The black stick’s virtual shadow had exterminated a two-headed carrion dragon a moment ago. But, its overwhelming vigor hadn’t reduced. So, it bombarded on the ground with an astonishing and majestic momentum. And, this set off a string of multi-colored waves that proliferated in all directions.

　　A series of earth-shaking sounds rang out. These mighty sound waves made it seem as if the entire void was quivering!

　　Hundreds of human skeletons and zombies got turned into countless little fragments by the impact of the multi-colored waves of gleaming light. And then, these fragments were swept away. Everything within the range of a thousand feet in the black rock-forest collapsed with a loud rumbling sound. And, layers of dust sprang up from all directions. The place looked devastated as a result.

　　Then, a shadow flashed, and Yan Luo appeared at a low altitude above the ruins of the rock-forest. However, the miraculous glow on the surface of the black stick in its hand had faded by now.

　　The fragments of skeletons had gotten buried beneath the debris of the black forest. Yan Luo opened its mouth, and issued a suction force. Suddenly, fluorescent dots lit up in that black debris. Then, countless soul flames of various colors started to fly out from it towards Yan Luo. They then converged close to Yan Luo under the effect of the invisible suction force. After that, they went into his mouth one after another…

　　The soul flame in Yan Luo’s eyes had been a faint purple, but it deepened after some time. In fact, it got close to a perfect purple color.

　　Yan Luo then swept over the pile of the mud-like flesh of the two-headed carrion dragon that lay below him. Then, it whirled around, swooped down, and dashed toward the pile of flesh.

　　Yan Luo hadn’t even reached the pile of flesh when one of its arms turned fuzzy. It then pounded below with the black stick in a forceful manner.

　　“Boom” a loud explosive sound rang out!

　　The pile of mud-like flesh burst open. And, a deep-purple miniature version of the two-headed carrion dragon sprang out from the heap. Its entire body was curled-up in the green Qi. It quickly twisted its body with all of its might, and dashed away into the distance. It seemed as if it had changed into a green shadow.

　　Yan Luo didn’t pursue it. Instead, it opened its mouth, and let out a silent and shrill shout!

　　The miniature two-headed dragon swayed in the air, and then abruptly came to a stop. Its vision had become blurry, and it had stopped moving… In fact, it seemed as if it were a statue.

　　Yan Luo raised its head, and issued a suction force.

　　The miniature two-headed dragon shot backwards, and got sucked into Yan Luo’s mouth.

　　The soul flame in Yan Luo’s eyes revealed a tremor, and became perfectly purple the next moment!

　　Yan Luo noticed this, and spun around out of excitement. After that, its body stopped, and the soul flame in its eyes flickered… it seemed as if it was pondering something.

　　Yan Luo’s body moved after a long while. And, it advanced in a particular direction.

　　…

　　The gloomy clouds were billowing in the sky. There was a bottle-gourd-shaped black mountain valley below. And, a grey fog was steaming in this mountain valley.

　　There was a pitch-black puddle in the middle of the valley; it was about one-fifteen of a hectare in size. A dark-green plant was floating in the center of the puddle. Also, a full-bloomed green flower could be seen on the top of that plant. The flower was emanating a deep green radiance; it constituted an exceptionally eye-catching picture.

　　A wave of tumultuous sound erupted outside the valley at this time. It was followed by a loud roar that rang out in the air!

　　But, this clamorous sound lasted only for seven or eight breaths. Then, it abruptly came to an end.

　　After that, a spurt of grey fog burst forth at the mouth of the valley. It was accompanied by a “Snap” sound as a silhouette walked into the valley from outside. Its whole body was covered with a white armor. It held a black stick in its hand.

　　In addition, there were many pale-white skeletons behind them.

　　…

　　A few days later…

　　The sky was pervaded by gloomy clouds.

　　In an abandoned house…

　　Shi Mu sat cross-legged on a wooden bed. His eyes were closed, and he seemed to be meditating.

　　They had taken shelter in a small abandoned village this time. Hou Sai Lei’s had recounted that the people of this village had been massacred by a gang of bandits a few years ago.

　　A puff of black smoke emerged in the room at this moment. Then, Yan Luo’s silhouette came into appearance in a silent manner.

　　Shi Mu felt that the temperature of the room had somehow plummeted. He opened his eyes to see Yan Luo’s silhouette in front, and his eyes glistened with a hint of gladness.

　　Shi Mu then noticed that Yan Luo held his meteoric iron black stick in one of its hands; it held a green flower in its other hand. That flower was curled-up in green smoke, and was constantly exuding gloomy and cold aura in the room.

