Chapter 98: Chapter 96: In the Depths of Darkness_1

"Thump!"

"Thump! Thump!"

"Thump! ...Plop!!"

The pit during the day is desolate, accompanied only by scattered skeletal remains, even a few odorous rats are not found.

However, it’s a different situation in the night.

An old man wearing ragged clothes stretches his limbs straight and jumps towards the direction of the pit— one hop at a time.

It seemed as though he never bathed, his hair was a mess, his eyes rolled back with maggots wriggling around inside, his skin was bloodless, and his body emitted a revolting stench.

—— ’Jumping Corpse’.

This is a common type of Nether Fond Spirit, one that also belongs to the lowest rank among Corpse Race.

Aside from carrying the mild toxin of the corpse, injuring prey will make the target’s skin ulcerate. However, it does not possess powerful attacking skills.

"Thump!"

"Thump!"

On average, a Jumping Corpse moves every three seconds.

And with each move, it can only move one meter at a time.

Ye Hanjun watches openly as this Jumping Corpse, its eyes glazed over like a dead fish’s and hops very strenuously toward the direction of the pit, before plunging into it without a sound.

"Splat!"

The sound of flesh being punctured rings out loud, the Jumping Corpse’s stomach is impaled by sharp bamboo.

However, it does not make any sound to signify pain, its claws still flailing around, as it attempts to pounce onto the wild pig.

"Whoosh——"

Ye Hanjun, like a shadow, silently drifts near the pit.

He cranes his neck to see below, nearly half the night had passed and the sharp bamboo skewers in the pit have been almost fully occupied.

Every piece of prey skewered is a Jumping Corpse.

Twenty-seven in total, of which two have perished because they were impaled through the head, hitting their fatal points.

The other twenty-five, even though their hearts have been impaled, are still hopping around wildly.

They all differ in appearances -- Be it a prince dressed in brocade, an old man in a fat official gown, an old woman dressed as a beggar, a woman wearing a red wedding dress, or a kid in open-crotch pants...Their clothes are all very dirty and ragged, but they did not rot completely, instead clung tightly over their shrunken corpse.

Ye Hanjun’s eyes remain calm as always.

Low-rank Corpse Race do not have the ability to reproduce.

These Jumping Corpses have all been ordinary people once, who after dying, had turned into these due to their obsessions, resentment along with the excessively Yin environment.

They triggered a "corpse mutation", their bodies half-rotted, half-strengthened, thereafter becoming Nether Fond Spirits.

In fact, the vast majority of the Nether Fond Spirits, irrespective of being ghostly souls, corpses, skeletons...

If you trace it back tens of years, hundreds of years, or even a thousand years, they could be unexpectedly related to humans or Fond Spirits.

However, trying to retain the memory, even a tiny fragment of it, is an extremely difficult task.

At least among the lower ranks, corpse transformation signifies the nurturing and birth of new life, completely different from what existed before.

"Ah ah~~ Ah ah~~"

The Jumping Corpses are uttering unintelligible mutterings.

They are craving for the flesh and blood of the wild pigs and rabbits. These are indispensable food for them. They sleep during the day and wake up at night aiming to use these things to fill their empty, rotting bodies, and then grow into higher-ranking positions.

But they are stuck by bamboo skewers and cannot break free.

Without wisdom, they are even more stupid than wild beasts, and can only scramble around blindly.

"If there are only Jumping Corpses, it seems like I’ve wasted half an afternoon making the trap..."

Ye Hanjun wondered to himself, bypassing the pit, he continued his exploration into the deeper darkness.

He left Huazhu back in the cave. A short period of separation from the Contracted Spirit Fond Spirits will not affect the stability of the contract.

However, such an operation seems dangerous to others, as it’s rare for a first-tier Patron to explore the wilderness alone without bringing along the Contracted Spirits.

But...

Ye Hanjun is a unique case.

The ’Darkest Demon Eye’, this passive ability, gives him an ultimate affinity to dark attributes and resistance to darkness; the night is his stage as well as his territory.

In such a scenario, he can freely manipulate darkness, the vision which can see as if through fire, the ethereal movements, and the existence which becomes negligible due to his merging with the darkness... these are the effects that have given Ye Hanjun his confidence all along.

"Haha! Haha!!"

After the Jumping Corpse, Ye Hanjun sees another type of corpse.

It looks like a madman, crawling on the ground using two crippled legs, and decayed hands which could fall off at any time.

From its mouth, human laughter resounds from time to time. The robust voice echoes under the black night sky, sending shivers down one’s spine.

—— ’Laughing Corpse’.

This particular type of Nether Fond Spirit, has a slightly faster pace than a Jumping Corpse, but its attack and defense abilities are as weak as the Jumping Corpse.

Of course, it has an exceptional characteristic that cannot be overlooked.

The prey bitten by the Laughing Corpse, once the corpse’s poison invades the body, the skin won’t ulcerate, but the mouth will uncontrollably start laughing. If the victim fails to withstand the erosion of the toxin, they may eventually laugh to exhaustion and death.

Once an Alchemist gathered the toxin from the corpse to create an odd poison named ’Half-step Manic Laughter Poison’.

"My husband...my husband..."

"Where are you... I miss you so badly~~~"

A fleeting red figure flutters in the dense darkness.

Ye Hanjun paused slightly, a hint of surprise on his face.

