"Immortal Elders, it is already late. Why not rest at the county office? Tomorrow, I will send out every bailiff to gather information for you. What do you think?"
Seeing Senior Brother Ding lead Zhang Jing and the other three in preparing to leave, the County Magistrate hastily urged them to stay.
"Then sorry for the trouble."
Senior Brother Ding agreed without hesitation.
"No trouble at all, none at all. Please wait a moment, Immortal Elders. I will have food and wine prepared to welcome the five of you and wash away the dust of your journey."
"There is no need for that. Please just arrange five rooms for us."
"As you command, Immortal Elder."
With that, the County Magistrate hurriedly summoned the Private Secretary and instructed him, "Quickly send someone to clean up those five guest rooms."
That night.
Inside his room, Zhang Jing sat at the table, spirit brush in hand, concentrating fully on making talismans.
He traced the talisman's Dao patterns without the slightest error, his spiritual sense guiding a steady flow of spiritual power into them.
Before long.
Spiritual light flickered over the table.
A completed superior Star-Attracting Talisman appeared before Zhang Jing, radiating powerful spiritual fluctuations. He then put it into the Spirit Pendant Space along with his spirit brush, spirit ink, and spirit paper.
As this was his current primary means of earning Dao merit.
Even while carrying out a mission, Zhang Jing had not neglected talisman making. He simply did not push himself to the same extremes as when he was in his cave abode.
With a thought, the Jade Talisman slowly appeared.
[Ninefold Evolution Spirit Star Talisman Canon · Level 2 (159/300)] Skill trait: talisman source nurturing (intermediate)
After over a month of uninterrupted effort, Zhang Jing had successfully raised the Ninefold Evolution Spirit Star Talisman Canon skill to level two. While in the Mind's Eye state, his success rate for making lower-grade talismans had already reached forty percent.
And-
Zhang Jing gently extended his hand.
In an instant, a tiny talisman stood in his palm, dreamlike and illusory.
This was the incomplete source talisman of the Star-Attracting Talisman.
He estimated that he only needed to make another eighty or so Star-Attracting Talismans for the fragments he obtained to complete the source talisman.
In other words... about twenty days.
Not far off.
But when that time came, he would have the headache of finding a buyer.
His thoughts returned to the present.
Zhang Jing sat cross-legged on the bed, took out a Purple Spirit Pill, and placed it straight into his mouth.
Silently, he began circulating the Five Viscera Water-Origin Guiding Commentary, hoping to raise his cultivation quickly.
The night deepened.
All was silent.
At some unknown point, an unidentified white fog had begun to envelop all of Black Mountain County.
The white fog was so dense that it seemed capable of trapping even sound.
Inside a certain room in the county office.
Three figures huddled closely around a small table.
"Shen He has already separated the five cultivators from the Dao Academy as we instructed. Should we act now?"
The man with the black mole spoke in a low voice.
"Can we avoid fighting?" the burly man asked with some misgivings. "Not a single Dao Academy disciple is easy to deal with!"
"If we kill them, the Dao Academy might send a Late Qi Refining expert straight over. At that point, never mind us-even Lord Yin would not be able to withstand them. We would all be destroyed, body and soul!"
"We have no choice!"
The old man among the three suddenly spoke.
"You saw those Dao Academy disciples' attitude today. They will not stop until they have turned Black Mountain County upside down. Once Lord Yin is exposed, how could any of us survive?"
"What about that Middle Qi Refining fellow?"
"Judging by his aura today, he should be at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer, just like Lord Yin. As luck would have it, Lord Yin previously bestowed a law artifact upon me, containing an all-out strike from him. If we hide in the fog and ambush him, we should be able to gravely wound him."
"But before that, we must lure out those Early Qi Refining ones and kill them one by one."
"Tsk, tsk. Say, if we kill Dao Academy disciples this time and render such great service, might Lord Yin reward us with some Spirit Divine Liquid in his delight? My cultivation has not advanced in so long..."
Knock, knock-
The knocking roused Zhang Jing from his cultivation.
"Who is it?"
"Immortal Elder, sir, I am a bailiff from the county office. The County Magistrate sent me to report something urgent to you," the person outside called softly.
