Chapter 76: Mysterious Calamity Bows to Spirit
Two hours later, Song Yan returned to Green Leaf Peak. There were no message talismans at the cave dwelling entrance, suggesting the past few days had been peaceful.
Thinking about it, the Eastern Abyss Sect was vast with over ten thousand disciples, so how could everything concern him?
The feeling of not being watched actually gave him an inexplicable sense of relief.
Since the incident at the Foundation Establishment cave dwelling, many troubles had weighed on his heart like a heavy stone.
He thought about it daily, planned every night.
Not a moment of relaxation.
Now that Shan Zifeng was eliminated, his heart felt free and his thoughts clear.
Even the remaining unfinished matters now seemed unworthy of anxiety.
He sat cross-legged in the cave dwelling, not taking pills, not absorbing spirit stones.
Relying solely on the natural spiritual qi of Green Leaf Peak, he slowly recovered his spiritual energy.
His body was weak at the moment, so it was unsuitable to forcibly absorb spiritual energy.
Although he had Qi Recovery Pills to sustain him during this great battle, the double depletion of spiritual energy and sword qi still left his meridians faintly aching.
This was the manifestation of his body exceeding its limits.
Song Yan occasionally wondered if having a body-tempering cultivation method to strengthen his physical body might help somewhat.
However, the path of body tempering was much more difficult than ordinary cultivation.
He probably lacked the aptitude and mental energy for it.
The Qi Condensing Scroll slowly circulated, its spiritual energy moderate and balanced, perfect for healing his body.
Looking back carefully, he realized he hadn’t actually suffered any injuries in this great battle.
He had prepared for so long and used all his trump cards.
Fortunately, it had been perilous but he had executed his opponent on the spot.
If the opponent had possessed the mental energy to wield a few more powerful defensive magical artifacts, it would have been very dangerous.
Actually, Song Yan had briefly glanced at Shan Zifeng’s cosmic bag.
It indeed contained several offensive and defensive magical artifacts.
However, none could match that small copper bell.
His meridians had recovered to about seventy or eighty percent.
He slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of turbid air.
After being tensed for dozens of days, relaxing now let an irresistible wave of fatigue wash over his mind.
Without resisting, Song Yan fell into a deep sleep.
He slept for five hours.
Upon waking, he washed and bathed, feeling refreshed and invigorated.
He placed all of Shan Zifeng’s belongings on the table and inspected them one by one.
His cosmic bag was different from the ordinary ones Song Yan had seen.
It was somewhat similar to Wang Xi’s from before.
But the patterns on it were different, and they were fiery red in color.
This cosmic bag also had a very large space.
Song Yan first looked at the fiery red copper bell.
In their previous battle, this small bell’s powerful defensive ability had left him secretly amazed.
Unfortunately, this small bell had been shattered by the sword essence, and unless he spent a large amount of spirit stones to repair it, it would be unusable.
Although he couldn’t determine the exact grade of the small copper bell at this point, he guessed it was at least a mid-grade magical artifact.
“What a pity…”
While sorting through other magical artifacts and spiritual items, one thing in the spoils caught his attention.
It was a strange mask.
During the fight, this mask hadn’t appeared on Shan Zifeng’s face.
But when Shan Zifeng died, this mask wasn’t in the cosmic bag—it had fallen beside him.
Later, it was retrieved by Xiao He.
“What is this thing?”
Song Yan had never seen a mask-type magical artifact before.
This mask was very exquisite.
It covered half the face with an armored plate, carved with the image of a fierce ghost face.
A faint blue spiritual light glimmered from the ghost’s mouth and nose.
Looking it over, he found several small characters engraved at the very edge of the mask.
“Mysterious Calamity Bows to Spirit…”
Song Yan was somewhat puzzled.
He began searching through the other miscellaneous items for information related to this mask.
Actually, directly refining it would be fine.
But he still decided to first check if there was any information about this mask.
After all, the mask looked strange, and if it was an item of demonic cultivation, it would be troublesome.
He had heard that some demonic artifacts would affect their host once refined, until death. For such strange items, it was better to be careful.
After searching for a long time, he didn’t find any content about this mask in any jade slips.
However, one thing did catch his attention.
It was an ancient book two or three inches thick.
The cover seemed to be made from some kind of demon beast’s hide, feeling very heavy to the touch.
How could an ancient paper book be in a cultivator’s cosmic bag?
He held it in his hands and examined it carefully.
The side of the ancient book was yellowed and worn, suggesting its previous owners had often flipped through it.
Song Yan opened the cover.
On the center of the first page, written in crooked crimson characters, were the four words “Evil Cultivator’s Records.”
“Looks really evil…”
With the thought of finding clues about “Mysterious Calamity Bows to Spirit,” he flipped through the first few pages.
This seemed to be the experiences and records of a Golden Core realm cultivator who called himself an “evil cultivator,” gained through years of struggling in the cultivation world.
Whether it was to show off or to pass down to future generations, it was unclear.
Most of it described his many “great deeds” of unscrupulously killing and robbing others.
There were even detailed explanations and instructions on how to choose targets, how to ambush and sneak attack, how to dispose of bodies and evidence…
Song Yan was stunned reading it.
After flipping through a few pages, he quickly found information about the “Mysterious Calamity Bows to Spirit” mask in this book.
“Seeking spirits?”
The book mentioned that this mask had been accidentally obtained by this “evil cultivator” predecessor.
Its effect was not complicated.
Drawing a wisp of spiritual qi and absorbing it, when the cultivator approached items containing that type of spiritual qi, the mask would give a signal.
“This effect… isn’t it a bit too simple?”
At first glance at this function, Song Yan secretly complained.
It seemed like a very simple effect.
However, he flipped further to see how this “evil cultivator” predecessor used it…
The more he read, the more alarmed he became.
Whenever cultivation hit an obstacle and he needed spiritual items of a certain attribute, he would draw a wisp of spiritual qi matching that attribute.
Then he would put on the mask and search for targets to “strike.”
Whatever he wanted, he would directly seize from other cultivators.
The mask couldn’t sense items inside cosmic bags.
But most cultivators, when obtaining spiritual items, would inevitably have some leaked spiritual qi on their person.
This was how the mask locked onto targets for him.
This method “never failed.”
When traveling normally, absorbing mixed spiritual qi could not only find ordinary spiritual items and herbs but also prevent ambush killings.
Seeing this, Song Yan suddenly understood.
Perhaps this was why, even though he believed he had been perfect, Shan Zifeng had still seen through him.
He didn’t immediately deal with the mask but instead leisurely began reading this book carefully.
Although he wouldn’t learn the contents and practices of this evil book.
But looking more would help him be more cautious if he encountered similar situations in the future.
It might save his life.
The heart to harm others must not exist, but the heart to guard against others must never be absent.
“Even how to dispose of goods after killing and robbing, doing it without anyone noticing…”
How Shan Zifeng had obtained this ancient book, Song Yan had no way of knowing.
Perhaps his cruel and cunning methods were inseparable from this ancient book.
However, Shan Zifeng had clearly overlooked the most important point.
That was staying low-key.
The ways of evil cultivation, if not mastered thoroughly, led only to death.
“Huh?”
Suddenly, his gaze sharpened.
In these written records, he saw a familiar term.
“Sword cultivators…”
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(End of Chapter)