Chapter 145: Ghost Hunting

Everyone looked towards the bushes, but there was nothing. A confused look appeared on Leafwhisk's pretty face when she didn't notice anything unusual.

"Maybe it was just a gust of wind," said Rebecca when nothing could be found.

Ayaan didn't reply; he just looked into a certain direction with narrowed eyes. Then his lips curled into a weird angle, and he activated his breathing technique.

White threads of light spread from his body in all directions. After two seconds later, those threads disappeared except one.

"!!"

Just when everyone was looking at Ayaan in confusion, a deafening shriek echoed from a certain thicket. Everyone flinched in shock as they heard an agonised cry. They have searched everywhere, but they didn't find anything, now something was hiding in the bushes—it was too creepy.

As the wail sounded, Ayaan moved towards the bushes from where the cry came. Ayaan could feel powerful energy pouring inside his body continuously, and that made him very excited. As he reached the brambles, a shadow lunged at him with a super speed.

"Careful!" warning sounded from his behind. Though Ayaan didn't flinch, nor his expression changed at the incoming foe. He already knew someone was hiding inside the greenery—due to his white threads—and was ready to deal with any potential danger.

Therefore, as the attack arrived, he sidestepped and dodged. A whooshing sound passed him with a gust of wind; Ayaan saw a blurry figure that passed him, and he turned around and looked behind him. Around the distance of five-meter stood a figure—not any different from a human—except his maroon eyes that gave him an evil presence, long nails that looked like a devil claw, and a black fog that discharged from his body without stopping.

"What is that thing!?" the girls shouted in disbelief. They have never seen a man covered in the black fog; this was the first time.

"That is a Ghost, Evil Spirit, Resentment Spirit or whatever you call it." It was Leafwhisk who told them about this weird creature.

"Ghost? But we couldn't see them in the Demonic Continent. How could we do this, now?" said Noor in shock. Everyone remembered their encounter in the Demonic Continent. At that time they couldn't see any ghosts. So why and how they could now?

"That must be because of your low cultivation. Now you have reached the Embryonic Realm you can see these Evil Spirits as well." Explained Leafwhisk. She looked at the Ghost with narrowed eyes.

"If that was true, then why was Ayaan able to see them? And he purified those ghosts as well." Rebecca questioned, others also looked confused.

"Do you think you can compare him with ordinary cultivators? Though you all are also cultivating powerful techniques, you still can't compare with him." Leafwhisk shook her head. Though she was also confused; as she had never seen... him doing a ghost purification. 

"Grrr!" the ghost made a creepy sound and lunged at Ayaan once more.

This time, though, Ayaan didn't dodge like before. He tightened his grip on his sabre's handle and attacked the ghost head-on.

"Boom!"

The Evil Spirit was smashed twenty meters away by the impact while Ayaan took a step back. The Ghost produced a weird noise and once more sprinted towards Ayaan. One had to praise the speed of this brainless ghost; he was very fast, reaching in less than a second in front of Ayaan.

Ayaan had a calm look all this time. It looked as if everything was under his control and all this time a thread continued to suck corrupt energy out of the Ghost weakening it while strengthening Ayaan. 

After fighting for about five minutes, the Ghost weakened a great deal, and Ayaan continued to become stronger. The gape grew, and in the end, he detached a ghostly head from its body.

As the head separated from the body, it turned into a gaseous form and dashed inside Ayaan's body. The same thing happened with the body and Ayaan devoured everything, making into his own energy. Alas, he still needed some energy to reach the Embryonic Realm.

After Ayaan purified all the resentment and other kinds of energies, a white ball of light escaped from his body, dashing towards heaven with an unbelievable speed.

"What's that!?" exclaimed Isobel.

"That is a...soul!" shouted Leafwhisk in shock. As she looked at the soul, she remembered a face, 'did he also turn into a soul like this to never come back?" she asked herself emotionally.

Ayaan walked towards the group, and his face filled with excitement. Now he had a way to alleviate his strength, and he would make good use of this opportunity, that is called Ghost Area.

