Chapter 43

The warehouse was quite spacious, with a moonstone embedded in the ceiling, emitting a soft glow that illuminated the entire room, making it almost impossible to hide. The boxes were neatly arranged, each secured with a steel lock.

Snap!

Guchen Sha twisted his hand, and the steel lock shattered. He opened the box, and inside were gold, jewels, and various ornaments—clearly the spoils of countless robberies. Just this one box was worth at least 70,000 to 80,000 Dae Yong currency.

He opened over a dozen boxes in succession, finding them all filled with treasures, totaling at least a million in value.

"I need money to build my mansion. The emperor only gave me 300,000, which isn't even enough to fill a tooth gap." He grabbed the boxes and threw them into the altar space. The altar space, though not particularly large, was not small either, and could easily accommodate the entire warehouse.

There were far more than just a dozen boxes. Besides the treasures, there were also medicinal pills.

Guchen Sha opened the boxes on the west side of the warehouse. Inside were bottles of blood-red pills, about the size of mung beans, with a faint fragrance. They were not poisonous but were used to increase strength and fortify the body.

"These must be the 'Blood-Strengthening Pills' that the barbarian nobles take. The ancient formula passed down by the temple shamans contains elements of witchcraft. Long-term use can indeed enhance cultivation and remove impurities from the body. The imperial medical department has studied them, and some lower-class wealthy families in the capital secretly trade with the barbarians, exchanging porcelain, silk, and tea for these pills to train their disciples in martial arts and strengthen their bodies." Guchen Sha also collected the boxes containing the pills.

The Blood-Strengthening Pills were quite valuable and sold well. Many local families risked being devoured by the barbarians to trade for these pills, leading to a constant flow of smuggling at the border.

Although the Tiger and Wolf Pills were ten thousand times more effective than the Blood-Strengthening Pills, Guchen Sha would never leave them for the barbarians or the cultists.

Moreover, with over a dozen boxes of Blood-Strengthening Pills, selling them would fetch several hundred thousand.

He opened the boxes on the north side, which contained sets of armor made from unknown animal hides. They were light and sturdy, covering the entire body, and clearly very valuable. Guchen Sha collected them, planning to equip his guards with them later.

After a thorough search, he found only treasures, pills, and armor, all of which he took. Finally, he approached the center of the warehouse.

The central box was the one that the group had carried in earlier.

Guchen Sha grabbed the steel lock and twisted it, but it didn't break. The lock was made of an unknown metal, incredibly sturdy.

"What? With my current strength, I can crush iron into mud, yet this lock won't break?" He drew the雏形 of the Demon-Slaying Blade and slashed it, finally breaking the lock, which fell to the ground.

He opened the box, but inside was not treasure or weapons, but a human skeleton.

The skeleton was crystal-clear and colorful like jade, not the grayish-white of a dead person, but it was indeed human. The aura of a cultivator was clearly felt.

"Jade Crystal Body," Guchen Sha thought. "This skeleton, with its jade-like, colorful appearance, is described in the records of the nine transformations of cultivation, the Jade Crystal Body. I don't know what it's for, but I'll take it back and study it further."

He sent the box into the altar space, leaving the warehouse completely empty.

He then walked to the side of the main door, used the雏形 of the Demon-Slaying Blade to dig out a face-sized piece, leaped out, and replaced it, leaving no trace.

Outside the warehouse, a few cultists were on guard. They heard the noise and quickly looked over, but before they could react, Guchen Sha knocked them unconscious.

He dragged the guards to a secluded area and continued deeper.

This time, he was here to assassinate a high-level expert. The small fortune he had just made did not satisfy his appetite; he needed to kill at least one or two Dao Realm old demons.

"Hmm? The layout of the buildings seems off. It appears to be arranged in some kind of formation." As he walked, he noticed that the building layout was irregular, like a maze, with walls adorned with various patterns made of gold, silver, copper, and iron. The ground was uneven, with numerous ditches.

The air was subtly fluctuating, and the feng shui of the buildings was invoking some kind of energy.

He felt very refreshed, as if sitting in a clear wind, under a bright moon, and beside a mountain spring, feeling incredibly comfortable.

"Is this a Spirit-Gathering Formation?" He hid in a corner and observed again. "It must be a Spirit-Gathering Formation."

Using a certain architectural method to manipulate feng shui can achieve the effect of gathering the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, though not as freely as a Dao Realm expert. However, cultivating in a Spirit-Gathering Formation, being constantly bathed in spiritual energy, can accelerate one's cultivation speed by ten times compared to ordinary people.

But building a Spirit-Gathering Formation is extremely expensive, requiring a master of formations to construct it, and extremely precious materials to be buried underground, often costing millions or tens of millions, which even a prince's mansion would find difficult to afford.

Breath... Inhale...

Suddenly, a huge breath came from deep within the Spirit-Gathering Formation, like that of a giant dragon, not a human.

Each inhalation caused the air to rush inward, and each exhalation sent it surging back like a tidal wave.

