Nine Nether Heavenly Emperor
Chapter 158: Fight Fire with Fire!

Chapter 158: Chapter 158: Fight Fire with Fire!

Ghost King, upon hearing this term, many ghosts would recall that ferocious Demon who captured them: tearing their bodies apart, chewing their flesh and blood in his mouth, keeping their souls, as one would pigs and dogs, until fattened, then devouring them whole.

Shi Feng, halfway through his journey, turned to Zi Ya and said, "You can wait here for me."

"Okay." Zi Ya nodded and said, "Be careful."

"Don’t worry. It’s just a dozen or so little ghosts," Shi Feng replied, before continuing alone towards the Ghost Soldiers.

He had already discerned that among those ten Ghost Soldiers, the one in the middle possessed Third-stage Ghost Force, while the rest were only at the Second-stage.

The Ghost Soldier standing in the middle watched the approaching Shi Feng, his always icy and pale face suddenly showing surprise as he said, "Such a pure soul, such abundant life-force, I’m sure Lord Ghost King would like it very much."

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, the Ghost Soldier looked at Shi Feng with a cold demeanor and said, "Can you actually see us?"

Hearing that comment, Shi Feng scoffed with disdain. If I couldn’t even see small ghosts like you, then all my Cultivation would have been for naught.

"The leader is speaking to you!" The Ghost Soldier leader, seeing Shi Feng not answering him, casually raised his whip and lashed out viciously at Shi Feng.

To him, in this world, other than Lord Ghost King and the Ghost Soldiers and Ghost Generals appointed by the Ghost King, everything else was indistinguishable from livestock.

Seeing that lash, many ghosts were already trembling with fear, knowing all too well the torment and anguish it brought. The soul-piercing pain was even more unbearable than death itself.

"A mere low-level Soul Beating Whip dares to be brandished before me," Shi Feng said with a face full of disdain, grabbing the descending whip, then with a single pull and a burst of strength, snatched the Soul Beating Whip away. Immediately after, he lashed back fiercely at the Ghost Soldier leader.

"Ah! No!" The Ghost Soldier leader felt an irresistible force pulling the whip from his hand, and then the man wielded the Soul Beating Whip against him. Although he had never experienced the taste of the Ghost King’s gifted Soul Beating Whip, he could not even recall how many times he had swung it, lashing out at the ghosts who, in his eyes, were no different from livestock. He had once found the shrill screams and the anguished expressions he caused delightfully haunting.

"Snap!" Shi Feng’s lash struck the Ghost Soldier leader hard, "Ah!" The leader roared to the sky, his scream like that of a pig being slaughtered, chilling the other ghosts to the bone.

Then, one by one, they remembered that the scream came from the Ghost Soldier leader, and their semi-transparent bodies shook with excitement.

"He’s got his comeuppance, he’s got his comeuppance at last! He should have tasted this pain long ago."

"Better to lash him to death, to lash him until his soul separates!"

"Lash him to death! Lash his soul out of him!"

Lash him to death! This was the heartfelt wish of each ghost kneeling on the ground, for that lash felt like it struck right into their own hearts.

"How dare you!" Seeing their leader being whipped, the remaining ten Ghost Soldiers shouted in unison, rapidly swinging their analogous Soul Beating Whips, all striking towards Shi Feng.

Facing the dozen or so black whips swinging down, Shi Feng’s face remained calm. He swept his own Soul Beating Whip, lashing out at a faster pace. Whiplashes intertwined; before the ghosts could even see what happened, the Ghost Soldiers lay on the ground, one after another, wailing in anguish.

"Snap! Snap! Snap!"

"Smack! Smack! Smack!"

One black whip shadow after another continued to flash upon the bodies of the Ghost Soldiers, and a succession of wretched screams echoed throughout the heavens and earth, resembling the noise of a slaughterhouse.

Shi Feng stopped the whipping and looked coldly at the eleven Ghost Soldiers lying on the ground, wailing. He said, "When you were inflicting these venomous lashings upon those ordinary ghosts, did you ever consider that one day you would also suffer such venomous lashings?"

"You! You beast, Lord Ghost King will not let you go. It won’t be long before Lord Ghost King tears your body apart, devours your flesh and blood, and pens up your soul. When that time comes, I will certainly not spare you," the Ghost Soldier commander roared furiously at Shi Feng.

The response Shi Feng gave him was a fierce crack of the whip.

"Smack!"

"Ah!"

"This lord, he truly is a ruthless character!" one ghost whispered to another.

"Mmm! It feels so gratifying! So exhilarating!"

"If only that Demon, the Ghost King, could also be whipped like this..."

Then, Shi Feng cast the Nine Nether Technique, and the bodies within the black armor of the other ten Ghost Soldiers immediately contorted. They let out piercing wails and were completely unable to resist as their bodies, like strands of white mist, were drawn out from the black armor. Ten streams of white mist drifted towards the space between Shi Feng’s eyebrows. Ten Second-stage Souls were instantly consumed by Shi Feng, leaving behind only the commander among the Ghost Soldiers.

Seeing his ten companions swiftly devoured by Shi Feng, leaving behind only stark black armor lined with savage barbs on the ground, the Ghost Soldier commander looked at Shi Feng with a face full of terror and asked with a trembling voice, "What... what did you just do to them?"

Shi Feng looked at the Ghost Soldier commander and silently said to himself, "Devouring this Second-stage Soul, advancing to Fourth-stage Soul Power, that should just about do it."

"Smack!" Shi Feng lashed the whip at the Ghost Soldier commander again, eliciting a crisp crack.

"Ah!"

"Tell me, how many Ghost Soldiers does the Ghost King have under his command, and at what Realms are they?" After speaking, Shi Feng whipped him again with a "Smack!", treating the commander just as he had treated the other ghost—after every sentence, a lash, as if the commander were livestock. The moment one treats others like livestock, one should be prepared to be treated like livestock oneself. For such Evil Ghosts, this was fitting treatment.

"Ah!"

In the midst of the pitiful screams, the Ghost Soldier commander hurriedly said, "I’ll tell, just stop hitting me! Under Lord Ghost King, there were once seven hundred and twenty Ghost Soldiers, but later many were likely sent elsewhere by Lord Ghost King. Now, including myself and the other ten, there are still one hundred and three Ghost Soldiers by Lord Ghost King’s side. There are four Third-stage Ghost Soldiers like me; the others are all First-stage and Second-stage Ghost Soldiers."

"Hmph! Sent elsewhere, you say? More like fattened up and then devoured by your Ghost King, you fool!" After saying this, Shi Feng mercilessly cracked the whip again with a "Smack!"

"Ah!"

"Tell me, how can one leave this space?" Shi Feng asked.

"Ah, please no more hitting! I really don’t know, we Ghost Soldiers have no idea. It’s taboo. There were a few brothers who also wanted to secretly leave this place and go to the outside world. Once Lord Ghost King found out, their soul bodies were brutally crushed!"