"Let's go," said Ayaan and again continued their walk. They were still not in the Ghost Area and needed to walk a little more. However, now they would attract some ghosts and Ayaan would devour them with pleasure. It was such a nice way to cultivate.

As they went deeper, the number of Evil Spirit increased, and everyone else also participated in the slaughter except Akash and Leafwhisk. The little guy couldn't see any spirit and Leafwhisk stayed behind to protect him.

At this moment, as Ayaan killed a ghost, light shined over his body and spread around twenty meters in the eerie forest, illuminating the whole area. Any ghost that touched the light vanished into nothing.

His hair fluttered in light, and his eyes changed the colour. One turned black, and one became green. He looked holy and evil at the same time. It was a weird feeling that everyone felt from him. Any ghost that saw the light shrieked and escaped into deeper parts of the forest—the terror-filled these terror bringers hearts.

Slowly the light faded, and everything became normal. Ayaan looked around and smiled at his women, indicating his break-through. "Let's go hunt some more ghosts." He chuckled at everyone and continued their hunt.

Most of the ghosts were as powerful as the last ghost from the graveyard of the Demonic Continent. The more he killed, the stronger he became. After killing for two more days, he reached the middle level from the initial level. His speed was as such due to the help of his women. Any ghost they killed, Ayaan devoured; increasing his speed of cultivation.

"This is so amazing! Ayaan can cultivate by just killing some ghosts." Noor exclaimed. She looked at Ayaan with adoration.

"It isn't as amazing as you think." Interrupted Isobel. "Ayaan won't be able to cultivate like this all the time. As his strength increases, his requirement will also increase. This place must be special to have this many ghosts here. It won't be like this anywhere else."

"Really? Does that mean Ayaan won't be able to cultivate later?" asked Noor in shock.

"Not likely. There must be another way to cultivate, but I have yet to find it." Ayaan walked towards them and answered. "This ghost training is good, but it will become useless after some time."

Then he turned towards Lefwhisk and asked, "Do you have any idea?"

"No, it is completely different from him." Leafwhisk shook her head. As for "him", she didn't explain, and no one asked her. They have their own thoughts and could guess that he was the previous owner of the World of Life and Death.

Afterwards, the group went even deeper into the forest, and just when they walked around a hundred meters, the ground shook. No one understood what was going on; however, as they looked in front of them, the black fog had been spreading in all directions. At the same time, it sped towards them very fastly.

"What's that?" Noor looked at the scene with a wide mouth. Then she said, "the fog looked strikingly similar to the ghost fog."

"This doesn't look similar, but it is a ghost fog!" exclaimed Rebecca and everyone's face turned grave. This number of ghosts was inconceivable. Though Ayaan wanted to kill as many as he could; he could not do this as long as the little guy was with him. Leafwhisk had to save herself, and it could become fatal to leave him alone.

"We are leaving," Ayaan said. "Let's go."

No one objected. The number of ghosts was too big. It was good to slaughter some, exciting to kill tens of them, and thrilling to fight with hundreds of ghosts. However, it wasn't wise to battle with thousands or hundred thousands of them. There was a limit of everyone's strength, and one should know his limit.

As the tremor increased, the group dashed in another direction. Ayaan took Akash from Leafwhisk and placed him on the shoulder. There was a red embarrassed tinge on Akash's babyface. After all, he never helped them and was just a burden.

The black fog continuously moved towards them with a fast speed. "Oh, Trista, what are you doing here?" Noor spotted a figure standing in front of her—Trista—she was looking at them with a weird smile.

"Long time no see," Trista said, and more than twenty people walked out of the bushes.

"Good to see you; I hope you will survive." Ayaan chuckled and changed his direction. Trista looked at Ayaan in confusion, and a furious look appeared. "Do you think you can escape…?" Suddenly, she stopped because in the distance black clouds dashed in their direction.

"Run!" she shouted and sprinted in the same direction as Ayaan and as fast as she could. There were three more people who were as fast as Trista. Other than them, everyone turned pale at the sight of black fog, and their legs trembled with fear as they escaped.