The Attack of the Wastrel

“Not bad, the room really does have traces of a spiritual energy attack.” Wei Lingshu suppressed his urge to puke as he assessed the surroundings.

Yang Pengyu looked at Gu Lingzhi and Rong Yuan with even more hatred, “I said that they were the ones that did it right? Other than them, who else would be capable?”

Rong Yuan completely ignored Yang Pengyu. He did not want to pick on someone that just lost a family member. Asking Gu Lingzhi to rest by the side, he inspected the room.

Yang Xinyu and his entire family lost their lives in their bedroom. All three of them were wearing their sleeping clothes. In order to investigate the cause of their death clearly, Rong Yuan forced himself to kneel down beside Yang Xinyu. He stretched his right hand out towards the injury area when Yang Pengyu shouted, “What are you doing? Don’t touch my brother!”

Rong Yuan did not even spare him a glance as he said, “Checking the cause of death.”

He then placed his palm beside the gaping hole in Yang Xinyu’s chest.

Yang Pengyu wanted to stop him but was held back by Wei Lingshu, “Let him take a look. Only when we check the real cause of your brother’s death can we determine the culprit.”

Yang Pengyu did not rush to stop him but just stood by the side angrily. He provided support to Xie Fang, who had not stopped crying since they got home as he monitored each and every action Rong Yuan made. If Rong Yuan did anything to hurt his brother’s body, he would take it up with him!

In less than fifteen minutes, Rong Yuan retracted his hand from Yang Xinyu’s body and he raised his brows. Yang Xinyu had really died from a spiritual energy attack! Beside Yang Xinyu’s wound, he could still feel weak traces of spiritual energy combining with the wound. This was an effect that could only be obtained when the injury was caused by spiritual energy. If the wound was created followed by a spiritual energy attack, the result would be completely different. The weak spiritual energy left behind a cruel pulse of energy causing Rong Yuan’s heart to palpitate.

This was a feeling that was only felt when meeting an opponent with the same capabilities as him. Could it be…could it be that someone scary was in the Spirit City? Did that person also have the cultivation of a Demigod?

Interesting…

Rong Yuan sneered. They had done it on the first day that Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi entered the city, even if he did not want to believe it but it definitely seems like the person was challenging them. In that case, he better find out who this person was.

“Why? Elder Rong, did you find out anything?” Seeing Rong Yuan’s expression, Wei Lingshu asked.

“Mmhm, roughly.” Rong Yuan nodded. Under the expecting gazes of everyone, he replied with an unimaginable response, “The murderer is very likely a Demigod.”

“Demigod?” Wei Lingshu sucked in a deep breath of air, “Elder Rong, could you have seen wrongly? How can there be a Demigod in the Lost Lands?” As he completed his sentence, he abruptly took a step back and looked at Rong Yuan guardedly. Currently, the only Demigod alive in the Lost Lands was Rong Yuan.

“Elder Rong, this Demigod…you would not be referring to yourself right?”

“Who else would it be other than him?” Yang Pengyu fumed, “Are you finally admitting to your crime?”

Gu Lingzhi looked at Rong Yuan with a similarly astounded expression. However, her shock was different from everyone else. While everyone else became guarded or was glaring at Rong Yuan with hatred, Gu Lingzhi was wondering how there was a Demigod in the Lost Lands.

In the half day that she had spent in the Spirit City, the amount of spiritual energy she detected was difficult for someone to even reach the Martial Teacher rank. How could there be a Demigod? Unless the other party was like them and came from the outside world. But from what they knew, they had never been Martial Artists from the outside world in over a ten thousand years, there were only the two of them…

As Gu Lingzhi was trying to guess where this Demigod had suddenly come from, Rong Yuan looked directly at Wei Lingshu who had become on guard, “Leader Wei, what I meant was the murderer might be a Demigod, I didn’t say it was me.”

“But you are currently the only Demigod in the Lost Lands.” Wei Lingshu replied instinctively. He then absorbed what Rong Yuan was trying to say and exclaimed, “You mean there is another Demigod in the Lost Lands?”

Rong Yuan nodded, relieved that his brain was finally working normally. “Although I am not sure how he came about, from the pulse of spiritual energy on the wound, I can imagine that the person is at least of a peak Martial Sage cultivation.”

“Peak Martial Sage?” Wei Lingshu inhaled sharply. If Rong Yuan was so sure, then he must be at least eighty to ninety percent accurate. But a person who was minimally a peak Martial Sage – how could it be?

“This cannot be! I have to quickly report this to the Chancellor!” Wei Lingshu immediately declared, “Elder Rong, please go with me and report what you found out.”

“Let’s go.” Rong Yuan did not reject. He could not reject even if he wanted to anyway. If he wanted to continue staying in the Spirit City, he had to wash all suspicions off himself.

Receiving his approval, Wei Lingshu turned to Yang Pengyu. He instructed Yang Pengyu to leave the room as it is and left a few guards to guard the room. Together with Rong Yuan and Gu Lingzhi, Wei Lingshu rushed back to the Chancellor’s Manor.

