Chapter 471

Chapter 471: Evil Parasitism

【Heavenly Merit +557】

The information that flashed before Wang Chen’s eyes left him momentarily stunned.

The Heavenly Merit points he gained from defeating this evil cultivator were astonishingly high. Based on his experience, the opponent’s cultivation level must have reached the fifth layer of the Purple Palace.

A fifth-layer Purple Palace evil cultivator was so easily defeated by him?

Wang Chen could hardly believe it.

However, the data doesn’t lie; the display on the Cultivation Panel must be accurate.

“Aw~”

At that moment, the Heavenly Net for Exorcising Evil, tightly gripped in Wang Chen’s right hand, suddenly contracted, and the evil spirit trapped inside emitted a low, mournful wail before shattering into pieces.

The powerful dark forces within were instantly absorbed by the Exorcising Net without leaving a trace!

Not even a scrap remained!

Wang Chen pulled back his right arm, causing the Exorcising Net to swiftly roll back, solidifying once again into a protective arm guard.

Wang Chen touched this treasure, his mind forming a faint suspicion.

Evil parasitism!

The term “evil parasitism” refers to the symbiotic relationship between evil spirits and evil cultivators, where both thrive together or suffer together.

Typically, evil cultivators choose an evil spirit to parasitize within their body to gain greater power, using their own vital blood and magical energy to nurture it.

When the evil spirit grows, it separates from the host’s body to hunt down cultivators or martial artists, taking their essence and souls to further nourish the evil cultivator.

Evil parasitism has extremely strict requirements; the parasitic evil spirit must have a close kinship with the evil cultivator, preferably being mother and daughter or father and son, and it must also be a cultivator.

Even if the conditions are met, the likelihood of success in such parasitism is very low.

Furthermore, in very rare cases, a powerful evil spirit actively parasitizes an evil cultivator, without destroying or assimilating the latter’s consciousness, forming a relationship akin to a blood pact.

Wang Chen was unsure which category the evil cultivator and evil spirit he had just defeated fell into.

But if it was indeed evil parasitism, that would make sense.

The evil spirit had first suffered a severe blow from him and then became trapped in the Exorcising Net, losing its dark power, greatly weakening its strength.

The evil cultivator of the parasitism suffered the misfortune of a blood disaster, explaining their pitiful performance!

If Wang Chen’s guess was correct, he was quite lucky; if he had initially faced both the evil spirit and the evil cultivator’s attack simultaneously, he might not have been able to withstand it.

Not to mention defeating them so quickly!

Nonetheless, the truth was now obscured, and the final victory belonged to Wang Chen.

With the fall of this boss-level evil spirit, the dark energy concentration in the entire Yinwind Cave significantly decreased, becoming less cold and eerie, and the surrounding ruins appeared considerably more normal.

Wang Chen pondered for a moment before sitting cross-legged on the ground.

He activated the Preheaven Five Element Technique, drawing spiritual energy from the Heavenly Net for Exorcising Evil to replenish his dantian’s power.

In the recent battle, Wang Chen had expended a considerable amount of magical energy.

Especially when he fully unleashed the Perfected Level Sky Thunder, which consumed nearly one-tenth of his total power with a single strike.

If it weren’t for the Heavenly Net for Exorcising Evil, Wang Chen wouldn’t dare to expend his power so recklessly.

In truth, precisely calculating the consumption of magical energy during combat is a crucial skill that every cultivator must master. Few can afford to be as extravagant as he is, unleashing powerful techniques without a second thought.

The pure spiritual energy within the Exorcising Net, transformed by his technique, swiftly replenished his Qi Sea.

Having nearly fully recovered, Wang Chen rose to his feet and leaped into the cavern ahead.

This cavern was the very lair where the Evil Spirits and evil cultivators had hidden, and even now, dark energy continued to seep out endlessly.

Wang Chen enveloped his body with protective magical energy, descending slowly like a feather.

After falling several dozen meters, his feet finally touched solid ground.

The surroundings were pitch black, so dark that he couldn’t see his own hand in front of his face.

From the darkness came faint rustling sounds, like whispers too soft to decipher, or perhaps the gnawing of bones by some creature. The source was impossible to pinpoint, sometimes distant, sometimes near.

A chilling malevolent aura, saturated with dark forces, completely enveloped Wang Chen.

With a flick of his wrist, Wang Chen activated a talisman.

A burst of spiritual light erupted before him, illuminating the area and dispelling the darkness, revealing his surroundings.

At that moment, Wang Chen found himself standing in an underground cavern spanning thirty to forty meters in width.

Beneath his feet lay a thick carpet of white bones!

The bones were densely packed, layer upon layer, filling the cavern and even climbing up the surrounding rock walls.

The surfaces of the rock walls were riddled with holes of various sizes, their destinations unknown.

Some of these holes had tattered skeletons hanging from their entrances.

Wang Chen immediately recognized that these skeletons all belonged to humans!

At his feet lay a remarkably intact skeleton, its skull tilted upward, mouth agape, and the hollow eye sockets seemingly staring at Wang Chen, silently recounting its tragic fate.

Wang Chen couldn’t even begin to estimate how many similar remains were piled here.

Thousands? Tens of thousands?

The Yinwind Cave had never housed so many inhabitants; even if all its former residents were crammed here, it wouldn’t come close to this number.

But where had all these bones come from?

As he pondered this, the spiritual light from the talisman was consumed by the dark energy, plunging the cavern back into darkness.

In the next moment, faint glimmers of dark purple ghostly fire flickered into existence around Wang Chen.

The malevolent aura surged abruptly.

“Begone!”

Wang Chen bellowed, unleashing a torrent of magical energy.

Bolts of lightning materialized out of thin air, weaving a dense lightning web within the cavern. The overwhelming, purifying energy of the lightning swept away the darkness and the dark forces.

It mercilessly tore apart and annihilated the Evil Spirits!

[Virtue +35], [Virtue +29], [Virtue +47]…

The Evil Spirits that appeared this time were of a far higher "quality" than those he had encountered earlier in the Yinwind Cave!

With the aid of the lightning, Wang Chen could clearly see their forms.

The newly emerged Evil Spirits resembled skinned lizards, standing on two legs and brandishing sharp claws. Their bodies appeared as if drenched in acid, pockmarked and grotesquely disfigured.

These Evil Spirits crawled out from hundreds of stone holes, and even as the Sky Thunder obliterated one wave, another surged forth like an endless tide.

It seemed inexhaustible.

Wang Chen formed a spell gesture, continuously releasing divine thunder.

With the Heavenly Net for Exorcising Evil at his disposal, as long as its spiritual energy remained unexhausted, he could fight on indefinitely.

Wang Chen refused to believe that these Evil Spirits were infinite!

One wave of Evil Spirits was annihilated, only for another to emerge, wave after wave, like moths drawn to a flame.

Wang Chen’s Virtue points accumulated at a staggering rate amidst the flickering lightning.

The constant stream of notifications flashing before his eyes left him utterly numb.

Suddenly, a sharp chime rang in his ears, and a prominent notification flashed across his vision.

But it vanished in an instant.

Wang Chen paid it no mind—or perhaps he simply had no time to spare.

Because at this moment, he was consumed by the frenzy of battle!

Come on.

Let the storm rage even fiercer.

His eyes blazed with blue-purple electric light, as if he had transformed into the legendary thunder deity.

He drowned everything around him in an endless tempest of lightning!