Chapter 656 446: The Death of Hao Shi

"Thank you!"

Chunyu Hua ultimately thanked Fang Qingyuan, because at that moment, the Four Spirits Dharma Aspect on Fang Qingyuan's body had not yet completely faded.

The river water continued to flow endlessly. The great battle that had just occurred here had only destroyed a bit of the landscape, which was nothing to the vast Lanjiang River.

"Let me kill him!"

Qiqi extended her sharp claws, her expression brimming with killing intent as she faced the limp form of Hao Shi on the ground.

The other Golden Core Bear Beasts were the same, but Fang Qingyuan alone did not seem anxious.

Hao Shi was now a fish on the chopping block; Fang Qingyuan could do with him as he pleased. To kill him directly would be something of a waste.

Furthermore, Fang Qingyuan was quite curious about the technique Hao Shi had displayed earlier. A method that could allow Hao Shi's cultivation to far exceed that of a Divinity Transformation Descendant like Chunyu Hua was, by any measure, extremely valuable.

"No rush. It won't be too late for you to kill him after I've asked a few questions."

Fang Qingyuan didn't even bother asking for Chunyu Hua's opinion. He directly treated Hao Shi as his spoils of war, to be dealt with as he saw fit.

Chunyu Hua, for his part, tactfully said nothing more. He gave a meaningful look to the guards protecting him, and Commander Xu led the guard detail away into the distant Lanjiang River to find that Golden Core turtle.

Once that large group had departed, the only ones left were Fang Qingyuan with Qiqi and her companions, Chunyu Hua and Qing Ji, and the prone form of Hao Shi on the ground.

With a Spiritual Finger Snap, Fang Qingyuan roused the unconscious Hao Shi. He grunted, opening his eyes to see the crowd of people and Bear Beasts surrounding him, a complicated expression appearing on his face.

Hao Shi had already reverted from his Demon Fiend form back to his original human appearance. However, his robes had been completely shredded during their battle, and he was now barely covered and in a sorry state.

But everyone present turned a blind eye to his condition. Their gazes were fixed on Fang Qingyuan's face, waiting for him to speak.

"I have a few questions for you. Answer them frankly, and I'll leave you with an intact corpse. Otherwise, I'll let you have a taste of a Soul Search. I don't think that's an experience you'd want to have."

The Cultivation Realm had many Soul Search techniques, but every single one was sinister and vicious. Any Cultivator subjected to a Soul Search would almost certainly be reduced to a state of idiocy, living out their days as one of the living dead.

For this reason, the Great Zhou Academy forbade the misuse of Soul Search techniques. Only the Academy's inspection department had the authority to use them legitimately.

However, prohibitions like this could only restrain the Confucian Families that recognized the Great Zhou Academy's authority. As one of the White Mountain People, Fang Qingyuan couldn't care less about it.

But upon hearing Fang Qingyuan's threat of a Soul Search, Hao Shi showed little fear. He raised his head to look at Chunyu Hua, but his words, a negotiation, were directed at Fang Qingyuan.

"Let Young Master Hua leave. Whatever grudges exist, let's settle them between us. Besides, what comes next is not something Young Master Hua should hear."

Fang Qingyuan understood Hao Shi's intent. He didn't want Chunyu Hua to be involved any further. Although Hao Shi had previously justified his pursuit of the Great Dao, he still had a soft spot for Chunyu Hua.

There is honesty in a dying man's words. Hao Shi understood that Fang Qingyuan would never let him go, and his will to live didn't seem particularly strong at the moment.

This reaction of his, however, annoyed Fang Qingyuan. 'Why do I feel like the main villain in this scene?'

"Young Master Hua?"

Fang Qingyuan prompted Chunyu Hua softly. Chunyu Hua took one last, complicated look at Hao Shi on the ground, sighed in resignation, and left. He took Qing Ji with him, leaping into the air and flying off. Judging by his direction, he was likely returning to the new sect he had established here.

As for Qing Ji, she gave Fang Qingyuan a few deliberate glances before she flew off after Chunyu Hua.

Once Chunyu Hua's party was gone, only Fang Qingyuan, Qiqi, and the other beasts remained.

