Chapter 44

Lu Xiaodeng's gaze remained fixed on the Golden Core cultivator, putting on a full performance, how could he show such joy at the sight of the crystal fruit? Besides, he didn't have much desire for the crystal fruit; he was just a bit upset that the things Lu Dan had bought for him were damaged.

After the City Lord of Luxing City drove away the onlookers and left with the Foundation Establishment cultivator, the Golden Core cultivator also planned to leave. With a flick of his hand, he took out a silver hairpin and casually threw it to Lu Xiaodeng, "This is a Mystic-grade spirit artifact, consider it compensation."

Lu Xiaodeng didn't even catch it, instead, he flicked the hairpin back and firmly said, "I only want the fan, nothing else."

"Don't be too greedy, first figure out what you're saying." The woman in red was angry. A spirit artifact for a magical artifact, he had already made a huge profit. Even if it was a keepsake, he should know when to stop. Did he really think they wouldn't dare kill in Luxing City?

The Golden Core cultivator raised his hand to stop her from continuing, and continued to smile, "Since you like the fan so much, I happen to have one, I'll give it to you as compensation." Saying this, he took out a fan with black bones, which was a Heavenly-grade spirit artifact.

The moment the fan was taken out, Lu Xiaodeng was immediately stunned. Ignoring his previous calmness, he eagerly said, "I want it, I want this fan."

"Why, Yuan Zhi, how could you give this to her?" The woman was taken aback by the Golden Core cultivator's actions and hurriedly whispered.

"No problem, since she only wants the fan, I'll give her one." The man smiled and handed the fan to Lu Xiaodeng. Lu Dan was about to stop Xiaodeng from taking things from others, but he was given a stern look by both Xiaodeng and the Golden Core cultivator, so he had to hold back, afraid that Xiaodeng would say something inappropriate.

Lu Xiaodeng took the fan, opened it, and saw a white fan face made of unknown material. Half of the fan face was covered in a large patch of fresh red, as if someone had spit a lot of blood on it.

Looking at the red fan face, Lu Dan suddenly felt uncomfortable and reached out to take the fan to check it with his divine sense. Unexpectedly, Lu Xiaodeng, as if guarding against a thief, immediately stuffed the fan into his clothes and hid it in his chest.

"Take it out and let me see, don't put everything in your chest." Lu Dan said helplessly.

Unexpectedly, Lu Xiaodeng didn't listen at all. Instead, he bowed to the five people and said, "Now the debt is settled, goodbye." After saying this, he immediately turned and ran away, as if afraid someone would take the fan back.

"Xiaodeng, stop right there!" Lu Dan glanced at the suspicious group and hurriedly chased after Lu Xiaodeng.

Seeing everyone leave, the woman said, "Yuan Zhi, why did you give her the Soul Devouring Fan? That fan only needs to be refined once more to become a Yellow-grade magical treasure. And the things inside are hard to come by, it's too much to give it away so easily."

"Rest assured, the Cloud Sword Sect has many cultivators, it's just right for that fan." The Golden Core cultivator, known as Yuan Zhi, smiled confidently.

"You're taking too much of a risk. If you can't get it back, what will you do?" The woman clearly felt helpless, apparently already used to his impulsive actions, and could only give a reminder.

Then the five people also left the street, no one knew where they went.

Lu Dan had already caught up with Lu Xiaodeng, but even pulling on his ear couldn't make him hand over the suspicious fan. He had no choice but to take him back, if he wouldn't show it to him, he would show it to Lu Yaohang, who would check the fan.

Originally, they planned to wander around the city a bit more, but after Lu Xiaodeng's antics, they lost interest and went back directly. Lu Dan went to find Lu Yaohang and told him about the fan, saying that the thing made him feel uncomfortable, and the Golden Core cultivator didn't look like a good person.

Really, going out to buy something and causing trouble, Lu Yaohang agreed to check on Lu Xiaodeng after finishing his business, wanting to see what kind of fan he had brought back, which made Lu Dan so nervous.

At this moment, Lu Xiaodeng was in his room, spreading out the fan on the table, flipping it over and over, looking at it non-stop. Qiqi, who had heard about the strange spirit artifact, hurried over to see what it was.

He directly phased through the wall, and upon seeing the fan on the table, he was immediately surprised, "You actually got such a good thing, it's perfect to compensate for my finger."

"It's mine!" Lu Xiaodeng quickly hugged the fan, staring at him warily.

"Don't be so stingy, can you eat all those souls? Your physical body is too weak, eating too well is bad for your health, you'll turn into an ugly monster. Let big brother help you eat some, don't forget you still owe me a finger." Qiqi tempted, drooling, he couldn't believe she had brought back a fan full of souls after just a short trip. It must have been taken from an evil cultivator, the nauseating dead aura was quite good.

Lu Xiaodeng frowned, "You're lying, I need to replenish my soul, the souls in this fan might not be enough."

