Chapter 60

The legendary seven-tailed celestial fox lineage may not be particularly adept at strength. Only in terms of agility does it fare reasonably well.

However, its innate talent is among the top in all demon races. The reason lies in its 'illusion' talent. As long as one has the blood of a celestial fox, if they are a spirit master, they are naturally skilled in illusions. If they are a martial practitioner, their abilities in this area are also extremely outstanding.

Recalling the Wu Ding Ling Huang Jue and the accompanying fist technique, Wu Ding Kill Fist, in his mind.

With his martial arts experience from his previous life, Zong Shou only needed to ponder the diagrams and incantations slightly to initially grasp some of the profound secrets of the Wu Ding Kill Fist.

A punch thrown out, and immediately, numerous illusory fists appeared before him, ethereal and unpredictable, making it hard to discern reality from illusion.

"Excellent fist technique!"

Zong Shou's eyes brightened slightly. According to the memories of this body, both the Wu Ding Ling Huang Jue and the Wu Ding Kill Fist were martial arts created by Zong Weiran.

And at this moment, even though Zong Shou had only observed the general outline, he could tell that this technique could certainly reach the level of a sixth-rank supreme art. Moreover, it had boundless potential and the possibility of further improvement. When combined with the innate talent of the celestial fox clan, its power was even more formidable and unpredictable.

From this, it can be seen that Zong Weiran's martial arts had already reached an extremely profound level.

Unfortunately, he was not particularly skilled in fist techniques, and he hadn't studied the path of illusory martial arts much.

However, with his martial arts achievements from his previous life, after comprehending the Wu Ding Kill Fist, creating a set of illusion-based sword techniques would be a very simple matter.

After testing his physical techniques, Zong Shou began to experiment with spirit techniques.

At the Soul Observation realm, one can already use some low-level spells with lower power. Although he hadn't practiced soul energy in his previous life, he was at the master level in talisman techniques.

At this moment, he casually summoned a gesture, and a cloud of illusory mist immediately enveloped the entire carriage.

"If I have this technique to assist, my Wu Ding Kill Fist might be unbeatable by any secret martial artist below the Nine Pulse level! However, in the eyes of those innate martial artists, it would only be considered a child's play!"

After a moment, as the mist dissipated, Zong Shou changed the incantation in his hand, and two more illusions appeared around him, vivid and lifelike, though their expressions were somewhat stiff.

Zong Shou looked around and then frowned slightly. It wasn't that the illusion technique was poorly executed. Despite the somewhat unrealistic expressions and movements, in the heat of battle, how many people could accurately distinguish them?

On the contrary, the effect was better than he had expected.

"Something's not right. The power of these illusion techniques seems to be much stronger than other spirit masters, at least more than double! What could be the reason? I don't remember having any spirit artifacts. Could it be that the bloodline of the seven-tailed celestial fox is really that powerful?"

Zong Shou pondered for a moment, then decisively sat down in a meditative posture, calming his mind and entering a state of meditation.

Although demon bloodlines are extraordinary, even the bloodline of a seven-tailed celestial fox, a divine beast, shouldn't be so much stronger.

His current situation must have another reason.

His consciousness entered the sea of soul energy and observed carefully. After about a moment, Zong Shou understood the reason.

He saw that the soul energy spouting from the depths of the vortex had increased by about fifty percent.

"Strange, my divine soul source seems to have grown by nearly fifty percent. Could this be due to the fusion of that little guy's divine soul?"

The increase in the divine soul source was insignificant to him, who possessed the Swallowing Heaven Primordial Transformation technique. However, the enhanced power of spirit techniques was enough to make other spirit masters envious to the point of madness.

Then he felt two more sources of spirit energy in the sea of soul energy. Zong Shou divided two threads of his consciousness and traced them back.

He saw that these sources of spirit energy were precisely the two fox tails behind him, which were swaying.

Not only were they absorbing spirit energy, but they also made his control over the spirit energy in the world almost effortless.

Zong Shou suddenly realized that these fox tails had such abilities and were not entirely useless.

The harmonization and absorption of spirit energy not only benefited the cultivation of soul energy but also enhanced spirit techniques, increasing the speed of forming seals and incantations.

What others needed ten breaths to use a spirit technique, he might only need nine or even close to eight breaths. This small difference in time could give him a decisive advantage over ordinary spirit masters.

"This body is unsuitable for martial arts. Unexpectedly, I have such talent in the path of spirit master's soul energy—"

Zong Shou couldn't help but mock himself. Originally, he had practiced spirit techniques just to suppress and harmonize the conflict between the human and demon bloodlines in his body. But if he didn't work hard now, he would truly waste this supreme talent.

Opening his eyes, Zong Shou took out a bottle of wine and two cups. After filling them, he drank one himself and poured the other in front of him.

"I offer you a cup, may you rest in peace!"

His eyes carried a hint of sadness as Zong Shou silently refilled the cup.

At this moment, probably no one else would know that just yesterday, a young man with a cruel fate had silently vanished from this world, no longer existing.

※※※※

It was unknown when, but the black mud swamp began to drizzle again.

In a place littered with wolf bones, a red-clad woman stood in the rain, holding an umbrella, her figure swaying gracefully.

Her red embroidered shoes were suspended half a foot above the ground, treading the air. Her crescent-shaped eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and her clear, autumn-water-like eyes were carefully examining every trace here.

It had been over ten days, and the dead swamp wolves had only left piles of white bones.

The day before, a heavy rain had washed this place. However, in the woman's eyes, there were still some details that caught her attention.

"The green dragon of Ling Yun Long Ruo has advanced again. In another twenty years, it might even become a dragon. This little guy has quite good luck to have a dragon-form guardian, surpassing all other direct descendants—"

However, her gaze lingered on a seemingly unremarkable flat area in the distance.

"Surprisingly, it's really sword intent! After seventeen days, there is still a trace of sword intent, yet it is not quite clear. Who could have left this? Could this person really be only thirteen years old and at the martial artist level?"

A figure suddenly appeared in the rain in the distance. Looking closely, it was Zhao Yanran.

She still turned water into ice and glided over. The red-clad woman, however, found it too slow and flashed to within thirty yards of Zhao Yanran.

Just as she was about to ask, she suddenly noticed a black mark on Zhao Yanran's neck.

The woman was immediately slightly startled and, in the next moment, flashed to Zhao Yanran's front. She extended a delicate hand, grabbed the white neck, and lifted her off the ground.

Zhao Yanran wasn't surprised but rather annoyed, saying, "Old hag, do you want to strangle me? Let me go!"

Before she could finish speaking, she was hit on the head. The red-clad woman coldly said, "No respect, call me Aunt!"

She had no intention of letting go, her eyes fixed on the black line on Zhao Yanran's neck.

This was originally a wound, but for some reason, it hadn't healed and had completely rotted, disgusting to look at. It contrasted sharply with the skin around it, which was even whiter than snow.

The red-clad woman observed for a full half an hour before finally letting out a long breath and putting Zhao Yanran down.

"The sword intent is far from fully formed. Why didn't you dispel it? With your abilities, it shouldn't be difficult to do so!"