Chapter Seventy: A Loss of One Hundred Million

Little Jing Mountain Daoist Monastery.

Inside the guest room, a single lamp flickered dimly.

Fang Xiao leaned against the edge of the bed, engrossed in the book in his hands by the faint glow of the oil lamp.

It was today’s new acquisition: “The Essentials of Whip Techniques.”

This martial arts manual was detailed and thorough, explaining the core secrets of the flexible whip with exquisite clarity. Comparing it to what he had previously learned, Fang Xiao felt he had gained immensely!

However, some passages were rather obscure, beyond his current understanding.

He would need to consult Chen Feihuan about them tomorrow.

Crackle!

Just then, the lamp wick burst into a small shower of sparks.

Fang Xiao’s heart stirred.

He immediately set the book aside, rose, and pushed open the door, stepping out.

The full moon hung high overhead. A figure, robes fluttering, rode the wind and landed in the middle of the courtyard.

It was Daoist Pang!

“Fang Xiao, I’m back!” Daoist Pang’s face radiated satisfaction as he loudly announced his return.

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly swept his sleeve.

A yellow weasel’s head, baring its fangs in a grotesque grin, flew out and rolled across the ground.

“This Old Ancestor Yellow Wind, I’ve slain him,” Daoist Pang said with a smile. “And with him, twenty-seven more of his yellow weasel brood went to their graves!”

The entire nest of demons had been wiped out in one fell swoop.

Fang Xiao was not surprised.

When Daoist Pang had left so resolutely earlier, Fang Xiao had guessed what he intended to do.

Now, seeing him return spirited and unburdened, Fang Xiao felt genuinely happy for him. “You’re incredible, Master!”

It was a pity he hadn’t been able to join the battle himself; that was a slight regret.

“Ah!” Daoist Pang suddenly slapped his own forehead with a heavy hand.

Annoyed, he exclaimed, “Look at me, only thinking about showing off just now and forgetting that you gain experience by slaying monsters!”

“All those yellow weasels should have been left to you to kill—it’s such a waste.”

“What a loss, a huge loss!”

Daoist Pang pounded his chest and stomped his feet, as if he’d lost a fortune.

Fang Xiao couldn’t help but laugh and quickly comforted him, “It’s all right, Master, there will always be more monsters to kill.”

That was something Daoist Pang himself had told him.

“True enough.” Daoist Pang sighed, picking up the old yellow weasel’s head from the ground.

After a moment’s thought, he said, “Fang Xiao, take out the pig demon—let me see how best to deal with it.”

Fang Xiao nodded.

At once, he produced the pig demon’s corpse.

But Daoist Pang ignored the pig demon’s mountainous body.

His gaze landed on Fang Xiao’s military satchel, and he clicked his tongue in admiration, “Has your artifact evolved?”

Before Daoist Pang had entered seclusion,

Fang Xiao’s satchel could only refresh the items inside.

But now, it could contain such a massive trophy!

Daoist Pang himself had a Sumeru Ring.

He wasn’t jealous,

just curious.

“Maybe,” Fang Xiao said uncertainly.

He recounted to Daoist Pang exactly how he had discovered the new ability of the satchel.

“It eats spirit stones?” Daoist Pang’s eyes lit up at the explanation.

He immediately pulled a storage pouch from his sleeve.

Tipping it upside down, he poured out a heap of shimmering spirit stones.

Yet none of them fell to the ground.

An invisible force suspended them in front of Fang Xiao.

“Quick, quick, try loading more in!” Daoist Pang urged. “This pouch was extorted from Old Ancestor Yellow Wind—there are three hundred spirit stones in all.”

It was nearly the entirety of the old yellow weasel’s fortune!

Spirit stones were precious,

but Daoist Pang handed them over for Fang Xiao’s experiment without a trace of reluctance.

After all, Fang Xiao had given him even more!

“All right.” Fang Xiao didn’t stand on ceremony.

He grabbed a handful of floating spirit stones and tried putting them into the satchel’s storage space—the same space that held the pig demon’s corpse.

The spirit stones sat inside, perfectly intact.

None of them disappeared.

After some thought, Fang Xiao grabbed another handful.

This time, he pushed them directly into the bag.

In an instant, the spirit stones vanished without a trace.

At the same time, Fang Xiao sensed the storage space had enlarged!

“It really works!” Fang Xiao exclaimed in delight and continued feeding more in.

As more and more spirit stones were devoured by the satchel, its unique storage space kept expanding,

until it reached about twice its original size,

and then stopped growing further.

Yet even after that, new spirit stones would still be absorbed!

Fang Xiao estimated he had put in nearly a hundred stones.

He promptly shared his findings with Daoist Pang.

After listening,

Daoist Pang stroked his chin in thought for a while.

He guessed that the quality of the spirit stones determined the satchel’s storage limit.

Pinching the Sumeru Ring on his left ring finger,

Daoist Pang gritted his teeth,

and withdrew ten spirit stones from it.

Although identical in size and shape to the previous ones from the pouch,

these glowed with a faint red hue,

emitting a stronger, more vibrant light and spiritual energy.

“Try these—mid-grade spirit stones!”

Following his suggestion, Fang Xiao put the ten mid-grade stones into the satchel.

The storage space expanded again!

Like a boy who had just gotten a new favorite toy, Fang Xiao’s eyes sparkled; without hesitation, he reached out to Daoist Pang. “Master, do you have more?”

“No, none left!” Daoist Pang hurriedly covered the Sumeru Ring.

These were mid-grade spirit stones!

Even when he was at the mountain sect, he’d never carried more than ten at a time.

After being exiled to Liuhe County, he had barely any low-grade stones left!

Luckily, with Fang Xiao’s help, he had opened the Golden Core Cave Abode and stumbled upon a windfall.

The Sumeru Ring left by the late Golden Core Immortal

contained a hundred mid-grade stones.

Daoist Pang had used eighty to restore his cultivation

and even surpass his former level.

He now had only twenty left,

and Fang Xiao had just taken ten!

Daoist Pang couldn’t help but wail, “There’s really not a single one left!”

“No,” Fang Xiao said firmly, “you still have more!”

Daoist Pang was obviously unaware

that when he lied, he subconsciously rubbed the handle of his horsetail whisk with his thumb.

But Fang Xiao knew, and saw through him instantly.

Seeing he could not hide it, Daoist Pang reluctantly took out the remaining mid-grade stones,

“All right, here they all are.”

Yet Fang Xiao only took five. “Master, let’s split them evenly.”

He added, “Don’t worry. I’ll help you find even more high-grade and supreme-grade stones in the future!”

In truth, Fang Xiao’s desire to expand the satchel’s storage wasn’t solely for himself.

He believed that with such a power, he would be able to help his master even more.

High-grade stones? Supreme-grade stones?

Daoist Pang found it laughable.

Even Golden Core Immortals rarely possessed high-grade stones.

As for supreme-grade—those were treasures formed at the dawn of creation itself,

each one irreplaceable,

of immeasurable worth.

For Fang Xiao, a mere body-tempering martial artist, to claim he could find such things—

what a joke!

Yet Daoist Pang found he couldn’t laugh.

Because his little hometown companion was no ordinary man.

He even began to look forward to it!