Chapter 450 - 73: Black Prison Race Youngling, Item Trade

When a Strong Person dies, their pure soul is inevitably targeted by the self-operating laws of a Divine Kingdom the moment they perish.

Their patron deity will automatically guide their soul into the Divine Kingdom. But what if that Strong Person was faithless?

Then it’s a matter of first come, first served. In short, which deity’s Divine Kingdom a faithless Strong Person’s soul enters depends on the divine sphere of influence where they died.

However, in the Star Empire, due to the Pantheon’s existence, the souls of deceased Strong Persons are mostly distributed among the Divine Kingdoms of various Deities according to detailed pacts, allocated as needed.

In short, the creation of the Undead is an extremely difficult process.

Furthermore, because the Undead are products of negative energy, most normal Deities are averse to Undead Creatures.

After all, negative-energy Spiritual creatures cannot produce Divine Power Crystals for "positive energy" beings like normal Deities.

The relationship between negative and positive energy is akin to that of antimatter and matter.

The two are incompatible.

Moreover, in all its long history, only one God of the Dead has ever emerged in the Star Empire.

From this alone, it’s clear how difficult it is for negative-energy creatures to emerge, let alone a corresponding deity.

As for the emergence of ’Brother Cheng Takes Off’ as the God of the Dead...

...it was partly because he obtained the legacy of the Oakland Continent’s sole God of the Dead, and partly due to vigorous nurturing from the True Game.

Otherwise, under normal circumstances, it would be difficult for Undead Deities to emerge in most worlds.

After all, since Undead Creatures are shunned by other Deities, the emergence of an Undead Deity is likewise shunned by the Mana Will of the Material Realm.

Achieving Ascension to Divinity despite being shunned by the world’s will speaks volumes about the prosperity of the Oakland Continent back when it was under the protection of the primordial Dragon Race.

Furthermore, the Star Empire has conquered many worlds and civilizations over the years.

Yet, it has never discovered a second Undead Deity, which further highlights the difficulty of their emergence.

Therefore, the unique nature of the God of the Dead, ’Brother Cheng Takes Off,’ had long been thoroughly studied by the Star Empire’s research institutions.

Countless academic papers on the Extraordinary paths had already been published, covering the relationship between negative and positive energy on the Idealist Side, the connection between negative energy and the laws of antimatter, the link between positive energy and the laws of matter, and other similar topics.

Yue Xin, of course, knew none of this. After all, he never even had the chance to attend an Extraordinary University back on Blue Star.

However, he was still aware of common knowledge, such as the conditions required for Undead and Ghosts to be created.

Therefore, the instant he saw these so-called Black Prison Spirit Body creatures, he assumed the Black Prison Race were beings similar to Ghosts.

Of course, the Black Prison Race’s form of existence was indeed similar to that of Ghosts.

But there was a fundamental difference.

Yue Xin would come to realize this later.

But for now, he was oblivious to it all.

At this moment, he was desperately trying to control his emotions, pretending not to see the members of the Black Prison Race darting wildly through the village.

In reality, however, he was using the True Game’s interface to constantly read the information panels of the Spirit Bodies that zipped wantonly past him.

[Newborn Black Prison Race]

[Tier: Tierless]

[Ability: 1. Emotion Guidance]

(1. Emotion Guidance - Negative: Through the prolonged gaze and presence of a newborn of the Black Prison Race, the negative emotions within an Intelligent Creature’s mind will be constantly provoked. The most notable characteristics are hot-tempered individuals becoming more irritable, and cowardly individuals becoming more insecure, even to the point of developing suicidal thoughts, and so on.)

[Status: A newborn juvenile of the Black Prison Race with nascent intellect. Its overall power is assessed to be between that of an ordinary person and an individual at Extraordinary Tier Entry. They feed on the negative emotions of Intelligent Creatures, causing immense chaos in the towns and villages of mortal kingdoms wherever they pass.]

The swarm of the Black Prison Race that had descended upon the village were almost all so-called "newborns."

They possessed only a single Ability, but its impact was by no means small.

Yue Xin had no idea how many of these newborn Black Prison Race members had come.

