Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 1208 - 1208 0699 Black Heart_2

Chapter 1208: Chapter 0699: Black Heart_2 Chapter 1208: Chapter 0699: Black Heart_2 Qi Tian stood still, controlling the Transporting Whirlwind to continue sweeping the unceasing spiritual pressure, while releasing the Heavenly Dao Engine’s detection function for Spirit Qi. He entered the Inner Underground Palace through the tomb passageway, eager to see where exactly this intense spiritual pressure originated from. What kind of entity was releasing it? Could he tackle the root of the problem and eliminate this entity directly?

Qi Tian’s biggest concern at the moment was that the entity releasing this spiritual pressure was a sentient, mobile creature. If that were the case, resolving the problem would become infinitely more troublesome, bringing countless difficulties out of nowhere.

Something within the Inner Underground Palace seemed to have sensed something. When the Heavenly Dao Engine’s detection function penetrated within, the ghost that had appeared at the entrance of the Inner Underground Palace materialized again, still presenting a fearsome visage with its fanged mouth and chilling laughter, a sight that would haunt one’s nightmares.

The ghost fixed its gaze on Qi Tian, releasing wave after wave of spiritual pressure from its being, like successive tidal waves crashing down upon him.

Seeing this ghost, fear stirred within Qi Tian’s heart, but alongside the dread, he saw a glimmer of hope. The reason for his optimism was simple; like its first appearance, the ghost remained at the entrance of the Inner Underground Palace, not moving any further forward. It seemed that some force confined its range of movement, similar to the ghostly face on the Outer Tomb Door.

If the ghost couldn’t move, the threat it posed to Qi Tian was significantly lessened. However, Qi Tian also sensed something else—that this ghost was no ordinary spirit and certainly not something that could be compared with the face on the Outer Tomb Door. It surely had some unique aspects.

Without hesitation, Qi Tian began to fully exploit the Heavenly Dao Engine’s Spirit Qi detection function, conducting an all-encompassing investigation of the ghost, hoping to discover something more about it.

This inspection was crucial; Qi Tian realized that this ghost was not a ghost at all. Its body was incredibly ethereal, with most of it showing little to no fluctuations of Spirit Force. Only in the region of its heart was there an energy that made Qi Tian’s own heart palpitate, and all the spiritual pressure was emanating from the ghost’s heart, not its entire body.

This discovery led Qi Tian to form numerous conjectures, and to verify them was simple: approach the ghost and take control of it. If it had a physical form, an actual ghost, then it would be nearly impossible for Qi Tian to achieve this. But now, given the ghost’s likely illusory nature, his plan gained a degree of feasibility. If handled well, Qi Tian might be able to eradicate the issue of spiritual pressure altogether.

Qi Tian immediately accelerated the pace at which the Transporting Whirlwind absorbed the spiritual pressure, but the pressure relentlessly threatened him despite each portion that was captured, as new spiritual force would immediately refill the gap, giving Qi Tian no chance for exploitation.

Qi Tian had no choice but to start changing his tactics. He altered the way the Transporting Whirlwind intercepted the spiritual pressure. Originally, when the Transporting Whirlwind performed this task, it was rather disorderly, acting haphazardly—going wherever and intercepting at random. Now, Qi Tian didn’t do that anymore. He commanded the Transporting Whirlwinds to line up in front of him, one after another, densely forming a curtain. In this way, when the ghost released spiritual pressure intending to crush Qi Tian, it first had to pass through the curtain formed by the Transporting Whirlwinds. At that point, the Transporting Whirlwinds would capture it. The vast majority of the spiritual pressure couldn’t get around, and only a small fraction could pass through the gaps between the Transporting Whirlwinds and reach Qi Tian. However, this small part of spiritual pressure no longer posed a great threat to the current Qi Tian.

Taking advantage of the situation, Qi Tian stepped forward, then he commanded the Transporting Whirlwinds to move forward using the same method. Qi Tian took another step forward, and just like that, step by step, he continued to advance through the tomb passage, nearly entering the Inner Underground Palace.

The ghost, seeing Qi Tian steadily moving forward, felt the danger Qi Tian posed and began to exert more spiritual pressure, trying to crush Qi Tian. But at this time, Qi Tian had already discovered a way to counter it. No matter how powerful the spiritual pressure it released, most of it would be blocked by the Transporting Whirlwinds, and the rest couldn’t stop Qi Tian.

Finally sensing something was amiss, the ghost turned to flee, but how could Qi Tian give it the chance?

By now, Qi Tian had realized that there was definitely something off with this ghost; perhaps spiritual pressure was its sole method of attack.

In the Cultivation World, the means to exert such spiritual attacks on others were extremely rare, and precisely because they were rare, people generally had even fewer methods to defend against such attacks. Many could only endure; if they couldn’t withstand it, they would die. At best, they could render themselves unconscious. In essence, they were completely defenseless and at the mercy of their enemies. It was imaginable that if Qi Tian could master this kind of attack, the benefits would be immense.

Qi Tian directed all the Transporting Whirlwinds to roll forward, forming a net in the sky and on the ground, blocking all possible escape routes for the ghost, leaving it with no chance to get away.

The ghost, while constantly releasing even stronger spiritual pressure, dashed left and right, hoping to find a gap to escape through. Unfortunately, it had already missed the best chance to flee. The Transporting Whirlwinds had encircled it and were rapidly closing the encirclement. There was no chance for it to escape now. Even if it released spiritual pressure strong enough to crush Qi Tian’s soul to smithereens, most of it would still be captured by the Transporting Whirlwinds, just as before. And since the encirclement had shrunk to a certain extent, even if some spiritual pressure leaked out, it would be collected by other Transporting Whirlwinds, not allowing a single bit to fall on Qi Tian.

At last, the Transporting Whirlwinds had swept away all the external spiritual pressure, and then, they tore apart most of the ghost’s body, treating it as ordinary energy and sending it into the fuel storage of the Heavenly Dao Engine for conversion. In the end, only the heart of the ghost was left. At this point, the ghost’s heart finally revealed its true form; it was indeed a heart, no bigger than a walnut, pitch black and brimming with vitality, pulsating continuously. With each beat, it released an overwhelming spiritual pressure.

Seeing this black heart, Qi Tian’s eyes widened in shock. He didn’t know where this heart came from, but it was definitely an extremely rare natural treasure. It not only had the ability to release spiritual pressure anytime, anywhere, but it also possessed an enormous and pure energy reserve. The total energy was in no way inferior to the ghost face on the Outer Tomb Door, and it was even at the peak condition of the ghost face. In other words, this black heart was absolutely at the Nascent Soul Stage. If it wasn’t for the fact that its means of attack was too singular—only capable of releasing spiritual pressure—Qi Tian would have had no chance to trap it as he did now.