Chapter 13: Crooked-Mouth Old Man, Peerless Guardian Spirit

The birth of every Guardian Spirit is extremely demanding.

Most Guardian Spirits are born from obsession, and share a bond with a Spirit Tamer.

If a living being generates powerful resentment before death, it becomes an evil spirit.

At this time, if a person intervenes and subdues it, they can obtain a Guardian Spirit.

This is the only way for a non-innate Spirit Tamer to become a Spirit Tamer.

Where there is trade, there is harm.

The black market hidden in the sunlight has had an industry selling Guardian Spirits since ancient times.

Even the lowest F-rank Guardian Spirit is a red-hot, sky-high-priced treasure in the black market.

And the Guardian Spirits sold in the black market mostly originate from artificial creation.

Just like the white-clothed female ghost Li Qingran encountered before his eyes.

This practice defies heaven's harmony; in the Spirit Tamer world, it has always been something everyone shouts to beat, to be killed upon discovery.

The white-clothed female ghost has already surpassed F-rank Guardian Spirit aptitude, initially touching the threshold of E-rank.

And the other female ghosts of Heiyun Villa are only a hair's breadth away from F-rank Guardian Spirit.

It seems the person behind this has great ambition, far from satisfied with just one F-rank Guardian Spirit.

Li Qingran knew very well that this was inevitably an incomparably powerful dark force.

If it were another Spirit Tamer, to avoid bringing trouble upon themselves, most would pretend they hadn't discovered it.

But Li Qingran did not fear in the slightest; he closed his eyes, sensing the location of the formation's eye.

Heiye's expression was solemn as he advised: "Boss, this handiwork probably isn't from an ordinary Spirit Tamer; we've just arrived in Heihai City, rashly intervening is ultimately not a good thing, why not let me investigate first?"

Li Qingran shook his head, his eyes full of powerful confidence: "No matter who is behind it, let them come find me."

He walked forward a few steps, stopping beneath a thick willow tree.

Tree shadows dappled; borrowing the dim light, a well could faintly be seen under the tree.

"Woo woo woo!"

The female ghost on the eaves, seeing Li Qingran approach the well, let out strange sounds from her throat, limbs on the ground like a wild beast, poised to pounce at him.

Li Qingran didn't turn his head, casually raising a hand; a black vortex appeared in his palm, emitting a suction force.

"Demon God Refinement Art, Devour."

Bang!

The female ghost walked into the trap of her own accord.

"Whoosh!"

Li Qingran's palm pressed against the white-clothed female ghost's head, like a humanoid vacuum cleaner, sucking the female ghost dry without a drop remaining.

"Very nourishing."

Heiye: "..."

Heiye said: "There's nothing wrong with this well; I looked at it during the day, it's an abandoned well, the bottom is just some rocks, weeds, and such."

"That was daytime; now it's midnight, naturally it's different, look again." Li Qingran smiled: "There's water inside."

Heiye glanced inside, exclaiming in surprise: "It really is true; Boss's cultivation truly reaches the heavens."

Li Qingran smiled profoundly and mysteriously.

It rained heavily all afternoon; how could there not be water?

Heiye watched and watched, suddenly startled, retreating a step: "Boss, the reflection on the water isn't me, it's a crooked-mouth old man!"

Creepy, truly creepy.

"Crooked-Mouth War God? Could it be a Formation Spirit." Upon hearing this, Li Qingran looked into the well, but saw nothing, only a pool of turbid water.

This well is the formation eye.

Li Qingran formed hand seals with both hands, sending several dharma decisions into the well.

Transform yin into yang, reverse yin and yang, forcibly converting the Yin-Gathering Formation into a Spirit-Gathering Formation.

Next are these resentful spirits all over the ground.

"Demon God Refinement Art, Refine Heaven and Earth."

After Li Qingran finished modifying the formation, he stood aloft in the air.

So many resentful spirits, in his eyes, were just strings of level-up experience points.

