Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 405 The Effects of the Ghost Pearl
Song Xian was unaware of the complicated situation. He asked about various minor details before finally ending the man's life without any mercy.

After taking the storage bag from his body and destroying the evidence, he immediately vanished.

Just in case, he went to a remote mountain area and carefully examined himself inside and out to make sure he had not left any traces.

Before his death, the bearded man claimed that the Yin Quan Ancestor had left a mark on his body. Although it was most likely a lie to protect himself, Song Xian still took it to heart. After all, the man was a Nascent Soul cultivator with unimaginable abilities. If he were to follow the trail and find him, the sect would surely be destroyed and the entire clan wiped out. Therefore, Song Xian was extremely cautious.

Not only did he thoroughly examine himself inside and out, but he also burned the clothes he was wearing and took a bath with herbs that had a special aroma.

They also carefully examined the bearded man's storage bag, which contained spirit stones, pills, talismans, a variety of miscellaneous items, and a cultivation book.

To prevent any tracking devices from being found among these items, Song Xian only took the spirit stones, pills, and talismans, throwing away the rest along with the storage bags.

Only after doing all this did he feel completely at ease, and then headed towards the sect.

.........

At night, dark clouds covered the moon and heavy rain poured down.

In Tianxing City, at the Qingfeng Sect, an old man with slightly graying temples arrived at a dimly lit room and gently knocked on the stone door.

This old man was none other than the leader of the Qingfeng Sect. As the leader of the most powerful force in Tianxing City, he usually had a dignified demeanor, but at this moment he was extremely cautious and apprehensive.

After knocking on the stone door a few times, he stood outside with his hands hanging down, waiting.

"Come in." A deep voice came from inside, and the stone door opened by itself without any wind.

The old man went inside, where a short, middle-aged man who looked like a dwarf tiger sat in the inner room.

"Greetings, Senior Chu. This is the information about the person you are looking for. Our sect has already found out his background. Please take a look." The old man took out a file and handed it over with both hands.

The short, tiger-like man took the file and glanced at it: "Did you release the information I asked you to release?"

"Reporting to Senior, we have released them as you instructed. The area around the island is now under our surveillance. Any disturbance will be reported to us immediately."

"You go out!"

"Yes, I'll take my leave." The old man acknowledged and withdrew, letting out a sigh of relief as he left the room.

He regretted inviting this person in the first place, which led to the current situation.

The Qingfeng Sect has now been usurped, but he is powerless to do anything about it.

Back then, this Golden Core cultivator who called himself Mountain Eagle Master came to Qingfeng Sect and found him. He said that he would be staying in Tianxing City for a while and needed the help of Qingfeng Sect. His condition was that the sect could protect Qingfeng Sect's safety during his stay.

Being able to win over a Golden Core cultivator was something he desperately wanted, so without much thought, he agreed to the request and asked the cultivator to become a guest elder of the Qingfeng Sect. His original intention was to use the Golden Core cultivator's reputation to expand his territory and influence and bring benefits to the sect.

Unexpectedly, this Mountain Eagle Master was not a rogue cultivator at all. After he joined the Green Peak Sect, many Foundation Establishment cultivators came to him and reported their affairs to him every now and then, clearly his subordinates.

The Qingfeng Sect cultivators had become servants of this Mountain Eagle Master, constantly issuing orders and using the Qingfeng Sect's resources to carry them out.

Most of these orders are for finding people or searching for certain clues. The key is that the people being searched for are not ordinary; several of them are actually Golden Core cultivators.

As the saying goes, it's easy to invite a god but hard to send him away. He invited this person into the mountain gate, but sending him away was not so simple.

This Mountain Eagle Master was not only highly skilled, but also ruthless. On one occasion, he witnessed a Foundation Establishment cultivator under his command being killed without mercy while reporting to him. Whether the cultivator had angered him or not, he did not know.

From then on, he gave up the idea of ​​giving the Bodhisattva away. If he was so ruthless to his own people, he would be even more ruthless to others.

Every time he was assigned a task and had to report to him, he would think of the Foundation Establishment cultivator who had died unjustly, fearing that he might anger this Mountain Eagle Master and suffer the same fate. Therefore, he was always very careful.

Over the years, he gradually pieced together some clues and realized that this Mountain Eagle Master and his subordinates belonged to a large force and were searching for something.

The object was left on a remote island called Xiaoheishan in the Moxing Sea, and all the clues he was asked to find revolved around the object left on that island.

He doesn't know when this Bodhisattva will finally move; he's just hoping the other party will leave as soon as possible.

Just then, a handsome man with regular features strode in from outside.

The old man knew that the man was a trusted subordinate of the Mountain Eagle Master, so he nodded to him, but the man ignored him and walked straight past him into the room.

