Chapter 186: Chapter 88: A Bountiful Harvest

Alchemist Xue fully opened his Divine Sense, summoned the Flying Ship, and swiftly headed towards Feihong Immortal Manor.

During the Four-Nine Minor Celestial Tribulation of Nascent Soul transition, due to insufficient accumulation, his Dantian lacked enough Magical Power, causing his advancement to Nascent Soul to fail, resulting in severe backlash, and his physical body was nearly shattered by the Celestial Thunder.

Ultimately, he relied on a life-saving pill to preserve his life.

On the surface, he maintained the power of the Middle Stage of Core Formation, but in reality, his Dantian was already severely damaged.

Let alone the power of the Middle Stage of Core Formation, he couldn’t even exert the power of the Early Stage.

For years, he has been withdrawn in Liuyun City, hoping to find divine medicine to remedy the situation, but heaven did not grant his wishes.

He was virtually in despair.

His lifespan was nearing its end, and yesterday he received a letter from an old friend, warning of impending disaster.

After contemplating for a night, he finally decided to go for the appointment.

Perhaps, this time will be the last meeting of this lifetime.

He scouted ahead and found no suspicious danger, finally putting his mind at ease.

Moreover, he thought, given that he’s old and has little lifespan left,

and this place is not far from Liuyun City,

who would bully an old fellow who is about to go to the grave?

Thinking this, Alchemist Xue felt more at ease.

“Boom~”

However, the next moment, an invisible barrier suddenly shot up into the sky.

Instantly, it trapped him within.

“Restriction Array!”

“Tier Three!”

“There are actually two layers, plus an Imprisonment Array!”

One layer shields external perception, the other prevents internal escape.

Alchemist Xue’s hair and beard stood on end; his whole body trembled.

“Who is it? Friend, is there a misunderstanding? This old man has not much lifespan left, already…”

“Boom!”

But before he finished speaking, a Celestial Thunder had already descended from the sky.

“Celestial Thunder Talisman!” The terror of the Four-Nine Celestial Tribulation instantly gripped Alchemist Xue’s heart once more.

The next moment, he fell to the ground completely unable to resist,

with just one strike, half his body was already scorched black, clearly unable to survive, sustained solely by his powerful Divine Soul holding a breath.

“Would Your Excellency bully an old man like me this way?” Alchemist Xue felt anguished without tears.

What left him speechless was, just as he crashed to the ground, an invisible presence had enveloped him.

In less than a breath, he already felt the very little lifespan he had left draining away rapidly.

“Tier Three toxin…”

Before the words ended, a long tongue suddenly emerged from the ground.

The tip of the tongue, sharp as black as ink, flashed swiftly, penetrating his consciousness sea.

Immediately, Alchemist Xue forever lost awareness, plunging into endless darkness.

What he couldn’t see was that the next moment, two Tier Three Puppets had already leapt down from the trees…

The whole process took no more than three breaths, akin to the instant of a thunderclap.

“…” Li Jizhou detected below that Alchemist Xue already had no trace of life, his lifespan imperceptible, frowning slightly.

“So weak?”

Without further thought, he flew down, used his annual rings to absorb his aura, bloodline, and Divine Soul, then took away his storage pouch,

released Bai Yi, plunging into his Dantian, swallowing the Anomalous Fire, and conveniently burned the scorched corpse and Divine Soul clean, without leaving even ashes.

Finally, he put away the chessboard array, dispersed the desolate poisonous medicine for a thousand miles, grabbed Guagua, and escaped underground.

Until he traveled a thousand miles further, seeing another Alchemist Xue dropped on the ground, Li Jizhou finally felt reassured.

“Indeed, that weak!”

“Two Tier Three chessboard arrays, one Quasi-Third Tier Celestial Thunder Talisman, one bottle of desolate thousand miles…”

Li Jizhou felt slightly pained.

But that distress fleetingly vanished.

Because the loot in Alchemist Xue’s storage bag made it hard for him to suppress his smile.

Over two thousand Middle Grade Spirit Stones,

countless various Tier Three pills,

the inheritance of a Tier Three Pill Master was also inside,

most importantly, one of the jade bottles actually contained a Tier Two Longevity Fruit!

Numerous other miscellaneous items too.

Very abundant!

Finally, Li Jizhou began to examine that substitute puppet.

If not for the absence of Divine Sense control, losing all aura, it would truly look no different from Alchemist Xue.

Substitute puppet Li Jizhou once read about in ancient texts, evolving from Puppetry Skill, requiring a special Secret Skill contract established with super strong Divine Soul power, full of oddities.

After studying for a while, he couldn’t figure it out.

Li Jizhou released all of Alchemist Xue’s aura, bloodline essence, and Divine Soul stored in the annual rings.

As soon as the spiritual aura of Alchemist Xue appeared, the substitute puppet came to life immediately.

