Having said this, Qian De released seven or eight demon beasts from his spirit beast bag.
Looking at the lineup of entirely third-rank demon beasts, Wen Jingshu flipped her hand and pulled out a high-grade Exploding Talisman and a Transformation Talisman.
“Qian De, even if I have to self-detonate today, I'll drag you down with me!”
“Prepare to die!”
Wen Jingshu locked onto Qian De and used a teleportation talisman to transport herself right in front of him. Seeing the body of that peak Foundation Establishment Stage male cultivator swell as violent spiritual energy raged around him, Qian De cursed inwardly and spun around to flee.
The self-detonation of a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator was no joke! At best, it would cause severe injuries; at worst, it would result in death!
He had no intention of throwing away his future over this idiot.
How could Wen Jingshu give him the chance? A flash of white light was accompanied by a massive, deafening boom. Once everything settled, only a massive black crater remained.
To anyone looking, this scene would undoubtedly seem like a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator's self-detonation had killed a Golden Core Stage cultivator.
Inside the Shengsheng Bead, Wen Jingshu brushed the nonexistent dust off her hands and looked at the four corpses before her with satisfaction.
The fact that the female cultivator had been able to track the scent of the Wind-Howling Wolf on her despite the Yunling Bracelet served as a warning. This time, she had directly collected the corpses into the Shengsheng Bead.
She refused to believe anyone could find a flaw in this.
Casually burning the four corpses to ash with Glazed Fire, Wen Jingshu crushed their space rings, causing the contents inside to pile up like a small mountain before her.
The Beast Taming Sect truly lived up to its name; the contracted demon beasts of the four, large and small, actually numbered fifty-eight.
Unfortunately, due to the deaths of their masters, they were now as dead as could be.
Wen Jingshu checked over and over, but among all these demon beasts, there actually wasn't a single spirit beast?
For disciples of the Beast Taming Sect to not have a single spirit beast as a contracted beast? That was highly unusual!
Unable to figure it out, Wen Jingshu simply put it out of her mind and continued to take stock of her spoils.
Aside from the demon beast corpses, there was also a large pile of spirit stones, medicinal pills, and talismans. Too lazy to count them, Wen Jingshu swept them all to the side.
Finally, she turned to the spirit herbs and rare treasures. After picking through them, she didn't find any particularly outstanding treasures.
Just how had that female cultivator detected her?
Wen Jingshu pondered it repeatedly but remained clueless until the Treasure-Hunting Mouse suddenly darted over to a rabbit-like, dog-like demon beast and began devouring its flesh in large gulps.
After it finished eating the demon beast's corpse, it advanced in rank right before her eyes.
Staring at the anomalous Treasure-Hunting Mouse, Wen Jingshu had the phantom projected by the Hunyuan Bead form a contract with it.
The Hunyuan Bead contained a wisp of her divine sense. Practically speaking, a demon beast contracted by the Hunyuan Bead was as good as contracted by her.
Wen Jingshu's mind worked quickly. Upon receiving her command, the phantom completed the contract process. Sure enough, Wen Jingshu felt a faint, threadlike connection.
Her indirect contract was a success!
Since this method worked, if she found any suspicious treasures in the future, she could have the phantom contract them first. That way, even if someone tried to trick her, it would only damage a wisp of her soul and wouldn't harm her true body!
“Since you're a Treasure-Hunting Mouse that attracts wealth and treasure, I'll call you Zhaocai from now on.”
After its evolution, Zhaocai's body was round and chubby, with a short tail, small ears, and large eyes. Covered in golden fur, it lacked the typical sneaky look of rodents and instead appeared rather charmingly cute.
Zhaocai squeaked a few times, and Wen Jingshu instantly understood its meaning.
“You're saying that this mutated demon beast was the one that smelled the scent of the Wind-Howling Wolf?”
“And now that you've eaten it, you've inherited its ability?”
Zhaocai squeaked twice in confirmation, then led Wen Jingshu to point out several other corpses.
“Are you saying that if you eat these as well, you can advance in rank again? And even become a spirit beast?”
Zhaocai nodded vigorously.
Having received Zhaocai's confirmation, Wen Jingshu looked at it with curiosity.
The look made Zhaocai feel uneasy, and it couldn't help but curl up into a tiny ball.
Seeing its frightened state, Wen Jingshu patted its head and said, “Go ahead and eat. It's just demon beast corpses, right? I've got plenty!”
This was no mere mutated Treasure-Hunting Mouse; this was practically her personal recycling station!
Getting rid of four pests and obtaining such a great treasure in return—she had made an absolute killing this time!
