CHAPTER 614: CHAPTER 613: ONE SIP, ONE SILENT

[Special Limited-Time Mission: Rescue Puppet Master Huang Hanying, successfully ensure her survival. Reward: Puppet House Blueprint +1 issued]

The system promptly popped out a notification, which allowed Jiang Yuan to breathe a sigh of relief. As long as the soul hasn’t dispersed, she counts as alive!

Then he glanced at the Ink Jade Space, inside which a milky-white smoke-like misty mass was floating.

Clicking to view would bring up the old lady’s profile picture, showing status: Forced soul emergence resulting in divine soul damage, now in a slumber. Awaiting the Ink Jade Space to nourish the soul, she will gradually awaken.

If you want her soul to recover faster, she could consume an elixir like the Soul Nourishing Pill.

How fortunate is that?

Contracted pet Little White and Xie Chenyuan are currently in Carefree City, waiting for the City Lord to gather the medicinal ingredients.

Once a batch is refined, give some to Gongxi Jin to complete the task, and use the remaining for the old lady’s divine soul. If she recovers sooner, she can help create Puppet House decorations sooner.

That thing can increase farm yields, and it pairs perfectly with the newly acquired World Grain Warehouse.

Without a countdown pressuring like a swift blade, he felt much more at ease; Jiang Yuan had plenty of time to handle the mess.

Apparently, Zhao’s mansion was a nest for evil cultivators. Just now, when charging in, Zhao Gui took Huang Niu’Er and ran away. Outside, the old man was still trapped inside the Chaotic Heaven Bell. Following the trace, maybe Jiang Yuan could take care of this evil cultivator blood-pack.

"How can I possibly thank you, Mr. Jiang? Thank you!" Jin Lang, holding a corpse still retaining residual warmth, dazed for a moment before realizing that the brief yet effective rescue wasn’t a dream.

Thanks to Mr. Jiang’s righteous intervention, Huang Granny’s divine soul could be saved in her dying moments.

No matter how difficult the future may be, at least with the soul still intact, there’s still hope. He didn’t betray Granny’s trust, swinging into action with the pendant she gave him.

At this moment, recalling the entire process from the chance encounter with Mr. Jiang to discovering Huang Granny’s disappearance, to him stepping in for assistance, teleporting here, fighting tenfold, not wasting a single moment of rescue time—not even a tea-brewing time was spent.

Unfortunately...

"It’s my fault. At dawn, I watched Granny close the shop door firsthand, thinking after closing the market, we would be safe. Who would have thought... I should have used the pendant to sense her location during the day as well, then I would have known earlier..." Jin Lang lamented but halfway through, he realized—even if he discovered earlier, what difference would it make?

Without Mr. Jiang’s help, he wouldn’t even know where to go to find Granny!

"You don’t need to be so hard on yourself; fate has decided. The fact that you arrived in time to rescue her soul is great. There will be ways to revive her in the future." Jiang Yuan hastily comforted him as he rushed off to harvest lifespan, signaling him to take Huang Granny’s body and leave the dark chamber.

Jin Lang belatedly realized, "So Mr. Jiang knows Granny?"

In these times, human hearts have degenerated and societal morals declined; even the child Granny personally raised could betray, yet an unfamiliar fellow cultivator was willing to step forward—Jin Lang couldn’t help but find this increasingly peculiar the more he thought.

Jiang Yuan casually concocted an explanation: "I don’t know her, but I heard the stories about Granny and Huang Niu’Er in the market. Boldly risking in wartime to save the calf, raising it meticulously, Granny is truly admirable."

Now it made sense!

With simple-minded shallowness, Jin Lang sighed, "Who says otherwise? Nowadays, there’s so few good demons as sentimental and loyal as Granny, unfortunately. Good people don’t receive good fates, but raise heartless ingrates!"

Mentioning Huang Niu’Er, he grumbled in anger: "The Heavenly Dao cycles well, surely that heartless ingrate will find neither joy in life nor peace in death!"

The two headed back from the collapsed secret passage, with Zhao Yongxiang’s ears still ringing inside the bell.