But at present, many of the newborns had begun to search for their own ’host’ individuals.

Clearly, the people of this village had been targeted by the Black Prison Race.

And they were now in the process of selecting their preferred Human hosts.

They would then guide the negative emotions of their chosen Humans, using it as sustenance for their own growth.

Many of the villagers currently rushing home to escape the Rain had already been latched onto by the Black Prison Race.

During this, Yue Xin even saw two newborn members of the Black Prison Race right above the head of his ’father’—who was feeding cattle in the shed by their home—snarling and ramming into each other, fighting for the right of possession.

Yue Xin didn’t dare to move, pretending he couldn’t see the Black Prison Race at all.

But in reality? If he could, Yue Xin desperately wanted to go back inside the house.

Unfortunately, a phantom-like cub of the Black Prison Race was right beside him, sniffing at him over and over.

So, to keep the Black Prison Race cub from noticing anything amiss, Yue Xin could only stare blankly at the scene of his father feeding the cattle in the shed.

Soon enough, Yue Xin’s judgment arrived.

The Black Prison Race cub circled Yue Xin, sniffing him thoroughly like a stray dog.

Finally, it whipped its head around to face him directly.

Their eyes met—one pair vacant and lifeless, the other pair dark and profound.

After a moment, the Black Prison Race cub snarled viciously at him, then, with an expression of utter disgust, it shot up high into the sky.

During this ordeal, Yue Xin noticed that the army of Black Prison Race cubs arrived as quickly as it departed.

Vast numbers of Black Prison Race cubs swept through the village at low altitude like a plague of locusts, then quickly returned to the skies above.

The army of cubs, along with the numerous Entry Tier members of the Black Prison Race and the black storm clearly visible high above, began to sweep off in another direction.

Only then did Yue Xin’s taut body and mind finally begin to relax.

’Does it have to be this terrifying?’

’The character I’m playing is just an ordinary person!’

’If I’d gotten possessed, god only knows what would have happened.’

’If I lost my Player status just like that, all my hope for a comeback would be truly gone.’

As for his mission to kill at least one member of the Black Prison Race...

...Yue Xin felt it was a complete fantasy.

’How is an ordinary person supposed to kill a Spirit Body?’

’Right now, I’m dirt poor and don’t even have a single Bloodline ability.’

’I can’t be expected to kill a member of the Black Prison Race in its spirit form with a dung fork, can I?’

But sometimes, reality has a flair for the dramatic.

Because Yue Xin noticed that after their fight, the creature that had successfully possessed his father—the one now coiled around him—looked utterly exhausted.

Like a phantom snake, it was wrapped around his father, its flickering head resting limply on the man’s shoulder, eyes closed.

Watching this, Yue Xin’s expression was one of pure astonishment.

Because at that moment, Yue Xin had also discovered the weakness of these Black Prison Race juveniles.

Although these creatures were Spirit Bodies, similar to Ghosts...

...and ordinary people couldn’t see or harm them...

...how could they directly threaten the lives of ordinary people either?

The moment he thought of this, Yue Xin looked at the Black Prison Race cub resting on his in-game father’s shoulder, and his expression flickered with an idea.

’Spirit Body creatures are indeed hard for an ordinary person to handle.’

’But as negative-energy beings, they’re naturally countered by positive energy.’

’So, could I maybe use something like a torch to launch a surprise attack and kill it?’

The mere thought of it made Yue Xin’s heart pound in his chest, betraying his resolve.

’A torch is definitely not a sure thing.’

’After all, these things can fly. And this one is wrapped around my in-game father.’

’One wrong move, and I might get my ’old man’ killed in the process.’

Thus, Yue Xin’s mind began to race. He even mentally accessed the main Player forums, starting a search for reliable ways to deal with Ghosts.

It was during this process that Yue Xin also discovered the trading function on the Player forums.

So, very quickly, Yue Xin tapped into his real-world personal savings and successfully purchased a Tierless Enchanted Weapon through the Player forum’s trading system.

Looking at the Enchanted Weapon in his inventory, Yue Xin’s heart began to pound again, despite his best efforts to stay calm.

’This should be a sure thing now!’