Chapter 655: The Ghost vs Verdant Elder

The ghost’s foggy form flickered and blurred, as if a gust of wind had blown through him.

The edges of his spectral form wavered. Pieces of him became transparent before gathering again.

His eyes widened with shock and fear.

"Wh– what the fuc*k is happening? You fuc*king bastard... what did you do?!" he shouted, voice shaking. Unlike Aksai, he couldn’t see or operate on the outside while his soul had infiltrated in someone else’s Mind Palace. Plus, he was operating the Soul Possessing Technique that required his utmost attention. As such, he wasn’t aware of what was happening to his borrowed body outside.

Of course, under normal conditions, even Aksai wouldn’t have been able to summon the snake girl outside and make her do his bidding. It was only because of the Neural Link Fabric that he could maintain the Soul Possession Technique while splitting his consciousness outside to attack the ghost from two fronts.

For the first time, the ghost realized Aksai was not the weak prey he had assumed. And that realization struck him harder than the artifact’s attack.

Aksai saw the ghost’s fear. It was only for a second, but it was enough. He didn’t waste that opening.

Deep inside his Aether Essence Sea, something stirred. The water-like essence rippled, then split open as a huge shape rose from below. Aksai’s Aether Wisp—the Verdant Elder—shot upward like a diving eagle bursting out of the ocean after catching its prey.

Even though it had once been a turtle-type demon beast, the Verdant Elder still carried the gifts of its mutated bloodline. It could move with explosive speed when needed, and right now, it unleashed that speed to the fullest.

One moment, the ghost stood above the waves of Aksai’s Aether Essence Sea. The next moment, the Verdant Elder erupted out from under his feet. The ghost barely had time to look down.

The Verdant Elder’s beak-shaped mouth struck first, snapping forward with incredible force. Its bite wasn’t physical—its beak was made of pure Aether essence—but the impact shook the ghost’s foggy body and made its form ripple like loose cloth in a storm.

Before the ghost could recover, the Verdant Elder’s long snaketail whipped around. The tail’s mouth opened, and bright, ethereal fire burst out. The flames washed over the ghost’s body with a soft hiss. The ghost screamed, stumbling back as its form blurred even more, pieces of it breaking apart before pulling themselves back together.

Then came the vines.

Dozens of thick wood-element vines sprouted from the shell on the Verdant Elder’s back. They lashed out at the ghost from every direction like angry serpents. Each vine struck with enough force to tear through soul mist. Each hit made the ghost’s form twist, shrink, and distort.

The ghost looked as if he were a flame trapped inside a hurricane.

Aksai didn’t stop there.

Seeing the ghost’s weakening state, he pushed further. He instructed the Neural Link Fabric without speaking a word.

The towering structure responded instantly. It reached into his Aether Essence Sea and redirected the flow, sending more power into Aksai’s Soul Possession technique. Some of the steps in the technique were automated by Aksai’s cheat-code-like ability. The runes wrapped around Aksai’s soul form glowed brighter, strengthening the pull on the ghost.

Outside, the little snake girl kept going without rest. Her small hands tightened around the lantern. She kept pouring her Spirit essence into the artifact, and the lantern obeyed. After every few breaths, it sent out another silent pulse.

Each pulse slammed into both Loken’s weak soul and the ghost inside the stolen Spirit Core. The ghost trembled every time the ripple hit him. His eyes widened with panic.

He had expected resistance but he had not expected a Bloodfiend artifact. He had not expected a Core Formation beast wielding it. He had not expected an Aether Wisp inside someone’s soul domain. And lastly, he had not expected Aksai’s technique to grow stronger by the second.

And he had definitely not expected himself—to be the hunted one.

The Verdant Elder roared silently in the ghost’s face as vines, flames, and beak strikes kept him trapped.

Aksai’s Soul Possession technique tightened around the ghost’s existence bit by bit. The ghost’s fear changed into disbelief, then into pure dread.

Aksai watched the ghost struggle inside his Mind Palace. The Verdant Elder’s attacks were working, but the fight was still hanging in a strange balance.

