Chapter 145 Gathering Intelligence

The monk in white robes showed a fanatical expression, rubbed his hands in excitement, rummaged through the clothes at his chest for a moment, and pulled out an item.

Fang Mu had sharp eyes and recognized the full appearance of the item at a glance.

A flint.

The monk in white opened the cap of the flint and blew on it lightly.

A faint, flickering flame appeared, and the monk brought the flint close to the three spoiled incense sticks.

The incense sticks, which clearly looked spoiled on the outside, surprisingly began to burn normally after being touched by the flint.

Faint blue smoke rose from the three incense sticks, gradually filling the cave.

The monk sat cross-legged on the ground, pressed his palms together, and began to chant scriptures.

Accompanied by the chanting of the monk in white, the three incense sticks burned faster.

The smoke grew thicker and denser, yet it lacked the calming sensation typically brought by incense.

As Fang Mu smelled the odor, he grew increasingly restless instead.

Amidst the smoke, the clay Buddha statue ahead began to change.

The tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open, and at the same time, a series of eerie, hair-raising laughter emanated from the clay sculpture.

The monk in white stopped chanting, and the three incense sticks had burned down to ashes.

The laughter ceased, and the opened eyes of the clay Buddha statue closed once again.

Cracks began to spread across the clay Buddha statue, which then crumbled into fragments and vanished completely in an instant.

"The incense burned completely." The monk in white let out a long breath. "This is definitely the place. I never expected to find it. Hahaha, I must quickly notify the others!"

Silence reigned inside the cave once more, save for the voice of the monk in white.

The monk retreated to the outside of the cave, took out a long arrow, and shot it up into the sky.

The arrow soared into the pitch-black night and instantly burst apart, transforming into wave after wave of invisible shockwaves.

Fang Mu said indifferently, "Make your move, but leave one alive."

Guiyi moved. A brush materialized in his hand, and he thrust it straight through the abdomen of the monk in white.

Though he did not understand why they needed to leave someone alive, Guiyi obeyed nonetheless.

Just as the monk in white finished sending the signal, he felt a sudden, sharp pain in his abdomen and saw two figures appear before him.

His reactions were swift; almost in an instant, eight phantom figures appeared behind him.

"The suffering of birth, the suffering of aging, the suffering of illness, the suffering of death, the suffering of parting from loved ones, the suffering of being unable to obtain what one desires, the suffering of encountering those one hates!"

The eight figures began to speak, each reciting a different kind of suffering, merging into a chaotic jumble of voices.

A green flash swept across Fang Mu's eyes, and dense webs of threads appeared, among which was a single bright spot.

Fang Mu reached out and pressed his hand into the void, landing precisely upon the bright spot.

"Puff!"

The monk in white vomited a mouthful of blood, his spirit instantly wilting. "He broke the Eight Sufferings Technique in an instant!"

Unconcealed shock gripped his heart.

Invisible ripples spread outward. Ignoring the monk in white, Fang Mu reached out toward the eight phantom figures.

[You looted the Illusionary Ghost and obtained a wisp of True Qi.]

[You looted the Illusionary Ghost and obtained a wisp of Ghost Qi.]

...

In total, he obtained eight wisps of True Qi and eight wisps of Ghost Qi.

Adding these eight wisps of Ghost Qi, Fang Mu now possessed twenty wisps in total.

The eight wisps of True Qi merged into the True Qi fish within Fang Mu's body, causing its tail to light up completely.

At this moment, the True Qi fish underwent a transformation.

Hazy light emanated from the True Qi fish as its body began to elongate.

In the blink of an eye, the True Qi transformed from the shape of a fish into a long, slender form, resembling a snake.

An epiphany struck Fang Mu; this seemed to be the process of transforming into a dragon.

Only, the True Qi currently resembled a snake, lacking dragon claws and horns, making "True Qi snake" a more fitting description.

The True Qi snake lay dormant within Fang Mu's body. If Fang Mu chose not to rouse it, the snake would remain still; once invoked, however, the True Qi would become far more violent and ferocious than before.

