Chapter 45

Yuan Zhi and his companions had a mission to complete this time they came out. Apart from occasionally having to enter the city, they hid in the wilderness to avoid being discovered by meddlesome cultivators.

The Soul Devouring Fan and the Soul Devouring Pearl were originally one. Normally, he would release the fan to absorb souls, and when it was almost full, he would use the pearl to recall it, silently taking the souls of people without revealing his presence.

There was a thread of Yuan Zhi's divine consciousness in the fan, hidden using a secret technique. If it weren't for the discovery by a Core Formation cultivator from the Cloud Sword Sect, who erased the divine consciousness and destroyed the Soul Devouring Fan, there would never have been a situation where he couldn't sense the fan.

"We must leave here quickly; the people from the Cloud Sword Sect might be here soon," Yuan Zhi hurriedly said, knowing they couldn't afford to waste any time.

"Damn it," Yuan Zhi, unwilling to give up, checked the Soul Devouring Pearl again. Indeed, there was no movement at all, just a dead silence. Even the black pearl quickly turned gray, a phenomenon caused by the lack of souls.

With a snap, the Soul Devouring Pearl was crushed into fragments, and a faint gray smoke drifted out, without even a trace of soul scent.

"Go," worried that the Cloud Sword Sect would find them, Yuan Zhi angrily led his people away from the place.

The Soul Devouring Fan, thrown into the tripod, was enveloped by a black shadow, who joyfully said, "Finally, something good. They treat this place like a garbage dump, throwing things in randomly, but today, I got something valuable. It seems to be a demonic cultivator's spirit weapon, with a thread of divine consciousness on it. I'll erase this weak thing."

As he spoke, he directly erased Yuan Zhi's divine consciousness. At that moment, Yuan Zhi was surprised to find that the Soul Devouring Pearl had lost its connection to the fan. Since he was a demonic cultivator, he felt a bit guilty and thought the Core Formation cultivators from the Cloud Sword Sect had discovered him, so he fled in fear.

The senior in the tripod, who was always dissatisfied with the poor soul-nourishing items Lu Yaohxiang sent, suddenly got the Soul Devouring Fan, and started devouring it voraciously. His speed was much faster than Qi Qi's, and his desire for power was so intense that it could scatter souls. In just a quarter of an hour, nearly ten thousand ordinary souls in the Soul Devouring Fan were completely devoured.

"Hehe, this body is finally showing some effect. It seems I need to make Lu Yaohxiang find a body for possession soon," he laughed sinisterly, then returned to the tripod wall, leaving only the fan, which now had no souls left.

When Lu Xiaodeng opened the tripod and took out the Soul Devouring Fan to see if she could devour the souls inside, she found that there was no soul scent at all. She looked at the fan in confusion; when she threw it in, it was full of souls, but now it was completely empty.

"Huh?" She couldn't figure it out. Could it be that her own body had eaten it? But why did she feel no enhancement? It must be something in the tripod, hiding and competing with her for food.

Lu Xiaodeng took everything out of the tripod and thoroughly cleaned it, but found nothing suspicious, leaving her completely at a loss.

"What are you doing? Why is the room so messy?" Lu Yaohxiang, having finished her business, came to find Xiaodeng to see her fan. When she opened the door, she saw a pile of things as high as a small mountain on the floor, all in a mess.

"Senior Sister, I was checking if something had sneaked into the tripod, so I took everything out," Lu Xiaodeng said, somewhat dejected, as she had even wiped the tripod clean but found nothing unusual, making her cleaning in vain.

Lu Yaohxiang's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that the senior had been discovered by Xiaodeng? She asked casually, "Why would you think that? Did something happen? I heard from Lu Dan that a Golden Core cultivator gave you a strange fan. Maybe the problem is with that fan. Take it out and let me see, be careful in case they did something to it."

"Here's the fan. When I saw it, it was full of souls. I thought I could use it to nourish my own soul. After Qi Qi took a few bites, I put it in the tripod. When I took it out later, all the souls were gone. I suspect something ate them," Lu Xiaodeng said, holding out the fan, whose surface had turned pure white, looking dejected.

If it was a fan with souls, it must be a demonic cultivator's item. It seems Lu Dan's feeling was right; he really did find a problem. But who is Qi Qi? Lu Yaohxiang asked cautiously, "Xiaodeng, who is Qi Qi?"

"Isn't it your sword spirit? His name is Qi Qi. Didn't you know?" Lu Xiaodeng was surprised that her senior sister didn't know about Qi Qi. That guy was too much, not even telling his name to his sword master.

Lu Yaohxiang pinched the Bichixian sword hanging at her waist and said coldly, "No, it seems he thinks my strength is too low."

"Don't worry. When you get stronger, you can give him a good beating, and he'll behave," Lu Xiaodeng said with experience. To subdue a spirit, you just needed to overpower it with force.

