Fangxian Heretical Path

Chapter 172 Unexpected Wealth Returns Home, Old Friends Change

Fang Shu stepped onto the shore, and a sense of security immediately arose in his heart.

These past few days on the boat, swaying and rocking, haven't been a pleasant experience even for a celestial being. He's especially worried about being attacked by monsters in the river or even swept away, while also having to be wary of the people on board.

Fang Shu glanced in the direction where the white wolf and the black rat had left, and then disappeared into the forest.

He used magic to leap and dart about, sometimes passing directly through trees and rock walls, and sometimes casting invisibility spells to hide himself.

Once he was sure he had distanced himself from the white wolf and the black rat, he found a place to settle down, set up a small altar, and took out a talisman from his sleeve.

After a moment's thought, he wrote down everything that had happened on the Pan family's boat in detail.

He wrote in great detail, not even omitting the fact that Deng Lixing was instigated by someone to plot against him. He only concealed the fact that he took the initiative to attack Deng Lixing, and instead said that the other party unfortunately died in the battle of magic.

The reason he was so honest was that he wasn't the only one who experienced this; there were also White Wolf and Black Rat involved.

If Fang Shu were to conceal something, and the other two were to reveal it, it might cause him some trouble. It would be better to be honest than to do that.

After examining it carefully, Fang Shu took out his own waist token, pasted the written incantation onto it, and then chanted the incantation: "A thousand miles of sound can transmit a message, though the ends of the earth are near, so be it!"

"Go!" He faced the direction of the Five Internal Organs Temple, made a sword incantation, and pointed at the talisman on his waist token.

With a whoosh, the talisman immediately took to the air, transforming into a streak of light that flew towards the stomach.

The talisman he cast was called the Thousand-Mile Messenger Talisman. It could fly like a pigeon to a designated location even if it was thousands of miles away, and it was very fast.

As for the specific location of the letter sent by Fang Shu, it was the main hall of the temple.

After sending the message, he pondered for a while, then rewrote it, changed the method, and sent it to the household hall again.

However, he didn't send this message to the disciples in the Hall of Reception, but rather to his own Senior Sister Fang Lu. Once Senior Sister Fang Lu received the notification from the Hall of Reception, he could use his waist token to retrieve the letter from the Hall of Reception and deliver it to her.

"Although the message talisman is fast, there is a risk that it may be intercepted or lost. Especially for a message talisman of the fourth level, its effectiveness and speed are not high. It is better to send two messages." He thought to himself, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

As for why Fang Shu only sent the message to the temple after disembarking from the boat, the reason is rather amusing.

After dealing with Deng Lixing and his group, the three of them stared at each other blankly for several days on the deck.

They waited until the ship docked, and although the three of them moved around, none of them went into the cabin.

With such behavior, they naturally had no time to focus on writing letters and sending talismans.

"I wonder how the temple will react to something that concerns the Dry Bones Temple," Fang Shu thought to himself.

But he quickly dismissed this useless thought and turned his attention to a piece of gray bone in his hand.

This bone was the one that Black Rat found among the corpse of that scoundrel, and it was also a magical artifact that the scoundrel had refined.

This substance was cold and gloomy, shaped like a steel nail, about a foot long, with four restrictions within its bones. It was clearly a fourth-level magic weapon, and its aura was also solid.

Upon closer inspection, Fang Shu discovered that this item was approaching the level of a fifth-level magic weapon, clearly a rare and precious treasure.

Although it was stolen goods and concerned the Dry Bones Temple, he should still take advantage of such a valuable item now that it was in his hands.

"Perfect. With this bone nail, I no longer need to use my telekinesis to control the Long Tongue Sword, but can control this object instead," he thought to himself.

The Long Tongue Sword is merely a third-stage magic weapon. Although Fang Shu also found the crafting method for a fourth-stage Long Tongue Sword in the Er family's library, it can also be incorporated into the Lip-and-Tongue Sword spell.

However, he does not yet have the energy to refine and nurture this item.

Now that I have obtained a genuine Four Tribulation Bone Nail, I can undoubtedly make better use of the manipulation technique, and I don't need to worry about damaging the controlled artifact.

Fang Shu flipped his hand and put the Four Tribulation Bone Nails into the storage bag in his sleeve.

Then he pinched the other sleeve, feeling pleased. He saw that there was also a storage bag inside this sleeve.

This was another gain he made besides the four calamity-related magical artifacts.

But the greater reward was not the storage bag itself, but what was inside.

Thanks to the Pan family's boat, this bag contained not only various kinds of spirit grains, spirit rice, spirit materials, and talismans, but also a full fifty-two taels of low-grade spirit stones!

If converted into gold salt clouds, it could buy five units.

It can be said that this sum of spirit stones is the largest amount of resources Fang Shu has ever acquired in his history.

With this sum of spirit stones, he still owes the Jin family a sum of money, even though it has now ballooned to 1,200 second-grade spirit stones with compound interest. He can pay it off in one go and still have a considerable amount left over.

