Chapter 438: Chapter 265: Cultivation World 55
During the refining process of the Thunder Demon Bird, Si Lingle also offered her insights, which were immediately tried by the Thunderbird Demon, resulting in a better quality outcome.
"Fellow Daoist, you truly have unique insights in artifact refining. Old Thunder thanks you for your guidance."
"You’re too kind."
After some exchange with the Thunderbird Demon, Si Lingle left the weapon shop and found an inn to stay at.
Si Lingle sat cross-legged in the private room on the third floor of the inn, with a Demon Avoidance Talisman on the window lattice flapping without wind.
Suddenly, the sound of creeping on the tiles was heard—like hundreds of insect feet rubbing against the green tiles.
The shopkeeper’s snoring downstairs abruptly stopped.
"Black market theft patrol! All guests, please come downstairs for inspection immediately!"
With the shout of the Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals, the lanterns throughout the inn suddenly turned blood-red.
Looking through the window seam, Si Lingle saw a team of scaled-covered Demon Soldiers using a Demon-Revealing Mirror to scan every guest. Wherever the mirror light touched, even the most intricately disguised Fox Demon revealed its true form.
She quickly introduced Chaos Qi into her Dantian, and the surface of the Thunder Spirit Root was instantly covered with a facade of a Demon Core.
After coming downstairs, the Demon-Revealing Mirror’s light swept across Si Lingle’s forehead without any unusual reaction.
Unable to find the thief, the Demon Soldiers left, and the inn returned to peace.
The next day
Si Lingle’s fingertips caressed the green porcelain teacup handed by the shopkeeper, reflecting the other person’s tense triangular eyes in the tea.
"What was stolen last night was the ’Nine Netherworld Lotus’—" the old demon lowered his voice, the scales at his Adam’s apple rustling, "a Chaos Treasure that blooms once every three thousand years in the Dead Sea Abyss, reputed to reverse yin and yang."
Suddenly, from outside came the sound of chains dragging on the ground as a patrol of demon cultivators wearing bronze beast masks checked each household.
The Nine Netherworld Lotus, it’s a good item.
If one can catch the culprit before the black market owner, the Nine Netherworld Lotus would be hers.
Si Lingle let Jiu Jiu release the Spirit-devouring Flying Ants to search.
All entrances and exits of the workshop were sealed, allowing entry but not exit.
Si Lingle believed the Nine Netherworld Lotus must be hidden somewhere in this workshop.
Si Lingle had Jiu Jiu send out the Spirit-devouring Flying Ants to search.
The thief who stole the Nine Netherworld Lotus must have residual Nine Nether Cold Qi on them, which cannot be eliminated in a short time.
Si Lingle’s Nine Netherworld Strange Fire contains Nine Nether Cold Qi, and after the Spirit-devouring Flying Ants sensed the cold Qi, they searched the workshop.
These Spirit-devouring Flying Ants were very effective, finding a clue in less than an hour.
Led by the Spirit-devouring Flying Ants, she arrived at an inconspicuous herbal shop in the west of the city.
"Cleverly hidden indeed." Si Lingle sneered, and a flash of lightning flickered in her sleeve.
Three bronze bells on the pharmacy’s eaves shattered in response, revealing the hidden Peeping Array inside.
Before entering the herbal shop, Si Lingle took out the Array Plate and set up an Array so that any fight happening in the shop would go unnoticed.
As the weathered wooden door of the herbal shop was pushed open, a strong fragrance of herbs hit her face. Si Lingle’s eyes shifted slightly, and her fingertips lightly tapped the abacus on the counter, which made a sound as metal clanged against metal.
"What herbs would the customer like?" the shopkeeper asked without lifting his head, though the pestle in his hand faintly glowed with green light.
As Si Lingle’s fingertips just touched the medicine cabinet, the shopkeeper’s pestle suddenly exploded, and hundreds of Poisoned Silver Needles shot out like a downpour.
Si Lingle spun around, flicking her sleeve, and Chaos Qi condensed into a vortex in front of her. The needles striking the vortex produced a sound like metal clinking—each needle’s tail bore a Netherworld Lotus Bud the size of a grain of rice.
"What a move, ’Ten Thousand Petals Soul Stealing’." Si Lingle sneered, suddenly turning her palm to smash the counter. The rosewood abacus shattered, seventy-four abacus beads forming a Trapped Dragon Formation, pinning the shopkeeper firmly to the medicine cabinet.
The shopkeeper’s beard suddenly stood on end, and three hundred and sixty-five herbs shot out simultaneously from the medicine cabinet.
Danggui turned into a Blood Blade, ginseng condensed into a golden spear, and even the most ordinary licorice twisted into a Throat-locking Whip. The entire herbal shop transformed into a Sword Mountain and Saber Forest, and Si Lingle’s black garment was slashed with dozens of cuts.
"Break!" Si Lingle drew a talisman in the air, forming the Ancient Seal of "Command". All the attacking herbs suddenly changed direction, instead piercing the shopkeeper like a porcupine—yet the body suddenly deflated, revealing it to be a Substitute Grass Puppet!
The ground collapsed with a roar, and Si Lingle fell into an underground Poison Pool. Nine Black Dragons, condensed from deadly poison, lunged out from the pool’s bottom, each scale reflecting the shopkeeper’s ferocious visage.
Si Lingle pinched a spell, a Demon Qi Compression Technique streaking forth.
"You think this old man only knows how to use poison?" the shopkeeper’s voice echoed from all directions. From the poison pool’s walls, countless bronze arms extended, each palm opening a blood-eye, deploying the long-lost "Thousand Hands Nether King Curse".
