Su Hao could never keep such a vicious woman by his side.
He had neither the means to guarantee Zhang Jiaojiao's absolute loyalty nor any desire to waste his time and energy on someone like her.
Killing her was the best choice.
But since Zhang Jiaojiao had been fairly cooperative, Su Hao used a relatively gentle method to kill her.
In the main hall, the woman's gauzy clothes lay scattered around her corpse as it slumped on the floor, utterly lifeless.
"Absorb Talent Power: Fire Spirit Body."
A thread of spiritual power surged through Su Hao, but he was deeply dissatisfied. "Is that all...?"
They had both been at Qi Refining Level 5.
Zhou Cui Feng had saved Su Hao several months of painstaking cultivation.
Zhang Jiaojiao, on the other hand, was far inferior, equivalent to only five days of hard cultivation.
Su Hao was very disappointed as he rummaged through her storage pouch.
Her inheritance was slightly richer than Chen Yifeng's.
There were more than thirty spirit stones, a long sword dharma artifact, a cultivation technique, and nothing else but women's clothes, rouge, and perfume.
"Soaring Cloud Technique? A flight-type spell." Su Hao's eyes lit up. "A low-grade dharma artifact, the Spirit Snake Sword. It's more suited to women's yin-based cultivation techniques. Once activated, it can transform into a spirit snake to assist in attacks. It's at least better than the Golden Rock Sword."
The streaks of light Chen Yifeng and Zhang Jiaojiao had transformed into at the time had both come from the Soaring Cloud Technique.
This kind of spell was of average speed and consumed a great deal of energy, making it far inferior to a flying dharma artifact.
But it had its advantages too: it was somewhat more flexible.
"Right, the Soul Refining Banner..."
Su Hao had just been about to deal with the corpse when he remembered the Soul Refining Banner.
He immediately cast the soul-refining method and extracted the soul from the corpse.
Normally, when a human died, the three souls and six spirits would scatter throughout the body before returning to the heavens and earth after some time.
The soul-refining method was exceptionally cruel. Once the soul was refined into a yin soul and sealed inside the Soul Refining Banner, becoming a banner puppet, it could never enter the cycle of reincarnation.
If they were lucky, the yin souls might be freed if the banner was destroyed.
If they were unlucky, they would be dispersed in battle or perish forever along with the destruction of the banner, never to be reborn.
Su Hao did not care about any of that.
Before long, a mass of black mist appeared in his hand, occasionally taking on Zhang Jiaojiao's form.
Then the soul entered the space within the Soul Refining Banner.
Zhang Jiaojiao became one of the yin souls. Without any consciousness, she wandered aimlessly through the space.
After staying there for a while, she would naturally come under the Soul Refining Banner's complete control.
"Next, I need to transfer the souls in Chen Yifeng's Soul Refining Banner."
Su Hao spent most of the night selecting souls from it.
He transferred the yin souls above Qi Refining Level 3. The remaining sixteen yin souls at Qi Refining Levels 1 and 2 returned to the heavens and earth as the Soul Refining Banner crumbled.
Su Hao watched as clumps of black mist gradually turned into white smoke and scattered. They had probably entered the cycle of reincarnation, right?
He did not really believe in that.
Zhang Jiaojiao's corpse on the ground had already stiffened.
A cultivator's corpse could remain unrotted for a long time, and the body had yet to give off any odor of decay.
Dealing with the corpse was even simpler.
Some time ago, Su Hao had found a kind of medicinal liquid called Corpse Dissolving Water in Lin Zhi Shan's medicine storehouse. It was specially used to deal with dead flesh and blood.
This was merely his first time witnessing its effects with his own eyes.
The corpse, which still retained a few traces of beauty, turned into a puddle of blood within a few short breaths.
This was far more convenient than dumping a corpse at Tiger Fall Cliff.
Whether it was Su Hao, Zhang Jiaojiao, or the others, what they truly feared was not how to dispose of a corpse cleanly, but the dead person's background and connections, and whether a powerful cultivator stood behind them.
If some expert made a determined investigation and sought revenge, they would have no trouble finding spells or secret treasures capable of locking onto the killer.
Next, Su Hao studied the Soul Refining Banner for a while before planning to turn the remaining spirit medicines into Pure Qi Pills and Spirit Gathering Powder.
These two medicines were only top-grade, and they still had some effect on him, but their cost-performance ratio was low.
Exchanging them for spirit stones, then using those to buy better spirit medicines and make higher-level cultivation pills, was the wisest choice.
