: Cloud Hand Treasure Search

"Don't kill him!" Sun Lingtong shouted loudly.

Even without his reminder, Ning Zhuo had already given the order to the Tree Martial Ape, Da Sheng.

Yuan Dasheng, a martial arts grandmaster, possessed perfect control. He stopped his attack instantly.

"Little Zhuo, use the talismans I gave you!" Sun Lingtong added.

Ning Zhuo nodded. "Don't worry, boss, I'm familiar with these."

Ning Zhuo took out several talismans, rushed to Qi Bai's front, and plastered them over his three dantians and other vital areas.

The talismans took effect, their glowing light connecting into one, completely sealing Qi Bai from all sides.

"Let's go, quickly!" Sun Lingtong urged, but after saying this, his vision went black. He couldn't hold on any longer and also fell unconscious.

Atop Huoshi Mountain.

Meng Kui's expression shifted slightly as he took in the entire outcome of the battle between Qi Bai, Ning Zhuo, and Sun Lingtong.

The result of this fight came as a slight surprise to him.

When he saw Ning Zhuo apply the talismans without taking Qi Bai's life on the spot, he frowned slightly.

Immediately, he murmured softly, sending a voice transmission.

Chi Dun and Fei Si had been waiting on standby.

Chi Dun immediately shot into the air, heading towards the location where Qi Bai was defeated.

Ning Zhuo's retreat was very timely.

By the time Chi Dun landed, the place was already a ruin, empty of anyone.

"Sigh, too late." Chi Dun quickly used a spell, attempting to find some clues.

How could Ning Zhuo leave behind obvious clues?

Seeing Chi Dun make his move, Zhu Xuanji, far away hundreds of miles distant, felt a stir in his heart. "The City Lord's Mansion is starting to get involved."

"Meng Kui's divine ability operation is about to end!"

Zhu Xuanji realized this immediately.

When the entire Luck Field was activated, the City Lord's Mansion, under Meng Kui's orders, had retracted all its extensions, holding their position and watching from the other shore.

Zhu Xuanji understood: This was because the City Lord's Mansion and Meng Kui's fate were linked, especially Fei Si and Chi Dun. These two were Meng Kui's right-hand men, their fates closely intertwined and entangled.

If these two were drawn into the Luck Field, Meng Kui wouldn't be able to sit comfortably and would also be implicated.

"Meng Kui's divine ability operation this time ended very quickly, far exceeding my expectations."

"Based on past battle records, he could sustain the operation for a long time. This time, he deliberately held back a lot, likely out of consideration for the citizens of Huoshi Immortal City."

"Perhaps he was also making allowances for the Molten Rock Immortal Palace."

"After all, the Molten Rock Immortal Palace's performance under the monster horde attack was far below expectations. Sigh, its weakness also far exceeded my expectations."

Zhu Xuanji stopped observing and began to move again.

He cautiously advanced, approaching Huoshi Immortal City. During this process, whenever his Wind Chime rang, he would stop, retreat a distance, ensuring his own fate wasn't affected.

Just as Zhu Xuanji suspected, the intangible, formless Luck Field was rapidly contracting. Moreover, the speed of this contraction was increasing.

Ning Zhuo stored the Tree Martial Ape, Da Sheng, and brought Sun Lingtong and Qi Bai to an underground base.

Over the past ten-plus years, he and Sun Lingtong had secretly searched for gaps in the Immortal City, constructing over twenty secret underground bases.

Many of these bases had never been used since their construction.

Ning Zhuo usually only frequented one underground base – the one his mother left for him, which had also once held Han Ming.

This particular underground base was small. Ning Zhuo hadn't been back since it was built.

It was primarily equipped with a healing array. Because the materials used were solid, almost regardless of cost, its healing effect was exceptionally outstanding.

At the beginning of his fight with Qi Bai, when Ning Zhuo used consecutive teleportations, he proactively exposed over a dozen underground bases, expending all efforts to wear down the powerful enemy.

But a base focused on healing like this didn't need to be exposed. Such exposure would be a pure giveaway; Ning Zhuo wasn't that foolish.

So, when Sun Lingtong woke up again, weakly opening his eyes, he found himself within a healing array.

Countless emerald green light points nimbly converged into his body, vigorously repairing his physical injuries.

The moment Sun Lingtong woke up, he shouted, "Little Zhuo! Help me up, I need to disarm Qi Bai!"

Ning Zhuo immediately stopped the healing array and brought Sun Lingtong out.

Sun Lingtong was extremely weak. The recent battle had inflicted severe damage to both his body and soul. The injuries were terrifying. If not for having taken the Late Autumn Life-Preserving Pill, he would likely be dead by now.

Too weak to walk on his own, supported by Ning Zhuo, Sun Lingtong still breathed rapidly, his face deathly pale, a layer of cold sweat quickly forming on his forehead.

"Boss, can you manage?" Ning Zhuo asked with concern.

Sun Lingtong stretched out his small hand. "Give me a Vigor Surge Pill."

This kind of pill allowed a cultivator to erupt into a powerful state for a short time, recovering a large portion of magic power, energy, and spirit power, sweeping away any lethargy. The side effect was that for a long period afterwards, they would fall into a very listless and weak state.

In fact, Ning Zhuo had already taken one during his fight with Qi Bai.

At that time, he controlled the Cang Iron Han Armor, bursting forth with his ultimate stance, but failed to hit Qi Bai's fatal spot, striking his chest instead.

Later, prompted by Sun Lingtong, Ning Zhuo mustered his strength to fight again, rallying his aura to charge at Qi Bai in the ruined building.

It was at that moment that Ning Zhuo, inside the Cang Iron Han Armor, secretly took a Vigor Surge Pill.

