Chapter 1297: Chapter 852: Living Bodhisattva (Part 2)
Seeing this, Sheng Yanlin’s face also changed. He immediately stepped forward to check Yang Xiao’s condition thoroughly and only relaxed after confirming there were no problems.
"It’s nothing." Yang Xiao took a deep breath, straightened up, and showed Sheng Yanlin a reassuring smile, clenching his fists, "Congratulations, Mr. Sheng, on acquiring this great artifact. I assume restoring to peak state is just a matter of time!"
"It’s not that easy; this is just one artifact, but... I won’t give up!" Sheng Yanlin’s eyes were resolute; his endurance under Dharma Sect’s imprisonment was solely to await the day of revenge.
He wanted to personally reclaim everything he’d lost over the years!
"Mr. Sheng, this Wisdom Stick..."
"Wisdom Staff!" The cane struck the ground forcefully, correcting Sheng Yanlin.
"Alright, alright, Wisdom Staff, you’re saying this thing can interfere with people’s thoughts?" Yang Xiao asked.
"Not thoughts; it can sever the connection between an apostle and their controlled artifact. You’ve yet to experience the most terrifying part; when the connection is completely cut, that’s when the nightmare begins." Sheng Yanlin’s expression was serious, with no hint of joking.
"What do you mean?" Yang Xiao was intensely curious about this artifact.
Sheng Yanlin dared not use Yang Xiao as a casual experiment anymore; he asked Yang Xiao to summon the Mirror Ghost, intending to use it for a demonstration.
Yang Xiao was not willing; he cleverly had the Mirror Ghost bring out the Bo Yetong stuck to the wall.
Seeing Bo Yetong in such a state, even the knowledgeable Sheng Yanlin felt a chill down his spine, especially since the person wasn’t dead yet.
With Sheng Yanlin’s perception, he instantly knew the level of this person.
Bo Yetong’s level wasn’t bad; his spiritual power far surpassed the middle Ghost Level, nearly at Upper Ghost Level. Even in a major force like the Esoteric Sect, he could mix as a candidate elder.
To know that Bo Yetong was just reaching maturity, if not for encountering this Evil Star, Yang Xiao, midway through his journey, his future would be promising.
No more random thoughts; Sheng Yanlin lifted the wooden cane and pointed it at Bo Yetong. The next second, Bo Yetong’s sole eye rolled upwards, the eyeball constantly trembling, appearing terrifying.
Moreover, the more frightening aspect was that Yang Xiao could perceive Bo Yetong’s spiritual power rapidly dissipating.
"What’s happening to him?" Yang Xiao asked curiously.
Sheng Yanlin smiled slightly, resting the cane again, revealing a full aura of an expert, "The connection between him and the artifact has been completely severed by me, exiled."
"Exiled..." This was an unfamiliar term to Yang Xiao.
"It means he can no longer perceive the outside world; he is trapped in a completely unfamiliar, pitch-black endless night." Sheng Yanlin’s tone was eerie.
"Will he remain like this?" Watching this scene also sent chills down Yang Xiao’s spine.
"Of course not, this requires my spiritual power to maintain, there’s a time limit."
Knowing this move wasn’t without a solution, Yang Xiao felt a tiny relief, "How long can you exile him?"
Sheng Yanlin held up three fingers.
"Three hours?" Yang Xiao glanced away, feeling a bit sorry for Bo Yetong; this guy’s mangled body convulsed slightly like having an epileptic fit.
"Three years." Sheng Yanlin said calmly.
Yang Xiao: "!!!"
"The power difference between him and me is too vast; if I go all out to exile him alone, at least three years." Sheng Yanlin emphasized again, with no hint of joking.
Yang Xiao, likely an apostle himself, knew the weaker the spiritual power, the longer the exile. He couldn’t help but think of himself.
His hesitation didn’t escape Sheng Yanlin’s eyes. Sheng Yanlin wore a different expression, chuckling softly, "If it were you, likely not just 10 years, but you’re the old man’s savior, even though I’ve regained some strength, I won’t repay kindness with revenge."
"Mr. Sheng, what are you talking about? I just feel this thing is too frightening."
Looking at the Wisdom Staff in Sheng Yanlin’s hand, Yang Xiao was well aware that it was an artifact not inferior to the Human Bone Staff, and matched Sheng Yanlin extremely well.
Upon hearing this, Sheng Yanlin also sighed. This artifact was undeniably powerful, one of the three vault treasures hidden in the underground treasure vault of the Esoteric Sect’s Royal City.
"What are the other two treasures?" Yang Xiao’s curiosity was piqued again.
