The Spirit Root Grew by Two Fen and a Half

Stepping on a Paper Kite, holding the Crimson Sky Cry, though he carried three fellow disciples' corpses on his back, it couldn't conceal the exhilaration in his heart.

He had come out on a logistics mission and reaped a bountiful harvest.

One and three-quarters bottles of Vegetation Sha, a Spirit Sword of extremely high quality, a friend from the Mystic Sword Sect, and over a hundred resentful souls secretly collected within.

His gaze swept continuously below, and he found a remote mountain ravine with no one around, descending to land there.

Waving the Soul Banner, he summoned all the resentful souls, and Fang Huai ordered: "Drive away all living creatures within five li. If any refuse to leave, grab them by the fur and toss them out directly!"

The resentful souls, having received the command, howled and scattered in all directions.

Fang Huai pulled a slightly damaged Sha-Gathering Bottle from his Storage Bag and immersed his mind within it.

Jiang Miao only said to collect one bottle, so the rest—he would gladly accept.

Absorbing the Vegetation Sha after returning to the sect carried too much risk. If it triggered some phenomenon and attracted others' attention, he wouldn't be able to explain it.

Thus, he had to find a nearby spot to absorb it, and also see if, as the Hundred Sha Technique claimed, an aberrant Sha could help a Sha Spirit Root grow.

It was a pity some had leaked during the battle with the Green Scab Spider; otherwise, this would have been a full bottle of extra gain.

Though Vegetation Sha was a type of aberrant Sha, it was relatively gentle. When Fang Huai's mind touched it, there was only slight resistance, as if it were eager to be absorbed by him.

"As expected of an aberrant Sha that both the Ascension Society and Jiang Miao wanted, truly extraordinary! Fang will now merge you into my spirit root."

Opening the Sha-Gathering Bottle, the emerald-green Sha Qi drifted out, and under Fang Huai's guidance, slowly seeped into his skin, gathering and flowing through his meridians.

Just as Fang Huai was secretly rejoicing at how smoothly this process was going, the Vegetation Sha stopped at a certain point in his meridians and refused to flow further.

What's going on?

Fang Huai used his spiritual power to drive it, but the Vegetation Sha seemed to have taken root, no longer obeying his commands, and began to merge into the nearby flesh and blood.

At the same time, sharp pain and numbness shot through the flesh.

His gaze focused on that patch of flesh, which had congealed like wood, sprouting tree-like grain patterns.

Not good, I was careless!

Unlike the slightly mutated Sha Qi filtered by the Blood Jade Insect, this was genuine aberrant Sha, naturally possessing its own unique traits.

He hadn't asked how others absorbed it, relying only on the incantations from the Hundred Sha Book to guide it—now he was in trouble.

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

Its black insect claws stepped on Fang Huai's meridians, sending vibrations toward the gathering point of the Vegetation Sha.

The Vegetation Sha, which had invaded his flesh, acted as if it had seen its natural enemy, fleeing to other parts of his body, causing more flesh to congeal and turn woody.

"Good insect, keep going! Help me subdue this thing, and I'll reward you with ten Poison Heart Grasses!"

Fang Huai mentally commanded the Little Corpse Meteor Insect to continue emitting vibrations. After fleeing for a while, the Vegetation Sha finally calmed down and obediently returned to his meridians.

What surprised Fang Huai was that this Vegetation Sha seemed to have its own consciousness, actually conveying an emotion of reluctance to merge.

No wonder it was formed from the core of Demon-Suppressing Wood—truly miraculous.

But this wasn't the time to worry about what this wisp of Sha Qi thought.

Fang Huai urged the Little Corpse Meteor Insect onward, herding the Vegetation Sha along his meridians to converge in his Sea of Consciousness.

The Vegetation Sha circled his spirit root, which was just over an inch long, a few times, seeming to carry a hint of disdain, conveying a message to Fang Huai that felt like:

"Isn't this too short?"