At this very moment, the Chancellor’s Manor was extremely lively. The Spirit Essence Awarding Ceremony, which happened once every five years was about to start. Hundreds of excited youths were accompanied by their parents to receive spiritual energy to practice cultivation. They were all gathered in the big empty space in the main living room.

The Vice Chancellor, Chu Jiang, was grinning as he said something in the front of the room. Everyone around him wore smiles on their faces, a drastic difference from the devastating sight they saw this morning. Seeing Wei Lingshu enter with the two others, Chu Jiang tilted his head downwards acknowledging them. Rong Yuan and the others replied in the same manner. They took a route around the large group and entered the main living room.

Lin Chongyuan was sitting on his chair as usual and did not have much response towards their return. He merely nodded slightly and let them sit by the side to wait.

“Chancellor, I have something to report.”

Lin Chongyuan lifted his hand to cut him off, “It is not urgent, you can report it after the ceremony.” His eyes filled with sincerity and kindness as he went outside and smiled at the children.

Without them realising, the children who were standing with their parents had split up and were standing in two neat rows. They formed lines on the left and right side of Chu Jiang. Their eyes lit up passionately as they looked at the…cauldron?

Since when did the cauldron appear? Why wasn’t it there before?

Gu Lingzhi looked at the cauldron curiously. She could sense a weird power emanating from the body of the cauldron, it was wild and calm at the same time. These two completely different energies could actually be present on the cauldron at the same time. By the side, Chu Jiang picked up a black bottle and poured it into the cauldron. That bottle was not unfamiliar to Gu Lingzhi. It was the bottle that they had used to collect strands of Spiritual Origins in the Heavenly Lands.

As Chu Jiang emptied the contents of the bottle into the cauldron, the bronze cauldron glowed and a light blue glow emitted from within the cauldron. The guards that had been standing around and maintaining order immediately stepped forwards, directing their spiritual energy into the cauldron. Chu Jiang also placed his hand on the cauldron, directing his spiritual energy into it.

Gu Lingzhi could not tear her eyes away from this. She knew this was probably what Wei Lingshu was referring to when he was talking about the way Spiritual Origin was turned into spiritual energy.

Alas, with the guidance of the spiritual energy from the few people, the cauldron glowed and was encrusted in a light blue glow. Similarly, the contents of the cauldron mixed and slowly, the two colours became one. It became a white mist that spread into the air. The spiritual energy in the Chancellor’s Manor thickened from its originally sparse and almost non-existent state.

That white mist was actually thick spiritual energy.

No wonder Wei Lingshu was so sure when he said he knew how to turn the strands of Spiritual Origins into spiritual energy. Gu Lingzhi was deep in thought as she looked at the big cauldron.

As Chu Jiang emptied more of the black bottle into the cauldron, more spiritual energy floated out of it. The spiritual energy in the air became thicker and thicker.

When the concentration of spiritual energy in the air had reached a certain level, the Chancellor’s Manor suddenly lit up and a transparent light covered the top of the residence, engulfing the entire place. Gu Lingzhi was still lost as she saw the children, who had been jumping around in excitement, suddenly sat cross-legged obediently on the ground.

“These children are the future of the Spirit City, the thickest spiritual energy from the Spiritual Origins would naturally be for them to use.” Lin Chongyuan suddenly appeared beside them as he explained the situation monotonously. His eyes drifted across them.

Gu Lingzhi was still slightly confused. Looking at the people around her, she saw that they were looking at her and Rong Yuan nervously. All of a sudden she understood what Lin Chongyuan was trying to say. Was he trying to remind her…to not fight with the children for the spiritual energy? She finally understood what the Spirit Essence Awarding Ceremony was about. It was to allow children of suitable ages to gather and absorb spiritual energy into their bodies.

Gu Lingzhi pursed her lips. She never thought that the Spirit City’s Chancellor would do something like that for the children. He had sacrificed quite a bit for these children of the future.

Gu Lingzhi sighed. She did not lament for long before the sight in front of her surprised her.

Among the children that were sitting on the floor, spiritual energy was emanating from one of the children. It was a weak pulse of spiritual energy that was coming from his body.

How was this possible? It had only been fifteen minutes and he had absorbed spiritual energy and became a Martial Student!

The Spiritual Origins had been converted into spiritual energy and was being trapped in the Governor’s residence by the light cover. However, even if the spiritual energy was extremely dense in the Chancellor’s Manor, it was simply too fast for someone ordinary to absorb the energy!

Rong Yuan had also realised what happened with the child and was as surprised as Gu Lingzhi. They exchanged glances as the eyes reflected the same pity.

With such a cultivational talent, if the child was in the Tianyuan Continent, he would definitely have become someone outstanding. What a pity that he was in the Lost Lands where spiritual energy was extremely limited. The highest that he will ever be able to reach would be the Martial Sage rank.

“Aren’t these children pretty good?” Lin Chongyuan’s voice sounded once more. His voice carried an almost undetectable sense of hurt, “What a pity, this is the most I can do for them.”