Chapter 241 - 238: Spirit Beast Token and a Perfected Person Takes Action
Chapter 241: Chapter 238: Spirit Beast Token and a Perfected Person Takes Action
「In a remote Spirit Medicine Garden of the Flying Snow Sect.」
Long Jie’s expression was solemn. As he continuously poured in Magical Power, the Breaking Charm in his hand emitted a piercing, blood-red light. It finally transformed into a Blood Shadow and shot into the Array enveloping the Spirit Medicine Garden below.
The next moment, a violent tremor shook the area for several thousand zhang around the Spirit Medicine Garden.
With the Spirit Vein’s position shifted, the Array that relied on it naturally shattered in an instant.
The light from the Spirit Medicine Garden’s Array dissipated, revealing its interior.
The entire Spirit Medicine Garden, nearly a thousand mu in size, was empty, except for a small, gold-and-silver-colored tree planted in the very center.
This small tree was only about a foot tall, standing straight and completely bare. It didn’t have a single branch or leaf on its trunk—a true ’bare stick’!
But upon seeing this small tree, unconcealable joy filled Long Jie’s eyes. This ’bare stick’ was the very Spiritual Object he had been dreaming of day and night!
However, before he could take this Spirit Tree, he needed to deal with the person guarding it.
Long Jie’s gaze fell on the old woman beside the small tree. "You’re Leisha, aren’t you? I’ve come for this tree. You should step aside obediently, lest you lose your life!"
The old woman stared at Long Jie in the sky and let out a self-deprecating laugh. "You even know who I am. It seems the mole didn’t just sabotage the Sect’s Arrays, but told you everything about us. Just who is this traitor?"
As a Core Formation Sect, the Cultivators of the Flying Snow Sect were no fools.
They had double redundancies in place, both at the core of the Arrays and with the guards, to ensure the Sect Protection Array would not fail.
Normally, it would be difficult to shut down the Sect Protection Array like this, even with a mole cooperating from the inside.
But now, of the Sect’s two Core Formation Masters, one was dead and the other incapacitated.
For safety’s sake, Shi Yutong had ordered all Cultivators outside the Sect to retreat back inside.
This threw the Flying Snow Sect into chaos, giving the mole a chance to shut down the Sect Protection Array amidst the turmoil and triggering the current invasion by Loose Cultivators.
Leisha stood guard in the Medicine Garden, her heart filled with worry for Shi Yutong’s safety.
"With your strength, you’re no match for me. I advise you not to throw your life away!" Long Jie snorted, ignoring her question and threatening her again.
Leisha laughed freely. "I’ve lived long enough. If you want this Spiritual Object, you’ll have to kill me first!"
Hearing this, a vicious glint flashed in Long Jie’s eyes. "Hmph! You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit. You’re courting death!"
...
Li Ping stood in the void, a hint of helplessness in his eyes.
He had just consecutively killed two Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators: the old man with the triangular face and the white-robed scholar.
The commotion from the battle had indeed attracted the attention of other Loose Cultivators. However, the bolder ones had already gone to the Flying Snow Sect for some "free shopping."
The ones alerted by the noise here were more cautious Cultivators; they sensed the astonishing power of the battle and didn’t dare to investigate just yet.
’I have to find a new spot!’ Li Ping shook his head.
He then took the Storage Bags and the Spirit Beast Pouch from Jia Yi and Jia Er, and stored the two puppets inside a Storage Bag. To his slight disappointment, the black spirit ruler Magical Treasure had exhausted its power in the previous battle and turned to ash.
He had lost another Talisman Treasure!
Fortunately, this Talisman Treasure was one he had snatched from a Demon Cultivator of the Spirit Control Sect, so he didn’t feel too bad about it.
SWOOSH!
Clutching two Storage Bags and one Spirit Beast Pouch, Li Ping transformed into a streak of light and flew off in another direction.
Behind him, Jia San followed closely, carrying the unconscious Xie Xing in one hand and clutching five Storage Bags in the other.
