Chapter 325 - 316: Calamitous Great Demon, Ghost Dragon Beard

Chapter 325: Chapter 316: Calamitous Great Demon, Ghost Dragon Beard

"If you want to practice the Nine Spirits Filth Loading Technique from the Former Emperor’s Treasure Vault map, you’ll need the power of this Exorcism Saber sooner or later.

So..."

Helu looked at Fu Juemin and smiled. "Are you satisfied with the benefits I’m offering?"

Fu Juemin gazed at the saber before him, set down his teacup, and slowly laid his hand upon it.

The pads of his fingers felt a cool sensation as they touched the blade. The saber looked like a piece of scrap iron, but its body wasn’t rough. On the contrary, it was exceptionally smooth.

"What is an Heirloom Magical Artifact?"

Fu Juemin pulled his hand back and asked in a level voice.

"You can think of them as twelve incredible antiques. In ancient times, our ancestors worshiped them as totems..."

Helu took a palm-sized Enamel Golden Box from his sleeve. He opened it to reveal what looked like some kind of tobacco paste.

Helu used his pinky nail to scoop out a bit, holding it before his nose to take a light sniff.

"They also symbolize the National Fortune."

A sneer appeared on Helu’s face. "For his own selfish desires, Emperor Qianming of the Wuhuan Jin Clan gambled away the entire empire of the Nine Banners. He even lost some of the Heirloom Magical Artifacts, causing the dragon veins to crumble and the world to fall into discord..."

"Such a precious item... and the Prince is willing to part with it just like that?"

Fu Juemin wasn’t interested in the private feud between the Profound and Gold Banners and commented casually.

"Of course I’m not giving it to you. It’s merely a temporary loan."

Helu smiled. "However, if our great enterprise succeeds and my Helers clan reclaims the throne, what would be the harm in letting you keep this national treasure in your care indefinitely?"

Fu Juemin had made empty promises to the Mu Shulu and Ninggu Clans of the Lower Five Banners before. Now it was someone else’s turn to make them to him.

Fu Juemin couldn’t even be bothered to glance at this "cake." Whether it was an Heirloom Magical Artifact or a world-shocking antique, now that the Exorcism Saber was in his hands, there was no way he was giving it back.

"The Prince said that to cultivate the Nine Spirits Filth Loading Technique, I’d eventually need this saber’s power. What’s the reasoning behind that?"

"Any Dirt-Loading Method, when practiced to its later stages, forces one to endure a massive backlash from the Demon Fiend’s power.

The more times you perform the loading, the stronger the backlash, until even a Martial Artist’s will can’t withstand it...

You haven’t Entered the Dao many times yet. You’ll feel it later on."

Helu explained, "Each Heirloom Magical Artifact is connected to a Calamity Level Great Demon from ancient times, and is inherently capable of resisting this backlash.

That is why the Top Royal Banner and the Upper Three Banners each possess at least one Heirloom Magical Artifact..."

Fu Juemin had a flash of understanding. No wonder the top Martial Artists all gathered under the Royal Banner and the Upper Three Banners. Besides the disparities in resources like Human Pills and the grade of their Dirt-Loading Methods, the need to rely on Heirloom Magical Artifacts to mitigate the risks of cultivation was another key reason they chose the Top Four Banners.

The phrase Helu had mentioned during his explanation—"Each Heirloom Magical Artifact is connected to a Calamity Level Great Demon from ancient times"—also stirred something in Fu Juemin’s mind, making him think of something.

"As for this third item..."

Helu gave Helian a subtle look. Hera Lian immediately came forward and opened the third box placed in front of Fu Juemin.

Inside the box was a pile of black, tentacle-like living things. Each tentacle was over a finger-length long, resembling some kind of bizarre worm, writhing and struggling inside the box.

Fu Juemin recognized them. They were quite similar to the tentacles that had sprouted from Helian after her Spirit Awakening, and to those growing from the back of the man currently standing in the corner. The only difference was that the latter two’s tentacles were thicker and longer.

"Ghost Dragon Beard, taken from the Demon Body of my Profound Banner’s Ghost Flood King."

Helu scooped up another bit of the paste and sniffed it slowly. "You can use it directly for dirt-loading," he said softly. "Of course, if you don’t mind waiting, I can provide you with something even better in the future..."

"Then what’s the meaning of giving it to me now?"

Fu Juemin glanced at the tentacles in the box and asked coolly.

"You’ve taken the proof and the prize, shouldn’t you do something for us in return?"

Helu leaned forward slightly and smiled. "From now on, for every clan of the Lower Five Banners you bring under your control, you will use these Ghost Dragon Beards to control the Demon Fiends they worship.

The Demons infested by the Ghost Dragon Beard will slowly become Attendants and vassals of the Ghost Flood King. Think of it as accumulating strength for our future plans..."

"No!"

Before Helu could even finish, Fu Juemin cut him off with a cold, firm refusal.

In an instant, the atmosphere in the room froze, and the temperature seemed to drop with it.

The smile vanished from Helu’s face. The figure standing in the corner behind him slowly took two steps forward.

"I need the Demon Fiends of the Lower Five Banners for my dirt-loading. Who knows if this thing’s parasitic effect will affect me."

Fu Juemin tapped the table, speaking impatiently. "Give me a different condition.

The Helers are a great and powerful clan. If we’re going to cooperate, please show a little more sincerity."

