Chapter 352: This Sword, Waited Eighteen Years

A flash of white light,

a figure vanished within the teleportation array.

Jiang Ding appeared thousands of kilometers away, slightly adjusted his direction, mountains and rivers swept past beneath his feet, and he exerted himself to suppress his aura as his invisible escape light moved neither fast nor slow.

Several hours later, he arrived at Dongling Prefecture, which he had not seen for many years.

A faint divine sense swept across.

"Only a few years have passed, yet the city swallowed whole by the Kong Que Demon King has actually recovered somewhat."

Jiang Ding sighed softly.

The city, once dead and silent, now gradually showed signs of people; from time to time, plumes of cooking smoke appeared, and the once-bustling main street now had scattered shops, with Shopkeepers and assistants opening for business.

The wilds are far too hard to endure.

People often die from various fierce beasts, poisonous insects, and miasma; those who live past their thirties are few and far between. It is better to come to the city and take a chance; after all, several years have passed, so surely the man-eating great demon cannot come here every day?

Gradually, more and more people gathered, forming the current population of over ten thousand.

If another few decades pass, this will surely become a prosperous Dacheng once again, and such old matters will gradually be submerged in history.

No one will know that many events with profound impacts once occurred here.

The divine sense swept across, concealed.

'No sign of Bai Gui Laozu.'

Jiang Ding was not in a hurry either, continuing to sweep every corner of the city bit by bit with his faint sword intent and divine sense.

Over a month ago, when Jia-25 collapsed into nanometer particles, it had seen Bai Gui Laozu come in this direction.

Following his habit in the Pool Prefecture, he would stay here for at least several months, using a magical treasure to continuously search the city in hopes of finding the lingering aura of a youth left here twenty-six years ago, then locking it down with a Blood Soul Tracking Arrow.

The faint sword intent swept over place after place; to avoid alerting the enemy, the speed was extremely, extremely slow, taking several days to search half the city before continuing to spread.

"Found it."

Jiang Ding's sword intent paused.

In the original Rotten Board Street, now amidst the ruins of an ancient mansion, a black-robed old man with his form concealed sat cross-legged, holding a transparent, hazy black sail magical treasure that trembled slightly; thumb-sized little ghosts jumped out one by one, burrowing up and down in the ruins.

The little ghosts occasionally flew into the high sky, then burrowed into the earth, bringing a wisp of cloud qi, a small clod of soil, or a leaf, and approached the old man in a flattering manner, presenting them with both hands.

Bai Gui Laozu was a skinny old man, skin and bones, with semi-transparent skin through which one could vaguely see grotesque fierce ghosts moving in and out between his internal organs and bones, which was quite terrifying.

"This one? Somewhat similar."

He took a small clod of soil from a little ghost's hand, chewed it for a moment, then frowned: "This is the aura left by an eighty-six-year-old old man; I want one around forty, the kind whose aura is younger than their age!"

"Squeak squeak!"

The little ghost showed fear, its body transparent, and fled underground.

"Useless fool!"

Slurp!

Bai Gui Laozu opened his mouth and sucked; the little ghost several zhang deep underground was pulled up by a force; no matter how it screamed and struggled in vain, it was sent into his mouth, let out several piercing shrieks, and then the sound fell silent.

The little ghosts waiting in line nearby grew even more fearful, their bodies trembling uncontrollably, yet they dared not flee, only repeatedly checking the cloud qi, leaves, and soil in their hands.

Some hesitated, dropped what they held, and burrowed through the ruins in all directions.

The second little ghost presented a leaf that was mostly rotten.

Bai Gui put it in his mouth, chewed for a moment, and frowned.

The little ghost's body trembled uncontrollably, its soul body on the verge of splitting.

"Not this one either; it hasn't even touched him."

"But it is indeed someone in their forties, no mistake."

Bai Gui Laozu threw out a ghostly, eerie pill and snorted: "Get lost."

"Squeak squeak!"

The little ghost was overjoyed, kowtowed and bowed, took the pill, and in the greedy gaze of the surrounding little ghosts, swallowed it in one gulp, its aura becoming somewhat stronger.

"This aura, the age is right, but the person is not..."

"This is a woman, fool, damn fool! What use are you alive for?!"

Bai Gui Laozu opened his mouth and sucked, chewed several times, swallowed a little ghost, and said gloomily: "Listen well to Old Ancestor; if you can find his aura, or the aura of someone who has touched him, I will let you enter reincarnation."

"If you are attached to family and relatives and do not wish to enter reincarnation, that is also fine; come and go as you please."

"But if you cannot find it, you must all enter Old Ancestor's belly!"

"Squeak squeak!"

"Squeak squeak!"

The group of little ghosts screamed in fear, searching frantically in all directions; occasionally, passersby felt the heavy yin qi and instinctively left the area.

Jiang Ding watched all this silently.

He did not act.

He needed to wait for Mu Mu Tianxue and others hundreds of li away to move first, to attract and pin down Daoist Tiankuang, Princess Princess Chiyan, the Fox King, and others, ensuring he would not be surrounded before taking action.

