Chapter 93: 101, 102 The Clouds are Treacherous and Strange, the Soul Gathers and the Form Appears (Thanks to Alliance Leader

Wang Tianchuan and Gao Lin did not go to Zhushan Temple to pay their respects to Song Cheng and the Young Miss; instead, they acted like supervisors who had just escaped from the Yunhe, went to the An Mansion, and were punished by the old Master An, who was nominally the helmsman of the An Mansion now.

But the punishment was only on the surface, just to define the situation as "these two could not endure hardship, and having heard that the An Family was prospering and that a Ghost Tide was imminent, they ran back secretly on their own." If anyone said anything else like "the two were ordered to do something," that would be spreading rumors and acting against the An Family.

In secret, they were given plenty of cultivation methods, resources, and money.

Even Gao Lin's wife was transferred to a "lucrative and easy" position in the An Family because of this.

The An Family never treats those who have rendered meritorious service unfairly.

Those with merit must be rewarded.

As for Wang Tianchuan, he was the descendant of the former "Wang Da Xiansheng." Now, "Wang Da Xiansheng," this "official of the previous dynasty," had also completely entered the new power structure, and his status had not changed much. This was also the An Family and Song Cheng's repayment to the Wang family.

In places where Song Cheng could not see, the An Family had gradually begun to become a self-operating major power, with ups and downs, involving many industries, and countless things happening every day.

But the people below have their own worries and pursuits.

Although Song Cheng did not think of himself as a "person above," and still hoped that others would call him Little Song, his status had truly changed.

Because of the "invisible Qi Realm four-blade Ghost" incident, he was worried about his two wives, so he moved completely to Zhushan Temple.

At the end of winter and the beginning of spring, it is always easy for a youth to think of this time last year.

At that time, he encountered the Extreme Bliss World.

If it were not for Yun E, he would have been dead.

And this year, even more terrifying things began to happen.

"Invisible Qi Realm four-blade Ghosts" had actually appeared.

This meant that even for the high-level members of a faction, facing such an assassination, one would die directly if they were not careful.

If the high-level members were all dead, wouldn't the common people of the city be fish on the chopping block? Of course, for a city, the greatest reliance is actually not the Martial Artists, but the army.

The army can erupt with powerful strength.

But if such an assassin executes a decapitation plan and kills the general first, then what would happen?

There is always a glimmer of life, but it is only a thin thread.

That thread is still hidden in the hazy mist, waiting to be found.

Lady Zhushan holding the credentials into the barbarian lands is a search.

Su Huxian and a thousand riders carrying coffins heading north is a search.

Song Cheng is also searching.

There are many books in Zhushan Temple; besides the *Zhushan Martial Outline*, there are other miscellaneous ones, many of which contain handwritten critiques and annotations by Lady Zhushan.

Lady Zhushan is a person who likes to read, and after a long time has passed, she has always loved to do so.

At this time, Ying'er is out, helping An Chenyu inspect various places.

An Chenyu is taking a walk in the morning-lit courtyard.

Ling'er is climbing up and down, taking the Water Crystal wind chime and hanging it on an old tree in front of the small house.

The tassels sway in the wind, and the wind chime makes a "ding-a-ling" sound, which is pleasant and melodious.

Song Cheng is reading in a study room.

After all this time, he has basically learned all the characters.

Coupled with the recovery of his eyes, he no longer needs Ling'er to read for him.

He flips through page after page, and once he finishes one book, he picks up another, thereby quickly understanding the tip of the iceberg of this world.

Undoubtedly, this world has been peaceful for a long time; previously, even if there were Ghost Tides and Ghosts, they were on a very small scale, so small that sometimes it was over before people even reacted.

Therefore, the last large-scale one caused so much panic.

But things are likely to get worse and worse.

Ling'er hung up the wind chime and happily held it, blowing on it again and again; she seemed to like that "ding-a-ling" sound, which was a sound full of vitality and hope.

When the wind chime rings, Song Cheng will look up at Ling'er.

To be honest, Ling'er has changed a lot.

Because she was tainted by Su Huxian's Soul, her entire appearance began to change, everything in her body that was flawed or filthy was being expelled, and she seemed to have entered "beauty mode," becoming incomparably beautiful, to the point where it would not be an exaggeration to call her "stunningly beautiful."

