At dusk, a gust of wind blew past the half-collapsed school gate, and the only remaining half of the sign creaked as it swayed.
The blurred sign still vaguely showed the characters 'Second Middle,' but the rest of the writing was too blurry to make out.
Inside the school gate, it was even more desolate and ruined.
The towering teaching building had turned into ruins and broken walls, while other structures had collapsed as well, leaving only a few pages of books fluttering in the wind, still whispering of the students' once vibrant study sessions.
Unfortunately, everything vanished with the rise of the Blood Moon, as the Doomsday arrived, leaving only a wasteland.
On the half of the playground that remained intact, a figure was busy.
"Red Corpse Mud, three taels of Blood Sacrificial Stone, five meters of Soul-Dyeing Cloth, two qian of Blood Sand Gold..."
Zheng Yi was meticulously counting the materials he brought with him, laying them out one by one and carefully starting to set up the array.
The Soul-Attracting Array is a type of array used to lure souls, often used by Demon Cultivators to capture souls after slaughter.
This is just a very basic array. In the Cultivation Realm, both the Righteous and Demonic Dao possess such magic, so arranging it is not difficult.
First, Zheng Yi had purchased the array plate for the Soul-Attracting Array, so he only needed to place the materials at their corresponding positions according to the instructions.
Moreover, having used the Soul-Attracting Array several times before, he was quite adept at arranging it, and in no time, the array was completed.
"They say this 'Second Middle School' in Luo City is a ghost cave, with countless deaths and a terrifying Red-clothed Female Ghost. Just nice, the Soul-Catching Banner still lacks a Main Soul. Hope this visit can surprise me!"
Zheng Yi had been in this Doomsday World for several days, capturing a few survivors for information before letting them go.
He even had a run-in with the legendary Superpower User, but they seemed to feel he was not easy to deal with, so both sides maintained restraint and parted ways.
As for the rumored Ghost Master, he hadn't encountered one yet, but it was only a matter of time.
He was currently in a city called Luo City, which had turned into a ghost town shortly after the Blood Moon appeared.
Without the constraints of law and morality, some individuals were even more despair-inducing than Evil Ghosts.
In the past few days, Zheng Yi had encountered several such incidents. He generally ignored most of them, only intervening when he couldn't stand it, but felt helpless about the rest.
This world's waters run too deep, and he was powerless. After all, even Zheng Yi was just a Junior Cultivator, unable to make a significant impact.
Moreover, the Blood Moon in the sky could suppress his Spiritual Power, making him feel this world was incredibly bizarre, with deep waters that required him to focus on enhancing his strength.
After all, the endless zombies, the endless flow of resentful souls and fierce ghosts were a paradise for Demon Cultivators.
In the Cultivation Realm, the Demon Dao Path Techniques are known for their strange and rapid mastery, but they have unstable foundations and a tendency toward inner demons, their notable weaknesses.
Blood Demon Dao, White Bone Dao, Netherworld Dao, Celestial Corpse Dao...
Throughout history, these Demon Dao influences have utilized human materials to the extreme, with peeling skin, extracting bones, seizing souls, refining souls, and soul capturing being child's play.
Human Skin Scripture, White Bone Tower, Flesh and Blood Demon Pool...
An endless array of demon techniques and secret arts emerge.
However, Demon Dao indulges in killing, suffering severe backlash from Sinful Power. At worst, it is life-threatening; at best, it leads to the dissolution of the soul, unable to even reincarnate.
Between cultivators, mutual slaughter incurs less Karmic Force.
However, massacring mortals results in countless resentments, infinite blood debts, and Karmic flames scalding the soul, making even the fiercest Demon Dao Lord tremble.
Crossing the Tribulation with thunderbolts descending from the sky, entangled by Blood Fiend, the Divine Soul becomes clouded, driven to madness by greed — these are paths to death. There are even cases of exploding when refining treasures, or choking to death on spirit objects.
Survive, and all is well.
Fail, and death results, the Dao vanishes, and it's all over.