Even now, he hadn’t understood what happened, simply beaten one-sidedly. Suddenly, it got dark in front of his eyes, and his ears buzzed from the shock, then no more hits landed—finally, he could take a breather.

He staggered forward and touched around, finding a huge round magical treasure, "No! Something’s definitely going on in here!"

As an evil cultivator, Zhao Yongxiang could lead his family perfectly disguised amongst righteous cultivators while running prosperous business relationships, he’s naturally no slouch.

Immediately, he sensed that his son, Zhao Gui, was definitely hiding something.

At dawn, the boy rushed back with an old lady and a child hurriedly and then holed himself up in his courtyard. Later on, no one knew what went on, ending up taking the old lady to the dark chamber for interrogation.

He heard that the old lady was the uncooperative Puppet Master from Golden Chicken River Market, Zhao Yongxiang assumed his son’s patience ran thin, planning to coerce the other into cooperation for puppet refining, so he didn’t take it seriously.

An old and poor Puppet Master, yet still managed to incite powerful cultivators to assist. Furthermore, the cultivators’ goal was clear—to save her. Hearing she was held in the dark room downstairs, they immediately discontinued fighting.

Could it be the old lady has any treasure worth scheming about?

How did these two find their way to Zhao’s estate?

Forcefully breaking open the entrance to the dark chamber could activate underground labyrinth and multiple traps; could they be successfully captured?

His son Zhao Gui was in the dark chamber; could he timely support them?

In an incredibly short time, a series of question marks flashed in Zhao Yongxiang’s mind.

He instantly realized if he had been beaten silly, he had better think of escaping! Regardless of whether they could be caught or not, at the very least, he had to get out of this cursed contraption.

Earlier, the attack from that young boy drained all surrounding spiritual power, then trapped him with a magical treasure, leaving spiritual energy in dire shortage. He took spirit stones from his storage bag to replenish a bit of his inner spiritual power, attempted an escape technique only to find no reaction; he tried using a teleportation talisman, but still failed to escape.

Clearly, this was a powerful magical treasure designed to prevent any escape!

If my son can use the underground maze and mechanisms to capture him, he’ll naturally be safe and sound. But what if he can’t?

"Then we can only wait. At the critical moment, life and death will be decided." Zhao Yongxiang, who always acted cautiously and liked to prepare for both possibilities, chose a corner farthest from the pavilion from memory.

He fully concentrated, waiting for the moment the opponent moved the Magical Treasure, to use the Teleportation Talisman to escape, and then go to settle the score with that kid Zhao Gui!

When Jiang Yuan came out of the pavilion, he found that Yu Hu warriors spontaneously guarded around the Chaotic Heaven Bell, surrounding it tightly;

The Sword Spirit of the Clear Wind Bright Moon Sword floated into appearance, speaking in unison: "Sir, aside from the guards who were slain, all other members in the mansion teleported away using different means, we couldn’t capture any prisoners."

"There is still a living one inside the Chaotic Heaven Bell. Capturing an elder should provide some interrogation clues." Jiang Yuan waved his hand indifferently, and the Mandarin Duck Swords returned to their sheaths with a swish.

Jin Lang’s eyes widened — a top-quality Spirit Sword with a Sword Spirit!

My goodness! What kind of divine being is Mr. Jiang?

Just now, the Ink Jade he casually took out that allowed the grandmother’s Divine Soul to temporarily inhabit was already a top-quality Spiritual Artifact, and yet he also possesses top-quality Spirit Swords! Moreover, they are a pair!

As an Artifact Refiner, his biggest ambition is to constantly climb the path of cultivation to ultimately craft Spiritual Artifacts, Divine Artifacts, and Holy Artifacts. He has a colleague’s passionate love for these kinds of Treasures, truly wanting to touch the swords, to see what craftsmanship was used to create them...

Despite his yearning, Jin Lang was still polite and discreet. Carrying Granny Huang’s corpse, he’d occasionally steal glances at those exceptional Spirit Swords, but didn’t dare to ask to borrow them for a look.

