Fangxian Heretical Path

Chapter 81 Poisonous Treasure Buries Corpse and Finds Last Will

Inside the cave.

Fang Shu held the lead-refined pearl in his hand, and his blood and qi continuously merged into the pearl. The two quickly became one, without much effort.

At this moment, he opened his eyes, hesitated for a moment, then squeezed the water bag and took out the lead-refined pearl.

After merging with his energy, the pearl changed drastically, becoming grayish-brown. It no longer burned with ghostly flames or emitted a strong metallic poison. At first glance, it looked much like an ordinary stone bead.

As Fang Shu caressed the object, he felt even more astonished.

The magical artifact is truly wondrous. Once refined, it requires no special techniques, incantations, or restrictions. It only needs to be integrated with the energy of the immortals to be controlled freely, and the divine object can conceal itself.

Of course, the main reason why Fang Shu was able to subdue this magical treasure so easily was that the lead essence pearl was newly born and had not been tainted by the energy of others.

Once his vital energy enters, there's no need to polish the pearl; the pearl is filled with his energy, without any other impurities, making it extremely easy to subdue.

This is like how it's easy to coax a three-year-old child, but extremely difficult to coax and subdue an adult.

Furthermore, according to popular rumors, a magical artifact does not require refining, but rather nurturing.

As the user wears and nurtures it, it will be influenced by the user, and over time it will produce some wonderful effects, which are more suitable for the user.

Fang Shu nurtured the pearl with his own energy, and in the future, the pearl would be more in line with his wishes and would enhance his cultivation and spellcasting.

Overjoyed, Fang Shu composed himself and carefully examined the precious pearl in his hand.

In a mysterious way, he learned a rudimentary use for the pearl from its contents.

Immediately, he carried the precious pearl and walked through the cave, especially on the stalactites that emitted a fluorescent glow.

With a thought, the lead-refined pearl began to tremble, emitting an invisible force.

This force cannot affect Fang Shu, nor can it affect the air dust, but it can affect the free-floating metal and stone poison in the surrounding area.

The nearest stalactite immediately dimmed its fluorescence and produced a strange phenomenon resembling flowing fire, which transformed into will-o'-the-wisps that continuously poured into the lead-essence pearl, devouring it.

Fang Shu was even more amazed by the sight.

Indeed, one of the functions of this precious pearl is to absorb and trap the poisons of metals and stones from the outside world, confining them inside.

Without hesitation, he held the lead-infused pearl, circulated his qi and blood, and walked left and right, absorbing all the poisonous metals from the stalactites and stalagmites in the cave in one go, leaving not a trace.

In any case, after the altar formation was lost, this cave was abandoned, and the toxins in the cave would dissipate on their own, spreading throughout the underground mineral vein.

After the poison of metal and stone was reduced to almost nothing, the cave became dark, with only the faint traces of toxins on the rock walls still emitting a ghostly glow.

The lead-refined pearl in Fang Shu's hand also turned scalding hot and red, as if he had eaten too much at once.

At that moment, another thought struck him.

Silently, the lead-in-the-stone pearl flickered again, and fluorescent will-o'-the-wisps appeared in the air, spreading outwards and turning the area within a few steps into a poisonous wasteland once more.

This is another simple use of the pearl: it can release the poison of metal and stone within the pearl, which can then infect the surrounding area and turn it into a poisonous place.

Fang Shu held the precious pearl in his hand, and played with it in the cave for a long time, opening and closing it repeatedly.

In the end, as the toxins in the cave became increasingly diluted, he simply removed his cumbersome lead armor and fox fur, and in human form, nurtured and studied the precious pearl in his hand.

After many attempts.

He discovered that when he possessed the precious pearl, whether he was casting spells or controlling Gu worms, his spells and Gu worms would be contaminated with a kind of poison.

Especially with Gu worms, their ferocity and alertness will greatly increase.

However, their aura will drop significantly afterwards, and their lifespan seems to be affected.

Furthermore, when Fang Shu holds the precious pearl and casts spells on his body, some spells, such as the Cleansing Clothes Spell and the Quiet Step Spell, will become ineffective or have their effects greatly reduced, while the effects of some spells, such as the Corpse Dissolving Spell, will be greatly increased.