’I’ve given you a Prince Token and an Heirloom Magical Artifact, and you say I’m not sincere?’

Helu was so incensed by Fu Juemin’s words that he almost laughed out of sheer anger.

But since the conversation had come this far, he was unwilling to let it drop. He could only patiently try to persuade him, "The Ghost Dragon Beard’s parasitic effect won’t affect the dirt-loading.

If you’re worried... how about this? I’ll allow you to keep a batch of Demon Officials for your own use first.

Of course, you can’t just not use a single Ghost Dragon Beard for me..."

Helu frowned. "Also, you killed all the Demon Officials of the Mu, Ning, and Chaha clans, didn’t you?

I must remind you, that’s not how you gather materials for the Dirt-Loading Method. If you need to load, just take some flesh and blood or a less important organ.

If you keep killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, how can the Nine Banners possibly support so many Dirt-Loading Martial Artists?!"

Fu Juemin seemed to be swayed by Helu’s words. He thought for a moment, then nodded. "Fine."

"And one more thing."

Helu seized the opportunity to add, "Your mission isn’t just to help my Helers clan control the Lower Five Banners. If other matters arise that require your help, you must provide it."

Fu Juemin "reluctantly" agreed.

With that, the cooperation was formally established. Both parties were reasonably satisfied, a happy outcome for all.

A smile returned to Helu’s face. He proactively poured Fu Juemin more tea, hoping to take the chance to win him over further.

But Fu Juemin couldn’t be bothered with him. He called for Helian to help him with the boxes and prepared to leave directly.

However, before he left, Fu Juemin thought for a moment and looked at Helu. "One last question.

Since the Prince has guessed that I have both Emperor Qianming’s treasure map and the Nine Spirits Filth Loading Technique...

Is the Prince not interested?"

"The location of the End Emperor’s Treasure Vault is no secret among the Upper Three Banners. As for the Dirt-Loading Method...

Helu poured himself some tea and said casually, "The so-called Three Spirits, Five Spirits, Seven Spirits, Nine Spirits... there are differences, but not as big as outsiders imagine.

The average Martial Artist can’t even withstand Entering the Dao three times. What ambition could they possibly have to covet Nine Spirits?"

Helu added coolly, "Furthermore, regardless of the Dirt-Loading Method, as soon as you Enter the Dao, you immediately lose lifespan.

You can go out and see for yourself, how many nobles within the Nine Banners would actually practice martial arts and Enter the Dao?

The little bit of lifespan gained from Human Pills is barely enough for them..."

Fu Juemin thought about it and realized it was true. Among this group of "pigtails," from top to bottom, old or young, very few were willing to endure the hardship of practicing martial arts.

Entering the Dao via dirt-loading was a path chosen by Martial Artists who pursued the pinnacle of the Martial Dao, craved power, but had no other way forward.

So, while the Nine Spirits Filth Loading Technique might be attractive to Martial Artists, it wasn’t particularly valuable to the nobles of the banners.

’Back then, Yu Zhonggui of the Toad Palace reached the Great Success of Gratitude. A grandmaster of One Heart Sensing, yet he never practiced a Dirt-Loading Method. It probably wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but that he truly had no way to.

In that case, it’s understandable why the Toad Palace wanted to seize the treasure map...’

’Helu said the former dynasty’s Consort who founded Toad Palace was from a fallen house, and he’s not wrong. She didn’t know the location of Emperor Qianming’s treasure, which isn’t a secret to the Upper Three Banners, and she didn’t have a Dirt-Loading Method (or maybe she just looked down on the Dirt-Loading Methods held by the Lower Five Banners)...

She was purely an orphan ostracized by the Nine Banners.’

Thinking of this, Fu Juemin wouldn’t give up. He tried the same line he had used to deceive Mu Ning and the others to test Helu: "Could the Nine Spirits Armor grant eternal life?"

Unexpectedly, Helu’s expression grew even more disdainful. He sneered, "I don’t know where that rumor came from.

If Emperor Qianming of the Wuhuan Jin Clan himself were to say that to my face, then I, this Prince, might believe it..."

Alright then.

Fu Juemin had no more questions. He nodded to Helu, shot another glance at the figure in the corner, and then called for Helian to see him out.

Fu Juemin treated Helian completely like a Maid, strolling empty-handed while she carried the three boxes for him to the teahouse entrance.

It was the same carriage he had arrived in.

Before boarding the carriage, Fu Juemin thought of the mess back at the Yan Family. He said, "Those two from the Royal Banner I killed today—you need to have Prince Lv take care of the aftermath for me."

Helian slammed the three boxes onto the carriage with a THUD. With a sour look on her face, she said coldly, "Don’t worry, I’ve already made arrangements. There won’t be any trouble."

"How are you going to solve it?"

Fu Juemin couldn’t help but ask. A Royal Banner Envoy suddenly dying at the Yan Family estate in the Lower Five Banners’ territory should be a major incident.

But the way Helian described it, it sounded so trivial. Fu Juemin was truly curious about the Helers’ methods.

Helian, however, refused to explain, only saying impatiently that he would find out when the time came.

’This woman...’

’She hasn’t been choked enough.’

.....

Helian rubbed her neck, which still faintly ached, her eyes filled with hatred as she watched the carriage depart.

She then turned and walked back, soon returning to the "Profound" private room in the teahouse.

The first thing Helian said upon entering the room was, "My Prince, did you really just give him the Exorcism Saber like that?"