　　Yan Luo took two steps toward Shi Mu before Shi Mu could open his mouth. Then, it extended the green flower and the black stick toward Shi Mu.

　　Shi Mu held out his hand, and received them subconsciously.

　　However, he became startled since he felt that something wasn’t right.

　　The black meteoric iron stick felt a lot lighter than before!

　　Shi Mu hadn’t used the spirit stones to “feed” this stick over the past year or so. However, its weight had still been increasing unceasingly under the nourishment of the surrounding spiritual aura. This stick was initially over 1100 pounds. But, it had increased to 1500 pounds or more before Yan Luo had borrowed it.

　　Moreover, Yan Luo had made this stick devour the spiritual power of a bag full of spirit stones when it had borrowed this black stick. And, that bag had probably contained almost a thousand spirit stones.

　　However, Shi Mu felt that something was strange when Yan Luo returned the stick to him; he noticed that this stick had returned to around 1100 pounds in weight. In fact, it weighed almost the same as it did at the time it had been forged.

　　These thoughts ran through his mind in a flash. So, he thought about asking Yan Luo for a clarification.

　　However, Yan Luo disappeared into the black smoke before Shi Mu could ask anything.

　　Shi Mu was left dumbfounded for a moment. However, he had no other option but to swallow down the words he was about to say. Then, his gaze moved, and fell on the green flower in his hand. And, a gleam of elation floated in his eyes.

　　After that, Shi Mu set the black stick aside, and returned to the wooden bed. He then sat down with his legs crossed, and plucked a petal off the green flower in a very gentle and careful manner.

　　The petal burst into pieces as soon as it was separated from the green flower. Then, it turned into a wisp of cold and gloomy stream, and seeped into Shi Mu’s hand.

　　Shi Mu opened his eyes after half-an-hour, and a streak of glorious light flashed across his eyes. Even his face got smeared with a touch of excitement and joyousness.

　　The amount of magic power in Shi Mu’s body had increased by a big margin after he had absorbed the green flower. In fact, he estimated that he would be able to break through the thirteenth stage of the Art of Accumulating Spirit Power if he got another one of these green flowers.

　　Shi Mu regained his composure once he had casted such an overwhelming thought off his mind. Then, he stood up, and stretched his body for a moment.

　　Suddenly, he thought of something, and swept his gaze over the black stick; it stood by the side of the wall. So, he walked up to the wall, and picked up the stick. After that, he drew out a bag full of spirit stones from his Vast Earth Ring. And, a colorful sight appeared before his eyes when he opened the bag’s mouth. It seemed at a glance that there should be more than a thousand spirit stones in that bag.

　　Shi Mu found himself in a dilemma. First, he looked at the black stick in his hand. Then, he looked at the spirit stones in the bag. He then clenched his teeth, and inserted the black stick into the bag like Yan Luo had done.

　　A miraculous brilliance gleamed in the bag as he inserted the stick. After that, the bag started to give off intermittent bursts of intense spiritual power fluctuation. But, this process continued only for a couple of seconds.

　　Shi Mu then took the black stick out of the bag, and weighed it in his hand for a moment. The weight of the stick had surprisingly reached close to two thousand pounds. But, the spirit stones in that bag had also been near-consumed.

　　Shi Mu’s eyes flickered a few times. But, a thoughtful look had also surfaced on his face.

　　It looked like the stick couldn’t hold more once it had absorbed to a certain extent. And, the maximum absorption limit of this stick was approximately a thousand spirit stones. Moreover, it seemed as if its weight was unlikely to increase any further once that limit had been reached.

　　Shi Mu had no idea what Yan Luo had done that had made the stick go back to its original weight. Moreover, these one-thousand spirit stones seemed to have been wasted. So, it could be considered as a total waste of money.

　　Shi Mu’s mouth twitched and he decided that he would do a thorough research once again. He was about to examine the black stick again so that he could crack its mystery. However, Cai flew over from outside at this moment.

　　“Shi Tou, I’m hungry. Give me some spirit stones!”

　　Shi Mu raised his head to look at it once. Then, he scattered the spirit stones from the bag onto the wooden bed.

　　There were a large number of spirit stones before them. However, the overwhelming majority of them had turned into grey scrap stones. Only a handful of low-grade spirit stones were still intact.

　　Cai exclaimed in a cheerful manner, and landed directly on the bed. Then, he started to gobble them up one by one.

　　Shi Mu picked up the black stick, and looked it up-and-down for a long while. But then, Cai’s voice again resounded.

　　“Shi Tou, they were very few in number. Cai hasn’t eaten to his heart’s content.”

