Zhang Sizhe suddenly realized, his face flushing red: “Oh, sorry, I forgot. That is, I found a lot inside. Thanks for holding off the Demon Beast Spirit for me; otherwise, I couldn’t have gotten these…”
Zhang Sizhe fumbled out some items in a fluster.
A damaged Jade Ring, an empty Pill Bottle, over a dozen bone-like Beast Bones, two Jade Slips, and a drop of Pitch-Black Blood.
“This blood should be demon beast blood—very useful to me.” Zhang Sizhe sounded a bit awkward but insistent. “We’ll split the Jade Slip contents as discussed earlier, copying them evenly.”
Shen He said straightforwardly: “Then these two damaged artifacts and the Beast Bones go to me. How about that?”
Zhang Sizhe: “Can I buy the Beast Bones with money? Maybe refine them for my leopard to eat.”
Shen He: “I’m a pill refiner; the Beast Bones are useful to me too. How about you give me a bit of the blood? I know there’s not much; I just need a thread for pill refining. I’ll trade three Beast Bones for it.”
Reluctance flickered across Zhang Sizhe’s face. After hesitating for a long while, he abruptly said: “How about I trade you the Azure Flame Leopard for it? The leopard for your three Beast Bones?”
Shen He quickly glanced at Zhang Sizhe and paused for a few seconds before replying: “Fine. But I want to know what you saw inside—any info on that Black Demonic Beast Spirit?”
Zhang Sizhe answered readily: “It looked like a secluded cultivation chamber inside, but badly damaged, as if a fierce battle had raged. Over a dozen Beast Bones were scattered on the floor, and the walls were covered in terrifying sword qi marks.”
“Sword qi marks?” Shen He thought of something. “Could they be traces from a fight between someone inside and the Demon Beast Spirit outside?”
Zhang Sizhe shrugged: “Maybe.”
Shen He pressed: “That Demon Beast Spirit’s attack style didn’t seem like a wild beast’s—it faintly resembled a cultivator’s. You said before it could extract demon beast bloodlines for one’s own use. Could it be…”
He took a deep breath. “Could there be a secret art to extract a cultivator’s talents and spiritual roots?”
Zhang Sizhe shook his head: “I don’t know. Demon Race can inherit secret arts via bloodlines, but Human Race can’t. Though maybe some Demonic Cultivators or evil cultivators developed something similar?”
He paused, then added: “But there is one possibility: if a cultivator fails to extract Demon Race bloodline power, their remnant soul might be devoured by the demon race divine soul instead, turning into this half-human, half-demon resentful spirit.”
Sensing Shen He’s thoughts, he whispered: “If we encounter such a resentful spirit, the only thing we can do is put it to rest. But that Demon Beast Spirit at the small space’s door was too strong—at least Nascent Soul Stage. Without the secret realm’s suppression, we couldn’t even stand before it.”
Shen He smiled bitterly: “You’re right.”
He took out the Azure Flame Leopard’s Spirit Ring. Zhang Sizhe reclaimed his spiritual power from it, releasing control over the leopard. Shen He replaced it with his own Demonic Qi, transferring the contract to himself.
Zhang Sizhe then produced two Blank Jade Slips and copied the contents from the originals for Shen He.
After divvying up the spoils, Zhang Sizhe eagerly invited Shen He: “Want to explore the secret realm together? Most cultivators are probably rummaging through the abandoned sect gates here; other spots should be empty. We might find herbs or spiritual items.”
Having lost the Azure Flame Leopard diminished Zhang Sizhe’s combat strength, so he urgently wanted Shen He as a partner to compensate.
Shen He shook his head: “I have a friend in the secret realm. I need to meet up with him.”
Zhang Sizhe looked disappointed but persisted: “Which friend? Maybe we can team up?”
Shen He smiled: “It’s Fellow Daoist Le—the one you saw, close to Liu Cultivator.”
Liu Cultivator was the small team’s leader, the one holding the secret realm key among their group of ten.
Zhang Sizhe’s expression shifted subtly, at a loss for words. He hesitated: “That woman is no pushover at first glance. Don’t let her fool you.”
Shen He feigned bashfulness: “Fellow Daoist Le is a gentle person.”
Zhang Sizhe looked at Shen He like he was a fool who’d lost his mind. He quickly said: “Then go find her. See you around if fate allows.”
Inwardly, he sighed: Shen Daoist Friend is about to be played for a fool by that Le female cultivator. Probably no next meeting.
Shen He pretended ignorance. After bidding Zhang Sizhe farewell, he flew toward the eastern ruins.
On the shady side of a forested hillside, Shen He found a gap by a massive tree five people couldn’t encircle. He slipped into the tree hollow, set up a Protective Formation, and hid inside.
Only then did Shen He relax his perpetually taut nerves.
He first fed the unconscious leopard some high-grade beast feed pills, then pulled out spirit stones—used to disguise himself as a True Realm cultivator, specially stuffed in his bag—and arranged a small spirit gathering array for the leopard.
Then Shen He took out the Jade Slips and quickly scanned their contents.
One Jade Slip recorded a secret art for extracting demon beast bloodline power to refine a cultivator’s second incarnation. Shen He skimmed it briefly and stowed it away.
The other Jade Slip wasn’t a cultivation method but a dying message left by a cultivator surnamed Xu.
Shen He’s spirits lifted. Could the one wielding the Dong Ling black shortsword be this Xu cultivator?
He read on carefully.
“I am Xu Zhen, originally a She Mountain cultivator of Nine Spirits Sect. I joined the sect young and cultivated in seclusion for 150 years, stepping into Nascent Soul with the Azure Serpent True Spirit, thenceforth leaping beyond the Three Realms, free as fish in the vast sea… Yet who would have thought our sect’s true transmission secret art harbored a fatal flaw…”
