Chapter 65: Roaring Abyss Wind and Thunder

Che Ning walked out of the Ink Pool Forest, gazing from afar at a distant cliff, deep in thought. “Song Yesheng…”

“Shao and Song, in my previous life, did not appear in my sect. Logically, they can actually be ruled out as suspects…”

But now, the uncertain factors before him were simply too many.

He was seriously considering whether it would be more secure to kill this junior brother…

“Forget it…”

“Che Ning” pondered for a moment, his eyes narrowing.

“Recently, I’ve killed too many suspicious disciples in the sect. Better to hold off for now. If the elders notice, it will always be unfortunate.”

“Now that the Shame of the True Brush is in my possession, the remaining spiritual energy in the Wandering Scroll shouldn’t last much longer.”

An ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator would absolutely not possess enough spiritual energy realm to maintain the operation of a small world, but the Wandering Scroll was somewhat special.

Now that the spirit brush had changed owners, in a short while, this painting world would dissipate on its own.

Che Ning secretly felt it was a pity.

After all, it had been painstakingly painted stroke by stroke by a Foundation Establishment senior using spiritual energy. Once the Wandering Scroll fell into his hands, this place would vanish like smoke, everything starting from zero.

“Wu Zheng…”

He mouthed another name.

“If this time, Wei Dao still dies…”

“Then this person is also a suspect.”

“…”

Now that the ink treasure was in hand, “Che Ning” felt relieved, his thoughts clear.

“To the Eastern Abyss Sect, I have already done my utmost. If fate is hard to resist, I can only flee far away…”

…

Below Wind Moon Cliff, Song Yan and the other two were facing a paper puppet.

Clang!

The Untethered Vessel shot through the air, pinning the paper puppet to the wall. The blade edge pierced several inches below the puppet’s neck.

“Wind…”

“Thunder…”

The paper puppet had no intelligence. When the talisman’s vital point was suppressed, its spiritual energy would go silent.

Moreover, the three had encountered three or four paper puppets along the way, and the vital points were actually not much different, making them extremely easy to deal with.

Perhaps it was because the paper puppet’s master had been dead for many years.

“Life Breath!”

Wooden branches grew and spread from the ground, and small purple flowers bloomed on the branches.

At first glance, it was beautiful.

But these flowers bloomed more and more densely, covering the paper puppet’s entire body.

“Withering.”

The spiritual light on the paper puppet gradually merged into the petals. The petals continued to bloom, and eventually fell from the branches.

In place, only a flowering tree remained. On one of its branches hung a shattered paper talisman and a middle-grade spirit stone.

Such a beautiful spell…

No matter how many times he saw it, Song Yan felt that Wu Huaguo’s wood-attribute spell was executed quite beautifully.

But the more beautiful, the more dangerous.

Thinking of the White Jade Dew in Peach Blossom Wharf, Song Yan subconsciously scratched his forehead.

Now, the Wu and Rong couple and Song Yan were already familiar with each other’s basic offensive methods.

According to Wu Huaguo herself, she cultivated a wood-attribute cultivation method called the “Compassion Flower Understanding Scripture,” and her main techniques were all recorded within.

Rong Xiaofeng was an insect cultivator, commanding spiritual insects in battle.

This style originated and flourished in other regions, but was quite rare in the State of Chu.

However, the abilities of spiritual insects were bizarre and hard to distinguish. Small insects were like flowing sand, difficult to resist.

Spiritual insects mostly fed on spiritual energy. If sky-filling spiritual insects invaded every crevice, devouring a protective spiritual garment would take but an instant.

“…”

Song Yan was already thinking about how he would respond if this couple suddenly attacked and joined forces against him.

Himself, plus Xiao He.

Under the Town-Dao Sword Manor, a sword essence remained unexpressed.

Even if he couldn’t win, running away should still be possible.

While Song Yan here was worried, the Wu and Rong couple were even more on edge.

They thought to themselves, how could this Song-surnamed cultivator, merely an outer disciple at the fifth level of Qi Refining, possess such exquisite sword control skills?

When dealing with a paper puppet earlier, he could even simultaneously control a flying sword and a sword energy, single-handedly achieving basic suppression of the puppet.

