Transmigrating to the Qi Cultivation Path, I became an outdated Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Puzzled, He Sheng looked at Ji Yunlai lying on the ground.

Since Wu Feng was already dead, the ropes binding Ji Yunlai, having lost their magical support, loosened somewhat, but the man himself was no longer alive.

He Sheng didn't care whether this person lived or died; he only used the Soul Searching Technique to try and get answers from Ji Yunlai and find out how much material this guy and He Yiyang had taken from the He family's secret vault.

However, something strange happened!

He discovered that Ji Yunlai's sea of ​​consciousness was completely empty, with no soul present at all, except for a black worm the size of a fingernail.

He Sheng had followed the guidance of the vengeful spirit seal all the way here. When he sensed the two people in the temple with his divine sense, he quickly approached them using the Rippling Water Escape technique.

During this time, all that was heard was Wu Feng interrogating Ji Yunlai about the materials he had secretly kept, but there was no mention of the Soul-Devouring Gu.

However, he had already learned from Wu Feng's memories that Wu Feng had used the Soul-Devouring Gu to control Ji Yunlai, so he reacted immediately.

"This time, Yunlai's soul was completely devoured by the Soul-Devouring Gu. This Gu technique is truly wicked!"

This was the first time He Sheng had encountered such a situation, and Piao Ge had no relevant memories, since Piao Ge had never cultivated soul-path techniques.

He Sheng's heart stirred, and he used his magic to imprison the black insect, preparing to take it out and study it.

But something he never expected happened!

Splat...

With a soft sound, the moment He Sheng's magic touched the black worm the size of a fingernail, the strange Gu worm exploded instantly, like a water sac filled with ink.

Then,

A foul-smelling, dark, purulent blood spurted out.

This black water was extremely corrosive, instantly dissolving Ji Yunlai's sea of ​​consciousness.

*Smash!*

Ji Yunlai's head exploded from the inside out, instantly shattering into pieces, with brain matter and bone fragments mixed with black liquid scattering everywhere.

A curtain of water appeared out of thin air in front of He Sheng, blocking all the filth and leaving him completely untouched.

But when He Sheng saw the corpse on the ground, which was completely dead and whose head was smashed into a pulp, his face instantly darkened.

He had originally hoped that by using Ji Yunlai's Soul Search, he could find out the truth about the size of the He family's secret vault and discover the location of the remaining resources.

Now look what's happened; all our efforts have been in vain.

A perfectly good 100 million yuan deposit, now only a third is in hand, the rest is nowhere to be found.

He Sheng was naturally in a terrible mood. He was about to use his magic to destroy Ji Yunlai's body and cover up the crime when his divine sense keenly detected something unusual.

At the center of that exploding blood mist, a tiny, invisible point of light was not completely corroded away by the black water.

"Is this Ji Yunlai's remnant soul?!"

He Sheng's guess was correct; these tiny specks of light were the remnants of the soul that the Soul-Devouring Gu had not yet fully digested after devouring his soul.

However, these remnant souls were already fragmented and clearly could not withstand the soul-searching technique.

"The Soul Searching Technique is unusable, but we can use these remnant souls to perform the 'Memory Retrieval Technique,' which should yield some clues, right?"

A glint flashed in He Sheng's eyes, and he immediately used the technique he had comprehended while cultivating the Soul Imprint Technique—the Method of Recalling Memories.

A wisp of divine consciousness, imbued with a subtle, rippling aura, gently enveloped the remnant soul, like a gentle stream caressing a weathered ancient scroll, carefully extracting the remaining information within.

A moment later,

Fragmented images flashed through He Sheng's mind.

These are fragments of Ji Yunlai's memories from before his death!

In the scene, Ji Yunlai kills He Yiyang in the reeds, steals his storage bag, and then flees.

However, there is no visual information for this part; there is only a vague movement trajectory. It is necessary to combine this with the actual terrain to roughly determine how the creature ran from the reed marshes to this location.

More importantly, even if the actual route of action is determined, it is still difficult to determine where this guy stopped during the journey or where he hid the resources.

It should be noted that once spirit stones or magical artifacts are placed in a storage bag, their spiritual energy fluctuations are completely isolated. Finding a hidden storage bag along a distance of dozens of miles is as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack.

"However... there are other ways!"

A flash of inspiration struck He Sheng, and he found a theoretically feasible solution in Piao Ge's memories.

