Chapter 258: Ghostly Transformation

Cang Xu was only an iron level, and he was facing gold level enemies.

The gap between their life levels were too high, and it was too difficult for him to resist them.

The formidable spiritual pressure caused Cang Xu to inevitably sink into self-doubt, “To scheme for the benefits Jian Gui on him, I chose to take a risk, was that the wrong choice?”

“Should I be more cautious and not act so radically?”

Cang Xu felt regret.

But soon after, he shook his head and strived to get rid of this defeatist mindset.

He understood that at this crucial juncture, any defeatist feelings would lessen his chances of survival.

In fact, Cang Xu never thought that he’d be in danger. 

In addition, at the time, he had no choice but to board the ghost ship.

If he hadn’t, he would have been chased down by pirates. When Jian Gui and the ghost ship vanished, he would be left behind and turn into the sole target, likely being killed by the mysterious black clothed man in passing.

Calm.

Deep breaths.

Cang Xu forced himself to calm down.

Suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration, “The chances of getting myself out of trouble with these gold level enemies is next to nothing. What I really need to do is learn from Xiao Wang Zi!” 

He coughed a bit, then started talking, “Lord Jian Gui, help me, I need your help!”

Although Jian Gui was not in front of Cang Xu, the entire ghost ship was him. According to Cang Xu’s conjecture, his every movement and word could be sensed swiftly by Jian Gui.

Were that not so, Jian Gui wouldn’t have been able to hear Xiao Wang Zi’s call for help and quickly act on it.

As expected, Jian Gui soon answered Cang Xu, “You need me to help you? Xu Jia.”

Xu Jia was the pseudonym Cang Xu had given in the undead gathering.

Cang Xu candidly recounted his predicament, “You know me, Lord Jian Gui. I just received an advanced soul aspect inheritance, and have three silver level ghosts, my spiritual burden is enormous. I need to use the Burden Alleviation and Karma Reduction spells as soon as possible, but those two spells need a lot of time and practice before I can grasp them. Did you say you had some pertinent magic scrolls? I can purchase them…”

Before Cang Xu could finish, the space in front of him fluctuated.

The fluctuation quickly faded.

A magic book appeared from nowhere.

“This is my secondary magic book, you can borrow it.” Said Jian Gui.

Cang Xu was overjoyed at the unexpectedly good news, he only wanted some magic scrolls and never expected to get an entire magic tome.

“So, the price…” Cang Xu asked again.

Jian Gui interrupted him again, “You can use it first, don’t worry, I won’t extort you!”

Jian Gui’s bearing was just as always and didn’t take the opportunity to ask for a high price.

He could have done so, because Cang Xu at this moment was mentally prepared to bear a high price.

But he didn’t do that.

The magic tome was a conventional type of magic item, similar to magic staves, wands, crystal balls, and more.

But magic books were different from other casting items.

It could be regarded as a collection of an indeterminate amount of magic scrolls.

But magic scrolls would be destroyed upon use, while magic books possessed the ability to be recharged, able to be used a number of times.

The manufacturing cost of magic books differed, it was based on their magical contents, the amount of pages, materials, and so on, leading to the cost range to be quite wide.

With regards to necromancers, their magic tomes were very difficult to buy externally and were normally made by themselves.

Jian Gui was worthy of being a direct descendent of the undead, the book he lent to Cang Xu was merely his secondary book. This indicated that he had at least two magic tomes, the first undoubtedly more exceptional than the second.

Cang Xu opened up the secondary magic tome.

The secondary book’s first spell was the Burden Alleviation spell.

After that there was the same spell four more times.

Then on the fifth page was the Karma Reduction spell.

The pages dedicated to those two spells made up one tenth of the magic tome, this made clear how important they were to a necromancer’s cultivation.

Without any hesitation, Cang Xu immediately poured in some magic power and formed a spiritual link.

Not much magic power was consumed; it was more used as the trigger.

The magic book blossomed with ashen light that enveloped Cang Xu’s entire body.

Afterwards, the spell’s power seeped into Cang Xu’s soul.

First was the Burden Alleviation spell, then the Karma Reduction spell.

Ah, what a wonderful feeling!

Cang Xu groaned a bit.

The enormous spiritual pressure on him was like a sick person carrying a mountain reaching the limits of their stamina as they walked along a precipice, the slightest mistake able to destroy his life and soul.

Now, the heavy weight on him dissipated for the most part, his entire being relaxed, and his illness had been alleviated greatly.

Cang Xu had used ten of the magic book’s pages.

Five Burden Alleviation spells and five Karma Reduction spells.

The former reduced his soul burden greatly and the latter eased the negative energy that eroded Cang Xu’s heart and soul.

After those ten spells, Cang Xu released three silver level ghosts.

He no longer felt dizzy or depressed.

So unstressed.

It seemed as if had another silver level ghost, he’d still be capable of controlling it.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t be used further. 

Cang Xu noticed at after using the ten pages, the pages now appeared to be gray, they need to be replenished with magic power, materials, and other things. They need to be “charged” to be used again.

