Chapter 420

Chapter 420: Striking it Rich

When Wang Chen finished the slaughter, the street in front of the tavern was already littered with bodies.

Not a single corpse was intact; some had been decapitated, while others were split in two, with blood pooling like streams on the cobbled ground, the air thick with a scent that attracted flies.

Wang Chen summoned the Chini Sword and landed on the ground.

Centering himself, there was not a single living soul within hundreds of steps.

What once was a bustling market had turned into a realm of the dead!

Clearly, everyone had been terrified by the brutal massacre.

Xuanyi Dao Ren had arrived with a large group of followers, appearing to be quite cautious.

Yet this Purple Palace cultivator, being at the fifth layer, had never imagined he would meet his end here, losing his life unexpectedly.

Along with him, a fierce group of horse thieves fell to Wang Chen’s blade.

He reached out and collected the storage bags hanging from the corpses, one by one.

A tiger gathers its prey, and although flies are small, they are still meat. Wang Chen, without the burden of being a "Purple Palace master," had no qualms about picking up some minor loot.

What if there were great treasures hidden in these "mystery boxes"?

Wang Chen hadn’t forgotten that his Thousand Transformations and Heavenly Net for Exorcising Evil were obtained from Qi Training cultivators.

A young cultivator might have great treasures too!

“This fellow traveler…”

Just as Wang Chen finished cleaning the battlefield, an aged voice suddenly reached his ears: “Could you explain why you killed so many people here?”

Explain?

Wang Chen sneered, “Why should I explain my actions to anyone?”

He summoned the Yaoguang Sword, merging with it as he shot into the sky, disappearing in an instant.

Moments later, a resigned sigh echoed through the market.

Soaring away on his sword, Wang Chen left Liuma Gather far behind, not bothered by the small interruption at the end.

The cautious figure who hadn’t dared to show himself was also a Purple Palace cultivator, likely a local enforcer in Liuma Gather.

However, the old voice conveyed a sense of age; even with deep power, he had long since lost his fighting spirit and showed no desire to fight to the death with Wang Chen the "butcher."

This elderly cultivator was actually hinting that Wang Chen should leave—he had killed the people and taken the loot, so it was time to go home.

Since Wang Chen intended to leave anyway, he took this as an opportunity to give the elder some face.

He commanded the Yaoguang Sword, moving swiftly Like the Wind and Lightning, quickly returning to Beiwang City.

Of course, he used a secret passage to quietly sneak back to his residence.

Wang Chen had been away for several days, and there were no signs that the restrictions on the door of his quiet room had been disturbed.

It was quite normal for cultivators to be in closed-door cultivation for three to five days, or even longer.

He had specifically instructed that unless something major occurred, no one would dare to disrupt him.

Removing the Thousand Transformations mask and shedding the disguise of the Lone Wolf, Wang Chen returned to his true form and began to tally the rewards from this trip.

First, his Heavenly Merit points had once again surpassed the thousand-point mark.

This meant that Wang Chen could allocate points to himself once more.

However, since the two most crucial attributes, root bone and insight, had already been enhanced four times, further improvements would require 10,000 Heavenly Merit points. Thus, he could only allocate points to his physical body and spirit.

Wang Chen hesitated briefly and decided not to allocate the points immediately.

He planned to return to the West Sea Sect before making any decisions.

Next, there was the large haul of storage bags he had collected; he counted an impressive forty-seven in total.

In reality, the number of bandits Wang Chen had slain far exceeded this count. Some storage bags had been destroyed during the battles, while some destitute bandits didn’t even possess storage bags.

Moreover, some storage bags were in such poor condition that he didn’t bother to sift through them.

Among the forty-seven storage bags Wang Chen had acquired, two belonged to Xuanyi Dao Ren, clearly used by the bandit leader to mask his identity.

It’s worth noting that the Xumi Ring was a standard accessory for a Golden Core true master, a luxury item reserved for the wealthiest Purple Palace cultivators.

Such treasures were bound to attract envy.

The process of "unboxing" the storage bags was rather uneventful; Wang Chen didn’t find much to be excited about. The combined value of the items in all the storage bags amounted to roughly two to three hundred thousand spirit stones.

It’s important to note that the items from Xuanyi Dao Ren’s two storage bags accounted for at least half of that total value.

This was to be expected. Bandits might appear carefree, but in truth, they lived a precarious existence. The likelihood of encountering a formidable foe or being hunted down by Sect disciples seeking combat experience was high.

Under such circumstances, most bandits lived for the moment, spending their spoils without saving for the future.

Those with ambition and ideals would invest their gains in cultivation resources, talismans, or elixirs.

Wang Chen had done well to gather so much.

He didn’t dwell on it and instead focused his attention on Xuanyi Dao Ren’s Xumi Ring.

Wang Chen didn’t immediately reach for the Xumi Ring. Instead, he placed it on the table and then retrieved Xuanyi Dao Ren’s corpse from the storage bag.

“Command!”

He formed a hand seal and abruptly pointed at Xuanyi’s body.

The corpse shuddered and suddenly sprang to life!

This wasn’t a resurrection of the Purple Palace master; rather, Wang Chen had just cast the Corpse Control Technique.

The Corpse Control Technique was a Qi Training level spell that allowed a cultivator to infuse their spiritual energy into a corpse to manipulate it.

This spell was of a low rank, effective for eerie displays but not particularly useful in combat.

Wang Chen had learned this spell after studying the writings of a predecessor.

Under Wang Chen’s "remote control," Xuanyi’s corpse swayed as it approached the table, its stiff fingers opening to grasp the ring that had once belonged to him.

Wang Chen channeled his spiritual energy through the corpse, directing it into the Xumi Ring.

At the same time, Wang Chen had already activated his Spirit Light Shield!

Caution was paramount. While Wang Chen coveted the treasures within Xuanyi Dao Ren’s Xumi Ring, he was wary of potential traps.

Other people’s belongings, especially those of high-level Qi Training cultivators, were not to be trifled with.

However, by using the corpse to "unbox" the ring, any mishaps would first affect the corpse.

Wang Chen’s Spirit Light Shield had reached the master-level, capable of withstanding attacks from high-level Purple Palace cultivators, ensuring his safety.

As Wang Chen continued to channel his spiritual energy, the Xumi Ring suddenly emitted a faint glow.

It slipped from Xuanyi’s lifeless hand.

But before the treasure could hit the ground, Wang Chen swiftly reached out and caught it.

He had already determined that the Xumi Ring was indeed protected by restrictions, but these were not the work of demon cultivators or evil cultivators. Instead, it was simply sealed with a "lock."

Though Wang Chen didn’t possess the key, he could rely on his own spiritual energy to gradually dismantle the restriction.

It was only a matter of time.

With his current patience, Wang Chen spent roughly two hours unlocking Xuanyi Dao Ren’s Xumi Ring.

The treasures stored within made Wang Chen’s eyes gleam with excitement.

He had struck gold!