"If we can find a magical beast with the ability to locate treasures, and search along the route Ji Yunlai took from the reed marshes to the dilapidated temple, it might be possible to find the hidden storage bag!"

However, these kinds of monsters with the ability to find treasures are never easy to find. Those who can capture them keep them as treasures and rarely reveal their abilities to the public.

but...

In Wu Feng's memory, Xu Qiancheng, the personal bodyguard of Lin Wanrou, the head of the Xiajiang branch, was proficient in the art of beast taming and kept several spirit pets.

Among them is a treasure-devouring serpent, possessing the ability to find spirits and treasures!

With this thought in mind, a bold plan emerged in He Sheng's mind.

"In this Silver Sand River region, the patriarchs of the major Foundation Establishment families are all only early Foundation Establishment cultivators."

Lin Wanrou herself was only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, and Xu Qiancheng was also only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment.

...

Piao Ge's cultivation level was superior to everyone else's, which was the key to his arrogance and domineering attitude in front of everyone.

"And now I am a Foundation Establishment cultivator at the Great Perfection stage. As long as that sword-bearing youth doesn't return to the Silver Sand River, even all these people combined can't do anything to me!"

This was not because He Sheng was arrogant, but because through his battle with Wu Feng, he gained a direct understanding of his own strength.

Take, for example, the transcendent technique he had previously comprehended, "Gathering Water to Break." He originally thought this technique was useless, but that was only for cultivators in the late Foundation Establishment stage who had already refined the prototype of a magic weapon.

In reality, the "Gathering Water Break" technique, which possesses power comparable to a talisman treasure with a simple gesture, is still a powerful killing move for cultivators in the early and middle stages of Foundation Establishment, given its formidable power.

It should be understood that the power of a common magic weapon used by a Core Formation stage cultivator should be considered as a standard unit of measurement.

The power of talismans is less than that of a fully refined prototype magic weapon; most of them only have about 15% of the power of a magic weapon.

It should be noted that for those in the early and middle stages of Foundation Establishment, top-quality magical artifacts are their usual means of acquisition.

Even the most powerful offensive magic weapons can only reach about half the power of magic treasures, and the same goes for top-grade defensive magic weapons; they simply cannot withstand the bombardment of talismanic treasures.

This is also why Wu Feng's defense was completely broken by the first Water Gathering Break.

It's pure, overwhelming power.

Talismans are consumables. Even if ordinary cultivators have them, they treat them as trump cards and cannot use them continuously at will.

"But my Gathering Water Breaker, combined with the Thousand Waves Banner, can be used continuously, even twenty or thirty times in a short period of time."

He Sheng used the Water Gathering Break technique on Wu Feng twice, but it consumed less than 10% of his mana each time.

Therefore, taking this battle as a reference, He Sheng felt that he could completely dominate the Yinsha River.

"The only thing to worry about is that sword-bearing youth, but I have the trump card of the Rippling Water Escape. If I really encounter this kid, I can escape immediately."

so..."

As soon as He Sheng had a thought, his bones and muscles began to make a faint crackling sound.

His originally hunched figure and aged face, after a series of changes, eventually became a person with a gloomy face and a thin body.

This is exactly what Wu Feng looks like!

Not only did they look exactly alike, but their magical power fluctuations had also decreased to the early Foundation Establishment stage, and even their aura was almost identical to Wu Feng's.

Clearly, He Sheng was planning to use Wu Feng's identity to infiltrate the Tianhai Chamber of Commerce.

He not only wanted to get his hands on the Treasure-Swallowing Serpent from Old Xu, but also wanted to find out why Lin Wanrou had set up a trap to kill Piao Ge!

"However, the 'Flesh and Blood Rebirth Technique' isn't a particularly sophisticated method of disguise; at least the simulated aura isn't entirely convincing, and it's possible it could give itself away."

With this thought in mind, He Sheng looked at the water droplet on his palm.

[Current available total training time: 5 years, 5 months and 9 days]

[Technique]:

【Flesh and Blood Rebirth Technique (Perfect): 4/500】

(Total training time: thirteen days per year)

With more than five years left for general cultivation, He Sheng naturally planned to further improve his Flesh and Blood Rebirth Technique to make his disguise even more exquisite and leave no room for doubt.

But after he glanced at the information about "The Art of Flesh and Blood Rebirth," his gaze froze.

"It seems... a little different?"