Touching the storage bag in his sleeve pocket, Fang Shu couldn't help but mutter an old saying to himself: "It's true, no one gets rich without windfall gains."

In that instant, he recalled the nine years he had spent in the temple, the days when he worked diligently but was always short of money, and his expression became even more wistful.

However, after a few sighs, he suppressed the desires in his heart.

Although he had made a windfall, Fang Shu didn't see it as a good thing; instead, he was extremely wary. He had barely finished eating when he encountered Deng Lixing's situation, regardless of the reasons or his actions.

This incident was a huge blow to Fang Shu, making him suddenly realize that the world inside and outside the temple was two completely different places.

Thinking about this, Fang Shu suddenly narrowed his eyes: "Perhaps this is also the reason why my fifth senior brother would try to hire someone to kill me."

Inside the temple, rules were strict, and a protective array encircled the entire mountain gate. Even if discord arose among the fellow disciples, it could only be dealt with in secret. After all, if someone committed a crime, it wasn't just the servants who would die; the temple's elders had countless ways to expose the scoundrels.

Outside the temple, even if the perpetrators are identified, if no one steps forward, the matter remains unresolved.

Fang Shu silently kept this in mind.

He had assumed that his fifth senior brother had given up on his underhanded tactics. Little did he know, the man was secretly plotting something.

Although he has always been cautious, and this time Deng Lixing either did not agree or did not have the opportunity to make a move, it is hard to guarantee that the man surnamed Huai will not do it again.

A cold light flashed in Fang Shu's eyes.

After resting for a moment, he immediately set off towards the location of Guling Town.

A few more days passed.

Although he encountered some demons on the road, he was now a Qi Refining Immortal, not a Spirit Refining Immortal, and the Lushan area was ultimately the territory of the Five Sects of Lushan, where there were no wild demons that had become powerful.

Fang Shu arrived at Guling Town relatively smoothly.

The entire town came into view, still shrouded in mist, like a fairyland in the clouds, a stark contrast to the scenery on Toad Beach.

Returning to this place, Fang Shu boarded the ferry and saw that the nearby scenery was exactly the same as he remembered.

Coincidentally, a snakehead was also bringing a group of new customers seeking immortality. He leaped out of the water, dumping them out, which then attracted a swarm of brokers and matchmakers to the ferry crossing like crows.

"Is this the Immortal Market!?"

The seekers murmured, "A predestined connection to the immortals! A predestined connection to the immortals!"

Fang Shu glanced at the group of immortals, a wry smile playing on his lips. He then strode off toward Guling Town.

As he walked through the mountains and forests, he had already changed out of the Five Internal Organs Temple disciple's robe, replacing it with an ordinary gray robe. Therefore, he did not disturb anyone and arrived at the Dugu Pavilion.

The gate of the Dugu Pavilion was just as he remembered: the stone steps were old and the door panels were yellowed.

Not wanting to disturb the ordinary disciples inside the hall, Fang Shu cast an invisibility spell and entered the hall.

Soon, new faces appeared before his eyes. Compared to when he was cultivating in the temple, there were now many more disciples at the dojo, making it quite lively.

Fang Shu walked through the crowd and headed straight for the dining hall, but did not find his second uncle there. He then went to the inner courtyard and found the Dugu Pavilion Master, who was giving instructions to several inner courtyard disciples.

Upon first glance at the Master of the Solitary Gu Sect, his eyes flickered, and he seemed slightly dazed.

The owner of the private club in front of me was even more hunched over than he had been nine years ago, and his once silvery-white hair was now completely white. He also exuded the smell of an old man.

In Fang Shu's eyes, what should have been a short and busy nine years was ultimately not short at all, and was enough for many things to happen.

During his lecture, the master of the Dugu Pavilion looked up as if he had something in mind, and squinted at Fang Shu's location.

But there was nothing in her eyes.

When the master of the Dugu Pavilion looked away and then suddenly looked back, the air distorted, and a figure suddenly appeared, shining brightly in the inner courtyard.

The other person was a teenager, around seventeen or eighteen years old, with rosy lips and white teeth, full of vitality, and still exuding a bit of youthful naiveté.

The master of the Dugu Pavilion stared blankly at Fang Shu, his gaze unfocused.

Fang Shu immediately greeted him, saying, "Greetings, Master Du."

The inner disciples were startled when they suddenly heard someone speaking behind them and quickly turned around to look.

When they saw a young man appear before them, the inner disciples were puzzled, and some even suspected that someone had come to challenge them.

Fortunately, the next moment.

A flush of color rose on the aged face of the Dugu Pavilion Master, and he smiled.

Noticing the master's expression, some of the quick-witted disciples had already realized what was happening, and disbelief popped into their minds.

The newcomer was a stranger, but he addressed the visitor as "Master Du," and the Master Du smiled, a rare occurrence for him.

Disciples of the Immortal Sect! Could it be that disciples of the Immortal Sect have descended the mountain?!

(End of this chapter)