novelraw Chapter 360: A Forward-Thinking Idea
Chapter 360: A Forward-Thinking Idea
Long Xuan searched thoroughly but couldn’t find even a fragment of a spirit stone, leaving him no choice but to give up.
With his ability to see the progression of all things, no treasure, no matter how well hidden, could escape his gaze.
Yet, despite such terrifying investigative abilities, he didn’t find a single item of value, which showed just how meticulous the perpetrator had been.
Curiosity arose within Long Xuan as he decided to investigate who could be so ruthless. Using the farsight ability of his Heavenly Secret Eye, he looked into the distance.
The Heavenly Secret Eye could see extraordinarily far, and since even the blood at the scene hadn’t yet coagulated, the murderer couldn’t have gone far. With this ability, he hoped to spot the culprit.
As Long Xuan scanned the surroundings, he soon saw a familiar figure in the distance. Recognizing this figure, a rare look of fear and dread surfaced in his eyes.
At that moment, he finally understood why all the corpses in the town had been drained of their spiritual energy.
This person was terrifying. Through the magnification ability of the Heavenly Secret Eye, Long Xuan could clearly see that this individual had countless Spiritual Seas within their body.
Not only did the person have a Spiritual Sea in their dantian, but at a microscopic level, every single cell in their body contained one. In other words, the number of Spiritual Seas was equal to the number of cells in their body.
Most of these Spiritual Seas were dry and devoid of spiritual energy, but given the sheer number of cells in the human body, even if only a fraction contained spiritual energy, the total spiritual power would surpass the peak of a Gu King by an unimaginable margin.This individual appeared to practice some kind of sinister technique that allowed them to absorb others’ spiritual energy, giving them access to endless Spiritual Seas. To cultivate this technique, they had slaughtered everyone in the town and drained the spiritual energy of every Gu cultivator there.
Long Xuan shuddered at the thought of how many people this person would need to kill to fill all those Spiritual Seas.
“The Flaming Court Empire is bound to fall into chaos,” he thought to himself.
“What kind of cultivation technique is this? Who could have such a bold and advanced imagination to create such a technique?”
Long Xuan was astonished. Until now, he had never encountered anyone whose ingenuity could rival his own.
As he prepared to use his X-ray vision to get a clearer view of the person’s face, the individual seemed to sense something and suddenly turned to meet his gaze.
The sight startled Long Xuan. The individual had a dual-pupil eye in their left eye, a yin-yang eye in their right eye, and a vertical heavenly eye on their forehead.
Seeing these three distinct eyes, Long Xuan’s pupils contracted as a sense of foreboding washed over him.
Each of these eyes was a rare and extraordinary organ, something that appeared only once in millennia. For all three to be on the same person was beyond coincidence, and it was likely that these eyes could see him.
Just as the individual turned and began walking toward the town, Long Xuan’s soul trembled, and a voice echoed within him: “Stop!”
The individual paused momentarily before turning away and leaving.
Seeing this, Long Xuan let out a long sigh of relief, his tightly clenched hand relaxing around a Hundred-Mile Talisman.
This was the second Hundred-Mile Talisman he had created from repair Gu, and it was his only one at the moment. It was his trump card, his confidence that he could leave without being detained at the Sword Cleansing Pavilion.
Moments ago, he had genuinely considered using it to escape, as he had no confidence in defeating that monstrous individual.
Even with the power of the Gate of Life and Death, he couldn’t be sure he could kill them.
“Could it be him?” Long Xuan muttered, confusion filling his gaze.
The face looked like that of a familiar figure: Little Medicine Boy. Although more mature than before, Long Xuan still recognized him.
Little Medicine Boy was known for his imagination, second only to Long Xuan in the Far West Market. Only someone with such creativity could conceive of such a terrifying sinister technique.
Yet, it didn’t seem like him. The individual’s expression was vicious and filled with resentment, entirely unlike the Little Medicine Boy Long Xuan knew.
Could it be that Little Medicine Boy had been possessed? The thought weighed on Long Xuan’s mind as his brows furrowed deeper.
As he sank into thought, the Heavenly Secret Eye suddenly spotted a flying boat rapidly approaching. A group of Gu cultivators in the Spiritual Sea Stage was aboard.
Long Xuan’s first instinct was to leave immediately to avoid being mistaken as the perpetrator of the massacre.
However, seeing the emblem of a sword on the boat—a mark of the Sword Cleansing Pavilion—he decided against it.
The Sword Cleansing Pavilion was not a place one could enter casually, and perhaps he could use this group to gain entry.
Hiding in a house, Long Xuan quickly changed his attire.
He donned the official robes of a Fourth-Grade Alchemist, complete with a counterfeit Fourth-Grade Alchemist badge on his chest. His aura was also disguised as that of a Gu King.
He calculated that this group wouldn’t dare to offend a Fourth-Grade Alchemist.
His plan was to infiltrate the Sword Cleansing Pavilion under the guise of a Fourth-Grade Alchemist.
