Fixing his gaze on the silent, secluded forest below, Qin Sang pondered for a moment. Instead of descending directly, he pretended to look left and right, searching for a path down the mountain.
Then, as he passed a rocky outcropping, he instantly condensed a clone with spiritual power. Keeping his true body hidden atop the peak, he cast the Sky-Riding Technique upon the clone and controlled it to glide down toward the base of the cliff.
Qin Sang's clone leaped swiftly between the protruding rocks and trees along the cliff face. Just as it landed upon the branch of an ancient tree, a sudden transformation occurred!
Without any warning, a surge of green light erupted from the forest, within which writhed an emerald-green vine.
The vine twisted like a spirit serpent, coiling and lunging, darting beside Qin Sang's clone in the blink of an eye. It wrapped around the clone rapidly, binding it tight.
"Haha!"
A burst of wild laughter echoed from the forest. With disheveled hair, the slovenly Daoist flew up to the treetop, dripping with blood from head to toe and covered in rotten grass and fallen leaves. Several broken ice spikes were still lodged in his arms and legs, making him appear utterly wretched. Yet the wounds on his body were not nearly as severe as Qin Sang had imagined.
Glaring furiously at the bound "Qin Sang," the slovenly Daoist snarled viciously, "Daring to sneak-attack me? I'll let you taste my Spirit Lock Technique!"
Then, looking up toward the mountain peak, the slovenly Daoist muttered an incantation under his breath. A sudden whoosh rang out at the peak as three streaks of black light flew down at high speed—they were the three fragments of the Ruyi Shield!
At this moment, Qin Sang, concealed atop the peak, was filled with shock and anger.
Had he not been so cautious—if he had carelessly descended to search the body or grown greedy enough to pick up the shield first—he very well might have fallen into the slovenly Daoist's trap, which would have spelled near-certain doom.
"Transform into swords!"
The slovenly Daoist roared. With two loud thuds, the fragments of the Ruyi Shield surged with torrential momentum, like three sharp swords converging into one midair.
The Ruyi Shield was no longer in the shape of a shield. Instead, it had transformed into a strange black sword shaped like a three-sided prism. Its three fierce fuller grooves sent chills down the spine, and its tip glittered with cold light, seeming to carry a sword glow. Far from looking broken, it erupted with power that far exceeded that of a medium-grade magic tool!
Looking at the deformed Ruyi Shield, the slovenly Daoist felt a deep pang of heartache. His gaze toward "Qin Sang" burned with even deeper hatred. With a flick of his finger, the black prism sword immediately swiveled and pierced into "Qin Sang's" body like lightning.
*Splash!*
The black iron spike pierced straight through, boring into the trunk of the ancient tree as water sprayed in all directions.
The slovenly Daoist's pupils shrank violently, his expression morphing into utter shock. A sudden tremor of dread seized his heart. Hurriedly looking up, he saw a dazzling streak of lightning crash down like a bolt from the blue!
Overwhelmed with terror, the slovenly Daoist scrambled to flee, but how could his speed match lightning in the slightest? He had barely taken half a step when the Yin Thunder struck him squarely on the forehead.
*Boom!*
The full might of the Yin Thunder erupted, snapping the massive tree branch beneath his feet. After a tremendous crash, a massive crater appeared in the ground, inside of which lay a charred figure.
Still uneasy, Qin Sang condensed several more ice spikes and drove them into the pit. Only when the slovenly Daoist showed not the slightest sign of movement did he finally feel at ease, tapping his feet and leaping down the cliff.
As he reached the edge of the pit, Qin Sang's footsteps came to an abrupt halt, a look of surprise surfacing on his face. The slovenly Daoist had been reduced to such a wretched state, yet a faint breath of life still lingered in him.
After some thought, Qin Sang put away the spirit stone in his hand, took out the Yanluo Banner, and summoned Yanwang, commanding it to devour the slovenly Daoist's soul.
