Chapter 240: The Ability to Contain Objects in a Square Inch

"You two, hurry and notify the others. There was a monster eating people, but I've taken care of it. Go clean up the mess!"

Zhou You drifted down from the top of the wall, startling the two night watchmen so much that their hands shook and their lanterns fell to the ground.

Once they saw Zhou You's face clearly, they were filled with annoyance; why had they run into him again?

Upon hearing Zhou You's words, the young night watchman pushed open the ajar gate and caught the scent of thick, cloying blood...

"Oh no, there's been a murder, a murder! The old gentleman's entire family is gone, ugh!"

A moment later, all the prominent figures in the town arrived. Looking at the severed limbs and broken arms scattered everywhere, they felt a sense of shared grief.

This family had some friendship with them and they had visited each other before, yet now they were dismembered like livestock in a slaughterhouse, with flesh, blood, and organs strewn all over the ground.

"The beast, what an absolute beast!"

They were the wealthy and influential people of the town, and they knew the scene before them was caused by a phantom that had snuck into the town to secretly eat people.

If it hadn't been discovered tonight, the phantom could have lurked while wearing the family's skin, potentially harming even more people, including them.

The two night watchmen were questioned intensely about the sequence of events.

When they learned clearly that it was 'Lu Da Ye' who had stepped in to drive the phantom away, the crowd fell into silence, their hearts filled with a complex mix of emotions.

As the wealthy and powerful families of the area, they knew of the existence of phantoms in the world, but due to various reasons, they could not move into the city and instead lived in this undefended town.

Why did they tacitly accept Jin Heshan's occupation? It was precisely because a Martial Master served as a deterrent, making the phantoms wary.

Back when Jin Heshan was around, he never took the initiative to drive away or kill the phantoms; they hadn't expected that after being replaced by Lu Zhigang, he would actually take action himself.

"Lu Da Ye has a cold face but a kind heart; he is truly righteous!"

In an instant, Lu Zhigang's reputation did a complete 360-degree turn.

As for Zhou You...

He returned to the secret chamber with the Hunger Pouch to continue studying its mysteries.

The Tianfu Decipher Confusion did not dissipate after swallowing the 8 phantoms; instead, it transformed into another form and merged with the pouch.

The Martial Master Skin was indeed powerful, but it was not enough to trap 8 phantoms and compress them to the size of a palm, even reducing their weight.

Therefore, it was the combination of the Martial Master Skin and the Tianfu Decipher Confusion that possessed such miraculous effects.

The secret chamber beneath Zhou You's feet was Jin Heshan's exclusive base; he learned from Li Chonghe's memories that he often handled private matters here.

Sometimes, even his 4 trusted Disciples didn't know what he was busy with inside.

After Zhou You occupied the villa, he immediately found the secret chamber, looted everything inside, and claimed the place as his own.

To his disappointment, Jin Heshan's wealth was not substantial, not even totaling more than what his few Disciples had combined.

The gold, silver, pearls, and jade totaled a little over 230,000, which was average for his status and not the kind of savings one would expect from extortion and plunder.

The remaining few items were of greater value.

The three amulets in the gift boxes had been refined by him with Martial Master Qi and blood for 20 years, and they were of Mid-grade quality.

Judging from the previous fight, he hadn't given a single one of these amulets to his Disciples; they were intended as gifts for others.

Fortunately for that, otherwise it wouldn't have been so easy for Zhou You and Jiang Hua to succeed.

There were also 5 bottles of Baohe Pill, a Secret Medicine of the Heming Fist school, which he had kept to cultivate his Disciples.

Hmm, Zhou You had also learned the methods and steps for taking the Secret Medicine from Li Chonghe, so he kept them for his own use.

Finally, there was an iron shard; looking at the jagged edges, it seemed to have been torn from an iron plate shaped like a feather.

The information recorded on the iron plate consisted of two parts: Seven Birds Unite and Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix.