Then, he just stood dumbstruck watching Mr. Jiang walk towards a gigantic bell and straight away step inside. His jealous gaze lingered on the bell for a few breaths, immediately brightening — yet another top-quality Spiritual Artifact!

No, it doesn’t seem to be that spiritual.

He was slightly frightened by those tall, robust, armored mysterious warriors who emitted miasma all over, yet he was really curious to seriously observe this slightly off-state bell.

He didn’t dare breathe, Jin Lang cautiously approached, discovering that those spear-wielding mysterious warriors didn’t pay him any heed, and then slightly exhaled, placing his broad palm on the bell’s wall.

"Surely, overall its presence is very impressive, but it seems a bit coarse. If suitable materials could be found for meticulous forging, it might in time even have the potential to become a Divine Artifact!" He liked it more and more as he looked, beginning to frown slightly and ponder which Earth Treasures might be suitable for further forging.

Inside the Chaotic Heaven Bell, Jiang Yuan set the permissions so that he could come and go freely, while any other person or monster who comes in cannot get out, and those outside cannot come in. With the system in place, he believes that a small intermediate-level Evil Cultivator can’t escape from his grasp.

Sure enough, Zhao Yongxiang never imagined that the opponent didn’t open the circular Magical Treasure, but directly entered!

Moreover, as soon as the opponent entered, two Spirit Swords emitting faint glows flew over, placing themselves on the left and right of his neck.

This is damn not following the rules!

The carefully planned escape route instantly went down the drain, and now, with two Spirit Swords pointed at him, his head might come off at any moment.

"Fellow Daoist, this is a misunderstanding." Zhao Yongxiang could only bring out his family’s ability to be flexible, smiling apologetically as he explained, "That elderly lady was brought back by my son Zhao Gui, claiming she was a Puppet Master with whom he hadn’t finalized a transaction, and intended to have a good chat. I—I’m not aware of the grievances between them!"

Jiang Yuan didn’t want to agitate a blood bag, after all, the Chaotic Heaven Bell wasn’t that spacious, and fighting could easily splatter blood everywhere.

Soul-Devouring Demon Skill is great, one absorb and there’s no sound, and ultimately everything turns into flying ash, it’s especially eco-friendly.

"I see." He stepped forward, smiling gently with a benign expression, "Just as well, I have a few questions I’d like to ask the elder. If the elder doesn’t spare the information, I’ll naturally return your freedom."

Upon hearing these words, Zhao Yongxiang didn’t relax his vigilance; instead, he felt even more on edge, hair standing upright!

Something’s not right! This is extremely not right!

But knowing something’s wrong is of no use, damn it, he can’t run away!

[Lifespan +2 Years]

[Lifespan +1 Year]

......

Something’s definitely not right, because as Jiang Yuan approached, he suddenly gripped both of his hands, and began frenziedly activating the Soul-Devouring Demon Skill!

"The Zhao family’s mansion is merely your foothold in the Human World; where is your real hideout?"

"Your son Zhao Gui ran away, do you know where he might flee to?"

While absorbing his lifespan, Jiang Yuan asked with a faint smile.

In Zhao Yongxiang’s eyes, the smiling executioner was even more terrifying!

The Spiritual Power he just replenished was instantly drained, yet he had no Cultivation Technique to counter such bizarrely sinister abilities, feeling life force continuously drain, despair surged.

"Don’t want to respond? I’ve given you a chance, you know." Jiang Yuan absorbed more and more, becoming somewhat excited.

Then he saw his vision filled with exploding "screen" electronic fireworks — the improved version of Soul-Devouring Demon Skill leveling up to 2!

[Improved Soul-Devouring Demon Skill: Level 2. Can absorb lifespan from any living being, efficiency increased by 10%. After absorbing lifespan, there’s a chance to enter Frenzy Mode, losing sanity and slaughtering indiscriminately. Please use with caution; there is a small chance to absorb and learn the skills the other possesses, requiring certain Spirit Stones. Please consider carefully]