The ghost was old, experienced, and his soul was strong. Aksai knew he couldn’t hold out forever—not like this. Even if he won, it would be a hard-fought victory. What was the use of his Core Formation realm and Aether cultivation base if he had to win like this?

He took a slow breath. Then an idea struck him.

He didn’t have many Aether Spells yet. His Aether strength was solid, but was mostly passive—useful for resisting attacks, not for attacking.

He wasn’t used to fighting through his Aether Beast yet. But looking at the Verdant Elder tearing at the ghost made something click in Aksai’s mind.

Why not let the Verdant Elder handle the technique itself?

The moment the thought formed, Aksai pushed it through the bond he shared with his Aether Wisp. The Verdant Elder immediately reacted. Aksai felt a shift—like he had suddenly handed the steering wheel to someone far more suited for the terrain.

The ghost noticed the change at once.

The suction force from the gray storm behind Aksai weakened. The ghost thought Aksai had made a mistake.

"Hahaha. Brat, are you tired already? Now I will jus—"

But before he could enjoy that break... something else opened behind him.

A second storm. This one was far stronger.

A whirlpool of gray soul force spun inside the Verdant Elder’s beak-like mouth, forming a tunnel that led straight into the beast’s core. The storm roared like a hungry monster, pulling with such power that even Aksai’s body trembled in response.

It was as if comparing the suction power of a handhold vacuum cleaner with that of an industrial-grade 10 ton vacuum machine monster on a four wheeler.

The ghost froze.

Aksai’s Aether Wisp had begun executing the Soul Possession Technique on its own—using the Aether Essence Sea itself as fuel. The ghost’s face collapsed into panic.

’This... this is definitely not something a newbie Core Formation cultivator can do. This is a foreign path that I can’t handle at my current power. I... I better run and hide inside the Spirit Core once again.’

The ghost quickly made up his mind and turned to run, but the vines shot out first. He had forgotten that he didn’t have the "homeground" advantage.

Dozens of dark-green vines erupted from the turtle shell, latching onto him from every angle. Each vine pulsed with Aether Essence that burned into the ghost’s foggy body.

The ghost screamed. Then the snaketail moved.

The mouth on the tail opened, spraying ethereal fire that wrapped around the ghost like a net. The fire burned silently, without light or heat—destroying soul mist rather than flesh. The ghost’s form began to shrink, thin pieces breaking off and dissolving into sparks.

"No—wait! Stop!" the ghost shouted. "We can talk! I can teach you—"

The Verdant Elder didn’t stop. Because Aksai wasn’t interested.

The beak struck again, tearing off chunks of gray fog. The beast devoured each piece like meat. With every bite, the whirlpool inside its mouth grew stronger, dragging more of the ghost into it.

The ghost’s voice cracked. "Boy... listen... you don’t understand who I am—what I can offer—"

Aksai simply looked at him, calm and cold.

The ghost tried again. "I.... basta... I mean... boy... my sweet ancestor... I know many hidden ruins! Bloodline secrets! Forbidden arts! Let me go, and I’ll—"

The Verdant Elder snapped a large piece of his torso in half. The ghost turned desperate.

"Please—please! You don’t have to kill me! Just imprison me for your own use—seal me—anything but—"

The vines tightened. The fire burned deeper. The beak ripped faster.

Aksai didn’t say a word. He didn’t bargain. He didn’t threaten. He didn’t feel pity.

He simply let his Aether Wisp do its job.

The ghost’s screams soon turned thin. His form became so faint that parts of his cloudy body drifted away like dust in the wind. The Verdant Elder pulled in the last remnants of the gray fog with one final burst of suction.

It was finally over.

The storm inside the beast’s mouth faded. The vines relaxed. The fire dimmed.

Within just a minute or two, the ghost was gone—completely consumed.

The Verdant Elder let out a low, satisfied rumble as it sank back into the Aether Essence Sea. Aksai watched it disappear beneath the glowing surface, feeling the ripples of new strength settle into the depths of his soul.

And Aksai knew it clearly at this point. His Aether Beast was far more deadly than he had imagined. What was even more surprising was the fact that Aksai’s Aether cultivation had improved by leaps and bounds after devouring the soul of a Spirit cultivator who was close to breaking into the Nascent Soul realm.