Chapter 721: A Great Tragedy (Bonus Chapter Seeking Monthly Votes)
Chapter 721: A Great Tragedy (Bonus Chapter Seeking Monthly Votes)
"Who exactly are you? !"
The Jade Pen Scholar stared at Fang Xi, his gaze falling upon the gently waving seven-colored feather fan in the latter's hand, his heart seizing with alarm. "To think he wields a replica of an Immortal Abode Rare Treasure. . . Even the core true disciples of a Void Amalgamation sect might not receive such treatment. . ."
What terrified him even more was the power of this spirit domain; it had actually cut off the heaven and earth origin energy and suppressed his cultivation, binding him, a peak mid-stage Return to Void cultivator!
"The dead don't need to think too much!"
Fang Xi found this 'Five Fires Seven Birds Fan' quite easy to use. No matter what magical treasure, divine ability, or secret art his opponent unleashed, he just fanned once!
Whoosh!
A true demon phantom appeared behind him, clad in a layer of black demonic armor. Strands of true demon qi flowed once more into the Five Fires Seven Birds Fan, causing the runes on it to glow brightly, and with a backhanded swing, he fanned again!
Seven-colored radiant light emerged, with spiritual birds soaring within, transforming into an enormous light wheel that swept towards the Jade Pen Scholar.
The Jade Pen Scholar felt incredibly stifled, pointing a finger at his head.
Amidst a flash of light from his crown, a chubby, white Nascent Soul, clad in a scholar's robe, appeared.
Before it, a treasure shaped like an inkstone floated, and it abruptly formed hand seals.
The inkstone cracked open, and streams of unique aura emerged, imbued with a grand righteousness that soared straight into the clouds.
"Grand Righteous Qi, Impervious to All Laws!"
The Nascent Soul let out a cold shout, and numerous phantom scriptures appeared around its body. Countless words from the scriptures radiated brilliant light, encasing it entirely like a kasaya.
Pfft!
Immediately after, the seven-colored radiant light slammed into the Grand Righteous Qi.
A portion of the radiant light was annihilated, but accompanied by a long cry from a celestial phoenix, wisps of silver threads emerged within the radiant light.
The seven-colored fire wheel suddenly became even more terrifying, actually tearing through the Grand Righteous Qi and the scripture defense, landing upon a jade pendant that the Jade Pen Scholar had conjured for defense.
Szzzzzt!
This jade pendant was incredibly lustrous, exuding a sense of "a gentleman like jade," clearly a rare treasure. Yet, at this moment, it directly exploded, turning into a pile of ash. . .
The remaining flames, carrying an intense heat, directly scorched the Jade Pen Scholar's dharma body.
Blaze!
The seven-colored fire light engulfed the Jade Pen Scholar.
Immediately after, chains of turquoise light suddenly shot out, drilling into the void like venomous snakes, "dragging" out a Nascent Soul holding a silver talisman.
Fang Xi's figure flickered, and he deftly plucked away the silver talisman. After a glance, he couldn't help but chuckle: "A 'Little Void Teleportation Talisman'? Is this your life-saving trump card?"
This item came at just the right time.
He had just acquired the incomplete legacy of the 'Little Void Teleportation Secret Talisman,' and with this complete version for comparison, the repair process should be faster.
"You can't kill me! I hail from the Jade Family, and the Jade Family is a Void Amalgamation family. . . Our Ancestor is about to arrive in Celestial Brahma City!"
The Jade Pen Scholar's Nascent Soul cried out loudly.
"Ancestor? Then it seems their age must be quite considerable. . ."
Fang Xi stroked his chin. "Never mind. . . I'll see for myself."
He continued to form hand seals, and numerous chains drilled directly into the interior of the Nascent Soul's body, causing the Jade Pen Scholar to scream repeatedly.
Immediately after, a dark green seal character appeared on the Nascent Soul's forehead, and it fainted, its vision going black.
"The Five Fires Seven Birds Fan truly is useful. It poses a significant threat even to late-stage Return to Void cultivators. . . It can be used as a regular magical treasure."
Fang Xi looked at the seven-colored feather fan in his External Avatar's hand, feeling rather satisfied with this practical combat assessment.
