As he advanced along the river, the surrounding miasma grew thicker, and not only that, but within the miasma, faint cries of unknown origin could be heard.
This indicated that vengeful spirits would appear ahead.
Speaking of which, Qin Jie had accumulated quite a bit of Sacrifice Points, but the Sacrifice Gang didn't have anything good worth exchanging for anymore, at most some heng jiang candy and hard body candy.
Although he only had one arm, with the tengu mask and the shield's blessing, Qin Jie wasn't worried about getting injured. However, he had been walking in this miasma for half an hour, and the surroundings subtly felt as if they hadn't changed.
Could it be a ghost wall?
Just as he was thinking, a purple light flashed behind Qin Jie, and a vengeful spirit suddenly appeared behind him, reaching straight for Qin Jie's neck.
The result was naturally its defeat by the tengu mask's counter-damage. As the vengeful spirit's form emerged, Qin Jie didn't even look, directly striking backward with devouring abyss.
Accompanied by a scream, the surrounding miasma seemed to thin considerably, and the environment around them underwent some subtle changes.
The riverbank, which had originally smelled damp, now carried a hint of fishiness. The ground beneath his feet, once merely damp, now felt a bit slimy, but the crying also grew clearer.
The vengeful spirit's attack seemed like a beginning; the purple light around him intensified, and more and more vengeful spirits began to appear around Qin Jie.
But no matter how many of these low-level vengeful spirits came, they were just asking to be defeated. Qin Jie was even too lazy to act himself, simply summoning Sword Shadow and having Sword Shadow inherit the tengu mask.
This feeling was like those browser games from childhood, a monotonous and boring grind of monsters.
However, what puzzled Qin Jie was that these vengeful spirits attacked him as if they weren't afraid of death. Generally, once a certain proportion of these vengeful spirits died, a large-scale rout would occur.
After all, although vengeful spirits don't have much in the way of thought, they still possess instincts. They kill by instinct, and they also seek to survive by instinct.
Since they didn't flee, it meant there was an entity nearby capable of controlling vengeful spirits.
If Qin Jie wasn't mistaken, this entity controlling the vengeful spirits should be their master, the one who released Magikarp fry into the Source Water.
Every time Qin Jie killed a vengeful spirit, the surrounding environment would change to some extent, and the miasma would also thin.
The surroundings gradually became clearer, and the wailing also grew distinct, as if someone were crying right by Qin Jie's ear.
Until the last vengeful spirit died, this change completely ceased.
The miasma dispersed, the crying stopped, and at this moment, only the sound of flowing river water remained.
In the distance, a tree appeared, with a person hanging from it.
The corpse swayed in the wind, and the fragile branches creaked under the corpse's movement, as if unable to bear the weight.
As Qin Jie approached, the branch broke, and the corpse fell to the ground.
It was silent all around. Suddenly, a cry came from the direction of the corpse.
Purple flames flickered.
A formless ghost emerged from the corpse, its appearance identical to the corpse.
[Insight]
Name: Grieving Ghost · Zuo Cun Jin
Health: 76%
Mana: 280
Strength: 10
Agility: 24
Stamina: 28
Intelligence: 28
Charm: 3
Luck: 1
Skill 1, Collective Resentment: As a collective of surrounding vengeful spirits, the Grieving Ghost possesses all the abilities of the vengeful spirits it has absorbed.
Note: Currently mastered abilities: Melee Combat Mastery, Long Spear Mastery, Movement Technique Mastery, Phantom Manipulation Mastery.
Skill 2, Soul-Summoning Cry: The Grieving Ghost cries loudly, causing a 1-2.8 second stun to people within 50 meters.
Skill 3, Vengeful Spirit Body: The body is in a vengeful spirit state, immune to physical damage.
Skill 4, Life Drain: The Grieving Ghost selects a target, then enters a continuous casting state, subsequently draining 28 points of the target's health per second and restoring its own health by the same amount, while also applying a layer of Aging BUFF to the target.
Aging: Stamina attribute reduced by one point.
Skill 5, Grieving Wail: The Grieving Ghost emits a wail from the Soul. After two seconds of preparation, the Grieving Ghost cries out loudly, leaving a layer of Grieving Mark on units within 10 meters every second. Each mark will have a chance to cause surrounding creatures to fall into a state of grief, unable to extricate themselves from sorrow. The more marks, the deeper the emotion of grief will be.
Skill 6, Vengeful Soul Weapon: ???
Skill 7: ???
---The Grieving Ghost's strength was much higher than Qin Jie had imagined. As a vengeful spirit, its Strength attribute was very low.
"It's not my fault, I've already cried, I've always been crying, I've already atoned for myself."
Because he had been hanged, a large part of the Grieving Ghost's tongue protruded. His face was livid, and he was muttering incessantly.
Due to its Collective Resentment, it had absorbed all the Souls on this tree, most of which came from monks executed as heretics. Therefore, a peculiar idea now arose in the Grieving Ghost's mind.
If he atoned, would his sins simply disappear?
And the Grieving Ghost's method of atonement was to cry incessantly.
Seeing this, Qin Jie was somewhat speechless. He had witnessed the tragic state of Shuisheng Village; those villagers had all been slaughtered by the Magikarp derivatives and it felt like it wouldn't be long before it became a village of vengeful spirits.
Do you really think hiding and crying can solve the problem, kid?
The Grieving Ghost continued to mutter, then looked at Qin Jie. He scrutinized Qin Jie up and down. Unlike ordinary evil spirits, he didn't immediately attack; instead, he seemed thoughtful.
"You have a very strong smell of blood on you—"
His eyes lit up: "I understand! You are the test given to me by the Buddha. As long as I eliminate you, this sinner burdened with heavy karma, I will surely complete my atonement!"
A violent aura emanated from the Grieving Ghost. A long staff glowing with purple fire condensed in his hand. His figure flickered, and in the next moment, he had already appeared behind Qin Jie.
So, these vengeful spirits really do like to attack from behind.
Qin Jie remained unmoved; transparent ripples spread, and he wasn't harmed in the slightest.
At the same time, the blade of devouring abyss cut through the Grieving Ghost's body. Of course, this caused no damage to the Grieving Ghost.
This thing was even more pure than Wu Shou, directly immune to physical damage.
The Grieving Ghost attacked Qin Jie for a long time, but was always unable to break through his defense. After all, his Strength was only 10 points. The skill named Vengeful Soul Weapon might increase some damage, but for Qin Jie's current shield value, it was merely a drop in the bucket.
"Save your breath, this kind of melee attack has no effect on me," Qin Jie taunted faintly.
Seeing that melee attacks were ineffective, the Grieving Ghost took two steps back, green light flickering in his hand, and directly locked onto Qin Jie.
Life Drain.
Qin Jie's skin immediately developed several wrinkles. His health was currently being drained by the Grieving Ghost. He seemed to realize something was wrong and tried to stop the Grieving Ghost.
But his attacks were ineffective. devouring abyss passed through the Grieving Ghost's body, and the Grieving Ghost wantonly drained Qin Jie's life force.
Until its health reached 80%.
The next moment, Qin Jie's slightly anxious gaze returned to calm. He put on the tengu mask and then directly activated Deathmatch.
Even as a vengeful spirit, it clearly felt that something was wrong. The Grieving Ghost's eyes were somewhat dazed; he didn't know why, but he felt like he was about to be finished.