I Cheated While Cultivating - Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Ninth Class

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The memory crystal took the form of a purple crystal.

It was saved in Zhou Heng’s mind, just like the things he had previously drawn.

It could be called out with just a thought.

After Zhou Heng closed the door, he began to read the information in it.

Multiple scenes flew past him. It contained various information such as voice and text.

As this was only part of the Seal Wraith’s memory, the information presented was intermittent and incoherent.

After Zhou Heng read most of the information contained in the memory crystal, he connected the messy and intermittent information and summarized what he could with clarity.

Fortunately, this part of the memory did contain some information about the ghosts.

The ghosts in this world were not born from humans’ souls after they died like Zhou Heng had previously thought. At first, they were the Yin spirits born out of a natural Yin aura that was turbid.

Based on the law of the natural convergence of Yin and Yang, the Yin spirits naturally desired to absorb and swallow Yang energy.

This was their instinct, so it would never disappear.

When they had completely swallowed the first living person, they would gain their own intelligence and thoughts. They would become real ghosts that had various special abilities and acquire almost indestructible characteristics.

But generally speaking, a ghost in the state of Yin spirit could not directly interfere with reality. It had to possess a human and use the human’s body to exert its abilities.

It was not an easy task for a ghost of the lower classes to possess a living person.

It must first elicit the loopholes in the dark side of the person’s heart. Then, it could take advantage of it and gain some control over the body it possessed.

At this time, the consciousness of the host and ghost coexisted. The power that the ghost could exert was limited as well.

It must fulfill the host’s wish if it wanted to further control the body.

The wish was based on the loopholes in the person’s mind caused by the ghost’s possession.

As the wish was completed step by step, the ghost would further suppress the host’s will and gradually control the body. Then, it could exert a more complete and stronger form of power.

In this process, the host’s mind might revolt and cause the body’s mental state to lose control, which led to some strange behaviors.

The ghost would complete the possession when it completely swallowed the host’s will. It would gain total control of the body and could fully exert the various abilities of the ghost itself.

The whole process of a ghost controlling a body consisted of possession, control, and seizure. After these steps were completed, the ghost could continue to look for the Yang energy. It would have to continually consume more Yang energy to strengthen itself.

Although a ghost could still consume Yang energy before completing the seizure, it could not completely absorb and digest without loss.

When Zhou Heng read about this part of the information contained in the memory crystal, he could not help but think of the two ghosts he had encountered.

One was Yu Shang that possessed Chen Hanyu, and the other was the Seal Wraith that possessed Shopkeeper Qian.

The former once said that it satisfied Chen Hanyu’s wish to obtain peerless beauty and make all men in the world fall in love with her. This fitted the characteristics of the ghost.

The same thing applied to the latter.

As the memory was not complete, he did not have a complete understanding of what happened when the Seal Wraith possessed Shopkeeper Qian.

However, he could make some guesses.

When the Seal Wraith possessed Shopkeeper Qian, it probably used the resentment that grew in his heart as he was unwilling to admit defeat.

Then, it gradually took control of Shopkeeper Qian’s body by fulfilling his wish to retaliate against Yu He, Zhao Yuan, and even Liu Changsheng.

‘When the Seal Wraith first infected Yu He with the ghost aura, it should have only started to possess Shopkeeper Qian, so it could only infect him discreetly.’ Zhou Heng thought to himself.

‘After completing its revenge on Yu He, it should have started to step into the control level. It could exert stronger power and special abilities. Then, it killed Zhao Yuan to further complete its control.

‘Then it is understandable why it attacked Liu Changsheng inexplicably in the end. It wasn’t as simple as creating chaos. It was to fulfill Shopkeeper Qian’s will and complete the seizure.’

Zhou Heng finally made sense of the Seal Wraith’s previous behaviors that did not make sense.

This was all because it wanted to further complete its control over Shopkeeper Qian’s body and to exert a more complete power.

There was a reason behind everything.

‘But logically speaking, Shopkeeper Qian should hate me even more. Why didn’t the Seal Wraith attack me first?’ Zhou Heng was a little puzzled. He guessed the Seal Wraith probably wanted to save him, the feast, for last.

After all, the Seal Wraith could not fully absorb and digest his Yang energy before completing the seizure.

At that time, the Seal Wraith probably encountered a mental attack by Shopkeeper Qian, so it made Zhao Yuan write the words, Murderer Zhou Heng before he died. If not, it would not do such a thing.

Otherwise, the Seal Wraith could fulfill his wish secretly. It could develop under the radar and gradually become stronger. In the end, it could absorb a large amount of Yang energy and flee elsewhere.

Of course, the fact that Cheng Jiangjian could come so quickly showed that Wu Zongshan, the mayor, was not a simple person. He had probably suspected Shopkeeper Qian from the beginning.

Even if the Seal Wraith wanted to grow under the radar, it might not succeed in the end.

Besides, Zhou Heng learned extremely important information from this part of the Seal Wraith’s memory.

Why did the Heavenly Circulation Guardians and various forces want to hide the existence of the ghosts?

