Big Fat Sheep

However, what was done was done.

This time, I'd acted swiftly and silenced those two alluring young women as well. I'd devoured all three of them—their flesh and blood, and their living souls—and gotten away in time. In the short term, Ghost Fiend Ancestor shouldn't be able to learn that his son was dead. Even if he did, he was unlikely to suspect me directly. After all, I'd kept a low profile while capturing Yin Souls and never approached or spoke to anyone.

Once I'd thought it through, the tension in Lei Dong's heart eased. He swallowed a Qi Condensing Pill and began meditating to refine his qi, restoring his True Qi. Half a day later, when Lei Dong opened his eyes, spiritual light surged within him. His True Qi stirred restlessly, as if he could no longer suppress it. He couldn't help feeling both surprised and delighted. The delight came from the fact that this seemed to be the legendary sign of a breakthrough. What startled him, though, was the question of whether it was safe to break through out in the wilderness.

After weighing it briefly, he decided to break through at once. A chance like this, with his Qi Sensation churning and his heart stirred by insight, didn't come along often. If he missed it, who knew how long he'd have to wait for another? Besides, although the Earth Spirit Pill was a miraculous medicine with no side effects, such a special and potent pill always caused some resistance after it was taken. The second dose would be far less effective than the first. Now that he'd used an Earth Spirit Pill to advance from the fifth to the sixth layer, if he encountered another bottleneck that proved difficult to overcome, the pill might not be able to break through it for him with certainty.

Once he'd made up his mind, he immediately ordered the Three Ghost Soldiers to stay on high alert and kill anyone who tried to enter the cave. Then he calmed his mind. With a Spirit Stone in his palm and a Pill for Cultivating Origin in his mouth, he began his Breathing Technique without haste. Gradually, every stray thought fell away, and he entered a state of complete self-forgetfulness.

He had no idea how much time had passed. When he opened his eyes again, his mind was crystal clear. He felt as relaxed and comfortable as if he'd soaked in a hot bath on a bitter winter's day, light as a feather and almost ready to float away. After a quick check, he found that he'd indeed advanced from the fifth layer of Qi Refining, where he'd been stuck for so long, to the Sixth Layer. He couldn't help feeling overjoyed.

Unfortunately, there was nowhere to bathe here. The Marrow Cleansing and Hair Washing that came with each advancement always left him feeling both pleased and disgusted.

After resting for a while, once the excitement in his heart had settled, he began to examine his spoils. First were the two women's belongings. Perhaps because they'd attached themselves to that wealthy, ugly young man, they'd managed to get a few benefits and weren't especially poor. Their pills, equipment, and Spirit Stones added up to around a thousand spirits.

He spent some effort erasing the divine sense imprint the ugly young man had left on the Storage Belt when he'd refined it. The moment he opened it to check, his heart—which had only just settled—began pounding again. This time it wasn't excitement, but alarm. He could set aside the ten Return Origin Pills in a jade bottle, not to mention all the assorted odds and ends. Just the five Fiend Thunders lying quietly in a corner of the Storage Belt, their surfaces faintly shimmering with a cold light, were enough to make Lei Dong break out in a cold sweat.

Back when he'd first joined the sect, he'd seen a diminutive senior brother from Myriad Ghost Cave use a trick to kill someone stronger than himself with a Fiend Thunder. The man hadn't merely been killed—he'd been blown to pieces. Even now, the memory remained vivid. That was why Lei Dong had looked into Fiend Thunder, a single-use consumable Magic Tool. It was made by gathering large quantities of Killing Intent and refining them through a variety of methods. The process was complicated and dangerous, and only high-level cultivators could make them. So although these items were powerful, few people put them up for sale. Anyone lucky enough to refine one treated it like a treasure and kept it for self-defense.

Of course, they weren't completely unavailable. At the very least, one could be exchanged at the sect for over a thousand Contribution Value. In private trades, a hundred Spirit Stones wouldn't be enough. That was why people generally wouldn't use a Fiend Thunder unless they had no other choice.

As for these five, they'd clearly been made with Yin Sha, and could be called Yin Sha Thunder. Among the various types of Fiend Thunder, Yin Sha Thunder wasn't the most powerful when it came to explosive force, but it was one of the most dreaded.

The reason was simple. Every kind of Killing Intent could inflict serious harm on the human body, but Yin Sha was the most insidious. It was sinister and elusive, and once large amounts invaded the body, it was extremely difficult to eradicate. Like a soft knife, it slowly, relentlessly gnawed away at a person's life.

