Chapter 366: Devouring the Evil Spirit

Shui Miao was extremely anxious, as if fire was burning his behind.

Lin Xue and Chu Miaoyi exchanged glances and both quickly picked up their pace.

Soon, Chu Miaoyi found the file folder, handed it to Shui Miao, and immediately resumed searching for older case files. She vaguely recalled there being a strange drowning case twelve years ago.

There was the case of the zoo monkey attack, which happened six years ago. A group of monkeys escaped from the zoo at night, ran as far as six or seven miles, surrounded and killed a village woman walking alone at night, and then returned to the zoo overnight. The woman’s body bore numerous scratches and bite marks. The forensic expert confirmed it was the work of the monkey group, as there was a large amount of monkey hair around the deceased, along with a dead monkey whose wounds matched perfectly.

But why the monkeys did this remains an unsolved mystery.

Shui Miao put down the photo, muttering to himself, “So they are all connected. If that’s the case, the monkey demon that died last night must actually be the spirit of that monkey who died beside the woman six years ago. If I had known there was such a big issue here, I shouldn’t have rushed to scatter their souls. What should I do now? The clues are gone!”

“Don’t panic, don’t panic, there will always be clues…”

Lin Xue couldn’t help much, so she tried to calm Shui Miao down.

Shui Miao shook his head impatiently, “She is sending me a distress signal—I can’t possibly stay calm!”

“I found it!”

At this moment, Chu Miaoyi located the drowning case from twelve years ago.

Opening the bag, Shui Miao saw a photo of a pregnant peasant woman who had drowned.

“This case is very similar to the previous one. This woman died mysteriously while picking cotton in the field. Another strange and inexplicable case,” Chu Miaoyi paused, then added, “Huanghai University of Technology was built five years ago, and the local farmers scattered everywhere. Finding someone who knows the truth is like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“There will always be clues!”

Shui Miao immediately left the archives and headed outside, “Do you have a detailed map of this area?”

“Yes, I’ll find it for you…”

Lin Xue ran out.

Shui Miao grabbed the map, found Zhao Xue, and spread it out in front of her. “Zhao Xue, please help us locate the place where you saw so many fish.”

“I know where it is!”

Yaqi was very enthusiastic. She quickly found the location—a spot fifty meters south along a dirt path from the intersection of Chengnan Road and Binshui River Road.

“Let’s go now.”

Shui Miao folded up the map, glanced at Chu Miaoyi and Lin Xue.

※※※

Arriving at the location, Shui Miao looked around and noticed a dry ditch not far away.

He activated his immortal power, opened his Celestial Eye, and looked toward the ditch. He saw a strong presence of yin energy there, vaguely a large dark mass gathered together, as big as a basketball.

Strangely, this yin energy could not be sensed with spiritual perception—it could only be seen with the naked eye.

Shui Miao couldn’t help but wonder if there was something wrong with his body.

What the camera captured was different already, and now this was different too.

“Whoosh!”

Suddenly, a gust of wind picked up…

Rather than dispersing the yin energy, it seemed the wind carried the yin energy outward, spreading it like a giant black gauze net enveloping everyone. Its target wasn’t just Shui Miao, but also Lin Xue and Chu Miaoyi.

“Daring to cause trouble right in front of me!”

Shui Miao’s mind shifted, instantly activating a large surge of Soul Devouring Power to envelop and absorb the yin energy. Then, a massive wave of Soul Devouring Power surged toward the ditch, following a small tunnel straight underground… Although Shui Miao couldn’t sense this yin energy, wherever his Soul Devouring Power reached, his perception followed.

“Huh, what is that?”

“Is… is that a coffin?!”

Deep underground, there was actually a coffin—and a very large one. The Soul Devouring Power corroded everything. From the feedback information, Shui Miao learned that the coffin had already decayed, but strangely, the female corpse inside was perfectly preserved, showing no signs of decay!

“Why? Why is this happening?”

As Shui Miao pondered, he suddenly noticed the female corpse looked almost identical to the female ghost he had seen that morning.

“Wait a second…”

But immediately afterward, Shui Miao sensed a stream of black water spreading from beneath the coffin, attempting to swallow it!

“There’s definitely something wrong!”

Shui Miao’s mind raced. He summoned the camera from his Holy Yuan Ring, turned it on, and fully activated his immortal power to break through the soil. He also called upon the fundamental power of Feng Shui, attempting to retrieve the female corpse…

Suddenly, the sky darkened, and a black whirlwind descended from above, lifting large amounts of soil.

“Shui Miao, hurry and move! The weather is changing—it’s going to be a tornado!”

“It’s dangerous!”

Seeing this, Lin Xue and Chu Miaoyi were startled and rushed over.

“Don’t be afraid. Actually, all of this is just an illusion. The camera can prove everything. Help me record all of this—I want to find out what’s real and what’s fake.” Calmly, Shui Miao handed the camera to Lin Xue and walked toward the ditch. From the camera, he had just seen that the ground soil hadn’t cracked, and everything appeared normal.

“How is this possible? What’s going on here?”

Seeing the inexplicable phenomenon, Lin Xue quickly handed the camera to Chu Miaoyi. “Miaoyi, take a look—why is what the camera captures different from what we see?”

“It’s unbelievable…” Chu Miaoyi was instantly stunned.

“Ah! Look, look! It’s a coffin—it’s the coffin!”