However, Pure Qi Pills and Spirit Gathering Powder were hot-selling goods among the outer disciples.
Su Hao had already learned the location of the black market from Zhang Jiaojiao. He could discreetly sell off the goods there and exchange them for spirit stones.
As for whether Heavenly Treasure Pavilion would demand the remaining medicinal ingredients, Huang Shanyu had not mentioned it at the time.
Even if they came asking for the unused spirit medicines now, he could simply push all the blame onto Lin Zhi Shan.
As for the commissions, he had already followed his late master Lin Zhi Shan's instructions and completed part of them.
What did the other matters have to do with a rookie cultivator like himself who could only refine trash Fragrant Treasure Pills?
In truth, Su Hao was worried that Heavenly Treasure Pavilion would vent its anger on him. He also needed to fabricate a convincing story about Lin Zhi Shan fleeing the sect.
He had to hand over part of the commissions.
Otherwise, stuffing everything into his own pocket would have been the most profitable option!
While Su Hao continued refining pills,
a graceful figure slipped into Bamboo Heart Courtyard.
"Just as I thought, Lin Zhi Shan's Medicine Persons are still here!" Liu Mei rejoiced inwardly in the courtyard.
Back then, she had held back out of consideration for their relationship and absorbed essence from only one Medicine Person.
But now that their grudge had deepened, she had no reason to show any mercy.
"I'll start with three tonight." Liu Mei licked her lips and glanced toward the mountaintop. "As for the last one, I'll deal with Su Hao. Thinking about it now, that boy has quite a few suspicious points. It seems I didn't completely bewitch him back then."
Liu Mei knocked on the door of one of the courtyards.
"Damn it, who's knocking in the middle of the night?"
The young man opened the door, and the instant he saw her, his spirits immediately lifted. Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he said, "Fairy... Fairy, I'm not seeing things, am I? There's actually a woman as beautiful as you in this world."
He had been here for so many days without touching a woman.
Alchemist Lin had promised them fine clothes, lavish food, and beautiful women to wait on them here.
Unfortunately, those so-called beautiful women had never appeared. In an entire month, they had not seen a single woman, and they were not even allowed to touch the maids.
"Could it be that Alchemist Lin sent you?" When the young man saw Liu Mei's alluring smile and faintly seductive manner, he hurriedly pulled her inside. "May I ask the fairy's honored name?"
"Heh, the night is short and springtime fleeting. Why must Young Master ask so many questions?"
"That's right, that's right. The night is short and springtime fleeting! Hurry up and take off your clothes." The young man impatiently stripped off his inner garment.
When the fragrant mist swept over him, his movements abruptly froze. He stood rooted to the spot, trembling all over as wisps of bloody mist seeped from his body.
Liu Mei sat lazily on the bed, breathing in the strands of bloody mist with an expression of satisfaction. "It's been a month, yet the medicinal power remains so abundant, with hardly any loss. Lin Zhi Shan's secret method for creating Medicine Persons really is miraculous. It feels as though they were prepared specifically for me. So many Medicine Persons—enough to let me break through!"
After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, the dried corpse collapsed to the floor.
Liu Mei headed for the next Medicine Person's room.
At daybreak,
"Three people died in Bamboo Heart Courtyard. All their corpses turned into dried corpses."
Huang Jiao hurried to the cave residence to report the news.
Su Hao's expression changed abruptly. Who else could have done this? It absolutely had to be connected to Joy Peak. Could Liu Mei have done it?
"Yes, Master painstakingly raised those Medicine Persons, and now they've died just like that. I suspect someone drained them dry. It was very likely the work of a disciple from Joy Peak."
Huang Jiao was trembling with fear. "We must report this to Master!"
"Report it to my master?" Su Hao raised an eyebrow. How was he supposed to report it? Was he meant to descend to the underworld and make the report? "What are you panicking for? I'll bear the responsibility. If Elder Master has the ability to return, I'll repay him with my life!"
He hurried to Bamboo Heart Courtyard. Without even looking at the dried corpses in the courtyard, he first absorbed their Talent Power.
"Absorb Talent Power: Medicine Person. This series of talents has reached perfection. Medicine Person has automatically transformed into gray fragments."
"..."
Gray Fragments ×3. Talent fragments can evolve any talent of the corresponding quality. Fragments cannot be synthesized with one another.
It would have been wonderful if gray fragments could be synthesized further. Unfortunately, fragments could not be combined with fragments. Su Hao felt somewhat regretful.