Chapter 163: Chapter 164 - Testing and Counter-Pursuit
The black-robed cultivator also became tense, as Lin Shiming took out another third-rank spirit beast, and it seemed that both were as extraordinary as his own corporeal spirit corpses.
Scared, he hastily took out three spirit talismans.
However, no sooner had he taken out the spirit talismans than a flash of white light flickered through the void, like a spiderweb passing through.
A head soared high into the air.
With that, the black-robed cultivator fell.
As soon as the black-robed cultivator perished, the ordinary zombies and blood corpses immediately began to wander aimlessly, like walking corpses without any spirit intelligence.
Only those two corporeal spirit corpses became even more excited, pressing aggressively towards the Red-haired Demon Monkey and the Golden Winged Mantis.
The flames of the Red-haired Demon Monkey greatly suppressed that leopard corpse, yet it was still bombarded relentlessly.
One could imagine the strength of the corpse, but the Golden Winged Mantis did not disappoint its expectations, firmly suppressing the green-haired zombie. Its massive scythe-like legs left no less than ten huge cracks on the body of the green-haired zombie, which would have been fatal to an ordinary body refining cultivator.
Lin Shiming first used the Heavenly Demon Bag to take away the green-haired zombie, then he and his two beasts suppressed the leopard corpse and also put it into the Heavenly Demon Bag.
These two corporeal spirit corpses obviously had value for cultivation, and their bodies were extremely strong. If he could find a way to control them from the Corpse Refining Sect cultivators and bring them back to guard the Fangmu Mountain, it wouldn't be a bad idea.
Moreover, these corporeal spirit corpses clearly possessed spirit intelligence of their own, and control didn't necessarily require the cultivation of the Corpse Refining Sect's techniques.
On the other hand, those blood corpses were of no value, with strength far below that of cultivators of the same rank. Following Lin Shiming's order, they were all burned to ashes by the flames from the Red-haired Demon Monkey.
Lin Shiming put away the storage bag, then used the Fireball Technique to burn the entire ground, followed by a catalysis spell to accelerate the growth of nearby ordinary plants until they reached their original height. He left satisfied, having ensured the scene had no obvious flaws.
However, just as Lin Shiming was about to leave, a dazzling escape light flew rapidly towards him from the sky.
He recognized it all too well; it belonged to a cultivator from the Lu Family, Lu Ziming.
Lu Ziming looked extremely bedraggled, as if he had suffered serious injuries, and he was heading straight for Lin Shiming.
Seeing this, Lin Shiming immediately steered the spirit boat. The other party was a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, and Lin Shiming didn't believe he could stand a chance against him, especially as there was such a formidable Corpse Refining Sect expert hunting him down. What could be the cultivation level of the person pursuing Lu Ziming?
Thinking of this, Lin Shiming sped up the spirit boat even more. Moreover, not only was his own True Yuan depleted, but also a large portion of the True Yuan in the Heart of Tianshu on his Spirit Platform.
The remaining True Yuan at best equated to that of an ordinary early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Lin Shiming quickly took out an intermediate-grade spirit stone, but then he suddenly remembered the system prompts, Corpse Refining Sect disciples, and ambushes, all of which had been verified except for the superior-grade spirit stones.
So, while steering the spirit boat, he also took out the storage bag of the Corpse Refining Sect cultivator. Upon opening the storage bag, what first caught his eye were not the various bottles and jars, nor the jade slips.
Rather, it was a wooden rack with a nanmu box inlaid with golden threads, half-open, revealing more than thirty lustrous and beautiful spirit stones inside.
These spirit stones were about the same size as the intermediate-grade spirit stones and had various shapes, as if they had just been mined from the veins and had not been polished.
However, the amount of spiritual energy was so terrifyingly pure that it was even more refined than the third-rank superior-grade spirit vein of Fangmu Mountain.
"Superior-grade Spirit Stones!" Lin Shiming couldn't help but feel his heart race. He had not expected someone would go to great lengths to deliver superior-grade spirit stones to him.
