Grass Puppet Guards the Spirit Field

"I only want to farm quietly in peace. Why does my life have to be disturbed?"

After obtaining the special Light Orbs from the Spirit Field, Lu Xuan had begun to think of facing the world with detachment.

He no longer racked his brains to fight countless Rogue Cultivators over a wisp of illusory, impossible fortune.

That was why he had previously refused Zhang Hong's invitation, as well as the invitation from the Spirit Plant Master of Hundred Herbs Hall, to explore the Secret Realm.

On ordinary days, he was also kind to others and rarely went out.

Wang Shan had been possessed by an Evil Spirit and was very likely to destroy his current peaceful life, so Lu Xuan had no choice but to try taking the initiative to resolve it.

"Then who should I report Wang Shan to?"

"It has to be someone clearly stronger than him, and someone who isn't too close to him."

Lu Xuan pondered for a while, then recalled that when Wang Shan had once been drinking with him, he had cursed one of his superiors bitterly behind the man's back.

He had considered solving it through Hundred Herbs Hall's connections, but in the end he gave up on that. After all, he had only just begun cooperating with Hundred Herbs Hall. His words carried little weight, he had no presentable achievements, and he did not know any high-ranking, powerful figures. The only person he was on good terms with, Manager He, did not have a particularly high status either.

"There's one more point I must pay attention to. I absolutely have to hide my identity well, lest the report fail in the end and I get implicated instead."

After settling on a target to report to, Lu Xuan made some quiet inquiries, then began preparing to act.

Vast Forest Market, Northern District Law Enforcement Hall.

It was a huge building occupying more than ten mu of land. Inside, Rich Spiritual Energy filled the air, and strange flowers and rare grasses could be seen everywhere.

Ling Peng sat before his desk, flipping through an Artifact Refining classic in his hands.

He usually preferred peace and quiet, so he had specially chosen a courtyard office located to one side of the Law Enforcement Hall. Outside the window grew a lush, verdant Spirit Tree; when he had nothing to do, he would look at it to relax his eyes.

He was one of the few Qi Refining High Stage cultivators in the Law Enforcement Hall. Most of the time, he merely held the fort inside the hall, only stepping forward when a large-scale Evil Spirit invasion occurred.

Suddenly, he let out a soft sound of surprise. A shield covered in gray-black scales flashed out from his Storage Bag and flew around him.

The instant the Gray-Black Shield appeared, a streak of golden light shot into the room like a sharp arrow.

With a "ding."

To Ling Peng's surprise, the golden streak of light did not rush toward him. Instead, it shot straight into a roof beam inside the room and lingered without dispersing.

"Who's so wildly reckless as to dare attack a cultivator of the Law Enforcement Hall?"

A trace of anger surfaced on Ling Peng's face. The shield flew of its own accord, and the Spiritual Power throughout his body circulated to the utmost.

Several breaths passed, but there was no movement outside.

With doubts in his heart, Ling Peng looked toward the Golden Sword Qi on the roof beam.

"For the Sword Qi to remain undispersed for so long, the cultivator behind this must have extraordinary attainments in the sword path."

Ling Peng sighed in admiration, then discovered a palm-sized sheet of white paper pinned to the roof beam by the Golden Sword Qi.

He scattered the Golden Sword Qi, then used an object-control spell to guide the white paper drifting before him.

Two crooked lines of writing were written on the white paper. It was clearly done deliberately.

"Wang Shan is likely polluted by an Evil Spirit. Tan Xiaodong, who is in charge of patrol inspection, is very likely deliberately shielding him."

Ling Peng read the two small lines aloud in a low voice.

A clump of dark-red flame suddenly appeared beneath the white paper, burning it into black ash.

"Is the information on this paper real, or is it a prank?"

"I remember Wang Shan is a Qi Refining Middle Stage cultivator in the hall, with a cultivation of Qi Refining Stage 5. He can be considered middle-level. If even he has been polluted by an Evil Spirit, then disaster may very well befall the Law Enforcement Hall."

"As for it being a prank, the possibility is really too low."

He looked at the shallow trace left by the Golden Sword Qi on the roof beam and thought to himself.

"The Sword Qi displayed by the person behind this was soundless and traceless. Even with my Spiritual Sense at the Qi Refining High Stage, I only discovered it after it came close. The Sword Qi did not disperse for a long time and arrived with fierce momentum, yet it only left behind a shallow mark."

