Chapter 4915 — The Defect of Devouring

"And a good thing it was, too—otherwise, kid, you could never have held out this long, much less lasted until I could use the Eight Directions Spirit Binding. We'd have been done for, really done for, at the hands of that thing." The ghostly thing gave a chuckle, then abruptly another vast, crushing pressure descended upon the head of the wraith's primordial spirit. "Behave yourself," it said coldly, "or you die."

"Behave... behave..." The wraith's primordial spirit, pinned so it could not stir, dared not offer the slightest resistance.

"Speak. Why did you attack us?" the ghostly thing asked in a low voice.

"Eat... eat..." the wraith's primordial spirit stammered.

Wei Zhao was taken aback at this, and at once asked with his spiritual sense as well: "You wanted to devour my primordial spirit?"

"Yes... all who come in must be eaten..." The wraith's primordial spirit admitted it outright.

"Heh, so you're a glutton." Wei Zhao shook his head, speechless. By now he understood completely: this Thunder Burial City was the lair of the wraith's primordial spirit, and whoever broke in—thunder-type spirit beasts or human cultivators alike—was to it nothing but food delivered to its door. And if it could not feed continuously, this wraith's primordial spirit would steadily weaken, until it wasted away and perished altogether.

"All right, the matter's clear enough now. Whether this thing lives or dies—you make the call," the ghostly thing said in a tone of complete indifference.

"You want me to decide?" Wei Zhao started, glanced at the trembling wraith's primordial spirit, and shook his head. "Killing it gains us nothing, does it? It might even set off some strange reaction."

"You've thought it through quite neatly, kid!" The ghostly thing chuckled in agreement. "Still, your misgivings aren't entirely groundless. This thing may be dim-witted, but it is the master of Thunder Burial City after all. Whether wiping it out would trigger some chain reaction—that's genuinely hard to say."

"True enough. But we can't just let it off so easily either. It struck me with all those lightning bolts—a grown living man nearly charred crisp inside and out—so at the very least it owes me some medical expenses." A sly, amused curve crept to the corner of Wei Zhao's mouth.

"Medical... expenses... what is that..." the wraith's primordial spirit suddenly asked.

"Heh, this thing has a thirst for knowledge?" Wei Zhao could not help but smile at that.

When he had first learned of the wraith's primordial spirit, his heart had been seized with utter dread—even the ghostly thing had been at its wit's end—and afterward he had been struck by lightning until he was as wretched and bedraggled as a stray dog. But now that the thing was completely subdued, the whole impression had changed flavor entirely: it no longer seemed fearsome, but rather like a child just awakening to reason—quite amusing, in fact.

At this moment, because the ghostly thing was no longer deliberately crushing it, the wraith's primordial spirit, though much weaker than before, had at last stabilized, maintaining the form of a thunder dragon.

Judging by what the ghostly thing had said, the thing's original primordial spirit must in all likelihood have been a thunder dragon to begin with—only an existence of such overwhelming power could, after its fall, leave behind a primordial spirit capable of devouring the primordial spirits of other thunder-type spirit beasts and thus growing step by step to this astonishing state.

"Medical expenses... I give medical expenses..." The wraith's primordial spirit seemed to have grasped something. It pointed all around, stammering: "These... all for you..."

"Oh?" Wei Zhao swept a glance around him and was instantly struck dumb, his expression a spectacle to behold.

Only now did he have the chance to properly survey this legendary Thunder Burial City. With the wraith's primordial spirit no longer shrouding everything in its heavy mist, all that surrounded him could be seen clear as day.

In Wei Zhao's original imaginings, even if the place was not carpeted with Nourishing Mystery Grass, it should at least have been possible to find some with ease. But now, after one look around, his heart sank straight to the bottom of his stomach.

This was a barren wasteland through and through—not a blade of Nourishing Mystery Grass to be seen, not even a single weed. Everywhere he looked was bleached white bone. The so-called Thunder Burial City was merely a prettified name; in Wei Zhao's view, "mass grave" would have been far more apt.

"You're saying you'll give me these bones as medical expenses?" Wei Zhao looked at the wraith's primordial spirit, caught between laughter and tears.

"Yes... not finished eating..." the wraith's primordial spirit answered promptly. What it meant was that some residual primordial spirits still clung to them, which it had not fully absorbed and merged, and so it had naturally handed them over. To it these were likely its most precious possessions—in a sense, this wraith's primordial spirit was actually quite generous.

Unfortunately, Wei Zhao had no use for such generosity. If among these corpses there had been powerful thunder-type spirit beasts that had died only recently, they might have held some value for him. But the ones before him—perhaps because of the thunder burial—had long since lost flesh and hide, the great majority reduced to bleached white bone. They were of little use whether for alchemy or artifact forging, and could only be reckoned as chicken ribs—meat too scant to be worth the chewing.

Wei Zhao casually collected a few of the finest thunder-type spirit beast remains, things like thunder dragons and lightning eagles. It cost him no effort at all—a single thought and they went into the jade pendant's space. Even if they were chicken ribs, he would take them; better than going home empty-handed.

"Ah, a wasted trip." Wei Zhao sighed helplessly. He had not caught so much as a glimpse of half a stalk of Nourishing Mystery Grass, and had instead taken a gratuitous lightning thrashing from the wraith's primordial spirit—truly suffering for nothing.

"Count your blessings, kid. Say nothing else—the lightning power within you has surged ahead by leaps and bounds, far surpassing ten years of your own bitter cultivation. That boon is hardly inferior to Nourishing Mystery Grass. It's I who've truly lost out this time, down to my last scrap—not a scrap of gain, and my vital essence badly depleted for nothing!" The ghostly thing gave a bitter laugh.

"Senior, since this thing can grow strong by devouring the primordial spirits of other thunder-type spirit beasts, surely you could do the same?" Wei Zhao said, struck by a sudden inspiration.

"I could, yes—but do I look like I've got water on the brain?" The ghostly thing curled its lip in disdain.

"What do you mean?" Wei Zhao asked, puzzled.

"If I devoured other primordial spirits wholesale, of course I could swell as swiftly as it did—I could even swallow it whole in one gulp. But by then I would no longer be myself; I'd be the next dim-witted wraith's primordial spirit. Understand?" the ghostly thing said, speechless.

"That serious?" Wei Zhao was slightly startled. As he understood it, a primordial spirit was like true qi—a form of energy—and being energy, it ought naturally to be replenished in this most direct of ways. He had never expected such a result.

"Every independent primordial spirit carries its own will and memories. They can be slowly refined, true, but some trace will always remain. Once or twice, perhaps nothing shows. But devour as much as this thing has, and at best you split into warring selves; at worst your spirit regresses into mindlessness. So tell me—if I did that, wouldn't I be the one with water on the brain?" The ghostly thing chuckled.