　　“I’ll give you a few more, but I’m sure that you can’t finish them,” Shi Mu took out five spirit stones from his storage ring in a convenient manner while he said. Then, he spilled them on the wooden bed. Afterwards, he no longer paid attention to Cai. Instead, he started to examine the black stick again.

　　But, Shi Mu couldn’t find anything no matter how hard he looked at it. All he could do was stimulate the middle-ranked charm spell that was carved on the surface of this stick. Also, the weight of the stick hadn’t even shown the slightest change this entire time…

　　Shi Mu eventually decided to give up after he had tried several times in a row. He thought that he should rather ask Yan Luo directly… if and when he’d get the opportunity to do so.

　　…

　　There was a small town in the northwestern region of the Great Qin Kingdom. The snow was falling in a constant manner. So, the roofs of the town’s houses were covered by a thick layer of snow; so much so that even the glistening icicles were hanging off the roofs.

　　A family restaurant was situated near the entrance to the town.

　　This wasn’t a meal time, but a lot of people could still be seen in this restaurant. It was because they had taken shelter here from the whistling cold wind and fluttering snow that pervaded outside. Some of them were idle men of this area, while some were foreign vendors. All of them were drinking wine to warm-up their bodies.

　　The restaurant’s front door was suddenly shoved open. So, a snowy wind flowed backwards, and gushed into the restaurant.

　　Then, a black-cloaked person’s silhouette entered through the door. The thick cloak was clearly not a body-fitting cloak. However, the graceful figure of this silhouette could still be vaguely seen. In fact, it seemed like it was the attractive figure of a beautiful and enchanting woman.

　　The eyes of all the people present in the restaurant immediately got attracted towards this person.

　　The inn’s waiter walked forward, and welcomed that person.

　　“Get me a few side-dishes and a pot of hot wine.” The waiter was about to say something. But then, the black-cloaked woman opened her mouth and said. Then, she looked for a clean table to sit.

　　“Yes!”

　　The waiter complied and hurried back.

　　Then, this woman took the cloak off her head, and her bright face appeared before everyone’s eyes. The woman looked to be in her early twenties. She had a pretty face, and beautiful peachy cheeks. She was very charming, but there was still a trace of a heroic spirit around her that was adding graciousness to her glory. This woman was Jin Xiao Chai!

　　The surrounding men’s eyes brightened as they noticed that such a stunning beauty had appeared in the border region of this town. A few magnificently-dressed men were seated around a table. These men seemed to be headed by a man who was dressed in brocade. And, he was staring at Jin Xiao Chai even more wantonly than the others.

　　Jin Xiao Chai’s elegant eyebrows slightly creased at this moment… it seemed as if something important was tumbling in her mind.

　　A few men exchanged looks with each other as they saw that Jin Xiao Chai was unresponsive to their dissoluteness. Then, they became even more excited.

　　The brocade-dressed man stood up and strode over; he was the head of this group.

　　This man seemed to be in his thirties. His appearance looked rough. He was clad in a scholar-like long gown, and there was a handkerchief tied-up on his head. He was waving a foldable fan in his hand since heavy snow was swirling in the air at the moment. But, this looked very inappropriate and nondescript. Overall, it looked like he was only posing to be a cultured person.

　　“Young lady, you look unfamiliar. May I ask where your hometown is, and what brought you here to this Snowy Rock Town? This man’s father is the Town Head. So, you can ask me for any kind of help,” the brocade-robed man spoke-up while clasping his hands across his chest in obeisance.

　　Jin Xiao Chai’s eyes turned and took note of the man who stood beside her.

　　“Get lost!” However, she was infuriated since her train of thought had been interrupted by him. Therefore, she stated in a cold and rebuking manner.

　　The embroidered-robed man was struck dumb. He turned around, and looked toward his table. He saw that a few people had winked at him. So, he couldn’t help but shoot a glaring look at them.

　　“The young lady is alone and away from her home. Why are you refusing a person when you are thousands of miles away? It’s said that drinking wine alone is too boring. So, you might as well let this man accompany you,” the man said with a loud laughter. Then, he acted liked an influential person, and sat down next to Jin Xiao Chai.

　　Jin Xiao Chai’s complexion sank. She waved her arm, and a humming sound of her cloak was heard… as if an iron rod had been swept towards the brocade-robed man.

　　However, the brocade-robed man didn’t panic. Instead, he used his hand to block it. Simultaneously, his other hand approached Jin Xiao Chai’s cloak… as if a hook was trying to grasp her. Moreover, his movements looked pretty good.

　　However, the man’s palm had barely touched her cloak when he was sent flying like a mass of cloud. And, he fell several feet away from her. In fact, he had bumped against several tables in a row before he came to a stop.