“Could it be that disciples from major sects, even ordinary outer disciples, possess this kind of strength?”

As cultivators from a small family, the two couldn’t help but feel a sense of melancholy in their hearts.

This trip, the three had harvested five middle-grade spirit stones in total. Song Yan took two, and the couple took three.

“This black cloud above the cliff obscures the sky and sun. There might be some treasures up there.”

Without delay, they immediately climbed the steps to the cliff top.

“…”

From afar, the three gazed out, finally grasping the overall appearance of this painting world. Below the abyss were swirling clouds and mist. Between the mist were three massive valleys and peaks.

The mountain bases were shrouded in thick clouds and mist, looking much like floating islands.

What none of the three had expected was that this cliff top actually connected to another valley.

“Has someone been here?”

“Probably not.”

Rong Xiaofeng looked around. “If someone had been here, they would probably have descended the way we came.”

Wu Huaguo didn’t pay attention to these things, just felt somewhat disappointed. This place was empty, with nothing at all.

Only a broken stone stele remained.

Wind Moon Cliff.

“What’s that?”

Song Yan looked in the direction Wu Huaguo pointed. At the very edge of the cliff was a strangely shaped shadow.

Occasionally came the howling of fierce wind, with faint rumblings of thunder.

The clouds parted, revealing a strange rock and a withered tree.

The withered tree grew atop the strange rock, and between its branches, faint golden lightning flickered.

“A spiritual essence?!”

Song Yan was startled.

But in his heart, he had already begun to calculate.

Previously learning that various spiritual essences could enhance his Sword Dao seed, he had naturally studied many related texts.

In the cultivation world, apart from various named and extremely unique spiritual essences, all others had no fixed form.

For example, though Song Yan couldn’t name the object before him, he could sense the pure and surging dual wind and thunder spiritual energy contained within.

Actually, before coming here, he had thought that the spiritual essence left by this senior would most likely be fire-attribute.

That would be greatly beneficial if he later resumed the path of alchemy.

However, being able to possess one was fortunate enough.

Right now, enhancing the Sword Dao seed was the proper business.

Rong Xiaofeng also naturally saw that this was the thing Song Yan wanted, and immediately spoke. “Fellow Daoist Song need not worry. Go ahead and collect it yourself.”

Wu Huaguo nodded. “This place is secluded. There should be no interruptions.”

To put Song Yan at ease, the couple even stepped back several zhang, almost returning to where they had climbed up.

Their journey of mutual wariness had let Song Yan know that this couple was probably not murderous thieves after wealth.

But to be cautious, he still divided his attention. As he walked toward the withered tree, he secretly watched their movements.

“Xiaofeng, he still seems very wary of us.”

Wu Huaguo said calmly, “A sect disciple, with formidable strength, has no intention of harming others, but also keeps his guard up.”

“Compared to those prodigal sons in the family, he truly surpasses them by far.”

A faint melancholy rose from the bottom of her heart.

“The Wu clan has much to rebuild.”

Rong Xiaofeng shrugged. “The cultivation world devours people without spitting out their bones. This kind of person is rare indeed.”

“Try our best to be on good terms with him.”

At this moment, Song Yan had already reached the withered tree.

“Truly worthy of being a ‘spiritual essence’…”

He saw that beneath the wind and thunder, the withered tree was sprouting.

He was about to store it in his cosmic bag, but found his spiritual energy sank like a stone into the sea.

“It won’t work?”

Song Yan stood frozen in place.

Spiritual essences, in plain terms, were manifestations of spiritual energy so pure they had reached the extreme, and could naturally be stored in a cosmic bag.

For one like the withered tree before him that possessed a “carrier,” it should theoretically be even more convenient.

But now he actually couldn’t store it in his cosmic bag…

For a time, he couldn’t figure it out.

Frowning, he simply planted the Untethered Vessel at his side and sat cross-legged.

From afar, he transmitted his voice to the couple: “Please be patient. This spiritual essence is unusual. I need a moment longer.”

Fortunately, directly refining a spiritual essence into the Sword Dao seed didn’t take much time, about the time it took to burn one incense stick.

The prerequisite was no interruptions.

However.

What he feared came to pass.

From the peak of another valley, between the clouds and mist, three cultivator figures emerged.