Chapter 198: Chapter 147: Breakthrough to the 7th Level of Foundation Establishment, The Expert’s Operation

After dealing with the Eastern Wanderer, Xiao Chen turned back to pick up his Storage Bag and the Upper-Grade defensive magic robe.

Usually, this type of defensive artifact would be destroyed long before the end of a battle.

This was the first undamaged piece of loot he had ever acquired. If he could take it to a place like the Bat Tower, it would sell for over a thousand Spirit Stones.

"Withdraw!"

Xiao Chen raised his hand and, with a wave, retracted the Sword Array at the cave entrance.

Cao Honghai, who had only recently broken through to the seventh layer of Foundation Establishment, had been utterly unable to withstand the slaughter of the Small Three Talents Sword Formation. He had been dead for some time.

He took Cao Honghai’s Storage Bag as well, then erased all traces of the battle within the cave.

Afterward, he began to refine the two Storage Bags in sequence.

His cracking speed this time was a Quarter Hour faster than before; it only took him an hour and a half to get into both Storage Bags.

Cao Honghai’s Storage Bag was a total mess, containing a little bit of everything.

But there wasn’t a single valuable item inside. His most prized possessions had been the Shield, now torn apart by the Sword Array, and the Upper-Grade Magic Sword, which was snapped in two.

It could only be said that it was all very fitting for his status as a Loose Cultivator.

This left Xiao Chen feeling a little disappointed.

Fortunately, the contents of the Eastern Wanderer’s Storage Bag were also very fitting for his status as one of the Four Directions Wanderers.

First off, there were a whopping forty-one thousand, eight hundred and eighty-nine Spirit Stones, a massive pile that nearly filled the entire Storage Bag.

HISS!

’So damn rich.’

However, of these forty-thousand-plus Spirit Stones, at least twenty thousand were ill-gotten gains plundered by the Eastern Wanderer from Zhu County.

Xiao Chen figured the rest of the money wasn’t clean, either.

Next, he found a Special Small Cauldron used for holding Blood Wine and three matching Wine Glasses. It seemed to be a set of Demon Soldiers, likely related to poison.

There were also some consumable elixirs like Fasting Pills and Spring Pills, as well as a Token made of Pure Gold.

The front of this Token was engraved with the word "Huidong," while the back was covered in inscriptions. For now, he couldn’t tell what its purpose was.

Then, there were three Demon Technique manuals.

One was the *True Understanding of the Yellow Springs Secret Scripture*, a volume filled with annotations and Cultivation Insights on the *Yellow Springs Secret Scripture*.

Another was the *Blood Sea Divine Fire Record*, which detailed a special Fire Technique.

And the last was a separate booklet titled *Blood Sacrifice Secret Technique: Soul-breaking Needle*.

’Soul-Chasing Shuttle, Soul-breaking Needle... Chasing the soul and breaking the spirit.’

Xiao Chen flipped it open and took a look. Sure enough, it was a Demonic Secret Technique designed specifically to counter a Cultivator’s Defensive Spiritual Artifacts.

’No wonder the rumors said the Lingyuan Sect was suffering such heavy casualties.’

He now understood. With special methods like these, it would be strange if the Lingyuan Sect *could* gain the upper hand.

’Could it be that another great Demonic Calamity is about to descend?’

Previously, while looking through the Scripture Pavilion’s Ancient Texts about Evil Qi, Xiao Chen had also learned about many Demonic Calamities from the past.

Similar incidents had occurred more than once in the Southern Domain.

Periodically, the power of Demonic Cultivators would suddenly and rapidly increase, allowing them to break through the blockades set up by the Righteous Dao and expand their influence.

What followed was always a worldly catastrophe.

Smaller-scale Demonic Calamities would be confined to a single state.

But large-scale ones would spread across several states, sometimes even covering more than half the Southern Domain.

The former would eventually be annihilated by the allied Orthodox Cultivators from neighboring states, who would then proceed to carve up the territory for themselves.

As for the latter, there were two possible outcomes.

The first outcome was that they would transform, becoming the new leader of the Righteous Dao and, in turn, suppressing other Demon Cultivators.

Back when the Luotian Sect was powerful, it hadn’t hesitated to crack down hard on the other Demon Cultivators in Li State.

Xiao Chen also recalled from the Ancient Texts that the *Enchanting Soul Spirit-Gathering Technique* he’d found in Heyang County belonged to the Fragrance Dao, a group that had been brutally suppressed by the Luotian Sect.

The second outcome was that they would continue to wreak havoc in the region.

This would continue until a peerless, heaven-sent prodigy, born to face the calamity, successfully achieved the rank of Nascent Soul True Monarch, swept through the Southern Domain to purge the demons, and restored order from chaos.

Before that happened, heaven only knew how many innocent people would be slaughtered by the Demon Cultivators.

Judging by the current situation, things were looking very grim.

Whether it was the Blood Piercing Pills, the Iron Bone Pills, or this Demon Technique designed to counter Orthodox Cultivators...

All signs indicated that the Divine Fire Sect had come well-prepared this time, and a large-scale Demonic Calamity was now unavoidable.

Moreover, judging by the geography and the direction of the Divine Fire Sect’s invasion, Li State was certain to be caught up in it.

This level of preparation was also reflected in something else.

The Eastern Wanderer had been carrying an intelligence report targeting Elder Su of the Su Family.

This sprawling report was over sixty thousand words long, and it detailed nearly all of Elder Su’s battle records from the past century.

It paid special attention to the Magic and Talismans he had used in public battles.

It then clearly listed five conditions that needed to be met in order to hunt down and kill Elder Su.

Besides the Soul-breaking Needle to counter the Fringed Tassel Brocade Handkerchief and the *Yellow Springs Demon Embryo Technique* for raising cannon fodder...

...there were also nine Array Flags and a corresponding Array Deployment Map for the Yellow Wind Flowing Sand Formation, meant to break the Su Family’s Defense Array.

A Golden Light Talisman to counter the Su Family’s Secret Technique of Condensing Water into Soldiers.

And a Top-Grade Dharma Artifact-level Muddy Water Round Shield to parry Elder Su’s Flying Fire Spear.

’Isn’t this a little *too* specific?’

Xiao Chen rummaged through the Storage Bag. Aside from the cannon fodder—which was meant to tie up the other Su Family cultivators and attract the attention of the Li Huo Sect—all the other items were present and accounted for.

If the Eastern Wanderer had actually managed to reach South Lake with all this, Elder Su’s odds of survival would have been grim.