Chapter 162: Change Color

Chapter 162: The Color Changes

Shang Yunduo was certain he was a good person, but he couldn't be sure whether the Golden Water Thunder Beast was a benevolent demon beast.

Without spiritual power and with little understanding, both sides were on high alert.

Shang Yunduo feared that the Golden Water Thunder Beast would suddenly charge and eat them both. After all, without spiritual power, in a direct fight, the two were no match for a fifth-rank demon beast. Fortunately, the Golden Water Thunder Beast was also injured, and without spiritual power, its strength was greatly diminished as well.

Meanwhile, the Golden Water Thunder Beast seemed to be wary of the Frost Sword in their hands.

But neither side left.

Pei Jie found the situation quite amusing. In fact, the safest course of action would have been to ignore it and leave immediately, but Shang Yunduo wanted to help the Golden Water Thunder Beast pull out the sheath, and the Golden Water Thunder Beast wanted them to do just that.

As for how the Golden Water Thunder Beast knew they were good people, that was definitely Shang Yunduo overthinking it. Only he, having spent over two years in this world, still clung to naive and innocent thoughts like before.

Yet his harmless aura truly did make demon beasts let down their guard around him. Back when he was in the Boundary Mountain range, if he wasn't planning to cause trouble for anyone and simply wanted to go into a demon beast's territory to pick some vegetables, those beasts' first reaction upon seeing him was often not to drive him away or attack him, but to just watch. Even if he had already entered their attack range, they would first see what he was doing.

At this moment, Shang Yunduo started negotiating with the Golden Water Thunder Beast again: "I'll try to pull it out for you. Don't move, okay?"

Whether the Golden Water Thunder Beast understood him or not, it just lowered its head and looked at him.

Pei Jie thought that perhaps Shang Yunduo should really learn the art of beast taming.

Shang Yunduo carefully moved closer to the Golden Water Thunder Beast, grabbed the chain and jumped onto its back.

That sword sheath, studded with gems on both sides and as white as jade, was embedded nearly halfway into the Golden Water Thunder Beast's back. At the boundary between the flesh and the sheath, the jade-white sheath was stained with a hint of blood.

He tried to pull it out. The Golden Water Thunder Beast suddenly let out a low roar, hopped in place, almost throwing him off its back.

Pei Jie swung his sword, and Frost severed the chain binding the beast and the sword sheath. Seeing this, the Golden Water Thunder Beast stomped hard on the trailing chain with its foot, once and again, splashing up sprays of water. The sheath, buried deep in its spine, shook with the movement. Shang Yunduo grabbed the sheath with all his strength and pulled with all his might. The sheath, wedged between bones, loosened under the combined force, then suddenly came free. Before Shang Yunduo could release his strength, he fell backward like a radish being pulled out, landing on his butt, rolling off the Golden Water Thunder Beast's back and tumbling into the water.

Before he could get up, the Golden Water Thunder Beast suddenly turned around and sprayed a puff of black mist at him.

Shang Yunduo: "?!?!"

Fortunately, the Golden Water Thunder Beast only had that bit of venom left. Without spiritual power, its potency was greatly reduced. Pei Jie was also on guard. Before the poisonous mist could fall into the water, he grabbed Shang Yunduo and leapt ashore in time.

Seeing that its attack had failed, the Golden Water Thunder Beast didn't linger. It turned around and fled upstream along the river, disappearing from sight.

Shang Yunduo couldn't believe it. He fumed, "Treacherous!! Returning kindness with enmity! And I was trying to help it!"

As he was about to throw the sword sheath at the beast, Pei Jie quickly intercepted him and took the sheath into his hands, preventing the gem-studded sheath from being swept downstream by the waterfall.

"We've made a profit."

"Huh?" Shang Yunduo still hadn't calmed down from the anger of betrayal.

If they hadn't reacted quickly, they would have been poisoned!

Pei Jie: "A fifth-rank demon beast already has a demon core. If it hadn't fled, I'm afraid you would have killed it to take the core."

Shang Yunduo: "...Oh."

His anger mostly subsided.

Shang Yunduo: "But I can't beat a fifth-rank demon beast."

Pei Jie: "It was severely injured."

Shang Yunduo mentally simulated the scenario—if he had really wanted to kill the beast for its core, he actually had a chance just now!

