Blood-Red Seed

Soul Grass!

Wrapped inside the red cloth was none other than a stalk of Soul Grass.

As the name suggests, Soul Grass can enhance a cultivator's spiritual power.

The older the Soul Grass, the greater the boost to one's spiritual power.

Although the stalk before him was only a few decades old, it was a rare and precious treasure for Zhao Huaian.

After all, increasing his spiritual power was his most urgent need right now.

Whether it was for practicing cultivation techniques or drawing spirit talismans, spiritual power was indispensable.

Now, things were looking up.

With this decades-old Soul Grass, Zhao Huaian believed that his efficiency in drawing spirit talismans would definitely increase significantly, and his speed in circulating cultivation techniques and overall progress would also see a certain degree of improvement.

However, what made Zhao Huaian somewhat curious was where that old monk had managed to obtain this Soul Grass.

After all, Soul Grass was highly valuable and extremely rare in the Huai'an Water Region; sometimes, even if you had enough spirit stones, you might not be able to purchase it.

Perhaps that old monk truly had some stroke of fortune.

Zhao Huaian shook his head, not dwelling on it further.

Regardless of how the old monk had obtained the Soul Grass, it was all in the past.

Now that the old monk was dead, the Soul Grass belonged to him.

He carefully put the Soul Grass away.

Zhao Huaian searched the secret chamber once more, but this time, he did not find any other precious items.

However, just as he was preparing to leave, he suddenly noticed an object emitting a faint blood-red glow amidst a pile of ash.

This pile of ash naturally belonged to that blood-red flower from before.

Noticing this, Zhao Huaian raised an eyebrow slightly. He walked forward slowly and used his Flying Sword to push aside the ash, revealing the object that was glowing with a faint blood-red light.

A seed!

It was a blood-red seed!

Looking at this blood-red seed, Zhao Huaian frowned slightly. He knew that this was very likely something left behind by that blood-red flower.

A Fireball Spell appeared out of thin air.

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

Rumble.

Countless flames exploded outward.

However, to Zhao Huaian's surprise, the blood-red seed remained completely unscathed under his Grandmaster-level Fireball Spell.

"It doesn't fear fire?"

Zhao Huaian was slightly taken aback.

Logically speaking, this seed should belong to the plant category and be naturally afraid of intense flames.

Yet, the fact that this blood-red seed remained undamaged by the Fireball Spell truly left Zhao Huaian bewildered and surprised.

"If you don't fear fire, then let's see if you can withstand my Flying Needles!"

Zhao Huaian let out a cold snort.

The next moment, he flicked his finger.

A silver needle flew rapidly from his sleeve, a sharp Sword Qi hovering in the air around it.

Through practicing the Crimson Fire Sword Art, Zhao Huaian had already cultivated a significant amount of faint Sword Qi within his body.

He could imbue this Sword Qi into any object he used.

This included the silver needle, which was a mid-grade composite Dharma Artifact.

With the addition of the Sword Qi, the power of the silver needle became even more formidable, and its speed increased drastically.

Even a cultivator at the eighth layer of Qi Refining would likely not dare to resist this strike head-on.

Clang!!!

A crisp sound of metal colliding rang out.

The silver needle that had pierced through the air flew back, its tip even slightly bent.

"Hm? It's still completely unharmed?"

Seeing that one of the needles from his mid-grade composite Dharma Artifact had bent while the blood-red seed remained unscathed, Zhao Huaian was even more shocked.

At the same time, he could not help but take the blood-red seed seriously.

It feared neither flame nor blade.

This blood-red seed was clearly no ordinary object.

"This should count as a treasure. I'll put it away for now and find an opportunity to take it to a place that specializes in appraisals; it might prove useful."

Zhao Huaian muttered to himself.

He walked forward, wrapped the blood-red seed in spiritual energy, and picked it up.

However, out of caution, Zhao Huaian did not touch it with his bare skin. Instead, he placed it into a Jade Bottle and stored that inside an empty Storage Bag.

In this way.

Even if this blood-red seed had some hidden danger, it would be unable to affect him in the slightest.

Having secured it.

Zhao Huaian strode out of Clear Wind Temple.

By the time he vanished, the entire Clear Wind Temple was already engulfed in a raging inferno, thoroughly reduced to ruins...

Blackwater City.

Blackwater City was located at the outermost edge of the Huai'an Water Region, where it met the mainland. It was a city with a thriving and prosperous population.

At the same time, as a city bordering the mainland, and with such a large population, Blackwater City saw many people with spiritual roots join the Greenwood Sect every three years.

Because people with spiritual roots had been joining the Greenwood Sect for so long, the sect held Blackwater City in high regard.

A streak of white light flashed across the horizon.

Zhao Huaian, dressed in flowing white robes, descended from the high sky atop a Flying Sword.

This was a bustling, crowded street.

Seeing someone arrive from the sky.

The people on the street quickly scrambled to dodge, standing respectfully to the side, not daring to look up.

Soon, the once-crowded street cleared to leave a wide, unobstructed path.

Zhao Huaian stowed his Flying Sword into his Storage Bag.

Seeing this, the surrounding crowd hurriedly knelt on the ground, trembling as they called out "Immortal Master."

Watching the mortals worship him with such reverence, Zhao Huaian shook his head with a smile, feeling neither vanity nor satisfaction.

Immortals and mortals walk different paths.

They were merely mortals; what did it matter if they worshipped him in great numbers?

What Zhao Huaian truly desired was for those who cultivated immortality to kneel and worship him with the same reverence as these mortals before him.

To be precise, he wanted his strength to tower above the myriad of cultivators.

Perhaps only then would a sliver of satisfaction and vanity arise within his heart.

Ignoring the mortals kneeling in worship, Zhao Huaian walked straight ahead.

Passing through the bustling streets, Zhao Huaian followed the guidance of his mission location and soon stopped before a luxurious mansion.

The vermilion gates were tall and imposing, and the plaque above bore the characters "Zhao Family" written in a bold, sweeping calligraphy.

"This is the place!"

Zhao Huaian looked the place up and down. Seeing the dense Ghostly Qi drifting above the luxurious mansion, he knew this was his final mission location.

Just as Zhao Huaian intended to reveal his identity and walk inside, the vermilion gates slowly creaked open.

A pale-faced scholar in white robes, accompanied by a group of servants, respectfully escorted a cultivator at the third layer of Qi Refining as they stepped out.

The cultivator at the third layer of Qi Refining was dressed like a Daoist priest; he had delicate features and appeared to possess a certain air of transcendent grace.

After seeing the cultivator at the third layer of Qi Refining out, the white-robed scholar said respectfully, "Immortal Master, we owe you so much this time. If you hadn't arrived, I fear my Zhao Family would have been slaughtered to the last by that evil ghost."

The cultivator at the third layer of Qi Refining chuckled, "Subduing demons and defending the path is the duty of us cultivators."

He paused, then changed his tone, rubbing his hands together as he said, "It is just that while subduing that ghost, my Dharma Artifact suffered some damage. Layman Zhao, regarding this..."