Chapter 34

One

Leiyun Hall (雷雲堂), where the successive patriarchs of Baiyun Escort Agency resided.

After You Huo Lie's passing, the room, which had been ownerless for a long time and filled only with coldness, was now surprisingly warm.

In the center of the room, a young man with a distinguished appearance sat cross-legged.

None other than You Xinyun.

After quelling the rebellion, a mix of his own will and external pressure led to his residence being moved here.

"The new master of the escort agency must now show his authority through actions."

This was one of the methods proposed by Dao Jinwu to quickly stabilize the internal turmoil among the agency's members after the Xiao Yao incident.

The empty room found its master, and now all the members regarded You Xinyun as the next patriarch with greater certainty, regaining their mental stability.

However, at this moment, You Xinyun's expression was far from good.

The reason was simple.

It had been over five days since he had executed Guo Zhushan, and he had not managed to get a single moment of sleep.

As the master could not get proper rest, Wang San's worries deepened day by day, but You Xinyun was stubborn.

However, it was inevitable.

He had something that needed to be done as soon as possible.

"Huff!"

At that moment, You Xinyun exhaled deeply and finally opened his eyes, which had been closed.

The bloodshot eyes revealed the immense fatigue he was experiencing.

Finally, You Xinyun shook his head in disgust and said,

"Only now, after withdrawing their last suspicions and pulling back their spies, they are truly despicable."

The target of his disdain was, of course, the Blood Sect.

Tracing back to the moment when You Xinyun realized that the Blood Sect was behind Guo Zhushan.

He made a prediction.

Given the meticulous planning that had been invested over such a long time to naturally take control of Baiyun Escort Agency,

he deduced that they would certainly try to quickly approach the agency to uncover the truth once they realized that Guo Zhushan and the infiltration team had been destroyed.

And his prediction was spot on.

Before even a day had passed, mysterious entities began to approach the agency's members one by one.

They secretly approached all the members of Baiyun Escort Agency.

Then, they began to extract information using a technique similar to You Xinyun's mental skill.

Here, it was called 'sorcery.'

They thoroughly extracted the memories of the day from the members they had bewitched.

However, in conclusion,

their approach was detected in real-time by You Xinyun.

None of them managed to obtain any substantial information.

This was because You Xinyun had already prepared a countermeasure, having predicted everything.

At that moment, You Xinyun issued a command in a calm voice.

"Dismiss, Shadow Whisper."

Whoosh!

As he finished speaking, the shadows in the room, created by the lamp, began to tremble as if an earthquake had struck.

Boom!

Soon, dozens, even hundreds, of small shadows were torn apart.

The fragments of the shadows began to merge into You Xinyun's shadow.

This was why You Xinyun could detect the spies' approach in advance: he had infiltrated Shadow Whisper into the shadows of all 200 members of the escort agency.

This was an impossible precaution under normal circumstances.

Although his mana had reached the 4th Circle, the real-time summoning of familiars to all 200 members would have been an enormous drain on his mana.

There was only one factor that made this possible.

"Without mana stones, it would have been difficult."

It was thanks to the mana stone obtained from executing Guo Zhushan.

[Vampire Lord's Mana Stone]

Grade: A

A raw stone extracted from a monster's heart.

It contains a vast amount of mana.

The grade of the mana stone varies greatly depending on the monster's grade.

-Current mana content in the stone: '0'

The 'Vampire Lord's Mana Stone' obtained from executing Guo Zhushan contained an enormous amount of high-purity mana.

It was identical to the mana stones from monsters that he used to replenish his dark mana in his previous life.

Although it was puzzling why a mana stone could be obtained from a human, it was fortunate for him, who needed to replenish his mana.

The reason the Blood Sect's spies heard a completely false story from the members—that the Red Cloud Pavilion's agents had rebelled and were suppressed by You Xinyun, and Guo Zhushan had died in an explosion from a hidden fire bomb—was due to a new skill he obtained upon leveling up.

He had cast 'Memory Manipulation' on all the members without exception.

[Memory Manipulation]

Grade: A+

Manipulates a portion of the memories of an enemy with a lower level than yourself.

-Only memories within the last day can be manipulated.

-Can be used simultaneously on multiple targets, but the mana consumption increases by 1.3 times for each additional target.

The new mental skill, Memory Manipulation, was a perfect upgrade to the Enchantment skill.

Although it had the disadvantage of only affecting memories within the last day and targets with a lower level, it was far more versatile and useful than Enchantment, which required the target to have an open mind.

Therefore, the first action You Xinyun took after the battle was to gather all the members and use the Memory Manipulation skill on them as a group.

Even Dao Jinwu and Luo Daixiong were not exempted.

The reason for his actions was simple.

"These people are too weak to know the true identity of the Blood Sect."

The power of the agency's members was far too insignificant compared to the Blood Sect.

Through the battle with Guo Zhushan, he realized how bloodthirsty and insane the Blood Sect was.

If they discovered even a hint of their true identity, it was clear that not a single member of the agency would survive.

"Still, this has bought us some time."

Thus, the desperate measures he took were effective, and he sighed in relief.

The explosion caused by the corpse was manipulated to appear as if it was due to a forbidden fire bomb, and the rumors circulating seemed to indicate that he had made the right choice.

With the manipulated information, they would undoubtedly draw the wrong conclusion.

He guessed that it would be:

"The target will be limited to me, not Baiyun Escort Agency."

