Spirit-Hiding Technique

"What is it?"

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

The others were equally bewildered.

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 blasted into scattered souls by Chen Shaojun's palm strike. Naturally, they had noticed nothing.

Before long, the Appraiser 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 struck into scattered souls by his palm, Zhang Gao was very likely backed by a Daoist expert. Chen Shaojun naturally had to guard against that person coming for him.

In his view, a Daoist expert'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 his spells did Chen Shaojun quietly let out a breath of relief.

Then he turned 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 suddenly emerged upon the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror.

In the image, the command flag fluttered amid countless corpses. Soaring Blood Baleful Intent continually stained the flag, while farther away, two armies faced each other in battle.

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 under its influence became more frenzied and bloodthirsty, 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 Dharma artifact. It then passed through several owners before finally falling into the hands of a Daoist cultivator named Zhang Yan.

Knowing that he had no hope in cultivation, Zhang Yan returned to his Lineage.

Thus, the command flag was passed down for generations. Yet Zhang Yan's Lineage gradually declined, until the flag's final owner was instead a boy of eleven or twelve.

That boy was also the only one among Zhang Yan's descendants with the aptitude for Daoist cultivation.

But with his strength, how could he possibly subdue the Blood Baleful Intent within the command flag?

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

Three months ago, the salvage shop escorted the command flag out together with many other treasures. When they passed through a place called Fangtooth Mountain, they encountered a group of red-clad Martial Warriors, and the command flag subsequently fell into the hands of those red-clad Martial Warriors.

After changing hands several times, it passed through Xu Hongtao before being delivered into Zhang Gao's hands.

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

"It is just that, unlike the Alms-Gathering Golden Bowl, this Dharma treasure fights with Blood Baleful Qi and leans toward the demonic path?"

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 also understood that the little ghost had actually been the command flag's final owner. When the boy had fallen into demonic madness, he had been slain by the wandering swordsman. For some unknown reason, his soul had entered the command flag, becoming a trace of Yin Baleful Intent within the Blood Baleful Intent and causing the treasure to be veiled in dust.

Now that the little ghost had been struck into scattered souls, it naturally meant that the command flag had been fully appraised. That was why it had left a trace upon the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror.

"So this counts as my completing an alternative 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 merely cleansing Killing Intent.

That was because some treasures themselves centered on Killing Intent.

Take this command flag. Its Blood Baleful Qi was dense enough to be used against enemies. Once cleansed away, it would instead lose its spirituality and turn into an ordinary object—at most, no more than a military command flag.

"But who exactly are those red-clad Martial Warriors?

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

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

His relationship with those red-clad Martial Warriors was anything but ordinary.

Unfortunately, from the command flag's perspective, he could not pry into any further details. He could only bury those 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 from the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror, a trace of delight gradually appeared on his face.

The Spirit-Hiding Technique was exactly as its name suggested.

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

Once it was cast, the vital blood and spiritual energy within his body would be hidden. Unless someone's cultivation and strength far exceeded his, or they deliberately observed him with eye-type or detection-type spells and divine abilities, it would be exceedingly difficult to discover the true aura of his strength.

"This Spirit-Hiding Technique has truly come at just the right time for me.

"I had been worried that my increasingly powerful vital blood and 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 spies on me, who could discover that I am different?"

Chen Shaojun was overjoyed.

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

His vital blood and essence were so abundant that they nearly overflowed.

If not for the fact that there were practically no experts in the pawnshop, coupled 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 mobilized the Dharma power within his body.

Fortunately, the Spirit-Hiding Technique consumed very little to maintain. With the intensity of the Dharma power within him, he could barely sustain it.

The Spirit-Hiding Technique was successfully cast.

In an instant, the vital blood and essence that had nearly burst forth from his body vanished without a trace. Even the Dharma 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 vital blood, and the Dharma power coiled within his dantian.

It was merely that, at the instant the Spirit-Hiding Technique was successfully cast, a special membrane seemed to form within his body, concealing all of it.

The night soon passed.

Worried about the possible appearance of that Daoist expert, Chen Shaojun spent the night visualizing the Tai Shang Perception Scripture.

Fortunately, he was now brimming with energy, and visualization cultivation could also 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 Dharma power had improved once more, leaving him refreshed and invigorated.

Moreover, the rumored Daoist expert 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 and cleansing their Killing Intent, then collecting rewards.

Of course, from time to time, he would also stroll around the Iron Wire Fist School to show that he had been diligently practicing martial arts.

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

He did not stand out, yet neither did he lag behind the others.

Neither too good nor too bad, lost among the crowd.

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