Chapter 406

What Lord Xu most wanted to find was, of course, that strange technique by which the giant python froze Wei Zhenbang with its gaze.

Although Xu Yuan did not cultivate the "Thunder and Fire Adjustment," with the strength of a Fifth-Rank Dan Xiu, he still easily employed the method of extraction from among its strange techniques.

But what surprised Xu Yuan was that this seemingly powerful giant python actually possessed only two strange techniques.

One was the freezing of Wei Zhenbang, and the other was "Void Suction from Afar."

Simply put, it could control power from twenty zhang away, as if wrapping around and tightening directly on the target.

After extracting them, Xu Yuan did not refine these two strange techniques into pills.

Strange techniques are merely Seventh-Rank.

That is to say, this seemingly terrifying giant python was, at most, a Seventh-Rank evil spirit.

Xu Yuan waved his hand to scatter the two strange techniques, clasped his hands behind his back, turned, and departed: "Let the brothers handle it."

Several Dan Xiu stepped forward and together spewed fire to refine the giant python's corpse.

The Dan Xiu looked on with eager eyes.

When handling the corpse of an evil spirit, the materials refined from it naturally belong to them.

Of course, nominally, a portion must be turned over to the private treasury within the yamen.

But they, as the handlers, naturally take the largest share.

Such a huge evil spirit should yield quite a lot of good materials.

When Xu Yuan discovered this giant python was merely Seventh-Rank, he had already lost the desire for "bait."

The county magistrate and Wei Zhenbang hurried to follow, accompanying Lord Xu on his left and right.

Wei Zhenbang said shamefacedly: "This evil spirit was not actually worth Your Lordship making the trip personally; I am truly ashamed. But even as a Seventh-Rank, within our county town, it was indeed an unrivaled monster..."

Lord Xu thought for a moment; perhaps he really was overthinking it.

Back in Shanhe County, a Seventh-Rank evil spirit had likewise run rampant without restraint.

The county was powerless against it.

Now that he was Fifth-Rank, dealing with an evil spirit of this level was indeed a matter of hand-to-hand capture.

It was a pity, however, that such a huge giant python could not be fed to the Skin Dragon.

They went on ahead and returned to the county town; no sooner had they entered the city gate than a burly middle-aged man ran over, panting: "My Lord, we have finally waited for you! A great evil spirit has appeared in Xinyi Ward!"

The middle-aged man was the ward head of Xinyi Ward within the city.

His family owned three brick kilns, and almost everyone in Xinyi Ward made their living following his household.

The three brick kilns never ceased their fires, and the bricks and tiles they produced supplied Zhan City and Luocheng.

Zhan City was one thing, but in recent years Luocheng had grown increasingly prosperous; many people were building houses, and the supply of bricks and tiles could not meet the demand.

Xu Yuan followed the ward head and quickly arrived at Xinyi Ward in Chengxi.

Before even entering the ward, they heard a Boom! A large house on the left side of the ward gate exploded entirely, and the bricks and tiles within came to life, automatically assembling into a five-zhang-tall Lu Renxing monster!

"Vmm—"

In the monster's hexagonal eye sockets, Xiong Xiong kiln fires ignited, and it gained sentience.

It turned its head, saw the ward head and Xu Yuan's party, and then, ferociously, charged straight through, rushing to kill.

The ward head, terrified and pale-faced, hid behind Wei Zhenbang: "That is it!"

Xu Yuan waved his hand, and the Evil Filth Net spread out.

That brick-and-tile monster was five zhang tall, its body width also five zhang, with two arms formed of bricks that hung all the way to the ground.

For ordinary people, it was a colossal giant.

But the Evil Filth Net instantly expanded to several dozen zhang in size, surged forward to cover it, and immediately trapped the monster within.

The monster roared in anger, its sound like wild fire whipped by a gale.

It exerted force to tear at the Evil Filth Net, but the net was incredibly supple; no matter how it was torn, it did not rip.

Then it slowly tightened.

