The Advantage Is Mine

The One Yang Talismans and Three Yang Talismans pasted to the doors and windows had all been taken down by Gao Xian.

Gao Xian sat on the bed, holding a Six Yang Talisman in his left hand. His gaze shifted back and forth between the door and the windows.

He hadn't watched for long before he started to feel tired!

Gao Xian decided this wouldn't do. He didn't know when the Evil Spirit would come, and staying on edge like this put too much strain on his mind.

He needed to relax. Even without Sister Lan's help, his senses were sharp now.

He had to admit, his Grandmaster-level True Yang Spear had helped him enormously.

Gao Xian slowly closed his eyes, and Sister Lan appeared in the depths of his brow.

He formed the True Yang Spear hand seal with his right hand, while Sister Lan helped him condense a spell talisman in the depths of his brow.

The Grandmaster-level True Yang Spear had the subtle effect of tempering his spiritual sense.

After cultivating for so long, Gao Xian had grown accustomed to meditation. Guided by his breathing technique and Sister Lan, his nervousness and excitement naturally subsided. Before long, he had cast aside distracting thoughts and entered a state of serene clarity.

In a trance, Gao Xian felt his spiritual intent and vital essence condense into a golden spear. His pure yang aura continually tempered and honed it, making the spear ever harder and sharper.

This process consumed his spiritual power and yang energy, while also increasing them. It was a virtuous cycle.

The True Yang Spear had reached Grandmaster level entirely through spending Humanity Aura.

Only by cultivating it himself had Gao Xian truly felt the subtle wonders of the Grandmaster-level True Yang Spear.

There was an indescribable comfort and ease to this cultivation, surpassed only by dual cultivation with Sister Lan.

Gao Xian sank into that state of serene clarity, neither quite asleep nor quite awake.

He didn't know how much time had passed when his heart suddenly sank, jolting him out of his meditative state.

The room was unnaturally dark. Through the paper window, he could just make out the pale moonlight outside.

A gust of yin wind seeped through the crack beneath the door, chilling Gao Xian to the bone. His heart tightened. "It's here?"

Although he had prepared himself, the thought of facing an Evil Spirit still made him panic a little.

He even regretted it. He should have asked Qiniang for help. Zhou Yuling would have done, too.

Though Zhou Yuling was a year younger than him, she was already at the seventh level of Qi Refining. She also knew how to make talismans. She was undoubtedly top-tier talent in Flying Horse Market.

But it was too late to find help now!

Gao Xian held his breath and stared fixedly at the door. He had left it ajar to lure the Evil Spirit inside.

He couldn't see outside, but he could tell that all the surrounding sounds had vanished.

Normally, he would have heard the wind blowing outside, cicadas and insects chirping, and all kinds of faint, complex sounds from far away.

Now, all those sounds were gone. The silence around him was deeply unsettling.

Gao Xian couldn't see the Evil Spirit, but he felt as if a mass of thick black fog were closing in, cutting him off from the outside world and stirring up a powerful, instinctive unease.

Fortunately, Sister Lan had condensed a spell talisman in the depths of his brow, and the True Yang Spear he had honed for so long was ready to strike. That gave him some confidence.

The door opened without a sound. This crudely made wooden door usually creaked loudly whenever it was opened or shut. Some strange force had clearly swallowed the sound.

Gao Xian grew even more nervous. This Evil Spirit really did seem to have some tricks!

A shadow floated in from outside. It was small and thin, its head missing half its skull, with only one incomplete eyeball left, glowing an eerie green.

Just from the half a head, Gao Xian recognized him. It was Old Wang, the man who had died.

That guy really had become an Evil Spirit!

Gao Xian was even more afraid, but Sister Lan had condensed a spell talisman in the depths of his brow, and the True Yang Spear he had charged for so long gave him a tremendous sense of security.

He didn't dare wait any longer. He immediately formed a hand seal and silently recited the spell, activating the True Yang Spear.

The golden spear in the depths of Gao Xian's brow shot out. He even saw the golden spiritual light gleam as it tore through the gloom.

More precisely, Gao Xian saw the golden light reflected in the Evil Spirit's remaining eyeball.

The Evil Spirit across from him sensed the True Yang Spear, too. Apparently startled, he seemed to make a motion to retreat.

But the True Yang Spear flew the instant the thought arose. It was invisible and formless, and it moved with astonishing speed.

Gao Xian and the Evil Spirit were only a dozen feet apart. Before the Evil Spirit could even move, the True Yang Spear had already plunged deep into his chest.

With a wet splat, like a red-hot iron rod plunged into cold water, a gaping hole burst open in the Evil Spirit's chest.

Hundreds and thousands of black fragments exploded from his body, like ashes scattered through the air after paper burned to cinders.

The Evil Spirit let out a scream of utmost anguish. Gao Xian's mind jolted, as if an invisible spike had suddenly stabbed into him.

Fortunately, Sister Lan's spell talisman in the depths of his brow blocked the dreadful sound with the True Yang Spear, and Gao Xian quickly regained his senses.

The Evil Spirit across from him had already turned into a streak of shadow and vanished into the distance.

Gao Xian was about to activate the Six Yang Talisman in his hand, but found its spiritual power too dense and sluggish. He couldn't activate it immediately.

He hesitated for just a moment, and the Evil Spirit had already disappeared without a trace.

Only then did Gao Xian realize that the more powerful a talisman was, the harder it was to activate.

He had no experience with this and hadn't prepared enough. His failure to activate the Six Yang Talisman at once had given the Evil Spirit a chance to escape.

He felt a little frustrated, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

A half-moon hung at an angle in the night sky, and the moonlight spread across the ground in a wash of gray-white. Insects chirped and frogs croaked beyond the wall. Farther off, he could just make out the murmur of people. The world was peaceful and calm.

Gao Xian stood in the courtyard, unable to sense even a trace of the Evil Spirit's sinister aura. Everything that had just happened seemed like an illusion.

He looked around in a daze, unable to tell which way the Evil Spirit had fled.

Flying Horse Market might not be large, but it was full of houses, woodpiles, and garbage heaps. The Evil Spirit could hide anywhere, and he would never find him.

Besides, going out alone to chase an Evil Spirit this late at night was far too dangerous. The Evil Spirit wasn't the only threat; other cultivators could be just as dangerous.

After weighing it over, Gao Xian wisely gave up on the idea of hunting down the Evil Spirit.

Although he hadn't managed to deal with the Evil Spirit for good this time, he had seen its weakness.

The True Yang Spear really was the bane of Evil Spirits.

Once he had saved up enough Humanity Aura to raise the True Yang Spear to the Grandmaster realm, one thrust would be enough to finish off an Evil Spirit!

He had learned from this attempt, too. Now he knew how to activate the Six Yang Talisman.

Gao Xian was indeed a little disappointed by his failure, but he soon calmed down.

"A mere Evil Spirit is nothing to worry about! The advantage is mine!"

Gao Xian was good at comforting himself, and he was good at accepting reality. Coming so close and still falling short was a shame, but there was no need to dwell on it.

For the next stretch of time, Gao Xian spent every day cultivating, eating, and refining pills.

Little Black Cat still wasn't affectionate toward him, but she had mostly stopped resisting when he stroked her. At least he could pet her while she ate.

That lifted Gao Xian's spirits considerably.

Zhou Ye gradually opened up a market on his end, selling most of the five hundred packets of Deer Antler Powder.

Gao Xian hadn't made any money yet, but he had gained more than four hundred Humanity Aura.

He had originally planned to save all his Humanity Aura for the True Yang Spear. But when he opened the Wind and Moon Mirror and looked at the row of skills on its back, he began to hesitate...