Therefore, while Demon Dao cultivators advance rapidly with bizarre cultivation methods, they face various restrictions and consequences. Otherwise, the Righteous Cultivation Realm would have been wiped out long ago.
But Zheng Yi felt that entering this Doomsday World hit a bug.
If killing mortals to cultivate demon techniques is prohibited, can't I just kill zombies?
This world is so heavily polluted, and these zombie fierce ghosts are like viruses bred on a healthy body.
Moreover, with that mysterious Blood Moon in the sky, is this world's Heavenly Dao even present? It's a question.
What delights Zheng Yi even more is that although this world is strange, the zombies and fierce ghosts' resentful spirits are genuinely enticing.
These zombies are rich in Blood Qi, and although the fierce ghosts are mutated, their Soul Power is surprisingly pure, even higher in quality than ordinary mortal souls.
With a continuous supply of zombies to kill, with various high-quality resentful souls and fierce ghosts to conquer and refine, there's no worry about Righteous cultivators appearing out of nowhere to hunt you down, nor about being weighed down by sin or overwhelmed by Karmic forces.
In fact, slaughtering evil ghosts and zombies even helps this world.
Such a naturally conducive cultivation environment is simply a paradise for Demon Dao cultivators.
As it now stands, Zheng Yi seems to have made the correct bet this time.
...
Zheng Yi looked up at the horizon, as the last ray of sunlight completely faded below the horizon.
In an instant, a splash of crimson moonlight spilled down, casting an eerie veil over the land, and the previously gentle breeze turned icy and transmuted into a rushing ghostly wind.
The howling ghostly wind swept through the land, accompanied by a 'whooshing' sound, akin to the murmurs of ghostly spirits.
One moment it echoed from afar, the next it seemed to whisper right by his ear.
Amid such an environment, the cold seeped into the bone, sowing terror and awe in the heart.
In the midst of the howling storm, a wave of ghost qi stealthily rose, as though a door to a horrific hell had been opened in the darkness, with visible and invisible shadows seemingly creeping from the depths of hell, spreading layer upon layer across the abandoned school grounds.
The surging ghost qi shot up like a fountain, enveloping the entire playground, and even the entire school.
The ghost qi, oppressive as a black cloud overhead, with terrifying resentful spirits and fierce ghosts prancing about, presented a scene far more realistic than any horror film, vividly unfolding at the school.
Without a doubt, under the eerie illumination of the Blood Moon, with the chilling ghostly wind and the legion of ghosts, this place truly turned into a ghost cave.
"Good! Good! Good!"
Watching the tumultuous winds and surging ghost qi before him.
Seeing the countless resentful spirits and fierce ghosts, each monstrous shadow emerging throughout the school and playground.
Zheng Yi's face did not show fear but rather broke into a smile, a surge of excitement welled up within him, prompting him to exclaim 'good' three times and laugh, "After so long, I've finally found a treasure land."
"Soul-Attracting Array! Activate!"
Forming a seal with his fingers, Zheng Yi didn't hesitate to directly activate the Black Evil Technique he had only converted for a dozen days.
Strands of black qi emerged from his fingertips, extending into endless threads, reaching towards the array plate's location in mid-air with a gesture.
Instantly, a chain reaction occurred; a swath of gray light emerged, with peculiar array foundations manifesting in the broken corner, ghostly, forming an array.
The array wasn't large, standing two meters tall and with a diameter of three meters as a semi-circular structure, being the most basic version of the Soul-Attracting Array.
Such a Soul-Attracting Array could only affect a range of a few hundred meters around it.
Zheng Yi chose this size of Soul-Attracting Array simply because it was cheap.
With the spirit stones he had, after accounting for his cultivation resources, travel expenses, bribing Outer Sect Stewards, joining the Soul Catching Sect, purchasing the Soul-Catching Banner and the Soul-Attracting Array, few spirit stones remained, so he had to use them sparingly.
After all, even a hero finds it hard to impress without cash; in the Cultivation Realm, spirit stones are hard currency.