Some talismans, such as the Water-Drawing Talisman and the Smoke-Blocking Talisman, which originally drew in clean water and smoke to obscure the eyes, will turn into poisonous water and smoke that can damage people's stomachs and cause them to cry!
After some thought, Fang Shu roughly realized the magical effects of the Lead Essence Pearl.

It is a poisonous treasure, which allows him to add an extra layer of metal and stone toxicity to the effects of some spells when he casts them, thus increasing their power!

And it wasn't just magic. Fang Shu walked up to the rock wall, but instead of using his tongue sword, he circulated his qi and blood and used brute force to draw three marks on the rock wall with his fingers.

All three marks showed a faint fluorescence, indicating that they had all been contaminated by the poison of metal and stone.

In short, if Fang Shu wanted to, every move he made now would be imbued with the poison of metal and stone, as if he himself were a weapon forged from the poison of metal and stone.

In this way, he will undoubtedly gain an extra boost in power when he refines Gu with insects or fights with people in the future!
This intensified Fang Shu's joy, and he couldn't help but exclaim inwardly:

"What a wonderful baby!"

He immediately understood why people were so eager to acquire magical artifacts.

This ability to imbue magical artifacts, spells, talismans, and even fists and feet with an extra layer of toxicity is truly mysterious and worthy of being called a treasure of the "Tao".

After practicing and trying it out several times in the cave, Fang Shu promptly put away the precious pearl.

With this magical treasure by his side, he should be able to make even greater progress in his various Gu techniques.

After sorting through his spoils, Fang Shu prepared to leave.

However, before leaving, he wandered around the cave again, breaking rocks and clearing away all traces, especially the abandoned altar buried deep in the ground, to prevent the exposure of information that should not be revealed.

While dealing with the traces, he suddenly discovered some petrified remains at the edge of the cave, and there were quite a few of them.

Previously, Fang Shu hadn't noticed these things because the poison from the metal and stone was still present. Now that he had some free time, he discovered them.

After examining it closely, Fang Shu couldn't help but shake his head.

The clothes on these corpses had long since decayed, and their bodies were all curled up in various strange positions, their skin withered, indicating that they must have suffered immense pain before their deaths.

Without a doubt, these people must have been trapped in the cave due to the collapse of the passage, and each of them suffered from the corrosive effects of the metal and stone poison, dying in agony with their bodies rotting and even their bones melting.

As for the origin of these corpses, they should be no different from the corpses outside the cave; they were all neighbors from the paper mill back then, but they were even more unlucky.

Fang Shu wandered around the various corpses and discovered the various marks they had made on the rock wall in their final moments of despair, the marks penetrating deep into the stone.

In particular, on one of the bodies, the other party used their hand as a pen to write lines of words in a crooked and sloppy manner, as if it were a last will and testament.

Due to the devastation caused by the poison, much of the writing on the wall had been obliterated. Fortunately, Fang Shu had a Taoist talisman, which allowed him to make out quite a few words by comparison.

He looked him over for a moment, then his gaze suddenly shifted.

Among these last words, the name "Fu Niang" appeared several times in a row, written with the utmost care and effort. From the words alone, Fang Shu could see the deceased's resentment and guilt before her death.

Coincidentally, Fang Shu met a woman named "Fu Niang" in the paper mill. He had a slight relationship with her, and it was from Fu Niang that he learned about the old story of how Ling Cheng Guanzi and many of his neighbors from the paper mill went out of town to search for treasure.

"In other words, this person is most likely Dou Sufu's husband from back then."

Fang Shu pondered, a look of emotion crossing his face.

However, he had no intention of taking the body back to Dou Sufu, so as not to expose the place and to prevent the last glimmer of hope in Dou Sufu's heart from dying out.

Fang Shu hesitated for a moment, then set off, intending to separate the half-melted skeleton from the rock as completely as possible, and bury it nearby so that it could rest in peace.

Crack! But even though he had been as careful as possible, the other person's bones were still broken into several pieces.

At the same time, a notebook fell from between the other person's curled-up chest and abdomen, scattered and broken, equally fragile, but it immediately attracted Fang Shu's attention.

He stopped collecting the body, squatted down, and carefully turned the pages of the booklet one by one.

After reading the contents of the book, Fang Shu's face showed a deep sense of surprise.

(End of this chapter)