Fang Qingyuan then took out a large storage pouch. With a light sweep of the Godslaying Needle, the restriction on it dissolved completely. Fang Qingyuan extended his divine sense inside to inspect its contents.

The most numerous items inside were materials like Elixir Pills, Spirit Stones, spiritual materials, and high-grade ores. Fang Qingyuan dumped all of them out, only holding up a few items that he felt seemed particularly valuable to ask about.

"That is a Great Prosperity Order, a token from a Nascent Soul Power in the Land of the Far West. With this order, you can have them do one thing within their capabilities for you."

"That is a Great Sun Fuso Branch. In the Land of the Far East, there is a Fusang Wood tree that is close to the Divinity Transformation Tier. This is one of its branches. It's a pity there's no suitable place to plant it. It requires a volcano to grow, and the territory Chunyu Hua acquired has no such terrain. The original plan was to hire an Array Master to drill three thousand zhang into the earth to make the shallow magma erupt, but now there's no time for that."

"This is…"

Hao Shi calmly explained the function of every item in his storage pouch to Fang Qingyuan. He had followed Chunyu Hua for a century and had accumulated a great many treasures, but now they all belonged to Fang Qingyuan.

Hao Shi's tone grew increasingly calm until he reached the final item. Then, his voice began to tremble slightly.

"These are all Beast Soul Crystal Stones. This one is an Earth-Split Lizard, this one is a White Sharp Golden Bear, this one is…"

"Dabai!?"

Qiqi cried out in alarm, drawing everyone's attention to the Crystal Stone in Fang Qingyuan's hand. Inside the fist-sized crystal, a chubby, charmingly naive Great White Bear was sleeping like a baby.

Seeing this, Fang Qingyuan put down the other Crystal Stones, gently took hold of the Soul Crystal containing the Great White Bear's soul, and carefully handed it to Qiqi.

When Hao Shi had killed the Great White Bear, Fang Qingyuan had personally witnessed him take its Golden Core and soul. He hadn't expected the soul to still be intact and unused, revealed so completely now.

The Great White Bear's physical body had already been buried, and its Golden Core had likely been used up. This soul, then, was the only trace of Dabai left in the world.

"How were you originally planning to use this soul?"

Ignoring the joyous expressions of Qiqi and the other demon beasts, Fang Qingyuan asked the question that concerned him. The technique of sealing a soul inside a Crystal Stone for preservation was one of the most difficult in the entire Cultivation Realm.

"This brings me to what I was about to discuss: the Spirit Fusion Technique. If you dare to listen, I will tell you everything I know."

A gleeful smile touched the corners of Hao Shi's mouth. This was the poisonous revenge he had meticulously prepared for Fang Qingyuan.

The Spirit Fusion Technique was forbidden knowledge within the Beast Taming Sect, completely unpardonable. It was just like how cultivating the Soul Dao and Demon Dao was unforgivable to the Great Zhou Academy. Every super-sect that had existed for tens of thousands of years had invariably gone down some wrong paths in its history. These paths were not to be mentioned or replicated.

It seemed Hao Shi hadn't simply resigned himself to his fate. He was laying a trap, waiting for Fang Qingyuan to fall into it. As long as Fang Qingyuan was tempted to learn this knowledge, Hao Shi could already foresee his future demise.

Hearing Hao Shi's words, Fang Qingyuan's expression grew solemn. He lowered his voice and instructed Qiqi and the other beasts:

"What we're about to discuss is not for you to hear. Take Dabai's soul and go find your ancestor. Come back here in half an hour."

After seeing Dabai's soul, although Qiqi still desperately wanted to kill Hao Shi, she was now much more inclined to obey Fang Qingyuan's commands. Compared to their relatively equal standing at the beginning, after the journey to the Abyss of Black Soil, the duel of honor with Chunyu Hua, and the grand spectacle of the True Spirit fusion just now, Qiqi had consciously humbled herself. The pride of a Golden Core Perfection demon beast was gone.

"We'll listen to the Sect Leader. Confusion Insect, Xiong Ba, Crescent, let's go."

When Qiqi and the three other beasts had also departed, only Fang Qingyuan and Hao Shi were left on the quiet Jiangxin Island.