If he had used Body Tempering to strike near its wound with full force, he could have broken the already injured spine.

"Well... fine." Shang Yunduo muttered. Who could blame him for being good at Body Techniques? Even without spiritual power, he could still make a fifth-rank demon beast afraid.

"Hehe." Shang Yunduo quickly soothed himself and cheered up. He even shouted loudly in the direction where the Golden Water Thunder Beast had fled: "If you run into human territory, you're dead! Run west, back to the Boundary Mountain!"

Pei Jie: "..."

Seeing that Pei Jie seemed quite satisfied with the sword sheath, he added even more loudly: "I'll take the thing you dropped as payment for my labor!!"

As his voice faded, a demon beast's low roar echoed from the distance, as if in response.

Shang Yunduo said happily, "At least it has some sense!"

Pei Jie: "..."

How did he know that the Golden Water Thunder Beast hadn't mistakenly thought he was shouting threats and roared back in anger?

That roar clearly carried a warning tone.

Though the roar sounded a bit bluffing and hollow.

Pei Jie put away the sword sheath. "Let's go."

Shang Yunduo: "Okay!"

Without spiritual power, they had to rely on physical stamina to leave as quickly as possible. Who knew if that strange sect had other tricks besides the cannons?

After running for two consecutive days, they finally managed to cross the boundary of the spiritual suppression zone.

Feeling his spiritual power return, Shang Yunduo let out a deep sigh of relief. "Finally out."

He immediately summoned the flying boat. "Senior, let's go!"

But Pei Jie said, "No rush."

Shang Yunduo: "Huh?"

Pei Jie: "Let's take a look around nearby."

Shang Yunduo was puzzled but obediently followed Pei Jie's instructions, searching near the boundary of the spiritual suppression zone for a transitional area where one half suppressed spiritual power and the other didn't.

They flew for nearly half a day before finding a natural cave that met Pei Jie's requirements. Besides having half suppressed and half unsuppressed spiritual power, it was also spacious and open enough.

However, everywhere were still-growing stalagmites, making it a bit damp.

Shang Yunduo held up a luminescent stone and peered inside. It was beautiful, enough to be a tourist attraction. But he couldn't understand why Pei Jie was looking for such a place.

Before he could ask, he saw Pei Jie cut the sword sheath—the spoils of their labor—into several pieces with a few swings of his sword, then pry off the gems of various sizes.

Shang Yunduo: "...Senior, what are we doing?"

Taking it apart to make it easier to sell off the loot?

Pei Jie tossed a pale gray gem to him. Shang Yunduo caught it in his hand and couldn't help letting out an "Oh?"

Pei Jie: "Recognize it?"

Shang Yunduo: "I think I've seen something like this before! Mm... at... at... Ah! Fellow Daoist Ji! Ji Kuang had a formation plate made from this stuff!"

Back when he was at the Lin family exchange for those few days, he saw it when Ji Kuang was swapping formation plates with someone else.

That was a special formation plate, specifically used for sealing-type arrays.

"Sealing!" Shang Yunduo remembered. "This stone can enhance the Sealing Art. Ji Kuang said a friend wanted to capture a troublesome Spirit Beast and specifically asked him to make that formation plate."

Pei Jie nodded: "Mm. Without the sealing stone, Frost wouldn't have been sealed inside the sheath either."

Shang Yunduo marveled: "So this stone can also seal a sword?"

Pei Jie: "It can. With the right array, it can also be used to seal a Ghost Cultivator."

"Wow!" Shang Yunduo stared at the small stone in awe. "Then... we've hit the jackpot, haven't we?!"

His eyes immediately sparkled. Good thing Pei Jie had stopped him from casually smashing the stone against the Golden Water Thunder Beast.

Pei Jie chuckled and continued prying off more stones.

Shang Yunduo crouched beside him, waiting to see the stones like a curious child. Every time Pei Jie pried one off, he took it from him.

Fire spirit stones, metal crystal stones, water spirit stones, earth crystal stones, wood crystal stones—these were either extremely rare naturally attribute-bearing spirit stones or rare crystals refined by extracting special-attribute spiritual power. While they could all be bought at auction houses, it required a bit of luck and substantial financial strength.

In addition, there were attribute-enhancing gems and another sealing stone. Even the sheath that had these inlaid could be refined again, but first, the beast blood on it had to be refined out, or it would contaminate the stones' spiritual nature.

