Chapter 56

The young man stood there, staring blankly at the blood-dripping talisman sword in his hand, motionless until a boy who looked even younger than him, with half his face covered by a piece of cloth torn from his clothes, emerged from the depths of the forest, holding a large bow taller than a person.

Yang Junshan glanced at the expression of the rescued boy, then walked to the side of Cheng's corpse and began to search. After a while, he laid out a variety of scattered items on the ground.

From these items, he picked out five or six jade coins, two talisman charms, and a one-foot-long talisman-patterned short sword. The rest of the miscellaneous items were swept into the stream by Yang Junshan.

Lifting his head to look at the still dazed rescued boy, Yang Junshan remained silent and instead walked to the side of Ma's corpse to continue searching. However, this Ma, being a cultivator at the Fifth Level of Immortal Art, had more valuable items on him than Cheng.

First, he collected twelve jade coins, then a white jade bottle containing six pills. He poured one out to examine its color and smell, and a look of joy appeared on his face. This was a high-quality Law Cloud Pill, suitable for cultivators at the higher stages of the Mortal Realm. Although it was not as good as the Law Profound Pill that Yang Junshan had once obtained, it was still a genuine Law Pill refined in a pill furnace, not a medicinal pill.

In addition, there was a wolf-skin talisman, identical to the beast skin talisman that had blocked several talisman swords earlier. However, when Yang Junshan saw the wolf head drawn on the skin, his expression changed. He then threw the talisman to the feet of the rescued boy without hesitation.

Two red circular stones caught Yang Junshan's attention. They were engraved with various flame talisman patterns, which were two Red Flame Fire Talisman Stones used to assist in cultivation. After a cultivator of the Red Flame Art stimulated the fire talisman stone with spiritual energy, they could cast the Red Flame Art even if their cultivation had not reached the Fifth Level.

These talisman stones were different from talismans that could be activated with spiritual energy alone. They required the cultivator to learn the spell engraved on the stone. After activation, the power generated was almost equivalent to the spell itself and could still be controlled by the cultivator, unlike talismans, which lost much of their power and could not be controlled after activation.

Earlier, Ma had used the Red Flame Art to ignite the tips of his fingers and explode two talisman swords. However, as a cultivator at the Fifth Level of Immortal Art, Ma no longer needed the Red Flame Fire Talisman Stones to cast the Red Flame Art. These two talisman stones were likely used to assist in the cultivation of the Red Flame Art before he reached the Fifth Level.

Although the use of these talisman stones was more complex, they were valuable because they were used for cultivating spells. Unfortunately, Yang Junshan did not plan to cultivate the Red Flame Art and did not know how to do so. Therefore, these two Red Flame Talisman Stones were of little use to him, but they would likely be highly sought after by other cultivators if used to exchange for jade coins.

Finally, Yang Junshan found five or six duck-egg-sized stones and metal spheres in Ma's waist pouch. The three metal spheres were all low-grade spiritual materials refined from raw stones. One was Red Flame Iron, extracted from Red Flame Stone, which was also the raw material for the two Red Flame Talisman Stones that Yang Junshan had obtained earlier. The second was Star Point Steel, the lowest quality metal extracted from meteorites. The last was Flame Copper Essence, extracted from minerals found in volcanic lava.

Yang Junshan immediately recognized that these three low-grade spiritual materials were treasures accumulated by Ma for the purpose of refining magical artifacts. Now, they all fell into his hands.

The remaining three were all stone spheres, two of which were Red Rust Raw Stones, which Yang Junshan was very familiar with. This made him feel uneasy, as it seemed the secret of the Red Rust Raw Stones had been leaked, and even cultivators from Zhang County had begun to pay attention.

The last stone sphere initially went unnoticed by Yang Junshan, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was a Medium-grade Immortal Spirit called a Stone Egg.

A Stone Egg is not an egg, but a unique treasure that sometimes appears when mountains are quarried or when miners dig for minerals.

This time, the harvest was not small, and Yang Junshan nodded in satisfaction. He placed the two corpses together and began to gather dry branches from the forest to burn them.

Walking up to the boy who had been standing there all along, Yang Junshan asked in a deep voice, "Is this your first time killing someone?"

The boy's blank eyes looked at Yang Junshan, who had half his face exposed, and then, as if remembering something, a glimmer of awareness returned to his eyes.

He nodded slowly, dropped the still-dripping broken arrow on the ground, and said in a low voice, "Yes!"

"There's nothing to it. These people deserved to die. If you hadn't killed them now, you might have been the one to die, or even your father who was being coerced!" Yang Junshan smiled and added meaningfully, "As long as you can survive, you will gradually get used to such killings."