And when Lady Zhushan left, she had passed on quite a few things to Tong Niangzi, among which, besides the *Contemplation Method*, there was also a thin booklet that looked like a cultivation method.

That booklet did not record a cultivation method, but only recorded a "nameless" dance.

This dance has strict requirements for clothing and the like.

But in general, it can be summed up in eight words: revealing attire, seductive and hot.

This "nameless" dance had long been passed on to Ling'er.

After hanging the wind chime, Ling'er ran into the house, changed into a red gauze dress, and ran shivering into the small courtyard, with red silk wrapped around her chest inside, her body flawless.

One second she was shivering from the cold, and the next second she took a deep breath, then lifted the hem of her long red gauze skirt with both hands, twisting left and right, her buttocks shaking rapidly with a "du-du" sound, and began to practice dancing in the courtyard.

The little tea girl had finally had a stroke of luck and caught an opportunity to increase her own value, so she naturally would not let it go.

She is afraid of hardship and difficulty, a blade of grass on a wall, and not very bright, but she also knows when she should give it her all; at this moment, she is also gritting her teeth, working hard to dance in the cold wind.

Song Cheng raises his eyes.

This dance is Lady Zhushan's dance.

He is very certain of this.

Lady Zhushan wears a heavy coat and uses herbs for "disguising her face" to change into an ugly, fat face in her daily life, but when fighting Ghosts, she would take off her coat, wipe away the herbs, reveal her slender, beautiful body, and dance the alluring Fox Dance, instantly pulling the Ghosts into an illusion, and then they would become motionless, wooden blocks waiting to be slaughtered.

Ling'er's figure overlapped with Lady Zhushan's for a moment.

But it was only the dance moves.

An Chenyu walked for a while, then took some tea and came to Song Cheng's side.

The tea was brewed by Ling'er; the tea An Chenyu brewed herself did not taste good.

She snuggled up to the youth, watching Ling'er dance in the courtyard together.

The sound of the wind chimes was crisp and pleasant, and the young girl danced in a fiery, nimble manner; if others did not know Ling'er's past, they would truly say this scene belonged in the heavens.

Looking at An Chenyu, because she was pregnant, she wore no makeup, and her robes had also become a loose-fitting version, which was actually slightly inferior to Ling'er at this moment.

The Young Miss tilted her head slightly, swept a glance at her own man, and only after noticing that the man's gaze was not staring straight at Ling'er did she pour him a cup of tea.

The atmosphere was a little, inexplicably subtle.

Song Cheng guessed that the Young Miss might be a little jealous of her own maid.

The Young Miss was secretly sweeping glances at Song Cheng from the corner of her eye.

The queenly demeanor she had outside had turned into that of a little girl here.

Song Cheng suddenly thought of something; he raised his head abruptly, waved his hand, and said, "Ling'er, come closer and dance."

An Daxiaojie was expressionless.

Song Cheng coughed lightly and said, "An Jie, it is not what you are thinking. It is that there is something strange."

"Strange?"

An Daxiaojie was startled, then immediately realized that her little thoughts had been seen through by the person beside her, so she said with a proud, aloof air, "I wasn't thinking anything."

Song Cheng quickly took several books from the stack on the desk, then flipped through the pages, spread them out, and said, "An Jie, take a look."

Lady Zhushan had the habit of writing diaries and her thoughts when reading; these should have been written in her early years.

She hid these books here and originally did not intend to expose them to anyone.

But since Jia Er inherited everything of hers, perhaps she wanted to give these dust-covered things to Jia Er as well."

An Chenyu nodded.

This kind of emotion, she mostly understood.

No matter how reclusive a person is, they always hope that in this vast world, there can be someone who can listen to their story.

And this, was Lady Zhushan's story.

An Daxiaojie began to read through them earnestly.

Although the diaries, emotional messages, and information were fragmented, one could guess Lady Zhushan's early years by piecing them together slightly.

In a word: a beauty that brings disaster, nothing more than this.

After Lady Zhushan became beautiful, her whole being was filled with allure, leading men to kill each other.

A man killed his wife just to prove to that beauty that he was sincere toward her.

A son killed his father just to be able to get close to the beauty's charms, even if that beauty was his stepmother.

The younger generation killed each other, kneeling and fighting to offer their vast family fortunes to that beauty, and there were even those who would spend a fortune just for that beauty to glance back and smile.

Even those of blood relation could not help but drug her, and after being exposed, they would turn into beasts that had completely lost their humanity, only to be killed by another group of beasts.