That was because it was easier for the ghosts to be born if more people knew about the existence of the ghosts and knew more detailed information about them.

This also meant that the more people who knew about the ghosts, the higher the quantity of the ghosts!

In this world, the only people who were below third class, that could kill the ghosts were the people from the Heavenly Circulation Guardians.

The Heavenly Circulation Guardians had very little manpower. Even now, there were many places beyond their reach and jurisdiction.

If the quantity of the ghosts further increased, it would be a huge disaster.

It was for this reason that this kind of effort to hide information about the ghosts, and even the existence of the ghosts, occurred.

In fact, theoretically speaking, it would not hurt for a few people to know the existence of the ghosts or even the detailed information of the ghosts.

However, people always had the desire to spread exclusive information. When a person knew something, it usually meant that ten, a hundred, or even more people knew it as well.

It would spread quickly and eventually everyone would know about it.

The consequences would be disastrous if it spread like this.

Although it was a stupid method to cut off the source of transmission directly to not let the source of transmission be born, it was the most effective method as well.

However, it was necessary for the satraps of various states and counties, the mayors of various places, and other forces and personnel who had to assist the Heavenly Circulation Guardians in killing the ghosts to know about the ghosts’ information.

This could not be avoided.

‘If it is easier for the ghosts to breed when more people know the ghosts’ information, why don’t the ghosts deliberately spread this information?’

A question came to Zhou Heng’s mind.

Unfortunately, there was no explanation in this part of the Seal Wraith’s memory.

‘Ghosts…evil creatures…’ Zhou Heng thought to himself.

Now he understood why both Cheng Jiangjian and Wu Zongshan were extremely cautious about the ghosts.

It seemed like this world was not as peaceful and serene as it seemed on the surface.

The first-class martial arts could be called the supreme-rulerly First-Class. It was also known as Sacred.

There was more than one Sacred in this world.

But even so, they still could not completely end the breeding of the ghosts.

As for the evil creatures, he still knew nothing about it.

…

Wu Zongshan was indeed a mayor.

He settled the incident of Zhao Yuan’s death within two days.

Shopkeeper Qian became the murderer, which cleared Zhou Heng’s name.

The truth of the incident was completely hidden.

Then, Zhou Heng finally returned to the Prosperity Martial Arts School, which he had been thinking of after staying home for two days.

He had paid the tuition, after all.

He kept applying for leave recently, so he felt bad as it was a waste of money.

Besides, he could not keep on practicing martial arts outdoors. It was much better to practice martial arts in the martial arts school.

“You’ve been practicing hard for the Ninth-Class Eighteen Divine Power Styles. The level of proficiency increased by 5.”

…

“You continue practicing the Ninth-Class Eighteen Divine Power Styles and have triggered Heavenly Reward. The level of proficiency increased by 30.”

…

Zhou Heng had not had time to tell Practitioner Lin the news that he had advanced to the ninth class, so the martial arts school did not make the follow-up arrangements for him. Now he could only cultivate the few ninth-class martial arts that he learned before.

Something like Solo Nine Swords was not suitable to be practiced in the martial arts school.

He had cultivated the Eighteen Divine Power Styles to perfection and had received the Lucky Bag rewarded. But as a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder, he always had a mentality that would not rest until his level of proficiency reached the upper limit.

Zhou Heng felt happy and refreshed even if he just watched the level of proficiency increase little by little like this.

A normal life was to practice martial arts steadily and gradually became stronger.

It would be nice if it could go on like this. A life where no weird things like ghosts appeared.

This was Zhou Heng’s current mentality.

“Hey, you’re finally back!” Lin Cang walked over. He was finally relieved when he saw Zhou Heng practicing martial arts diligently.

He was worried for a while when Zhou Heng was taken away from the martial arts school by Meng Xing that day. He even went to find the previous master of the martial arts school specifically as he wanted to ask him to intercede.

But before the previous master of the martial arts school did anything, news saying that the real culprit had been found came from the administrative office. Zhou Heng was just being slandered and was innocent.

This made Lin Cang relieved. But he was still a little worried as the incident had not settled in these two days, and Zhou Heng had not come to the martial arts school.

Now that he saw it with his own eyes, he could finally stop worrying about him.

“Master Lin.” Zhou Heng stopped to greet him.

“Well, I haven’t seen you for a few days, but your martial arts have become more solid.” Lin Cang had not met Zhou Heng for a few days, so he felt that he should praise him first. He saw him practiced just now and his martial arts were indeed very solid.

“I have made some improvements,” Zhou Heng smiled and said. At the same time, he was wondering whether he should tell him about his advancement to the ninth class.

“Ha, you sure are confident!” Lin Cang suddenly felt that Zhou Heng might be too proud of himself if he only praised him after meeting, so he said, “Come, Zhou Heng. Let’s have a match. I want to see how far you are from the ninth class.”

“Huh?” Zhou Heng could not help but scratch his head when he heard Lin Cang’s suggestion. He smiled and said, “Well, the distance between me and the ninth class is…”