Chapter 48: Ghost Cultivators Arrive
Chapter 48: Ghost Cultivators Arrive
Only Lu Hangzhi and Feng Yong remained in the main hall of the Zhu Residence.
Feng Yong carefully activated a Soundproof Barrier, then took an object out of his Qiankun Pouch.
It was about the size of a fist, covered densely with hexagonal holes, and looked like a miniature honeycomb. Lu Hangzhi couldn’t help but show a suspicious expression.
“What is this?”
“I’m not sure either. A few months ago, I happened to find this on the body of a Ghost Cultivator. I don’t know its purpose, but I do know that if you feed Spirit Fruits or Spirit Stones into the honeycomb, it will give back crystal-like Spirit Honey. It’s very sweet, and can return at least eighty percent of the magic power from whatever you fed it. I tried Blood Binding Recognition, but it didn’t work. Also, my Spiritual Sense can’t detect if there are any spirit bees inside…”
Spirit Honey?
It sounds a bit like elixirs that restore magic power.
Lu Hangzhi took the honeycomb from Feng Yong. It felt slightly heavy, weighing several dozen pounds. Its material was certainly not ordinary.
However…
He needed to verify if it could truly turn spirit items into Spirit Honey.
Lu Hangzhi casually took out a Mid-grade Spirit Stone and inserted it into one of the honeycomb’s holes. The honeycomb immediately contracted slightly, like a living creature chewing food, and a pleasant tremor ran through its entire body.
Feng Yong was shocked.
This had never happened when he held the item.
Soon, a refreshing sweet aroma wafted from the honeycomb’s holes. Then, small golden grains of Spirit Honey emerged from the holes. He counted them—about twenty grains came out from roughly one twentieth of the holes.
“Just as I thought.”
Lu Hangzhi knew his guess was correct, but he didn’t say it out loud. He poured one grain of Spirit Honey into his mouth.
The small grain melted instantly, turning into a warm stream of liquid magic power. It slid down his throat and flowed directly into his Spiritual Power Pool…
Amazing!
Staring at the small pile of Spirit Honey in his palm, Lu Hangzhi finally showed a look of astonishment.
One grain of Spirit Honey contained about half the energy restored by a Blood Qi Pill…
Although the total magic power from twenty-four grains of Spirit Honey was slightly less than eighty percent of a full Mid-grade Spirit Stone, it was very close.
Most importantly!
Lu Hangzhi felt a surge of excitement:
Absorbing magic power from a Spirit Stone took time—it required about half an hour of continuous absorption to fully digest it. But Spirit Honey instantly replenished magic power…
This was a strategic resource!
Lu Hangzhi was tempted. He looked at Feng Yong and made a promise:
“I agree to leave one living descendant for your Feng family.”
Feng Yong let out a long sigh of relief, then showed a relieved, liberated smile. “Feng Yong thanks the immortal for his great mercy…”
After speaking, he struck his own head with his palm, and blood splattered across the hall.
Feng Yong died to seal the secret of the Honeycomb Artifact, in exchange for his only son’s life.
Lu Hangzhi quietly watched Feng Yong’s corpse.
After a long while, he sighed heavily:
“Men die for wealth, birds die for food. If you knew this would happen, why did you start?”
“Someone.”
The Soundproof Barrier vanished, and soon two cultivators entered the hall, keeping their eyes downcast. “We await your orders, immortal.”
They didn’t look around.
“Take the body out and bury it.”
Lu Hangzhi played with Feng Yong’s Qiankun Pouch, then put it in his pocket. Without delay, he ordered, “Expel Feng Yong’s son from Violet Cloud Town. Imprison all other family members and seal their property. Wait for Sister Fuqin to return and handle it.”
“Yes!”
After everyone left, Lu Hangzhi fell into deep thought again.
It seemed Feng Yong truly had no connection to Sister Fuqin’s disappearance.
Now he could only wait for news from Senior Brother Leng, and finally investigate whether the Ghost Cultivator hideout revealed by Liu Tao was linked to Sister Fuqin’s disappearance.
