Chapter 278: A New Path
Xiao Shou feigned a look of reverence and said, "But earlier, to prevent the spread of the Seven Deadly Sins, did not the Emperor order the extermination of all living beings within that hundred mile sea region? Now that it has reached here, surely the Emperor will seal off all infected areas to prevent it from spreading further."
When the entire family heard this, they looked at him as if he were a fool.
"The far northern region is full of lowly people from remote areas. This place is where the Emperor and the officials reside. How could it be the same? Forget it. Yingzhou Celestial Isle will definitely be abandoned in the end, and everyone will flee. I will tell you one more time. Leave quickly."
After saying that, he pulled his family away and left in a hurry.
Watching their retreating figures, Xiao Shou smiled helplessly.
This was the strange nature of Yingzhou Celestial Isle.
Within its official system, from the Emperor down to the lowest officials and soldiers all carried a bandit-like nature.
On the contrary, the common people, as long as their beliefs were not violated were somewhat more sincere.
Shaking his head, Xiao Shou dismissed these thoughts and returned to his cave room.
He opened the Woodflow Bottle and released a small amount of the Seven Deadly Sins to carefully observe it. Yet no matter how he examined it, he could not detect anything unusual about it.
Left with no choice, he began testing ways to destroy it.
Ice, fire, lightning, wind.
He tried all kinds of ordinary spells, but none of them could destroy it.
Did this Seven Deadly Sins have no weakness?
Just now, Jian Li’s Vermilion Bird Flame, which had not even reached the level of the Vermilion Bird Sacred Flame had clearly burned it away.
Then it struck him.
It was not that it could not be burned.
The intensity of the flame had simply not been sufficient before.
The plant-like nature of the Seven Deadly Sins still remained, but its defensive ability was too high.
Ordinary flames could not harm it at all.
If there was a flame strong enough to exceed its defenses, it could still be destroyed.
The same principle applied to other attributes as well, though lightning and fire naturally countered plant attributes more effectively.
In that case, as long as he could obtain sufficiently powerful lightning or fire, even if Yu Lin truly had control over the Seven Deadly Sins, he would have nothing to fear.
If this place were abandoned by the Emperor and the others, he might even be able to step in and save it.
But where could he obtain high level lightning or fire?
At least in the novel, no high level lightning type spiritual objects had ever appeared in this realm.
However, spirit flames had appeared quite often.
For example, the Vermilion Bird Flame in the Vermilion Bird Secret Realm, or the Golden Sun Flame in the Golden Crane Realm.
The Vermilion Bird Secret Realm had strict entry requirements. It’s accessible only to disciples of major sects.
There was no way he could just head to the Golden Crane Realm now and seize the Golden Sun Flame.
Even if he did not mind making the trip, the Golden Crane Realm was filled with Golden Sun Flames, but true Golden Sun Flame was extremely rare.
By the time he managed to find it, it would likely be too late.
Was there any other method?
Xiao Shou lay on the bed while stretching his body lazily and rolling back and forth, yet he could not come up with any ideas.
As his thoughts wandered aimlessly, they somehow turned to his Absolute Fusion ability.
A bold idea suddenly appeared.
If his Absolute Fusion ability could even combine and upgrade cultivation techniques, then if he fused spirit flames and upgraded them, would he not be able to easily obtain high level spirit flames?
At that thought, Xiao Shou’s eyes lit up.
With a shift of illusion, the extravagant old cultivator persona returned once more.
He quickly followed the safe routes he had mapped out over ten days ago and headed toward the more orderly street near the imperial palace.
Ignoring any concerns about places like Nine Treasure Pavilion, the forces backing the shops, or whether it might provoke greed, he took advantage of the remaining order.
He swept through every shop that was still open and buying out all their stock of various spirit flames in one go.
This time, he did not even wait for change in low grade spirit stones.
He simply took the spirit flames and left.
He estimated that the amount of spirit flames he had gathered would be enough for several rounds of fusion.
If it was still not enough to reach Tier 6, he could supplement it with high grade fire attributed materials or heavenly treasures, and then use the Void-Time Calyx to predict the success rate of fusion.
Just as he was feeling pleased with his plan, his nose suddenly hurt.
It felt as if he had collided with something harder than stone.
When he looked up, he saw a familiar bald head, a familiar face, and a familiar set of monk robes.
"Benefactor, did you hurt yourself?"
The white robed monk looked at the old cultivator before him, but what his eye of truth perceived was a beautiful young man with fox like eyes.
For some reason, just meeting those eyes made his mind waver as if he could not look away.
Seeing the faint tears in those eyes now, he could not help but feel concerned.
As the monk reached out to touch his nose, Xiao Shou suddenly felt that same strange urge to draw close to him again.
That loss of control made him deeply uncomfortable.
As he forgetting his current disguise as an old man, he quickly took a step back to avoid the monk’s hand and said coldly to him, "I am fine."
"Benefactor?"