Qiqi shrugged and smiled, "You're a fool, your soul isn't a pure spirit soul. Do you want to use dead people's souls to replenish a living person's soul? There's no such good thing in the world. If you rely on this to replenish your soul, you'll end up like those living dead evil cultivators. If the elders in the sect smell it, you'll be in big trouble."

"You're more evil than this fan, and you're not in trouble, still showing off in the Cloud Sword Sect." Lu Xiaodeng wasn't fooled, if he couldn't eat it, he would let the cauldron absorb it. Anyway, his senior sister often threw things like soul-nourishing wood into the cauldron, and when they were taken out, they had no effect.

"Compensate for my finger, don't think about keeping it all to yourself." Seeing he couldn't deceive her, Qiqi directly said, human souls were a great supplement, usually only when killing evil cultivators did he have a chance to eat so many. Now, a bunch appeared right in front of him, not eating would be foolish.

Lu Xiaodeng stared at him for a while, then looked at the fan in his chest, and reluctantly took it out, "Only one bite, no more, once your finger is healed, no more."

"Okay, I promise just a small bite." Qiqi solemnly promised, then a polygonal spirit pattern appeared on his forehead, and a pale golden light fell on the fan. After a few breaths, a black shadow was sucked out of the fan, struggling to break free from the golden light.

But Qiqi wouldn't let the food escape, his gaze turned stern, the golden light intensified, and the black shadow was instantly sucked out and drilled into the polygonal spirit pattern. He closed his eyes, smacked his lips, and then opened them, and one by one, souls flew out of the fan, being sucked into his body.

"One, two, three..." Lu Xiaodeng counted seriously, measuring how much he had sucked, and when it was enough, he would put the fan away.

Qiqi became happier the more he ate, his broken finger began to grow back, and he sucked souls without restraint, the speed making Lu Xiaodeng nervous. The moment his finger was fully grown, she immediately waved the fan and threw it into the cauldron, slamming the lid shut.

The golden light connecting to Qiqi was immediately cut off, blocked by the cauldron. He tried to find the fan through the cauldron but failed. The cauldron, like a mountain, blocked the fan's aura, even though it was inside, his soul couldn't sense it at all.

"You're too hasty, I still need to grow back a bit of the nail." Qiqi stretched out his hand, showing Lu Xiaodeng his index finger, which was shorter than the others.

"Really, what do you need nails for, you can't even pick your nose. Fine, now that your finger is grown back, get out, don't stare at my property like a tiger." Lu Xiaodeng had never seen someone with such thick skin, she was really worried about her senior sister. This man was too shameless, she had to remind her senior sister to be careful not to be taken advantage of.

Seeing he couldn't get any benefit, Qiqi left angrily, but he didn't go anywhere else, he returned directly to the sword body. If Lu Xiaodeng didn't want to see him, as long as her senior sister was around, she would have to see him.

Thinking of this, he felt a bit smug. The more someone didn't want to see you, the more you couldn't avoid meeting, the more it would make them explode with anger.

While Qiqi was absorbing the souls from the fan, on a small, uninhabited peak outside Luxing City, the Golden Core cultivator named Yuan Zhi was frowning at a black bead in his hand, angrily saying, "Someone is absorbing the souls from the Soul Devouring Fan. It seems I overestimated the cultivators of the Cloud Sword Sect. They started absorbing the souls as soon as they got back, no morals at all, these are human souls."

"That's what you gave them, the souls inside were hard for Master to collect. Why not try to get the fan back before the souls are all absorbed?" The seductive woman sitting on the ground said to her brother, not in a good mood. The other three had objections but didn't dare to speak.

Yuan Zhi replied impatiently, "Yuan Zisi, are you blaming me? The Soul Devouring Fan can silently absorb souls at night as long as I control the Soul Devouring Bead. Giving it to the Cloud Sword Sect is the fastest and most efficient way to devour cultivator souls. Who would have thought they would act so quickly, starting to absorb the souls without hesitation. Anyway, Master made the fan casually, he wouldn't care if I gave it away."

"I've always said, never trust these so-called righteous sects. They look good on the surface, but behind the scenes, they are hundreds of times more despicable than us. This time, we lost a Soul Devouring Fan for nothing." Yuan Zisi said angrily, her twin brother was like this, even at the Golden Core stage, he was still so playful. It was all because Master spoiled him, always letting him do as he pleased and cleaning up after him, which led to his current behavior.

"Hmph, it's half an hour until nightfall. At this absorption rate, there will still be many souls left in the Soul Devouring Fan by then. We'll kill the cultivator absorbing the souls first. As long as we can devour a few cultivators, we'll still make a profit, after all, most of the souls inside are ordinary human souls, not comparable to cultivator souls." Yuan Zhi said confidently. The Soul Devouring Fan was not an ordinary spirit artifact, it had a powerful ability to devour souls and had never failed.

Suddenly, his expression changed, and he exclaimed, "No good, the Soul Devouring Bead can't sense the Soul Devouring Fan anymore!"

"What!" Yuan Zisi immediately stood up, had they been discovered?