These were some of the things that happened more than forty years ago before Zhushan Temple made its fortune.

Shocking, bloody, absurd!

And the "beauty" in this information was undoubtedly Lady Zhushan.

Because she was ugly, she went to seek beauty.

And because of her beauty, she caused the death of all her relatives.

That sense of despair, that sense of pain, could be imagined.

Combined with what Su Huxian said earlier, this whole section could be considered complete.

Lady Zhushan indeed had reason to suspect that Su Huxian was the Ghost, and her beauty was entirely the Ghost's curse, which was ominous.

She loathed her own beauty, but this beauty was also a power that killed.

Therefore, she lonely wrapped herself in a coat, walked in the Prefecture City, and fought against the ghost servants.

After flipping through them one by one, An Daxiaojie closed her eyes and shut the book.

On the other side, Ling'er stopped dancing, was beckoned by Song Cheng to sit in the room, crossed her feet in an unladylike posture, and then rubbed her hands, saying as she rubbed, "That tired me to death."

But immediately after, she jumped up again and said passionately, "Master, don't worry, even if it is a thousand hardships and ten thousand difficulties, Ling'er will definitely master it!"

Song Cheng smiled and said, "Drink some tea."

"Thank you, Master." Ling'er held the steaming large teacup, blew on it, and drank the water.

On the other side, An Daxiaojie also opened her eyes and looked at Ling'er.

Song Cheng asked, "Beautiful, right?"

An Daxiaojie nodded and said, "More beautiful than me."

Ling'er was stunned and was about to say something, but was interrupted by Song Cheng raising his hand, signaling her not to speak.

Song Cheng said again, "Strange, right?"

An Daxiaojie said, "Indeed strange. But perhaps it is because she has not fully grown into it yet."

Song Cheng said, "Lady Zhushan's transformation only took half a month; today is the seventeenth day since Ling'er was possessed by the fox immortal."

Suddenly, the two fell silent.

A strange, incomparable aura permeated the air.

Song Cheng said again, "I have already figured out Su Huxian's motive; she has no reason to harm Lady Zhushan."

An Daxiaojie said, "So, as early as forty or fifty years ago, someone dug a big pit for Lady Zhushan, and even for Su Huxian.

Su Huxian's thought was to seal the Ghost and delay the catastrophe.

Lady Zhushan, looking at her character, would certainly be willing to do this.

These two should have cooperated well.

But the ending was that Lady Zhushan caused the death of everyone around her because of Su Huxian's power, and thus quietly sealed Su Huxian."

Song Cheng said, "Then who could it be?"

Ling'er asked in astonishment, "Master, Miss, what are you talking about?"

Song Cheng smiled and said, "I'm saying Ling'er is beautiful."

Beautiful, yet it did not produce the effect of "bewitching all living things," nor was it able to lead people to disregard everything and slaughter one another.

Then, what originally harmed the friends and relatives of the Lady of Zhushan was actually not "beauty," but something else entirely.

Young Miss said, "If such a person truly exists, then this person is laying out a long-term plan, and their schemes are vast."

After a brief moment of contemplation, Young Miss keenly grasped a point, and she exclaimed in surprise, "Little Song, have you encountered something recently?"

Song Cheng fell silent for a moment.

Young Miss said, "You must tell me. If you don't tell me, I will be angry."

Song Cheng was also moved by how truly clever his wife was, so he sighed and said, "There really is something, but I was afraid it would affect you and the child, so I didn't intend to speak of it."

Young Miss said, "If you don't tell me, that is what will affect us!"

Song Cheng knew An Jie's temper; she was self-reliant and independent. Although she would occasionally be a little haughty or intermittently play the part of a little girl, at her core, she was a "great woman with strong desires for control and ambition," and it would not be an exaggeration to even call her decisive in killing and cutting.

Therefore, he briefly organized his thoughts and recounted the experience of encountering the "invisible four-blade Ghost servants."

Young Miss nodded and said, "No wonder you brought me to Zhushan Temple."

After speaking, she added, "If there really is such a person who has laid out such a grand scheme, and both you and I have been drawn into this matter, then there is no need for my husband to go looking; very soon, the matter will come knocking at our door."

Song Cheng said softly, "Rest easy, I will handle this matter."

Young Miss stroked his face with both hands and whispered, "Don't tire yourself out."