"Father!" The boy suddenly raised his head and shouted, "No good, those people will kill my father. Uncle Sun, no, Sun Zhenlei, is an informant for the people of Zhang County. He tricked me and had me captured by these people. They coerced my father to buy spirit grains for them in Wasteland Town and will kill my father to make Sun Zhenlei the new town guard. No, I must go back quickly!"

The boy was about to leave when he suddenly stopped and looked at Yang Junshan, "I dare not express my gratitude for saving my life. I am Ning Bin, and my father is Ning Ji, the town guard of Wasteland Town. Please tell me your name, and I will repay you in the future."

"Ning Bin, you are Ning Bin?" Yang Junshan looked at the boy, who was only a year or two older than himself, and found a striking resemblance to the Ning Bin from his previous life, one of the 'Three Heroes of Heaven-Shaking Sect' who had defended the last tradition of the Heaven-Shaking Sect alongside Zhang Yueming.

However, the Ning Bin from his previous life had a mature and weathered demeanor, unlike the energetic youth before him.

Ning Bin noticed Yang Junshan's surprise, even with half his face covered, and asked, "Do you know me?"

"I don't!" Yang Junshan denied it outright and continued, "But I know the Ning family, one of the three powerful families in Mengyu County. I've heard that the third generation of the Ning family produced a talented son whose talent might not be inferior to the first genius of Mengyu County, Zhang Yueming. Could it be you?"

"I am certainly not as talented as Junior Brother Zhang!" Ning Bin admitted, and from his use of "Junior Brother" for Zhang Yueming, it was clear that he had already been accepted into the Heaven-Shaking Sect. He continued, "Since you know my background, if you have any orders in the future, you can send a message to my father or to the Ning family in Mengyu County, and I will do anything for you."

Yang Junshan thought for a moment, picked up the broken talisman sword from the ground, and said, "Alright, consider it a favor you owe me. If I need it one day, someone will bring a broken talisman sword to you."

Ning Bin bowed again to Yang Junshan, "Agreed, but now I am worried about my father being harmed by those villains. I must leave first."

"Wait!" Yang Junshan called out to Ning Bin, who was about to leave, "We are deep in the Qiwu Mountains, about a hundred miles from Wasteland Town. You are only at the Fourth Level of Immortal Root, so it will take you nearly two hours to run back to Wasteland Town. Come, let's find a mount!"

Ning Bin was taken aback. In his haste to save his father, he had forgotten the distance and the fact that they were deep in the Qiwu Mountains, where he did not even know the way. If Yang Junshan had not stopped him, he might have gotten lost in the mountains before reaching Wasteland Town.

"Mount?" Ning Bin immediately thought of something, "You mean..."

Yang Junshan lit the dry branches covering the two corpses and smiled, "What do you think? The leader, Mr. Niu, is also at the Fourth Level of Immortal Root, and the other two drivers are probably even weaker. Do you have the courage to kill again?"

Ning Bin looked at the burning corpses, the flames casting a fierce light on his face.

"Let's do it!" As these words left his mouth, Ning Bin suddenly felt a sense of relief.

Yang Junshan smiled, "Alright, the secret passage in the Qiwu Mountains has just been opened, and the road is rugged and difficult to travel. The three grain carts should not have gone far. We can take a shortcut in the mountains and ambush them ahead."

Ning Bin nodded, "I will follow your lead, but can I borrow your two Red Flame Talisman Stones? I have also cultivated the Red Flame Art, and with the power of the talisman stones, my strength will greatly increase."

"Sure!" Yang Junshan threw the two talisman stones to him and smiled, "Here, and the wolf-skin talisman on the ground was also found on Ma. See the wolf head on it? Take it to your father; he will know what it means."

Pausing, Yang Junshan continued, "Since you can use the talisman stones to cast spells, you will be the main attacker. I will support you, but be careful not to burn the dumb ox beast or the grain carts!"

Ning Bin looked at the other loot that Yang Junshan had collected and said solemnly, "Don't worry!"

Yang Junshan knew that some of the items he had collected were originally Ning Bin's, likely taken from him when he was captured by Ma and Cheng. However, now these items were his own loot, and Ning Bin did not have the heart to ask for them, so Yang Junshan was happy to pretend he did not know.

After pointing out the direction, Ning Bin took the lead, and Yang Junshan followed, covering their tracks as they moved through the forest.

About half an hour after they left, the two corpses on the ground were burned beyond recognition, but the rising smoke drew the attention of others in the Qiwu Mountains.

---

The page flip begins with an ad.

The page flip ends with an ad.