<h4>Chapter 100: Absorb</h4>


    <strong>Chapter 100: Absorb</strong>


    “Still sleeping?” the ck-faced man said, pulling aside the curtain of the horse-drawn carriage, letting a ray of sunlight peek in.


    The cotton-clothed youth rubbed his eyes, unable to open his eyes from the re of the sun. “Ahhh… Daddy, why are you up so early?”


    When the too-bright scenery gradually became clear to him, he saw the ck-faced man carrying arge chunk of freshly roasted meat, wrapped in arge lotus leaf. The outer skin was roasted to a golden crisp, glistening with delicious fat as it emitted a delectable fragrance.


    “Oh?! Roast meat!” the boy eximed, the tiredness immediately leaving his body. He hurriedly picked up the piece of meat and began to stuff it in his mouth, not caring one bit about his hands getting covered in oil.


    “It’s hot, don’t burn your mouth!” the ck-faced man warned, shaking his head with a smile. “I know you don’t like the dry rations we brought from home, so I went to hunt a deer. I cut off some of the leg meat and roasted it nicely, then wrapped it in a lotus leaf to bring to you.”


    “But daddy, why does it seem like there are even less signs of people the further we go up the mountain?” the youth asked carelessly betweenrge bites of piping hot meat, his mouth smeared with oil and meat juices.


    Last night when the father and son pair were looking for a ce to rest for the night, they passed by several viges, but there was no hint of liveliness to them. The doors and windows were all sealed shut, and they couldn’t find any ce to rest, so they had no option but to spend the night in the horse carriage. The cotton-clothed youth didn’t think much of it, only supposing that perhaps the people here just liked to sleep early, given that it was already evening when they passed through.


    The ck-faced man’s smile became a thin, straight line as he looked towards the top of Miaohua Mountain, which was shrouded in a heavy ck mist, making it difficult to make anything out. He put down the well-roasted lotus-wrapped golden meat, a hint of uncertainty appearing in his heart.


    … …


    “Brother Ying, this is the ce. But with how thick this ghost fog is, could there actually be more than one Evil Spirit?” Luo Chengyi said with a solemn expression as he looked towards the ghostly haze enveloping Miaohua Mountain.


    Ying Wei’s expression was also a bit affected. He took out a copper mirror from his interspatial ring and activated it.


    A pale yellow ray of light shot out from the copper mirror. After several breaths of time, it swept through the entirety of Miaohua Mountain, hinting that this copper mirror was most likely a probing Spirit Tool.


    “There are at least two Evil Spirits here!” Ying Wei said, putting away the copper mirror, his expression turning ugly.


    “These affairs hall disciples are bing more and more careless! How could they get the mission information wrong?!” Luo Chengxi said, snorting coldly. “Then what should we do, Brother Ying? If we turn back now, there won’t be any reward for this medium-scale mission, even if the mission information they gave was incorrect.”


    The ten or so streaks of light gradually caught up with them from behind, stopping in the air near them. Some of the disciples saw that theirplexions were somewhat ugly and spoke up respectfully to inquire about the situation.


    Ying Wei nced at the disciples behind them but didn’t reply. Instead, he turned to Luo Chengyi and said, “If my conjecture isn’t mistaken, then when the affairs hall disciple first recorded this mission, it was most likely only one suspected Evil Spirit. This second Evil Spirit is probably still only at a newborn stage. Its identity could even be Miaohua Sect’s only Dao Foundation stage cultivator, Tan Lu, after dying and being infected by the ghostly fog.”


    Luo Chengyi hesitated. After all, he was only at the early Dao Foundation stage. Even if he could crush an Evil Spirit with the same equivalent cultivation as him in battle, this ce was already a hive of ghosts, so the risk was still there. But when he thought of the huge reward that could be earned from a medium-scale mission, he gritted his teeth and replied, “We’ll go with what you decide, Brother Ying!”


    Ying Wei nodded and instructed, “Sea of Qi stage disciples, begin clearing the Malicious Spirit stage ghosts starting from the bottom of the mountain! Brother Luo, you and I will cast a technique to dispel the ghost fog and y the Evil Spirits!”


    “Yes, Deacon,” the disciples agreed in session. Still in groups of three, theynded at various ces throughout the foot of the mountain and started to advance onward.