You can only take one Vigor Surge Pill per day; taking more has no effect.

If a physically weak person recklessly takes it, it could even cause sudden death.

Sun Lingtong had taken them many times.

When he lost contact with his master and was saved by Ning Zhuo, he was only at the Qi Refining stage. Making a living in the vast Huoshi Immortal City wasn't easy. Sometimes facing danger, he had no choice but to take a Vigor Surge Pill to deal with great crises.

Having taken it so many times, Sun Lingtong had gained a lot of experience.

Now, after taking one, his breathing immediately grew heavier, his pale cheeks regained their rosy color, his energy and spirit soared, and his eyes began to sparkle with intelligence again.

His hair even stood on end, as if electrified.

He looked down, pulled open his pants, glanced inside, and nodded with satisfaction. "This pill is top quality."

A top-quality Vigor Surge Pill could make everything on Sun Lingtong's body stand up.

Mid-quality ones couldn't achieve that.

So far, Sun Lingtong had never taken a supreme-grade Vigor Surge Pill.

Supreme-grade pills were very rare, often possessing miraculous effects.

Sun Lingtong strode forth, chest out and head high, marching valiantly to where Qi Bai lay.

Talismans were plastered all over Qi Bai's body, and he was also placed within an array. He himself was unconscious, showing no signs of waking, while his essence, energy, and spirit seas were precisely suppressed by the talismans.

Sun Lingtong extended his slender hand and *smack!* gave Qi Bai a light slap on the face.

Qi Bai didn't move, but the slapped area on his cheek quickly reddened and swelled.

Sun Lingtong snorted angrily, sat down cross-legged, pressed his palms together, closed his eyes, bowed his head, and began softly chanting an exquisite mantra.

After gathering his energy for a good while, he slowly opened his eyes.

The whites of his eyes and his pupils were covered in spiritual light. Smoke rose from his hands, wispy white strands like clouds or mist. Tiny silver lights, like countless crushed diamonds, flickered incessantly within the white smoke, exceptionally brilliant.

Sun Lingtong continued his chant, his voice growing softer, nearly silent.

After a few breaths, his hands completely disappeared, replaced by two streams of cloudy smoke connected to his wrists.

The Empty Gate Technique — Gazing Sea Cloud-Grasping Hand!

The white cloud qi touched Qi Bai's body and then quickly probed into his Upper Dantian, the Spirit Sea.

The cloud smoke churned, flowing continuously.

A moment later, the smoke withdrew. Unlike before, it was now bulging significantly, clearly wrapped around something.

Sun Lingtong controlled the cloud smoke, floating it to an empty spot beside him, then slowly dispersed it.

A seal was immediately revealed.

It was a square jade seal. The seal body was perfectly square, like black jade, gloomy and icy cold. The seal face featured a human skull, seemingly made of transparent crystal, clear and sparkling. The skull's teeth clenched a Spirit Pearl. Inside the pearl, blue underworld fire burned constantly.

The characters carved on the base of the seal read — Netherworld Ghost God!

The Netherworld Ghost God Seal.

This wasn't a magical instrument, but a magical treasure!

It was by relying on this treasure that Qi Bai had successively summoned the avatars of the Investigating Judge and the Ox-Head Ghost Minion.

This was Qi Bai's primary treasure, the core of his overall combat power, and the first thing Sun Lingtong stole.

"This kind of jade seal only requires Yin-attribute magical power to refine."

"Even if we aren't ghost cultivators, if we explore the underworld in the future, this will be a powerful tool!"

"Seal it for now."

Sun Lingtong took out talismans and affixed them to the front and back of the treasure.

He again stirred the white smoke, sending it surging into Qi Bai's Spirit Sea.

Soon, the white smoke returned, bringing out a rattle drum.

It was precisely the Soul-Shaking Rattle Drum that had given Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong so much trouble during the battle.

Like the Netherworld Ghost God Seal, it was also a magical treasure.

Sun Lingtong easily suppressed it with talismans.

After all, it wasn't a Spiritual Treasure and didn't contain sentience.

There were no more treasures hidden in the Upper Dantian Spirit Sea.

But Sun Lingtong still fished out many spiritual thoughts, storing them all in a jade slip.

He then used the Gazing Sea Cloud-Grasping Hand to probe into Qi Bai's Energy Sea (Middle Dantian).

The Energy Sea contained no substantial treasures, but there were many spell seed symbols.

When a cultivator practices a certain spell to a certain degree, it forms a spell seed. Continuing down this path can also lead to developing a divine ability.

However, the difficulty and cost far exceed that of using innate talents. Moreover, the divine abilities formed this way are relatively common.

Innate talents are universally recognized as the true soil for divine abilities. The divine abilities condensed from them are either immensely powerful or uniquely distinctive.

Sun Lingtong used the cloud smoke to scoop up the spell seeds, but only managed to obtain faint shadows of them.

He took out talisman paper. As the cloud smoke carrying the spell seed shadows settled onto it, it immediately transformed the paper into individual talismans.

"All high quality, can be sold for money!" Sun Lingtong nodded with satisfaction.

Ning Zhuo, however, said, "Let's stockpile a batch for ourselves first."

The recent battle had almost exhausted his accumulation of mechanical constructs built over more than a decade, leaving him feeling very insecure.

Finally, Sun Lingtong used the cloud smoke to intercept a large amount of Qi Bai's magical power, channeling it into Spirit Storage Orbs.

The cloud smoke formally entered the Essence Sea (Lower Dantian).

Sun Lingtong felt around for a bit, then suddenly shuddered, his face revealing surprise and joy. He blurted out, "It's actually this thing! What a treasure, what a treasure!"

(End of )