More Spirit Stones Than You

"What!"

"What do you mean!?"

Xiang Pichi looked at the two low-level cultivators who remained unmoved, and for some reason, panic suddenly rose in his heart.

His spiritual sense jolted. He abruptly looked up at the sky.

From atop a massive tree, Huzi tossed down ten formation stones linked end to end.

White light glowed from Jiang Xiaobai's hands as she activated the formation stones.

"Spirit-Sealing Formation!"

Buzz!

The ten formation stones descended with immense spiritual pressure, firmly enveloping Xiang Pichi and his gigantic puppet within.

Boom!

Xiang Pichi's two earth arms fell limply at his sides. The enormous three-in-one earth puppet also dropped to its knees. Without spiritual power to sustain it, even the light in its eyes dimmed.

"You actually have a Spirit-Sealing Formation!"

Xiang Pichi now felt every strand of spiritual power in his body become incomparably heavy. Mobilizing it was exceedingly difficult, and both of his spells that required vast amounts of spiritual power lost their effect.

The corner of Yang Shi's mouth lifted slightly. With the ancestor's warning, he had long known everything about Xiang Pichi's spells, so naturally, he knew what Xiang Pichi's ultimate move feared.

It was tremendously powerful, balanced in attack and defense, and long-lasting—but it consumed an enormous amount of spiritual power!

Thus, his most valuable treasure was the Earth Essence Stone on his chest. It could store twice as much earth spiritual power as he possessed himself and circulate it at any time, making it as convenient to use as his own spiritual power.

And this Spirit-Sealing Formation, purchased for thirty-five Spirit Stones, had been prepared specifically for him!

It could suppress a Qi Refining Realm cultivator for the time it took an incense stick to burn!

Now that the divine arms behind him lacked sufficient spiritual power, they could not move effectively. Instead, they had become Xiang Pichi's greatest burden.

"Who exactly are you people!? Why do you know my cultivation technique so well!?"

Xiang Pichi felt like he had been stripped naked. Looking at the approaching Yang Shi, he shouted:

"I, Xiang, believe I have made very few enemies. Who are you, sir? Could you tell me the reason?"

Yang Shi sneered. "Still trying to stall for time? Huzi, kill him!"

From the towering tree, Huzi leaped down, raising his great saber as he slashed at Xiang Pichi.

"Gale Saber Technique!"

As the great saber swung, fierce saber winds rose and savagely chopped toward the immobile Xiang Pichi.

Bang!

Xiang Pichi decisively abandoned the divine arms behind him. With his left hand, he gathered a trace of earth spiritual power into a shield and blocked Huzi's attack. Sparks flew from the point of impact.

Borrowing the force, he tried to flee outside.

Xiao Bai changed her hand signs, and the Spirit-Sealing Formation raised a barrier, preventing Xiang Pichi from escaping. He could only fight Huzi in a real man's one-on-one battle.

"Eighth-Rank Great Gale!"

Huzi directly unleashed his ultimate move. The talent brought by the Overbearing Qi Formula made his muscles swell. Every slash stirred a gale, and eight gales stacked atop one another as the attack swept toward Xiang Pichi with the force of a tornado.

Before being sealed, Xiang Pichi could have easily dispelled such a mortal saber technique with a single spell.

Even the earth puppet could have broken through all techniques with sheer force.

But now... more than ninety percent of his spiritual power had been sealed away, leaving him only able to respond in a wretched state.

Though the Earth Essence Stone was also suppressed, it continued to spew small streams of earth spiritual power to replenish Xiang Pichi.

"Earth Armor Technique!"

The plain yet practical spell protected Xiang Pichi's entire body, resisting the gale saber qi.

Xiang Pichi reached to his waist with his right hand and drew out a White Bone Disc.

Clang!

A thread of black light burst from the disc, blasting Huzi away. After landing, he spat out a huge mouthful of blood.

"A demonic artifact!"

Threads of black souls twisted and struggled atop the bone disc. Faint, shrill cries of agony could be heard.

Unless he faced a life-and-death crisis, Xiang Pichi had never revealed his demonic artifact.

The White Bone Disc had to be refined from every bone in a cultivator's body while that cultivator was still alive.

Then, the souls of different cultivators would be refined and merged into it, strengthening the demonic artifact's power.

It was utterly vicious and sinister!

Every righteous cultivator had the right to execute him!

Xiang Pichi let out a sinister cackle. "Since you've seen my trump card, become another soul within my White Bone Disc today."

He was certain that this disc could protect him until the formation ended.

"Xiao Bai, break his demonic artifact!"

Xiao Bai nodded and took a red talisman from her robes. Complex runes danced upon it like dragons and phoenixes, completely different from the talismans she had thrown out earlier.

The instant Xiang Pichi saw it, his face filled with horror!

"No!"

"Heavenly Thunder Slash!"

Boom!

A great blade of red lightning cleaved out from Jiang Xiaobai's hand. Its terrifying pressure made Xiang Pichi's scalp go numb.

He barely raised the White Bone Disc over his head to block it. When the two collided, dazzling light erupted.

Aaaah! Aaaah! Aaaah!

The threads of black souls were purified beneath the lightning's radiance, each releasing cries of liberation.