He could clearly see the whole figure of the red ghostly soul. It was a female ghost in human shape, her enticing shoulders naked, her long jade legs beneath and above were her tender lips reluctant to speak and her delicate face, inviting pity.

A single glance, and any young man lacking in self-control could end up falling for her charms.

Because this was a ’seductive ghost’, who had been practicing for at least ten years, and had reached the realm of Perfection in Clay Body. She was only a stone’s throw away from ascending to the Rainbow Light.

Ye Hanjun chose not to provoke her, but to walk around her.

"Cackle~~~~"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

"Quack! Quack! Ugh!"

In the dark area, a little bit of sunlight could still be seen during the day, but as night fell, it was nothing but darkness.

Transformed into a ghostly soul, Ye Hanjun spared no corner, trying his best to explore every nook and cranny.

Occasionally, he would find one or two blue coins embedded on a relatively conspicuous place, like the trunk of a tree.

From time to time, he would find one or two well-colored spiritual medicines in places where the yin energy was dense. He would carefully pick them and put them in his bag.

However, these could only be considered accidental gains, they were not what Ye Hanjun truly craved.

He was looking for ’Demons’.

The Demon Clan, who belonged to the Contracted Spirit Fond Spirits of the prison, no matter their attributes, no matter their variety, as long as they had the bloodline of demons, possessed the power of demons, could become the contracted objects of ’Demon Servants’.

Although, to be honest, Ye Hanjun hadn’t held too much expectation from the very beginning.

But he still came to investigate.

In such a dark and shady place, apart from Fond Spirits of the Nether bunching together, it was also likely to be the natural habitat for Fond Spirits of the prison.

Unfortunately... there was none!

Not even the most common and most ordinary low-level demons, such as ’Little Demon’, ’Corpse Demon’, ’Dog Demon’, ’Eye Demon’, ’Claw Demon’... he couldn’t find any of them.

Ye Hanjun gradually grew worried, wondering if finding relatively powerful demon races, such as the ’Troll’, ’Ice Demon’, ’Flame Demon’, ’Bone Demon’, ’Blood Demon’, in this place known as Giant Frog Marsh, would prove too difficult?

"If I can’t find the natural one, I would have to consider mutating the existing ones, which is quite a trouble..."

"Never mind, I’d better go back, it’s almost dawn..."

With a frown, Ye Hanjun retraced his steps.

Approaching the cave, all the Dark Demon Eyes were closed. Ye Hanjun knocked on the wall of the cave, and with the howl of Iron Wolf, the four sleeping students were suddenly awakened.

"It’s me." ye Hanjun said calmly:

"It’s about 4 a.m., and before the last hint of darkness is chased away by the dawn, I’ll accompany you to explore the world of the night."

"Phew—" The alert was lifted.

Huang Dengshan, Zhao Li, Su Mei, Zhang Wu, quickly got ready, and then gathered in front of Ye Hanjun.

"Next, you’ll walk ahead of me."

"Try your best to forget my presence and use your own ways to confirm its safety. I will only intervene when necessary."

"Yes..."

The four students were a little apprehensive, more or less.

But since it was a test from Master Han, they were determined to pass it no matter what.

The division of labor among the four was very clear. Zhao Li was the Scout. With the active ability of ’Visual Synchronization’, she could acquire the view of the Broom Ghost, which enabled the team to have the basic insight ability, thus preventing them from losing their way in the dark.

Su Mei, Huang Dengshan and Zhang Wu, were all riding their Contracted Spirit Fond Spirits, ready to cope with any change as the mobile units.

However, they were eager to start, ready for action.

Just as the exploration began, the group encountered a series of problems.

Because the environment was too dark, they had to light torches.

The bright and hot flames could indeed drive away small insects and beasts, but they could also attract more powerful predators.

They hid in the dark, about one hundred to five hundred meters away, glaring at the group with their crimson or green eyes, waiting for their chance.

A ’Rotten Snake’ which had reached the completion of Clay Body couldn’t restrain itself and submerged into the soil, preparing to ambush from underground.

Since the students didn’t sense its existence at all, Ye Hanjun intervened. Just as the rotten snake revealed itself, he drove his sand fist into it, and in the moment when it was confused, his sharp Blood-Sucking Dagger cut a big hole in its side.

"Hiss!"

The rotten snake was surprised and angry. It spewed out a cloud of poison, but Ye Hanjun seemed to have known it beforehand and had already retreated ten meters.

"Phew—"

Raising Sand was activated. This skill, endowed with a slight force from the Wind Element, was capable of slightly changing the direction of the poison cloud’s spread.

A centuries-old tree succumbed to the corrosion of the poison cloud. Its vigorous trunk quickly darkened, and the support for its huge crown was lost, causing it to collapse with a bang.

"Bang!"

The Sand Shield was put up, thinned and widened, using a larger surface area to block the poison cloud’s spread.

In the process of the shield’s decay, Huazhu moved. Her body rushed forward, catching the Rotten Snake off guard in its rigidity after releasing the skill. Her clamp grabbed its seven inches, and the fierce Scorpion Tail stabbed into its head in a flash.

With that, the defensively weak Rotten Snake was defeated.

With thick gloves on, Ye Hanjun removed its poison fangs and poison glands, and took its gallbladder as a bonus.

The four students, with lingering fear, resumed their journey.

By dawn, they had finally reached the position of the pit. Staring at the thirty-one impaled jumping corpses, a look of astonishment appeared on their faces.

Then...

...

The sun rose.