Their strength far exceeded the Altar Master's imagination. They were on an entirely different level from him.
With nothing more than a casual slap, that girl unleashed terrifying power. The Spirit Ghost's formidable innate golden shield was as fragile as paper paste beneath her tiny hand.
Not only that, when dealing with the two Spirit Ghosts, the girl had even brought out golden talismans. If he took a hit from something that high-grade, he would lose half his life.
"She's at least at the peak of the Second-Stage True Master realm, and she may even already be the legendary Third-Grade Houtian Battle King. And she's still so young." The Altar Master felt that all his years had been wasted on a dog.
Whether in strength or treasures, he was far from being that girl's match. If he launched a sneak attack, his fate would be no better than that of the two Spirit Ghosts.
No—if he dared to attack, he would definitely end up worse off than the two Spirit Ghosts. The Spirit Ghosts still had value to be exploited, whereas he had not the slightest bit of value to Soft Feather. An enemy without value could not be sent to the grave more fittingly.
Then there was that seemingly ordinary man. He could not sense the slightest trace of Blood Qi or true qi from him. Yet this ordinary man had casually sat down and found the eye of that terrifying sealing formation. At the most critical moment, he had activated the formation and completely sealed the two Spirit Ghosts.
That insight and confidence, combined with his status as a "senior," made the Altar Master's legs go weak whenever he thought back on it.
He had always been a cautious man—or rather, a man of very little courage.
It was precisely because he was cautious that he had been able to cultivate the Evil Spirit-exorcising technique, create Evil Spirits and vengeful ghosts everywhere, and still live intact for more than a hundred and seventy years.
But he was unwilling to accept this.
Sixty years! He had spent sixty years on Ghost Lantern Temple and the Spirit Ghosts! All the schemes of sixty years ago and sixty years of waiting had ultimately come to nothing.
No matter how cowardly he was, he could not possibly accept that.
The Altar Master felt a heavy pressure in his chest. He raised his head to gaze at the starry sky and cried out mournfully, "You took your own Spirit Ghosts away, so why didn't you leave mine behind and return it to me?"
Of the two Spirit Ghosts in Ghost Lantern Temple, one had been sealed by Venerable Spirit Butterfly. The other belonged to this Altar Master!
As for why the two Spirit Ghosts had long since matured, yet he had delayed taking them away and insisted on waiting for Soft Feather and the others to arrive—
It was not that he did not want to take the Spirit Ghosts away. During the several years after they matured, he had thought of bringing them out from Huang Dagen's grave every moment of every day!
But he could not do it!
Around the original Ghost Lantern Temple—now Huang Dagen's grave—seven powerful formations, powerful enough to drive people mad, had been hidden. Apart from the Spirit-Binding Formation openly placed there and the "Poison Dragon Grass formation eye" triggered by Song Shuhang, five terrifying formations were hidden around Huang Dagen's grave. They were the kind of formations he could not break even if he had a thousand years.
Once these formations were activated, they could only open on their own when a descendant of Venerable Spirit Butterfly's bloodline arrived. As long as this chain of formations remained unbroken, no one could take away the Spirit Ghosts inside!
The Spirit Ghosts within the formation could enter, but not leave!
Yes, this was what the Altar Master hated most—the Spirit Ghosts could be put inside, but could not be taken out.
Back then, he had failed to discover the hidden formations. He had thought that using Huang Dagen to push down Ghost Lantern Temple would break the Spirit-Binding Formation. Then, he had happily treated Ghost Lantern Temple as his own possession and waited for the Spirit Ghosts to mature.
Perhaps Luoxin District truly was his blessed land. After living in seclusion there for several years, he had coincidentally obtained another immature Spirit Ghost. He had then joyfully sent it into Huang Dagen's grave to be nurtured.
But when the Spirit Ghost matured and he tried to take it out, he discovered the six hidden grand formations.
This was absolutely a trap.
Actually, with just a little thought, he should have realized it—this was, after all, a place prepared to nurture Spirit Ghosts for Venerable Spirit Butterfly's daughter. How could Venerable Spirit Butterfly have been careless? Taking a step back, even if Venerable looked down on Spirit Ghosts no matter how much, once he had bought this land and regarded the Spirit Ghosts as his possessions, he could never have left behind only a Spirit-Binding Formation!
