Spirit-Hiding Technique

"What is it?"

Zhang Ke looked utterly baffled, completely unaware that over the past few days, he had walked through the gates of hell several times.

The others were equally confused.

When the lightning exploded, they had all been asleep. By the time they opened their eyes, the electric light had faded, and the ghost had been slapped into soul-scattering oblivion by Chen Shaojun. Naturally, they had noticed nothing.

Before long, the pawnshop apprentices all went back to sleep.

Chen Shaojun returned to his bed.

The first thing he did was dismantle the Plum-for-Peach Substitution Technique.

He had used the Plum-for-Peach Substitution Technique earlier as a precaution, and incidentally to teach Third Appraiser Zhang Gao a lesson.

Now that the ghost had been slapped into soul-scattering oblivion, Zhang Gao, on the other hand, very likely had a Daoist master by his side. Naturally, Chen Shaojun had to guard against the other party coming after him.

In his eyes, a Daoist master's strength would certainly far surpass his own.

To avoid being mistaken for an evil cultivator and wiped out, he naturally had to erase all traces, just in case.

Only after wiping away every trace of the spell did Chen Shaojun finally let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Only then did he turn his attention to the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror that had suddenly appeared earlier.

When Chen Shaojun had killed the ghost, the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror had surfaced in his mind.

Immediately afterward, an image of a black command flag abruptly appeared upon the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror.

In the image, the command flag fluttered amid countless corpses. Blood baleful qi soared into the heavens, constantly staining the flag, while farther away, two armies stood locked in confrontation.

Battle after battle, it was continuously steeped in Blood Baleful Qi.

The black command flag gradually evolved as well. Whenever a great battle began, both sides fighting around it would be affected, becoming ever more frenzied and murderous, often fighting until not a single soldier remained.

At last, the command flag's changes were discovered by cultivators in the army.

They refined it into a magical artifact. After passing through several owners, it finally fell into the hands of a cultivator named Zhang Yan.

Knowing that his path of cultivation held no hope, he returned to his Lineage.

Thus, the command flag was passed down through several generations, but Zhang Yan's Lineage gradually declined. Its final owner became an eleven- or twelve-year-old boy instead.

That boy was also the only descendant of Zhang Yan with the aptitude for cultivation.

But with his strength, how could he possibly subdue the blood baleful within the command flag?

During one bout of demonic madness when he killed someone, he was spotted by a wandering hero. The boy was settled with a single sword strike, while the command flag was tossed by the wandering hero into a secondhand shop in exchange for drinking money.

Three months ago, the secondhand shop escorted the command flag out alongside numerous treasures. When they passed through a place called Fangtooth Mountain, they encountered a group of red-clad martial artists, and the command flag ended up in their hands.

After several twists and turns, it passed through Xu Hongtao's hands and was delivered to Zhang Gao.

"So this command flag is actually like the Alms-Gathering Golden Bowl I appraised before—a Dharma treasure as well?"

"Only, unlike the Alms-Gathering Golden Bowl, this Dharma treasure fought with Blood Baleful Qi and leaned toward the path of evil demons?"

Chen Shaojun's thoughts churned violently, and his heart was far from calm.

Through this black command flag, he had finally glimpsed the tip of the cultivation world's iceberg and learned of its cruel side.

He understood even more clearly that the little ghost was actually the command flag's final owner. When the boy had fallen into demonic madness, he had been slain by the wandering hero. For some unknown reason, his soul had entered the command flag instead, becoming a wisp of yin baleful intent amid the blood baleful and causing the treasure to be covered in dust.

Now that the little ghost had been beaten into soul-scattering oblivion, it naturally meant that the command flag's appraisal was complete. That was why it had left its mark upon the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror.

"So this also counts as completing a different kind of treasure appraisal?"

Chen Shaojun was deeply surprised, and he vaguely came to understand that Baleful Intent Cleansing and treasure appraisal might not be as simple as cleansing Killing Intent.