Lin Xue saw the coffin being lifted from the ground by the whirlwind.

Chu Miaoyi tugged Lin Xue’s arm. “Sister, look…”

“What?”

Lin Xue looked at the camera—it showed no coffin, only a black-and-white skeleton!

Indeed, a black-and-white skeleton was floating more than a meter above the ground.

In Shui Miao’s eyes, there was not only the coffin, but also a giant black hand beneath it, desperately trying to seize the coffin. Unfazed, Shui Miao stepped forward steadily. When he reached near the coffin, he suddenly activated all his Soul Devouring Power to wrap around the black hand beneath the coffin. The hand, corroded by the Soul Devouring Power, seemed to feel pain and immediately retracted.

With a thought, Shui Miao summoned the whirlwind to carry the coffin, which landed dozens of meters away, next to the car.

Then, Shui Miao focused his mind, activating his Soul Devouring Power to devour the evil entity deep underground!

The evil entity retreated step by step. Seizing the opportunity, Shui Miao leapt down into a pit more than dozens of meters deep.

But in the camera’s view, Shui Miao was simply standing upside down in the ditch, feet in the air, not actually going underground at all. Lin Xue and Chu Miaoyi were utterly confused.

Shui Miao entered underground, where his Soul Devouring Power had already devoured all the yin energy. The black water also vanished, leaving only a skeleton. Looking at the skeleton, Shui Miao felt confident of victory, so he surrounded it with a large amount of Soul Devouring Power, not fearing any resistance: “Demon, reveal yourself! You’ve harmed others and yourself. Today is your last day. If you have any last words, say them now before it’s too late.”

Shui Miao wasn’t being kind—he wanted to know the demon’s origins.

From Lin Xue and Chu Miaoyi’s perspective, however, Shui Miao was just talking to a lump of mud, acting strangely and incomprehensibly.

“Hahaha…”

Suddenly, laughter echoed from the skeleton.

Under Shui Miao’s gaze, the skeleton emitted streams of rapidly rotating black energy, forming a black cloak around it. The skeleton stood up, and the black energy shaped a man’s face on it. It transformed into a man of medium height, wearing a black robe, with a cold and terrifying face.

Lin Xue and Chu Miaoyi saw a man emerging from a lump of mud.

But in the camera, the mud remained just mud.

“What are you laughing at? Do you think you can escape?” Without hesitation, Shui Miao immediately activated his Soul Devouring Power to wrap and devour the man, preventing him from breaking free and harming Chu Miaoyi and Lin Xue.

The man stopped laughing, resisting the devouring with yin energy while looking at Shui Miao. “Young man, don’t push too hard. Arrogance comes with a price. Do you really think you can kill me? My yin energy is inexhaustible. Even if you devour it for a hundred years, you won’t be able to destroy me.”

“Is that so?”

Unmoved, Shui Miao smiled faintly. “You’re right—arrogance does come with a price. But arrogance is also based on strength, so I don’t need to hold back against you. Besides, if you could break free, why would you keep losing yin energy to me?”

The man suddenly waved his hand. “Enough talk! Right now, I just want to know why you’re opposing me!”

“Because you’ve committed countless evils and deserve retribution. I’m merely carrying out heavenly justice.” Shui Miao didn’t relax his efforts, fully focusing on dealing with the evil spirit, giving it no chance to recover. Through sensing and observation, Shui Miao had already discovered that the evil spirit relied solely on the underground river. The river water was purely yin, allowing the spirit to directly draw yin energy from it to resist Shui Miao.

So the evil spirit wasn’t wrong—continuing this way, even a thousand years wouldn’t allow Shui Miao to completely refine the underground river.

Shui Miao was slowly severing the spirit’s connection to the underground river.

The evil spirit seemed to realize Shui Miao’s intent. Pretending calmness, it roared fiercely, “Heavenly justice? Who do you think you are? Who helped me when I tried to do good? Where was heaven then? I only killed a few people, and heaven already rejects me? Ridiculous! This is utterly ridiculous! Such a corrupt heaven—I won’t submit! I will defy it!!”

“If you want to defy heaven, do you have the strength?”

Shui Miao’s mind shifted, and the prepared Soul Devouring Power immediately began constricting, attempting to cut off the evil spirit’s connection to the underground river.

“Young man, you’re overestimating yourself! Today, I’ll show you my true power! The Ten Thousand Ghosts Corpse Rush Technique…”

The evil spirit roared and suddenly lunged at Shui Miao. But immediately after, it dove sharply underground, attempting to escape.

“Hmph, trivial tricks, showing off before a master. I’ve seen right through you.”

Remaining calm, Shui Miao stood firm. Taking advantage of the spirit’s feigned attack, he completely severed its connection to the underground river. His Soul Devouring Power wrapped around it in layers, beginning to devour and refine it.

“No! Don’t kill me! I know my mistake! Can’t I turn back now?”

The evil spirit panicked, finally unable to maintain its composure.

“It’s too late. Because I want to know why I couldn’t sense your presence.”

Shui Miao’s mind raced. He slightly worried the spirit might self-destruct, so he deliberately pressured it to reveal the truth.

“Disciple, save me!!”

Unexpectedly, instead of responding, the evil spirit suddenly let out a hysterical scream.

“Whoosh!”

As the scream ended, the terrifying female ghost suddenly appeared beside Shui Miao…