An anomalous phenomenon appears!

A huge black vortex rotated above Li Qingran's head, one evil spirit after another continuously absorbed and refined by him.

After a long time, all the evil spirits of the entire Heiyun Mountain were absorbed clean by Li Qingran.

The aura on his body grew increasingly vigorous.

Boom!

Breakthrough!

Second-Rank Spirit Tamer Venerable!

As expected, leaving seclusion and walking around was the right move.

This kind of level-up speed would be impossible to achieve staying in the Shennongjia Secret Realm.

Heiye clicked his tongue inwardly, envy, jealousy, hate: "Truly perverted, breaking through just like that! Tonight counts as a perfect conclusion; we can go back and sleep well."

"Hm?" Li Qingran hadn't yet had time to comprehend the changes of Second-Rank Spirit Tamer Venerable when he suddenly felt a powerful aura approaching.

Heiye asked in confusion: "What's wrong?"

The next instant, that well suddenly trembled, well water surging into the sky.

Surrounding trees swayed unceasingly, ground pebbles jumping non-stop, as if some terrifying existence was about to manifest.

Boom—

Accompanied by the Yellow Springs gushing forth, a heavy coffin surged out from the ancient well!

It slammed heavily onto the ground, unmoving, a pressure faintly emanating.

"Which family's wet-behind-the-ears brat, disturbing this old ancestor's sleep, and even killed this old ancestor's child bride!"

A hoarse voice transmitted from within the coffin.

"Who goes there?" Heiye's expression was incomparably grave; he sensed danger: "Playing god and pretending to be a ghost!"

Li Qingran's expression was calm, hands clasped behind his back.

Crack!

The next moment, the coffin lid slowly pushed open, first revealing two hands.

A crooked-mouthed old man with a sturdy upper body exposed clambered trembling from within the coffin.

What was strange was that the space around the crooked-mouthed old man, densely packed, floated with strands of tiny sword qi.

Grass and trees flew about, unexpectedly forming a vacuum zone.

The crooked-mouthed old man's guardian spirit was the sword spirit Di Hen, belonging to the rare special-type guardian spirits.

During the Shang-Zhou period, King Zhou lost the Way and was destroyed by the Western Zhou's Ji Fa.

Before death, King Zhou had not a shred of self-reflection, but instead aroused boundless hatred, loudly raging that the Heavenly Dao was unjust.

Finally, within the blazing flames of King Zhou's self-immolation, boundless venomous hatred merged with King Zhou's worn sword, forging a demonic weapon—Di Hen!

Heiye felt he was a jinx; this crooked-mouthed old man couldn't be the person behind the female ghost-raising, right?

This unfathomable aura, he had only ever sensed on Li Qingran.

Spirit Venerable!

Heiye moved forward a few steps without changing expression, blocking in front of Li Qingran.

If he couldn't match him, he had to buy time for Li Qingran to escape with his life.

His life belonged to Li Qingran.

The old man smiled with his crooked mouth, gaze sweeping over Li Qingran and Heiye, finally fixing on Heiye:

"A mere fifth-rank Spirit General, yet dares ruin my good deed; I'll flay your skin and pull your bones!"

He couldn't sense Li Qingran's spirit power fluctuations, and thought this was an ordinary person.

The crooked-mouthed old man extended two fingers, feinting in the air.

A sword light flashed past; the surrounding trees were all severed in unison.

The cut surfaces smooth as a woman's skin!

Heiye swallowed his saliva.

Against strength like this, blocking was impossible.

Just hoping to buy a few seconds for the boss.

He had yet to speak.

"Truly excellent, there's actually experience delivered to the door." Li Qingran's delighted voice already rang by his ear: "A third-rank Spirit Venerable, wonder how much can be refined and absorbed."

"Heiye, you step back and watch." He stretched his palm toward the crooked-mouthed old man provocatively: "Make your move, Crooked-Mouth War God, let me see your capability."