Chapter 255 - 170: I Am a Sword Immortal! First Kill of a Qi Refiner

Chapter 255: Chapter 170: I Am a Sword Immortal! First Kill of a Qi Refiner

The Talisman Paper was about the size of a palm. It was made of a material that was neither paper nor silk, and faint golden patterns flowed across its surface, giving it a rather ancient appearance.

Feng Jiuchen aimed the Talisman Paper at the pavilion and muttered a few syllables under his breath.

"SWOOSH!"

A suction force surged from the Talisman Paper. The entire pavilion, as if gripped by an invisible giant hand, began to twist, shrink, and fold in on itself.

Stone pillars, upturned eaves, stone tables and stools—every part of the structure was compressed into a singularity in an instant, transforming into a streak of light that vanished into the Talisman Paper.

A moment later, an image of the pavilion appeared on the Talisman Paper, as exquisite as a fine-brush painting.

"Is this... a spatial storage item?" A flicker of interest appeared in Wan Ze’s eyes.

"That’s right. I also got this from a Tomb. It can only be used in Huangliang, but it’s convenient," Feng Jiuchen said with a casual smile, carefully putting the Talisman Paper away. "Later, I’ll take you to an abandoned Tomb to try your luck. I’ll keep an eye out for a spatial storage item for you. They aren’t exactly rare, but they’re not lying around everywhere, either. It all comes down to fate."

"Thanks."

"Don’t thank me too soon." Feng Jiuchen smiled and shook his head. "Good things require patience. Some people search their entire lives and never even find a Storage Pouch. Others can stumble into a random pit and kick up a treasure. Here in Huangliang, everything revolves around fate."

He paused, then added, "But for someone like you, running into a living Qi Refiner right after arriving in Huangliang... your luck can’t be that bad."

Wan Ze gave a noncommittal smile and followed Feng Jiuchen into the forest.

The mountain path was treacherous, and the dense canopy blotted out the sky.

The two of them pressed on. After some time, Feng Jiuchen suddenly stopped and gestured for Wan Ze to look ahead.

Wan Ze looked up.

In the distance, a mountain rose abruptly from the earth, soaring into the clouds. It was at least ten thousand meters tall, its majestic form like a pillar holding up the heavens. The peak was lost in the high-altitude darkness, beyond the reach of the Red Moon’s light, as if it had pierced the very sky. The mountain’s surface was riddled with enormous cracks and ravines. Some fissures were hundreds of meters wide and seemed bottomless, as though some indescribable behemoth had ripped the mountain open from the inside.

Even more astonishing was the vast area at the mountain’s foot. The ground there looked as if it had been brutally torn asunder by some terrifying Power.

The earth was shattered into countless fragments. The edges of the fissures were jagged and irregular. It didn’t look like the result of an earthquake. Instead, it was as if something had burst up from beneath and overturned the entire landscape.

Wan Ze was deeply shaken.

This was his first time venturing so deep into these mountains.

The last few times he had arrived in Huangliang, he had simply hunkered down somewhere to focus on his Cultivation, seeing nothing more than ordinary forests and gullies.

Now, seeing this sight, he truly realized that this world was far grander than he had ever imagined.

"Tombs tend to appear randomly," Feng Jiuchen’s voice sounded beside him. "The Tomb in this area was discovered about three hundred years ago. Back then, it was a complete grotto-mansion, supposedly left behind by some Loose Cultivator after he passed on. In the three hundred years since, all the good stuff has basically been picked clean. But old Tombs like this can still hold a few surprises. Of course, where there’s a Tomb, there’s danger. Even an abandoned one."

Wan Ze nodded and continued to follow him.

The terrain at the foot of the mountain grew increasingly treacherous, littered with shattered rocks and withered vines.

The light of the Red Moon was blocked by the cliffs on either side, and the path ahead grew dim. Only the faint glow of something fluorescent, seeping from cracks in the rock, occasionally lit the ground before them.

Feng Jiuchen stopped abruptly. He raised a hand, signaling for Wan Ze to halt, then tilted his head slightly toward something up ahead.

Wan Ze followed his gaze.

"ROAR!"

A vicious roar suddenly erupted from the forest ahead, a shriek that sounded as if it were being forced from a throat stuffed with ground meat.

With the roar came a thick, foul stench. A dark shadow shot out from the trees and crashed onto the path in front of them.

"THUD!"

Dirt flew everywhere, and a shallow crater was gouged into the ground.

Wan Ze got a clear look, and his pupils constricted.

’For some reason, I feel like this monster... was once human.’

Its ashen-gray skin looked like leather that had been soaked for a long time, then fished out and left to dry, its surface covered in deep cracks. Its limbs were twisted at unnatural angles, with sharp bone spurs jutting from the joints, as if something were trying to bore its way out from within the bones.

Its eyes were a solid, blood-red, with no pupils—just a swirl of thick crimson.

Black slime constantly dribbled from the corners of its mouth, making a SIZZLING sound as it dripped onto the ground and corroded the soil.

"A Blood Corpse Puppet," Feng Jiuchen said in a low, grave voice. "To create one, you must rip out most of a living person’s Three Souls and Seven Spirits, leaving only a wisp of a soul locked inside the body. Then, you infuse it with vast amounts of Yin Qi and Poisonous Blood, and refine it with a Secret Technique for forty-nine days. Once complete, the creature feels no pain, no fear, and no fatigue. It only knows how to obey its master’s commands. Its Strength is immense, and it’s quite fast. The most troublesome part is its Poisonous Blood—a single drop can corrode flesh and seep into the bone marrow."

He paused before adding, "But this thing has one weakness..."

"What is it?" Wan Ze asked.

"Its head. Cut it off, and the thing is finished. Of course, that’s assuming you can dodge its attacks," Feng Jiuchen explained.

Wan Ze studied the creature intently. His gaze swept over the Blood Corpse, then moved to the dark forest beyond.

’If there’s a Puppet, that means someone is nearby.’

Feng Jiuchen had clearly come to the same conclusion.

He stood up straight and cupped his fists. His voice rang out, echoing through the forest. "My companion and I are merely passing through with no ill intent! We were unaware that another practitioner had already claimed this area. We will take a detour and leave immediately. We have no desire to pry into your affairs, and we hope you will allow us to pass peacefully."