This required some time to arrange.

Only then would it happen naturally, without arousing Daoist Tiankuang's suspicion.

"Not right."

"Not right; the age and gender are correct, but it is not him."

Bai Gui Laozu, with disheveled hair, muttered to himself, like a madman or demon; he did not know how long he had repeated this process; over ten days had passed, and he looked extremely irritable and abnormal.

"This one, it's right!"

Suddenly, his eyes lit up; he chewed a clod of soil in his mouth three times: "This person's aura, over seventy years old, fool! No, you are not a fool; this mortal has touched him, and touched him for quite some time."

"Hurry and search, find it quickly for Old Ancestor nearby; there will be a great reward!"

Bai Gui Laozu rummaged in his storage bag for a moment, then tossed a thumb-sized bone to the little ghost who had just delivered the clod of earth: "Scram, little one. Go wherever you wish."

"Squeak squeak!"

The little ghost was overjoyed. Amid the envious and jealous gazes of the other ghosts, it clutched the thumb-sized bone and ran off toward the distance without looking back, vanishing from sight in no time.

"Squeak squeak!"

Seeing this, the multitude of little ghosts grew wildly excited. They dug frantically at the spot where the clod of earth had been unearthed, darting back and forth without cease.

Out of the little ghosts' sight, that little ghost which had earned merit was not killed; it was completely free, even though it might reveal the deliberately concealed whereabouts of Bai Gui Laozu.

"He's quite trustworthy."

Jiang Ding, witnessing this scene, felt somewhat surprised and filed it away in his mind.

Those who accomplish great things, regardless of their stance, always possess some merit; one cannot afford to underestimate them.

"However, if he continues this carpet search, he might truly detect my aura. At that time, I was still in high school and could not fully suppress my aura."

Jiang Ding thought coldly.

"But even with my aura in hand, he still cannot find me."

"That is, this wisp of aura, if placed in the hands of a higher-level cultivator, might serve to pinpoint my location."

"Search away. Search to your heart's content."

"This is a good thing; it amounts to a thorough re-examination, and it's free."

Several more days passed.

"Hahaha!"

Bai Gui Laozu held a red brick in his hand. First, he licked it once, then bit off a piece and chewed it more than ten times. His eyes snapped open, brimming with excitement. He laughed wildly: "After more than half a year, this Old Ancestor has finally found it!"

"You little beast who stole my Kongming Copper!"

He revealed a ferocious grin: "Let Old Ancestor teach you a lesson: in the Cultivation World, some things cannot be taken at will!"

He casually tossed out a supreme-grade bone sword artifact, palm-sized. The little ghost that had retrieved the red brick was overjoyed; it snatched up the supreme-grade bone sword artifact and its own remains, then vanished into the earth.

A wisp of black soul fire appeared in Bai Gui Laozu's palm. He wrapped it around the red brick, causing the brick to vaporize and dissolve, leaving only a faint, pale-blue stream of wind hovering in the air. It was extremely weak, as if a single breeze could scatter it.

"This is it!"

"This is it! Let me see where this little thief is!"

Bai Gui Laozu muttered to himself. With a turn of his hand, a black short arrow materialized. The faint pale-blue stream of wind immediately plunged into it. Wisps of black spiritual light rippled forth, as if chewing and searching.

The Blood Soul Tracking Arrow, a special treasure of the Punishment Hall of the Liu Dao Sect.

It was said that with even a single wisp of aura, it could track a soul across a thousand li!

"With this Kongming Copper, this Old Ancestor's Black Soul Banner should be able to ascend to a superior-grade artifact..."

Bai Gui Laozu stared at the arrow fletching, filled with confidence.

This item had previously been unstoppable in the pursuit of Xiang Xiang Qiyu's remnants; even a Jin Dan of Xiang Xiang Qiyu had been tracked down, forcing them to abandon their direct disciple with a Heavenly Spirit Root.

Buzz!

Amid expectant gazes, the Blood Soul Tracking Arrow trembled for a moment, then fell silent.

For a long while, it remained utterly motionless.

"Unable to track?"

Bai Gui Laozu was stunned, then flew into a rage: "How could a mere Foundation Establishment junior be untrackable? The Liu Dao Sect Punishment Hall's mighty reputation..."

The Blood Soul Tracking Arrow began to tremble wildly.

His words halted; he held his breath and clearly saw the arrow fletching stop.

The arrowhead pointed straight at

his own chest.

"You damn broken arrow!"

"Damn Liu Dao Sect, using Jin Dan as slaves! Their sect artifacts are so shoddy..."

Bai Gui Laozu could no longer suppress the fury in his heart. Suddenly, a sharp pain struck his chest.

"... so... worthless..."

His gaze went vacant; he looked down.

A gleaming blue flying sword, unknown when it had appeared, was now embedded deep in his chest, piercing through his heart. Terrifying streaks of blue sword intent tore through his soul and soul, rushing toward his inner core.

Boom!

In his ears, a thunderous vacuum explosion roared forth. Together with his body, he shattered into countless fragments scattered across the sky.

(End of this chapter)