Villains Usually Die from Talking Too Much

Blood Corpse True Person had five disciples, all Qi Refining cultivators. Xie Shi and Song Qing were disciples he had only taken in two years ago, ranking fourth and youngest among the five, and they were also the two with the lowest cultivation.

But thinking about it, one could guess—how high could the status of someone assigned the grunt work of hauling corpses possibly be?

According to Xie Shi, a few days after Blood Corpse True Person left, their eldest martial brother, already at the eighth level of Qi Refining, departed as well and was currently absent from the Corpse Refining Cave.

Fine. The boss was gone, and even the elite monster had slipped away.

Lu Qingshan's brows twitched. He was quite satisfied.

That meant there were only four Qi Refining cultivators left in the Corpse Refining Cave. He had already taken down the two most worthless little lackeys.

Of the remaining two Qi Refining cultivators, one was at the sixth level of Qi Refining and the other at the fourth level. Both were Magic Cultivators.

"Do you know what villains usually die from?" Xie Shi, who had been answering Lu Qingshan's questions so cooperatively, suddenly spoke. A vicious malice seeped from his voice. "Villains usually die from talking too much!"

A jade pendant hidden beneath Xie Shi's clothes at his waist suddenly flashed with an earthy yellow glow. The light instantly spread over his entire body, and a thin layer of grayish-yellow earth could be seen covering his exposed skin.

Stone Skin Technique

Grade: First-grade Earth Element Spell

Casting Cost: 5 Spirit Power/minute

Description: Covers the skin with a layer of stone, increasing defense. Mortal Weapons will be unable to penetrate your stone skin.

Spell Effect: Defense +1

Note: Solid as a rock!

A highly practical defensive spell.

The short blade Lu Qingshan had seized from Song Qing was not a Spirit Artifact used by cultivators, merely an ordinary Mortal Weapon. After Xie Shi cast the Stone Skin Technique, the short blade could not possibly break through his skin.

"Do you know why I answered your questions so cooperatively and told you every last detail about the Corpse Refining Cave?" Xie Shi looked at Lu Qingshan smugly and sneered. "You didn't really think I was begging for mercy because I feared death, did you? I'm not stupid. Once you had learned what you wanted to know, how could you possibly let me go? The only reason I acted this way was to stall for time and wait for the Earth Spirit Pendant to recharge.

"If I hadn't used the Earth Spirit Pendant's Stone Skin Technique when I fought my martial brother two days ago, do you think you could have threatened me?

"I have to admit, for a mortal, it was truly remarkable that you forced me into this position. Unfortunately, you were too greedy. You didn't kill me immediately, and how could you possibly imagine the methods of cultivators?"

Lu Qingshan looked at the smug Xie Shi with a faint, inscrutable smile and said nothing.

When Xie Shi saw that Lu Qingshan did not respond, his eyelids twitched. He faintly sensed that something was wrong.

A cold flash streaked forth, carrying a trace of golden light. The short blade that Lu Qingshan had kept pressed against Xie Shi's neck from beginning to end instantly sliced across his throat.

A huge gash opened in Xie Shi's neck, and bright red blood gushed out.

One slash across the throat!

Clutching his continuously bleeding neck, Xie Shi stared in disbelief at the Spirit Talisman that had appeared in Lu Qingshan's left hand at some unknown point and was gradually crumbling into ash after use. Then he fell straight backward, collapsing onto the ground like a lump of mud, without another sound.

Sharp Blade Talisman (First-grade): Inscribed with the First-grade spell Sharp Blade Technique.

Sharp Blade Technique

Grade: First-grade Metal Element Spell

Casting Cost: 5 Spirit Power/minute

Description: Briefly enchants a weapon, greatly increasing its sharpness.

Spell Effect: Weapon Sharpness +1

Note: Solid as a rock?

"You triggered a fatal attack and dealt 11 damage to Xie Shi (lv3)!"

"Target dead. You killed Xie Shi (lv3) and gained 30 experience!"