    “Having two disciples at the Dao Foundation stage here, with Martial Uncle Ying being at the peak Dao Foundation stage, we only need to be a little careful on this mission and we’ll be able to get by easily,” Wei Tianhe said while watching the surroundings for any hint of movement.


    “Although Malicious Spirit ghosts won’t cause any threat to us, if they show up in great numbers, it could be dangerous,” Zhong Zhengqing said, furrowing his brows. He wasn’t overly optimistic as he stared at the thick, concentrated ghost fog surrounding Miaohua Mountain.


    “Hm?” Xu Disheng suddenly stopped in his tracks, holding out a hand to stop the other two.


    On the mountain road in front of them, a paper doll had appeared before them at some unknown point in time. Its face was a pale, chalky white, its lips a blood red. It was extremely frightening as it swayed and tottered towards the three of them.


    “Junior Martial Brother Xu, it’s just a Malicious Spirit. Why are you holding me back…Ah?! Zhong Zhengqing, you jinxed it!” Wei Tianhe’s expression was initiallyid back, but his expression changed as soon as he looked behind that paper doll.


    More than a dozen paper dolls appeared in a dense pack, each with an expression of bitter resentment on their scarlet-lipped faces, waving around and fluttering ominously as they approached.


    “There are actually over 10 Malicious Spirits here!” Zhong Zhengqing said, trembling. He hastily took out his flying-type Spirit Tool and was already looking to flee.


    The paper doll at the front suddenly put on a burst of speed, arriving next to Zhong Zhengqing in a sh. Its bright red maw was already bent open at an inconceivable angle as it bit towards him!


    A protective barrier appeared around Zhong Zhengqing’s body, but it quickly became extremely thin. The barrier was clearly only from amon defensive-type Spirit Tool.


    If he stopped to cast a technique, this paper doll would soon interrupt him, and there were over 10 Malicious Spirit stage paper dolls teetering as they made their way in his direction. At this point, Zhong Zhengqing had no intention to fight, and was only thinking of getting away as quickly as possible.


    Wei Tianhe’s expression was just as ugly. Trembling, he nced towards Xu Disheng and said, “J-Junior Martial Brother Xu… S-should we run?”


    He knew Xu Disheng had two Martial Treasures, so he wasn’t nearly as scared as Zhong Zhengqing was.


    Xu Disheng nced at him out of the corner of his eye but didn’t respond. The phantom image of the Yin Yang Diagram appeared above his head, and he lightly swept out a stroke towards the paper dolls.


    The dozen or so Malicious Spirit stage paper dolls, swaying from left to right, were unable to resist whatsoever. They were sucked into the Yin Yang Diagram and suppressed.


    These paper dolls were no different from Sea of Qi stage cultivators who didn’t even have defensive-type Spirit Tools. A simple brandish of the Yin Yang Diagram was more than enough to make short work of them.


    Wei Tianhe was stunned. “Junior Martial Brother Xu, y-you…”


    Zhong Zhengqing was still in a struggle with the first paper doll when he suddenly felt the pressure on him lighten significantly. The paper doll in front of him let go of him and emitted a shrill shriek, turning into a stream of ck wind as it attempted to flee into the depths of the nearby mountainous forest.


    With a single thought, Xu Disheng activated the Yin Yang Diagram, dragging in thest straggler. It screeched the entire way, unable to put up any resistance whatsoever.


    “Huh? A Magic Treasure?!” Zhong Zhengqing eximed, staring wide-eyed at Xu Disheng, dumbstruck at his sudden extrication from the jaws of crisis.


    Wei Tianhe was already prepared for such an oue in his heart. He came back to his senses faster than Zhong Zhengqing and spoke in an ingratiating tone, which wasden with a newfound hint of intent to curry favor. “Xu Disheng is a genius of the Sea of Qi division. Just the other day, he won against the rank 32 genius, Jie Zizhuo! Dealing with a few trifling Malicious Spirits is nothing for him!”


    Xu Disheng gave him a sidelong nce and said, “We’ll continue onwards.”


    With that, he immediately began to head up the mountain once more.


    Zhong Zhengqing still hadn’t fully recovered hisposure. Only after Wei Tianhe pulled on him hard did he finallye back to his senses and follow after them with aplicated expression on his face.


    Before they knew it, Xu Disheng had already unwittingly be the center of this small temporary group.


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