Guiyi, standing nearby, was utterly dumbfounded. Initially, when Fang Mu had said to leave a captive alive, Guiyi had harbored some doubts.

Logically speaking, specter-warriors possessing illusion techniques were the most peculiar and dangerous; the best course of action was always to kill them outright.

Now, witnessing this scene, Guiyi felt nothing but deep admiration for Fang Mu.

Another supernatural ability! Did the Sovereign possess several hundred different supernatural abilities?

No wonder the Sovereign had not been worried in the least; it turned out he had already grown to such a terrifying height.

Guiyi sighed inwardly, amazed that the master he served was so immensely powerful.

Fang Mu had no idea what Guiyi was thinking; in truth, his primary motivation had been corpse-looting, otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered taking a prisoner.

Ah Bai, perched on his shoulder, spewed out black qi, which swallowed all eight phantom figures.

The monk in white grew even weaker, his breathing now entirely exhalation with barely any inhalation left.

"Sovereign, how should this person be dealt with?" Guiyi asked respectfully. "He has already notified his accomplices. Does the Sovereign wish to slaughter all the ones coming behind?"

His tone remained the same, ready to kill at the slightest disagreement.

Fang Mu shook his head and said, "Ask him first. Hey, I'm talking to you, what on earth is this Vajra Bridge?"

The monk in white kept his mouth tightly shut, refusing to utter a word.

"Crack!"

The sound of shattering bone echoed as Guiyi stepped heavily onto the knee of the monk in white.

"Sovereign, back in Cangyun City, this subordinate conducted extensive research on torture." Guiyi drove his writing brush into the dantian of the monk in white and twisted it gently. "Doing this makes it feel as though millions of ants are gnawing at every inch of one's body."

The eyes of the monk in white bulged. He wanted to move but could not, his face contorting in agony.

In that single instant, a sheen of cold sweat broke out across his entire body, clearly enduring unimaginable torment.

"The Vajra Bridge was left behind after a high monk of Buddhism perished." The monk in white's resolve instantly shattered, and he blurted out rapidly, "Legend has it that this high monk's supernatural ability was the Vajra Body, possessing peerless defense. After his demise, it formed a special space known as the Vajra Bridge."

Fang Mu smiled and asked, "Then why were you looking for this thing?"

"Because of the Evil Buddha," the monk in white said in terror. "The Evil Buddha has reached his limit and cannot break through any further. He needs to seek other paths, so he ordered his disciples to search everywhere for Buddhist artifacts."

Fang Mu stroked his chin. Put that way, not only was this monk in white searching, but there were likely other disciples of the Evil Buddha doing the same outside of Jinglong County.

According to the monk's account, disciples of the Evil Buddha were scouring everywhere for anything related to Buddhism, making Jinglong County merely a drop in the ocean.

"That is all I know," the monk in white pleaded fearfully. "I beg you, spare me! Cripple my ghost power—I am no longer a specter-warrior, I am a normal person now!"

As he spoke, tears and snot streamed down the monk's face, playing the pitiful role of a man with elderly parents and young children to support.

"What is your name?" Fang Mu asked again. "And what are the names of your accomplices?"

"My name is Bai Ninety-Seven," the monk in white dared not delay in the slightest. "We are named after the color of our monk robes and our serial numbers. The robe represents our ghost-power type, and the number indicates the order in which we entered the sect. The other two are called Hui Seventy and Huang Ninety."

Fang Mu said no more. He turned his gaze to Guiyi and nodded.

Guiyi asked respectfully, "Sovereign, how should we dispose of this specter-warrior?"

"Kill him," Fang Mu said indifferently.

Guiyi was slightly stunned. Kill him just like that?

His original thought had been to use the monk in white as bait, and killing him now felt somewhat wasteful.

However, since the Sovereign had given the command, Guiyi carried it out without hesitation.

A brush stabbed into the chest of the monk in white, reducing him to a pile of ashes.

Fang Mu gazed into the pitch-black tunnel, True Qi circulating within his body.

An idea had just formed in his mind...