Lu Yaohxiang didn't want to bring up this issue now. She couldn't suppress Qi Qi, and their relationship was more like a partnership. She just hoped he wouldn't cause trouble at critical moments. She didn't say anything and carefully examined the fan in her hand. Now, it had no souls, just an ordinary Heavenly Rank spirit weapon.

If, as Xiaodeng said, the fan was full of souls when thrown into the tripod, and the souls were gone afterward, it must have been eaten by the senior. This way, she wouldn't have to send soul-nourishing items as often, but she couldn't let Xiaodeng know. She decided to deceive her.

The senior had warned her not to tell Xiaodeng about the presence in the tripod. Lu Yaohxiang deliberately put on a serious expression and said, "That Golden Core cultivator is likely a demonic cultivator. Giving you the fan must have been a problem. Maybe when Qi Qi absorbed the souls, they discovered your actions. To prevent you from taking all the souls, they used a secret technique to take them away from a distance. We must be extra careful; they might be targeting the Cloud Sword Sect."

Lu Xiaodeng stared at her blankly for a moment before saying, "Senior Sister, you mean the souls were taken by the demonic cultivator? They can take souls from a distance?"

"Yes, that's why demonic cultivators are universally despised and must be eliminated on sight. Their techniques are truly evil," Lu Yaohxiang said solemnly. She had practiced this kind of deception many times, and it was already perfect.

Even Qi Qi, inside the sword, was confused. Had demonic cultivators become so powerful at the Golden Core stage that they could take souls from a distance?

Lu Xiaodeng looked at the fan with a dejected face and said regretfully, "I should have acted faster. In the end, Qi Qi got the benefit. As Master said, if you take advantage of someone, you'll have to pay it back eventually."

"Master didn't say it all. You now have a Heavenly Rank spirit weapon fan. Even though it has no souls, the fan itself is still there. Before leaving the mountain, you were going to buy a fan. Now you have a spirit weapon, which is much better than a magical tool. You should be happy," Lu Yaohxiang said with a smile.

"You're right, Senior Sister. Even though the souls are gone, I still got the fan," Lu Xiaodeng, who had been wavering, immediately cheered up. She enthusiastically took the fan and pointed to the white surface, saying, "Senior Sister, the surface is too white. Let's draw something on it."

Lu Yaohxiang, who had no talent for drawing, said, "It's your spirit weapon. Draw whatever you want. It will help the fan resonate with your mind."

Senior Sister knows so much. Spirit weapons are born from the closeness between the body and the cultivator. Since I am now a person, I should treat my spirit weapon this way. Lu Xiaodeng nodded and decided to draw on the fan herself.

After helping Lu Xiaodeng put everything back into the tripod, Lu Yaohxiang left and returned to her room. The bored Qi Qi came over, stood by the tripod, and stared at it intently.

"Stop hanging around here all day. You're not my sword spirit. If you treat my senior sister better, I'll be in a good mood, and the Spirit Gathering Liquid will be easier to refine," Lu Xiaodeng said, feeling uncomfortable with his constant presence and wanting to drive him away.

Qi Qi glanced at her, then took a deep look at the tripod before leaving her room.

"What are you looking at? I didn't take anything from you," Lu Xiaodeng muttered, feeling that Qi Qi was mysterious and up to no good.

After this incident, Lu Xiaodeng stayed in the sect, focusing on the method of refining Spirit Gathering Liquid. For this, she sought advice from many True Monarchs, even the sect leader, constantly asking about refining techniques. Everyone thought she was a medicine child who was considering switching to refining.

But without a spirit vein, what was the point of learning such a broad skill? Even a medicine child needed to know so much?

Refining was something Lu Xiaodeng, as a spirit, had never encountered. The more she learned, the more she felt something was off. Taking inanimate objects with spirit energy and refining them into items that would eventually develop divine consciousness over time was a bizarre process of turning the dead into the living.

Just as she was stuck at this point, feeling that understanding it would bring a sudden enlightenment, Lu Yaohxiang came to her, looking troubled.

"Xiaodeng, do you want to go out with me?" She looked hesitant, unable to make up her mind.

Hearing that she could go out, especially with her senior sister, Lu Xiaodeng immediately said happily, "Sure, where are we going to play?"

Lu Yaohxiang frowned and said, "We're not going to play. Recently, in the territories of multiple sects, there have been incidents of villages being massacred. In our sect's jurisdiction, five villages have been reported with all their inhabitants killed. The sect wants to send Foundation Establishment disciples to investigate. It will take at least ten to fifteen days to return. I'm worried about leaving you alone in the sect, but going out is also dangerous."

"Such a terrible thing? We'll definitely encounter bad people. Taking me along can help protect you," Lu Xiaodeng said happily, agreeing immediately, regardless of the purpose, as long as she could go out with her senior sister.