Chapter 440: The Bones of the Demon God

After about fifteen minutes, the Nether Ghost Emperor gradually calmed down, and his emotional state returned to normal.
“Master, I have fulfilled my mission successfully. I have merged with eight Heavenly Ghosts and now possess a true form of a Heavenly Ghost.”

Reborn in spirit, the Nether Ghost Emperor stood on the throne in the Ghost Realm’s grand hall and bowed respectfully, his attitude as humble and deferential as ever.
“Good.”
Su Che replied cheerfully, “Now, can you accommodate the spiritual energy of all the ghosts in the Ghost Realm?”
“Yes, Master,” the Nether Ghost Emperor replied. “I plan to give it a try. Please grant me your permission.”
“It’s fine. Do as you see fit,” Su Che thought with a smile.

Immediately, the Nether Ghost Emperor activated the Heavenly Ghost Soul Gathering Technique. He borrowed the spiritual energy of over a hundred thousand souls already in the Ghost Realm and gathered it within himself, causing his strength to soar to the late Yuan Ying stage.
“Master, there are still too few souls in the Ghost Realm, and their overall strength is quite low…” The Nether Ghost Emperor continued, “At this rate, I would need millions, even tens of millions of souls to reach a strength beyond the Ling Xu stage.”
“That’s not bad. Rising to the late Yuan Ying stage so quickly is already excellent.”
Very satisfied, Su Che replied with a smile, “It doesn’t matter if there aren’t enough souls. You can collect them slowly. This task can be left to the Ten Thousand Ghost Sect.”
“Yes, Master.”

Controlling his excitement, the Nether Ghost Emperor continued, “Furthermore, now that I possess a true form of a Heavenly Ghost and am perfectly combined with the Heavenly Ghost Soul Gathering Pearl, the large amount of borrowed spiritual energy can be retained in my body permanently, without any further loss.”
“That’s even better.”
Another good news, Su Che nodded in satisfaction.

Previously, the Nether Ghost Emperor could only temporarily borrow the power of countless souls. If he failed to return that energy to the souls in the Ghost Realm in time, it would be wasted over time. Now, with his true form as a Heavenly Ghost, he could lock away that power firmly within himself, eliminating the risk of loss.
“Master, I can go out now to assist you in exploring this underground labyrinth further.” With greatly enhanced strength, the Nether Ghost Emperor was eager to engage in battle against the enemies at once.
“Not yet,” Su Che said. “The Burial Ground of the Sky-Devouring Rat is extremely special; it might not be suitable for you to fully unleash your strength. Stay and stabilize your condition in the Ghost Realm. If needed, I will surely call you.”

“Yes, master.” The Nether Ghost Emperor bowed in response, still obeying orders as before.
The matter concerning the heavenly ghosts was temporarily settled for now; increasing the number of souls in the ghost realm would be dealt with later. For now, Su Che needed to continue exploring this underground labyrinth.
“Those few heavenly ghost souls just now were probably just an appetizer, right?”
Su Che remained vigilant, thinking to himself, “Those eight heavenly ghosts were merely the wandering spirits of eight explorers who died here three hundred years ago. This means the real danger lies ahead.”
“Yes,” Old Black agreed. “The master is right. To explore this place, we really can only rely on our own strength. Without the protection of the Power of Annihilation, others will only become a burden.”
Su Che nodded inwardly, spreading his consciousness widely to carefully examine the bones of the demons scattered around.
Assuming that the first fragment obtained in the Floating City that day was considered ‘one portion,’ then the nearest pile of blood-red bone fragments roughly amounted to over three thousand portions.
Su Che tentatively transformed his Power of Annihilation into an invisible giant hand and reached out to grab those fragments.
Swish!
The result was surprisingly smooth—the pile of fragments was instantly absorbed by Su Che and vanished, sent into the Immortal Prison.
After that, the underground cave remained completely silent, devoid of any movement.
“So easy?” Su Che pondered. “Old Monkey mentioned strangely that those explorers back then could only pick up a few fragments scattered on the periphery; the rest were visible but unreachable. Yet I managed to get them so easily. Could it be due to the Power of Annihilation?”
With that thought, Su Che summoned a slave in the early stage of the Golden Core from the Immortal Prison—a soul that had been transformed into a servant.
“Go and bring me that pile of red fragments,” Su Che ordered him through telepathy.
“Yes, master.”
Without hesitation, the slave immediately followed Su Che’s instructions and headed toward a spot about twenty yards to the left front.
This man was also a criminal of the worst kind. Even after his soul was transformed into a loyal servant, Su Che felt no pity for him. He was the perfect candidate for various dangerous experiments.
The slave carefully approached the pile of fragments, not rushing into action but instead silently probing them for a while.
Although he would obey Su Che’s commands unconditionally, he remained clear-minded and intelligent, with three hundred years of life experience—making it impossible for him to act recklessly.

Su Che also did not rush him; he simply stood behind, staying vigilant and observing silently. After a while, the servant, sensing nothing unusual, used his qi-based grasping technique to attempt to take a small fragment from a distance of about ten meters away. Yet as soon as his true qi touched the fragment, a red light shot out from deep within the pitch-black labyrinth. The speed of the light was astonishing—someone at the Golden Core level had no time to dodge, and he was immediately struck in the chest by that red light. His protective talismans and defensive qi offered no defense at all. In an instant, the servant’s body disintegrated into a pool of red dust scattered on the ground, dying silently on the spot. But through his spiritual sense, Su Che could see that his servant’s soul had not died; it floated in mid-air. After pausing for a few moments, it flew deeper into the labyrinth, seemingly having completely forgotten its master, Su Che. “What kind of power is this?” Su Che was deeply alarmed. It wasn’t so much the destructive power of that red light that shocked him, but rather the fact that his servant, who had undergone soul transformation at the fourth level of the Immortal Prison, normally would not betray him even if his physical body died. Yet now, his soul completely ignored him. This meant that some hidden force could not only easily kill his servants but also erase the effects of the soul transformation at the fourth level of the Immortal Prison… Su Che did not try to intercept his servant’s soul, as he didn’t want to confront such a terrifying force yet. As the soul gradually drifted farther away and disappeared, Su Che finally went to the pile of fragments the servant had tried to take. Using the Power of Destruction, he attempted to take them again. Swish! One fragment was obtained, with no reaction, and no red light attacking. Swish! Another one! Swish! All of the fragments—about five thousand in total—were gathered by Su Che into the Immortal Prison, still without any reaction or danger. “It seems that the red light just now was likely the protective force of this place, preventing anyone from stealing the bones of the Demon God of the Sky-Devouring Rat.” Su Che mused silently, “And I, with the Power of Destruction and as a descendant of the Sky-Devouring Rat, am able to collect these bone fragments…” Thus, Su Che’s courage grew. Pile after pile, relying on the Power of Destruction, he gathered a large number of Demon God bones. Soon, the pile of bone fragments in the Immortal Prison reached around a hundred thousand.

“Just these hundred thousand pieces of Demon God bones are already a huge gain. Even if we stop here, the trip was worthwhile.”
Su Che was secretly delighted and walked toward another pile of Demon God bones.
But this time, as soon as he got close and before he could unleash the Power of Destruction, the pile of bone fragments began to tremble violently, as if something was about to emerge from within.
Su Che quickly retreated dozens of feet, prepared himself tightly, remained highly alert, and stared intently at the pile of bone fragments…