Unfortunately, such a simple principle had never occurred to the Altar Master sixty years ago, when greed had clouded his eyes.
"No, I can't just let this go. At the very least... at the very least, I have to reclaim the Spirit Ghost that belongs to me. Even if I have to give up everything I possess now, I won't hesitate." The Altar Master muttered.
As long as he had one Spirit Ghost, he would have a chance to break through his current Second-Stage True Master realm and touch the Third-Grade Houtian Battle King realm. His withering lifespan could then be extended by another hundred years!
Even if he had to kneel and offer up everything he had, he would pay any price without hesitation.
After taking one last look at Huang Dagen's grave, surrounded by formations, the Altar Master left in profound grief, his footsteps heavy.
After the Altar Master left, another tall and handsome man appeared in the woods. With a lazy look on his face, he took out his phone and dialed a number.
"Master, Junior Sister successfully found Ghost Lantern Temple and sealed the Spirit Ghosts. She's gone back to rest now. She'll probably return to Spirit Butterfly Island tomorrow or the day after." The man reported with great seriousness, but a bone-deep languor seeped through his voice.
"That's good. That girl is such a worry. Nothing unexpected happened along the way, did it?" Venerable Spirit Butterfly's voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Mm, nothing unexpected." The man replied.
"Very good. Continue looking after your junior sister. Contact me again after she arrives safely at Spirit Butterfly Island." Venerable Spirit Butterfly continued, "Also clean up the several formations I set up, so the activated formations don't cause casualties among ordinary people. Thanks for your effort, Jianyi."
"Leave it to me. You can rest assured when I handle things!" The man chuckled, hung up, and shrugged.
Actually, there had been a few minor incidents—such as that Altar Master, and that man named Song Shuhang.
Watching the Altar Master's departing figure, Liu Jianyi yawned. "Well, how should I put it? This guy was fairly sensible. He didn't attack, which saved me the trouble of taking action."
The Altar Master had been lucky. He had not been given a chance to act in secret. Otherwise, the moment he dared to show any intention of attacking Soft Feather, he would have been sent into Huang Dagen's grave to accompany Huang Dagen on the road to the Yellow Springs.
As for that Song Shuhang... what a hassle! If Master found out that Soft Feather had barged into this man's room in the middle of the night and sat on his chest in such an ambiguous position, wouldn't Master blow a gasket?
Who knew whether Master would assign him a mission to monitor Song Shuhang then? So he absolutely could not tell Master about Song Shuhang's information.
What a hassle, Liu Jianyi thought lazily. In any case, Soft Feather had not lost a single hair or suffered any losses. On the contrary, she had received a great deal of help from Song Shuhang.
More importantly, he was a man who advocated thrift—he had once cultivated the Turtle-Breathing Technique simply because he was too lazy to breathe, ultimately reaching the realm where he only needed to breathe two or three times a month. His life motto was that if something could be solved with one finger, he absolutely would not use two.
He absolutely would not go looking for trouble!
Soft Feather would never have imagined that her discovery of her father's notes and her journey to Ghost Lantern Temple had both been silently supported by her father from behind the scenes. Along the way, Venerable Spirit Butterfly had even sent disciples to protect his daughter. He had truly gone to great lengths.
Actually, even if Mad Saber Three Waves had not deliberately brought disaster upon himself, Venerable Spirit Butterfly would still have found another excuse to leave Spirit Butterfly Island temporarily.
It could only be blamed on Mad Saber Three Waves for crashing straight into the gun barrel and saving Venerable Spirit Butterfly the trouble of finding an excuse.
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The next day.
June 3, Monday. Sunny.
Song Shuhang struggled out of bed only at eight o'clock.
This time, Soft Feather had not ridden on his chest to wake him up.
That left him somewhat relieved, yet faintly disappointed? Human nature really was perverse!
After getting up, he called Soft Feather on the bedside phone. "Are you up?"
"I'm already up. I just finished my morning meditation. Senior, are we going back?" Soft Feather replied in her soft voice.
"Let's eat some breakfast first, then go back." Song Shuhang answered. The hotel provided a free breakfast buffet.
Before you continue