Chapter 277 - 303: 1 Robbery, Tracing the Source! Tianyangzi

"Hm?"

Xiao Yu flicked his sleeve and departed. Two or three breaths later, he arrived outside another building.

Before he even entered, a pungent stench of death assaulted his nostrils. His brow furrowed as he stepped into the room.

On the wooden bed lay the little boy he had crushed to death earlier. In a corner was a small, disheveled girl.

This was the spare body for that Chen Daoist.

"Hm? What’s this...?"

A peculiar glint flashed in Xiao Yu’s eyes. He reached out and, with a grasping motion, the little girl floated into the air as if she were a marionette.

The girl looked to be about eight or nine years old, with tangled hair and a deathly pale face. Yet, her eyes revealed a maturity that did not belong to someone of her age.

’Is this a backlash from the physical body?’

Xiao Yu was inwardly surprised.

In this Earth Palace, there were over a thousand spare bodies—mortals with decent aptitude who had undergone a Secret Technique infusion.

Their souls, however, were made extremely weak precisely to prevent such a backlash.

In fact, the souls of these spare bodies were periodically weakened, ensuring they would not live past the age of eighteen.

Once they reached that age, they would be disposed of and replaced with a new batch.

Older spare bodies held little value, so a new batch was brought in almost every year.

Therefore, this was the first time he had ever seen a case of backlash.

Xiao Yu took a step forward. He was about to raise his right hand and place it on the little girl’s head, but then, as if remembering something, he slowly lowered it.

"What is your name?"

he asked indifferently after a moment of thought.

The little girl, suspended in mid-air, had eyes full of terror. Hearing his question, she couldn’t help but answer:

"Ye Xiaoyu..."

Ye Xiaoyu.

Xiao Yu murmured the name, and the killing intent in his heart dissipated.

This situation was too rare. Even if Chen Daoist’s Divine Spirit was shattered, just like Chu An’s, it was not something a common person’s soul could contend with.

But upon closer inspection, he still found nothing unusual about her.

’I’ll have to study this matter carefully.’

’To prevent something like this from happening again in the future.’

A pained expression appeared on Ye Xiaoyu’s face.

Even Xiao Yu failed to notice a faint, flickering Divine Light deep within Ye Xiaoyu’s soul.

...

"So it’s a method of Possession..."

In a small courtyard in Desolate State Mansion, Su Bai sat facing the moon, a cold glint in his eyes.

"This Gui Chen Sect truly is an Evil Cult..."

That wisp of the Power of Divine Thought, of course, was something he had intentionally left in Chen Daoist’s soul when he’d acted earlier.

His original intention was to probe the secrets of this life-saving technique; saving the little girl was merely a convenient side-effect.

"The Gui Chen Sect has also embarked on a narrow path to longevity..."

A chill went through Su Bai’s heart.

The so-called grand dao of longevity was to advance triumphantly, breaking through to higher Realms in pursuit of eternal life.

A narrower path was that of Incense, the path of Votive Power, the path of Faith—all heterodox methods.

An even narrower path was to devour countless blood sacrifices, nourishing oneself with the Essence Blood of all living things.

And the Gui Chen Sect had clearly embarked on such a path.

...

Desolate Province, located on the border of the Da Yu empire, was a land of dense forests and rolling mountains.

Its cities were separated by hundreds of miles, making it a vast and sparsely populated land.

Only powerful Martial Artists and Daoists with Divine Positions could travel freely. An ordinary person on a swift horse would still need a great deal of time to cross from one city to another.

And even for these Daoists with Divine Positions who could travel quickly between cities, two days had passed, and the promised Power of Incense from the various Daoists had still not all arrived.

This was partly because of the enormous quantity, and partly because the journeys were simply too long.

WHOOSH!

Amidst the night, the wind howled. A shriek, inaudible to ordinary people, echoed from the eastern part of the city.

In the courtyard, Su Bai, who had been sitting under the stars, frowned. He soon saw the night air distort, and a Little Ghost stumbled out, looking utterly wretched.

"Sen... Senior! The Incense that Master Wan Huo sent for you has been stolen!"

The Little Ghost was covered in dust and wailed repeatedly. A third of its body was shattered, and its injuries were severe.

"The Incense that Wan Huo Master sent me was stolen?"

Su Bai’s gaze darkened.

Unlike ordinary items, the Power of Incense could not be stored in just any container; it required special vessels.

For example, the Golden Cloud Immortal Platform that Su Bai had seen at the Jin Yun conference was a special Sacred Artifact capable of storing a large amount of Incense.

And Wan Huo Master was one of the two hundred-plus Daoists from that time.

"Senior, Senior! The Incense that Master Qinghe sent you has also been stolen!"

Another Little Ghost shrieked as it tumbled into the courtyard.

It was in even worse shape than the previous one, its entire form on the verge of disintegrating, its body already turning ethereal.

"Senior! The Incense that Master Qingmu sent you was stolen too!"

"Senior..."

The void trembled intermittently as Little Ghosts shot out one after another, all of them dust-covered and severely injured.

The moment they landed, they all began to clamor at once.

As expected, all the Incense these Little Ghosts had been carrying had been stolen.

"All of it was intercepted?"

Su Bai spoke calmly.