The County Magistrate had sent someone in the middle of the night to report something urgent?
To him?
The moment he heard this, a faint sneer involuntarily appeared on Zhang Jing's face.
They couldn't hold back already?
He got off the bed and walked straight toward the door, spiritual light flickering faintly over his azure robe.
Creak-
The door slowly opened.
Zhang Jing's gaze sharpened. Only then did he discover that a bailiff really was standing outside, his skin bearing the rosy sheen particular to a healthy person, his eyes bright and lively.
There was nothing unusual about his aura either.
Wait, when did such thick fog spring up outside?
"What did you want to report?" he asked calmly.
"Immortal Elder," the bailiff said quietly, an expression of utter terror appearing on his face when he saw Zhang Jing. "My County Magistrate said there are demons in Black Mountain County's county seat, and they are right here in the county office. You must all be careful!"
"Where are the demons?"
Zhang Jing looked into the man's eyes and scrutinized him.
But he suddenly discovered that the human figure reflected within them was growing larger and increasingly distorted.
"The demon is... right before you, Immortal Elder!"
The bailiff's voice instantly turned sinister.
Suddenly.
The sound of tearing silk rang out.
Before his eyes, the bailiff's skin instantly lost its color, becoming like dried parchment. A pair of pale human hands reached out from his eyes and tore the human skin straight open.
A venomous human face emerged through the gap.
The instant the face appeared, it lunged to bite Zhang Jing, who stood within arm's reach.
Yet, unexpectedly.
Faced with this horrifying sight, Zhang Jing found that his heart was utterly calm.
Probably because... this thing posed no threat to me.
He thought.
The five-law spirit river appeared silently.
A law technique fish shimmering with icy blue light leaped from the water, becoming Zhang Jing's protective spiritual light.
[Ice-Light Incantation · Level 5 (113/360)] Skill traits: repeated radiance (low), resilience (low)
Thud-
The pale face slammed straight into Zhang Jing's protective spiritual light, but it was as though it had struck walls of copper and iron. Its entire face was deformed, while the protective spiritual light did not so much as ripple.
"Its aura is roughly at the Qi Refining First Layer, but its concealment ability is quite formidable. If it had not torn open its skin itself, I would not have discovered it."
Zhang Jing frowned slightly.
The very first demon he had actually encountered had given him a show of force.
Looking at that ugly, distorted face, he shook his head and raised his right hand. His index finger passed through the five-law spirit river and pointed gently forward.
A sharp gleam suddenly appeared at his fingertip, carrying terrifying killing intent as it shot toward the face.
[Ice Condensation Edge-Forming Technique · Level 5 (87/360)] Skill traits: sharpness (low), baleful return (low)
Then came only the sound of a bubble bursting.
The pale human figure, which had been preparing to flee, was cleaved straight in half and turned to drifting ash.
"There are others?"
Looking in the direction the pale humanoid demon had been fleeing, Zhang Jing immediately discovered three indistinct figures behind the white fog.
It was them!
He instantly recalled the three Early Qi Refining rogue cultivators he had seen in the county office that day.
"You must be extremely careful. Do not let your guard down!"
Senior Brother Ding's words rang in his ears once more.
Zhang Jing swept his spiritual sense through the Spirit Pendant Space, where dozens of talismans lay neatly arranged.
Within the five-law spirit river, three law technique fish shaped like pitch-black flood dragons radiated savage auras, while seven icy blue law technique fish were eager to leap into action.
Even Zhang Jing himself did not know just how strong the defense of seven overlapping Ice-Light Incantations bearing [repeated radiance] and [resilience] would be.
But the one thing he did know was.
The Ice Condensation Edge-Forming Technique, enhanced with [sharpness], [Baleful return], and the nether flood dragon devouring the void Dao rhythm, already possessed power at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer. Yet even three consecutive shots could not shake seven layers of the Ice-Light Incantation.
I was thoroughly prepared! I hadn't let my guard down! I should be able to take on those three rogue cultivators single-handedly!
Zhang Jing drew a deep breath.
A gleam of water abruptly surged beneath his feet, and his figure shot out, pursuing the three rogue cultivators at tremendous speed.