How could Lei Dong not break out in a cold sweat when the ugly young man's Storage Belt contained a full five Yin Sha Thunder? If he'd hesitated even slightly before striking, the young man might well have turned the tables completely. Lei Dong reckoned he could have managed one or two Fiend Thunders if he hadn't been careless, but five of them, plus ten Return Origin Pills? In a battle of attrition, there was no question who would have died. No wonder the ugly young man had been so arrogant and hadn't taken him seriously. He really did have extraordinary backing.

The Return Origin Pills and Yin Sha Thunder alone were worth well over a thousand spirits. And there was much more inside the Storage Belt. Over a thousand Spirit Stones lay neatly in one corner of its inner space, beside a crystal-clear Jade Box. With a thought, Lei Dong took out the box and opened it. Inside were ten transparent stones, lined up in perfect rows, their pure, abundant spiritual energy almost tangible as it shimmered across their surfaces.

Middle Grade Spirit Stones? Lei Dong was delighted again. He'd only ever heard of Middle Grade Spirit Stones; he'd never laid eyes on one before. In theory, a single Middle Grade Spirit Stone contained at most around ten times as much spiritual energy as a Low-grade Spirit Stone. Yet Middle Grade Spirit Stones were often worth a hundred times as much, or even more. The reason was easy to understand. Holding a Spirit Stone while cultivating would speed up one's progress. But Low-grade Spirit Stones contained little spiritual energy, and it was impure. They helped increase the speed of cultivation, but couldn't boost it by much.

Middle Grade Spirit Stones, however, far surpassed Low-grade Spirit Stones in both the purity and quantity of their spiritual energy. Over the same period of cultivation, drawing in spiritual energy from a Middle Grade Spirit Stone was far more efficient than using a Low-grade Spirit Stone. For cultivators, it was a fight against heaven for their lives, and time itself was life. What's more, some exceptionally powerful Magic Tools and even spiritual artifacts were almost impossible to activate with Low-grade Spirit Stones. Even if one managed it, their spiritual energy would be used up after only a few attempts. That was why Middle Grade Spirit Stones were so sought-after, with each one fetching well over a hundred spirits.

What a fat sheep! Lei Dong no longer cared that the fellow had been Ghost Fiend Ancestor's beloved son or anything of the sort. He wished he could slaughter a few more people like him.

There were also various odds and ends, including pills like Pills for Cultivating Origin and Qi Condensing Pills. Their value wasn't worth mentioning.

But the most valuable things on this fat sheep might not have been any of those. There was a shield, a sword, and a banner. The banner needed no further explanation: it was the Evil Ghost Banner. By any measure, its value was no less than that of an Upper Grade Flying Magic Item. Upper Grade Flying Magic Items usually cost tens of thousands of spirits. And if the Evil Ghost Banner continued to capture the living souls of stronger cultivators and was refined further, its quality could keep improving. It was truly a rare treasure.

As for the shield, it was the oddly shaped one covered in carvings of all kinds of evil ghosts and Fierce Demons. It had easily blocked a full-power strike from a level-six Bloodthirsty Ghost Soldier using the Bloodthirsty Art without showing the slightest mark. How could it be an ordinary item? Lei Dong couldn't determine its quality, but he reckoned it had to be at least an Upper Grade Magic Item.

Last was the sword. Poor fat sheep—he hadn't even had the chance to draw it and unleash its power before he died. The Ghost Fire Sword was another familiar offensive Magic Tool, one that had left a deep impression on Lei Dong. It had appeared frequently at the sect's ten-year Grand Competition. Those who were eligible to compete were usually the outstanding cultivators of their generation from the various caves and abodes. That alone showed that the Ghost Fire Sword, one of the Yin Sha Sect's signature Flying Swords, had its own unique qualities and formidable power.

The Ghost Fire flowing across this particular sword was especially rich and clear, faintly shimmering. It was plainly of exceptionally high quality, its Ghost Fire refined countless times over. The sword itself was also exquisitely designed, its elaborate carvings of yin and yang leaving a deep impression. It felt cold and heavy to the touch, a chill seeping faintly through the skin and piercing straight to the bone.

Lei Dong couldn't determine its true quality either, but he'd seen Middle Grade Flying Swords before. In every respect, they fell far short of this Ghost Fire Sword. So, by his rough estimate, this sword was at least an Upper Grade offensive Magic Item.

A rich second-generation cultivator, all right. Lei Dong couldn't help feeling moved. He'd fought tooth and nail to get where he was, and the only Upper Grade item he owned was a Soul Nurturing Pagoda. Yet everything this fellow had owned was Upper Grade. As the saying went, comparing people could drive you mad. Unfortunately, the ugly young man could no longer enjoy his possessions. Every last one had fallen into Lei Dong's hands. The thought left him feeling deeply satisfied.