His voice was unhurried, yet it seemed to possess a magical quality that instantly silenced the chattering crowd of Little Ghosts in the courtyard.

A few Little Ghosts who couldn’t help but cry out in pain stopped abruptly, feeling an invisible wave emanate from Su Bai and fill the area.

Their somewhat ethereal bodies began to solidify, and their injuries recovered significantly.

Su Bai’s mood remained unflustered.

With so many Daoists continuously sending Incense, it wasn’t strange that someone would eventually notice, no matter how secretive they were.

However, to strike so decisively and cleanly meant the attacker had likely been watching in secret for a long time.

But the fact that the attacker didn’t dare to kill the Little Ghosts directly showed they were still wary. They only dared to snatch the Incense, not make enemies of so many Daoists.

"Senior! It was all intercepted..."

the crowd of Little Ghosts said, their hearts filled with apprehension and their expressions bitter.

Having failed to complete their masters’ orders, they were now in big trouble.

"You may return. Tell them that everything has been delivered."

Su Bai had no intention of making things difficult for the Little Ghosts. With a wave of his right hand, he dismissed them all.

These Little Ghosts belonged to the lowest rung of the Yin Department’s system. They did the most grueling work and had a humble status, so Su Bai naturally wouldn’t give them trouble.

"Thank you, Senior! Thank you, Senior!"

The Little Ghosts were overjoyed, bowing their thanks before rapidly retreating.

Only then did Su Bai reach into the void, his five fingers gently closing in on something.

BUZZ!

The void trembled, and streaks of golden light flowed around Su Bai’s fingertips.

And as Su Bai squeezed his hand shut,

he stirred the countless threads of qi between heaven and earth, grasping one in his palm that held a karmic link to him.

With a thought, that thread of qi disintegrated.

Su Bai traced it back to its source. A multitude of images surfaced in his mind one by one, as if the real events were being replayed in his head.

Night, cold wind, a barren mountain, blood, a forest...

The images continued to rewind until they froze on a green-robed Daoist, sitting cross-legged on the barren mountain with his eyes closed in cultivation.

Now that his Realm had broken through once more, Su Bai’s Divine Thoughts were even stronger, putting more techniques at his disposal. A Ten Thousand Miles Soul Lock was no trouble at all.

The aura clinging to the Little Ghosts had originated from this man.

Looking at the man, Su Bai let out a soft chuckle, and his figure vanished from the spot.

"Huh? Where did Senior go?"

In a nearby room, the old Daoist Cui Yanliang, who was leaning on the windowsill watching the scene, felt a stir in his heart.

A moment later, he couldn’t help but shake his head. He knew someone was about to have a very bad day.

...

"Hmph!?"

On a remote and barren mountain, the green-robed Daoist awoke with a start.

His eyes shot wide open, and he nervously scanned his surroundings.

Under the night sky, the area was empty. Only the cold night wind rustled through the grass and trees, making a soft SHUSHING sound.

There wasn’t a single person in sight.

"Was it my imagination?"

"No! I felt a chill run through my entire body just now, a deep cold. Someone must have been watching me..."

the green-robed Daoist murmured to himself.

Suddenly, he raised his right hand and began to perform a series of hand signs, a brilliant light blossoming from his fingertips.

After a moment, he frowned and stopped, his gaze filled with suspicion and uncertainty. "Everything is normal..."

"But I clearly felt someone spying on me in secret!"

He shot to his feet, a sense of dread welling up in his heart.

Although he had already made up his mind, he still felt apprehensive now that he had actually acted.

After all, anyone who could make so many Daoists willingly offer up Incense had to be terrifyingly powerful. He couldn’t be too careful.

The reason he had dared to strike was his belief that fortune favors the bold.

WHOOSH!

Just then, the sound of something cutting through the air was heard.

Out of the night, several figures approached, moving from far to near. They quickly followed a hidden mountain path to the summit.

These figures had vacant expressions and stiff bodies, and they reeked of a pungent corpse-stench.

The moment they arrived, a foul, rotten smell hit him in the face, so thick that even the wind couldn’t disperse it.

"So much Incense!?"

The green-robed Daoist stared at the Jade Bottles and Jade Seals held in the Little Ghosts’ hands, a gleam flashing in his eyes as his heart began to pound.

His name was Tianyangzi, and he was a Loose Cultivator. By a stroke of luck, he had received the legacy of a great predecessor. After years of struggling and scraping by, he had gradually built up some strength and reputation.

And this was the first time he had ever seen so much Incense.

"If I refine all this Incense, my Cultivation will surely advance by leaps and bounds!"

"Fortune favors the bold, it truly does!"

Tianyangzi was so dazzled and overjoyed that he almost forgot the results of his earlier divination.

Just as he was about to reach out and take the Jade Bottles and Jade Seals,

a voice sounded by his ear:

"So much Incense. What do you suppose it’s worth?"

"It’s naturally comparable to a major city... Who’s there!?"

Tianyangzi answered half the sentence subconsciously before he snapped to his senses, his expression changing drastically.

He couldn’t help but look toward the source of the voice.

There, under the cascading night sky, a young man in a white robe, bathed in moonlight, strode through the air toward him.

He spoke calmly:

"You took my things, and you’re asking who I am?"