Chapter 149: Demise

This was a vast, spacious chamber, its surrounding rocky walls embedded with dozens of fist-sized luminous pearls that illuminated the place as brightly as daylight.

Ye Feng stood at the center of the cavernous abode, trembling slightly as he held Turtle Ren, accompanied by several other youths. They quietly observed the transparent energy barriers encasing the space around them.

Within each barrier, numerous malevolent souls were imprisoned. The ghastly wails they had heard earlier emanated from these dozens of enclosures.

A roar echoed...

Inside one enormous barrier, a beast spirit towering dozens of meters high snarled fiercely, relentlessly assaulting the barrier, causing ripples to spread across its surface.

“What... what kind of place is this? How can there be so many evil souls?” Turtle Ren trembled, pointing at the malevolent spirits with a quivering voice.

“Give me back my life…”

Further away, many barriers contained more than a dozen human malevolent souls. They howled like ghosts, attacking their fellow inmates within the same enclosure.

“This... they are cultivating fiends,” one pale-faced youth muttered after observing the endless battles erupting within the light cages.

It was said that in ancient times, a terrifying method existed—where powerful individuals were brutally tortured and killed, their souls extracted, and then ninety-nine such souls were imprisoned together, forced to slaughter one another. The final victor among these malevolent spirits would become a fiend.

“You mean these are the ‘fiends’ of the legendary Nine Fiends Sky-Rising Sovereign?” Ye Feng furrowed his brow slightly.

He had heard whispers of such rumors. If the malevolent spirit had reached even half a step to the Spirit Emperor during its lifetime, then the nine fiends ultimately cultivated would possess strength comparable to that of the Sovereign rank.

It was important to remember that in the past Martial Soul Continent, spiritual energy was nearly depleted, and the great path was obscured. Reaching even the Spirit Emperor rank was a rare feat, let alone the all-powerful Sovereign.

The youth nodded, pointing to several barriers. “Some of these enclosures contain only one malevolent spirit. If they feed it ninety-nine ordinary souls, it can become a fiend.” Pausing, he continued, “However, these fiends are not as terrifying as the rumors suggest. Take a look—over there, the barriers contain at most a dozen malevolent spirits. I suspect they placed only forty-nine spirits per enclosure. The fiends produced from these, nine of them combined, could at best rival a master at the fourth tier of the Spirit Emperor, far from the legendary Sky-Rising Sovereign.”

“The fourth tier of the Spirit Emperor is still an absolute expert! If the sacred ground could truly cultivate dozens of such fiends, the entire continent would likely fall under their control,” Ye Feng said as he counted the number of barriers inside the cavern.

After traversing nearly a thousand miles of the cavern, Ye Feng discovered over fifty barriers here, among which more than a dozen had already produced their final sovereign spirit, merely awaiting the last step of soul feeding.

“Do you all know how to destroy these things?” Ye Feng’s face grew grave as he pointed at the barriers.

Hearing this, the others shook their heads.

“Wait! If we can take out the Purple Gold Alms Bowl, maybe we can get rid of these fiends!” Turtle Ren suddenly brightened. “The Purple Gold Alms Bowl atop the mountain was once held by a holy monk. It contains a vast concentration of pure Buddhist power, which can definitely neutralize these fiends.”

“Nonsense. You say it like that, but how do we get out of here now?” one youth retorted.

Ignoring their bickering, Ye Feng walked over to one of the barriers and carefully examined the malevolent spirits inside.

“I wonder if these malevolent souls could help the old monster,” Ye Feng muttered to himself.

A year ago, the old monster had suffered severe soul energy depletion while assisting Ye Feng and had since fallen into a deep slumber, disappearing without a trace.

Pacing beside each barrier, Ye Feng scrutinized the malevolent spirits within.

“Why are you staring at those evil souls? What are you thinking?” Turtle Ren asked, puzzled.

“Don’t just stand there. Find me the weakest malevolent spirit. I want to run an experiment,” Ye Feng ordered.

Though uncertain of Ye Feng’s intentions, the others had come to regard him as their pillar of strength and did not question him, instead beginning their search.

“Here!” After a while, one youth shouted and beckoned the group over.

Inside the barrier before the youth lay two barely alive malevolent spirits. It seemed that during their struggle, both had devoured numerous other souls, making their strength nearly equal. Their final battle ended in mutual destruction.

“This one,” Ye Feng said after a moment of observation. “Step back.”

As the others retreated, Ye Feng gathered his spiritual power, and twin beams of purple-gold light shot swiftly from his pupils.

Pop!

The barrier cracked with a crisp sound. Though impenetrable to malevolent spirits, these barriers were as fragile as paper to living beings and could be shattered with a slight attack.

A roar!

The moment the barrier fell, the two malevolent spirits inside bellowed furiously, claws flailing as they lunged at Ye Feng.

“Suppress them!” Ye Feng roared, delivering a swift Dragon-Grasp strike. A massive golden palm materialized from thin air, slapping the two spirits away.

“Seal them…”

Gathering his spiritual power once more, Ye Feng conjured a smaller spiritual barrier, imprisoning the two malevolent spirits within.

He steadily poured his spiritual energy into the barrier, rapidly refining the malevolent souls inside.

With terrifying howls echoing from within, not long after, the one-meter-wide barrier shrank until it was no larger than a palm.

Inside, the two miniature malevolent spirits lay motionless, on the brink of death.

Clutching the spiritual energy orb, Ye Feng’s mind swiftly immersed into the Demon King Domain. With a thought, he drew the orb inside.

“Old monster, I hope these malevolent souls can help you recover,” he murmured, suddenly increasing his grip until the orb shattered.

Roar!

The orb exploded, and the two malevolent spirits within instantly grew back to several meters tall, roaring as they attempted to flee.

“A great tonic…” A delighted voice echoed in the void—it was the Dragon-Jiao Demon King.

Suck—

In the next instant, a massive devouring force surged forth, tearing the two malevolent spirits apart and swallowing them whole.

“Huh… these are fiends... no, they’re much weaker than fiends by several folds. Boy, where did you get these things?” The faint silhouette of the Dragon-Jiao Demon King slowly appeared beside Ye Feng.

Looking at the nearly transparent figure, Ye Feng felt a sincere respect for the first time.

“Old monster, thank you for everything a year ago,” Ye Feng said casually, though deep in his heart he treasured the old monster’s kindness.