novelapdf Chapter 111 Shifting the Blame East
Chapter 111 Shifting the Blame East
Zhang Lin held his breath, shrinking his spiritual sense to its limit, leaving only a thin, hair-like line of perception.
The spiritual consciousness lingered around the outskirts of White Stone Town for a moment, then slowly moved westward and entered the town.
After the spiritual consciousness entered the range of death energy, it encountered significant resistance.
Although Foundation Establishment cultivators possess strong spiritual senses, their perception range is significantly reduced in such dense death energy.
This was exactly the opportunity he needed; the deathly aura of White Stone Town served as his shield.
Zhang Lin crawled out of the livestock shed and crept along the ground toward the town.
Instead of taking the main street, he meandered westward along the vegetable fields, ditches, and walls on the outskirts of the town.
In his concealed state, his figure was almost invisible in the deathly aura.
The zombie passed by him, its murky white eyes staring straight ahead, ignoring him.
The skeletal puppet extended its bone claws from the ground, brushing past his feet without touching his physical form.
Zhang Lin silently crossed the eastern part of the town and arrived near the town hall.
The deathly aura is most concentrated here; probing one's spiritual sense into it is like being cut by a dull knife.
But Zhang Lin gritted his teeth and endured it.
He found a hiding place in an abandoned dye house on the west side of the town hall. The dye house had a large cellar filled with dusty cloths. The walls were made of thick, sturdy blue bricks, which could block some spiritual detection.
Zhang Lin crawled into the cellar, covered the entrance with cloth, sat cross-legged, and extended his spiritual senses deep into the town hall.
The aura of foundation building was still there, even clearer than before.
Zhang Lin closed his eyes and sensed, gradually sketching out the outline of the cultivator underground.
This person exudes a chilling aura, and his true essence is mixed with a dense aura of death and blood, suggesting he is a member of the demonic path from the Western Continent.
His cultivation level was around the early stage of Foundation Establishment, but his aura fluctuated, indicating that he had suffered a very serious injury.
He hid about thirty feet underground, using the earth's yin energy to nourish his injuries.
The deathly aura of Baishi Town was dissipated from the aura that overflowed when he was healing, thus forming the deathly domain of Baishi Town.
A demonic cultivator in the early stages of Foundation Establishment was severely injured and went into seclusion, unable to move.
A Foundation Establishment cultivator sent by the Zhou family is searching for him all over the world.
If these two were to collide...
Zhang Lin withdrew his spiritual sense and opened his eyes.
All he needed to do was act as a go-between for the two of them, so that the Zhou family's Foundation Establishment cultivators would discover that there was a Demonic Foundation Establishment cultivator hidden underground, and then make them fight.
He crawled out of the cellar and returned to the east of the town along the same route.
The Foundation Establishment spiritual consciousness was still lingering in the town, and the search area was getting wider and wider.
Zhang Lin stopped in a dilapidated temple in the east of the town, took out the Bewildering Array Flags from his storage bag, and stuck the flags one by one into the ground around the temple, activating them with his true energy.
The array flags lit up for a moment and then disappeared. The array was complete, not to trap the enemy, but to shield against any further movements.
Zhang Lin walked to the center of the dilapidated temple, took out a Bloodlust Pill from his storage bag, and crushed it.
The medicinal power of the Bloodlust Pill spread out, emitting a rich blood aura, which was like a bright fire in the dark for cultivators.
He took out a few more spirit stones and used his true energy to crack them, causing the spiritual energy to dissipate chaotically.
Then he left the dilapidated temple, put away the array flags, took out the spirit vision talisman he had obtained from Qingxuan City, and embedded it into a withered tree trunk.
Then he crawled into a dry well outside the temple.
The dry well is about ten zhang deep, and the bottom is dry with only thick silt.
Zhang Lin pushed his Concealing Breath Technique to its limit, simultaneously activating Hidden Form and Shadow, making himself one with the well wall.
He started waiting.
In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the Foundation Establishment spiritual sense swept over.
The spiritual sense swept across the dilapidated temple, capturing the abnormal fluctuations in blood energy and spiritual energy.