"Uncle-Master, Junior Brother Duan Qian has gone missing." The man bowed respectfully.

"Missing? What happened?" The short, tiger-like man's eyes lit up. People never disappear for no reason; something must have happened. He didn't care about the casualties of his Foundation Establishment disciples; as long as he could find clues, he would do anything, even if they all died.

He has been sent here for ten years. If he can't find the Ghost Spirit Pearl, not only will he not be able to return to Yinyuan Island, but his life may also be in danger. Recently, the ancestor sent someone to inquire about the progress, which made him feel immense pressure.

"On May 15th, an auction was held in Ziyuanfang, Donghai District. As usual, Junior Brother Duan Qian put up a Ghost Crystal for auction and stayed at the auction venue. According to the agreement, he should have reported the situation to the contact person that night, but he did not show up even after three days. On that day, someone bought the Ghost Crystal at the Ziyuanfang auction. I speculate that Junior Brother Duan Qian must have had an accident while tracking down the person who bought the Ghost Crystal."

"Good." A glint flashed in the eyes of the short, tiger-like man; finally, there was a new clue.

Ghost crystals have very limited uses in the cultivation world. He arranged for people to auction them off in market auctions, but they were rarely sold and mostly became unsold items.

Including this time at Ziyuanfang, this is only the third time it has been bought. The two previous buyers have been killed, and the Ghost Spirit Pearl was not found on them.

The disappearance of the disciple in charge of the investigation was unprecedented, and he had a premonition that the clues to the Ghost Spirit Orb were related to this.

"Uncle-Master, should I go to Ziyuanfang in the East Sea District to investigate?"

"No, I'll go myself. Gather your men, put everything else aside, and get them all together at Ziyuanfang."

"Yes."

.........

The sky is clear and cloudless.

In the spacious and bright hall of Bianxi City, Luoyun Mountain, Huang Ye strode in and bowed to Song Xian, who was sitting upright.

"Sect Leader, what brings you here?"

"In the Jin Sea, there is a place called Yinyuan Island. Do you know it?" Song Xian didn't waste any words and went straight to the point.

"Yinyuan Island?" Huang Ye frowned slightly. "I've never heard of it."

"I'm giving you a mission: go to the State of Wei and gather information about Yinyuan Island. Jinhai borders Wei, so the people there should know something about Yinyuan Island. Once you're there, remember to be careful and discreet, and don't reveal your identity." "Yes," Huang Ye nodded without asking any further questions.

Song Xian flipped his hand and took out a storage bag: "Here are 15,000 spirit stones, to be used as expenses for this trip. The more detailed the information about Yinyuan Island, the better. This matter must be kept absolutely confidential."

"I understand." Huang Ye solemnly accepted the storage bag. He knew that this matter must be of great importance, otherwise Song Xian would not have asked him to make a special trip to Wei to investigate Yinyuan Island.

"Make your preparations. We'll be setting off in a few days. There are two second-tier high-grade shape-changing talismans in your storage bag. You can use them to change your appearance. I'm warning you, this Yinyuan Island is very powerful. The island lord is a Nascent Soul cultivator with many subordinates. You must be careful. This matter concerns the survival of your sect, so you must be cautious."

"Yes."

"Go ahead!"

Huang Ye responded and retreated.

The reason Song Xian assigned him to go was firstly because he had already been involved in the matter and was considered to be half an insider.

Secondly, because he had long been in charge of intelligence affairs, he was very familiar with gathering information.

"Husband." Upon returning to the inner room of the mansion, Su Zhirou immediately came to greet him, her face full of worry.

"Don't worry, although Yinyuan Island is powerful, they can't trace it back to us. Otherwise, they would have come knocking on our door long ago." Song Xian held her hand and sat down.

"But now that my husband has killed their people, won't they trace it back to us?"

"I've taken care of everything, there won't be any problems."

Su Zhirou rested her head against his chest: "We don't know how powerful Nascent Soul cultivators are. What if, as that person said, Yin Quan Shangren has branded them?"

“His body is now completely gone, so no branding will work. Besides, I used a shape-shifting talisman. We are tens of thousands of miles away from Donghai City. Nascent Soul cultivators are human, not gods. I don’t believe that anyone has such extraordinary abilities to find this place.”

.........

In the desolate mountains of the East China Sea region, a beam of light shot down, revealing a short, tiger-like man.

"Greetings, Martial Uncle." Several Foundation Establishment cultivators hurriedly stepped forward to pay their respects.

"Are you sure it's here?" The short-legged tiger man squinted and glanced around.

"It's confirmed. Junior Brother Duan's spiritual aura completely disappeared here, and there are also traces of a battle around us."

