Regarding the matter of the Ji Stone, the major giant factions of the Northern and Southern Spirit Realms all sent out their own people to launch investigations.
Because of Lianying Hall's existence, it was much more convenient for them to communicate and exchange the information they obtained.
The reason they didn't directly gather all personnel at Lianying Hall to investigate together was that gathering might actually hinder the investigation's progress.
Rather than assembling everyone at Lianying Hall and having to reorganize, establish order, and plan schemes from scratch, it was better to work independently according to each sect's own circumstances and habits.
When the time came, they only needed to periodically communicate and compile the information they had respectively gathered.
This could reduce many unnecessary conflicts and wasted effort.
The major sects considered the investigation of the Ji Stone to be highly dangerous, so naturally, they wouldn't dispatch Qi Condensation realm cultivators; at most, Qi Condensation disciples would do some auxiliary work.
This was when the importance of having a large number of disciples became apparent.
For example, right now, even though every sect had sent many people to track down the Ji Stone matter, it didn't delay the continuation of the Talisman Master Conference in the slightest, as they didn't need to mobilize the personnel stationed here.
But this didn't mean the sect disciples here were unaware of current events.
The extermination of the Wu family meant that the mastermind behind the Ji Stones already knew they had discovered the matter. Thus, it was obvious that the mastermind would start investigating the major sects.
Therefore, there was no need to hide it. Instead, informing the disciples could heighten their vigilance, ensuring they wouldn't overlook any potential clues they might stumble upon.
As long as they didn't make their investigation progress public, it was fine.
Thus, with the major sects completely unhidden and even indulging the release of this news, it wasn't long before more than half the people in Banxiang City knew about it.
Most people were completely ignorant about the existence of the Ji Stone.
But seeing the actions of the various sects led by the Talisman Sect, they knew this thing was bad news.
However, there were also some people without organizations or connections. So, even though a few days had passed and they felt the atmosphere in Banxiang City was a bit off, they remained completely clueless about what exactly had happened.
Lin Xiao and Jiang Youfu were among this group of people.
Besides Liu Chun and Yuan Qing, they knew no one else in this city. For the past two days, Yuan Qing had been leaving early and returning late, busy with who knows what.
Whenever they went out to watch the Talisman Master Conference, they would occasionally hear someone nearby suddenly ask another person in a cryptic tone:
Hey, have you heard about that matter?
Then they would start communicating with their eyes or via voice transmission, leaving Lin Xiao and Jiang Youfu, who had pricked up their ears to eavesdrop on the gossip, listening to nothing but silence.
Until tonight, the eve of the Talisman Master Conference's top 500 out of 2,500 competition.
Today, Yuan Qing rarely returned to their shared cave dwelling before dark.
Because Liu Chun's journey in the Talisman Master Conference was going quite smoothly, Lin Xiao had painfully forked out several hundred spirit stones to extend their stay here by twenty days.
Returning to the cave dwelling and seeing both Lin Xiao and Jiang Youfu present, a thirsty Yuan Qing grabbed the nearby teapot, poured himself a cup of tea, downed it in one gulp, and said to the two of them:
Have you two heard about the major event that happened recently?
Hearing him ask this, Lin Xiao and Jiang Youfu coincidentally thought of the various unfinished whispers they had been hearing lately.
Lin Xiao then said:
Recently we did feel that the atmosphere in the city was a bit strange, but we didn't know the reason. From what Fellow Daoist Yuan is saying, is it...
Yuan Qing came back this time specifically to see if they knew. If they didn't, he would tell them so they wouldn't accidentally get harmed later.
So he didn't keep them in suspense and immediately answered:
I heard that the Ji Stone, which wreaked havoc on our world ten thousand years ago, has appeared again!
I heard this Ji Stone is an existence capable of eliminating spiritual energy. It is said that over ten thousand years ago, the source of this item was sealed away by the joint efforts of many powerful figures who ruled our cultivation world. But for some unknown reason, now, ten thousand years later, it has actually made a comeback. Currently, the major sects of our Northern and Southern Spirit Realms are joining forces to investigate this matter.
Hearing this, Lin Xiao was somewhat surprised.
Ji Stone?
This thing...
He had several pieces stored in his private vault.
It seemed he couldn't casually take this stuff out anymore. It would be bad if the people of this cultivation world misunderstood and thought he was part of the group behind the Ji Stones.
Hearing the name Ji Stone, Jiang Youfu felt it sounded somewhat familiar, but for a moment, he couldn't remember where he had heard it.
Previously, after Lin Xiao and the others returned to the sect, they had briefly mentioned it to everyone, but without particularly detailed explanations. It was normal that he couldn't remember it right now.
After a good while, connecting it to Yuan Qing's mention of the Ji Stone's ability to eliminate spiritual energy, he suddenly remembered that when Lin Xiao and the others came back and recounted the process of saving the mountain villagers, wasn't this the very thing they mentioned?
Understanding this in his heart, Jiang Youfu glanced at Lin Xiao. Seeing that he said nothing, Jiang Youfu also kept his mouth tightly shut.
Yuan Qing didn't notice and just continued speaking to the two of them:
You two must pay attention to your safety recently. I heard this wretched thing is extremely harmful. When this item ran rampant back then, the world was said to be devastated, plunging the people into misery and suffering.
Hearing this, Lin Xiao and Jiang Youfu obediently nodded, expressing that they would definitely stay vigilant and go straight home after watching the Talisman Master Conference, not going anywhere else.
These pieces of news were all told to him recently by Yuan Qing's former sect members.
Speaking of this, he added:
Regarding the matter of the Ji Stone, there are records in the library pavilions of many sects as well as in some unofficial histories passed down by word of mouth. If you two fellow Daoists have ancient collections of books at home, you can go back and flip through them. You might be able to find relevant records.
Lin Xiao and Jiang Youfu couldn't help but think of their own sect's library corner, a small corner in the cultivation room holding only a few dozen mental cultivation methods and martial techniques.
A library pavilion...
Should they set one up too?
They didn't expect to match the foundations of these cultivation families or sects, but at least it would be good to learn a bit more about the development history of various major and minor events in the cultivation world.
Thus, Lin Xiao asked Yuan Qing:
Fellow Daoist Yuan, I wonder if there are places selling books in this Banxiang City? And in that Yuanling City, are there places where one can find more of these types of recorded ancient texts?
Seemingly not expecting him to suddenly ask this, Yuan Qing froze for a moment, then nodded and said:
If Fellow Daoist Lin wants to go, I can take you there.
No need, no need. We are quite familiar with Banxiang City now. Just mark the location for us, and you can go busy yourself with your own affairs.
Lin Xiao hurriedly declined.
After all, he was buying books for the sect, and Lin Xiao didn't really want to buy them right in front of Yuan Qing.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
't think I'm that capable, I'm just trying my best to stay alive. I've been kind all my life, never did anything bad, yet worldly suffering spared me not one bit. The human world is a nice place, but I won't come back in my next life. A kind young man, who wanted to just get by singing, but through repeated deceits and betrayals, has gone down an irredeemable path.
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
