Chapter 257: The Artifact Spirit Reveals Itself

Deep within the canyon, the three friends of Meishan danced with excitement.

After confirming that the scene before them was real and that there was no danger surrounding them,

they became completely immersed in ecstatic madness.

Faced with so many heavy treasures, even a cultivator of higher cultivation would be unable to remain calm.

Yet above, Qin Ming furrowed his brow, sensing something slightly amiss.

Just as he was pondering this,

"Greetings, fellow Daoist."

"Why don't we join forces?"

An abrupt voice rang out, and subsequently, Xiao Zhongren and an old man in gray robes appeared not far from Qin Ming.

Naturally, Qin Ming had discovered the other party long ago; he was merely curious.

With his Withered Wood Art from the Ancient Wood Longevity Technique, even someone in the late Jin Dan stage might not necessarily detect him.

How had this Xiao Zhongren, who was only in the early Jin Dan stage, seen through him? "Master, shall I go eliminate him!"

the Shi Tian Shu asked from the side, licking its lips as it spoke, as if it had smelled a trace of bloodlust.

Hearing the Shi Tian Shu's words, Xiao Zhongren and his companion on the opposite side immediately acted as if facing a great enemy.

They hurriedly explained, "Fellow Daoist, we bear no ill intent."

"We can join forces; after the deed is done, we will split the spoils fifty-fifty: the artifact spirit belongs to you, and I only want the technique inheritance! What do you say?"

Upon hearing this, Qin Ming immediately raised his hand to stop the Shi Tian Shu, then turned to Xiao Zhongren and asked, "Clan Leader Xiao is quite deeply hidden; may I ask how you discovered me?"

"Hehe, may I ask how you are addressed, fellow Daoist?"

"You carry our clan's ancient treasure, the Hooked Jade Jin Guang Mirror; it shares a slight bloodline resonance with me, allowing detection within a certain range," Xiao Zhongren explained.

"Were it not for this, your concealment methods would truly be extraordinary, and I would have been unable to perceive you."

Gazing at the Shi Tian Shu, Xiao Zhongren also felt secretly wary; he had not expected that such a terrifyingly powerful third-rank Demon King would actually be the other party's spiritual pet.

And this bearded burly man before him seemed to possess only the cultivation strength of a perfect Foundation Establishment. Upon hearing this, Qin Ming suddenly understood; no wonder then.

"I am Daoist Long."

"Then, Fellow Daoist Xiao, please explain how we shall join forces."

Seeing Qin Ming speak thus, Xiao Zhongren immediately felt a weight lift from his heart and said at once:

"As the artifact spirit of an ancient treasure, that spirit is not only incredibly cunning but also possesses means no inferior to a Jin Dan cultivator."

"This time, with those three unlucky fools serving as bait to lure it out, if we act together, our chances of success will be greater."

Upon hearing this, Qin Ming immediately nodded.

So this Xiao Zhongren had treated the three friends of Meishan as fishing bait.

After reaching a consensus, the three humans and one beast flew down toward the bottom of the ravine.

They approached the rock wall near the three from Meishan, retracted their auras, and hid themselves.

Qin Ming fixed his gaze and looked.

The scene he saw was completely different from what the three friends of Meishan saw; deep within the limestone cave, there were no secret treasures at all, only a pile of high white bones.

The three of them, currently facing that pile of white bones, acted as if they had obtained a supreme treasure, dancing with joy and behaving like madmen.

"What a superb illusion technique!"

Qin Ming saw through the crux of the matter at a glance.

"Daoist Long has sharp eyes; this is indeed the means of that artifact spirit," Xiao Zhongren said, revealing an expression of admiration.

He even began to suspect whether the other party was hiding their true cultivation, intending to play the pig to eat the tiger.

An ordinary cultivator at the perfect Foundation Establishment stage possessing both a third-rank Demon King as a spiritual pet and the ability to see through the illusion cast by an artifact spirit—

he simply could not believe it.

At this moment,

a cluster of green bright light appeared directly in front of the three friends of Meishan.

Upon seeing this cluster of bright light, the three became as if injected with chicken blood, immediately forgetting the "countless secret treasures" before their eyes.

Attracted by the green ball of light, the three moved like walking corpses, slowly following the light deeper inside.

"It has appeared!"

"Fellow Daoist Long, let us follow as well."

Seeing this cluster of green light, Xiao Zhongren's face revealed an agitated expression that was slightly out of control.

Qin Ming observed slightly and subsequently confirmed that the cluster of green bright light was undoubtedly the artifact spirit of the Hooked Jade Jin Guang Mirror.

His powerful divine sense had already seen that the green ball of light was something resembling a hedgehog.

Qin Ming had not expected that the artifact spirit of the Jin Guang Mirror would appear in such a form.

He immediately transmitted a voice secretly to the Shi Tian Shu, "Keep a close watch on Xiao Zhongren; this old fellow is deep in scheming and not an easy character to deal with."

"Rest assured; if he dares to make any move, I will kill him immediately," the Shi Tian Shu transmitted back.

Subsequently, Qin Ming and the Shi Tian Shu followed as well.

After half an hour had passed,

the deeper they went, the more spacious the space became; it was as if this were a lake-bottom world isolated from the secular realm, differing from the stone mountains outside only in being covered everywhere with white bones.

The three friends of Meishan followed the green ball of light until they reached the front of a mountain of bones.

