Chapter 245: Demon Spirit Cavern
On a part of the map, near the Crimson Tree Forest, was an area called ’Demon Spirit Cavern’. It was one of the many mysterious zones in the Exotic Enclosure Region.
Tang Yin was almost 100% sure that the Demon Spirit Cavern contained Demon Spirits, hence its name. He had learnt of Demon Spirits from Tian Huang’s jade token.
Demon Spirits were evil spirits that consumed each other and other stray souls to further their own strength and to obtain sentience.
They were usually stray souls that were forced to devour and consume each other to survive. Upon consuming enough souls and spiritual entities, these stray souls would become Demon Spirits.
These Demon Spirits would then obtain an innate ability, Soul Engulf. It was similar to Tang Yin’s Soul Refinement Technique, however, the drawback was that Soul Engulf could only be used on other Demon Spirits.
Demon Spirits also did not have sentience. They were usually just living dead souls that relied on their instincts to survive and devour other Demon Spirits.
Demon Spirits were split into different ranks to categorise their strength.
The weakest were Solider Rank Demon Spirits, this was followed by the General Rank, Commander Rank, Marshal Rank, Lord Rank, King Rank, Monarch Rank, Sovereign Rank and finally the Emperor Rank.
These Ranks were further divided into Low-tier, Mid-tier, High-tier and Peak-tier, similar to Demonic Beasts.
Demon Spirits did not have a physical body, they were essentially just powerful stray souls that attacked other souls under the guidance of their instincts.
This also meant that physical attacks and Martial Skills were not effective against Demon Spirits, one could only attack with their divine sense or utilize soul type Martial Skills, soul type Artifacts and other offensive items and abilities which targeted the soul.
The same applied to Demon Spirits. They could also only attack cultivators’ souls and divine senses. However, once a Demon Spirit achieved sentience, this would change.
A Demon Spirit usually developed sentience at the King Rank. Some special Demon Spirits could even develop sentience before the King Rank, but it was rare.
Most Demon Spirits would attack any living being that they encountered. Even if that living being could kill them with a slap, the Demon Spirits would not be able to differentiate their power unless it had sentience.
Therefore, even powerful cultivators would not rashly enter the Demon Spirit Cavern unless they needed something from inside. Upon entering, they would avoid being attacked by groups of Demon Spirits as even they would find such a situation difficult to escape from.
Cultivators could capture Demon Spirits and use them for all types of purposes. Some Demonic Cultivators could use a special method to refine Demon Spirits into powerful Artifacts.
Whilst some cultivators could even use a special technique to utilize Demon Spirits to further their own cultivation. However, there was always some sort of fatal flaw or defect to this usage of Demon Spirits.
Tang Yin had been attracted by the Demon Spirit Cavern because he wanted to Devour Demon Spirits.
Although this may seem like a stupid idea, it would pose many problems. Tang Yin’s confidence lied in the Heaven Devouring Abyss.
The Heaven Devouring Abyss could Devour all types of energies and convert them into pure Abyss Qi, Soul Energy or whatever Tang Yin wished.
Demon Spirits were fundamentally souls. Meaning the Heaven Devouring Abyss could Devour them, Tang Yin could then utilize the Soul Refinement Technique to strengthen his soul. With the Heaven Devouring Abyss present to filter out impurities and the frenzied instincts of the Demon Spirits, it could act as a catalyst for Tang Yin to Devour them to further the strength of his own soul.
Once a Demon Spirit’s instincts and sentience were wiped off, it would basically just become a bundle of soul force.
Overall, Tang Yin wanted to capture Demon Spirits, use the Heaven Devouring Abyss as a catalyst to purify and wipe off their instincts, and then Devour them with the Soul Refinement Technique to increase the strength of his soul.
He also did not plan to venture deep into the Demon Spirit Cavern as that would be suicidal. Tang Yin only planned to visit the outskirts of the Demon Spirit Cave and snatch up all the weak Demon Spirits for himself.
Upon forming his plan, Tang Yin ordered Xiao Fei to steer the Crimson Feathered Luan to the Demon Spirit Cavern.
The Demon Spirit Cavern was not too far from the Crimson Tree Forest. This was one of the reasons why Tang Yin decided to come to this place. It only took the group around 2 hours to reach the Demon Spirit Cavern with the Crimson Feathered Luan’s speed.
