The Devil's Cage

Under Kieran's [Tracking] vision, he saw souls floating out of the slashed Viper Sect traitors.

The ghosts weren't similar to those mindless, lost wandering souls but a stronger, more vicious form probably in the ranks of specters.

The moment they appeared, the temperature in the temporary base plummet rapidly. Their slashed bodies even withered off at exponential speed and the ghosts grew stronger as though they sucked off the life essence of their body. They were starting to smell like demons

More importantly, the ghosts knew how to work together.

They didn't flood Kieran like what wandering souls did but surrounded him in all directions.

A sharp irritating wail of death later, their sharp claws were lunging at Kieran's weak points.

Sou Sou Sou!

Air-breaking sounds filled the temporary base. The ghosts were originally translucent in form but when a great number of them gathered, it started to affect the material world.

The translucent waves were rippling around Kieran and it spread out like ripples on the lake, flooding Kieran within a breath.

"Damn it!"

One of the Elders who was still with Perry Kaner saw the scene as well.

He was surrounded by the traitors before but after Kieran killed all of them, he quickly retreated behind Perry Kaner and cautiously looked around.

He and Perry Kaner's heart sank when they saw what happened to Kieran.

The elderly had enough life and battle experience to know something went south, Perry Kaner also related to more matters. Still, none of that stopped the both of them from making a move.

They knew they would be next after Kieran was defeated.

In fact, from a certain perspective, the ghosts' real targets were them, it was just that they didn't expect the ghosts to be this strong.

Aside from that terrifying wail of death, the fact that the ghosts could affect the material world was enough to send chills down their spine and seep into every seam of their body.

But it was still nothing compared to the mastermind hiding somewhere.

The mastermind! The elderly and Perry Kaner were certain that the ghosts were under someone's control.

The Viper Sect may not have expertise in ghosts but they knew a thing or two.

Both of them knew the newly deceased couldn't have formed ghosts of such caliber unless they cultivated a certain secret technique.

Coincidentally, the elderly and Perry Kaner knew of such technique, it was a secret one from a certain sect within the Prairies people.

The technique allowed one to continue living even after the death of their bodies but the consequences were heavy.

Not only will the ghosts be controlled by someone else, but they will also completely lose their minds after a period of time, changing them into mindless puppets under strings. Yet it was the absolute choice for those who wanted revenge after death.

Grudges will always cause one to lose his sanity.

Perry Kaner and the elderly exchanged gaze, they wanted to find out who the mastermind was behind this because this wasn't solely about revenge anymore but their benefits were involved as well.

The mastermind must be nearby!

The surprising fact was that Kieran was taken down by a single wave of attacks, which contradicted his brave image from before by a lot.

It stunned the Elder for a while before reacting to what happened.

"Hurry!"

The Elder signaled Perry Kaner but she shook her head.

Unlike the Elder who just met Kieran, Perry Kaner didn't think Kieran would just die like that after confronting him before.

She was just stating the facts of his strength without mixing any private emotions in her judgment.

The other reason Perry Kaner was willing to wait for another while was because if Kieran was really defeated, she could easily escape the ghosts and the mastermind's encirclement.

So she stayed back and witnessed the amazing scene that unfolded right after.

A sky full of kicking afterimages erupted from Kieran's spot and it was different from the strangeness of [Viper Kick], it was a set of kicking techniques that went for speed.

Kieran pressed his hands on the floor as he switched left and right, spinning his body around with the repeated motion and caused his kicks to reach out in every direction.

His kicking afterimages multiplied from two, four, eight, sixteen… and eventually hundreds of kicks.

Within an instant, the kicking afterimages brought up a relentless air-breaking sound, similar to the great waves at sea, crashing down with a powerful force without pause.

A rising energy stream was formed amidst the kicks.

Kieran lifted his left hand suddenly and a spark of fire was formed with a snap.

BOOM!

[Hundred Violent Kicks]'s powerful energy stream drove [Devil Flame] into the kicks and made the flames bloom like countless fiery lotuses.

The scorching heat waves blasted the area and caused the air to distort.

None of the gathered ghosts could escape the fiery kicks as all of them were sucked into the motion. Transcendent kicks plus the blazing flames rapidly turned the ghosts into ashes.

A couple of [Soul Shards] then dropped from the ghosts.

Kieran quickly jumped back up and grabbed the couple [Soul Shards], most of them were fragments and only two of them were at the cracked rank.

As he landed on his feet after the jump, he dashed towards a corner of the temporary base.

Musou level [Tracking] presented all the tracks and traces clearly before his eyes, even souls.

Woom!

Kieran dished out a kick and swept over the soul figure like a battle axe. It fell out the corner, revealing its transparent body.

The blazing flames burned once more in Kieran's left hand and grew rapidly.

After falling down to the ground and receiving an almost fatal amount of damage, the soul figure let out a terrorizing growl before it drove itself into the ground.

Kieran was faster, as he was not affected by the terrorizing wail, he dished out another kick.

Transcendent kick stunned the soul figure in an instant and dragged its transparent body out which was already halfway into the ground. Its figure started to collapse after the double attack.

The reason why spirit beings were hard to deal with was because of their ability to affect one's mental state and their ability to dive into walls and the ground without a trace.

With an extremely high Spirit attribute, Kieran was least afraid of Spirit authentications, in addition to [Tracking]'s special vision, Transcendent level attacks, and fire elemental attacks that could harm spirits, Kieran was the bane of most of the spirit beings.

Perhaps some special spiritual monster could avoid Kieran's arsenal but definitely not the one before him.

[Devil Flame] was hurled down at the soul figure, increasing the speed of its demise.

As the flame burned it into crisp, a slightly bigger [Soul Shard] appeared in the flames.

[Name: Perfect Soul Shard]

[Type: Gemstone]

[Rarity: Great]

[Attribute: Slightly increase enchanting success rate!]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: Yes]

[Remark: A powerful soul shard! Able to provide extra help to enchanters during enchantment. You do need a higher level of enchanting skills to perfectly utilize it as well!]

...

"An intact [Perfect Soul Shard] can increase enchanting success rate?"

Kieran glanced over the [Perfect Soul Shard] in his hand in shock before turning to the pile of ash.

A cold, gloomy aura was forming rapidly around it, with a sense of familiarity.

One of the stronger ones from the Prairies soldiers!

Kieran was certain of the origins of that aura.

Fuuu!

[Devil Flame] rose up high again in Kieran's left hand as an illusory figure took form from the pile of ash.

The illusory figure had the body and half the face of a man but the other was the face of a spirit monster.

It looked extremely unreal under such an illusion.

"You…"

The figure uttered out a word angrily and was forced to an abrupt stop.

Kieran smashed his fiery fireball down at the figure after charging up.

The illusory figure was crushed like a bubble.