A short while later, estimating that he had shaken off the other Cultivators, Li Ping chose a remote, small courtyard and flew inside.
Satisfied with the courtyard’s layout, he sat down cross-legged.
THUD!
With a grunt of effort, Jia San threw Xie Xing, who was limp as a dead dog, in front of him. He then set down the five Storage Bags in his hand and stood silently to the side, leaning on his sword as he kept guard.
Li Ping casually placed the seven Storage Bags and the one Spirit Beast Pouch to the side, his gaze falling upon Xie Xing before him.
Previously, Xie Xing had tried to lure him out of the city to explore the ruins of the Celestial Skill Sect.
Although after fighting the seven-person gang, Li Ping was now mostly certain that the matter of the Celestial Skill Sect ruins was a scam.
However, after Xie Xing was poisoned and lost his ability to resist, capturing him had been a simple matter.
That was why Li Ping had ordered Jia San not to kill Xie Xing, but to capture him alive and bring him here.
Li Ping planned to perform Soul Searching on him to verify the truth about the Celestial Skill Sect ruins.
After all, there was always an off chance.
The hope was faint, but what if Xie Xing really did know the location of some Celestial Skill Sect ruins!
Li Ping extended his right palm and placed it on the unconscious Xie Xing’s head. A black light gradually emerged from his palm, enveloping Xie Xing’s head.
During the Soul Searching process, the unconscious Xie Xing’s face twisted, clearly in extreme agony.
After a long moment, Li Ping withdrew his right hand and casually tossed a Fireball, incinerating Xie Xing to ashes. A look of disappointment appeared in his eyes.
Just as he had expected, Xie Xing knew nothing about any Celestial Skill Sect ruins.
They knew Li Ping had been inquiring about the Celestial Skill Sect, so they had tailored this scam specifically for him.
But to their surprise, Li Ping was a homebody who remained completely unmoved by the lure of Celestial Skill Sect ruins.
After that, they had the Bai sisters, a pair of "snowman" twins, deliberately approach Li Ping, attempting to seduce him with their beauty and make him stumble badly.
However, even when faced with the rare and beautiful snowman twin girls, Li Ping hadn’t been the least bit tempted.
The composure of a hundred-year-old man was no joke.
And because of that, these people had been lucky enough to live a few more days.
’If I hadn’t been able to resist their beauty and had taken the bait... they would have been fishermen who’d hooked a great shark. These so-called Seven Immortals of the North Pole probably wouldn’t have lived to see today,’ Li Ping thought to himself.
"Seven Immortals of the North Pole..."
However, Li Ping felt that this group of seven huddling together for warmth was somehow familiar.
Shaking his head, Li Ping cast the strange thoughts from his mind and turned his attention to the seven Storage Bags and one Spirit Beast Pouch before him.
He first inspected the Storage Bags left by the seven individuals.
Inside the seven Storage Bags, besides a large sum of Spirit Stones, more than ten Tier Two Dharma Artifacts, and many Pills and Spiritual Materials, there were also some special items.
For example, a batch of Essence Pills that Li Ping had once refined for the Bai sisters was now back in his hands.
Also, in the Bai sisters’ Storage Bags were dozens of pieces of girlish lingerie, but Li Ping wasn’t interested in them. He guessed Yan Liming might like them, though.
Li Ping roughly estimated that the contents of the seven Storage Bags were worth several tens of thousands of Spirit Stones in total.
The bulk of the wealth came from the two Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators—the old man with the triangular face and the white-robed scholar. The other Mid-stage and early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators didn’t have much to their names.
After sorting all the items to be dealt with later, Li Ping’s gaze fell on a bronze-colored token in his hand. Its surface was carved with numerous splendid patterns.
If Li Ping wasn’t mistaken, this should be a Spirit Beast Token.
When Cultivators command Spirit Beasts, they usually place multiple Restrictions on them, like Li Ping does, to ensure their loyalty.