Of course, forcefully using them wasn’t out of the question.

But doing so would squeeze the magic book and turn it into a disposable item, In the future, even if it was “recharged”, it wouldn’t be charged ever again.

This was not Cang Xu’s magic book, and Cang Xu didn’t intend on killing the goose that lays golden eggs.

He continued to thumb through the magic tome.

Intermediate level Water Ghost Refinement spell. 

This as the content of page 11.

Generally speaking, low level magic was bronze and iron level. Intermediate level was silver and gold level. High level was saint and legend level.

Cang Xu immediately retrieved knowledge from the advanced soul aspect inheritance he had just obtained.

“Intermediate level Water Ghost Refinement spell, it can turn a ghost into a silver level or a gold level water ghost. But the main material needed must be an intermediate level ghost.”

“Furthermore, the ghost lifeform should have abundant water attributes. The more water attributes the ghost bloodline has, the higher the casting success rate of transforming it into a water ghost.”

“The undead bloodlines, most are from the remnants oh what they once were alive, therefore, their living bloodlines usually determined the ghost’s transformation path.”

After looking this up, Cang Xu had an understanding.

“Undead lifeforms have their foundation in life and were made from them.”

“Undead lifeform creation, regardless of whether it is soul, corpse, or bone aspect, must all be in line with the being’s aptitude.”

“One cannot change them as they wish.”

Cang Xu was somewhat restless.

He had three silver level ghosts on hand; they were all intermediate level and suitable for this magic.

But there was one crucial problem.

“Do any of my three silver level ghosts contain water attributes?”

“If they don’t contain a water nature, or have a minimal amount of it, then the refinement spell will likely fail, and even if it succeeds, the transformed water ghost’s battle strength will be quite low.”

“Because this path does not suit its development, and it cannot display its potential from life!”

This problem stumped Cang Xu.

Because this involved bloodline testing, and of the survivors, only Zi Di could barely do it.

It was impossible for Cang Xu to do that under the current circumstances.

“Perhaps the magic tome has a testing magic?” Cang Xu’s heart quivered, and he began to flip through the book.

Ghost Horse Refinement spell.

This was a horse ghost type of transformation magic; after being refined, the ghost horse could become a necromancer’s mount.

Ghost Elf Refinement spell.

The higher the charisma of the undead life form, the greater the chances of success and the stronger it would be.

Hungry Ghost Refinement spell.

Life forms with the Gluttony, Starvation, or similar bloodlines can be refined by this spell after being turned into a ghost.

Frost Ghost Refinement spell, Death Substitute Refinement spell, Shield Bearer Ghost Refinement spell, Poltergeist Refinement spell…

There were many pages of ghostly transformation spells.

The latter part of the magic tome dealt with soul aspect attack, defense, teleportation, and other such magics.

“Nothing that can detect a ghost’s aptitude…” After rummaging through the magic book, Cang XU was somewhat disappointed.

He quickly settled his mind and calmly reflected, “Wrong, the magic tome might not have it, but that doesn’t mean Jian Gui doesn’t have it!”

“Since he has the ghostly transformation spells, then that proves that this field has been studied deeply, it is impossible for there to be no testing magics.”

“Beforehand, Jian Gui saw through me and hew that I had transformed by body somewhat.”

“Furthermore, he also refused my request for a deeper level necromancy inheritance, the reason was my aptitude wasn’t good enough!”

“That proves that he has a method of gauging aptitude!”

When he thought of that, Cang Xu shouted again for Jian Gui’s help.

Jian Gui admitted that he did have this supplementary magic that could determine an undead life form’s aptitude and potential to a degree. However, he couldn’t give it to Cang Xu. Because even a magic scroll could give Cang Xu a glimpse at a few of the magic’s secrets, thereby obtaining crucial enlightenment of its properties.

This was one of the high level core inheritances and needed to be treated very prudently.

Jian Gui wanted to help Cang Xu, Xiao Wang Zi, and the others, but his help was not endless, Jian Gui had a firm bottom line.

Cang Xu sighed, because the feeling of frustration and despair over his unqualified aptitude surfaced in his mind again. 

Therefore, he asked Jian Gui to help him test his ghosts’ aptitudes.

But Jian Gui still declined, “So sorry, currently we need to stay hidden in the Ghost Fog and stall for time. Xu Jia, this magic takes a long time to cast and will draw in a large amount of my spirit, it cannot be concealed and will expose us.”

“Perhaps, you can wait until after this crisis, then I will naturally help you.”

This path was also blocked.

Cang Xu shook his head internally as Jian Gui overruled his final suggestion.

He never entrusted his survival to luck, nor would he be unduly conservative, which would lead to his chances of survival declining.

“These three silver level ghosts must be transformed!”

“Since aptitude can’t be tested, then there’s no harm in switching my angle.”

“Which ghost do I need the most?”

Cang Xu’s eyes twinkled with calmness and wisdom.