Chapter 44

As the petals of cherry blossoms danced in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of the promise written there.

Roar!

Just as he had fled for dozens of breaths, an angry roar echoed from the small garden, seemingly from the return of the prince of the Great Wei Dynasty, who had discovered that the eighteen command flags had all disappeared, nearly driving him to madness.

"I can't run anymore. I'm badly injured and can't run far. I might as well hide and recover in the sacrificial space," Guchen Sha hid in the corner of the temple and entered the space.

The space was now filled with wealth: gold, jewels, armor, elixirs, command flags, and even corpses.

Guchen Sha paid no attention to these things. He first took over ten drops of Heavenly Dew, then used the Sun and Moon Refinement Method to absorb its medicinal power. Immediately, a warm and cool sensation surged through his body, healing many of his wounds.

Heavenly Dew not only enhances strength but also has great efficacy in healing injuries and detoxifying. If an ordinary person were about to die, taking Heavenly Dew could even prolong their life until the medicinal power dissipates, and theoretically, with a large amount of Heavenly Dew, a dying person could remain alive for a long time.

However, Heavenly Dew can only be obtained through sacrifices, and since ancient times, it has been controlled by the ancient emperors, rarely circulating outside. It is merely a legend among the common people.

The Imperial Sealing Technique combined with Heavenly Dew for cultivation is the best match.

After a full hour, Guchen Sha finally regained his senses, his injuries completely healed, and his energy fully restored. However, he did not rush to leave, as he knew nothing about the situation outside. If the defenses were tight and the heretic tribes' experts were gathered, he would be dead if he went out.

"Let's see what this evil demon has on him." Guchen Sha saw the floating blood ball and lit the divination grass for the sacrifice.

Buzz...

On the altar, a slight meditation produced over a hundred drops of Heavenly Dew.

"Good, the evil demon I killed is actually at the same level as the Black Sha Bat." He hurriedly collected the Heavenly Dew with a gourd and observed that he now had nearly two hundred drops.

Then he began to examine the corpse and soon found an imperial edict.

"Another imperial edict from the Great Wei Dynasty, conferring the title of Earl. What is the Great Wei Dynasty up to? This guy is called Yin-Yang Scholar. Yes, I remember Long Yuyun mentioning that this demon is a flower thief, specializing in the cultivation of the Joyful Yin-Yang Technique. It seems that the sect he developed was also destroyed by the court." Guchen Sha was still pleased and searched further, finding a pink leather scroll with all kinds of male and female cultivation postures, called the "Joyful Yin-Yang Technique."

In addition, there was a purple-gold bottle containing three pink pills, whose purpose was unknown but seemed quite valuable, as the old demon Yin-Yang Scholar would not have kept them close if they were not.

"First, I killed the Black Sha Bat, then the Yin-Yang Scholar, eliminating two old demons. Even if the situation is dire, I won't be punished by the court." Guchen Sha picked up the imperial edict to prepare for the sacrifice but suddenly noticed that the aura of the eighteen command flags exceeded that of the edict.

"Could it be that these eighteen command flags are imperial swords or ritual instruments used for sacrifices?" Guchen Sha was secretly surprised. He was very sensitive to the aura of the emperor and, by intuition, felt that the eighteen command flags were even more powerful than the edict.

Only the ritual objects used for sacrifices have a more intense aura of the emperor. In the Great Yong Dynasty, these are stored in the Imperial Temple, and many treasures are taken out for each sacrifice and then returned to the treasury after the ceremony.

These are extremely sacred objects.

"But are these eighteen command flags all treasures? Isn't it a waste to use them for sacrifices? No matter, let's sacrifice the edict first and see what benefits I can get." Guchen Sha burned the edict, meditated, and communicated with the Heavenly Dao.

The edict burned, and its aura of the emperor merged with the altar. Guchen Sha did not learn any new techniques but felt that the walls of the altar seemed to condense, giving a vague, misty view of the real world outside the altar, though it was impossible to see clearly.

"The aura of the emperor is not enough." Guchen Sha keenly felt: "Being able to see the real world outside is too important to me! Even if these eighteen command flags are treasures, it doesn't matter."

He placed the eighteen command flags on the altar and began the sacrifice.

Boom!

The entire altar trembled, seemingly shaken by the powerful aura of the emperor. The space began to expand, and the membrane of the space became transparent, like a crystal wall, allowing Guchen Sha to see outside clearly.

Outside, it was still the corner of the temple, with many believers walking around, and he could even hear their footsteps.

Now, Guchen Sha was hiding in a huge crystal sphere, able to see outside, but the people outside could not see the crystal sphere formed by the altar, as they were not in the same space.

Unless one has reached a profound level of Dao cultivation, capable of breaking through the mysteries of time and space, tearing apart the void, and opening a celestial realm, they would not sense anything unusual.