Limiting the danger to himself rather than the entire agency.

Of course, there was no reason for You Xinyun to be pleased with this.

However, he was satisfied that he had prevented unnecessary sacrifices among the innocent members.

As all the Shadow Whispers were dismissed, You Xinyun's expression gradually brightened.

The dark mana, Leiyun Divine Technique, and Donghua Immortal Technique were circulating busily within his body.

As his vitality quickly returned, his eyes sparkled.

"Given the nature of the Blood Sect as a secret organization, they will never openly reveal themselves and attack. So, what I need to do until then is..."

You Xinyun spoke in a low voice.

"...to become even stronger than I am now."

Two

You Xinyun sent his aura out to recheck the two skeletons standing guard at the door.

Naturally, the skeletons were all wearing Phantom Robes, their weapons tightly gripped, and their eyes glowing with a fierce light.

He had already given them the order to prevent anyone from entering the room.

"This should be sufficient."

Reassured by this, You Xinyun felt more at ease.

Swoosh.

He stood and extended one of his hands forward.

"Temporary Pocket Dimension, open."

Whoosh!

As his lips moved, the air in the room began to distort.

The distorted point in the air looked like countless wisps swirling.

[Temporary Pocket Dimension]

Grade: A+

A void space formed in the crack between dimensions.

Only inanimate objects can be placed in it at the user's discretion.

-As the skill level increases, the internal space expands.

The Temporary Pocket Dimension was essentially a personal storage space where anything could be stored.

In his previous life, most hunters used this Temporary Pocket Dimension to store items and byproducts obtained from monsters.

Only the user could access the contents of their own pocket dimension.

"Let's start with the new weapon."

You Xinyun stared at the swirling air and extended his hand.

Whoosh!

At that moment, something began to slowly reveal itself from within the swirl.

It was a long rod, a spear shaft, but at the end of the shaft was not a sharp spearhead but a large scythe.

It resembled the Death Scythe from Western mythology.

As You Xinyun gripped the dark spear shaft, he felt its weight.

His expression showed interest as he looked at the sharply honed scythe blade.

"Is this a treasure weapon?"

The scythe's identity was 'Rongduo Jian.'

It was the first treasure weapon he obtained from executing Guo Zhushan.

[Rongduo Jian]

Type: Treasure Weapon

Grade: A+

Status: Unopened

Master: ?

Power: ?

A mysterious treasure weapon with transcendent abilities used by immortals.

If the user does not possess the body and aura of an immortal, they cannot use its inherent power.

Whish! Whish!

As You Xinyun swung Rongduo Jian in the air, satisfaction appeared on his face.

Although it was the first time he was using this unusual weapon, it felt as if he had been using it for a long time.

"Interesting."

As he examined Rongduo Jian with interest, he focused on the terms 'Master' and 'Power' in the system's description.

It was clear that the true nature of the treasure weapon was contained in these two items marked with question marks.

"Hmm, the 'Master' likely refers to the immortal who owned or created it, and 'Power' is probably the additional skill contained within the weapon."

You Xinyun's eyes sparkled.

After confirming the 'Unopened' status of Rongduo Jian, he immediately moved to the next step.

"I need to conduct an experiment to open it."

Whoosh!

He channeled the three energies circulating in his mana circuit into Rongduo Jian.

Like a predator consuming its prey, Rongduo Jian began to absorb all three energies.

"Did it work?"

Just as You Xinyun was about to relax,

Rumble! Rumble!

Rongduo Jian began to violently shake.

The experiment had failed.

Rongduo Jian started to expel the absorbed energies.

However, in the process,

Boom!

A strong sense of anger was transmitted to his mind.

"What is this?"

It felt as if the will of a living entity was being conveyed.

He had experienced this before in his previous life.

"Ego Weapon."

An Ego Weapon was a top-tier item with its own consciousness.

Because the weapon chose its own master, it was extremely difficult to obtain, no matter how skilled or wealthy one was.

However, all hunters poured their efforts into obtaining an Ego Weapon.

Because it possessed immense power.

To already have such a treasure in his hands!

He felt a shiver of excitement.

But then,

"Hmm?"

A system message appeared before his eyes.

[Failed to use the treasure weapon.]

[The player does not have natural energy in their body.]

[Supplementing natural energy is required.]

"Natural energy, huh."

When his bones were changed to 'Postnatal Immortal Bones' in the past, the description mentioned an unknown energy.

It was now clear that 'natural energy' was the power needed to use the treasure weapon.

And,

"Damn."

It was confirmed that he could not use the treasure weapon immediately.

You Xinyun could not hide his disappointment.

To have an Ego Weapon but not be able to use it.

However, there was no other choice.

He had no clue how to obtain natural energy.

"Ah, I'll have to store it in the pocket dimension for now."

After a moment of contemplation, he reached this conclusion.

He considered using it as a regular weapon, but it was impossible.

The martial artists of this world would not easily recognize such an unusual weapon, and it rejected the infusion of energy, making it impossible to use its abilities.

"I'll wait until I find a clue about natural energy."

Swoosh.

Whoosh!

With a sense of regret, You Xinyun placed Rongduo Jian back into the pocket dimension.

But then,

Zing!

The area in the air that had swallowed Rongduo Jian opened again.

And,

Thud. Thud.

Dozens of corpses rained down before his eyes.

It was time to strengthen his actual combat power.

Martial World's Top Ranker in His Previous Life