Daoist Competition

Liu Nasong’s essence blood was completely drained, and before long his physical body turned into bones, leaving only a thin layer of skin covering them.

Zhang Yan thought for a moment, reached out his hand, and took Liu’s sleeve bag over.

He suspected that there were Demon Sect practitioners here who hadn’t been cleared out, so he wanted to see if he could deduce any clues from the items they carried. If there were letters or talismanic slips of correspondence, that would be ideal.

He flipped through and first found a palm-sized smooth jade dish. Upon examining it, he saw it was inscribed with "Yuanchi Yi Cong Xia" and on the back, "Supreme Venerable Liu on duty", indicating this person was indeed an Elder of Yuanchi, and a Nascent Soul Second Realm Cultivator, ranked with an "Yi" character—a status not low.

The Blood Essence Sect’s four ponds are divided into Blood Pool, Huo Pond, Yuanchi, and Residual Pond. In terms of strength, Yuanchi was rumored to be ranked only third, and the once rampant Master Ru Huang was the Pool Master of Huo Pond during that time.

After storing the jade dish away, he continued to search and stumbled upon four or five Dharma Treasures.

However, they were all just Spiritual Artifacts, none were Mystical Artifacts, and mostly were vicious and sinister items not fitting Xuanmen Sect Skills, so he didn’t pay much attention, he just probed deeper into the sleeve bag, where the spiritual mechanism encountered an obstacle, as if hitting a layer of sealing.

He became interested right away, to be so cautious even when in a sleeve bag indicated the contents inside were evidently not simple.

Utilizing Mana to strike slightly, it took only half a breath to break that prohibition. Instantly, a dense Spiritual Energy leaked out, as if about to rush out from the sleeve bag; he was well prepared, turned the spiritual mechanism, and suppressed it all.

Just upon touching the Qi Mechanism, he felt three hundred Xuanming Heavy Water abruptly jump within his apertures, as if eager to leap out and meld with the Spiritual Energy, much like the situation when inadvertently refining that single drop of You Yin Heavy Water. His mind stirred, and upon probing further inside, he discovered a full bag of dark essence pearls.

This item was the result of Liu Nasong spending over two hundred years, exhausting countless efforts to continually gather and refine Netherworld Essence from deep underground, intending to cultivate a mighty Divine Skills for use after reaching the Third Realm, but after abandoning his flesh body, this item was also left behind.

Zhang Yan extracted one, sensed for a moment, then smiled gently, thinking it an inadvertent gain. With a flick of his robe sleeve, he collected them all into his bag, tossed out a thunderbolt to obliterate the ruined flesh, and then soared into the sky, swirling wind and clouds as he flew back the way he came.

Not far outside, he saw dozens of Spirit Lights flying towards him, the foremost being Qin Nan, following her were more than thirty Shouming Palace disciples, and a high crown daoist beside her caught his attention,

Zhang Yan could tell at a glance that this person was a Dharma Body in excursion, much like himself, also a Nascent Soul Third Realm Cultivator, yet his face seemed somewhat familiar. As he pondered, he recalled seeing this person once outside Shouming Palace.

Qin Nan also saw him from afar, hurriedly accelerated her tunneling light, and upon approaching, ordered the disciples to stay back, approaching alone, she greeted respectfully: "Senior Brother, received your Spirit Talisman message, little sister immediately brought disciples over, what do you need us to do?"

Zhang Yan briefly explained the situation and then said: "I suspect there are still Demon Sect practitioners hiding here, a thorough investigation is needed. Please, Junior Sister, guard here for a day. I will send someone tomorrow to completely cleanse this place."

Qin Nan happily agreed, "Little sister accepts the task."

At this moment, the daoist suddenly smiled, drifting forward, he said: "Junior Brother Zhang, worthy as Ten Disciples Leader, came and immediately found Demon Sect practitioners here, yet such small matters need not trouble Junior Sister Qin. I, as True Master Peng’s nephew, count as half a member of Shouming Palace, should contribute to this matter."

Zhang Yan turned his gaze, "May I ask this fellow disciple’s name?"

The daoist made a bow and said, "My name is Peng Yuzhou, currently practicing in Day Sky Hall."

"Ah, so it’s Elder Peng from Day Sky Hall." Zhang Yan glanced at him a few times, faintly smiling, "Since Elder Peng intends to take over this matter, I have no objection, yet let me remind you that the Demon Tribulation is fierce, caution is necessary. This involves the lives of my Mingcang Disciples; if something goes wrong, I’ll have to hold someone accountable."

Peng Yuzhou, seeing his agreement, was secretly delighted. He had already decided to first arrange personnel to investigate superficially, then secretly order the matter to be exaggerated, trying to claim part of the achievements for Sea Eye Opening and merit establishment, without much effort, gaining substantial support.