Puff!
Fang Xi expressionlessly reached behind him, grabbing the earth thorn and yanking it out forcefully.
With his Great Accomplishment in Hunyuan Qi, equivalent to a Dual Cultivation Stage cultivator, an ordinary Mid Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator wouldn't necessarily be able to kill him with their spells, let alone a mere Early Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator.
After breaking through his flesh, the earth thorn was firmly stuck by his reinforced bones empowered with True Qi, unable to advance.
"Have mercy!"
The short cultivator knelt down directly, pleading loudly, "It was Qi Yingsong from Baiqiao Tower who wanted you dead... We were just following orders..."
"How did you track me?" Fang Xi's expression was cold.
The short cultivator hurriedly replied, "It was Yingsong, he applied a three-day fragrance on your teacup, a scent almost colorless and odorless, only detectable by those specially trained, lasting for three days..."
"I see."
Fang Xi nodded, then suddenly darted forward like lightning, pressing a palm on the short cultivator's head.
Puff!
The opponent fell instantly, brain bursting, and as his hand opened, several black bone needles rolled to the ground.
"A disposable artifact, 'Bone-Piercing Nail'?"
Fang Xi collected them with interest.
He never had any mercy for enemies like poisonous snakes.
After a brief search of the short cultivator's body, he found nothing valuable.
Subsequently, Fang Xi took the dusty storage pouch from the tall cultivator's waist, carefully searched the bodies again.
Then, he infused lost owner's mana into the Ghost Head Blade, which had already become dim and inconspicuous, retrieved it, flicked two sparks, and burned the two bodies to ashes before swiftly leaving the scene.
"Damn Baiqiao Tower... Attacking me for a few dozen spirit stones?"
As he walked, Fang Xi muttered, "Luckily, there were no Late Foundation Establishment Stage experts, or I would have been in danger..."
"A few dozen spirit stones can only attract such scum..."
At this moment, he felt that his decision to wait for his martial arts to improve before engaging in interrealm trade was indeed very wise!
"And... I was too reckless before, not cautious enough."
"This time, I must be more cautious."
Without returning to the slums, Fang Xi went straight to his spiritual bamboo forest, his figure disappearing in a flash.
No matter where he hid in the Green Bamboo Mountain, there was a possibility of being found.
Only in another world was truly safe!
"Alas... the demon tree has grown even taller."
In an abandoned house, Fang Xi looked up at the towering demon tree with its roots hanging down, sighing.
If the situation here wasn't critical, with the demon tree likely to advance at any time, he wouldn't have rushed to sell a large amount of Taosui meat, attracting covetous eyes.
"The path of cultivation is full of thorns, but fortunately, this time I won."
After arriving here, Fang Xi finally had time to carefully examine the spoils.
First, there was the low-grade artifact - Ghost Head Blade!
The blade was entirely black, three feet long and half a foot wide, with Yin Silkworm silk wrapped around the handle, and a terrifying green-faced fangs ghost head at the end.
"Not bad, not bad. The restrictions inside the artifact are intact, almost cutting the Qinghe Sword in half... It can be sold for at least ten spirit stones!"
Fang Xi had long felt that the Qinghe Sword was not handy to use, mainly due to the fact that the artifact was already damaged, so he had finally found a replacement.
In addition, there were three disposable artifacts - Bone-Piercing Nails!
These artifacts could only be used once, extremely insidious, but the power of a single attack could even reach the upper limit of a low-grade artifact, making them quite formidable.
"Unfortunately, body cultivators are least afraid of these tricks, as their survival ability is the strongest, so their margin for error is the highest!"
Fang Xi's face was full of joy, showing no disdain for lower-level body cultivators as before.
Next, he took out a dusty small sachet.
"It should be a storage pouch... The short cultivator had no wealth or pills on him, they must all be in the tall one's storage pouch."
"These two bandit cultivators have low cultivation bases, poor artifacts, not even a piece of defense, otherwise, I wouldn't have easily taken them down. It seems they are also the bottom rung among bandit cultivators."
Although Fang Xi had never used a storage pouch, he had seen a pig run.
With both hands holding the storage pouch, he circulated the Changchun Technique to let a trace of mana enter the pouch to erase the original owner's imprint.
However, to Fang Xi's surprise, his mana was too weak, and it took a full five hours to barely erase the original owner's mana imprint from the storage pouch.
Boom!
When he felt the original mana imprint in the storage pouch had been dispersed, Fang Xi decisively imprinted his own mana on it.
Using the storage pouch, his spiritual sense seemed to leave his body, sensing another space.
It was a gray space with dimensions of about three feet in length, width, and height.
Inside the space, there were many small trinkets, including a small pile of gold, silver, jade, thirteen low-grade spirit stones, and some bottles and jars.
"Indeed a storage pouch!"