It turned out that Jin Heshan was originally a bandit who roamed far and wide, killing and looting with forty-eight sworn brothers—it was quite the thrill.

One day, while searching for a place to bury their loot, they accidentally broke into an Underground Cave and unexpectedly discovered the place where the Strong Martial Artist from a century ago, Baiqin Laoren, had passed away.

Baiqin Laoren was a Strong Martial Artist, and his legacy made countless martial artists green with envy, including this gang of bandits. An internal conflict erupted, and all the thieves, who had been as close as brothers, fought fiercely to seize Baiqin Laoren's relics.

After fighting for over ten days, only seven of the forty-nine thieves survived.

These 7 survivors, including Jin Heshan, were all covered in wounds, exhausted, and unable to fight any longer.

After discussing it, they decided not to fight among themselves anymore to avoid letting outsiders swoop in and reap the rewards.

Thus, in the Underground Cave, the seven of them formally swore an oath as brothers and divided Baiqin Laoren's legacy; this was the Seven Birds Unite.

Although the seven were sworn brothers of different surnames, they each harbored their own ulterior motives and held something back from one another.

Jin Heshan took the Heming Fist path, while the other 6 brothers each took the eagle, falcon, owl, heron, peacock, and other fist paths, all of which were High-grade legacies capable of reaching the level of an Advanced Martial Master.

But the most critical part—the secret to breaking through to become a Strong Martial Artist—no one obtained.

To be precise, everyone got a part, but they were all incomplete.

Only when the 7 people gathered and pieced together the iron plate fragments into an Iron Feather could the secret technique named "Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix" be restored.

The 7 agreed to meet once every 20 years to pool the secret technique and study it together, to prevent anyone from hiding anything.

Counting the time, more than 14 years had passed since their last meeting.

Hmm, there were still 5 years left before the others would discover Jin Heshan's death.

For the time being, Zhou You didn't need to worry about the other 6 birds coming to cause trouble.

Hmm, let's set this matter aside for now and continue studying the Hunger Pouch.

By the riverbank, the ground still bore the messy traces of the great battle.

The originally dense flock of cranes had all fled, and since the river water was likely contaminated with poison, the fish and shrimp were completely wiped out.

Zhou You held the Hunger Pouch, weighed it a few times, and decisively untied the drawstring.

A violent surge seemed to erupt from a bottomless pit, and amidst a faint cracking sound, the originally intact leather pouch instantly burst open.

The Tianfu Decipher Confusion that had been sealed inside vanished completely.

Eight phantoms fell from mid-air, tumbling like gourds on the ground, though they were much more withered than before.

This was no surprise; having stayed inside for several days without eating anything, they were weaker than ever before.

Since the experiment was finished, there was no need to keep these few phantoms.

By the time Zhou You finished dealing with them, the phantoms were so hungry their shells had shriveled, making them effortless to dispose of.

"Trial Project (Three-Star Level): Kill phantoms and save people completed, Experience Points +5000."

He summarized the patterns and began to analyze the characteristics of the Hunger Pouch.

The Tianfu Decipher Confusion attached to the container can only absorb, not digest, and time passes inside just as it does in the outside world.

Otherwise, these phantoms would not have starved until they were weak-kneed.

And also...

The Tianfu Decipher Confusion is truly a single-use item; it automatically becomes ineffective upon the second opening, and the container it carries is ruined along with it.

However, if one does not actively open or puncture the pouch, the hunger's absorption state remains maintained without a time limit; well, perhaps the only limit is the aging period of the Martial Master Skin.

As Zhou You recorded this, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck his mind.

What do these various characteristics imply? "Mount Sumeru in a mustard seed, the universe contained within!"

Isn't the Hunger Pouch a ready-made substitute for a Storage Bag? Although it is a single-use item, by stacking them in quantity, one can achieve freedom of portable space.

Winged Tiger Zhou You, still saying you only know how to practice martial arts and don't understand cultivation?

(End of this chapter)