The mountain wind swept past, carrying a thick stench of blood.
Zhao Hao looked at the severed head on the ground, its eyes still wide in death, and did not hesitate.
He reached out and grasped at the air. The Storage Bag at Jia Ren's waist and the pitch-black Corpse Refining Bag flew into his hand.
He did not even consider turning the body into a refined corpse.
The Demonic Sect's methods were bizarre. Who knew whether they had some secret tracking art? Grinding the bones to dust and scattering the ashes was the safest course.
An orange-red fireball appeared at his fingertip, and he flicked it away.
The instant the fire touched the corpse, it exploded into ravenous flames, swallowing Jia Ren's headless body and severed head whole.
Hiss-
A scorched stench spread through the air. Within a few breaths, nothing remained on the ground but a patch of black ash.
The mountain wind rose again, and even the last traces vanished like smoke.
With that done, Zhao Hao took the Disciple Token from his own waist, along with the Deacon Token he had taken from Jia Ren.
The sect might be able to locate all these things.
He stacked the two tokens together. A dark gleam flashed across the tip of the Ghost Bone Dagger as he struck them precisely.
With a sharp crack, both sturdy tokens crumbled to powder.
He also destroyed the Sound Transmission Jade Talisman he had used to deceive Jia Ren.
He would leave nothing behind that could come back to haunt him.
Once he had confirmed that nothing at the scene could identify either him or Jia Ren, Zhao Hao did not linger for a moment. He crouched, and his entire body merged into the earth beneath his feet.
Deep underground, Zhao Hao raced along like a wandering spirit without a physical body.
After he became a Foundation Establishment cultivator, both the quality and quantity of his spiritual power had undergone earth-shaking changes.
Back in the Qi Refining realm, he could only travel ten li with the Earth Escape Art before the underground pressure became unbearable. Now, he felt as though he could keep tunneling until heaven and earth grew old.
Only after a full four hours, when Zhao Hao estimated that he had traveled over a thousand li, did he emerge in a deserted stretch of dense forest.
He checked his bearings, pushed his perfected Light Body Art to its limit, and became a blur barely visible to the naked eye as he continued sprinting away from the Extreme Yin Sect.
It was not that he did not want to fly on a sword. He simply had no idea how.
The Mysterious Yin Qi Absorption Art was only a basic cultivation method, and the first floor of the Scripture Repository contained nothing but minor Qi Refining spells. As for sword flight, a standard skill for Foundation Establishment cultivators, he did not even know where to begin.
After he became a cultivator, his spiritual power had nourished his flesh. Over the past few months, his body had grown considerably. He was no longer a scrawny child of ten or so; he now looked fifteen or sixteen.
With a little disguise and a lowered voice, he would not seem out of place.
Previously, in the Qi Refining realm, he could rely on the system and brute-force his way through cultivation levels with pills and spirit stones, devoting all his energy to raising his cultivation.
The results had proved that he had chosen the right path.
In a place like the Extreme Yin Sect, where people devoured one another, you never knew when disaster would strike. Cultivation was the only thing you could rely on to stay alive.
If he had not decisively broken through to the Foundation Establishment realm this time, he would probably already be Jia Ren's prisoner, his soul searched and stripped bare, all his secrets exposed.
His effortless counterkill had certainly owed something to frightening his opponent by pretending to be an "old monster who had seized a body." Ultimately, though, it was because he possessed Foundation Establishment strength.
But things were different now.
Every step of cultivation in the Foundation Establishment realm required immense resources and time.
He had to find a follow-up cultivation method and powerful combat techniques as soon as possible. Otherwise, even with Foundation Establishment cultivation, he would have no choice but to take a beating and flee if he encountered a genuine Foundation Establishment old devil.
The person he feared most was still his master, True Person Corpse Heart.
Jia Ren had been able to find him with a single drop of blood essence. Who could guarantee that a Golden Core old monster like True Person Corpse Heart did not have even stranger methods?
He had to leave the Extreme Yin Sect's territory, this land of trouble, as soon as possible!
He spent another three days fleeing without sleep or rest.
Only when the outline of a sizable cultivators' market appeared on the horizon did Zhao Hao slow his pace slightly.
He dared not be careless. Using the Mysterious Yin Breath Concealment Art, he disguised his aura as that of a seventh-level Qi Refining cultivator, then put on a mask that concealed both his aura and appearance, making himself look like someone not to be trifled with.
After paying one low-grade spirit stone at the market entrance, he went straight to rent the most ordinary temporary cave abode available.
Rumble!
The stone door closed, shutting out the world beyond.
Zhao Hao immediately set up another layer of warning wards inside the cave abode. Only then did he let out a long breath.
He sat cross-legged. Rather than rushing to cultivate, he eagerly took out Jia Ren's Storage Bag.
A Foundation Establishment cultivator's spiritual sense imprint was no longer an obstacle to him.
His spiritual sense surged, easily erasing the imprint Jia Ren had left on it, and he dumped everything inside onto the floor.
Clatter-
A heap of assorted objects instantly piled into a small mountain on the stone chamber's floor.
Zhao Hao's breathing abruptly grew heavy.
His gaze was immediately riveted to a jade slip bearing the bold inscription of a cultivation art's name!
Mysterious Yin Essence Condensation Art!
It was the Extreme Yin Sect's Foundation Establishment cultivation method! His biggest problem with cultivating in the Foundation Establishment realm was solved! A great weight lifted from Zhao Hao's heart, and his whole body felt lighter.
Only then did the glittering objects catch his eye.
Twenty crystals radiated far richer spiritual energy and were clearly a size larger than the others!
Mid-grade spirit stones!
One was worth a hundred low-grade spirit stones! These twenty alone were worth two thousand low-grade spirit stones!
Beside them stood an even taller pile of low-grade spirit stones. A rough count put the total at seven or eight thousand!
I'm rich!
There were three or four small black bottles. When he probed them with his spiritual sense, he found them filled with thick cultivator blood essence. Another dozen or so bottles contained blood essence from mortals.
A Soul Summoning Banner wreathed in black mist and an equally black flying sword were both supreme-grade first-tier magical artifacts.
The rest consisted of first-tier talismans and artifact-refining materials. He forced down the wild pounding in his chest, then turned his gaze to a black cloth bag-the Corpse Refining Bag.
When he probed inside with his spiritual sense, Zhao Hao's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
There were eleven late first-tier refined corpses, twenty-five at the middle stage, and no fewer than forty-two at the early stage! More than a dozen cultivator corpses that had yet to be refined were piled in a corner!
If he sold these, they would fetch another fortune of over ten thousand spirit stones!
"The ancients never lied to me..." Zhao Hao could not help muttering. "Murder and arson really are the quickest road to riches..."
Just then, his gaze fell on a green jade bottle at the very bottom of the little mountain, buried beneath the other objects.
He reached out, picked up the jade bottle, and pulled out the stopper.
An indescribably rich surge of spiritual energy, mingled with a faint fragrance, instantly poured from its mouth!
With just one breath of it, Zhao Hao felt his spiritual power-which was still somewhat unstable after his recent Foundation Establishment breakthrough-grow noticeably more solid!
He hurriedly replaced the stopper and brought the jade bottle up before his eyes.
Inside was less than half a bottle of milky-white liquid. Like the finest mutton-fat jade, it shimmered with a precious luster.
Zhao Hao's heart hammered.
He remembered the "spirit liquid bestowed by my master" that he had casually invented to deceive Jia Ren.
An absurd yet highly plausible thought exploded in his mind.
Could this... actually be spirit liquid?!
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