Fang Xi couldn't help but play with the storage pouch, "I was just about to move, and this good thing arrived... These two brothers are truly like treasure-sending children..."
In fact, if not for that broken prohibition talisman, Fang Xi was far poorer than these two brothers!
"Damn Baiqiao Tower, even robbing a poor ghost like me, this account will be settled sooner or later!"
According to the confession, these two desperate bandit cultivators might not necessarily have been instructed by Qi Liu.
After all, based on Fang Xi's understanding of the shopkeeper, he was quite meticulous and unlikely to send out such characters.
But Fang Xi still directly held Baiqiao Tower accountable.
As for that Yingsong, if he met him in the future, he would definitely make him pay.
"However, my current strength is still not enough to shake such a behemoth, I need to develop first..."
Fang Xi planned to hide in Daliang for a while.
It was a good opportunity to try to take people out of Heishi City.
After all, those people in the martial arts hall were somewhat related to him, and he couldn't bear to see them all die here.
Of course, once the passage was opened, Fang Xi would definitely be the first to leave, then it would depend on the fate of the remaining people.
If the demon tree's domain was too strong and the passage could only accommodate a few people, then it was their own fate!
...
Baiyun Martial Hall headquarters.
"The young master has gone out again, I wonder when he'll be back?"
Baihe stood by the door, vigilantly watching outside.
During this period, with Fang Xi's increasing strength and status, the people in the martial hall had become more polite to her, making the young girl quite pleasantly surprised.
But Baihe knew very well who was responsible for her current position, so she remained humble in front of Fang Xi.
Previously, Fang Xi had gone out again, and she couldn't stop him, so she could only wait anxiously at the door every day.
At the next moment, it seemed that someone was coming from the end of the street.
"Young master..."
Before Baihe could utter her joyful words, her expression suddenly changed.
Walking out from the street was a swaying 'person', with tree roots spiraling out from his shoulders, as if his whole body had turned into a paradise of vines and roots.
"Monster!"
Baihe's sharp voice immediately spread throughout the entire martial hall.
"Prepare torches!"
"Prepare to fight!"
"It's a wooden man, go get the hall master!"
The entire gate area was in chaos.
Not just one martial hall was under attack, suffering unimaginable losses.
Many monsters that had been roaming in the inner city seemed to have lost their restraints and began to march madly towards the outer city, even the gate area!
"Die!"
Mucanglong swept a stick, knocking a cursed person off the wall, looking at several martial halls that had been breached, his face as dark as water, "The activities of the demon servants have expanded... If this continues, within three days, the outer city will also fall completely! When will Fang Xi come back?"
As he pondered, two wooden men actually crossed the fire wall and pounced towards Mucanglong.
As they lunged, countless roots sprouted from their bodies, forming armor.
"Haha... Come on!"
Mucanglong's hands turned pitch black, fearlessly facing them.
After three or two moves, he was knocked back, blood oozing from the corners of his mouth.
The strength of the wooden men far surpassed the cursed people, making it difficult even for the martial hall master to deal with them, and they were prone to poisoning if they weren't careful!
"Dad!"
Mupiaomiao waved the torch, guarding in front of Mucanglong, her eyes full of despair.
"Ah!"
Even though Baihe was well protected, when Mucanglong fell into a life-threatening situation, no one cared about her.
She fell to the ground, looking at a cursed person slowly approaching, staring at the face covered in curses, her heart filled with despair, "Young master, Baihe can no longer serve you..."
Puff!
"What did you say?"
A familiar voice rang out, and Baihe, who was closing her eyes waiting for death, suddenly opened them to see Fang Xi!
With a casual chop of his right hand, the cursed person's head flew high.
"I'll come back to deal with you later!"
After leaving these words, Fang Xi rushed towards the two wooden men.
Although these wooden men were very powerful, they were still slightly inferior to a true martial artist.
He smashed them with a palm each, shattering them into pieces.
"Big Brother, you're finally back!"
Tang Xuan's face was full of joy.
"Yes!"
Fang Xi looked around, helping wherever there was a need.
He continued to help until half an hour later when the monsters retreated.
The people of Baiyun Martial Hall were exhausted, lying on the ground, breathing heavily without caring about their appearance, "We survived, we survived!"
Tang Xuan saw Fang Xi holding torches, igniting two wooden men, and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Big Brother, what are you doing?"
"Nothing, just a little experiment."
Fang Xi's eyes were fixed on the burnt bodies of the roots, where two seeds emerged.
"One wooden man corresponds to one seed?"
He kept the seeds, intending to study them carefully later.
"Alas... Fang Xi, if it weren't for you this time, I don't know how many people in our martial hall would have died..."
"Monster activities are expanding, we can't stay here."
Fang Xi looked at everyone around him, his voice heavy, "Get ready... We're leaving here soon!"
(End of this chapter)