A Fourth-Grade Alchemist is enough to be treated as an honored guest by the Sword Cleansing Pavilion. Even the pavilion master and elders would personally come out to welcome them with utmost courtesy.
As for whether he might get exposed and enraged by the Sword Cleansing Pavilion’s Sword King, leading to death, he wasn’t worried at all.
His disguise as a Fourth-Grade Alchemist wouldn’t be exposed because he could genuinely refine Fourth-Grade Spirit Pills.
If anyone dared to question him, he could simply prove it by refining a batch of Fourth-Grade Spirit Pills on the spot.
Moreover, he had a "Hundred-Mile Talisman" as his safety net. Even if something unexpected happened, he could escape anytime, ensuring this journey was completely risk-free.
After transforming into an elderly appearance, he emerged from the room with an air of arrogance.
Not long after, the group of sword cultivators from the Sword Washing Pavilion arrived.
One by one, the sword cultivators disembarked from their ship. When they saw the tragic scene in the town, they gripped their sword hilts tightly, their eyes filled with anger.
"We're still too late. Check quickly to see if the Qilin Arm is still here!"
"First it was the Demon Emperor's Heart, then the Earth Listening Ear, and now the Heavy Pupil. And now even the Qilin Arm has fallen victim to this fiend!"
"Next, he must be targeting the Tu Clan's 'Earthly Lung.' Who knows if we'll make it in time?"
Upon overhearing their discussion, Long Xuan thought to himself, It's a good thing they arrived late. Otherwise, this shipload of Spirit Sea realm Gu practitioners would have all been slaughtered. That monster is no longer something humans can contend with.
At the same time, hearing the terms they mentioned, Long Xuan's expression grew serious. If he couldn’t deduce what that monster was up to by now, he would truly be a fool.
The Qilin Arm was the arm of the Qilin Clan, a powerful non-human race. The strength of this arm was 400 times that of an average human’s, making it extremely formidable. In ancient times, the Qilin Clan had inflicted countless devastating blows upon humanity.
However, the Qilin Clan was ultimately exterminated by the humans. To this day, very few Qilin Arms remain in existence.
The Earth Listening Ear is a unique organ capable of identifying all things in the world through sound. Its most notable ability is hearing into the hearts of people, though those who awaken this power are exceedingly rare.
The Demon Emperor’s Heart likely originated from another powerful race. Given that it bears the title "Emperor," it must have belonged to the ruler of its kind.
The owner of this heart would have possessed a cultivation level far beyond that of a Gu King, possibly exceeding it by three or four major realms, or even more.
At this point, it was clear to Long Xuan that the Medicine Boy was attempting to collect all the unique organs in the world.
He intended to piece together the strongest components to create a monstrous being.
This also explained why the Little Medicine Boy simultaneously possessed three powerful eyes: the Double Pupil, Yin-Yang Eye, and Heavenly Eye.
Long Xuan sighed inwardly. Such actions were utterly insane. There was no doubt that if the Little Medicine Boy succeeded, his combat power would surpass the limits of humanity. He wouldn’t just be unmatched within his realm but would also possess an infinite Spiritual Sea, making him a force beyond comprehension.
Long Xuan couldn’t fathom how such a creature could be killed or how many people it would take to defeat him. He wondered what kind of entity had possessed the Little Medicine Boy.
Suppressing his dread, Long Xuan finally stepped forward toward the group.
“There’s no need to search. Everything here has already been taken by that demonic cultivator. There isn’t even half a Spirit Stone left,” Long Xuan declared.
Emerging from a small alley, his sudden appearance startled the group. They all turned to him with wary eyes.
When they noticed his Fourth-Grade Alchemist robes and the corresponding badge on his chest, their expressions grew serious.
Fourth-Grade Alchemists were exceedingly rare in this world, their status incredibly prestigious. Even the pavilion master would tread cautiously around such figures. None of them could have imagined encountering such a person in this remote area.
No one doubted him. After all, the Alchemy Tournament was approaching, and many alchemists were passing through Flaming Court Empire as it's adjacent to the neighboring Phoenix Heaven Empire.
Seeing a Fourth-Grade Alchemist in this isolated region wasn’t entirely out of the ordinary.
“Greetings, Senior. We are the enforcers of the Sword Cleansing Pavilion, pursuing a demonic cultivator who has been slaughtering entire villages and cities. Senior, did you happen to see which direction the fiend went?”
The leading middle-aged sword cultivator bowed respectfully to Long Xuan.
“Of course I saw him. But I advise you not to pursue him.”
“That is a complete and utter monster. Whoever goes after him will die. Don’t make pointless sacrifices.”
Long Xuan’s tone was serious, leaving no impression of jest.
Hearing this, the sword cultivators’ expressions turned grim. As a Gu King, Long Xuan’s words carried weight. If he said they couldn’t defeat the demonic cultivator, then they most likely couldn’t.
Most people fear death. By now, many of the sword cultivators had lost the will to pursue the demonic cultivator further.