By now, after their conversation, Hao Shi had recovered a bit of strength. With great effort, he shifted his body to lean against a river stone, slumping to the ground. It was a more dignified posture than before.

"Our Rongling Sect is not tolerated by the Beast Taming Sect, hehe. But those Divinity Transformation Clans that fuse the bloodlines of True Spirits into their descendants—how different is their practice from ours?"

Hao Shi's voice was laced with mockery. Fang Qingyuan frowned at his words, isolating a key term:

"True Spirit?"

"Yes. Above the Heavenly, Earthly, Profound, and Yellow Four-Tiered Level of Spirit Beasts, there is the True Spirit tier. For a demon beast to become a True Spirit, the minimum requirement is to reach the Divinity Transformation Tier in cultivation. There are other conditions as well, but I don't know what they are."

Hao Shi choked up a mouthful of bloody foam. His internal organs had been shattered by Fang Qingyuan during their battle. Now that he was no longer in his Demon Fiend form, his human body was on the verge of collapse.

"The 'spirit' in Spirit Fusion refers to the soul of a demon beast. The most valuable part of a demon beast is not its Golden Core or its flesh, but its soul, which contains a unique Lifebound Talent. Using a Secret Technique, you extract the Lifebound Talent from a demon beast of your choosing and fuse it into your own divine soul. If everything goes smoothly, you will obtain that beast's Lifebound Talent. Just think about it—an opportunity for infinite possibilities. Who wouldn't be tempted?"

Listening to Hao Shi's tempting words, Fang Qingyuan had to admit it sounded incredibly alluring. If a Cultivator with a Metal Spirit Root obtained the soul of a Nascent Soul-level, metal-attribute ancient beast and successfully fused its Lifebound Talent into themselves, a Cultivator who might have only had Middle Grade Spirit Root Talent could instantly become a peerless cultivation genius.

But that raised the question: what was the price for all of this?

...

Half an hour later, when Bear Wind returned to Jiangxin Island with Qiqi and the other three beasts, they saw Fang Qingyuan lost in thought. Hao Shi was lying on the ground, cold and motionless.

Hao Shi's eyes were staring at the Bright Moon in the sky, his expression a mixture of pain and resentment. It seemed even he could not face the great terror of death with tranquility.

With a ROAR, Xiong Ba started forward, intending to tear Hao Shi's body to shreds, but a single glance from Fang Qingyuan was enough to make him halt in his tracks.

"I said I'd leave him an intact corpse. Don't make things difficult for me. Seeing as he was so cooperative, don't do something so disgraceful."

Xiong Ba lowered his head in submission. Desecrating a corpse to vent one's anger was perfectly natural and justified in his eyes, but Fang Qingyuan found it distasteful.

When it came down to it, there was no life-or-death feud between him and Hao Shi. His persistence in dealing with Hao Shi was mainly to give an accounting to Bear Wind and his lineage of bears. Besides, Hao Shi had just cooperated fully. And although he had his own schemes, Fang Qingyuan wasn't worried. When you have too many debts, you stop worrying. What secret could possibly be more shocking than the existence of the Immortal Mansion?

"I find you harder and harder to understand, Fang Qingyuan. I don't know now if entrusting Qiqi and the others to you is a blessing or a curse," Bear Wind lamented. He was shocked by the rapid growth of Fang Qingyuan's power. A figure this dazzling was bound to be surrounded by turmoil, and all Bear Wind wanted for Qiqi and the others was a peaceful life.

"Spring flowers and autumn moons are as fleeting as a dream, and time silently steals away our youth. Brother Xiong, now that our great enemy has been dealt with, let's just focus on living well together in the days to come. As for your worries... hehe, who can know what the future holds?"

Bear Wind sighed softly and looked at the dead Hao Shi. "What should we do with this body?"

Fang Qingyuan raised a hand and brought Hao Shi's body into the Immortal Mansion. He dug a large pit in an empty patch of black soil and buried the corpse. Given the Immortal Mansion's absorptive power, Hao Shi's body would likely be completely consumed in less than half a month. Furthermore, with Hao Shi's cultivation level, he should be able to provide Fang Qingyuan with a tael or so of Spirit Root aptitude. This was Hao Shi's final value. And with that, his story came to an end.