Be the Hardest Working Demon Cultivator!

In the dimly lit room, the only light came from the weak fire at the furnace, with the cold seeping through the cracks along with the wind outside, rolling in like smoke-chilled air.

At this time, the room was silent and tranquil.

The burly blacksmith merely watched the scholar who had burst through the door without moving.

His face, hidden in the darkness, was unreadable, but his eyes were losing control, malicious intent materializing into a faint, ghastly green glow.

This was the malice of the dead towards the living.

"Get lost," the strong man finally spoke, his voice hoarse yet robust.

"Officer Tan jests, I'm already here, how could I leave just like that?" Tan Shuchang was in high spirits because, with the "Divine Skill of Water Mirror Lotus Cover," he had already sensed the number and position of the fierce ghosts.

If he didn't count his dog-headed military strategist, there were exactly nine ghosts, not one more, not one less.

He had originally thought that he would have to rely on trickery to guard Ghost City to get a sufficient number of fierce ghosts, but who could have imagined that in this one instance, he would be able to catch nine ghosts!

On hearing this, the burly blacksmith fell silent.

But the next second, he slightly lifted his head, as if looking at Tan Shuchang, or perhaps at some direction outside the house, murmuring, "Why must you force me? Why must all of you force me?"

And as he murmured to himself, he tore off his own face, revealing a grayish-brown fleshly skull.

It was the appearance of dry flesh still clinging to a skeletal head.

"I promised her, I would not harm others again, I sucked her blood dry, I can't suck anyone else's, why do you force me to kill you?" he continued.

As he spoke, his appearance underwent a dramatic transformation.

His face resembled that of a dried corpse, his body large, and on his grey-white robe, there was a blood-red character "Funeral," and the hammer he had been holding turned suddenly into a long banner bearing one character—"Officer."

The realm of malice had unfurled, summoning gust after gust of cold wind.

"I will refine you into a human pill!" shouted the strong man who had revealed his true form at Tan Shuchang.

Tan Shuchang didn't understand why the ghost seemed so agitated, and he didn't care about the story behind the ghost's words.

He made his move.

As a result, in less than the time it took to breathe, the strong man went from loud roars to loud pleas for mercy.

"I... I still have to take revenge for her! Spare me! Let me go, and I will kill three hundred more people; then I can take revenge for her!" he begged.

"The 'she' you're referring to, wasn't she killed by you?" Tan Shuchang was not pleased to hear this; it lacked any logical cohesion.

Then, as bloody water began to emerge beneath his feet and lunged toward the ghost, the apparition vanished without a trace.

"The Ghost Suppressing Techniques from the Land of Yin and Darkness are really useful indeed!" Tan Shuchang couldn't help but remark; this ghost was no match for him, because he had just used a secret technique passed down from the Land of Yin and Darkness.

This Secret Technique had no name, just a simple four characters—Ghost Suppressing Style One.

Techniques originating from the Land of Yin and Darkness, specifically aimed at ghosts, were widely circulated in the Jiawu Realm, with almost every Immortal Sect learning a few moves.

Indeed, there were very few Immortal Sects that managed to collect all these Secret Techniques.

Because these Secret Techniques would exhibit incredibly amazing potency only when confronting fierce ghosts and apparitions; if they were used against cultivators, it'd be pretty much like removing one's pants to fart—no difference at all.

Sometimes, they couldn't even injure a mortal who had never cultivated.

Therefore, with regard to these highly specific Secret Techniques, the various cultivation sects required that although disciples must know them before descending the mountain, it sufficed to master just one or two techniques.

However, Tan Shuchang knew them all.

Given Tan family's influence back in the day, gathering all these techniques aimed at ghostly entities wasn't a difficult task. And at that time, Tan Shuchang, being an illegitimate child, wasn't allowed to cultivate, so he could only relieve his yearning for cultivation by studying these ghost-targeting Secret Techniques.

Over time, this ended up allowing him to master all these ghost-targeting techniques.

After suppressing the renegade ghost envoy, Tan Shuchang followed the connection and found that dilapidated thatched cottage. At that moment, the old butcher inside the cottage was boiling a pot of hot water. Seeing Tan Shuchang, he couldn't help but sigh and then said, "Young man, you shouldn't have come here."

"Old sir, may I know why I shouldn't have come?" Tan Shuchang still barged in through the broken door, but his speech remained full of decorum.

"You're quite polite, young man, but not by much!" said the butcher after glancing at the broken door pieces on the ground, speaking slowly, and as he finished, his eyes started to emit a creeping green glow.

"I just happen to need to consume a person to return to my prime, and here you come at this moment, tell me, should you have come?" The old butcher's voice was hoarse, and as he spoke, gusts of chilling wind howled forth.

"Then indeed I should not have come..." Tan Shuchang nodded in agreement with the butcher's logical reasoning.

"Quite good at acting, aren't you, young man?" the old butcher said with a piercing sneer.

However, Tan Shuchang, upon hearing this backhanded compliment, found it somewhat distasteful and thus took the initiative to strike first, this time using a different ghost-suppressing Secret Technique—Ghost Suppressing Style Three.

Just like that renegade ghost envoy, the old butcher couldn't withstand even a single round, but unlike the ghost envoy, after the ghost was suppressed by Tan Shuchang, the butcher's body remained in place, still warm.

Tan Shuchang took an extra look and then understood that the ghost here had employed the method of snatching a living human's body. Or rather, the old butcher had voluntarily offered his body to the ghost.

The latter view was a simple deduction by Tan Shuchang, considering the butcher's profession and the environment he was in.

Then, Tan Shuchang prepared to search for the remaining seven fierce ghosts.

However, as soon as he stepped out of the thatched cottage, he saw those seven fierce ghosts approaching him.

It was also Tan Shuchang's first time seeing General Huai, and after one glance, he noticed something was off about him, so he made his move, and then Tan Shuchang knew where the discrepancy lay.

Aside from General Huai, the other six fierce ghosts were real.

The Ghost Suppressing Techniques easily subdued the six fierce ghosts brought by General Huai, but upon suppressing General Huai himself, he turned directly into a section of tree root and vanished from sight.

So Tan Shuchang called for his canine-headed military advisor.

"What's going on here?"

The scholarly ghost envoy did know the reason.

"Your Excellency may not be aware, General Huai's true body is that of a Corpse in Elm. The corpse, combined with the elm tree, bestowed it with the incredible skill of Incarnation; however, this also conversely limited it, making it unable to ascend successfully due to its regular murder pattern."