Chapter 30: Mission Accomplished, White Bone Banner Upgraded

The three of them concluded their deal and had formally established a cooperative relationship.

Each of them accepted their own storage pouch.

At that moment, Gu Fan suddenly remembered the mission he’d come to accomplish.

So, in front of the Second Prince, he took out a scroll.

“Your Highness, to be frank, we two came to the capital not just for sightseeing—we have one more task.”

Zhou Rong paused, somewhat puzzled. “What task? Whatever you need help with, I’ll definitely lend a hand.”

Gu Fan smiled and pushed the scroll toward Zhou Rong. “We actually need Your Highness’s help. The mission is simply to deliver this scroll into your hands. We didn’t expect to run into you today—it saves us the trouble of arranging contact.”

That made Zhou Rong even more suspicious.

The Heavenly Evil Sect was located rather far from the Great Qian Dynasty—what kind of task could involve him?

Seeing their serious expressions, without any hint of jest, he reluctantly accepted the scroll.

After a brief moment of thought, he opened it and began to read—right in front of them.

Moments later, Zhou Rong’s expression darkened, and he sighed resignedly.

This deal really wasn’t favorable for him.

The scroll explained the background: its author was an old acquaintance of Zhou Rong’s birth mother.

Some time ago, they had given him a jade pendant. If he ever shattered it, the scroll’s owner would send assistance.

A few days ago, he indeed broke the pendant.

So, the scroll’s owner had dispatched two disciples—Gu Fan and Lin Yi—to aid him.

That meant even if he didn’t promise any spirit stones or benefits, Gu Fan and Lin Yi would still be compelled to assist him in his struggle for heirship.

The money had already been spent and arrangements smoothed over—and only now did he learn what this scroll was really about.

But as a prince, Zhou Rong was extremely intelligent. He understood that mentioning this now would be pointless.

Forcing them to serve would be far less effective than if they offered to help willingly.

Natural motivation—like receiving spirit stones—would inspire far more diligence than begrudging enthusiasm.

So instead of ruining the freshly built rapport, he’d remain silent.

With that in mind, Zhou Rong drew a deep breath and smiled.

“It’s nothing serious—just some old exchanges between our families. You two can stop worrying about the mission.”

Hearing that the mission was complete, Gu Fan and Lin Yi both relaxed.

The three of them toasted and drank, almost behaving like close friends.

It wasn’t until after midnight that they bid each other farewell.

They watched as the Second Prince climbed into his carriage and left.

Gu Fan, who had been a bit drunk, instantly sobered up.

Beside him, Lin Yi also shook off the lingering haze.

“The mission’s done,” Lin Yi said quietly, “but I bet there will be many casualties in the upcoming heir-struggle.”

“Royal matters are the most ruthless,” Gu Fan replied. “But those five thousand spirit stones were worth it.”

Gu Fan shot Lin Yi a slight glare, half teasingly. “You’d better hurry up and improve your cultivation. The prodigies from the five righteous sects are all in the capital—don’t drag me down when it gets serious.”

Lin Yi bristled at the criticism, but when he remembered Gu Fan’s own strength, he could only close his mouth with a huff.

“Don’t worry. I’m good at more than swordplay. When the time comes, I’ll surprise you.”

“Heh, I hope so. Let’s head back and rest.”

Meanwhile, in a small theater in the imperial capital, performers were droning out their lines onstage, the audience responding with “ee‑yah, ee‑yah.”

Among the hundreds of empty seats, only one young man sat, flanked by several servants.

Suddenly, someone rushed in and knelt before the youth.

This person was none other than the Fourth Prince, Zhou Qin.

“Your Highness, the person hasn’t come,” he reported.

Zhou Qin absentmindedly touched the ring on his finger.

With barely a reaction, he murmured his acknowledgment and then asked:

“Where’s Old Liu?”

“They made a move on the two… and got killed!”

Zhou Qin paused slightly, then continued in a calm and detached tone.

“This matter will be set aside for now. Once the dust settles, I’ll settle this score myself.”

