Bamboo Mound

After eating for an unknown amount of time, Ning Changcai got up and left, returning to the inn and collapsing onto his bed.

...........

Ning Chang got up very early that day; it was the day he planned to return to his sect.

Although he had been playing outside for a few days, it still didn't suit his taste. After all, the city was still too noisy for him.

"Just bear with it a little longer. You'll feel more at ease once you reach the Spirit Platform Realm," he comforted himself.

In fact, according to the realm, one's spiritual power is usually sufficient to support flying when one reaches the Fetal Heart Realm.

But that was for ordinary cultivators. Ning Chang had already mastered spirit control and had tried to fly on his own back then.

The upward thrust alone was not enough to allow for flight using only spiritual power, but Ning Chang still managed to develop a temporary alternative method.

It involves using the Spirit Control Technique to gather spiritual energy in the air as a foothold, and then using the Azure Cloud Step to achieve the ability to step into the air.

However, the drawback is that it requires complete concentration and cannot be disturbed by other things, otherwise the spiritual energy gathered will not be enough to support the power of the Azure Cloud Step.

He calculated that once he achieved the Spirit Platform, he could directly control himself; even if that wasn't possible, he could still use the Azure Cloud Step to step through the air without focusing on anything else.

After removing her makeup, placing all the clothes she had bought in the city on the bed, and changing into her sect's formal attire, Ning Changcai went downstairs and checked out of the room.

He used the few taels of silver he had left to buy some easily stored snacks, mainly refined dried meat and other local delicacies.

Then he left the city gate, strolled south, and embarked on his journey back to his clan.

Ning Chang took out a piece of beef jerky to chew on as he walked.

According to his calculations, the journey from the sect to Changge City could be completed by evening if a normal person set off at dawn, so he was no longer in a hurry and strolled along leisurely.

As he was walking, he suddenly sensed a spiritual aura emanating from the forest.

He was startled and immediately activated his Azure Cloud Steps, taking half a step back, putting away the dried meat, and watching the spot warily.

A pool of blood appeared on the spot, and a masked man in black walked out from the side.

"Not bad, kid. But I advise you to stand still and let me borrow your identity for a bit!"

As the masked man spoke, he strolled towards Ning Chang, casting a spell with one hand to conjure another blood sword.

Looking at this method of blood clotting, Ning Chang couldn't help but make connections.

"You're from the Bloodthirsty Sect? The Bloodthirsty Sect still has remnants?!"

Upon realizing that Ning Chang had guessed his identity, the masked man's eyes narrowed.

"I didn't expect you to know about the Bloodthirsty Sect, so you must not be allowed to live!"

Although he wanted to complain about the black-clad, masked look, Ning Chang no longer wanted to communicate with this person, after all, he didn't know how many lives were on his hands!

When the opponent condensed the blood sword, Ning Chang realized that the opponent was only at the fifth level of the Spirit Fusion Realm.

He didn't know what the strength of a fifth-level Spirit Fusion cultivator was, but he knew about a third-level Spirit Fusion cultivator.

He was only two levels higher than him, and the difference in spiritual power intensity was not obvious. His total spiritual power might not even be as good as his!

After using the Azure Cloud Steps again to dodge the blood sword suddenly thrown by the masked man, Ning Chang immediately relaxed a lot.

Because he saw the masked man throw out the blood sword and immediately begin to condense the next blood sword, it was clear that he could not control the flight of the blood sword.

He had thought that this was the first time he had encountered a truly deadly opponent, and he could properly test his attacks. But with someone like this in front of him, it was better not to waste his spiritual energy.

With this thought in mind, he casually plucked a few leaves from a nearby tree and controlled them to fly towards the masked man.

"Hmph, you're so confident just because you can manipulate a few leaves. Stop making futile resistance, you brat."

Seeing that Ning Chang was using just a few leaves to deal with him, the masked man smiled contemptuously, and at the same time, blood condensed in his left hand again.

He grabbed the blood sword he had just condensed and charged towards Ning Chang. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Ning Chang and swung the sword.

Ning Chang easily dodged with a slight half-step, arriving at a position more than ten meters behind the masked man.

At the same time, it controls the leaves to rotate around the masked man, affecting his vision.

He knew that the leaves could not cause any visible damage, so his initial purpose was to distract him.

But this step was ultimately unnecessary; even if he did nothing, the masked man wouldn't notice those subtle, invisible details.

Seeing these harmless leaves that kept swaying in front of him, the masked man couldn't help but get angry. He brandished two blood swords, slashing at the leaves as he charged towards Ning Chang.

"You little brat, you've angered me. Once I catch you, I'll show you what it means to be in excruciating pain!"

Ning Chang remained silent, only taking a half-step to dodge when the masked man got close.

It kept controlling the shredded leaves, and occasionally tore off a few whole leaves.

As time went by, and he was completely surrounded by falling leaves and debris, the masked man finally realized something was wrong.

The leaves that Ning Chang was controlling simply circled around him without making any aggressive moves!

"No! It's a scam!"

But it was too late. The blood sword in his hand uncontrollably turned into two pools of blood that fell to the ground, and at the same time, his body slowly fell backward and died.

Ning Chang then released his control over the leaves, letting them drift away with the wind.

Just now, he controlled extremely tiny fragments to enter the masked man's body through his nostrils and ear canals;

Furthermore, it disguises spiritual energy as the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, allowing it to be absorbed autonomously into the masked man's meridians.

Once enough had been gathered, they launched a simultaneous attack, severing multiple meridians in the masked man!

It gathers leaf fragments, passes through the eardrum, and enters the brain to stir things up!

Ning Chang stepped forward and removed the mask. As he expected, the masked man looked completely unfamiliar.

He scanned the body from head to toe, but there was nowhere he could have put anything there.

So he lifted his shirt and sure enough, he saw a bag at his waist!

Upon opening the bag, he discovered it was actually a spatial bag, containing a space within it!

Inside were only a few spirit stones, a few yellow talisman papers with incomprehensible patterns, a disc with some circular pits, and a black token engraved with strange patterns.

The token felt cool to the touch, as if some mysterious power flowed within it.

Ning Chang stared at the token, lost in thought.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped worrying about it, put it in his spatial bag, and prepared to take it to his master to see.

Ning Chang put the newly acquired space bag into his own bag, then turned around and continued on his journey back to his sect.

There were no other obstacles along the way, and he leisurely made his way back to the sect by evening.

After walking all day, his legs were starting to feel stiff. He said goodbye to Xiao Li and then lay down on the bed and drifted off to sleep.

At this time, there was still one day left before the Three Sects Competition.

On the other side, in a cave, several people dressed in black robes with blood patterns sat around several yellow talismans.

If Ning Chang were here, he would definitely recognize that this is exactly the same as the pattern on the talisman he found in the masked man's spatial bag!

One of the blood-haired youths glanced at the sky outside the cave again and asked impatiently:

"Why is there still no news from Lao Ba? Has something happened?"