"One is a Ghost’s eyeball, a protective magical artifact from the Thousand-eyed Ghost Mother who rampaged across Myanmar and Thailand years ago, the other is a scimitar left by the former High Priest of the Esoteric Sect after his death."
After introducing them, Sheng Yanlin clearly told Yang Xiao not to covet these two artifacts; though they’re excellent, the Esoteric Sect absolutely won’t release them.
Not even because he once saved the High Priest’s daughter, Sutana.
"The way you speak, it seems like just because I, Yang Xiao, see something good, I want it for myself." Yang Xiao shrugged; he wasn’t that kind of person.
At Yang Xiao’s request, Sheng Yanlin lifted Bo Yetong’s exile, not out of kindness, but because he worried the guy might suddenly die.
Subsequently, Yang Xiao was curious about how much strength Sheng Yanlin had regained now that he possessed such a top-level artifact.
This was supposed to be a rather private question, but between the two of them, there seemed to be no secrets worth hiding.
Sheng Yanlin explicitly told Yang Xiao that he’s only recovered about 40 to 50 percent of his peak strength, handling opponents of Demon Sect Vajra’s caliber wouldn’t be a problem. However, facing someone like Yang Yunluo, a genuine Netherworld-level Apostle, the outcome was uncertain.
For now, at least, as he was still adapting to the new artifact, and having not fought for years, indeed his moves were a bit rusty.
In at most a month, dealing with Yang Yunluo, a typical Netherworld Envoy, wouldn’t be a problem.
"Great!" Yang Xiao was genuinely happy for Sheng Yanlin because, after all, Sheng Yanlin was truly one of theirs; the Esoteric Sect were outsiders.
With Sheng Yanlin gaining strength, they would become safer.
With the "Wit-stick"...or rather, Wisdom Staff in hand, Sheng Yanlin was brimming with confidence. After hearing Yang Xiao brought back the Gu Sect’s supreme treasure, he couldn’t resist his curiosity and wanted to follow inside to take a look.
With a thought, Yang Xiao led Sheng Yanlin into the Mirror World, the Mirror Ghost guarding beside them with the half-dead Bo Yetong.
After witnessing these puppets within the Ghost Fog, Sheng Yanlin nodded, stating this thing was impressive, whereas Yang Xiao even found the strongest puppet among them. Sheng Yanlin confirmed upon seeing it that the person was at least close to half-step Netherworld-level in life.
Such caliber was beyond what Bo Yetong and his father could handle; Sheng Yanlin judged that this corpse was likely bought at a high price.
In the Myanmar-Thailand Black Triangle, known for chaos, corpse trading is very common, as people here are renowned for crafting secret medicine and magical artifacts.
Especially with apostle corpse trading, it has developed into an extremely mature industry chain, with its reach touching even domestically.
Quite a number of apostle corpses killed worldwide are sold here.
The higher the level of the apostle’s corpse, the higher the price, some even rivaling high-level magical artifacts.
Of course, aside from the apostle’s pre-death level, considerations like corpse completeness, freshness, etc. must be made, needing dedicated personnel to ensure quality—it’s a very mature trade.
By showing this corpse to Sheng Yanlin, Yang Xiao aimed at compensating him, as Sheng Yanlin had mentioned that the kind of medicine able to suppress a good sister required using high-level apostle corpses as a medicinal lead.
After knowing Yang Xiao’s goodwill, Sheng Yanlin shook his head, considering that such half-step Netherworld-level apostle corpses were hard to find, especially so complete. Taking this corpse for refining would render Yang Xiao’s defensive magical artifact half useless.
But then Sheng Yanlin’s actions gave Yang Xiao a surprise; Sheng Yanlin pointed at Bo Yetong lying upside down and asked, "Do you still want him?"
Yang Xiao was taken aback, then replied, "I don’t want him, but his spiritual power is lacking; didn’t you say at least close to the Peak of Ghost Level is required?"
Hearing this, Sheng Yanlin confidently smiled, gently tapping the cane, "That’s easy. I know that Esoteric Sect’s group of alchemists have ways to mature apostles."
"They have a kind of medicine that, once taken, greatly boosts spiritual power for a short period. But once the drug potency dissipates, the side effects are severe, possibly causing sudden death, however..."
Sheng Yanlin slyly smiled, squinting at Bo Yetong like a dead dog, paused, "I reckon he wouldn’t last till then anyway, don’t you think?"
"This is excellent! Mr. Sheng, you truly are a living Buddha!" Yang Xiao, thrilled, gave Sheng Yanlin a thumbs up.