These spirit stones were far more valuable than other magic artifacts and, with these pure superior-grade spirit stones, just five or so would be enough. When used during a breakthrough to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, the released pure spiritual energy could even loosen the bottleneck significantly.
Xu Daolai had used a small superior-grade spirit stone mine to achieve his perfect Foundation Establishment.
Of course, at this moment, what mattered most was restoring his True Yuan.
Lin Shiming grasped a wood attribute superior grade Spirit Stone and began to recover his True Yuan.
As he inhaled the spiritual energy from the superior grade Spirit Stone, he felt its immense purity. It instantly filled a significant portion of his Spirit Platform, and he hardly needed to refine it.
It flowed exceptionally smoothly, and his True Yuan visibly thickened.
While flying the Spirit Boat, Lin Shiming continued to recover his True Yuan, and for a moment, his mood greatly improved.
However, Lu Changming was still hot in pursuit behind him, but what puzzled Lin Shiming was that Lu Changming was not flying a Spirit Boat; he still maneuvered a longsword, yet his speed was not a bit slower than that of a third rank superior grade Spirit Boat.
"Lin my friend, there are no pursuers behind us, no need to run!" Lu Changming called out from behind with earnest persuasion.
There was a sense of urgency in his tone, yet how could Lin Shiming believe him? He still did not understand why Lu Changming harbored such great animosity towards him.
Then, he heard Lu Changming abruptly say:
"Lin my friend, I am the clan uncle of Lu Shenwu. The Beast Nurturing Pill recipe and the Golden Luan Eagle, weren't they sold to you by Lu Shenwu?"
Upon hearing this, a storm of shock surged within Lin Shiming's heart.
The name of Lu Shenwu, along with the Beast Nurturing Pill recipe and the Golden Luan Eagle, instantly reminded him of the Cultivator with the surname Wu.
Lin Shiming did not respond, but what he saw next stunned him: Lu Changming had actually started to flee, the sword light darting off to the side.
No longer pursuing him.
It seemed as if he knew he could not catch up with him, very strange indeed.
"Not good!" Lin Shiming felt a jolt of alarm within his heart.
Lu Changming not giving chase was not a good sign; it could mean that Lu Changming might know about him killing Lu Shenwu and subsequently deduced the whereabouts of the Minor Divine Ability Tree.
Lin Shiming felt incredibly bitter in an instant. He did not know how Lu Changming had found out, but he believed that it was surely because Lu Changming had seen the shock on his face just now and had sensed the superior grade Spirit Stone.
Otherwise, he would not have fled.
Lin Shiming instantly cursed himself for still being too young and inexperienced, which had given him away.
"Is Lu friend truly the clan uncle of Lu Shenwu?" Lin Shiming did not dare to gamble, nor could he afford to; otherwise, the entire Lin Family of Fangmu Mountain would have to pay for this piece of information with their lives.
The fact that Lu Changming was attempting to flee further suggested that he was in a desperate situation.
This old fox had fiercely pursued him, probably just to exert pressure on him and then extract information through conversation.
Indeed, Lin Shiming also understood that Lu Changming still had some treasures hidden away. Even if his magical power and True Yuan were insufficient and he had lost one out of ten of his magic artifacts, even lacking a third rank Spirit Boat, he still wished to take a gamble.
Otherwise, if the Spirit Beast Sect were to investigate, he would have to flee from Zhao Kingdom or seek refuge with the Corpse Refining Sect or the Heavenly Demon Sect, and these two Sects would certainly demand the Minor Divine Ability Tree from him.
Lin Shiming also spoke these words to fish for information from Lu Changming. If Lu Changming stopped, it would not mean that he had fallen for the trap, but that Lu Changming still retained his strength and the old fox was turning the tables.
If he continued to flee wildly, that would truly mean that Lu Changming had escaped Yunjing Mountain at a terrible cost.
Otherwise, with his arrogant and domineering nature, even if Lin Shiming were a Cultivator at the later stages of Foundation Establishment, he might get into a fight with him!
Lin Shiming's third rank Spirit Boat once again accelerated at full force, but this time it was not to escape, but to chase and kill a Cultivator at the later stages of Foundation Establishment; had this happened before, he would not have believed it was possible.