Tang Yin stood before the Demon Spirit Cavern. It was a huge abyssal hole leading into the ground. Standing beside this pit, he felt an eerie wind blow past him which sent a chill down his spine. Even his soul felt a bit uncomfortable being near such an environment.
Tang Yin turned to Xiao Fei and the Crimson Feathered Luan before him.
"I will go in alone." Tang Yin spoke briefly.
Xiao Fei wanted to protest, but upon seeing his stern gaze, she tactfully kept to herself.
"Be careful." Xiao Fei lowered her head and silently entered the Azure Luan Pouch. The Crimson Feathered Luan also entered the Azure Luan Pouch with Xiao Fei. The Azure Luan Pouch had the capacity to hold 3 Spirit Beasts.
Tang Yin turned his gaze to the Demon Spirit Cavern. He slowly walked to the edge of the abyssal pit before jumping down.
Tang Yin did not fall for long, however, his eyes narrowed. He heard a few sounds coming from below along with a few flickering flashes of light.
A battle was taking place!
Tang Yin utilized the Phantom Steps to turn his movements silent.
Upon landing on the ground of the Demon Spirit Cavern, Tang Yin activated the Heaven Piercing Gaze. If he spread out his divine sense, it would be noticed by all the nearby Demon Spirits.
The Heaven Piercing Gaze was a much safer option.
Tang Yin looked towards the direction where the sounds and flashes of light were coming from. 2 Demon Spirits were fighting.
Demon Spirits had a humanoid body. However, their faces were ferocious and beast-like despite having the figure of a human. They had sharp fangs and crimson eyes. Their bodies were also surreal and transparent, reminding one that they were souls.
Tang Yin felt a really weak soul force coming from the 2 Demon Spirits fighting before him.
Clearly, they were just Solider Rank Demon Spirits trying to consume each other.
Their style of fighting was very primitive. They had no weapons or fancy attacks. They just pounced at each other while trying to bite and claw the other’s surreal body to pieces. It was quite brutal, but there was no blood or gore. Both of the Demon Spirits were roaring violently and wailing in the midst of battle.
Once a piece of ’flesh’ was separated from a Demon Spirit’s body, it would turn into wisps of white energy and enter the other’s body, strengthening them by a fraction.
The battle between the 2 Soldier Rank Demon Spirits took around 5 minutes. But eventually, one of them came out triumphant.
It was a Mid-tier Soldier Rank Demon Spirit, upon engulfing the other Demon Spirit, all of its injuries were healed, and it had even been strengthened by quite a bit, but not enough to reach the High-tier of the Soldier Rank.
The Demon Spirit did not seem to notice Tang Yin. After finishing its meal, it turned lifeless and slowly drifted towards another direction inside the Demon Spirit Cavern.
Tang Yin did not immediately act, he first observed his surroundings.
The entire underground structure was a massive hollow with the occasional giant column towering over the ceiling high above.
The Demon Spirit Cavern was barren and devoid of any vitality, inevitably giving off the feeling of oppression. The architecture was quite complex, with multiple paths and tunnels winding off in all directions.
Although the Demon Spirit Cavern was situated underground, it wasn’t entirely pitch-black. There were flickering lights here and there, the ones in the distance seemed like fireflies while the ones near Tang Yin felt as bright as oil lamps.
They weren’t actually just random lights though. Each flash of light in the Demon Spirit Cavern represented a Demon Spirit.
The size of the light inside the Demon Spirit reflected its strength. The Mid-tier Soldier Rank Demon Spirit before Tang Yin was not bright. Instead, the light it gave off was weak, insinuating that it was a weak Demon Spirit.
The Demon Spirits were sparsely populated across the Demon Spirit Cavern, quite a distance from each other. As soon as one came into contact with another, a battle to devour the other would ensue.
The losing Demon Spirit would not try to escape either, even if it was about to die, it would die while frenziedly trying to consume the other.
After taking in the surrounding environment, Tang Yin focused on the Mid-tier Soldier Rank Demon Spirit that was slowly drifting away from him. This weak Demon Spirit would be his experimental object, determining whether his hypothesis was correct.
