Seeing the bone shield about to give way, Cai Xiuyong immediately sent out another Dharma artifact—a bronze bell.
Soul Falling Bell, fall!
The bell rang, and a wave of force swept toward Lin Le.
Yet a faint layer of golden light surfaced over his body.
The Golden Light Divine Mantra had taken effect.
Boom!
Lin Le brought his spear down again.
Cai Xiuyong's face was filled with shock. "You actually cultivate the Heavenly Gate!"
He had not seen that layer of golden light. It was broad daylight, sunlight shining over Lin Le's body, and the golden glow was too faint to tell apart from the sun.
Thus, Cai Xiuyong mistakenly believed Lin Le cultivated the Heavenly Gate. Only those proficient in soul refinement could possess such strong resistance to his Soul Falling Bell.
Boom!
Lin Le paid no heed to Cai Xiuyong's shock and chopped down with his spear again.
Crack! Cracks had already appeared across the bone shield.
Damn it!
Cai Xiuyong could no longer afford to hide his strength. He shouted, "Kill!"
A bone sword suddenly flew from his sleeve, stabbing straight at Lin Le.
Lin Le chopped down with his spear once more, this time carrying the scorching momentum of blazing fire.
The spear's momentum was tyrannical and fierce, knocking the bone sword to the ground in a single blow.
Cai Xiuyong spat out blood as well, his eyes full of disbelief. The ghost he had hidden within the sword was gone.
Ordinarily, unless one was a great Foundation Establishment cultivator, it was generally impossible to manipulate objects with the mind. But he had opened up another path—if he could not control objects, could he not control ghosts?
Using ghosts to control objects was Cai Xiuyong's proudest method.
The ghosts he used to manipulate objects all possessed spiritual intelligence, and were equivalent to Qi Refining First Level cultivators.
Yet just now, Lin Le had destroyed the ghost hidden within the sword with a single spear strike.
A Four Limit Martial Artist had wiped out a First Layer ghost. What kind of ghostly joke was that? He had never heard of such a thing!
Lin Le raised his brow as well. He had just received five points of Human Dao merit and ten points of killing karma.
A ghost?
Lin Le immediately found the answer, then could not help feeling somewhat regretful. He had not expected directly killing ghosts to earn killing karma rather than Earthly Dao merit. What he lacked more now was Earthly Dao merit.
Run!
Cai Xiuyong made his decision at once. He was a Yellow Court cultivator; without ghosts to support him, he had no spells worth bringing out, especially in broad daylight.
Thinking of this, Cai Xiuyong's heart ached. He had been too arrogant. He had grown accustomed to lording over this small town and had actually forgotten the vigilance he ought to have possessed in his early years.
He had three Dharma artifacts on him, enough to threaten even the town magistrate somewhat. Yet he had run into an existence like Lin Le, one who defied all common sense, and one artifact had been severely damaged while another was gone entirely.
At that thought, Cai Xiuyong's heart hurt even more.
Then he realized his heart truly did hurt, because a spear had already pierced through it.
When?
Cai Xiuyong stared blankly at Lin Le. He had not even reacted to that spear strike.
Two Forms of Fighting Heaven, Sky-Breaking!
Lin Le silently watched Cai Xiuyong die, then pulled out the spear carrying Lightning Flash Momentum.
After casually cutting down the coachman as well, Lin Le ignored the shocked expressions of the residents on the street and dragged Cai Xiuyong's corpse inside.
He found a well and knocked on it nine times. The great serpent emerged from the mouth of the well. It glanced at the corpses strewn across the ground and could not help complaining, "Were you the reincarnation of some killing star? You wiped out entire families at the drop of a hat. Aren't you afraid your karma will grow too heavy and heavenly tribulation will strike you dead someday?"
"Killing evil people doesn't accumulate karma. It earns merit," Lin Le replied. "Do you want these three Dharma artifacts?"
Lin Le handed Cai Xiuyong's three Dharma artifacts to the great serpent.
The great serpent gave them a glance, undisguised contempt appearing on its snake face. "Trash. I'd think one low-grade spirit stone was too much to pay for them."