Upon hearing this, the short-legged tiger man drew a line on his palm and then pulled out a golden scroll covered with dense and intricate patterns.

The man placed his bleeding hand on the scroll, then closed his eyes and chanted incantations. Blood light burst forth on the scroll, its patterns surged, and then a ghostly figure emerged from it.

Its crimson eyes flashed incessantly, as if conveying some message, and after a while, its figure disappeared.

The short-legged tiger man opened his eyes, his gaze narrowing slightly.

"Uncle-Master, how is it? Has the Ghost Mother sensed who killed Junior Brother Duan?"

“We arrived too late. The spirit has completely dissipated, and we have not been able to sense any information about the murderer. From now on, you must do your utmost to investigate the information of all the cultivators who participated in the auction that day, especially those at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage or above. Do not let a single one go.”

.........

As night fell, the moon shone brightly and the stars were few. Inside the brightly lit courtyard of the mansion, Song Xian and Su Zhirou sat at the table, watching the shimmering, emerald-green crystal beads emit a glow that enveloped the ghost crystal beside them.

As time goes by, the immense Yin energy contained within the Ghost Crystal is gradually weakening.

At this moment, Song Xian flipped his hand and took out the Blood Soul Banner from his storage bag. With a thought, a ghost with bloodshot eyes crawled out from inside.

Its eyes darted around furtively before settling on the two beads on the table.

The reason Song Xian summoned the ghosts within the Blood Soul Banner at this time was to confirm his suspicions.

Previously, the disciples of Ghost Abyss Island said that the reason why Yin Quan Patriarch's disciple Yin Tianhua was able to secretly steal the Ghost Spirit Pearl was because Yin Quan Patriarch did not keep the Ghost Spirit Pearl with him when he went out, but had it kept by the Ghost Mother.

Logically speaking, something so important should be kept close at hand.

There's only one possibility as to why it was given to the Ghost Mother: this item might be beneficial to her cultivation.

At this moment, the intricate patterns on the surface of the crystal-clear Ghost Spirit Pearl seemed to come alive, like fish swimming back and forth on the surface of the pearl.

Song Xian commanded the ghost to pick up the Ghost Spirit Pearl. When its palm touched the Ghost Spirit Pearl, it seemed as if it had been suddenly electrocuted. Its body trembled violently, and then an incredulous expression appeared on its face.

"Husband, it seems to be reacting to the Ghost Spirit Pearl." Su Zhirou exclaimed softly when she saw the ghost's expression.

Song Xian naturally noticed it as well, but he did not give the ghost any new instructions. Instead, he let it figure it out and refer to them on its own.

The ghost placed its palm on the Ghost Spirit Pearl, its expression changing several times: first shock, then doubt, and finally joy.

It slowly clasped its hands together, enveloping the Ghost Spirit Pearl, and revealed a human-like expression of enjoyment and satisfaction on its face before closing its eyes.

The eerie green light emanating from the Ghost Spirit Pearl expanded along its palms, gradually enveloping its entire body. Under the shroud of the eerie green light, the ghost seemed to fall asleep.

Upon seeing this, Song Xian was both surprised and delighted. It seemed that Yin Tianhua's guess was correct; the Ghost Spirit Pearl was indeed beneficial to the cultivation of ghosts, but this effect only occurred when it absorbed the crystal core of a ghost.

He speculated that the Ghost Spirit Pearl must have triggered some kind of hidden restriction inside it when it absorbed the ghost's crystal core, which could be seen from the intricate patterns that kept moving on the pearl.

After being enveloped in the eerie green light, the ghost seemed to fall into a coma and remained motionless. Several days passed until the Ghost Spirit Pearl completely absorbed all the Yin energy within the ghost, and the intricate patterns on it returned to their original state. The eerie green light gradually disappeared, and only then did the ghost open its eyes as if it had just woken up.

It seemed as if it had really taken a nap, its expression somewhat dazed.

Although Song Xian could command them to do things, he could not perceive their thoughts and feelings; he could only judge their emotions and ideas from their expressions.

After a moment of stunned silence, the ghost seemed to remember what it had done before. So it turned its gaze to the ghost spirit orb on the table, put its hands together and wrapped it up. But this time, the ghost spirit orb did not emit light to cover it.

Before long, the ghost also sensed something was wrong. It picked up the Ghost Spirit Pearl and rubbed it repeatedly between its palms, as if trying to re-establish the connection it had made earlier.

Although the ghosts and monsters in the Blood Soul Banner are all independent living beings capable of expressing emotions, their intelligence is actually not high. Therefore, their inner thoughts are reflected on their faces.

Seeing that his guess had been confirmed, Song Xian ordered the ghost to return to the Blood Soul Banner.

(End of this chapter)