Having said that, she called out, "Ling'er, serve your master well."

Song Cheng:. Young Miss said, "Ling'er was originally my personal maid; since you have married me, you must also feed her well."

Young Miss knew that a Martial Artist's Qi and blood were intense and difficult to calm; even though she was talking about feeding Song Cheng, she spoke in reverse.

She rose leisurely. Ling'er gave an "oh," hurried over, clung behind her master, and began to knead and massage him. After Young Miss left, she rolled up her red gauze dance skirt, nestled into her master's embrace, and sat firmly on the lotus throne, unmoved by the eight winds.

Several days later.

There was still no follow-up regarding the Ghost servant assassins.

And those Ghost servants of the Qi Realm that had appeared so abruptly seemed to be but a fleeting glimpse, never to be seen again.

If not for the fact that the corpses of the Ghost servants Song Cheng had slain were still there, he would have almost doubted it himself.

Evening.

Zhushan.

The supply of "Manifestation Water" had basically met the needs of every county.

And Tong Niangzi finally had the time to eat with Song Cheng at this moment.

Young Miss's lower abdomen was slightly rounded.

This slight bulge made everyone incomparably happy, chatting about "whether it's a boy or a girl," chatting about "how our seniority will all be upgraded," and chatting about "when Sister Jia Er will also bear children for her husband."

Besides this, at the end of the meal, Tong Niangzi specifically took out a Green Jade Bottle, handed it to Song Cheng, and while shoveling food into her mouth, said, "The Ghost servant you sent last time has already been turned into medicine.

This kind of medicinal material with a seamless fusion of Double Spiritual Elements is unprecedented.

The Medicine Studio used the method of making Soul Strengthening Pills to utilize this medicinal material, and as a result, created an unprecedented type of medicine.

The medicine has already been tested; it is in the same category as the Soul Strengthening Pill, but the effect is much, much better.

I didn't know what to call the medicine, so I just gave it a random name: Great Soul-Strengthening Pill.

Here you go."

Song Cheng did not question Tong Niangzi's talent for "naming genius," because his own naming skills weren't great either.

At this time, he took the Green Jade Bottle.

He still remembered when he first arrived in Hanping Prefecture and spent eight thousand taels of silver to buy a bottle of Soul Strengthening Pills; he hadn't expected that this was just his left hand passing to his right, buying medicine from the Qianzhen Ge of Zhushan Temple, only for the Qianzhen Ge of Zhushan Temple to become his own wife's power.

He toyed with this Green Jade Bottle and said, "This bottle must sell for at least sixteen thousand."

As he spoke, he looked not far away and teased, "Ling'er, come and smell it; I'll charge you twenty taels for one sniff."

Ling'er put down her bowl and chopsticks, seemingly recalling the unbearable past of "two sniffs being equivalent to one night of her own," and pouted her little mouth, looking aggrieved.

Tong Niangzi giggled; she clearly also knew what kind of "business style" the Medicine Studio's Qianzhen Ge had.

It was a black shop; take it or leave it.

The one selling the goods was the master, and the one buying was the grandson. She thought for a moment and said, "If the visualization method has no harmful effects, I actually intend to popularize it. By then, the medicine at Qianzhen Ge can be sold cheaper to provide for Soul cultivators to practice.

It's just that this matter still needs to be asked of Teacher.

Teacher went to the Northern Barbarians without even taking the Skull Double Fish Pendant; now, if we want to contact her, we can only do so through letters.

In fact, I already had someone send the letter out a long time ago, and in the letter, I even mentioned the misunderstanding between her and Su Huxian.

Calculating the time, a reply should arrive before long."

Song Cheng nodded, then quickly finished his meal, stood up, walked to a courtyard slightly further away from the others, and pulled out the bottle stopper.

A breath of extreme icy cold surged out instantly, drilling into his nostrils. The air seemed to freeze in an instant, and even the water droplets on the flowers beside him turned into ice immediately.

One could imagine that if he had pulled the stopper next to An Chenyu, at the very least it would have frozen her, and at worst, it might have even harmed the fetus in her womb.

"This thing is dangerous," Song Cheng said with a grave expression, muttering to himself, then asked, "Jia Er, I have always had a question."

"Speak up, what's our relationship?" Jia Er remained spirited.