After arranging matters at the Zhu Residence, Lu Hangzhi stayed in the hall, playing with the honeycomb-shaped Magical Artifact…
Spirit Honey was a strategic resource—the more, the better.
Lu Hangzhi hadn’t spent much of his Inner Sect Disciple salary over the past few months. He had stockpiled five hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones, over two thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones, and more than twenty thousand Essence Spirit Fruits. He could exchange them for a lot of Spirit Honey.
He immediately took out a porcelain bottle to hold the Spirit Honey, and began feeding Spirit Stones into the honeycomb one by one…
The honeycomb chewed and wriggled happily while quickly secreting Spirit Honey. Soon, the bottle was full.
Lu Hangzhi didn’t stop.
After filling one bottle, he immediately took out an empty one and continued filling it.
Lu Hangzhi clearly understood the strategic value of Spirit Honey.
In Feng Yong’s hands, this item was truly a pearl cast before swine!
Spirit Honey was definitely more valuable than Mid-grade Spirit Stones. Although the total magic power was slightly reduced, the instant restoration effect was even more powerful than Blood Qi Pill!
“I usually cultivate in the sect, where we have the Spirit Gathering Array and Foundational Reinforcement Pills. I don’t need many elixirs or Spirit Stones.”
“But when I’m outside the sect, the amount of magic power is crucial. No Spirit Stone can guarantee a cultivator’s safety, but Spirit Honey can keep a cultivator at peak condition at all times.”
Quickly!
All five hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones were fed into the honeycomb, turning into ten bottles of Spirit Honey—each bottle contained one thousand golden crystals, enough to last a long time.
Only then did Lu Hangzhi stop.
……
“Who are you!”
“Do you know where this is?”
“Halt!”
Two cultivators in black robes silently broke through the main gate of the Zhu Residence, but soon attracted the attention of several attendants staying in the courtyard to serve Lu Hangzhi. The latter shouted loudly, giving warnings while starting to cast spells.
A strange glint flashed in the black-robed cultivators’ eyes:
A bunch of insects.
Two invisible Sword Qi streaks flashed. The two attendants stationed outside the main hall were pierced through their foreheads. The Mysterious Armor surrounding their bodies provided no protection at all.
“Ghost Cultivators!”
“They’re Ghost Cultivators!”
The remaining two attendants immediately recognized the identity of the black-robed attackers. They were terrified, loudly warning the people in the main hall while frantically retreating.
These intruders were far beyond their ability to handle!
“Hmph!”
“Trying to escape?”
The black-robed cultivators attacked again.
The two retreating attendants felt Sword Qi brush past their eyes, followed by the clear sound of metal clashing close by…
“Are you okay?”
” The two of them were almost scared out of their wits, but when they realized they were completely unharmed, they were overjoyed and immediately started running away.
“Huh?”
The two black-robed cultivators both stopped in their tracks and for the first time showed expressions of seriousness.
The main hall’s door was tightly shut, but in front of it, two radiant and sharp-looking Flying Swords were stuck into the ground.
The Art Techniques from just now had been shattered by these two Flying Swords.
“Interesting.”
“As expected of an Inner Sect Disciple of the Xuanxin Sect, they have some skill.”
Even so, the two of them knew full well how difficult it was to intercept both of their spells simultaneously in an instant…
“I thought all of Old Man Yellow Spring’s followers had died four months ago. I didn’t expect two stragglers to still be here.”
Lu Hangzhi closed his eyes, his expression grave.
These two…
Were both Fourth Grade Cultivators.
They were not to be taken lightly!
Judging by the speed and Art Techniques they used to rush into the Zhu Residence, their strength was likely no less than Ghost Weeping’s, meaning they had the ability to challenge even Fifth Grade Cultivators.
Fighting two at once was quite tricky!
“Hmph! Remnants of Yellow Spring, instead of hiding away to live out your miserable lives, you dare come looking for trouble with an Inner Sect Disciple of the Xuanxin Sect! I don’t know if you’re looking for death, or… looking for death.”