Fang Huai understood the Vegetation Sha's meaning and grew annoyed, thinking to himself, This little aberrant Sha actually picks and chooses.

He drove his full spiritual power and the Little Corpse Meteor Insect to pressure the Vegetation Sha, finally forcing it into his spirit root.

The moment the spirit root and Vegetation Sha merged, a sense of clarity spread from his Sea of Consciousness.

As the clarity faded, Fang Huai examined his spirit root again and found it had indeed changed—

It had grown by two and a half fen.

Fang Huai was quite satisfied; this length was about the same as that of a five-spirit-root disciple.

At the same time, he sighed in admiration. No wonder there were so many aberrant Sha in the world, yet so few disciples practicing the Hundred Sha Technique merged them in.

Risking one's life just to make a spirit root grow two and a half fen—this deal was far too unprofitable for an ordinary disciple.

Taking out the Skinning Knife, he cut out and burned several patches of clearly woody flesh, then swallowed a few Hemostasis Pills. After recalling the resentful souls, Fang Huai mounted the Paper Kite again and flew toward the Corpse Sha Sect.

But he hadn't flown far before a Corpse Sha Bird blocked his path.

On the Corpse Sha Bird were three people, at Qi Refining levels seven, five, and four respectively.

Fang Huai stopped his Paper Kite, cupped his hands, and said, "A few senior brothers, may I ask what orders you have for stopping This Humble One?"

Though he had no dealings with the three, within the Corpse Sha Sect's territory, he didn't believe they would dare to openly ambush him.

The leading cultivator spoke: "I am Li Feng. These beside me are Cao Ming and Qu Yu, members of the Law Enforcement Hall. Routine inspection."

Fang Huai thought to himself, afraid that seeing him carrying three fellow disciples' corpses on his shoulders and being only at the fourth layer of Qi Refining, they might think he had looted the bodies and wanted to squeeze some benefits out of him.

He spoke up: "Fellow senior brothers, do you have identification?"

Li Feng glanced at Cao Ming, who immediately pulled out a cyan-black token with the word "Law Enforcement" clearly written on it.

"See clearly? You don't think we'd be crazy enough to impersonate Law Enforcement Hall disciples, do you?"

"Wouldn't dare, wouldn't dare."

"We've shown our token, now you should show us your identity token, right?"

Fang Huai cursed his bad luck.

Already owing the sect five hundred Spirit Stones for failing his mission, now he had to run into these guys and scatter some more wealth.

So he slapped his Storage Bag, took out ten Spirit Stones, and handed them to Li Feng along with his identity token:

"Senior brothers have worked hard. This junior just finished a mission and didn't bring many Spirit Stones. This is all I have. Please, senior brothers, show some leniency."

After checking the token, Li Feng put the Spirit Stones into his Storage Bag and tossed the token back to Fang Huai.

The Corpse Sha Bird still blocked Fang Huai's path, with no intention of letting him through.

Li Feng's gaze shifted to another follower named Qu Yu, who immediately caught on.

Qu Yu sneered: "Guilty conscience. I've never seen a disciple hand over Spirit Stones first when meeting 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 inwardly—these people were truly greedy. Ten Spirit Stones equaled a thousand contribution points, something ordinary disciples couldn't save in months.

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

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

"Senior brothers, this sword was obtained by This Humble One by chance and has already bonded with me."

"By chance?" Qu Yu lifted his chin. "What kind of chance? Where did you get it?"

"This..."

Fang Huai couldn't exactly say that after he released thousands of mortals from Green Parasol City, a Mystic Sword Sect disciple gave it to him in gratitude.

"Fang Huai of the Skinning and Sealing Branch!"

Li Feng's voice suddenly rose: "I suspect you of colluding with the Mystic Sword Sect!

You have two choices. First, come with us. Second, hand over your Spirit Sword to the Law Enforcement Hall for destruction!"