd be lucky to sell them back for even 10,000.