I'm in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have one equipment slot!

The dark yellow Soul-Guiding Bell, like a firefly drawn by invisible threads, traced a faint path in the pitch-black night, flying straight towards the depths of the mountains and forests.

After flying for about twenty or thirty miles, Xiao Zhong suddenly changed direction, no longer traveling in a straight line, but instead descending diagonally towards a small, rocky hill below.

Seeing this, Zhou Yuan knew that the target was nearby. He immediately accelerated and caught up with the Soul-Guiding Bell in an instant, grabbing it in his hand.

At the same time, a layer of soft cyan spiritual light surged from his palm, like a bubble, completely enveloping the Soul-Guiding Bell along with the faint white light it emitted, isolating it from the outside world.

He remembered the original text mentioning that if the bell got close to a target within a certain range, the target would sense it. Isolating the bell at this moment was precisely to avoid alerting the enemy.

After doing all this, Zhou Yuan did not hesitate to activate the "Nameless Concealing Breath Technique". His aura instantly became as solid as a mortal rock, and he landed lightly, silently disappearing into the small hill.

The night was deep, but for Zhou Yuan, whose spiritual sense was powerful and comparable to that of the early stage of Core Formation, it was not much different from daytime.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he scanned his surroundings, his divine sense acting like invisible tentacles, meticulously exploring every inch of land and every rock.

Soon, his gaze and divine sense locked onto a pile of rocks at the top of the mountain.

In the center of that jumble of rocks, on a huge, dark blue-green rock, sat a burly figure, his legs crossed.

This person was tall and muscular, dressed in coarse linen clothes, with a wooden and stiff face, closed eyes, and a slightly rising and falling chest. There was a faint, almost stagnant spiritual energy fluctuation around him, making him look like a puppet "cultivating" in a routine manner.

Or rather... a body that has not yet fully adapted after being possessed, and is still trying to recover and hide itself.

It was the puppet left behind by Han Li—Qu Hun!

However, what is controlling this body now is clearly not the simple instructions or puppet core left by Han Li, but another unfamiliar primordial spirit filled with fear and vigilance.

Zhou Yuan stopped hiding, withdrew most of the effects of the Concealing Breath Technique, and walked unhurriedly toward the "Curved Soul" on the rock.

He walked with a leisurely pace, as if he were just a traveler passing through, but his gaze was firmly fixed on the other person.

It wasn't until Zhou Yuan approached to within three zhang of the rock that the burly figure sitting cross-legged suddenly jolted, as if startled from a deep meditation, and abruptly opened his eyes!

Those were eyes completely different from the "Soul of Melody's" original dull gaze; they were filled with surprise, vigilance, and a hint of barely concealed panic.

"Who are you?!"

The big man shouted in surprise and suddenly flipped off the rock, his movements somewhat stiff.

But it was fast. After landing, it immediately assumed a defensive stance, its eyes fixed on Zhou Yuan, especially the Soul-Guiding Bell in his hand, which was enveloped in a blue light and appeared and disappeared.

Zhou Yuan remained calm as he slowly raised his right hand. The azure light in his palm dissipated, revealing the dark yellow Soul-Guiding Bell.

The bell in his hand emitted a faint yet familiar fluctuation that made "Qu Hun" tremble violently.

The burly man's expression changed drastically, his fear intensified, and he instinctively tried to retreat rapidly, attempting to create distance and escape the area.

However, would Zhou Yuan give him that chance?

Zhou Yuan held the Soul-Guiding Bell in his left hand and flicked it lightly with his right index finger.

"Clang—"

A deep yet clear chime rang out in the silent mountain forest.

The sound wasn't loud, but it seemed to carry a strange power that struck straight to the soul.

The burly man, who had just made a backward movement, suddenly froze, as if he had been hit hard on the head by an invisible hammer. His face instantly contorted in pain, his steps faltered, his legs gave way, and with a "thud," he fell directly to the ground!

"A natal magical artifact! What you're holding... is this body's natal magical artifact!"

The burly man struggled to get up, but felt as if all his strength had been drained, and the connection between his spirit and his body was also strongly interfered with and suppressed.

He looked up at Zhou Yuan, his eyes filled with disbelief, horror, and deep fear, and cried out in shock.

The only thing capable of controlling and influencing this body so precisely is the natal control artifact left behind by the original creator, which is closely connected to the body's essence and blood.

Zhou Yuan slowly stepped forward, looking down at the burly man who was lying on the ground, temporarily incapacitated. His voice was cold and devoid of any emotion:

"Speak! Who are you? Where did you come from? Why do you want to possess this puppet body?"

In fact, as a time traveler, Zhou Yuan already knew this person's identity and origins perfectly well.

This person is a cultivator from the "Spirit Control Sect," one of the six major sects of the demonic path, and was originally at the Core Formation stage.

About five or six years ago, I was ordered by the Yuling Sect to secretly infiltrate the Yue Kingdom and conduct some illicit contact or transactions with Ling Shou Shan, who also harbored ulterior motives and secretly colluded with the demonic path.

However, his whereabouts were somehow exposed, and he was intercepted and killed by a Core Formation stage expert from one of the seven sects of Yue.

After a fierce battle, although he escaped using the secret techniques of the Spirit Control Sect and his spirit beast, he was severely injured and on the verge of death.

Left with no other choice, he had to abandon his physical body and let his spirit leave his body to escape.

The fleeing primordial spirit unexpectedly ended up in Lanzhou, where it happened to sense the puppet "Qu Hun" that was uncontrolled but made of special materials and still had vitality.

For a primordial spirit on the verge of dissipation, this is akin to a drowning person grasping at a last straw.

So, disregarding everything, he attempted to possess the body of the puppet, successfully gaining control and thus clinging to life.