Before long, the monster was tightly bound into a single bundle.

Xu Yuan sensed secretly; this monster was roughly of Seventh-Rank level.

However, among the Seventh-Rank, it belonged to the stronger tier.

Xu Yuan opened "Gaze at Fate" to look and made yet another new discovery.

A single thread was drawn from the Evil Filth Net, drilled into the brick-and-tile monster's body, and coiled around a green brick.

The remaining bricks and tiles immediately swarmed up, resisting with their lives, preventing the Evil Filth Thread from dragging this brick out.

Xu Yuan let out a cold snort; the Sword Pill flew out and, in an instant, shattered those bricks and tiles into dust.

The Evil Filth Thread, with a Whoosh, yanked the green brick out.

On that green brick, a pair of fiery eyes suddenly opened!

From behind, a fiery tail spewed forth violently.

It was actually using the pulling force of the Evil Filth Thread to crash violently toward Xu Yuan.

Then it slammed headlong into something supple.

The Skin Pill opened a wrap, and that fierce green brick fell into a darkness.

Without that green brick, the monster within the Evil Filth Net collapsed with a Boom, turning into ordinary shattered bricks and tiles scattered across the ground.

The ward head exclaimed in surprise: "This monster... that brick... the root was actually just a single brick?"

Lord Xu, with his hands behind his back, walked into Xinyi Ward.

The ward was in utter disarray.

Any house built of bricks and tiles had collapsed; houses built of grass and wood had been knocked down...

The ward head, still shaken, said: "Around the Si hour, the houses in the ward suddenly began to undergo strange changes!

One building after another turned into a monster; those originally inside the houses fell straight into the monsters' bellies and were crushed into meat paste!

Those monsters could smash several people to death with a single wave of their hands.

I was lucky; I went out early in the morning to handle business, saw these monsters wreaking havoc outside the ward, and fled immediately.

Otherwise, I fear I would have met the same fate as them..."

After entering Xinyi Ward, the Village Head walked even faster.

Until he reached a brick kiln, he let out a loud "Ah!" and sat down heavily on the ground.

The brick kiln had been completely destroyed.

His family's estate was destroyed as well.

Xu Yuan stood behind the wailing Village Head, slowly spreading his palm; in his palm lay a glass bead.

On the road, Xu Yuan had secretly refined that blue brick, obtaining a seventh-grade material.

It was this very bead.

It seemed to have no relation to the bricks and tiles...

Material left by evil spirits should, by all rights, have some connection to the spirit itself.

Xu Yuan used Wang Ming to scan the entire Xinyi Ward once more.

The blue brick was the one causing the trouble; there were no more evil spirits within the ward.

Xu Yuan could only look at the Village Head sympathetically before turning and leaving.

Back in the county yamen, Xu Yuan remained silent the entire time.

The Magistrate and Wei Zhenbang could not fathom Lord Xu's thoughts and dared not speak much.

After accompanying Lord Xu in drinking tea for a while, the Captains who had stayed at Little Black River to deal with the giant python's corpse returned.

Xu Yuan immediately asked, "What material was produced by the burning?"

Several Rank Dan Xiu looked disappointed: "Only a few beads, and the quality is not very good..."

Saying this, they took out several glass beads for Lord Xu to inspect.

Then they saw that Lord Xu also produced a nearly identical glass bead!

The Rank Dan Xiu were stunned: What is going on?

Xu Yuan: "These are clearly two completely unrelated evil spirits; why is the material they left behind exactly the same?"

The Magistrate and Wei Zhenbang were confused and did not understand.

Lang Xiao Ba answered: "Because these two evil spirits share the same source!"

Xu Yuan looked at Lang Xiao Ba with approval: "Good, you have improved."

The Magistrate and Wei Zhenbang still did not quite understand: "Share the same source? But that brick and the giant python look completely different..."

Xu Yuan looked at the sky: "Wait and see; I fear there will be new evil spirits appearing in the county today!"

(End of this chapter)