But this method of controlling Spirit Beasts has a fatal flaw.
Once the master dies, the Spirit Beast either dies as well or is freed from control.
Therefore, for Spirit Beasts that are meant to be passed down as an inheritance, the method of using Restrictions is not used. Instead, Spirit Beast Tokens are more common.
This way, even if a Cultivator passes away, they can leave the Spirit Beast Token to someone close to them before their death.
With the Spirit Beast Token in hand, one can decide the life and death of the Spirit Beast, as well as communicate with it, issue commands, and direct its actions.
Of course, besides for inheriting Spirit Beasts, there is another situation where Spirit Beast Tokens are used.
Sometimes, Beast Masters who are skilled at raising Spirit Beasts will sell the beasts they have nurtured.
In such cases, the Spirit Beast Token is sold along with the Spirit Beast to make it easier for the purchasing Cultivator to control it.
Thinking of this, Li Ping infused a trace of Magical Power into the Spirit Beast Token. He immediately sensed a ripple of consciousness coming from the nearby Spirit Beast Pouch.
He knew that this Spirit Beast Token in his hand was used to control the Spirit Beast inside the Spirit Beast Pouch.
’What kind of Spirit Beast is it?’
Curious, Li Ping directly commanded the Spirit Beast inside the pouch to come out.
SWOOSH!
A black shadow shot out from the Spirit Beast Pouch and obediently prostrated itself before Li Ping, its small pair of eyes staring intently at the Spirit Beast Token in his hand.
’Could this be...’
His gaze fell on the faint golden spots scattered across the black shadow’s back up to its head, and a look of astonishment appeared in Li Ping’s eyes.
...
「In the core area of the Flying Snow Sect.」
Led by four Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators, dozens of Foundation Establishment Cultivators were frantically bombarding the Array Shield below.
Inside the Array, the Flying Snow Sect Cultivators fought desperately under Shi Yutong’s command, but gradually, the Array began to show signs of failing and was not far from completely collapsing.
Witnessing this from within the Array, Shi Yutong couldn’t help but look anxious.
And while the fierce battle raged outside, the grand hall was completely silent. Qianxue Master lay on a soft couch with her eyes closed.
The sounds of Magical Combat from outside filtered into the hall, causing her to frown slightly.
’Brother Yun is gone, but I still have Tong’Er.’
’Tong’Er is in danger. I have to protect Tong’Er. I can’t let her be harmed again!’
’You won’t harm Tong’Er!’
Suddenly, Qianxue Master opened her eyes. But at this moment, those picturesque, beautiful eyes were filled with madness and killing intent.
"The Array is about to break! Everyone, put your backs into it!"
Outside the Array, seeing the signs of its imminent collapse, the Loose Cultivators grew excited. It was as if they could already see the Treasures accumulated by the Flying Snow Sect over many years waving at them!
But—
Snowflakes suddenly began to drift down from the sky.
The Loose Cultivators looked up, only to realize it wasn’t snowing at all. It was a snow-white silk ribbon, a thousand zhang long, stretching across and obscuring the sky.
And the snowflakes... they were merely a strange phenomenon created by the ribbon’s influence on the weather.
Witnessing this scene, the faces of the Loose Cultivators present changed instantly. No longer caring about the Treasures within the Flying Snow Sect, they turned without hesitation and fled away from the sect.
But at that moment, the snow-white silk ribbon split into countless bands of light of varying lengths, which coiled around all the Loose Cultivators like slithering snakes, wrapping each one of them up.
Even the four Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators struggled desperately, constantly commanding their Dharma Artifacts to bombard the bands of light.
But in the end, they were all bound.
...
Sensing the intense Spiritual Qi fluctuations coming from the core of the Flying Snow Sect, a look of surprise flashed in Long Jie’s eyes. "Qianxue Master has made her move? I’d better get out of here quickly!"
With that, he transformed into a streak of light and flew away from the Flying Snow Sect.
Behind him, the old woman’s body lay limply on the ground, covered in blood.