Because some treasures themselves relied primarily on Killing Intent.

Like this command flag—the Blood Baleful Qi it contained was rich enough to fight enemies. Once cleansed away, it would instead lose its spirituality and become an ordinary object, at most no more than a military command flag.

"But who exactly were those red-clad martial artists?"

"And what role did Xu Hongtao of the pawnshop play in all this?"

Through the command flag, Chen Shaojun had seen Xu Hongtao and learned that the man was not merely earning a little silver, as he had previously told Zhang Gao.

His relationship with those red-clad martial artists was anything but ordinary.

Unfortunately, from the command flag's perspective, it was ultimately difficult to pry into anything more. Chen Shaojun could only bury his doubts in his heart.

Once the treasure appraisal was complete, the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror quickly gave its grade assessment.

Blood Baleful Command Flag, Superior Dharma Grade.

Reward.

Spirit-Hiding Technique.

"Spirit-Hiding Technique?"

As Chen Shaojun received the information transmitted by the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror, a trace of delight gradually appeared on his face.

The Spirit-Hiding Technique was just as its name implied.

It was a secret art for concealing one's spirit and hiding one's aura.

Once cast, the vitality, blood, and spiritual energy within his body would all be hidden away. Unless someone's cultivation and strength greatly surpassed his own, or they deliberately examined him with a spiritual-eye or detection-type spell or divine ability, it would be exceedingly difficult to discover his true strength and aura.

"This Spirit-Hiding Technique truly came at the perfect time for me."

"I had been worried that my increasingly powerful vitality and blood essence would be noticed, bringing unnecessary trouble."

"Now that I have the Spirit-Hiding Technique to conceal my spirit and hide my aura, unless a powerful expert deliberately peers at me, who could discover what makes me different?"

Chen Shaojun was overjoyed.

Setting Daoist arts aside, his martial cultivation had already reached the Body Tempering Realm, Eighth Layer, and even its peak. He could break through at any moment and enter the Body Tempering Realm, Ninth Layer—the Inner Sight Realm.

His vitality and blood essence were so abundant they nearly overflowed.

If not for the pawnshop having scarcely any experts, along with his deliberate caution in concealing himself, he would likely have been discovered long ago.

The method for casting the Spirit-Hiding Technique surfaced in his mind.

Chen Shaojun slightly stirred the Arcane Power within his body.

Fortunately, maintaining the Spirit-Hiding Technique consumed very little. With the intensity of the Arcane Power within him, he could barely sustain it.

The Spirit-Hiding Technique was successfully cast.

In an instant, the vitality and blood essence that had nearly burst forth from his body vanished without a trace. Even the Arcane Power within him turned into nothingness at that moment.

But in truth.

Chen Shaojun could still sense the vigorous life force within his body, his powerful vitality and blood, and the Arcane Power coiled in his dantian.

It was simply that, at the instant the Spirit-Hiding Technique was successfully cast, some special membrane seemed to form within him, concealing all of it.

The night quickly passed.

Because he was worried about the possible appearance of that Daoist master, Chen Shaojun spent the night visualizing the Tai Shang Perception Scripture.

Fortunately, he was now brimming with energy, and visualization cultivation could itself be considered a form of rest.

Thus, when he rose early in the morning, he was not tired at all. Instead, after a night of cultivation, his Arcane Power had improved once more, leaving him refreshed and invigorated.

Moreover, the fabled Daoist master did not appear.

This finally put Chen Shaojun, who had been somewhat tense, at ease.

So he returned to his daily routine of entering the storeroom to collect treasures, appraising them, cleansing their Baleful Intent, and receiving rewards.

Of course, every now and then, he would also stroll through the Iron Wire Fist School to show that he was still diligently practicing martial arts.

Under the effects of the Spirit-Hiding Technique, every bit of his progress remained under his control.

He did not stand out, yet he did not fall behind others either.

Neither here nor there, lost among the crowd.