Bai Feng couldn’t sense the nature of that tiny bit of black qi, nor was she entirely certain that the problem lay with it. She instinctively felt something was off about the black energy, and aside from that, she couldn’t figure out why Shui Miao had said what he did.
Shui Miao didn’t continue speaking.
Suddenly alert, he realized he had already spoken too much in a moment of verbal indulgence.
That black qi was a small amount of Soul Devouring Force he had cultivated earlier. He had wanted to use this opportunity to test whether this force could destroy the formation inside the demon-capturing golden bowl. That was all. In his heart, he still held a sliver of hope toward the millennium female ghost and the Spirit General, hoping they regarded him as more than just a pawn. Of course, being used as a pawn wasn’t entirely bad—it brought certain benefits, such as receiving some help and learning some techniques, like this Soul Devouring Force.
Seeing Shui Miao close his eyes and fall silent, Bai Feng wisely kept quiet, deciding instead to personally check what changes had occurred with the demon-capturing golden bowl.
Shui Miao waited for more than half an hour, yet there was still no sound or movement.
“Could the Soul Devouring Force be ineffective?”
Shui Miao felt perplexed and began to grow anxious.
Before long, Bai Feng returned, her face brimming with barely contained excitement: “It seems we’ve stumbled upon another treasure!”
“What do you mean?” Shui Miao quickly sat up.
Bai Feng paused, “I can’t explain it clearly right now. Let’s wait and see.”
With that, she vanished once more.
“…”
Shui Miao felt a slight embarrassment. Was she retaliating against him for ignoring her just now? How could Bai Feng, a female ghost hundreds of years old, still act like a petty young girl throwing a tantrum?
The train carriage was very quiet, with many people already asleep.
The girl in the miniskirt, feeling stomach pain and thinking she had caught a chill, covered herself with a blanket and changed into long pants. She curled up on the bunk bed enduring the dull ache.
Because of the silence, Shui Miao didn’t want to disturb anyone by making a phone call.
“Alright, let me try sensing with my spiritual awareness.”
He muttered to himself. Because he feared being pursued by the Yu Xu Sect from the Immortal Realm, he had been hesitant to use his spiritual awareness. But now, he decided to use it briefly to check the status of the Soul Devouring Force. Sitting cross-legged in meditation, Shui Miao expanded his spiritual awareness and immediately sensed information across a wide area.
Inside the train, besides all sorts of people, there were also many ghosts and spirits, along with some cultivators with minor abilities.
Inside the carriage where the monk was seated, only the elderly monk Master Wu Bian possessed magical power. Shui Miao even sensed that the spiritual energy within his dantian was golden in color, though it appeared merely as a cloud-like golden essence. He had not yet mastered the ability to condense and manipulate the energy of the metal element. The demon-capturing golden bowl was held by a monk and covered with a green cloth bag. Bai Feng stood nearby, carefully observing any changes within the bowl. Master Wu Bian sat in meditation with his eyes closed, yet his hand tightly gripped the nine-ringed staff, as if fearing that someone might attempt to steal it.
Wait…
As Shui Miao focused his spiritual senses, he suddenly detected that the nine-ringed staff was hollow inside, concealing a very unique aura. This aura shared a common trait with the Wood Holy Spirit and the Yin Holy Spirit—it was extremely pure, yet unfathomable. Could this be the Metal Holy Spirit?
Shui Miao was somewhat incredulous. According to the middle-aged scholar’s words, Holy Spirits were the primal essence of yin and yang and the five elements, extremely rare. Many cultivators searched their entire lives without ever encountering one. The probability of encountering such a spirit was incredibly low. Yet, after just learning about the existence of Holy Spirits, he had repeatedly discovered one after another. Was this really just coincidence, or was there some other reason?
The word “conspiracy” briefly flashed through Shui Miao’s mind.
Impossible. The middle-aged scholar was so powerful, a true recluse of the world. For someone of his cultivation level, finding the Holy Spirits of yin and yang and the five elements must be very easy. He had no reason or motive to use me. To him, I’m probably just a small-time cultivator with decent fortune and a sense of righteousness. He might have taken in countless cultivators like me, nurturing us to help him accomplish great deeds in the future. That such a recluse would take notice of me is a blessing from countless lifetimes. How could I even dare to doubt him? That’s truly inappropriate.
Shui Miao dismissed his suspicions of the middle-aged scholar.
Then, the Metal Holy Spirit hidden inside the nine-ringed staff must be obtained by any means necessary.
Shui Miao already possessed the Water Holy Spirit. The Feng Shui Ruler contained the Wood Holy Spirit, and he had recently acquired the Yin Holy Spirit from the Ghost Mother. Now, he had discovered the Metal Holy Spirit. These rare Holy Spirits of heaven and earth had appeared in such a short time. He couldn’t help but wonder if he had unknowingly obtained the Purple Holy Spirit long ago. Otherwise, how could his luck be this good?
Another lingering question in Shui Miao’s mind was the origin of his Water Holy Spirit. How had he obtained it in the first place?
※※※
Bogged down by many doubts, Shui Miao unconsciously extended the time he spent using his spiritual awareness.