"This shows that he has immersed himself in the sword path for at least ten years. The Sword Qi he has mastered is at the Minor Accomplishment Realm or even the Great Accomplishment Realm, and his cultivation is very likely at the Qi Refining High Stage. After all, for a Qi Refining Middle Stage cultivator to possess sword-path ability at such a realm would be far too difficult."

"So I still have to investigate and keep a closer eye on those two."

Ling Peng made his decision in secret.

He leaped up, stepped onto a Crimson Flying Sword, and circled the Law Enforcement Hall once, but did not discover any suspicious person.

On a street not far away, Lu Xuan walked slowly along the bluestone road. Before long, a surging Spiritual Sense swept over him.

With the help of the Breath Concealment Technique, Lu Xuan currently only revealed a cultivation of Qi Training Stage 3. The Spiritual Sense found nothing abnormal and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Lu Xuan walked at a normal rhythm, not showing the slightest panic.

"Sending that message with the Gold Metal Swordplay at the Great Accomplishment Realm—presumably that Qi Refining High Stage cultivator whose relationship with Wang Shan is only average will seriously consider my warning. At the very least, he'll pay more attention to Wang Shan."

"As for that Tan Xiaodong, who swallowed my Spirit Stones and still wasn't satisfied, I'll conveniently trip him up a little. Once I find a chance, and my strength can crush him, I'll settle accounts then."

Lu Xuan reviewed this reporting action of his.

With the help of the Breath Concealment Technique, he had silently and tracelessly approached the target cultivator without attracting any attention, used the Gold Metal Swordplay at the Great Accomplishment Realm to deliver the warning, then disguised himself as having a Qi Training Stage 3 cultivation to evade possible inspection.

"Now it just depends on whether it can take effect."

At this point, whether or not Wang Shan's contamination by the Evil Spirit had been discovered, all Lu Xuan could do was meet change with constancy and quietly watch how things developed.

"Spirit Firefly Grass, Red Cloud Pine, Sword Grass—hurry up and mature."

He returned to the courtyard and looked at the dozens of Spirit Firefly Grass in the spirit field that were already close to maturity, the five Red Cloud Pine cones growing larger and darker in color, and the Sword Grass standing perfectly straight like a blade. His heart settled quite a bit.

"As long as Spirit Plants mature, I'll be able to keep accumulating strength. When the time comes, even if the Evil Spirit inside Wang Shan's body wants to harm me, I'll just deal with it myself."

At the edge of the Spirit Spring Pool, the Azure-Eyed Cloud Stepping Lynx had dug out a Strange Insect from who knew where.

It put the Strange Insect down, and when the three Red-Beard Carp in the Spirit Spring Pool came out to fight over it, its snow-white paw flashed past at high speed, snatching the Strange Insect back under its paw. At the same time, it caught a long whisker and yanked a Red-Beard Carp straight out.

The long whisker kept stretching and contracting in midair, making the Red-Beard Carp below bounce up and down without stopping.

"I told you not to catch fish, and you still won't behave! Asking for a beating, are you?!"

Seeing this scene, Lu Xuan couldn't help but give the Cloud Stepping Lynx cub's pointed ears a firm smack.

The Cloud Stepping Lynx Young Beast calmly put the Red-Beard Carp back into the Spirit Spring Pool, then walked off to one side and pawed at the half-dead Strange Insect in a furrow of the spirit field.

Lu Xuan worried that after being hit like that, it might feel unhappy, so he gathered his mind onto it.

"Awooo~~ Master petted me again today~"

"This little fellow..."

Lu Xuan broke into a laugh despite himself. So the lynx had caught the Red-Beard Carp to attract his attention; even getting smacked was better than not being touched all day.

A sudden idea came to him, and he walked over to the Grass Puppet patrolling the spirit field.

The Grass Puppet took the same even steps as always, slowly circling around the spirit field.

"After absorbing the Grass Spirit Essence Liquid, the Grass Puppet has changed quite a bit. It's even developed a trace of intelligence. I wonder what its current state will be."

Curious, Lu Xuan focused his mind on the Grass Puppet's gray-black body.

"Guard Spirit Field!"

"Guard Spirit Field!"

"Guard Spirit Field!"

The same sentence echoed again and again in Lu Xuan's mind.

I was out all day today, sorry there's only one update. I'll make up the missing one tomorrow.