“Yes, Your Highness. However… the Twin Stars appear to have been invited by the Second Prince. It seems they’ve made a connection.”

“Second Brother only now wants to get involved? It’s already far too late… And with just two demonic cultivators, what kind of waves can they stir? Hmph!”

Zhou Qin raised his hand, and the performers on stage immediately halted their act.

“My only true opponent is Eldest Brother. Even Third Brother isn’t qualified!”

“Tell all the guest cultivators below to enter battle readiness. As for Second Brother… if he refuses to give up, let him be. When everyone around him is dead, he’ll naturally become obedient.”

The subordinate bowed his head.

“Your Highness is wise!”

Zhou Qin stared at the performers on the stage, a cold sneer forming in his heart.

Second Brother, oh Second Brother—why can’t you just think things through?

As for those two blind Heavenly Evil Sect disciples, he truly didn’t take them seriously.

Did they really think that killing a few righteous path disciples made them invincible among the younger generation?

They were nothing more than fledgling chicks just out of the nest—how long could they possibly jump around?

…

Post-apocalyptic zombie world.

After a month, Gu Fan reappeared on the rooftop of the hospital, habitually sweeping his divine sense across the surroundings.

Hmm…

Thankfully, unlike the previous few times, nothing had gone awry.

Everything appeared to be running smoothly.

In a flash, Gu Fan arrived at the Evil Lotus.

Beside the blood pool, piles of white bones had accumulated—numbering in the tens of thousands.

Judging by the looks of them, they had been separated out after the Evil Lotus absorbed the flesh.

Without a word, Gu Fan took out the White Bone Banner and began the devouring process.

Currently, the banner’s limit was summoning ten White Bone Soldiers.

Gu Fan’s first goal this time was to upgrade the quality of the White Bone Banner, so it could summon more.

As the absorption continued—

The mountain of bones, originally as tall as a ten-story building, gradually melted away.

It turned into streams of strange liquid, merging into the White Bone Banner.

Very soon, all the bones were completely absorbed.

The White Bone Banner itself successfully advanced!

As Gu Fan held it in his hand, he could immediately sense that ninety more slots had appeared for summoning White Bone Soldiers.

Moreover, the strength of the condensed White Bone Soldiers had risen from third and fourth layer Qi Gathering Realm to the ninth layer!

A look of joy flashed in Gu Fan’s eyes.

A hundred soldiers at the ninth layer of Qi Gathering attacking at once—even a mid-stage Spirit Sea Realm cultivator wouldn’t last long, right?

“So this is what they call a qualitative leap from quantitative change?”

Gu Fan murmured under his breath, then began filling in the ninety White Bone Soldier slots.

It took a full half hour to complete.

After putting away the White Bone Banner, Gu Fan slowly walked toward the blood pool.

The Evil Lotus sensed Gu Fan’s approach and affectionately rubbed against his side.

Over this period, with the Evil Lotus’s backfeeding, Gu Fan had already advanced to the fifth layer of the Spirit Sea Realm.

The speed of his advancement was absurd.

Keep in mind—it had only been around ten days since he entered the Spirit Sea Realm!

And all of it was thanks to the Annihilation Evil Lotus’s backfeeding.

It was like a 24-hour automatic cultivation plug-in.

Moreover, the time flow was one to five!

Gu Fan reached out and gently touched the lotus bud, then flipped his hand and poured all one thousand spirit stones from his storage pouch into the blood pool.

Instantly, the Evil Lotus quivered with delight—like a child receiving candy.

It stirred wildly in the pool.

Unlike before, when it had rooted itself in the cultivation world and could absorb spiritual energy directly from the air, it now had abundant flesh and blood in the zombie world—but lacked spiritual energy, which required spirit stones to supplement.

Watching the spirit stones dissolve into powder, Gu Fan couldn’t help but feel a pang of heartache.

Hopefully, these one thousand spirit stones would last a bit longer.

Otherwise… he truly wouldn’t be able to afford to raise it…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep