The Spirit Root Grew by Two and a Half Tenths

With a Paper Kite beneath his feet and Crimson Sky Cry in his hand, he carried the corpses of three fellow disciples on his shoulders, but nothing could conceal the exhilaration in his heart.

He had gone on a logistics mission and returned with a bountiful haul.

One and three-quarters bottles of Vegetation Sha, a Spirit Sword of exceptionally high quality, a friend from the Mystic Sword Sect, and over a hundred resentful souls he had secretly taken in.

His gaze swept over the ground below until he found a remote, uninhabited ravine deep in the mountains. He descended.

Waving the Soul Banner, he summoned all the resentful souls and ordered them:

"Drive away every living creature within five li. If any refuse to leave, grab them by the fur and toss them out!"

The resentful souls took his order and scattered in all directions, howling.

Fang Huai took a slightly damaged Sha-Gathering Bottle from his Storage Bag and immersed his thoughts in it.

Jiang Miao had only asked him to collect one bottle. He'd gladly keep whatever was left over.

Taking the Vegetation Sha back to the sect before absorbing it would be too risky. If it caused some strange phenomenon and attracted other people's attention, he'd have no way to explain himself.

So he could only find a place nearby to absorb it, and see whether the Hundred Sha Technique was right—that unusual sha could help the Sha Spirit Root grow.

It was a shame some had leaked out when he fought the Green Scab Spider. Otherwise, this would have been a whole extra bottle's worth.

Though Vegetation Sha was a kind of unusual sha, it was relatively mild. When Fang Huai's thoughts touched it, it resisted only slightly, as though it actually wanted him to absorb it.

"As expected of the unusual sha coveted by both the Ascension Society and Jiang Miao. It's truly extraordinary! I, Fang, will now fuse you into my Spirit Root."

He opened the Sha-Gathering Bottle. Luminous green sha drifted out, and under Fang Huai's guidance, slowly seeped into his skin before gathering and flowing through his meridians.

Just as Fang Huai was secretly pleased that the process was going so smoothly, the Vegetation Sha stopped at a certain point in his meridians and ceased moving.

What was going on?

Fang Huai tried to drive it onward with his spiritual energy, but the Vegetation Sha had seemingly put down roots. It stopped obeying him and began seeping into the flesh nearby.

At the same time, his flesh throbbed with pain, and a numb sensation spread through it.

He focused on that spot and saw that the flesh had solidified like wood, even developing the grain of tree bark.

This is bad. I've been careless!

Unlike the mildly altered sha produced after passing through the Blood Jade Insect, this was genuine unusual sha. Naturally, it had its own peculiarities.

He hadn't asked how anyone else absorbed it and had relied solely on the instructions in the Hundred Sha Book to guide it. Now he was in a real bind.

Just as he grew anxious, the Little Corpse Meteor Insect moved.

Its black claws stepped on Fang Huai's meridians, sending vibrations toward the spot where the Vegetation Sha had gathered.

The Vegetation Sha invading his flesh fled elsewhere as if it had encountered its natural enemy, causing the flesh in other places to harden and turn woody.

"Good bug, keep going! Help me subdue this thing, and I'll reward you with ten stalks of Poison Heart Grass!"

Fang Huai used his thoughts to make the Little Corpse Meteor Insect keep sending out vibrations. After the Vegetation Sha fled for a while, it finally settled down and obediently returned to his meridians.

To Fang Huai's surprise, the Vegetation Sha seemed to have a mind of its own. It actually sent him feelings of reluctance to fuse with him.

As expected of something formed from the core of the Demon-Suppressing Wood. It was truly wondrous.

But this wasn't the time to care what this wisp of sha wanted.

Fang Huai urged the Little Corpse Meteor Insect on, driving the Vegetation Sha along his meridians and into his sea of consciousness.

The Vegetation Sha circled Fang Huai's Spirit Root, which was just over an inch long. It seemed to feel a hint of disdain, conveying something to him that sounded like:

"Isn't that a little too short?"

Fang Huai understood what the Vegetation Sha meant and grew angry, thinking, You're just a tiny wisp of unusual sha, yet you're picky about what you get?