Furthermore, he had captured the Jade Pen Scholar's Nascent Soul.
He tossed this Nascent Soul into the Earthly Immortal Spiritual Realm for sealing, and with a flash of silver light, it vanished.
Demonic flames raged around the External Avatar, cleaning up the battlefield once more before it transformed into a streak of light and quickly disappeared into the horizon. . .
Human World.
Within the Earthly Immortal Spiritual Realm.
"Powerful treasures are indeed easy to use, but too many spoils of war get incinerated. . ."
Fang Xi sat cross-legged, beginning to sort through the spoils of war.
The first things he saw, naturally, were the corpses of Old Woman Ning and Old Demon Ji.
These two seemed to have exhausted their lifespans and allowed their Nascent Souls to return to the void, passing away peacefully. Their corpses were perfectly preserved; other than lacking their Nascent Souls, everything was much the same as when they were alive.
Fang Xi first picked up Old Woman Ning's black wooden staff, finding it to be a Six-stage Return to Void Treasure as well. With a slight activation, it could unleash a strange black wind, powerful enough to stir up sand and stones, melt gold and iron, and even corrode souls and bones. . .
"Alas, it's not my style. It'll just be consumables for when I undergo tribulation. . ."
He sighed with emotion, then examined the two corpses. "They weren't body cultivators, but their physiques naturally reached the level of Soul Transformation Body Cultivation. . . If handed over to the Demonic Tree of Primordial Beginning, although it can't refine Soul Transformation-grade wood puppets, it'd be like having two more sixth-stage strongmen. . . And if combined with the 'Spirit Infusion' method I've comprehended, I could indeed refine special Soul Transformation puppets!"
The Five-stage Puppet Spirit Infusion method allows one to infuse array spirits or splintered sub-bodies of Taiyi into puppets, granting them the power to draw upon heaven and earth spiritual energy. RA-no,BES
This way, it could be considered assembling a complete Soul Transformation-grade puppet.
Although. . . using the remains of two Return to Void cultivators to refine merely two Soul Transformation-grade puppets, compared to the low-grade wood puppets that could almost maintain their grand realm before, it certainly seemed like a loss.
But there was nothing for it, and Fang Xi wasn't picky.
The Demonic Tree of Primordial Beginning rustled immediately, its roots dropping down to suspend the two corpses, beginning their transformation. . .
Fang Xi then picked up a completely black storage bag and tried to extend a wisp of his Divine Consciousness into it, indeed encountering resistance.
Within the Earthly Immortal Spiritual Realm, layers of dark green light descended, coiling around the storage bag.
Not long after, a series of crackling sounds rang out.
When he once again extended his Divine Consciousness, everything was unimpeded.
Subsequently, all the items within the storage bag appeared before Fang Xi's eyes.
First, naturally, were the most important Immortal Jades, over a hundred pieces.
Aside from that, there were numerous bloody demonic materials, such as various types of essence blood sealed in jade bottles, corpse materials, and so on. . .
Fang Xi even saw a complete skeleton of a Primordial Ancient Beast; judging by its aura, it should be equivalent to a late-stage Return to Void beast. He wondered how Old Demon Ji had managed to acquire it.
Of course, the most precious item on a high-stage cultivator is often their life-bound magical treasure!
Fang Xi had long since retrieved Old Demon Ji's Return to Void Treasure from his Dantian, discovering it to be three ink-black flying daggers.
As a life-bound magical treasure, any cultivator who refines it, other than its original owner, will permanently lose some of its magical power.
Not to mention, if the artifact spirit within is stubborn, that's even more trouble.
Fang Xi didn't mind. As long as they could eventually maintain their sixth-stage rank, they would all be consumables for his heavenly tribulation. . .
'After Return to Void, a minor heavenly tribulation descends with each small breakthrough. . . While minor heavenly tribulations lack the inner demon tribulation, the lightning tribulation is still terrifying and difficult to handle. . . '
"These two Return to Void cultivators are truly poor. They only had one sixth-stage treasure on them, yet they dared to oppose me?"
Fang Xi was somewhat speechless.
But thinking about it, if they weren't part of the Celestial Brahma Army and weren't forced, perhaps only cultivators who weren't doing well would risk venturing out into unexplored lands.