“So that’s how it is!”

It turned out to be spiritual synchronization.

After getting familiar with it, Li Jizhou put it into his storage bag to slowly study later.

Then he started examining the memory fragments of Alchemist Xue.

The most recent one was the message from Qin Haoyang, the current patriarch of Feihong Immortal Manor, transmitted yesterday.

He hoped that Li Jizhou would assist in the capacity of a worshipper to the Merchant Alliance, but that the alliance should not get involved.

This was roughly what Li Jizhou had suspected.

Without wasting too much time, Li Jizhou set up the flying ship, traveling while continuing his investigation.

Especially on the interactions between Alchemist Xue and the Qin family.

Two days later,

Li Jizhou arrived at the vicinity of Feihong Immortal Manor,

He stowed the flying ship and hid among the ancient trees, then released the aura blood of Master Han that was stored in the annual rings.

Feihong Immortal Manor is a coalition of five families united for mutual benefit.

The Qin family is just one among them,

However, because the patriarch of the Qin family possesses Late Stage of Core Formation cultivation, they oversee the Feihong Immortal Manor.

And at this moment, the surroundings of Feihong Immortal Manor were already crowded with people, aggressive and stormy.

The Artifact Sect, the Zhang family of Artifact Refining, and Red Flame Valley united, demanding an explanation from Feihong Immortal Manor.

Li Jizhou observed from afar without rash actions.

Although the annual rings had stored Alchemist Xue’s aura and blood, it might deceive them easily.

However, Li Jizhou was unsure if the patriarch of the Qin family in Late Stage of Core Formation would see through the deception.

Although now he had many trump cards, he wasn’t arrogant enough to challenge someone of Late Stage of Core Formation.

“Do we really need a fight to settle this?” At this moment, a particularly calm and peaceful voice echoed.

Though the voice was calm, it clearly carried the power of a sonic cultivation technique,

This single utterance immediately caused many from the three families outside to retreat several yards.

Soon, an imposing elder in a sky-blue robe stepped forward, standing in front of the people of Feihong Immortal Manor.

It was none other than Qin Haoyang, the first patriarch of Feihong Immortal Manor.

Even from hundreds of miles away, Li Jizhou could sense the surging magical power manifesting from his entire being.

Of course, this was deliberately released to intimidate the three families.

However, the three families were not easily intimidated. Red Flame Valley also had a patriarch at Late Stage of Core Formation leading, while the other two families had their peak Middle Stage of Core Formation patriarchs.

A war of words ensued, each side standing by their claims.

Yet no one made a move.

After all, they all came for profit, not to fight to the death.

The higher one’s cultivation, the closer they are to the Grand Dao, the greater their hopes, and they naturally wouldn’t make a big move for minor profits lest it damages their foundation and jeopardizes their path to the Grand Dao, leading to a loss.

Therefore, when both parties have gathered with great momentum, it usually doesn’t end in a fight, especially when there are high-tier cultivators present.

Those truly intent on fighting do so by surprise.

Both sides shared this tacit understanding,

so after exchanging some trash talk and accusations, they began negotiations.

However, just as both sides relaxed,

“Swish~”

A sharp edge suddenly emerged from the crowd.

Immediately, a dazzling golden light flashed.

“Boom~” almost without giving anyone time to react, a towering killing intent rushed towards Qin Haoyang.

Li Jizhou squinted his eyes, staring at the golden light intently.

The magical power emitted was at most Middle Stage of Core Formation, but the tangible killing intent and awe-inspiring might was comparable to Qin Haoyang.

“Celestial Punishment?” Li Jizhou instantly thought of this secretive organization in Yan Kingdom.

“Wretched child, dare you!” Qin Haoyang roared angrily, but unable to avoid it, he could only face it head-on.

His magical power erupted instantly, forming a pair of Void Hand Seal before him, slapping towards the golden light.

“Boom!” The explosion resounded through heaven and earth.

Before everyone’s eyes, the golden light directly pierced through Qin Haoyang’s Void Hand Seal, then through his towering figure.

Upon closer inspection, the golden light turned out to be a person!

Human and sword as one!

“Thud~” Qin Haoyang slowly fell to the ground, still holding disbelief and surprise on his face.

However, the person who pierced through was also hit by Qin Haoyang’s Void Hand Seal, lying in distress on the ground, spitting a mouthful of blood.

“Patriarch!”

“Brazen villain, daring to injure our patriarch, kill!”

After a moment of shock, the people of Feihong Immortal Manor finally reacted, some lifting Qin Haoyang and rushing him inside the manor, while others chased down the assassin.

And possibly due to severe injury, the assassin’s face showed a fluctuation of magical power, causing the disguise to fail and revealing their true face!

Though separated by hundreds of miles, Li Jizhou recognized the person at once!

“It’s actually him!”

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