Song Cheng said, "Last time, when I took the Soul Strengthening Pill, I tasted a faint gray flavor in the pill. Is there something in your medicinal materials that can produce this taste?"

Jia Er said, "Teacher doesn't allow me to say. Then I'll tell you alone."

Afterward, Tong Niangzi also quickly finished her meal, and after finishing, she ran off following Song Cheng.

Before long, the two arrived at the medicine room, which served as a restricted area of Zhushan Temple.

Here, there were many secrets of Zhushan Temple.

The Tired Day Grass used to make the "Manifestation Water" before was also standing right here.

Tong Niangzi rummaged through the bottles and jars for a while, then reached out, held it up high, and said, "Just this one."

That was a transparent water crystal bottle, containing some unknown powder inside, grey in color, giving one a feeling of being very thin and light, somewhat like "paper money that has been burned to ash and then crushed."

"Adding this, you only need to add a little.

The other main medicinal ingredient is the Spirit Element on the Ghost's body.

Those Spirit Elements were originally impossible for humans to touch, but after landing on the Ghost, they are equivalent to being filtered once, becoming a bit weaker.

Yet even so, humans still cannot directly absorb the power contained within the Spirit Elements.

And this kind of ash seems to be able to build a bridge between the spirit and the human, and then, using the Spirit Element as a guide, absorb the yin energy from heaven and earth to strengthen the Soul.

But the teacher didn't say where this ash came from.

Next time, you ask Sister Fox Immortal."

Tong Niangzi raised the pitch of the four words "Sister Fox Immortal," and then continued to raise it further, "Also tell Sister Fox Immortal, can she, in her old age, pluck some more white fur from her body for me?"

The sudden sarcasm made Song Cheng startled at first, then he immediately started to laugh.

He laughed: "That family hasn't even looked at me yet, and they probably wouldn't look favorably upon me.

That is called a noble family. People of noble families have noble status and noble souls; it is not something we can easily climb up to."

Tong Niangzi blinked. Song Cheng said: "Tonight, I will try your Great Soul-Strengthening Pill."

Tong Niangzi nodded.

Night fell.

Under the moonlight.

The youth sat on a stone stool.

The Neizhai of Zhushan Temple did not have a tea shed, but it did have a ground paved with cobblestones and elegant stone tables and stone stools.

Banners fluttered in the wind, and ancient trees towered all around.

The wind chimes on the branches still emitted dreamlike, crisp sounds.

New buds had not yet emerged, and the mute, tangled branches cast grey, sparse shadows, yet they happened to leave the spot where the youth sat empty.

There, it faced the moonlight directly.

Dark robes and moonlight met each other.

Seeing the bright moon in the sky, the youth knew the time had come, so he took one Great Soul-Strengthening Pill made from a "Qi Realm four-blade Ghost," and quickly tossed it into his mouth.

An icy chill exploded in an instant.

His saliva, the corners of his mouth, and even his nostrils, eyes, and hair were instantly frozen for a moment, then immediately melted away by his scorching and vast blood-Qi.

But one can imagine that if an ordinary Martial Artist were to even lick this kind of pill, they would die on the spot.

The familiar "pill-taking experience" came again.

Once this pill entered his body, it began to be "hunted" by his blood-Qi.

The pill hurriedly hid inside Song Cheng's Tower of ash, and after the blood-Qi left, it swaggered out again, opening a gap in the youth's "blood-Qi defensive wall."

The moonlight filling the sky was instantly distorted, like a school of sharks in the deep sea smelling blood, swarming over in a scramble.

A strong feeling of nausea suddenly surfaced.

But the "ash" taste in the medicine played a role at this moment.

The nausea disappeared, and a feeling of the Soul being strengthened emerged.

This kind of Soul Strengthening pill has strong drug resistance; basically, the first time you take it is the most effective, and while taking it subsequently still has an effect, it is basically a waste.

But this "upgraded" version of the pill, likely because it crossed a grade, clearly exerted its effect once again.

Song Cheng digested it slowly.

After a long while, he let out a breath, feeling very good.

Then, he began his routine patrol for the night.

As before, everything was normal.

The youth returned to his room.

An Jie was pregnant, and Tong Niangzi was exhausted and had no strength to do anything.

So he let Ying'er and Ling'er serve him for a long while, then held the two beauties and went to sleep.

Nine days passed in peace and without waves.

Song Cheng successfully finished eating all ten "Great Soul-Strengthening Pills."