Looking at Xie Shi lying on the floor, Lu Qingshan nodded and muttered, "Indeed. Villains usually die from talking too much."

The Sharp Blade Talisman had come from Song Qing's Storage Bag. The instant he became a cultivator, Lu Qingshan had swiftly taken stock of Song Qing's Storage Bag, which he had kept tucked in his robes. As expected of a Talisman Master, Song Qing's Storage Bag was stuffed with more than a dozen talismans.

The moment Xie Shi activated the Stone Skin Technique, Lu Qingshan silently took out the Sharp Blade Talisman from Song Qing's seized Storage Bag and quickly cast the Sharp Blade Technique upon his short blade.

Xie Shi, swollen with triumph, had clearly not noticed that detail. Besides, he had always believed Lu Qingshan was merely a mortal. He would never have imagined that Lu Qingshan could open Song Qing's Storage Bag.

After feeling around Xie Shi's corpse for a while (looting corpse), he soon retrieved a milky-white jade pendant from Xie Shi's waist.

Earth Spirit Pendant

Grade: Low-grade Mortal Artifact

Spirit Artifact Effect: Automatically absorbs the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to recharge. Every three days, it may activate one spell without cost: Stone Skin Technique. (Time until recharge complete: 72 hours)

Note: It might save your life at a critical moment. Or it might not.

In "Nine Heavens," Spirit Artifacts were graded the same way as cultivation techniques: Mortal, Spirit, Heaven, and Dao. Unlike cultivation techniques, however, each grade of Spirit Artifact could further be divided into low-grade, mid-grade, high-grade, and supreme-grade.

The Earth Spirit Pendant was only the lowest-tier Spirit Artifact, but it was still a Spirit Artifact. Satisfied, Lu Qingshan hung it at his waist, then hurriedly took stock of his gains.

The possessions of two low-level cultivators could not be all that abundant. Lu Qingshan carefully sorted through their Storage Bags.

There were two Jade Slips containing the Qi Guiding Technique, one Jade Slip containing a complete collection of First-grade spell talismans, and two Jade Slips containing First-grade Five Elements spells.

These Jade Slips were all the most basic kind and were of little use to Lu Qingshan.

There were also twenty First-grade Spirit Stones, two bottles of Bigu Pills with twelve pills in each bottle, and several First-grade Spirit Talismans of various kinds. If Lu Qingshan wanted to escape his current predicament, Spirit Talismans would undoubtedly be extremely useful.

Spirit Stones were cultivators' currency: stones filled with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, with a wide variety of uses.

For example, absorbing the spiritual energy within Spirit Stones during cultivation could accelerate a cultivator's cultivation speed; setting up formations also consumed Spirit Stones; during battle, after casting high-level spells and suffering a heavy loss of spirit power, one could rapidly replenish the spirit power within the body by absorbing the spiritual energy inside Spirit Stones, greatly improving one's endurance in combat—not to mention their many other uses.

Spirit Stones were divided into nine grades according to the amount and purity of the spirit power they contained, corresponding exactly to the nine stages of cultivator cultivation. Each high-grade Spirit Stone could be exchanged for ten Spirit Stones of the next lower grade.

In fact, the nine-grade system was extremely common in "Nine Heavens." Cultivators' spell grades, secondary profession ranks, talisman grades, and pill grades were all likewise divided into nine grades.

Bigu Pills were First-grade pills specially refined for Qi Refining cultivators who had yet to fast from food. Each pill allowed one to go without eating for a month. A bottle contained twelve pills, exactly enough for a year.

Unfortunately, he found no sword technique. Still, that was no surprise. It would have been strange indeed to find a sword technique in the Storage Bags of two low-level Magic Cultivators.

Next, he needed to deal with the remaining two Qi Refining cultivators in the Corpse Refining Cave, then leave this place.

Lu Qingshan rubbed his chin as he thought this.

He needed to move quickly. Otherwise, if he delayed and happened to run into Blood Corpse True Person returning, then he would truly be left wanting to weep without tears.