Land God

"What a demon cat, feeding on living po souls!"

Fang Yu murmured to himself. He had no intention of vanquishing demons and devils. He simply watched as the demon cat rolled around on the ground for a while, then got back up and crawled about, twitching its nose, before drawing another living po soul out of a corpse.

A person had three hun souls and seven po souls. Once a person died, the three hun souls would be the first to leave the body, returning to heaven and earth, while the seven po souls remained within the corpse and only gradually dispersed over a long period.

Under special circumstances, such as in this mass grave, the seven po souls dispersed much more slowly. At the same time, the seven po souls left behind by warriors who had been exceptionally powerful in life would slowly devour other po souls, forming po bodies. Given enough time, the corpses would very likely rise again as zombies, devoid of consciousness and acting only on the instincts they had in life.

Now that the demon cat was drawing out the po bodies, zombies would no longer form in this mass grave.

Seen that way, the demon cat actually seemed to be doing a good deed.

Fang Yu watched the demon cat from afar as it absorbed more than ten living po souls, its body swelling slightly. Just as he was wondering how many the demon cat could absorb, he suddenly saw it arch its back and bolt out of the pit.

"Demon, where do you think you're going!"

A voice like a thunderclap suddenly rang out. An old man holding a cane emerged from underground and pointed it at the demon cat. A golden light appeared and struck the cat's backside in an instant.

"Meow..."

The demon cat let out a piercing scream, and a bloody wound split open on its backside. The next moment, black mist appeared around the demon cat and enveloped it, and it scurried into the nearby forest and vanished.

"Hmph, how could a little demon like you be allowed to lay a finger on these heroic living po souls!"

The old man snorted angrily, but did not pursue the demon cat. Instead, he took a gourd from his waist and uncorked it. Muttering an incantation, he drew a living po soul out of the mass grave. It turned into a streak of black light and was sucked into the gourd.

More and more living po souls rose out in quick succession, turning into black light and being sucked inside. There were an estimated thousand or more.

Soon, all the living po souls had been sucked into the gourd. The old man plugged its mouth and shook it gently, a smile appearing on his face. "With these thousand or more heroic living po souls, I can exchange them for more Dragon Gate Stone for my son..."

Suddenly, his pupils contracted as he looked at a streak of red light shooting toward him. "A Dao Foundation immortal!"

The next moment, he hurriedly pulled a plaque from his waist and held it in his hand. He bowed to the figure that had already drawn near and said respectfully:

"This old man is Luo Youcai, a land god appointed by Mount Longmen. I respectfully welcome you, immortal!"

Fang Yu looked at the plaque in his hand and chuckled. "Land God Luo, there's no need to be nervous. I was only passing through and wanted to ask you a few things."

Luo Youcai immediately breathed a sigh of relief. "Whatever you wish to ask, immortal, this old man will tell you everything he knows."

Fang Yu nodded and asked, "Tell me about Embroidered Tiger."

Luo Youcai immediately replied, "This old man knows little. I merely follow the decree passed down by Mount Longmen: no cultivation lineage is permitted to interfere in the rise and fall of mortal dynasties, much less have any contact with Embroidered Tiger. Any violator will have their lineage's appointment revoked.

"This old man is merely from a Qi Ingestion lineage, and that is all I know. If you wish to know more, immortal, you can go to the Anping Prefecture Grand Market. There should be more news there."

A Qi Ingestion lineage without even a Dao Foundation cultivator would indeed know very little, so Fang Yu did not make things difficult for Land God Luo on that account.

Although he was only a minor land god, he had been appointed by Mount Longmen. If Fang Yu killed him without cause, Mount Longmen would certainly send disciples to deal with the matter. After all, a land god was equivalent to a county magistrate in the mortal world. If its own people killed one another, Mount Longmen would not interfere, but if an outsider killed one, that would be a provocation to Mount Longmen.

"That gourd of yours is quite nice. Could you give it to me?"

"Ah!"

Luo Youcai cried out in surprise. The next moment, he untied the gourd from his waist with great reluctance and offered it up in both hands. "If you like it, immortal, please take it."

Fang Yu reached out and took it. Sensing the thousand or more living po souls inside, he waved his hand and gave Luo Youcai fifty pieces of Dragon Gate Stone.

"Consider this a purchase. Are you willing?"

Looking at the fifty pieces of Dragon Gate Stone, Luo Youcai was immediately overjoyed. "I am, I am! Thank you, immortal, thank you!"

Fang Yu smiled and turned into a red streak that sped away, vanishing into the heavy rain in an instant.

Luo Youcai took several deep breaths. Looking at the Dragon Gate Stone in his hand, he was still somewhat shaken.

I came out to collect some living po souls and ran into a Dao Foundation immortal. My luck must be soaring! Now that I've gotten these fifty pieces of Dragon Gate Stone, I must have exhausted all my luck. I can't go out again for three years.

In a hollow in a dead tree in the mountain forest, the black demon cat twisted its head around and repeatedly licked the wound on its backside, which was deep enough to expose bone. It whined as it licked.

Suddenly, the entrance darkened, and a human face appeared.

"Yowl... hiss..."

The demon cat started violently, the fur all over its body bristling like needles. Its entire body arched like a bow, and it stared at the face with eyes as black as ink, hissing fiercely.

"Since we've met, it must be fate. This gourd is yours!"

As Fang Yu spoke, he placed the gourd he had bought from Luo Youcai inside the hollow, then left.

The demon cat's tense body slowly relaxed as the terrifying great demon departed. Then its nose twitched a few times, and it bit down on the gourd's stopper, pulled it open, and took a deep breath.

Fang Yu rode a red cloud toward the summit of Mount Anping, in a very good mood.

For no other reason than that the cat was pleasing to his eye.

To him, if someone was pleasing to his eye, that meant they were fated to meet. A gourd of living po souls was a way to form a good bond with the cat. As for whether the other party was a demon or a devil, he did not care.

Fang Yu reached the summit and looked all around, but saw no other cultivators.

There was still some time before the Grand Market, so he found a cave nearby and took out his pickaxe.

A scorching stream of flame surged from his palm as he reforged the pickaxe.

The pickaxe he had forged earlier still had quite a few flaws. After going into the mine himself, he had thought of making changes to it.

Now that he had time, he would reshape it to prepare for mining alone later.

After all, the better his mining tool, the higher his efficiency and the more ore he could mine.

"The walls of the mine are tougher than expected, and the rebounding force is too great. I need to strengthen the force-dispersing formation patterns..."

"The pickaxe head needs to be tougher as well, to extend its service life..."

"Swinging it for a long time is tiring, even with my strong physique. I'll add a power-recovery mechanism too, so I can conserve more strength..."

Soon, a new pickaxe took shape in Fang Yu's hands. It had actually reached the Low-Grade Spirit Artifact level.

Fang Yu picked it up and swung it a few times, then said with satisfaction, "Good, good. The extra Profound Grade materials I put into it weren't wasted. This should make mining even faster."

Just then, his spiritual sense stirred slightly, and he sensed fluctuations of Law Power outside.

"The Grand Market has begun!"

He put away the pickaxe and counted on his fingers, then shook his head.

Here in the Dao of Qi Ingestion, his heavenly secrets were still as chaotic as ever. He could not divine whether fortune or misfortune lay ahead at all.

"Looks like I'll have to find this fortuitous opportunity myself!"

He murmured to himself and headed toward the summit where the Grand Market was held.