"A high-level expert is cultivating. No wonder they need the Spirit-Gathering Formation. Judging by the power of this breathing, the cultivation level is probably even higher than the Black Bat. I wonder what kind of evil demon or barbarian shaman it is. If I can kill this major figure, this trip won't be in vain." Guchen Sha had already killed the Black Bat, a significant achievement. Killing another expert of the same level would still be a great feat, even if he lost control of Bannan Province.

A Dao Realm expert is far more important than a provincial capital.

He followed the breathing, using the Sun and Moon Transformation to conceal his aura, and was not detected.

After turning through several twists and turns, passing through layers of corridors and screens, he suddenly saw a small garden. It was intricately arranged, with eighteen banners planted around it, each embroidered with a majestic dragon in five colors, as if about to fly into the sky. The banners were also embroidered with talismans, layer upon layer, to trap the dragons.

The positions of the banners seemed to correspond to the stars, working in conjunction with the Spirit-Gathering Formation to shift and transform the energy field in various ways.

In the center of the eighteen banners, a person was seated.

This person appeared to be about thirty years old, with a pale golden complexion, a high nose, thick eyebrows, and a long face. His eyes were closed, and he exuded a noble aura, free of evil or demonic energy, suggesting he was neither a barbarian nor an evil demon.

"Could this person be...?" Guchen Sha carefully sensed and found that the dragons on the banners were extremely similar to the Great Wei Dynasty dragons he had obtained from the Black Bat. Additionally, the aura emanating from this person also carried the aura of a ruler, not of the Dae Yong Dynasty, but undoubtedly of the Great Wei Dynasty.

Considering the Black Bat's ennoblement, it was clear that the Great Wei Dynasty had extended its influence to the border of the Dae Yong Dynasty.

"Who!"

The man suddenly opened his eyes and looked in Guchen Sha's direction. As his gaze fell, his body leaped, and his eyes and hands moved in unison.

"Trouble!" Before Guchen Sha could react, all the scenery around him disappeared, replaced by a massive dragon claw descending from the sky, ready to capture him.

"Such powerful martial arts." Since mastering the Sun and Moon Transformation, few people could influence his mind with pure martial arts aura.

In an instant, the sun and moon alternated in his mind, yin and yang converged, and the world became clear again, dispelling all illusions. However, the man's palm was already descending, the fierce wind forming a spiral that enveloped him, creating a wall of air that left him no place to escape.

He could only stand there, waiting to be struck.

Bang!

The massive spiral wind, following the man's palm, condensed into a small tornado at Guchen Sha's location, emitting a whistling sound.

But Guchen Sha was gone.

"Hmm?"

The man did not expect this change. He looked around, finding no trace, and frowned. "Is this an illusion? Am I about to break through, and the shadow of a demon is affecting me? But it doesn't matter. The skeleton should have been transported from the barbarians. I paid a huge price to get it. Once it arrives, I can perform the Heavenly Dragon Bone-Exchanging Technique, and breaking through to the next realm will be within reach."

Ding ding ding...

At that moment, the alarm bells outside rang loudly.

"Enemy attack? What's happening?" The man left the garden, and a young man with a scholar's appearance, exuding a sinister aura, flew over. The man waved his hand. "Scholar Yin-Yang, is someone invading?"

"Your Highness, someone has broken in and stolen the skeleton we obtained from the Mahā temple of the barbarians. You should take a look." The sinister scholar spoke in a sharp voice.

"What?" The man, addressed as Your Highness by the Scholar Yin-Yang, vanished in a flash, clearly heading elsewhere.

The Scholar Yin-Yang did not follow but instead looked greedily at the eighteen banners in the garden, his eyes filled with desire. "Heavenly Dragon Spirit-Gathering Banners, which can gather spiritual energy and transform it into spiritual liquid. With these banners, my cultivation speed will increase tenfold. The Great Wei Dragon aura on these banners can also help cultivate a majestic aura and dispel heart demons, making them even more useful for those on the path of evil. Unfortunately, the Great Wei Dynasty is too powerful, and I cannot offend this Duke. The barbarians are unreliable, so I should enter the Great Wei Dynasty and become a noble, which would give me a strong backing."

The Scholar Yin-Yang turned to leave.

Swoosh!

At that moment, a sword beam burst forth, enveloping him in a blinding light, extinguishing the sun and moon.

"What is this?" The Scholar Yin-Yang turned, his hands forming layers of punches to try to repel the attacker. But all he saw was the sun falling from the sky, the earth being destroyed, the moon dimming and exploding in the air, and the end of the world. He felt an overwhelming sense of sin, as if he was rejected by the sun and moon, time and space, ghosts and gods, and was to be punished by both humans and deities.

Pfft!

All his attacks were swallowed by the sword beam, which destroyed everything, overcame everything, and punished everything, almost with the power of the heavens.

He didn't even see who the attacker was before his head was severed.

Guchen Sha grabbed his head and body and sent them into the altar space, then rushed into the garden, pulling out the eighteen banners and sending them into the altar space. He then fled, his body bleeding, his skin splitting, his meridians aching, and his internal organs damaged. This was not from being hit but from the sudden attack, which had severely strained his body when he used the Sun and Moon Killing Technique.