Suddenly and silently, a young man in a white Taoist robe appeared inside one of the train carriages. The young man was dignified and imposing, with a token hanging from his waist engraved with the characters “Ling Xu.” In an instant, he transformed into a thin-faced middle-aged Taoist priest. The token transformed into a gourd of wine, and he slung a sword over his back, stroked his mustache, and smiled as he strode toward the carriage where Master Wu Bian was seated.
Shui Miao, while his spiritual awareness was expanded, didn’t sense the Taoist priest’s arrival.
Suddenly, Shui Miao sensed the demon-capturing golden bowl suddenly releasing a large amount of black qi.
What’s going on?
Shui Miao snapped back to reality and quickly focused his spiritual senses. He discovered that the formation inside the demon-capturing golden bowl had suddenly been destroyed. The Soul Devouring Force he had previously sent in had grown significantly stronger. What was once only the size of a grain of rice had now expanded to the size of a soybean. Demons and spirits were now escaping from the bowl, scattering in all directions.
Master Wu Bian suddenly opened his eyes and looked anxiously at the demon-capturing golden bowl.
At that moment, the middle-aged Taoist priest, who had transformed from the youth, swung his sword and began slaying the demons and spirits right inside the carriage.
Seeing the middle-aged Taoist priest, Bai Feng grabbed the black snake demon that had just escaped from the golden bowl and quickly dodged away. Bai Feng, a female ghost who had survived in the mortal world for centuries, naturally had her own survival rules. If she could sense an opponent’s strength, she would confront them. If she couldn’t sense their strength, then the opponent was definitely a formidable expert, and she should avoid them if possible.
“Hmm? Who is this?”
Shui Miao finally sensed the middle-aged Taoist priest, but his spiritual awareness failed to detect the priest’s cultivation level, which startled him greatly.
The middle-aged Taoist’s aura grew increasingly apparent.
Could he be from the Immortal Realm?
Shui Miao had a sudden realization, got scared, and quickly withdrew his spiritual awareness.
“Shui Miao, it’s bad! A powerful Taoist priest suddenly appeared in the carriage. I suspect he’s an immortal. Let’s hide for now. You be careful!” Bai Feng, holding the black snake demon, flashed to where Shui Miao was. Without waiting for his response, she immediately vanished with the black snake demon, hiding in a grove of trees.
“Trouble!”
Shui Miao immediately regretted his impulsive use of spiritual awareness. But then, he suddenly calmed down, muttering to himself: “What am I getting worked up for? Don’t I have the Five Edicts Stele granted by that super powerful outsider, the middle-aged scholar? Why should I fear this little Taoist priest? Even if he’s a minor immortal sent by the Yu Xu Sect, at most he’s just a scout. How strong could he possibly be? Why not use the divine power of the Five Edicts Stele to kill him and loot whatever treasures he has on him?”
Shui Miao was indeed bold. As a mortal, he actually dared to covet the treasures of an immortal.
“Haha! Little demon, where are you running!”
The middle-aged Taoist priest brandished his sword and chased after a fox spirit that had just escaped from the demon-capturing golden bowl.
Bai Feng had said that the demon-capturing golden bowl would dissolve the black snake demon into a puddle of liquid within an hour, and that was no lie. However, the golden bowl also had the function of suppression. As a monk, Master Wu Bian was compassionate and refrained from senseless killing. Although he liked capturing demons, he never killed them recklessly. He always suppressed the evil spirits inside the golden bowl, releasing them only after their malevolence had been subdued. If Master Wu Bian fully activated the formation within the golden bowl, he could kill any captured demon within half an hour.
At this moment, Master Wu Bian suddenly blocked the aisle with his nine-ringed staff, his face filled with fury. Spotting the middle-aged Taoist priest, he swung the golden bowl fiercely toward him. The Taoist priest was taken aback and quickly pierced the golden bowl with his sword, pointing at Master Wu Bian and shouting, “Old monk, why are you throwing things at me?”
“Despicable! Wicked Taoist demon, you dared to use demonic arts to break the formation within our temple’s treasure—the demon-capturing golden bowl. Today, even if heaven may forgive you, I will not!” Master Wu Bian was furious. His spiritual senses told him that among all the people on the train, only this sudden appearance of a Taoist priest possessed high-level magical power. Who else could have broken the golden bowl’s Golden Qi Malevolent Formation? Immediately, Master Wu Bian waved his hand, “Seize this evil Taoist and make him compensate for the damage to the golden bowl.”
Upon Master Wu Bian’s command, more than twenty young monks seated in the carriage sprang into action and seized the middle-aged Taoist priest.
As the Taoist priest was about to use magic to escape, Shui Miao entered the carriage.
He had come for Shui Miao, intending to approach him in disguise as an ordinary person, gather some intelligence, and then capture him.
Now that Shui Miao had appeared, he immediately abandoned his idea of using immortal power.
“Stinky evil Taoist, I’ll teach you to be evil!”
As the Taoist priest hesitated for a moment, a young monk, somehow acquiring a woman’s underwear from somewhere, suddenly struck the Taoist priest on the head with it. Women’s underwear was extremely inauspicious. This strike caused the Taoist priest’s immortal energy to become chaotic, making it impossible for him to perform any immortal techniques.
Immediately after, punches and kicks rained down on him like hailstones.
His precious sword was seized by another monk and handed over to Master Wu Bian.
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