He was quite curious about the Daoist's beast-taming methods. The oriole had fled the moment Qin Sang made his initial move and was nowhere to be found. Although it possessed no combat strength, it was exceedingly useful for reconnaissance.
Yanwang could not evade the eyes of cultivators and struggled to get close to them; when facing a cultivator in combat, it cowered timidly, proving utterly useless.
If the slovenly Daoist had not been at death's door, it would not have dared to charge in to devour his soul.
Qin Sang could not fathom where the terrifying ferocity it once showed when trying to turn against him had gone.
Unexpectedly, when Yanwang flew out from the slovenly Daoist's body, it had not drawn out a soul. Instead, it merely carried a speck of green light in its mouth.
Greatly surprised, Qin Sang took the green light and examined it, only to find it was merely a wisp of origin soul power.
Pondering for a moment, Qin Sang suddenly recalled that when he had ordered Yanwang to hook out Monk Yuanjue's soul in the past, it had only lasted for half the usual time. Monk Yuanjue was a Xiantian expert, so his soul was likely firmer and more condensed than a mortal's. Cultivators who refined their souls into origin souls possessed even stronger souls.
Seeing that Yanwang was ineffective against cultivators, Qin Sang felt a pang of disappointment. Sweeping his gaze over the body, he saw the slovenly Daoist's mustard seed bag still hanging intact at his waist. Reaching out, he drew the mustard seed bag over, then shot out a streak of flame to incinerate the corpse.
Rather than immediately inspecting the contents of the bag, Qin Sang flashed over to the ancient tree, dug out the deformed Ruyi Shield from the trunk, and leaped up into the treetop to vigilantly scan his surroundings.
The commotion from his clash with the slovenly Daoist had been anything but small; he did not know whether anyone else had been drawn here. Having consecutively unleashed several incantations and magic tools, he had already consumed more than half of his spiritual power. If he encountered another formidable foe now, he would certainly be no match for them.
Seeing no sign of anyone approaching, Qin Sang cast an escape art, picked a direction, and fled far into the distance until he found a concealed spot to hide.
Placing the two jade plaques together, he saw no reaction whatsoever. After turning them over for a while, he stowed them into his mustard seed bag.
Aside from those, the slovenly Daoist's mustard seed bag contained nothing useful except a basic Wood element cultivation method and several mortal martial arts manuals. There was no beast-taming method, nor was there even a single spirit stone.
What drew Qin Sang's attention the most were over a dozen large bladders—taken from who knew what kind of animal—filled with blood. The translucent bladders were washed spotless, without even a trace of fishy stench.
*Blood packs...*
Looking at these items, Qin Sang was speechless for a good while.
In his previous life, his family had been poor. He had studied hard, and at his first job, he had worked tirelessly, meticulous and never daring to slack off in the slightest. At most, whenever he felt pushed to his limits, he would empty his mind by watching a hard-hitting action movie, which had been one of his few ways to unwind.
Now, seeing these props that belonged only in movies, he could not help but feel a twinge of nostalgia.
There was also a jade slip containing an introduction to the Ruyi Shield. After reading it, Qin Sang's expression shifted repeatedly, and he cursed silently in his heart for quite a while.
He had thought that aside from the jade plaque, the greatest harvest would be this Ruyi Shield. Who would have thought that the Ruyi Shield was already ruined!
It turned out that beyond its ability to automatically protect its master, the Ruyi Shield had another function: it could change shape and turn into a flying sword. It could instantly concentrate the power of the three shield fragments, unleashing a razor-sharp might comparable to a high-grade magic tool.
This transformation could be executed in an instant to catch an enemy off guard, making it exceedingly bizarre and lethal.
However, such an opportunity could only be used once. After transforming into a sword, all three fragments of the Ruyi Shield would shatter.
Qin Sang picked them up and examined them. Sure enough, the three black shields were covered in cracks, rendering them completely unusable.
Chapter 72