He only felt that his Soul had been strengthened a lot.

As for exactly how much, he didn't feel it.

Of the yin and yang paths, the yang path can certainly be cultivated through panel talents, but the yin aspect truly requires his own cultivation.

At this time, he sat quietly in place, his Soul leaving his body, preparing to test it out.

His body presented a strange, dark, cloudy color, and his Qi-gong strength operated on its own, like an ancient statue; while his Soul rose with the wind, floating in mid-air.

Zhushan Temple is worthy of being a place for Soul training; in other places, you wouldn't dream of seeing other Souls, but here... they exist.

Because the Souls of these disciples of Zhushan Temple can only travel at night, when Song Cheng left his body at midnight, he saw many other Souls.

The Souls had blurred faces and could not communicate; basically, no one could recognize anyone else.

Most of the disciples training their Souls at Zhushan Temple are "gathering alms"; these disciples gain power by visualizing Lady Zhushan, and the strongest among them can only "control one person with a Dream."

This is far worse than Lady Zhushan's "a charming Fox Dance, and the Ghost cannot move."

Song Cheng flew and flew and flew, flying past the Zhushan Temple disciples who were cultivating.

At this time, he always felt that his Soul seemed to have a strange, unprecedented connection with the outside.

He looked left and looked right.

The youth suddenly had a thought and descended toward a main road.

The main road had many carriages and horses, so dust often flew, and although it had settled now that night had fallen, it was still covered with a layer of pale yellow mud dust.

Song Cheng's Soul suddenly touched the mud and dust.

Good heavens! The mud and dust were picked up.

He sensed it slightly, and like an infant learning to walk, his Soul suddenly took a deep breath.

The Soul's inhalation was not performed through a nose or respiratory tract; it was an all-encompassing attraction.

Sss—ssssssss, the mud and dust rolled, rose, and attached to his body.

A yellow mud giant about a zhang tall suddenly appeared on the official road.

Song Cheng threw a punch.

The mud fist landed on a tree branch.

Snap! The tree branch actually trembled.

"Isn't it said that a Soul cannot hit people?"

Song Cheng was somewhat stunned himself.

He was only testing it.

"No, aren't Soul Practitioners specialized in illusions? Why... why can I move a tree branch?"

He pondered for a moment, rolled some pebbles onto his body, and then slammed another punch toward the tree branch.

Crack! The tree branch broke!

The tree branch was broken by Song Cheng's Soul! The mud-stone giant looked at its own hands in surprise.

"That's right, Soul Practitioners specialize in illusions, but Soul Practitioners also don't have Qi Realm Martial Artists."

Having thought this, the mud-stone giant then rushed into the mountain forest like a whirlwind.

The wild beasts in the mountains had just fallen asleep; although the Awakening of Insects had not yet arrived, many snakes and the like had woken up early, though of course, there were still those hibernating.

But as the mud-stone giant swept past like a gust of wind, many animals were startled awake.

A monkey saw the mud-stone giant, opened its mouth wide in the tree in terror, and was completely stunned.

A tiger saw the mud-stone giant, was so scared it scrambled away, and fled wildly into the distance.

Birds were startled and scattered, and snakes slithered in chaos.

Although the mud-stone giant's power was not strong, it was truly strong at bluffing.

Song Cheng felt immensely satisfied.

The most critical thing was that he discovered no impact from external feedback could land on his Soul; the final transmission of force was the mud and stone he had adsorbed, not him.

In other words, if an enemy fought him and used all their strength to shatter his "mecha," he would not suffer any harm, at most... he would just take another breath and change into a new "mecha."

Not only that, for some reason... he felt that his Soul manipulating this "mecha" was not tired in the slightest.

If it were his own body, if he had been running wildly back and forth for this long, he would still feel a little something.

But his Soul's "sense of fatigue" was extremely minimal.

Song Cheng withdrew the mud and stone with a thought, flew and spun in mid-air, looked at the moonlight filling the sky, and took a breath... wanting to gather the moonlight onto his Soul to form a "moonlight mecha."

But with this inhalation, it didn't move.

"I suppose my strength isn't enough yet." Song Cheng wasn't disappointed, only feeling that the Great Dao of the Soul also had a promising future.

Soul Practitioners did not have any classification for the levels of the Soul.

But Song Cheng thought about it himself and decided to name this level "Manifestation."

Because, at this level, he could already use external objects to manifest his Soul.