Shang Yunduo felt the joy of finding gold among trash. "No wonder that Sect Leader was so eager to hunt us down."

Just gathering these things wasn't easy, let alone losing the even more important Frost Sword.

Pei Jie shook his head: "That Sect Leader didn't refine the sheath. He doesn't have that level of skill."

Shang Yunduo: "Mm?"

Pei Jie: "You need to gather spiritual power of five attributes and embed these spirit stones simultaneously. Additionally, you have to balance their spiritual power with these three sealing stones."

Shang Yunduo blurted out: "Five Spirit Roots?"

Pei Jie shook his head: "No, it should be a collaboration of several people."

If it were him, he wouldn't use such a crude embedding method. Instead, he would first refine the five attribute gems into one, let them form a self-sustaining cycle, and then have them mutually draw power with the sealing stone to seal Frost. That way, even he would need to put in some effort to pull Frost out.

But that Sect Leader, who only had realm without substance, clearly built his cultivation by relying on pills. He hadn't even figured out his own cultivation, and these magical artifacts seemed randomly bought. Thinking about the price of a Marrow Cleansing Stone, Pei Jie even suspected that man bought the sheath and those chains just to imprison the Golden Water Thunder Beast.

He probably didn't even know which sword was inside the sheath.

And his Frost Sword falling into the hands of such an incompetent fool actually spared it from the harassment of those trying to seize the sword. After all, no cultivator wants to experience a spirit-forbidden effect—he didn't know whether to call it luck or misfortune.

Pei Jie held Frost Sword in his hand again. The blade was as clear as an ice crystal, but he could feel many impurities on its surface, probably traces left from repeated refining by different owners.

A sudden cold aura rose from him, startling Shang Yunduo.

Pei Jie: "I need to refine the impurities from Frost here before I can store it in my body. This is a good opportunity for me to teach you how to use the sealing stone to set up a formation."

Shang Yunduo nodded, learning as he helped Pei Jie lay out the formation. Once the array was set and Frost was placed inside, Shang Yunduo finally understood what Pei Jie was planning.

First, they set up a spirit-gathering array on the side with spiritual power, then arranged a Sealing Array, overlapping them with two other formations. They first slightly suppressed Frost's own spiritual power to highlight the traces not belonging to the sword, then used the five attribute stones to either reduce or transform the traces.

The spirit-gathering array made up for the lack of firepower. Without earth fire, Shang Yunduo temporarily used Seven Baleful Fire to help Pei Jie.

They refined without rest for seven full days and nights. Shang Yunduo took several bottles of elixirs. Finally, Pei Jie used his essence blood for an essence blood refinement, refining away all traces.

When the originally clear Frost Sword fell back into Pei Jie's hand, it had turned a frosty white.

Shang Yunduo was curious: "Why did it turn white?"

Pei Jie: "It's always been white. It only turns transparent when it encounters foreign matter. It and White Rainbow work together—one bright, one dark."

Shang Yunduo immediately recalled earlier when Pei Jie used both Star Breaker and Frost to form a Sword Array. So the true dual-sword array should use the White Rainbow Sword!

Frost Sword was the true hidden blade, killing invisibly. Compared to Frost, his fire arrow technique was nothing.

He couldn't help but reach out and touch Frost. It really did slowly change color.

Shang Yunduo found it amusing. He waited for it to change back, then touched it again, and again. Frost flew out of Pei Jie's hand, circled around Shang Yunduo, dodging his sneak attacks.

Shang Yunduo laughed, entertained. When Frost flew close, he quickly gave it a pinch, but Frost acted like it gave up and stopped changing color.

Shang Yunduo exclaimed in wonder: "It's alive."

Pei Jie: "It really likes you."

"Heh..." Shang Yunduo had heard that famous swords had their own spirit, but he never expected it to be so lifelike.

Then he suddenly realized that ever since he first saw Frost, it had always been transparent. Did that mean... "It had been in battle mode the whole time?"

Ever since it parted from Pei Jie, it had been in combat state against everything, waiting for its true master to return.

Pei Jie was silent for a moment and then softly replied, "Mm."

Shang Yunduo suddenly asked: "And what about you?"

Author's note:

Yunduo: The spirit beast likes me, Frost likes me too, and Senior likes me the most~~