But this requires at least a level of thirty transformations, at which point one is almost a deity.

"Huh? These eighteen command flags are still here?" After the sacrifice, the command flags were still intact on the altar, but they had lost some of their authority, as the aura of the emperor had been absorbed by the altar space.

"Ordinary materials would burn and turn to ashes when sacrificed due to the energy oscillation. But these command flags are made of special materials and were not damaged, retaining their spiritual effects. After all, I sacrificed the aura of the emperor on them, not the flags themselves." Guchen Sha understood this and was immediately pleased.

This means the command flags can still be used and retain their spirit-gathering effects, with the dissipation of the aura of the emperor having no impact on the artifacts themselves.

"The guards outside have not dispersed yet; I need to wait." Carefully observing the changes outside, he felt like a blind man regaining his sight, and this joy made him want to take another action.

Hiding in the altar space, he could see everything outside clearly, making it the best place for ambush and assassination, ensuring he would not be defeated.

"Unfortunately, I cannot move the altar space." Guchen Sha reconsidered and found a drawback. In theory, the space created by the sacrificial edict should be able to do anything, including moving through time and space, but it seemed to lack the aura of the emperor, preventing it from functioning fully.

If he could move the altar, it would be much more convenient, allowing him to move to an expert's side and suddenly attack, or even directly enter their body and strike from within.

Imagine someone suddenly having Guchen Sha use the Sun and Moon Kill technique in their stomach, instantly tearing them apart.

Ancient historical records mention a sage who, after being swallowed by a dragon, suddenly expanded inside the dragon's belly, tearing it apart.

For now, the altar space's function is to hide. Guchen Sha enters the space in one place and exits in the same place.

But this is enough to make him a feared assassin in the world.

Therefore, he decided to stay here and assassinate the demons and barbarians one by one, but to avoid the prince, as the prince's cultivation is extremely terrifying, likely reaching the third transformation of Dao, which the Sun and Moon Kill technique cannot defeat. If the prince uses a killing move, Guchen Sha might not even have time to return to the altar space before being killed.

After all, he is currently only a Martial Arts Master, and killing the Black Sha Bat and the Yin-Yang Scholar is already his limit.

The patrols outside included not only the heretic believers but also barbarian warriors.

Guchen Sha had no interest in these people; he aimed to capture the leaders first.

"Among these heretic leaders, besides the Black Sha Bat and the Yin-Yang Scholar, there are also the Hundred Toxins Daoist and the Blood Soul Sect Leader, all of whom are at the first or second transformation of Dao. Killing all of them could cause the barbarians to retreat from the three counties, but if I kill them all, it will draw attention, and the court will likely suspect me." After the barbarian warriors and heretic believers finished their patrols, Guchen Sha took advantage of their absence and emerged from the altar space, advancing deeper.

This time, it was much easier for him. He walked in the corners, hiding in the space when he heard someone coming and emerging when they left, almost like an invisibility technique.

Before long, he approached the true core of the temple.

It was a circular hall, emitting a chilling aura. Guchen Sha did not dare to approach, as he saw something strange.

Many bubbles emerged from the hall, clustering without dispersing. Each bubble contained strange pills, which rubbed and oscillated against each other, suddenly bursting into flames, transforming into pure medicinal energy, which merged with the bubbles and was absorbed back.

"Sixth transformation of Dao, refining qi into gang (rigid energy), no, to be able to refine gang to this level, freely controlling it, it's not the sixth transformation, but the seventh transformation, the realm of leaving the ground and ascending!" Guchen Sha knew that these bubbles were innate gang energy, emitted from the human body. However, at the sixth transformation of Dao, the gang energy would dissipate into the world after being emitted and could not be收回. Only at the seventh transformation, leaving the ground and ascending, could one freely control and circulate innate gang energy outside the body, supporting oneself in the air and flying.

"Leave quickly, this person cannot be defeated." He immediately left quietly, not daring to look back.

He had no confidence in killing even a third transformation of Dao, let alone a seventh transformation.

At the Nanshan Hunting Ground, he saw Lou Chongxiao use bubbles to envelop the barbarians.

Such a person could kill him a hundred times in an instant, the difference in realm being too great, and no amount of good fortune could overcome it.

He still moved far away. With such a person present, it was no wonder the Third Prince did not dare to easily send a large army to suppress the heretics.

Fortunately, this person was at a critical point in his cultivation and had no time to pay attention to him; otherwise, even the hiding techniques of the Sun and Moon Transformation would have been discovered.

This person was refining his innate gang energy, using it to envelop precious herbs, rubbing and burning them to infuse the medicinal power into the gang energy, making it more profound and dynamic.

If the gang energy is refined to the extreme, it can be both hard and soft, becoming clouds, needles, walls, or even human forms.