Zhou Yuan's reason for not immediately destroying this primordial spirit and directly seizing the excellent material for the "Qu Hun" incarnation was naturally due to other schemes.

Even if a former Core Formation stage cultivator's physical body is destroyed and they flee in panic, they would never casually discard the storage bag or treasures they carry with them.

After possessing the "Qu Hun" body, this person would definitely hide the original body's storage bag in a secret place for safety reasons.

Although Zhou Yuan, relying on his memories from the original work, roughly knew that the cave where the storage bag was hidden was somewhere nearby, he still needed to find it.

Instead of wasting time searching aimlessly, it's better to just force the information out of this "insider," which saves time and effort.

"I...I am a cultivator from Spirit Beast Mountain! I was seriously injured while carrying out a secret mission for my sect, and had no choice but to temporarily reside in this puppet body to heal! If you are a fellow disciple from Spirit Beast Mountain, or a fellow cultivator from any of the seven sects, please show mercy! I will surely repay you handsomely!"

The burly man's eyes darted around as he tried to remain calm, attempting to fabricate a lie to get away with it.

He could see the spiritual pressure of the Foundation Establishment stage that Zhou Yuan was currently displaying, and dared not withstand it head-on.

I just want to keep the other party calm for now.

"A cultivator from Spirit Beast Mountain?"

Zhou Yuan's lips curled into a cold smile, his eyes growing even colder. "Even now, you still won't tell the truth, is that it? It seems you want to taste the agony of your soul being tortured, wishing for death but unable to die!"

Before he finished speaking, Zhou Yuan flipped his left hand, and a bowl, as black as ink, covered with twisted ghost faces and exuding a sinister aura, appeared in his palm.

It was obtained from the evil artifact of the Yue Emperor—the Soul Gathering Bowl!

As soon as the bowl appeared, the surrounding temperature seemed to drop several degrees, and a chilling, bone-chilling aura spread out.

From within the alms bowl, faint, shrill howls and whimpers, like the wailing of a hundred ghosts at night, could be heard. Wisps of eerie black mist also wafted from the mouth of the bowl, swirling and coiling, making the entire alms bowl appear ghostly and extremely sinister.

The burly man, sprawled on the ground, looked at the strange alms bowl and the unusual phenomena it displayed. His face first showed surprise and uncertainty, as if he were trying to figure something out.

But the next moment, as if he remembered some extremely terrifying rumor, his pupils suddenly contracted, his face turned ashen white, and his expression suddenly became extremely tense.

There was even a hint of fear in them.

"What...what are you going to do? Could it be...are you going to use the 'Soul Refining Technique'?!"

When the words "Soul Refining Technique" were squeezed out of his trembling lips, the big man's eyes were filled with a deep-seated fear, and his body trembled involuntarily.

In the world of cultivation, terrifying legends about the "Soul Refining Technique" are widely circulated.

It is said that cultivators who practice this evil art are skilled at forcibly extracting the enemy's primordial spirit and soul, and then torturing them day and night with various insidious spells, causing them to suffer unimaginable pain, yet unable to die.

One of the most widely circulated theories is that practitioners of the Soul Refining Technique must forge a "Soul Artifact" that is closely connected to their own primordial spirit. Only with this special artifact can they unleash the terrifying Soul Refining Technique.

As for what exactly a "Soul Weapon" looks like, very few people outside the community have ever seen it in person.

However, through word of mouth, it was naturally described as eerie and ghostly, often associated with the image of evil magical artifacts that imprison and torment living souls.

At this moment, the "Soul Gathering Bowl" that Zhou Yuan took out contained the souls of hundreds of cultivators that the Yue Emperor had collected and refined over the years. The resentment was soaring, and the ghosts were howling. Its appearance was exactly like the legendary "Soul Weapon"!

Coupled with Zhou Yuan's earlier threat to "taste the torment of one's soul," the big man naturally mistook the "Soul Gathering Bowl" for the terrifying "Soul Weapon" and regarded Zhou Yuan as a demon who practiced the evil art of soul refining!

This is exactly the effect Zhou Yuan wanted!

How could he possibly know any soul-refining techniques?

It's nothing more than exploiting information asymmetry and the terrifying appearance of this "Soul-Gathering Bowl" to deliberately create a terrifying atmosphere and force the other party to reveal the truth.

Seeing the burly man terrified, Zhou Yuan sneered inwardly, but his face remained icy: "Last chance. Tell me, who are you? Where is your storage bag hidden?"

"I'll talk! I'll talk! Fellow Daoist, please calm down! Please don't use that Soul Refining Technique!"

The burly man's mental defenses completely crumbled, and he hurriedly cried out, "Actually...actually, I am a cultivator from the Spirit Control Sect! Several years ago, I was ordered to infiltrate the Yue Kingdom on a mission, but I was intercepted and killed by seven Core Formation experts from different sects. My physical body was destroyed, and I could only escape here with my primordial spirit, which then possessed this puppet body!"

"Where is your body, or rather, where was your original storage bag hidden?"

Zhou Yuan pressed on, saying that this was the key point.

"Fellow Daoist... if I reveal the location of the treasure, could you... could you spare my life?"

A glint of survival flashed in the burly man's eyes, but more so, wariness and unease. "No... empty words are no proof! You must... you must swear an oath with your 'Soul Weapon'! At the cost of your Soul Weapon shattering and suffering a backlash, swear you will not kill me after I reveal the secret! Otherwise, I would rather die than tell!"

He knew that for evil cultivators who practiced soul refining techniques and valued their "soul weapons" more than their own lives, swearing an oath with a "soul weapon" was extremely binding, even more effective than an oath made by their inner demons.

Zhou Yuan chuckled inwardly.

This idiot paved the way for himself.

What "Hornet" does he have?

They are not afraid of any backlash from "shattered Soul Weapon".