With the evidence disposed of, Wen Jingshu cautiously controlled the Shengsheng Bead, which had shrunk to the size of a speck of dust. After traveling a hundred li away, she disguised herself as a bearded, burly man, adjusted her apparent cultivation to the seventh level of the Qi Refining stage, and quietly made her way toward the Qingyun Sect.
Inside the Beast Taming Sect, four disciple life tokens shattered in unison. When the Fourth Elder saw that Qian De's life token had actually shattered, he was instantly enraged.
“What despicable scoundrel dares to kill my disciple?!”
Qian De's death was a minor issue, but the Fourth Elder had not yet obtained the supreme treasure on him!
The Fourth Elder pulled out a Retrospective Stone from his space ring. The other end of the stone was linked to Qian De's soul, allowing the Fourth Elder to clearly see the scene before Qian De's death.
As a result, he saw a middle-aged male cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Stage coming for revenge, self-detonating to kill Qian De.
The Fourth Elder's face turned from green to red, feeling incredibly stifled and frustrated.
A dignified Golden Core Stage cultivator had actually defiled another's wife, murdered their son, and then successfully been killed in a revenge attack by a mere Foundation Establishment Stage ant!
What an utterly worthless and disgraceful failure!
Seeing that the place where Qian De had died was Jiangyuan Valley, the Fourth Elder immediately set off for the scene, hoping to see if he could find Qian De's leftover space ring.
Meanwhile, Wen Jingshu traveled and gained experience along the way. Her master had instructed her to return to the sect in three months, and she planned to time her return to be one month early.
After a dozen or so days of fighting, stopping, and starting, on this day, Wen Jingshu had just collected some “scraps” to feed to Zhaocai when she saw a flying boat bearing the insignia of the Qingyun Sect sailing across the sky.
She glanced at it, then indifferently withdrew her gaze.
No matter what they were doing, it wasn't as important as increasing her own strength.
After a month of combat, she was now able to slay low-grade third-rank demon beasts using only five Thunder-Attracting Talismans and a single Qi-Recovery Pill.
At the same time, she had already mastered the first stance of the Xianguan Sword Art, Following One's Heart, and the first stance of the Thunder Brake Sword Art, Cloud-Falling Thunder Strike, to the level of minor accomplishment.
Previously, she had only used her wood immortal root for alchemy. But after a month of utilizing it, she had gained some insights into using her wood immortal root for offensive purposes. Even with simple sword techniques, she could now fight to a draw with a mid Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator.
Now she was beginning to contemplate practicing swordplay with her wood immortal root...
Wen Jingshu had reaped a bountiful harvest from this trial. Just as she was about to leave, a female cultivator suddenly descended from the flying boat and called out, “Senior Brother, please wait!”
To avoid trouble, she had deliberately hung the outer sect disciple token she had prepared beforehand on her waist. Since the Qingyun Sect's flying boat could automatically recognize these tokens, Wen Jingshu wasn't surprised to be recognized by a fellow disciple.
Since it was a fellow disciple, Wen Jingshu showed a bit more patience. Upon looking closer, she was startled to see that the person who had approached was actually Fang Chun.
This was the very female cultivator who had brought the young Wen Jingshu into the Qingyun Sect back then.
Several years had passed, and Fang Chun was now at the sixth level of the Qi Refining stage. For someone with a multi-element spiritual root, this was already a miracle.
It seemed she had also encountered quite a few opportunities over the past few years.
“Senior Brother, are you returning to the sect? If you're not busy, would you be interested in taking on a small mission?”
“For example, going to the mortal realm to recruit disciples?”
Before Wen Jingshu could speak, Fang Chun hurriedly bowed and clasped her hands repeatedly, saying:
“Senior Brother, I beg of you, please take this mission! I have an extremely urgent matter to attend to elsewhere and need to rush back to the sect!”
“Don't worry, Senior Brother, I won't take a single bit of the reward for recruiting disciples in the mortal realm. On top of that, I'll give you a bottle of Rejuvenation Pills as extra compensation!”
“Here is the sect recruitment token, here is half a bottle of Rejuvenation Pills, and this is the mission token. Take them, Senior Brother! See you later!”
After saying this, Fang Chun pulled Wen Jingshu onto the Qingyun Sect's flying boat. Before Wen Jingshu could even utter a single word, Fang Chun had already vanished like a shooting star.
Wen Jingshu instinctively reached out toward the direction Fang Chun had departed, as if trying to stop her.
She opened her mouth and hesitated for a long moment, not knowing what to say.
Wait, did she even agree?
Was it really okay to force a deal on someone like this?
Rate on N.U.
