Turning the Tables
The next instant, the talisman burned out, and a blinding purple lightning bolt shot into the sky. The violent power of the lightning spirit instantly filled the entire valley, and the crackling thunder made people's eardrums hurt.
The Purple Lightning Talisman transformed into countless arcs of lightning, crashing down upon them.
Before Wang Chongming could even scream, his protective golden armor shattered like paper, and he was struck directly by a bolt of purple lightning, plummeting from mid-air and crashing heavily to the ground.
Zhou Li was indeed at the Qi Refining Great Perfection of Qi Refining, and he actually withstood the lightning talisman the moment it struck him. However, he was still struck and his whole body was charred black, with residual electric sparks crackling and jumping on his clothes. His limbs and bones were numb, and he couldn't even muster his Spiritual Power.
Just then, the Heaven and Earth Ring arrived.
The five rings spun into a five-colored stream of light, following the path of the Five Elements Immortal-Slaying Linked Formation and striking down upon Zhou Li. Zhou Li's body stiffened, with no way to dodge, and he was struck by the rings. He could only let out a half-scream before his body was broken into several pieces and fell to the ground.
Shen Jingchuan waited quietly on the roof of the car for a while longer. Seeing that there was no further movement on the battlefield, he jumped off the roof.
Still not reassured, he guided his Divine Sense, and the Heaven and Earth Ring spun rapidly, striking Wang Chongming, who had fallen to the ground, again. Where the ring passed, Wang's body was split into three pieces. Immediately afterward, he used his Divine Sense to control the Heaven and Earth Ring, turning it towards Wang Chongyue, who had fallen into the grass first, and twisting him into three pieces as well.
This time, he was truly dead beyond any doubt.
Shen Jingchuan thought to himself, "They've already gotten to this point, they can't possibly put it back together by themselves, can they?"
He was about to put the Heaven and Earth Ring back when he suddenly stopped.
After such a battle, wouldn't the circle be stained with blood and other messy things? This is his natal magic Law Treasure, which he's going to store in his Dantian and nurture within his body later. Just thinking about storing it with all that blood on it makes him feel nauseous.
He was, after all, a novice who had only recently begun practicing, and didn't understand these intricacies.
The Heaven and Earth Ring flew back to him, and he caught it, slipping each of the five rings onto his hand and examining them closely—
Clean and tidy.
The five rings were smooth and shimmering with a luminous glow; they were spotless, not even a speck of dust, let alone bloodstains.
Shen Jingchuan was stunned for a moment, then chuckled to himself. Well, all that worrying for nothing; it seems even the Cleaning Technique was unnecessary.
With a thought, the five rings transformed into five streams of light, disappearing into the body and sinking into the Dantian.
Next, it was time to loot the corpse.
He searched through the corpses one by one, finding a Storage Ring on each of the three bodies; he also picked up two flying swords from the ground, as well as Zhou Li's dark, grimy ghost-headed saber.
He searched them very thoroughly, feeling them from head to toe again, and only stopped when he confirmed that there was nothing else on the three of them.
He initially intended to set fire to the three mutilated corpses to destroy the evidence, but then changed his mind—he'd leave them there. He'd just leave them on the mountain road, so those still plotting against him could see what fate awaited them.
Finally, he removed the 23mm cannon from the roof of the vehicle, retrieved it from his Storage Ring, and then bent down to pull out the steel rod that was nailed to the ground.
Shen Jingchuan jumped into the driver's seat, flicked the reins, and the carriage drove away.
The next two days passed smoothly without any further mishaps.
Given Shen Jingchuan's current wealth, he wouldn't even bother with the personal belongings of three Qi Refining cultivators. He wasn't in a hurry either, and he didn't open the three Storage Rings to take a look at them the whole way.
That evening, they arrived at Yuxi Prefecture.
The soldiers guarding the city gate recognized him at a glance. Instead of coming up to question him, they all lowered their heads and didn't dare to look at him for long.
Shen Jingchuan ignored him, drove his carriage into the city with an air of nonchalance, and went straight back to the Shen Residence.
He first unharnessed the horse, led it into the stable to add hay, and then returned to the inner courtyard.
He released his Divine Sense and carefully scanned the entire house, checking every corner. It was spotless, with no suspicious people or signs of disturbance or entry. Only then did he feel relieved.
He returned to his room, closed the door, took out the three Storage Rings, and opened them one by one to examine them.
Just as he expected, a bunch of poor bastards.
The Spirit Stones in the three Rings, when put together, amounted to only three or four hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones; the rest were a dozen or so bottles of pills and four talismans, all low-grade and mid-grade, ordinary items that he no longer valued. There wasn't a single other valuable item.
Even the smallest fly leg is still meat.
Shen Jingchuan didn't mind having too many pills and put them all into the Chaos Heaven and Earth Ring, letting the Ring automatically upgrade its grade.
Shen Jingchuan gathered all the Spirit Stones he had on him, including those he had seized, totaling more than 24,000. After a moment's thought, he counted out 20,000 and sent them into his Chaos Heaven and Earth Ring for absorption, leaving more than 4,000 for his own use.
As soon as the Spirit Stone entered, he clearly felt the Ring on his finger vibrate slightly.
This movement lasted for about fifteen minutes.
Once the tremors had completely subsided, he focused his attention and peered inside, his expression immediately brightening with joy. The space within the ring had expanded considerably, and the previously gloomy, deathly aura had completely dissipated, replaced by a renewed Spiritual Qi.
With a flash of light, Xian'er's soul floated out, both surprised and delighted.
"You brat, you fed it Spirit Stones again?"
"Yes, just inserted 20,000."
Xian'er's eyes lit up, and she stretched her body in mid-air, her face full of joy.
"Great, this is a place for humans to live!"
Shen Jingchuan suddenly grasped the key words in her words.
"Sister Xian'er, what did you just say? 'A place for people to stay'—you mean, people can get inside this Ring?"
Xian'er paused for a moment, as if only then remembering, and then smiled and said:
"Of course you can. I remember now, it has recovered quite a bit this time. The space is stable and has regained its Spiritual Qi, so naturally people can enter. Of course you can enter too."
Shen Jingchuan was skeptical, but a thought flashed before his eyes, and when he regained his senses, he found himself standing in the space within the ring.
The air was fresh and invigorating, a breath of which was refreshing and unlike the stagnant and empty atmosphere of the past. The soil beneath my feet was warm and moist, faintly exuding a Spiritual Qi, and it was already beginning to take shape as a spiritual field.
Shen Jingchuan squatted down, grabbed a handful of warm, moist soil, and felt a surge of warmth in his heart.
"That's wonderful!"
Xian'er floated to his side and slowly spoke.
"This is nothing. Remember, from now on, you not only need to feed it Spirit Stones, but you need to keep feeding it. The more it absorbs, the more it recovers. It would be even better if it had Spirit Vein, first or second rank, the higher the better. In short, whether it's Spirit Stones or Spirit Vein, it will help it slowly recover."
Shen Jingchuan understood the underlying meaning in her words.
"Do you remember how many Spirit Stones it would take to fully restore the Ring? And how much stronger would the Ring be after restoration?"
Xian'er's expression darkened for a moment, then she shook her head.
"As for how many Spirit Stones it would take to restore it to its former glory, I honestly can't remember. There are many things I don't recall clearly."
She quickly cheered up again.
"Just feed it as much as you can; absorbing more Spirit Stones can't hurt, it will only make things better."