Blood-Red Seed

Soul Grass!!!

Wrapped in the red cloth was a stalk of Soul Grass.

As its name suggested, Soul Grass could enhance a cultivator's spiritual strength.

The older the Soul Grass, the greater the increase in spiritual strength.

Although the stalk before him was only a few decades old, it was still a rare treasure to Zhao Huaian.

After all, what he needed most right now was to strengthen his spiritual power.

Whether he was cultivating an art or drawing talismans, spiritual power was indispensable.

Now things were looking up.

With this stalk of Soul Grass, Zhao Huaian was certain that his efficiency at drawing talismans would increase dramatically, and his technique's circulation and cultivation speed would also improve to some degree.

However, one thing puzzled Zhao Huaian: where had the old monk gotten the Soul Grass?

After all, Soul Grass was extremely valuable and exceedingly rare in the Huai'an Water Region. Sometimes, even if you had enough Spirit Stones, you still couldn't buy any.

"Perhaps that old monk really did stumble upon a fortuitous opportunity."

Zhao Huaian shook his head and didn't dwell on it.

However the old monk had obtained the Soul Grass, it was all in the past.

The old monk was dead now, and the Soul Grass belonged to him.

He carefully put the Soul Grass away.

Zhao Huaian searched the Secret Chamber again, but this time he found nothing else of value.

Just as he was about to leave, however, he suddenly spotted something amid a pile of ashes, glowing with a faint blood-red light.

The ashes had come from the blood-red flower from earlier.

At the sight of it,

Zhao Huaian raised an eyebrow and slowly walked over. He used his Flying Sword to rake aside the ashes, revealing the object that glimmered with a faint blood-red light.

A seed!

It was a blood-red seed!

Looking at the blood-red seed, Zhao Huaian furrowed his brows. He knew it was most likely what the blood-red flower had left behind.

A Fireball Spell appeared out of thin air.

Zhao Huaian hurled it straight at the blood-red seed.

Rumble!

Countless flames burst into an explosion.

To Zhao Huaian's surprise, however, the blood-red seed was completely unharmed by his Grandmaster-level Fireball Spell.

"Unafraid of fire?"

Zhao Huaian was a little astonished.

By all rights, the seed should have belonged to the plant family and naturally feared flames.

But this blood-red seed was completely unharmed by the Fireball Spell. Zhao Huaian truly couldn't understand it, and the sight left him astonished.

"If you're not afraid of fire, then let's see if you can withstand my Flying Needles!"

Zhao Huaian gave a cold snort.

The next moment, he flicked a finger.

A Silver Needle shot from his sleeve, a sharp Sword Qi suspended in the air around it.

Through cultivating the Crimson Fire Sword Art, Zhao Huaian had already given rise to many faint traces of Sword Qi within his body.

He could channel these traces of Sword Qi through any object and unleash them.

That included the Silver Needle, which was a middle-grade combination Dharma Artifact.

With the Sword Qi added to it,

the Silver Needle grew far more powerful, and its speed increased considerably as well.

Even an eighth-layer Qi Refining cultivator would hardly dare to take this strike head-on.

Clang!!!

A crisp metallic impact rang out.

The Silver Needle that had shot through the air flew back, slightly bent.

"Hm? It's completely unharmed?"

Seeing that one of the Silver Needles in his middle-grade combination Dharma Artifact had bent while the blood-red seed remained untouched, Zhao Huaian was even more shocked.

At the same time, he couldn't help but take the blood-red seed more seriously.

It feared neither flames nor blades.

There was no way this blood-red seed was ordinary.

"It should count as a treasure. I'll put it away for now and find a place that specializes in appraisals when I get the chance. It might come in handy."

Zhao Huaian murmured to himself.

He walked over, wrapped the blood-red seed in spiritual energy, and put it away.

Out of caution, Zhao Huaian didn't touch it with his body. Instead, he placed it in a Jade Bottle by itself, then put the bottle inside an empty Storage Bag.

That way,

even if the blood-red seed had some unforeseen properties, it would be hard for it to affect him in the slightest.

After putting it away,

Zhao Huaian strode out of Clear Wind Temple.

By the time he was gone, the entire Clear Wind Temple was engulfed in blazing flames, reduced to a field of ruins...

Blackwater City.

Blackwater City lay at the very edge of the Huai'an Water Region, where it met the mainland. It was a bustling city with a thriving population.

As a city that bordered the mainland, it had a large population, and every three years, many people with spiritual roots joined the Greenwood Sect.

With people who had spiritual roots continually joining the Greenwood Sect, Blackwater City was also held in high regard by the sect.

A streak of white flashed across the sky.

Dressed in flowing white robes, Zhao Huaian rode his Flying Sword down from the heavens.

Below him was a busy street packed with people.

When the people on the street saw someone descending from the sky, they scattered in a hurry and stood respectfully to the side, not daring to look up.

In no time, a clear path opened through the teeming street.

Zhao Huaian put his Flying Sword into his Storage Bag.

Seeing this, the people around him trembled and dropped to their knees, crying out, "Immortal Master!"

Watching the mortals bowing in reverence around him, Zhao Huaian smiled and shook his head. He felt no vanity or satisfaction.

Mortals and immortals belonged to different worlds.

They were just mortals. What did it matter how many of them bowed to him?

What Zhao Huaian wanted was for cultivators to kneel in reverence before him, just as these mortals did.

To be precise, he wanted his strength to tower above that of countless cultivators.

Perhaps only then would he feel even a trace of satisfaction and vanity.

Ignoring the mortals kneeling in worship, Zhao Huaian walked on.

After crossing the bustling street, he followed the directions to his mission location and soon stopped in front of a luxurious estate.

Its tall, imposing cinnabar-red gates bore a plaque with the three flourishing characters "Zhao Family."

"This is the place!"

Zhao Huaian looked it up and down. Seeing the dense Ghostly Qi drifting above the luxurious estate, he knew this was the site of his last mission.

Just as Zhao Huaian was about to announce his identity and enter, the cinnabar-red gates suddenly swung open.

A pale-faced scholar in white led a group of servants out, respectfully surrounding a third-layer Qi Refining cultivator.

The third-layer Qi Refining cultivator was dressed like a Daoist priest. He had refined features and looked rather like an immortal.

After escorting the cultivator out, the scholar in white said deferentially, "Immortal Master, we owe you a great deal this time. If you hadn't come, that evil ghost would have wiped out my entire Zhao Family."

The third-layer Qi Refining cultivator chuckled. "Exorcising demons and upholding the Dao is the duty of cultivators like us."

After a pause, the third-layer Qi Refining cultivator shifted his tone and rubbed his hands together. "It's just that my Dharma Artifact suffered some damage while subduing that ghost. Layman Zhao, perhaps you could..."