With such meager assets, it was likely they were accumulated through painstaking efforts like killing desolate beasts, gathering heaven and earth spiritual herbs, and exploring ruins after arriving in the Heaven Brahma Domain. . .
Besides these, there were some pills and jade slips.
As for these two, after Fang Xi thoroughly inspected them, he discovered that some "poison pills" were mixed among the medicinal pills, and some demonic entities were even refined into them.
If a cultivator unknowingly consumed them, becoming qi-deviated would be the least of their worries. . .
'After all, these were stolen goods. . . '
'It's just. . . playing with demonic entities in front of me. . . Hehe. . . '
Fang Xi tossed the black storage bag aside and picked up Old Woman Ning's.
What left him speechless occurred: Old Woman Ning was even poorer than Old Demon Ji. Her storage bag only contained a dozen or so Immortal Jades, and very few sixth-stage rare materials. . .
As for the Jade Pen Scholar, there was even less to say. His treasures were almost completely destroyed by the 'Five Fires Seven Birds Fan,' leaving only over two hundred Immortal Jades, a few sixth-stage spiritual materials, and a 'Little Void Teleportation Talisman,' which was a small consolation.
"As expected, I'll have to perform soul-searching, won't I?"
Fang Xi allowed one of the Demonic Tree of Primordial Beginning's roots to descend, automatically opening to reveal the unconscious Nascent Soul within.
He sneered, his aura rapidly transforming from one of vibrant immortal qi to one teeming with demonic qi.
His entire being's immortal source qi had astonishingly converted into true demon qi!
"When it comes to soul-searching. . . the orthodox path truly isn't as proficient as the demonic path."
Fang Xi murmured, forming hand seals and activating the 'Soul Searching Secret Art' from the 'Myriad Manifestations True Demon Arts. '
Streaks of heavenly demon secret sense continuously drilled into the Jade Pen Scholar's Nascent Soul.
This person's Nascent Soul immediately tightened its small face, revealing various expressions of pain.
Fang Xi naturally ignored it, simply continuing to activate his magic arts.
...
Several months later.
"Cold Spring Merchant Guild. . . Is the Jade Family behind it?"
While controlling two Soul Transformation puppets to cook Jade Pure Rice for himself, Fang Xi murmured to himself.
As a Return to Void cultivator, the Jade Pen Scholar's memories were incredibly vast.
Even though Fang Xi was skilled in heavenly demon secret arts and proficient in soul-searching, he could only abandon much of the miscellaneous content and focus on specific parts.
For example, he now knew that the Cold Spring Merchant Guild had also set up several secret warehouses in the Heaven Brahma Domain, where large quantities of spirit stones and rare materials were hidden.
He wondered why cultivators always lacked a sense of security, loving to have "three burrows for a cunning rabbit."
And if the Cold Spring Merchant Guild were annihilated, and the secret vault's information remained unknown, perhaps it would transform into a new ruin millions of years later, allowing some unknown cultivator to gain a fortuitous encounter. . .
"And this Jade Scholar truly wasn't lying. He is indeed a member of the Jade Family, and the Jade Family also intends to expand into the Heaven Brahma Domain. . ."
Fang Xi's expression became slightly grave, yet also held a strange smile, as if he wanted to laugh but couldn't.
"The Jade Family is a Void Amalgamation family from the Sword Domain. The overlord of the Sword Domain is the 'Sword Pavilion,' a Void Amalgamation sect that has produced one of the Human Race Five Sons. Recently, there's even been a 'Sword Master' who caused a damaged Immortal Abode Rare Treasure sword to resonate, with his cultivation progressing by leaps and bounds. And sword cultivators, you know. . . their conduct is often extremely ruthless."
"Even with Void Amalgamation cultivators, the Jade Family felt a bit constrained, so they wanted to establish a branch family in Celestial Brahma City. . . This was also the result of the Jade Scholar's singular efforts."
"That Void Amalgamation-level Ancestor will soon arrive in Celestial Brahma City to oversee things for a period."
"Having lived for tens of thousands of years, he's practically a living fossil. Now, his lifespan is running out, not more than a thousand years remaining. . . This truly is. . . a great tragedy!"
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