"Can you help me fuse them into my weapon, then?" Lin Le took out the Tiger Bone Spear. Cracks had already appeared along its shaft.
The material was still somewhat too brittle for him now.
"I can reinforce it simply enough, but forget about turning it into a Dharma artifact. I can't do that," the great serpent said.
"Reinforcement will do." Lin Le nodded.
The great serpent glanced at Cai Xiuyong's corpse. "But isn't your combat strength a little too abnormal? You could actually kill a Second Layer cultivator."
"He cultivated ghosts. In broad daylight, he was about the same as a First Layer cultivator," Lin Le said.
It was precisely because he knew Cai Xiuyong cultivated arts that could not bear the light that he had come knocking in broad daylight.
The great serpent flicked out its tongue and drew out a brocade pouch. "A storage pouch? For it to appear on such a minor cultivator is truly rare."
"Is it very precious?" Lin Le asked curiously.
"Not exactly precious, but even the worst ones cost a hundred low-grade spirit stones." The great serpent seemed to examine the pouch. "This one is four feet in height and width. It should be worth two or three hundred."
As though it had discovered something else, the great serpent suddenly understood. "So that's why this minor cultivator had a storage pouch. He inherited the legacy of someone before him—though he was a demonic cultivator."
The great serpent tipped out the pouch, spilling several items onto the ground. Apart from a large amount of gold, silver, valuables, and various bottles and jars, there were also five milky-white stones and three booklets.
With a sweep of its tongue, the great serpent took the five stones away. "These five spirit stones are mine, as payment for my help. You can have this storage pouch."
"You don't want it?" Lin Le asked in surprise.
"I have better ones. Why would I want an inferior one?" The great serpent swallowed the spirit stones. "Give me your spear. I'll reinforce it for you."
"Alright." Lin Le handed the spear to the great serpent.
The great serpent blew out a breath of white vapor. The vapor instantly surged like flames, wrapping Cai Xiuyong's three Dharma artifacts and the Tiger Bone Spear together.
Then it inhaled, drawing all the vital essence from the corpses filling the courtyard into itself.
Lin Le watched from the side, somewhat puzzled. "Come to think of it, what's the difference between your absorption of vital essence and directly eating people?"
"Of course there's a difference," the great serpent said. "I absorb the vital essence of dead people, and that is merely pure essence. But absorbing the vital essence of living people is different—their essence, qi, and spirit are all absorbed. That is eating people."
"So the difference is like drinking human blood versus eating human flesh?" Lin Le summed up.
"More or less." The great serpent thought about it and nodded. "What, does it make you uncomfortable?"
"Not really." Lin Le shook his head. "It's only drinking blood, and it puts waste to use. There's nothing uncomfortable about it."
"If you don't want me to, I won't absorb it anymore," the great serpent said. "I only do it to fill my stomach, anyway. But you'll have to prepare more meat for me in the future. I don't want to go hungry."
Lin Le could not help freezing. He looked at the great serpent, his expression unreadable.
The great serpent grew a little embarrassed beneath Lin Le's stare, then said with irritated shyness, "Hey, what are you looking at?"
"Nothing. I suddenly realized you're rather pretty." Lin Le turned away, and a certain thought in his heart gradually faded.
"Eh, really?" The great serpent lowered its head slightly, as though it truly were shy.
"Really. You're the prettiest snake I've ever seen!" Lin Le said in an exaggerated tone.
"Of course I am!" The great serpent could not help lifting its head proudly.
"Come to think of it, what's your name?" Lin Le asked the great serpent. "Let's formally introduce ourselves. My name is Lin Le—Lin as in two trees make a forest, Le as in optimism."
Lin Le's figure reflected in the pale golden snake eyes. The great serpent revealed a humanlike smile as well. "My name is Qingli—Qing as in clear, Li as in vivid and thorough."
"Hello, Qingli," Lin Le said.
"Hello, Lin Le." Qingli nodded, her eyes curved like crescent moons.
Thanks to Wen Dao Yu Mang and I Am a Sincere Person for the 100-coin tip.
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