Zhang Lin extended a wisp of his spiritual sense from the dry well, connecting it with the spiritual vision talisman in the withered tree, and looked into the distance.
A middle-aged monk appeared above the dilapidated temple, dressed in a black brocade robe, with a gloomy face, standing with his hands behind his back.
At the early stage of Foundation Establishment, his aura was profound and steady, and there was a faint spiritual light flowing around his body, which was a sign that the power of heaven and earth was gathering around him.
The Zhou family is laying the foundation.
He stood in front of the dilapidated temple, his spiritual senses sweeping across the interior.
The fragments of the Bloodthirsty Pill were scattered all over the ground, and the spirit stone fragments were filled with spiritual energy, but no one was there.
The middle-aged cultivator sneered: "A mere trick."
He didn't enter the temple, but instead raised his hand and waved.
There were no spells, no talismans, and no visible attacks.
But the air in front of the temple suddenly froze, and an invisible force surged from all directions. It was the power of heaven and earth. Foundation Establishment cultivators only needed to think to draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a hundred feet around them and make it their own.
The tiles shattered, the beams broke, and the walls collapsed.
The entire dilapidated temple collapsed like paper before the power of heaven and earth wielded by the Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Before the smoke and dust could rise, they were forcefully pressed back to the ground by that invisible force.
Zhang Lin, inside the dry well, clearly felt the terror of that power.
It's not magic, but merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator's rudimentary application of the power of heaven and earth.
But even this rudimentary application is enough to crush all defenses of the Qi Refining stage.
This is Foundation Establishment. Even the weakest Foundation Establishment is already a different level of existence.
Before a Foundation Establishment cultivator could even see where the Qi Refining cultivator was, they were already crushed by the surrounding natural forces.
He held his breath and remained motionless.
The middle-aged cultivator stood in front of the ruins for a moment, scanned the surroundings with his spiritual sense, found no living people, snorted coldly, and turned to leave.
Zhang Lin did not come out immediately.
He waited in the dry well for another half an hour to make sure the spiritual consciousness had gone far away before slowly climbing out of the well.
The dilapidated temple is now in ruins, with a few wisps of remaining spiritual energy faintly visible among the rubble, flickering uncertainly amidst the deathly aura.
The first step was successful.
The Zhou family, having already established their foundation, knew there were people in the town. Now that they were certain Zhang Lin was there, they wouldn't easily retreat.
Next, we need to lead him to the town hall.
Zhang Lin meandered westward along the vegetable fields on the outskirts of the town.
When he returned to the dyehouse cellar, it was already late afternoon. He sat down cross-legged, took out a Qi-restoring pill, swallowed it, and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.
Once his breathing had stabilized, he took out the Blood Fiend Banner from his storage bag. The banner was dark red like blood and covered with runes.
Zhang Lin activated his true energy, and the Blood Fiend Banner slowly unfurled, with the blood-red "摄" character in the center of the banner lighting up.
He did not activate the power of the Blood Fiend Banner, but only allowed its aura to leak out.
The oppressive aura of the mid-grade spiritual weapon spread slowly outwards like dark clouds pressing down.
This aura was enough to attract the attention of any Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Zhang Lin put the Blood Fiend Flag back into his storage bag, crawled out of the cellar, and headed towards the town hall.
He needed to make the Zhou family's Foundation Establishment stage cultivators discover the demonic cultivator underground, but he couldn't let them discover that he was the one setting up the scheme.
There is a three-story pavilion on the east side of the town hall, with a wide view overlooking the entire town hall.
Zhang Lin went into the attic, took out the Soul-Suppressing Bell and placed it beside him. The bell was dark blue all over and covered with fine runes.
He placed his palm on the bell and slowly poured his true energy into it, without activating the power of the Soul-Suppressing Bell, but simply keeping it in a ready-to-go state.
Then he started to wait.
In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, that Foundation Establishment spiritual consciousness reappeared.
This time, the spiritual sense swept straight towards the town hall. The Zhou family's Foundation Establishment cultivator sensed the aura of a mid-grade spiritual weapon and was heading in that direction.
(Thanks to Baozi and Sunset Mist for the monthly tickets, the most I've ever received in one go. There's still one chapter to be continued.)