Crack!

The great blade of red lightning vanished, and the White Bone Disc shattered into fragments across the ground.

Xiang Pichi's hair was disheveled, and the horror on his face turned into terror.

"A high-grade... Qi Refining talisman!"

And it was a lightning talisman, the kind that most restrained demonic artifacts!

He could not believe the other side possessed something of this level.

A single talisman like that cost more than a hundred Spirit Stones!

"Die!"

"Trace-Free Sword Technique!"

After destroying the artifact, Yang Shi charged into the Spirit-Sealing Formation as well. He and Huzi attacked from front and back, hacking the now-defenseless Xiang Pichi into a miserable state.

Relying on the spiritual energy from the Earth Essence Stone, Xiang Pichi continuously raised earth armor over himself. He also swallowed two healing pills and desperately held on.

"Wooden Spear Technique!"

Xiao Bai hurled talismans as though they cost nothing. The successive wooden spears shattered Xiang Pichi's earth armor.

"You cannot kill me! The Xiang Family will not let you off! Bloodsoul Valley will not let you off!" Xiang Pichi screamed with hair flying wildly, his eyes filled with terror and fear.

"Wild Goose Across the Sky!"

Yang Shi found his opening. The Flowing Water Sword was like a nimble wild goose, drawing a beautiful arc through the air before piercing Xiang Pichi's heart.

Clutching his chest, Xiang Pichi fell with a face full of unwillingness.

"Wh-why... why!"

Yang Shi stepped on his bleeding body, his face utterly cold.

"Because I have more Spirit Stones than you."

Xiang Pichi, dead.

"Whew... I can finally breathe."

Watching the entire battle unfold, Yang Genshuo had unconsciously held his breath for so long that he had nearly suffocated himself.

Aside from the preparation stage, he had not interfered throughout the battle. Yang Shi led the team and successfully took down Xiang Pichi, an earth-element cultivator at the Qi Refining First Layer.

If Yang Genshuo had to summarize this battle, he only had eight words.

"Steady and sure, every step a killing move!"

From beginning to end, Xiang Pichi's every move had been within their expectations.

Even the Iron-Spined Gray Wolf and Little Flame, whom they had ambushed along Xiang Pichi's retreat route, never got the chance to act.

Should Xiang Pichi somehow use a method to escape the Spirit-Sealing Formation, these two Spirit Beasts would deliver a fatal blow along his escape route!

The three people on-screen—Yang Shi and the others—also let out long sighs of relief.

"Qi Refining cultivators... truly are difficult to kill. Even one at the Qi Refining First Layer possesses methods far beyond ours. If not for the ancestor's help, we could never have slain Xiang Pichi."

Yang Shi was somewhat emotional. The ancestor had discovered Xiang Pichi's techniques and weaknesses. Only by specifically purchasing talismans and formation stones had they been able to suppress him from beginning to end.

"Fortunately, Senior Sister Murong gave us those offensive talismans. Otherwise, all our preparations would have gone down the drain."

Jiang Xiaobai used the Heavenly Thunder Slash talisman to destroy the demonic artifact with one slash. She was unquestionably the coolest person in the entire battle.

Huzi sat on the ground, chuckling foolishly.

"I never thought I'd actually kill an immortal. It feels like a dream."

He felt he could brag about this battle for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, the Black Ghosts who had been cowering in the forest returned, trembling all over.

They had witnessed the spell battle from beginning to end. They were terrified beyond measure and now had no thought of resisting Yang Shi's group, only begging to keep their lives.

Hashi, the only Black Ghost with a spiritual root, felt a faint thrill beneath his fear.

"So this is what immortals are like? Could I also achieve Immortal Ascension?"

Trembling, he stepped forward a few paces and knelt on the ground.

"Master! Hashi is willing to lead the tribe in following you for generation after generation!"

Yang Shi swept a majestic gaze across the Black Ghost Tribe. Not one of them dared lift their heads to meet his eyes.

"From today onward, you will cultivate Spirit Fields for me. Do you understand?"

The Black Ghosts hurriedly agreed.

Yang Shi then said to Hashi, "Hashi, manage these Spirit Fields properly. If there is a good harvest next year, I will teach you an immortal cultivation formula. But if anything goes wrong... you will end up like that cultivator."

"Yes, Master!"

Hashi replied tremblingly.

Yang Shi looked at the lake, a smile appearing on his lips.

One spirit lake, six mu of Spirit Fields, and several Spirit Fruits—starting today, all of it belonged within the Yang Family's sphere of influence.

"Who would have thought Xiang Pichi's words were true... With this spirit lake, there's no need to use the Spirit Rain Art for watering. That makes things much easier, and Xiao Bai no longer needs to travel back and forth through the dangerous Demonwind Forest."

"If all six mu are planted with Spirit Wheat, we'll gain another three thousand jin of Spirit Wheat every year. That means another nine thousand packs of Fasting Cakes. If the Blackstone Sect buys them, that will be... eighteen hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones!"

"Hiss... we've struck it rich."

While Yang Genshuo calculated the land's returns, Huzi had already skillfully finished looting the corpse.

"Brother Shi, come quickly! There's something good!"