Ling Tian crouched down and began to rummage through Zhang Daoquan's corpse. Although he still had a few talismans from the Yin Fu Sect on him, that didn't mean anything.
When a person dies, their life is extinguished. Without proof, there's nothing to say!
If the higher-ups at Longhu Mountain didn't believe these talismans belonged to Zhang Daoquan, or if someone even claimed Ling Tian had framed him, then he would be unable to clear his name even if he jumped into the Yellow River.
Just then, Ling Tian's eyes suddenly lit up. He discovered a bead the size of a grape among Zhang Daoquan's belongings.
This bead was made of obsidian, completely black, and polished to a high sheen. Ling Tian could sense that within this black obsidian bead, there seemed to be some energy.
Ling Tian let out a cold laugh. A thought flashed through his mind, and an anvil suddenly appeared before him, while in his right hand, a heavy hammer materialized.
Ling Tian directly placed the obsidian bead on the anvil. The anvil had a small groove, and the bead fit perfectly into it.
Ling Tian swung the hammer with all his might, smashing it down onto the bead.
"Crack!"
Obsidian itself was not a very strong material. Faced with the heavy blow of the hammer, it was directly smashed into powder. As the bead shattered, an energy fluctuation suddenly emanated from its surroundings, and then, a black mist shot out from the broken bead.
Soon, this black mist condensed into a human shape in mid-air. It was clearly a spirit, and at this moment, its expression was filled with terror!
Ling Tian looked at the spirit and chuckled. He raised his hand and flicked a spirit-binding talisman, wrapping the spirit tightly.
This spirit was none other than the soul of Zhang Daoquan, the spy from the Yin Fu Sect!
It turned out that Zhang Daoquan, being a cultivator, had a soul far more powerful than ordinary people. As a disciple of the Yin Fu Sect, he also mastered many forbidden arts.
Zhang Daoquan had achieved great merits while at Longhu Mountain. He would occasionally act arrogantly, going out to subdue demons and monsters, and dealing with heretical paths.
In one battle, he killed a cultivator from a heretical path and obtained this black bead from him. This bead was a magical artifact called the Soul Nurturing Pearl.
Even a powerful cultivator like Zhang Daoquan, once their soul left their body, would have their energy dissipate and their soul scatter not long after.
However, the Soul Nurturing Pearl was a marvelous magical artifact capable of housing souls. The bead had a spirit-gathering formation that could absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth to nurture the soul within.
This way, even if the physical body was destroyed, the soul would be preserved, and life would continue in another form.
As long as the soul remained, it could continuously cultivate and grow stronger within the Soul Nurturing Pearl in the form of a spirit, and in the future, there would be a chance to possess a body and be resurrected.
To activate the talisman just now, Zhang Daoquan had to use his internal energy to sever his own heart meridian and then use his vital blood, which contained a large amount of energy, to activate the talisman.
He had sacrificed his life for it, but this fellow had a backup plan: his soul quietly entered the Soul Nurturing Pearl.
In his opinion, very few people knew the origin of this bead. He could secretly hide within the bamboo and cultivate, hoping that one day his spirit would become powerful enough to see the light of day again.
Before entering the bead, Zhang Daoquan's soul clearly saw that the ghost-god summoned by the talisman was Zhong Kui!
This made Zhang Daoquan a little happy. He knew how terrifying the power of a ghost-god like Zhong Kui was, and he figured today would be Ling Tian's demise.
However, he never expected that Ling Tian, that cunning dog, would actually hide in the spiritual realm space!
Zhong Kui stayed outside for half a day, unable to find his target. The energy of the talisman dissipated, and Zhong Kui could no longer maintain his form, disappearing from this plane.
Zhang Daoquan's soul, originally within the Soul Nurturing Pearl, was preparing to enter a dormant state. This would minimize energy consumption, allowing the bamboo to have enough energy to strengthen his soul.
But before he could fully immerse himself in cultivation, the Soul Nurturing Pearl was destroyed, and his soul was ejected. Zhang Daoquan's soul tried to escape, but Ling Tian bound it in place with the spirit-binding talisman!
"Uncle-Master Zhang, you are truly formidable, with endless tricks up your sleeve. And now, a golden cicada shedding its shell!
If I, Ling Tian, weren't so knowledgeable, I might have actually let you escape today.
Also, I didn't expect you to be such a wealthy man, Uncle-Master Zhang, to even possess a treasure like the Soul Nurturing Pearl! Tsk tsk..."
"Ling Tian, as the saying goes, killing is just a nod of the head. I am already dead, do you not even want to spare my soul?"
"Heh heh, spare you? Are you dreaming?
You would rather perish with me than summon that monster to kill me. This is an irreconcilable hatred!
Besides, I think if you had the ability now, you would have already torn me to shreds. Since you won't forgive me and want to kill me, why should I forgive you!"
Upon hearing Ling Tian's reply, Zhang Daoquan's soul became incredibly ferocious.
"Ling Tian, you wait and see, I will haunt you even as a ghost..."
Before he could finish speaking, Ling Tian's mind flashed, and a uniquely shaped furnace suddenly appeared in mid-air. The lid of the furnace opened, and a suction force directly pulled Zhang Daoquan's trapped soul into it, followed by the lid closing.
About ten minutes later, the lid of the Soul Refining Furnace opened, and a jade pendant appeared beside the furnace, along with a bean-sized bead.
This bead was the soul power of Zhang Daoquan after his soul was refined, and the jade pendant contained the memories from Zhang Daoquan's soul.
Ling Tian placed the jade pendant against his forehead, and his spiritual power penetrated into the jade. In an instant, a large amount of information entered Ling Tian's mind from the jade.
A smile spread across Ling Tian's face. Now, he knew how to explain things to people like those at Longhu Mountain.
Ling Tian took out his phone and sent Zhang Caifeng a location. Half an hour later, as the first rays of dawn appeared in the east, Zhang Caifeng arrived with over a dozen disciples from Longhu Mountain.
They placed Zhang Daoquan's body in a body bag and then carried his corpse back to Longhu Mountain.
In the main hall of the Longhu Mountain Taoist temple, more than a dozen senior Taoist priests from Longhu Mountain had already gathered. The sect leader, Zhang Daoyun, who had escaped the danger, also arrived with great effort.
The events of last night were extremely serious and had a very bad impact. Especially the loss of Ling Tian's book, "Compendium of Talismans and Formations," which was a great blow to Longhu Mountain!