And after reaching "Manifestation," Song Cheng felt that his Soul's speed and perception had both greatly improved.

If one were to ride a horse from the east side of the Prefecture City to the west, it would take four hours.

But now, he only needed the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn.

As for perception, even without moving, he could see the scenery within several miles.

In other words, his patrol over Hanping Prefecture was like a "circle with a radius of several miles." And in the past, let alone several miles, it wasn't even half a mile.

Besides breadth, depth had also improved.

He could see information at greater depths; previously it was at most a zhang beneath the mud, but now it had expanded tenfold.

More efficient investigation made Song Cheng decide to patrol Hanping Prefecture again to see if he could find any hidden dangers unfavorable to him.

After all, his "depth for seeing favorability through walls had also expanded to over ten zhang," so even if there were basements hidden deep down, they couldn't hide.

Originally he was still worried about the terror of "those invisible four-blade Ghosts," but now he was actually looking forward to it.

He wanted to catch another "four-blade Ghost" and take it back for Tong Niangzi to refine medicine.

This kind of Soul leaving the body was truly Soul leaving the body; it was satisfying, too satisfying.

Don't say, once this investigation efficiency became high, he really did find something.

When Song Cheng swept past a corner in the east of the city, he suddenly saw data in a basement.

Three of them.

Their strength was all at the Jin Realm.

One had a favorability of 20, one had a favorability of 30, and another had 60.

In the past he couldn't see it, but now he could.

His Soul descended and seeped downward.

In the basement, three men dressed as Martial Artists were chatting.

"I still don't understand the Hall Master's arrangement; why must we target that North Land Blade King? Guarding the north together, with such a great general sitting in Hanping Prefecture, what is wrong with that?"

"What is good or bad about it? We are all Ordinary Disciples; the higher-ups make the arrangements, we execute them, why bother managing so much?

Besides, the North Land Blade King... humph, arrogant and ignorant, not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth.

When there is no tiger in the mountains, the monkey calls itself king."

"I, for one, would like to see if he will pathetically kneel and beg for mercy once he meets a true expert."

"Didn't the Hall Master say that Song Cheng is involved with Ghosts? He might even be a high-level Ghost Servant. He is extremely dangerous; even if we can't deal with him, we must spread the news first."

"He is a blind man; his eyes are the eyes of a Ghost."

"If he isn't a Ghost Servant, why would a Ghost help him?"

"It's a pity that those people at the Mountain and River Martial Arts Hall have been deceived; they are likely possessed by Ghosts."

The three Martial Artists conversed rapidly.

Song Cheng listened from the side for a while and mostly understood; these three were actually a force from out of town.

When did they enter the prefecture?

As for the matter of the "Tanghe Yunhe," these three did not mention it; clearly, what Huazi did over there was very clean, and no rumors had leaked out.

Song Cheng pondered briefly, gathered earth and stone in one breath, and then terrifyingly emerged from the roof of the basement. He looked down silently at the three conversing Martial Artists, and before the three could react, he struck with a series of punches as fast as lightning, knocking them unconscious.

After finishing this, he searched the area and, to his surprise, found tokens symbolizing their identities: Beixue Zhoucheng, Five-and-a-Half Hall, Ordinary Disciple.

Five-and-a-Half Hall, Song Cheng had heard of it.

The Great Shang Dynasty consists of villages, counties, prefectures, and provinces. One county contains many villages.

One prefecture has many counties.

And one province has quite a few prefectures.

Beixue Zhou is the province to which Hanping Prefecture belongs; even though local separatism and Jianghu forces hold real power, there is still a vague hierarchical relationship.

And the Five-and-a-Half Hall is a major force in Beixue Zhou.

The meaning of "Five-and-a-Half" is that the North Land is full of experts, and their Five-and-a-Half Hall occupies "five and a half" of it.

At the time, when Song Cheng put out the title of "North Land Blade King," he was actually quite looking forward to experts from the Zhoucheng coming out.

As it turned out, no one paid him any mind, but now... is this it? However, it seems they didn't come for the "North Land Blade King" title, but have another purpose.

The mud and stone giant narrowed his eyes; for a moment, many things that had happened recently connected together, yet they only formed a vague outline.

It seemed connected, yet it seemed not.

It is unclear, still unclear.

Thanks to Alliance Leader "Boole," thank you!! (End of chapter)