CHAPTER 254: AFTERMATH

"Master, the soul nourishing tree is too young and that soul is too badly damaged. He won’t recover just by staying in the branch." Feng Xue said and Shen Xu couldn’t help but frown.

However, he soon shook his head and turned to the domain.

"Let’s deal with them first. Ayuan, what’s your plan?" He asked.

"Knock them out and then search their souls."

While saying that, Zhen Yuan raised his law-scripting brush and began writing something in the air.

A moment later, a silver rune flew out and seamlessly integrated into the domain.

"Activate." Zhen Yuan whispered.

Simultaneously, the domain glowed and a light fell on the four prisoners.

Less than a breath later, the four collapsed and Zhen Yuan nodded in satisfaction.

"They are out. We can search their souls now." He said.

After removing the domain, each approached a prisoner and searched their soul.

An incense stick later, the four looked at each other with solemn expressions.

"How can this be?" Feng Xue muttered with a complicated expression.

From what they learned, disciples of the Ten Evils sect had infiltrated most of the sects and big families in the Tianxuan continent.

This particular group was from the Tianxuan sect.

After infiltrating the sect, they laid low and didn’t dare to be reckless.

This time, the group needed a lot of ’cultivation resources’ to advance to the void refining realm.

However, they didn’t dare to kill too many people under the nose of the Tianxuan sect.

In the end, they used an ancient teleportation formation to come to the Yunshan secret realm, planning to use mid-world cultivators as cultivation resources.

"One hundred evil cultivators came in." Shen Xu stated and a trace of murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

At the same time, he recalled the original book and couldn’t help but frown.

In the book, Xiao Weimin and his group did not encounter evil cultivators.

However, there were rumours of strange deaths in the secret realm but the matter was left unsolved.

’It probably had something to do with the evil cultivators.’ Shen Xu thought, staring at Li Wenqiang’s corpse.

"Let’s collect the loot and burn the bodies." Zhen Yuan said with a thoughtful expression.

"Ayuan, what about Li Wenqiang’s body? Is there a way to return his soul to his body?" Shen Xu asked but before Zhen Yuan could say anything, Feng Xue spoke up.

"Master, this is impossible." She said.

"What do you mean?"

"The soul-draining technique is extremely evil and its effect cannot be reversed. This body can no longer be used." Feng Xue said and Zhen Yuan nodded in agreement.

"This body has lost its ability to nurture life." He said.

Hearing this, Shen Xu didn’t insist.

Soon after, they collected the loot and burned all the bodies before returning to their camping site.

"Eat first or check the loot first?" Shen Xu asked with a teasing smile.

"Eat." Feng Xue answered.

"Eat..., check the loot..., no..., let’s eat first." Yang Shi finally decided.

"What about you?" Shen Xu asked, looking at Zhen Yuan.

"I will follow your lead." The man said and Shen Xu chuckled in amusement.

In the end, the four ate the fish soup before entering the portable cave to check the loot.

From the evil cultivators, the four recovered eight space rings and a space belt.

At this time, the space artifacts were placed on a table and four pairs of eyes were eagerly staring at them.

"I will start." Shen Xu said and picked a space ring.

A moment later, a batch of things flew out of the ring and stacked in a corner of the sitting room.

"High-grade spirit stones." Shen Xu excitedly exclaimed.

At the same time, he picked a high-grade spirit stone and rubbed it against his cheek.

After that, the four emptied the space artifacts and categorised the loot.

As usual, they burned the clothes, personal things, and evil materials before focusing on everything else.

"We got forty-three million high-grade spirit stones, two hundred and fifteen million mid-grade spirit stones, spirit grasses, talismans, pills, weapons, formation disks, several treasures, materials, and some inheritances." Shen Xu stated.

"Master, the high-grade spirit stones should be enough for us to refine our nine-colour lotus." Yang Shi said and Shen Xu nodded in agreement.

It had been more than forty years since they got the lotuses.

However, they didn’t dare to refine them because they worried they didn’t have enough qi to maintain their realm.

With the high-grade spirit stones, Shen Xu was certain they could refine the lotuses without risking their cultivation level.

"It’s about time." He said but soon frowned.

"How should we deal with Li Wenqiang?" He asked.

"There is a way." Zhen Yuan said with a conflicted expression.

Less than a breath later, he sighed and turned to Shen Xu.

"Xiaoxu, bring him out." He said.

"Okay." Shen Xu said and removed the soul-nourishing tree branch from the Chaos Flame space.

Simultaneously, a soul floated out of the branch.

"Fellow daoist Shen, Fellow daoist Zhen, thank you for saving me." Li Wenqiang said as soon as he saw the two.

"You should already know your situation." Zhen Yuan said and Li Wenqiang nodded.

Although his soul was stronger than when he first died, his condition was not good.

He knew that without extraordinary opportunities, his soul would fall into a deep sleep and he might never wake up.

At worst, his soul would dissipate and he would never have a chance to be reborn.

"Two fellow daoists, I am willing to form a master-servant contract as long as you help me live." Li Wenqiang said in a determined voice.

"A master-servant contract cannot be broken and you will have to follow us for the rest of your life. Are you really willing?" Shen Xu asked, his eyes narrowed into slits.

Hearing this, Li Wenqiang sighed.

If possible, he didn’t want to become a servant but life was more important.

Thinking of this, his eyes hardened and he nodded without speaking.

"We have a suitable ghost cultivation technique but your soul is too weak to practice it. That said, we don’t have treasures that can mend your soul, but we have a way to strengthen it just enough to cultivate the ghost technique. Do you want to hear it?" Shen Xu asked, his lips curled in a smile.