Chapter 26: Ting Wanyan

  After leaving the Linggui Pavilion, he strolled along the street for a while. He returned to the inn, changed into a new set of clothes, and then casually walked into another store that specialized in selling all kinds of fine Buddhist utensils. Half an hour later, Lei Dong calmly walked out with a calm expression. He directly left the market and flew up into the sky on his chariot of shadows, circling around once before turning back to head towards the Wan Gui Cave after not finding anyone following him.

  At this time, Leidong's face finally revealed a satisfied smile. The mid-grade spiritual ghost he sold was not cheap and directly made him rich. Unfortunately, the more than 1,000 spiritual stones in his pocket hadn't even warmed up before they were almost all spent again. Leidong had been eyeing that high-grade Nurturing Soul Tower, which was priced at 1,100. After haggling for a long time, he finally bought it for 1,000, and as an added bonus, he got a storage wristband worth several dozen spiritual stones.

  In comparison to the generally high prices of flying artifacts, the price of Soul Nourishing Towers is much more down-to-earth. Even the top-grade Soul Nourishing Tower that Lei Dong acquired only cost a thousand ling. This made Lei Dong, who had originally planned to settle for a mid-grade Soul Nourishing Tower, feel pleasantly surprised. This was the first high-grade artifact he had ever obtained in his life, although it was not the most popular choice among top-grade artifacts. However, when paired with the Devouring Soul Tower to create spirit ghosts, this top-grade Soul Nourishing Tower would be extremely suitable for Lei Dong's use.

  Unlike the entry-level Soul Nourishing Tower currently in hand, this top-grade Soul Nourishing Tower has a very powerful effect. A low-quality first-class ghost soldier, even if it doesn't absorb any blood and yin souls, can be easily promoted to second-class after being nourished in this tower for a year. As for the mid-quality first-class ghost soldiers, they might naturally advance within three or four months.

  This undoubtedly saved Lei Dong a lot of time and effort, only needing to return home after sacrificing the remaining two mid-grade Linggui with blood, he could then focus on his closed-door cultivation. As for the promotion speed of the three mid-grade ghost soldiers, it probably wouldn't be slower than his own. At most, every two months, just replace a spirit stone in the Nurturing Soul Tower and that would be enough. Of course, not adding spirit stones was also an option, but the nourishing effect would be greatly reduced. Moreover, if no spirit stones were added for a long time, the effectiveness of the main material, Soulwood, would become weaker and weaker, eventually becoming useless. In the past, because that Nurturing Soul Tower wasn't very valuable, Lei Dong didn't even bother to spend spirit stones on it.

  Along the way, it wasn't that there weren't any thrilling events. Several unknown cultivators saw Leidong flying with his sword and each drove their own magic tools to chase after him. Perhaps with good intentions, perhaps with ill intentions. But Leidong didn't care at all, directly driving the speed of his chariot to its fastest, and in an instant he had shaken them off so far that they couldn't even be seen.

  An ordinary flying artifact that can travel a thousand miles in an instant would require at least one or two thousand spirit stones, which is not a small amount. Some cultivators, even if they reach the foundation-building period, may not be able to use such high-speed flying artifacts. It was also for this reason that Lei Dong was willing to buy this spirit stone-consuming shadow artifact.

  Afterwards, he found a safe place to rest during the day and flew back to the Cave of Ten Thousand Ghosts at night with the help of his shadowy wings that had the effect of hiding in the dark. Lei Dong also safely returned to the cave without any mishaps.

  Entering the residence, I checked the door seal messages, all of which were sent by Chen Ge and Wei Hua. Due to Lei Dong's efforts to capture the Ling Gui, too much time had been wasted. At this point, Chen Ge had already successfully advanced to the third layer of the Refining Qi stage a few months ago. Even Wei Hua was at the peak of the second layer of Refining Qi and was working hard to break through to the next level.

  There were also some miscellaneous words, such as that Dīng Wěi Yán Shī Jiě had already reached the fifth layer of Qi Refining, and Zuǒ Chāo had reached the fourth layer. Another relatively major thing was that perhaps Zhōu Míng Huá had been stimulated, and had gone into closed-door meditation to cultivate, and unexpectedly surpassed others, also advancing to the fourth layer of Qi Refining.

  Chen Ge also repeatedly instructed them not to run around anymore and to focus on their cultivation. In just over a dozen months, it would be the three-year entrance exam. Zhou Minghua would definitely try his best to humiliate them in that exam.

  No wonder he was rated as an excellent disciple of the old ancestor, Lei Dong heard that Zhou Minghua's cultivation realm was also slightly suffocating. However, since he had already offended him, he didn't have a single regret. His qualifications were good, but he wasn't a vegetarian either, and he had a heaven-defying treasure that even Wan Gui Lao Zu would go crazy for if he knew about it. As long as his three ghostly subordinates' levels increased, even if Zhou Minghua reached the sixth layer of Qi Refining Period in the future, so what? Let's see how he plays this game!