On the side of the white bone mountain was a pitch-black cave entrance, where one could vaguely see thick black iron pillars blocking the opening; the gaps between them were quite large, making their purpose unclear.

That strange artifact spirit stopped upon reaching this place. Subsequently, the artifact spirit revealed its hedgehog-like spiritual body form and exhaled a patch of dark green mysterious light toward the three; the three stared blankly and automatically opened their mouths.

Streaks of green radiance surged out from the noses and mouths of the three, flowing into the body of the artifact spirit.

"It is actually absorbing the souls of cultivators!"

The Shi Tian Shu also detected something amiss.

Soon, the vitality within the three friends of Meishan was rapidly draining away, leaving them in a pitiful state of skin stretched over bones.

"Fellow Daoist Long, now is the time; while that artifact spirit is feeding and cannot divide its attention, let us strike."

"Once it realizes what is happening and hides, we will never be able to find it," Xiao Zhongren quickly said to Qin Ming.

Then, he instructed the gray-robed elder beside him, "Elder Yan, go guard the rear to prevent the artifact spirit from fleeing."

"Yes!"

Hearing Xiao Zhongren's words, the gray-robed elder named Elder Yan stopped at the position behind them.

Qin Ming had also secretly observed that this cultivator named Elder Yan possessed False Golden Core cultivation.

Subsequently, Xiao Zhongren took out a red spiritual net magical treasure and cast it over the artifact spirit, which was greedily devouring souls.

That artifact spirit seemingly had not expected anyone to be behind it.

Suddenly trapped by the red magical net, it panicked, struggling wildly in an attempt to escape.

Xiao Zhongren's magical treasure was quite miraculous, seemingly possessing an innate effect of restraining such spiritual entities.

No matter how the artifact spirit struggled, it could not break free.

Just then.

Qin Ming's heart grew cold! His blood and true qi automatically manifested, and a sense of crisis arose spontaneously.

"Careful!"

He said to the Shi Tian Shu.

But just as he finished speaking, Elder Yan behind them suddenly bit through his tongue, spat out a large mouthful of essence blood, used it to draw a talismanic symbol, and infused it into a disc-like object in his hand.

Elder Yan's eyes revealed a resolve for death as he frantically poured magic power into that disc.

"This old man has little time left; Clan Leader, to be able to exert one final effort for the Xiao family before dying, I shall have no regrets!"

The moment his voice fell.

The golden disc in midair instantly sucked him dry, turning him into a desiccated corpse.

Drawing on his last breath, Elder Yan hurled the disc toward the Shi Tian Shu not far from Qin Ming.

As a third-tier Demon King, the Shi Tian Shu naturally reacted in time, yet gazing at the flying disc, a sudden sense of unease surged within its heart.

The golden disc radiated immense power in midair, splitting into five and transforming into five circular rings.

In an instant, it shackled the Shi Tian Shu's four limbs and waist, then firmly pinned it to the ground.

The Shi Tian Shu was greatly alarmed, only to discover that the demonic energy throughout its body no longer obeyed its command, as if locked away.

"Elder Yan, rest assured and depart."

"This time, we did not hesitate to employ the third-tier middle-grade talisman treasure 'Demon-Trapping Ring' to trap this third-tier Demon King."

"It can be considered a worthy death."

"Fellow Daoist Long, let me see what other tricks you have!"

"Hahahaha!"

"After searching everywhere in vain, it is found without any effort."

"I never expected the ancient treasure Hooked Jade Jin Guang Mirror to be in your possession; if you are willing to hand it over, this seat can grant you a quick death, hehehe!"

Seeing the Shi Tian Shu restrained by the talisman treasure, Xiao Zhongren displayed a sinister smile on his face and threatened Qin Ming.

"So, Fellow Daoist Xiao, what interests you most is not any inheritance, but the Jin Guang Mirror magical treasure?" Seeing that the Shi Tian Shu was merely trapped and suffered no serious harm, Qin Ming immediately asked indifferently with an expressionless face.

Greed shone in Xiao Zhongren's eyes.

"Initially, that was indeed the case; I only wanted to extract information about the inheritance from the artifact spirit."

"But it is different now that you, Fellow Daoist Long, have appeared with the main body of the magical treasure; if the magical treasure and the artifact spirit are merged into one, reforming the legendary ancient treasure Hooked Jade Jin Guang Mirror."

"Once the Jin Guang Divine Flame emerges, no one below the Nascent Soul realm can stand against it!"

"Do you think I could not be tempted?"

As he spoke, Xiao Zhongren's gaze flickered, and he once again took out a pitch-black long blade, preparing to act against Qin Ming.

But just then.

An even greater sense of crisis appeared in Qin Ming's heart, and his gaze immediately fell on the area behind Xiao Zhongren.

At this moment, Xiao Zhongren had his back turned to the pitch-black cave entrance beside the bone mountain; originally, several of them had already probed inside with their divine sense.

There had been no abnormalities inside.

Yet at this very moment, a pair of bloody red eyes, each the size of a lantern, quietly emerged from the darkness.

A terrifying aura emanated from the black hole.

Xiao Zhongren also realized what was happening; he was just about to turn his head to look back.

When suddenly, a blood-colored long tongue over ten zhang in length shot through the pitch-black iron pillars, instantly coiling around his entire body and dragging him into the black hole.

A shrill scream echoed from within the cave, accompanied by the sound of bones being chewed, before silence quickly returned.

……

(End of Chapter)