Chen Zhe peered through the fog but he could not see. The mist clung to the air like a thick spectral veil shiftings and curling alive. He felt his senses acutely alert but nothing he could see or perceive helped his enhanced vision cut through the unnatural gloom.

The skull in his bag suddenly spoke, the voice low and measured carrying the weight of eternity with it. "Boy, are you lucky? To get to meet a death spirit before heading home? Hehehe, fate's got something prepared for you, whether you like it or not."

The skull laughed, its voice warping into a crazed giggle. "Finally, After seeing you munch on all sorts of things. I finally get to eat something for once." The glee in the skull voice sent shivers down Chen Zhe's spine. "Use your qi gently to capture it. Quickly go now, before it fades to nothingness."

Chen Zhe furrowed his brow. He concentrated his qi as he had been told reaching out with his enhanced senses toward the dim flickering figure moving through the mist. At first, it was elusive drifting like a whisper of smoke just beyond his reach but after chasing it for hours from running through rocky paths to leaping over fallen trees and twisting through narrow trails. The skull found all of this as a highly entertaining show.

"Ha ha ha. Run, brat, run faster.. The great Chen Zhe, the cultivator of fate, legacy was now reduced to a clumsy mortal chasing ghosts like a bird chasing after its food. Oh, how delightful is this. Maybe I should call you Ghost Chaser from now on.. Ha ha ha!"

"Shut up and help me by being quiet." Chen Zhe growled.

"Oh, I am helping!! I am helping by laughing because who needs motivation when you can just laugh at yourself in your current state."

The death spirit was an eerie sight. It was transparent but had a deep black hue like ink spilled into clear water. It did not have a defined shape only a shifting silhouette of a humanoid form drifting aimlessly. Death spirits were remnants of cultivators who had perished without a proper burial or purification, a technique used to erase all traces of their past. These lost souls roamed mindlessly unaware and unsensing only moving as instinct guided them.

Death spirits only survived for longer than a week in extremely rare cases. The whole existence of these beings was short-term; they were only meant to last until dawn at the faint pale light, when they'd dissolve into nothingness. Having one around signified something was amiss, unnatural. Because the skull was more of a spiritual being than a physical one, the skull decided to use the death spirit to recover some of it's lost power, regular people thought these creatures in little value only the demonic magic practitioners and lowly sect members who would do anything to capitalize on forbidden knowledge and increase their strength will use this technique.

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It took Chen Zhe three sweaty hours of labour but finally he managed to catch the spirit. Perspiring streaks dripping down his face, he shut the writhing heap of dark energy in his qi-enfolding hands. "Have these." he hurled it towards the skull.

A soft groan in a laugh like sigh swallowed the spirit down in one sinuous motion in which the skull hovered a little in the air. No human bite was in evidence merely some odd force of tugging as the spirit of death slipped down into cracks of the fiery skull.

A moment of silent air.

Then the skull let out an exhilarated, bone-chilling laugh. "Ohhh ohh, it was refreshing. I feel like a brand new skull. Haha, Do I look younger to you now? Maybe I've regained some of my lost charm already?"

Chen Zhe scoffed. "You're a skull. You don't have any charm."

"Churlish, but never mind. You don't understand these things." The skull twisted slowly as if it was stretching. "Now, listen to me, brat. That death spirit up there was no trivial matter. It was not the ghost of one who lived and died in a common place. That's a pretty anomalous thing in itself. To become a death spirit, a mortal must begin with having quite a bit of spirituality, about which most ordinary souls are sadly, sadly very lacking and you will know what is the consequence."

Chen Zhe's expression grew somber. "Somebody is killing ordinary people in such a manner that it is causing death spirits."

The skull chuckled low, wickedly. "Right and that means something far nastier is behind all of this Or maybe it can just be a rogue cultivator? A forbidden rite? Or, better still a secret sect playing games in the shadows with souls like playthings. Isn't that exciting for you?!

"No, That is the most terrible thing. I have heard.." Chen Zhe whispered.

"Pfft! You say that now but when you're get deep into the blood and mysteries, you'll thank me for keeping you sharp. Now listen, if you find more death spirits, wake me up with your qi. I need to digest this one fully first."

Chen Zhe sighed and kept walking the way after keeping the skull in his bag. The night stretched out before him, timeless and silent with the stars shining in the sky. As the fog had cleared up, his mind remained murky with distress. As he pushed forward, the land around him became more barren. The heavy forests thin up to ground with sharp rocks and some old decaying buildings.

He chanced upon an old decaying building. The wooden walls were splintered from the wear, the now half collapsed roof and the vines coiled around its remains like time's grasping fingers.

Chen Zhe took a deep breath and decided to rest there for the night.

As he stepped inside, the skull suddenly chuckled one last time. "Sweet dreams, brat. I do hope nothing else lurks in the dark tonight. He he he…"

Chen Zhe sighed. He really hoped so too.