  Shaking off the pressure brought by Zhou Minghua, Lei Dong replied to some messages and then started closing himself in. First of all, he naturally sacrificed the remaining two mid-grade Ling ghosts to refine them into ghost servants. This made Lei Dong feel that mid-grade Ling ghosts were indeed much stronger than low-grade ones. With one blood sacrifice, both reached the peak of level one and seemed to be about to reach level two. After finishing the first one and throwing it into the Soul Nurturing Tower, Lei Dong had not yet finished resting when he was refining the second one...

  In addition, both ghostly guards have mastered magical techniques. The first one is the Ghostly Howl, a group-oriented technique that can temporarily make people with weaker willpower feel fearful and disheartened. The second one has mastered a relatively rare concealment technique, unless the opponent's mental awareness is much stronger than the concealed ghost guard, it would be extremely difficult to detect the hidden ghost guard. This wonderful magical technique is quite useful for either stealth or doing other things.

  Of course, each of them comprehended a spell. It can only be said that the luck was still slightly better, after all, the probability of a medium-grade ghost soldier comprehending an innate spell during the blood sacrifice is still very high, and there is also a chance to comprehend two spells at once, which didn't happen this time. This is also one of the main reasons why mid-grade spirit ghosts are far more expensive than low-grade spirit ghosts and are sought after by people.

  Blood sacrifice to these two spirits, and it took another two months. However, in the more than half a year of torturing the spirits, he didn't relax his cultivation even during rest periods. At this time, Leidong's cultivation realm was still far from reaching the third layer of Qi Refining, but it was close to the middle of the second layer of Qi Refining. Now, with only a little more than three years left until the Small Competition, there wasn't much time left.

  No more time to waste, Leidong immediately began his closed-door meditation. Fortunately, he still had over a hundred spiritual energy left, so the small Peiyuan Dan and Ling stones he used during meditation were temporarily sufficient.

  Time flies like an arrow, three years have passed since I entered the door of Xiuzhen.

  On this day, Lei Dong slowly opened his eyes, and the pitch-black pupils were even more spirited and profound than before. After getting up and washing, he put on a brand new black with red trim junior disciple uniform, and walked towards the Wan Gui Wu Da Dian with high spirits.

  Half a year ago, Lei Dong had already reached the third layer of Qi refining in one breath. However, he also knew that with the remaining half year's time, even if he worked harder and risked his life, it was impossible to advance to the fourth layer of Qi refining. Therefore, he increased his cultivation of the Mind Tempering Technique, tempering and strengthening his mental spirit. With unremitting efforts, Lei Dong's mental spirit had already far surpassed that of ordinary third-layer Qi refining cultivators, and should have reached the level of a fifth-layer Qi refining cultivator. However, this was also because novice disciples who had just entered the sect rarely spent a lot of time cultivating the Mind Tempering Technique to temper their mental spirit. The later one advanced, the harder it became to advance, and many people would start to expand their knowledge in other areas, simply increasing their own combat strength.

  The reason why he judged that his own mind, spirit and consciousness had reached the standard of ordinary Qi cultivation five layers was also because Leidong's three ghostly soldiers, one of which had already entered the fourth level, while the other two were also at the peak of the third level. But he, a mere Qi cultivator of the third layer, could simultaneously command these three ghostly soldiers of this level and still have the upper hand. This was probably not something that an ordinary Qi cultivator of the fourth layer could achieve.

  Strolling leisurely into the martial arts hall, I found that more than thirty fellow apprentices of the same generation had all arrived. Three years have passed, and unlike in the past when there were big and small differences in age, they are now all youthful teenagers, including Zuo Chao, who was once the youngest, is now a handsome young man.

  Most of them have their own cliques, gathering in twos and threes. Only Ding Wanyan stands alone by the pillar, her surroundings eerily quiet, it's unclear whether it's because of her introverted nature or her status that makes people dare not approach her.

  Chen Ge beckoned to Lei Dong, but Lei Dong just gave him a glance and turned around to walk towards Ding Yuanyan. Only when he was about ten feet away from her did he stop in his tracks and bow respectfully, saying: "Lei Dong greets Senior Sister Ding."

  Due to Lei's stern expression, he didn't dare to glance sideways. On the other hand, it made Ding Yuanyan's icy gaze slightly relax, and she nodded calmly: "Hello, Junior Brother Lei." However, looking at her slightly furrowed eyebrows, she probably had already forgotten who Lei was.

  Lei Dong looked at her expression, didn't think much of it, and revealed a simple and gentle smile. She bowed slightly and said sincerely: "This time I came to thank you, elder sister, for speaking up for us in front of the ancestors and saying good things about my three fellow disciples."

  Ding Wanyan was taken aback for a moment, but then gradually remembered who this junior brother in front of her was. Her expression eased slightly, and she nodded lightly: "It's just a small matter, no need to mention it."

  It's not just Chen Gongwei from afar, but other fellow disciples who are all staring at Lei Dong in shock and disgust as he shamelessly hits on Ding Shijie, someone they hold in high esteem and consider untouchable. The most astonishing thing is that Ding Shijie is even smiling and chatting with him.

  ……

  (New book from a new author, needs your enthusiastic vote, brothers and sisters ~ thank you ~)