Overnight Fortune

Overnight Fortune

Amid the charred black mountains, a figure wrapped in black mist moved like a ghost.

He finally came to a stop atop a huge stone slab.

As the spell's effects gradually subsided, Xiao Liang's figure was revealed.

"I should be far enough after running this far!"

Xiao Liang lowered his gaze. As he regulated his breathing and restored his energy, he also assessed the current situation.

After a moment, he found that things were actually looking rather favorable.

"First, Luo Dongbao, the leader and employer, has already fled. That means the exploration mission agreed upon at Storm Tower has naturally ended, and I no longer bear any responsibility to him."

"Besides, getting in here was no easy task. I have some confidence in my own strength, and if there really is some opportunity on this mountain, I absolutely cannot let it slip away. I should keep exploring upward and retreat only when I encounter an obstacle!"

Xiao Liang let out a breath and began considering the fastest way up the mountain.

This pitch-black mountain was rather strange. There was little vegetation at its base, but the farther upward one went, the more clusters of bizarre plants appeared.

Earlier, the exploration party had been able to carve out a path with the combined strength of several people.

But now that Xiao Liang was exploring alone, opening up a road for himself was clearly not worth the effort.

Fortunately, although Xiao Liang could not fly, his Spirit Zombie could.

Having made up his mind, Xiao Liang was now alone and had nothing to hide. He naturally took out the black Corpse-Nurturing Bag.

Though it lacked formation markings that gathered yin energy, it was spacious enough inside. Pandora had long since been moved into it.

Xiao Liang poured in his mana, grabbed the bottom of the Corpse-Nurturing Bag, and gave it several shakes.

The sleeping Pandora was instantly shaken out of it.

However, as he looked at the scantily clad exotic beauty, Xiao Liang raised a brow, rummaged through his storage bag, and forcibly dressed her in a black robe.

He even thoughtfully cut two openings in the back so her wings could stick out.

"Mm..."

Pandora, now dressed in black, lifted the large hood from her head, revealing her golden hair. Her blood-red eyes glared at Xiao Liang in displeasure, while the pale wings on her back fluttered and stirred up a gust of wind.

"What, you don't want to wear this black robe because you think it's ugly?"

Learning Pandora's thoughts through their mental link, Xiao Liang spread his hands. "Keep a low profile. Keeping a low profile is the most important thing, Pandora. Besides, if you don't wear anything, it'll be indecent."

It took quite a while to soothe her before Pandora finally adapted to it.

A Flying Yaksha, or Flying Corpse, was tough-skinned, immensely strong, and possessed tremendous endurance. Carrying an adult was no problem at all.

Although Xiao Liang would have preferred to climb onto Pandora's back, she mercilessly refused him. He could only settle for the eagle-catches-chick method that Pandora found more comfortable.

Pandora grabbed Xiao Liang's shoulders with both hands, then fiercely beat her wings. One after the other, they left the ground and crossed over the forest of strange plants.

They flew toward the mountaintop at a fairly swift pace.

Dangling in midair, Xiao Liang surveyed the terrain below. Unlike when he was on the ground, his view was no longer restricted, and the area he could see greatly expanded.

"That is... Heavenly Sun Mountain's sect buildings. Sure enough, this place has been preserved rather well!"

Xiao Liang's gaze suddenly sharpened. Near the summit, he spotted a vast cluster of buildings. Though their architectural style differed greatly from that of the Ten Thousand Demon Cavern,

there were still similarities. He could vaguely make out the functions of quite a few palace buildings.

"Pandora, fly in that direction!"

Overjoyed, Xiao Liang patted Pandora's hand and pointed the way.

Pandora immediately beat her wings. In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, she had brought Xiao Liang to an open area outside the building complex.

The first thing before them was a vast, orderly array of pavilions and small courtyards, which appeared to be residences for disciples.

Farther away stood a great hall. Thick iron chains were tied to its upturned eaves, with numerous broken sword remnants hanging from them. As they clanged against one another, iron filings fell away.

"Cough, cough. It looked fine from afar, but I didn't expect it to be almost entirely ruins. After another four hundred years of wind and rain erosion, it's hard to say whether there's anything left to find."

Xiao Liang frowned and cautiously entered one pavilion. Before he could do anything, the utterly rotten roof collapsed in its entirety.

It did not bury him underneath, but the dust rushing into his face still made him cough repeatedly.

Still, scavenging through ruins required patience. Xiao Liang persevered, searching the pavilions one by one, and he indeed found a few things.

"A bottle of pills. What a pity, their medicinal power has long since dissipated. Useless!"

"Tsk, a pseudo-artifact. Its spirituality is gone, but the Dark Iron Essence used as material should still be worth something. I'll take it!"

"A small bag of Spirit Stones. Not bad luck—wait, why are there only ten?"

"Pandora, don't just stand there. I'll search the east, you search the west, and we'll meet in the middle!"

Half an hour later, the dust-covered Xiao Liang looked like a filthy burrowing rat. Only his bright, gleaming eyes still proved his identity.

But compared to his gains, his disheveled appearance was not worth mentioning at all.

Especially after accepting the cultivation resources Pandora had looted from the western courtyards, Xiao Liang was grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm rich! Little by little, grains of sand become a tower. I never expected that after thoroughly searching the place, we'd gather more than a thousand Spirit Stones!"

"Though we found no pills or spirit herbs, quite a few artifact-refining materials remained. Too bad our space is limited, so we can only take the valuable ones!"

Xiao Liang piled a large heap of artifact-refining materials on the ground. Although the overwhelming majority were basic Qi Refinement materials such as Hundred-Forged Steel and Iron Essence,

there were also several small pieces of rare metals, such as Frost Ice Iron and Soulbright Jade. They were quite valuable and could even be used to refine high-grade artifacts.

But what caught Xiao Liang's attention most were two ancient jade slips. Since they had been preserved relatively well, information could still be read from them.

"Heavenly Yang Demon-Subduing Hand!"

"Beast-Taming Art!"

A look of amazement appeared in Xiao Liang's eyes. The Heavenly Yang Demon-Subduing Hand was Heavenly Sun Mountain's exclusive spell, and its techniques were exquisitely refined.

It seemed even more powerful than the Yin Demon Claw taught by the Little Ghost Hall of the Ten Thousand Demon Cavern!

As for the Beast-Taming Art, while it was not an exclusive spell, it was still immensely valuable. Even in the Ten Thousand Demon Cavern, one would have to pay a tremendous price to obtain it!

"I happen to lack a spell for direct combat. This Heavenly Yang Demon-Subduing Hand has arrived at just the right time!"

Xiao Liang laughed loudly, pressed the jade slip against his forehead, and firmly memorized its contents.

Then he silently sat cross-legged on the ground and digested the information for a while.

Very soon!

Xiao Liang rose to his feet, found an open space, and guided the mana within his body through an arcane route toward his hands.

A layer of fine golden light, like golden silk gloves, wrapped itself around his palms layer by layer.

As he assumed his stance, Xiao Liang spread the five fingers of his right hand wide and suddenly pressed downward through the air!

With a bang, the dust-covered ground instantly shook, sending dirt flying and revealing a clear palm print in the stone slab beneath.

The palm print had sunk a full inch into the slab!

Yet Xiao Liang merely frowned slightly, somewhat dissatisfied.

"The force is a little too dispersed. It should have penetrated three inches into the stone. No wonder it's an exclusive spell; there are still some subtleties I haven't figured out."

"Still, this Heavenly Yang Demon-Subduing Hand balances hardness and softness, offense and defense. I've only just entered the door, but with diligent practice, I can make it even stronger!"

(End of Chapter)