“……”
The two black-robed Cultivators were left speechless by Lu Hangzhi’s strange, rhythmic way of speaking. The one on the left took a step forward and said:
“If I’m not mistaken, the Magical Artifact in Feng Yong’s hands must have ended up with you… Hand it over, and we’ll give you a quick death.”
“Oh?”
Lu Hangzhi was not surprised at all, saying:
“So Feng Yong really was colluding with you Ghost Cultivators.”
“He just got lucky and found a Magical Artifact.”
The black-robed Cultivator said disdainfully:
“But we didn’t expect Feng Yong to be so cowardly. Even with a Magical Artifact in hand, he still hesitated and was indecisive in everything he did, always needing us to clean up his mess! And now he’s even given the Magical Artifact away to someone else. Truly useless to the extreme.”
“……”
Lu Hangzhi frowned slightly, feeling that many things he couldn’t understand before were now explained.
So that was it.
The Ghost Cultivators were secretly plotting everything, using wealth to tempt people and Magical Artifacts to boost their courage, silently provoking Feng Yong to oppose the Zhu Residence!
Their goal was to have Feng Yong build up his forces to fight and clash with the Zhu Residence, stirring up the situation in Violet Cloud Town and Deer City, to distract the Xuanxin Sect.
Clearly.
Feng Yong was just a cowardly pawn.
Understanding everything now, Lu Hangzhi said coldly:
“So that means my senior sister, Zhu Fuqin, must have fallen into your hands?”
“Once we capture you, you’ll have plenty of time to learn everything.”
The black-robed Cultivators moved.
The next moment, Lu Hangzhi felt two strands of Spiritual Sense lock onto him from above, and two streams of black Sword Qi shot into the room like Lightning.
Clang! Clang!
With one thought, two actions.
Two more Flying Swords shot out from the Qiankun Pouch, easily shattering the two mysterious black Sword Qi streams.
Rise!
Go!
Since the fight had started, Lu Hangzhi naturally wouldn’t hold back. While the Flying Swords intercepted, a patch of mire quickly appeared in the front courtyard of the Zhu Residence.
“What is this?”
The Mire Art was only meant to distract.
The moment the black-robed Cultivators sank into the mire and were distracted, two streams of Sword Qi shot out from inside the room…
The black-robed Cultivators hurriedly summoned wraiths to protect themselves.
The Sword Qi struck the wraiths, causing them to let out miserable howls of pain. Dozens of wraith heads were instantly cut off, and the surface of the writhing, smoky wraiths became much thinner.
“Fifth Grade Sword Qi!?”
“How could…”
“Crap! The intel was wrong! He’s a Fifth Grade Cultivator!! Retreat, now!”
Their faces turned pale.
Too late.
Two Flying Swords swiftly flew back into the main hall;
Almost at the same time, four Flying Swords aggressively shot out from the main hall, their Fifth Grade Sword Qi’s power and sharpness overlapping, forming a powerful Sword Intent that seemed to tear through space.
“Damn it!”
“Save me!”
The black-robed Cultivator on the left was scared out of his wits, crying out for help, but…
He had seen people use Sword Control Art before, but never anyone who could control four Flying Swords at once. This was clearly an elite disciple among Fifth Grade Cultivators, one who could challenge those of a higher grade. The Cultivator on the right turned deathly pale, terrified nearly to death; how could he dare to stop?
The black-robed Cultivator on the right didn’t look back, quickly breaking free from the Mire Art’s pull. Like a bird fleeing to the forest, he dashed out of the Zhu Residence in a few steps, gritting his teeth and running desperately, his speed increasing rapidly.
But…
How could Lu Hangzhi let this enemy report his true strength?
The next moment, four Flying Swords descended from the sky with extreme violence, smashing through the wraith defenses and firmly nailing the black-robed Cultivator’s hands and feet to the street outside the Zhu Residence.
The Flying Swords retracted instantly, returning to Lu Hangzhi’s grasp.