He brought the spiritual energy in his whole body and the Little Corpse Meteor Insect to bear on the Vegetation Sha. At last, he forced it to fuse with his Spirit Root.

The instant the Spirit Root fused with the Vegetation Sha, a sense of clarity washed through his sea of consciousness.

As that clarity faded, Fang Huai examined his Spirit Root again and found that it had indeed changed—

It had grown by two and a half tenths of an inch.

Fang Huai was very satisfied. At this length, it was about the same as the Spirit Roots of disciples with five spiritual roots.

He also couldn't help marveling: no wonder there were so many kinds of unusual sha in the world, yet so few disciples cultivating the Hundred Sha Technique fused them into their Spirit Roots.

Risking your life just to make your Spirit Root grow by two and a half tenths of an inch was a terrible bargain for an ordinary disciple.

He took out the Skinning Knife, cut out several visibly wood-like patches of flesh, and burned them. Then he swallowed a few Hemostasis Pills, recalled the resentful souls, and flew toward the Corpse Sha Sect on his Paper Kite.

But before he had flown very far, a Corpse Sha Bird blocked his way.

There were three people on the Corpse Sha Bird, at the seventh, fifth, and fourth levels of Qi Refining.

Fang Huai stopped his Paper Kite and cupped his hands. "Senior brothers, may I ask why you've stopped me?"

Though he had no dealings with the three of them, he was within the Corpse Sha Sect's territory. He didn't believe they'd dare brazenly waylay and kill him.

The cultivator in front spoke. "I'm Li Feng. These two are Cao Ming and Qu Yu. We're members of the Law Enforcement Hall, conducting a routine inspection."

The Law Enforcement Hall?

Fang Huai thought, They probably saw me carrying the corpses of three fellow disciples and noticed I'm only at the fourth level of Qi Refining. They think I picked the bodies clean and want to squeeze some benefits out of me.

He said, "Do you gentlemen have proof of your identities?"

Li Feng glanced at Cao Ming, who immediately took out a blue-black token bearing the words "Law Enforcement."

"Have you seen it clearly? You don't think we'd risk our lives by pretending to be members of the Law Enforcement Hall, do you?"

"Of course not."

"We showed you our tokens, so it's only fair that you show us your Identity Token, isn't it?"

Fang Huai cursed his bad luck.

He already owed the sect five hundred Spirit Stones because his mission had failed. Now he'd run into these guys too. He'd have to part with another handful of money.

So he slapped his Storage Bag, took out ten Spirit Stones, and handed them along with his Identity Token to Li Feng.

"Thank you for your hard work, senior brothers. I've just finished my mission and didn't bring many Spirit Stones. This is all I have. Please go easy on me."

Li Feng checked the token, put the Spirit Stones in his Storage Bag, then tossed the token back to Fang Huai.

The Corpse Sha Bird was still blocking Fang Huai's way, showing no sign of letting him pass.

Li Feng's gaze shifted toward another follower, Qu Yu. The other man immediately understood.

Qu Yu sneered. "You must have a guilty conscience. I've never seen a disciple hand over Spirit Stones the moment he runs into people from the Law Enforcement Hall.

"Besides, that Spirit Sword in your hand doesn't look like it was made by the Corpse Sha Sect."

Fang Huai cursed them inwardly. These people were truly greedy. Ten Spirit Stones were worth a thousand Contribution Points. Ordinary disciples couldn't save up that much in several months.

Now that they'd taken their cut, they had their eyes on Crimson Sky Cry.

But this sword was the most valuable thing he owned, and his Spirit Sword was essential to his survival. He absolutely couldn't hand it over. He cupped his hands and said:

"Senior brothers, I came across it by chance, and it has already acknowledged me as its master."

"Came across it by chance?" Qu Yu craned his neck. "What kind of chance? Where did you find it?"

"This..."

Fang Huai couldn't exactly say he had freed several thousand mortals in Green Parasol City, after which a disciple of the Mystic Sword Sect had given him the sword out of gratitude.

"Fang Huai, a disciple of the Skinning Hall!"

Li Feng's voice suddenly rose. "I suspect you've colluded with the Mystic Sword Sect!

"You have two choices. First, come with us. Second, hand over the Spirit Sword in your possession so the Law Enforcement Hall can destroy it!"