bookandnovel Chapter 82 - 82: Switching Back to Fear
Chapter 82 - 82: Switching Back to Fear
Upon hearing the prompt of the Taotie Furnace, Han Zheng was momentarily stunned. He then forcefully leapt toward the already mutilated body of the Swallowing Ghost Child, and from a pile of broken flesh, he extracted the double-horned Horror Ghost King, which was nearly dissipating.
[Horror Ghost King Soul: special item, a perfect fusion of ghost and human, life and death, containing the essence of fear. After sacrificing to the Taotie Furnace, you will not gain Hunger Level but can retrieve host's fear. Host can choose to spend 10,000 Hunger Level to fuse with the essence of fear and randomly obtain a special secret skill.]
Han Zheng initially thought that once his sense of pain and fear were sacrificed, they were gone. He did not expect that they could be retrieved through a certain item.
"What can I use to retrieve my sense of pain?"
[Please find a special item yourself.]
Han Zheng figured as much.
The Taotie Furnace never informed him in advance what could be sacrificed; he always had to find it himself before the Taotie Furnace would provide guidance.
Being able to retrieve parts of his own was naturally good news, but Han Zheng was wrestling with whether to use 10,000 Hunger Level to fuse with the essence of fear and obtain that special secret skill.
Han Zheng currently had an astonishing amount of Hunger Level on hand, totaling 40,840.
He had been planning to use these Hunger Levels to break through to the Perfect Innate Transcendence Realm and refine the Water and Fire Immortal Clothes.
Previously, Han Zheng had relied on elixirs when breaking through the Mercury Blood Silver Marrow, which was actually the simplest of the four stages within the Innate Realm.
Even if your talent wasn't good, there wouldn't be a problem, as long as you had enough elixirs to support it.
On the other hand, the Water and Fire Immortal Clothes were the most difficult level within the four stages, requiring a thorough cleansing of the body and a flicker of fate and insight.
Han Zheng estimated that he needed at least 50,000 Hunger Level to guarantee a breakthrough.
Now, considering spending 10,000 Hunger Level, Han Zheng really felt reluctant, especially since he wasn't sure about the power of the random special secret skill.
"What's the strength of this randomly obtained special secret skill?"
If the power of this random secret skill was comparable to Xuan Gang Realm Martial Skill, then spending 10,000 Hunger Level would be worth it.
[Random secret skills are not martial skills and cannot be measured at martial skill levels.]
After some indecision, Han Zheng eventually said, "Sacrifice the Horror Ghost King Soul and fuse with the essence of fear. I'll take this random secret skill."
The Nine Heavens Ape Demon Star Picking Map was also a special item previously.
The Ape Demon Nine Transformations, born after merging with the White Ape Extended Arm Fist, was extraordinarily powerful.
So, Han Zheng felt that anything identified as a special item by the Taotie Furnace must be very rare and valuable, worth taking a gamble on.
Then, the Horror Ghost King Soul entered the Taotie Furnace, and soon after, as the Taotie opened its mouth wide, a dark sphere condensed within its mouth and finally merged into Han Zheng's body.
[Fear Reintegration]
[After merging with the Horror Ghost King Soul, obtained the secret technique 'Horror Purgatory Ghost King Form', which allows ignoring the opponent's rank and True Yuan defense to reveal boundless fear in the depths of their mental state.
Note: Using this secret technique consumes spiritual power. If used when spiritual power is exhausted, it could cause a backlash from 'Horror Purgatory Ghost King Form,' inducing inner demons.]
After reading the description of the Horror Purgatory Ghost King Form, a look of joy appeared on Han Zheng's face.
What a gain!
In the Martial World, cultivation techniques targeting the mental aspect were extremely rare and notoriously tricky to defend against.
The strength of the Horror Purgatory Ghost King Form lay in its ability to ignore an opponent's rank and True Yuan defense, directly attacking their mental state.
If deployed at a critical moment, just a momentary lapse from the opponent would give Han Zheng the chance to strike them down!
Although this secret technique had no direct lethality, its power, for the current Han Zheng, was even comparable to Moving Mountain among the Ape Demon Nine Transformations.
Glancing at the body of the Swallowing Ghost Child, Han Zheng hesitated for a moment, wrapped up half of their head with a piece of clothing, and tossed it into his Qiankun Bag.
He remembered that the Swallowing Ghost Child had a bounty issued by the Demon Cleansing Bureau for either 500 Elemental Crystals or one mid-grade Spirit Pill.
But now, having blasted half of the Swallowing Ghost Child's head away, he wasn't sure if the Demon Cleansing Bureau would still recognize it.
Han Zheng
In this capital of Southern Mountain Road, the gap between individuals was even greater than that between humans and beasts.
Han Zheng shook his head lightly and went straight to the headquarters of the Southern Mountain Demon Cleansing Department located at the center of Kai Ping Prefecture.
The headquarters of the Demon Cleansing Department was situated at the very central location of Kai Ping Prefecture, while the State Mansion's government office was in East City.
The reason for this was because Great Zhou was founded on martial prowess; back when chaos reigned throughout the land, demons roamed freely—what could the great scholars do to preach benevolence and morality to the demons?
The land under Great Zhou had been seized through the blades of strong warriors under the banner of Great Zhou Taizu.
The Demon Cleansing Bureau was established when Great Zhou was formally founded, and initially, there was a Demon Cleansing Bureau in every State Mansion, aiming to completely eradicate the demons within their territories and suppress the local sects and noble families.
Thus, in major State Mansions like Kai Ping Prefecture, the headquarters of the Demon Cleansing Department was always located in the most central and prominent area, a tradition established since the founding of Great Zhou.