Who taught him to practice swordsmanship like this?

Chapter 102 Nourishing Spirit and Cultivating the Mind

In a dark valley near Hidden Dragon Manor on the outskirts of the capital, the area is heavily guarded.

Inside the valley, it was divided into several areas, where a total of more than 15,000 supernatural beings were imprisoned.

This is the largest quarantine zone in the country, and inhuman howls can be heard coming from inside, making it feel like a mental hospital.

Normally, woodcutters, herb gatherers, and hunters would pass through this valley to rest, but now not a single person wants to pass by.

The common people had no affection for these people who had contracted the disease, and only hoped that the court could lock them up completely and prevent them from infecting others.

Ordinary people can't distinguish between the concepts of ordinary people and extraordinary people.

When Su Baichen arrived here, his palms were slightly damp as he looked at the quarantine area in front of him—after all, if he were to pull this off, he would be no different from a great demon in the eyes of the world.

His hands will soon be stained with blood.

But how to put it... looking at the various freaks in this quarantine zone, driven mad by the sealing of their spiritual apertures, Su Baichen silently mourned, and swiftly took out the Soul-Controlling Banner—

With a gentle shake of the soul banner, a wisp of black energy spread out, enveloping the frenzied assailants and forcibly extracting their souls.

The process could even be described as smooth.

Because these extraordinary individuals suffer greatly from the blockage of their spiritual senses, they are eager to break free from their physical bodies and regain their original, clear spiritual awareness.

But the next moment—

These souls found a moment of peace, only to be swallowed by the abyss.

The Soul-Controlling Banner relentlessly devoured the alien souls, while Su Baichen simultaneously felt the pressure emanating from it constantly increasing.

Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he decided to test how many souls his current primordial spirit could withstand.

So he temporarily resisted with his own will, but the ancestral will within the Soul-Suppressing Sword was already prepared to help him suppress the resentment of these dead souls at any time.

The result is—

One hundred, two hundred —

One thousand, two thousand —

Even ten thousand, fifteen thousand —

Good heavens, he extracted all the souls of the supernatural beings in the entire quarantine zone. Each of these souls had extremely intense emotional fluctuations, making them the best nourishment for the Soul Banner.

Theoretically, it should be the one with the most severe backlash.

But for Su Baichen, no matter how severe the backlash from the resentment in the soul banner was, it was still lacking something.

He discovered that no matter how much damage those resentful spirits caused to his primordial spirit, a thin layer of yellow light would cover his primordial spirit, which would seemingly barely support it but actually steadily.

This layer of light immediately reminded him of the earth elemental energy he sensed when he was meditating in the Nanshan cave, which enveloped him and supported the vitality and splendor of the entire mountain.

So, this "Spirit Nourishing and Spirit-Nourishing Technique of Thick Earth" really does have something to it!

However, he can only rely on this true meaning to withstand the backlash from so much resentment, but he can't make them obey.

Su Baichen still used the Soul-Suppressing Sword.

On a psychological level, it's like a group of muscular men charging at a bunch of whiny sissies, grabbing them by the neck and slapping them across the face—

After a short while, the spirit banner fell silent.

The more than 15,000 souls within the soul banner were now all incredibly obedient, not daring to make a single sound.

Su Baichen felt relieved, but when he caught sight of Yu Renxiu cautiously watching him, he suddenly felt like acting—

He silently circulated his profound Yin spiritual energy, forcing himself until his face turned ashen and he was covered in cold sweat.

Then feign weakness and exhaustion.

Upon seeing this, Yu Renxiu was startled and quickly stepped forward to help him, asking, "How are you, sir?"

Su Baichen, looking utterly exhausted, said, "It's nothing, just a slight shock to my primordial spirit. I'll be fine after a period of rest."

,

Yu Renxiu had no doubts. After all, if you put yourself in their shoes, even a cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage would find it unbearable to have so many resentful spirits impacting their primordial spirit.

However, at this moment, Yu Xiangke's strange voice came from the side: "Xiuer, don't be fooled by this kid. He's in high spirits right now. I don't think we need to worry about him taking in a million more people with his Ten Thousand Soul Banner."

Su Baichen's expression froze, and he gave an awkward laugh.

Yu Renxiu glanced at Su Baichen silently, but did not let go of his hand. She continued to support him and said, "Sir has solved a great problem for us, so it is only right for me to serve him."

Su Baichen was truly embarrassed and quickly pushed Yu Renxiu away gently.

"You're joking, senior. I was just being playful and making a joke."

Yu Xiangke chuckled and said, "Hey, you're my great benefactor, so feel free to joke around."

Su Baichen quickly changed the subject: "What brings you here, Senior?"

Yu Xiangke said, "On one hand, I came to check on the situation here, and now I'm relieved. On the other hand, I came to ask you how to deal with those extraordinary people in the imperial court?"

Su Baichen breathed a sigh of relief; they were finally getting down to business.

He asked, "Are there many extraordinary people in the imperial court?"

Yu Xiangke nodded solemnly: "There are quite a few people, and many of them are in key positions."

"If we were to replace them all rashly, it would be difficult to find replacements in a short period of time."

Su Baichen said, "In that case, we should gradually weaken its side branches and foundations. First, we should ensure that the new officials behind it are legitimate. While we are slowly reducing its influence, we should also prepare for a complete replacement."

Yu Renxiu chimed in from the side, "We have similar thoughts, but if this drags on for too long, they might notice something amiss and strike first, causing trouble."

Su Baichen paused slightly, then said, "Then—it depends on whether His Majesty can cooperate."

Yu Renxiu was instantly brought to her senses by this remark.

She wholeheartedly agreed, saying, "His Majesty has always placed the reins of power in the hands of powerful ministers. Now that he wants to reclaim power and rule personally, isn't it only natural to kill a few of these ministers and their cronies?"

Su Baichen thought for a moment, then asked another question: "How is Lord Wang Zhishui doing in Baizhou in the north?"

Yu Renxiu said, "It's only been a few months, how can we see any results yet?"

"He did indeed work diligently there, and the defense of Baizhou was at least proceeding at a rapid pace. However, since he was ultimately a civil official, most of the generals in the border regions did not submit to his authority."

Upon hearing this, Su Baichen asked again, "Is Baizhou still under military pressure?"

Yu Renxiu shook his head: "The plague we deliberately spread happened to spread rapidly in the states of Wei and Wu, who are currently preoccupied with their own problems."

Su Baichen smiled and said, "Alright, since that's the case, let Lord Wang come back. However, since this Lord Wang seems to lack practical skills, why not let him return as an imperial censor?"

Yu Renxiu and Yu Xiangke simultaneously realized something—good heavens, Wang Zhishui was now terrified of falling into the hands of Prime Minister Zhou Sheng. Both of Zhou Sheng's sons had died under his rule, and now there was only irreconcilable conflict between them.

If a guy like that comes back, for the sake of his own life, wouldn't he bite Zhou Sheng like a mad dog?

However, in reality, Zhou Sheng was not an extraordinary person.

But at this point, whether he is an extraordinary person or not is irrelevant, because the young emperor needs to overthrow the powerful ministers and take control of the government himself, while Hidden Dragon Manor needs to take this opportunity to secretly eliminate all the extraordinary people in the court!

Humans are such strange creatures; if a bunch of people died inexplicably, everyone would be in a panic.

But if a lot of people die because of a power struggle, then everyone will rush to fill that power vacuum.

Yu Renxiu's gaze toward Su Baichen became even stranger. She was increasingly convinced that Changchun Palace might just be a demonic sect pretending to be righteous.

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