MTLNOVEL Chapter 21: Taking Inventory
Chapter 21: Taking Inventory
The cicadas chirped silently as the moon rose in the east, its silver light washing over the mountains and hills. The ancient estate, steeped in history, seemed to be covered in a layer of frost under the moon’s glow.
After finishing the soup, the junior sister reluctantly went to rest at You Su’s insistence. Although she was a night owl, even she couldn’t keep going without sleep after two days of tirelessly caring for You Su. Moreover, You Su himself felt guilty about her exhaustion, so he sternly ordered her to get some rest.
By now, You Su had regained quite a bit of strength. Leaning against the headboard of the bed, he fiddled with the dimensional bag in his hands.
He had lied to his junior sister, telling her that this was a spoil of war taken from someone like Wu Ping after their defeat – a pouch made of special materials. It could preserve the essence of freshly picked herbs like Lingzhi to the greatest extent, making it an extremely valuable treasure.
Since they wouldn’t need it anyway, he planned to sell it later for a large sum of money and split the profit with her fifty-fifty. The young girl wiped away the drool forming at the corners of her mouth, patted You Su’s head affectionately, and even washed the pouch clean for him.
It wasn’t surprising that Ji Lingruo believed him so easily. After all, once a dimensional bag was bound to its owner, only the master’s energy could open it. To an outsider, it simply looked like an exquisitely embroidered pouch.
And now, You Su was the new owner of this dimensional bag.
There were two ways to remove the restrictions on a dimensional pouch. One was extremely complicated, requiring an array master from Heaven’s Dawn Divine Mountain to perform an intricate “unbind” procedure. The other method was much simpler – simply eliminate the previous owner.
Reconnecting with an unclaimed Dimensional Bag was also incredibly simple. Similar to the “imprinting” phenomenon in nature, whoever first infused their energy into it would become its new master.
You Su channeled the recovered energy within his body into the bag. Suddenly, he felt a mental link form. This connection gave him the impression that the dimensional bag wasn’t a separate small space, but rather an extension of his own consciousness.
The various items inside were as clear to him as if they were stored directly in his mind. Whenever he wanted, he could instantly retrieve whatever he desired.
You Su began mentally taking inventory of this unexpected windfall.
The space inside wasn’t particularly large; a set of sandalwood tables and chairs occupied most of it. Beneath them were three different tea sets and several elegantly packaged jars of various types of tea leaves. It was obvious that Elder Ling had a deep love for tea.
You Su hadn’t expected such a detestable evil cultivator to have a refined side. He found it both strange and somehow fitting.
Looking more closely, there were many treasures and artifacts whose purpose You Su didn’t recognize. Most of them carried traces of malevolent energy, likely tools used by Elder Ling during his wicked deeds.
Several books caught You Su’s attention. They were titled “Wishful Wind Control Technique”, “Comprehensive Selection of Five Elements Spellcraft”, and “General Knowledge of Spiritual Treasures”. Dried bloodstains dotted the aged pages, clearly indicating that these were spoils that Elder Ling had taken from others.
Strangely enough, although You Su had never studied these characters before, he naturally understood their meaning.
After briefly skimming through them, You Su found the Wishful Wind Control Technique somewhat intriguing. The other two books appeared to be foundational texts of the Spiritual Treasure Sect, which explained why Elder Ling had pretended to belong to that sect.
Although the contents of these books were broad and general, they still contained profound insights. For someone like You Su, who had been raised solely as a sword cultivator and knew little beyond wielding a sword, these books were invaluable resources for understanding the broader use of cultivation energy.
Continuing his search, You Su discovered several books related to evil cultivation. From the names of the techniques described in them, he learned the original name of Elder Ling’s sect-the Demon Suppressing Sect . He quietly memorized this information.
You Su, however, had no interest in evil cultivation techniques. Only one book, “Illustrated Records of Malevolent Entities,” caught his attention. He flipped through it for a long time, but failed to find any mention of entities similar to his junior sister or his master’s wife.
Aside from them, the bag contained mostly miscellaneous items of little value. Surprisingly, however, he stumbled upon a large number of Spirit Stones, the currency used in the cultivation world. Not only did these stones have immense trade value, but they could also quickly replenish one’s cultivation energy.
With this unexpected fortune, You Su could now consider himself quite wealthy.
He retrieved the Evil Repelling Token, now restored to its vibrant green hue, and idly spun it between his fingers. While silently thanking Elder Ling, he began reflecting deeply on the events that had transpired around him and within himself over the past few days.
He had already formed a preliminary understanding of what had happened: For unknown reasons, Elder Ling had targeted the Mandarin Duck Sword Sect. His original plan was likely to use a malevolent entity to invade You Su’s body, driving him into chaos and forcing him to cooperate in killing both himself and his junior sister along with their master’s wife. However, this plan had been thwarted – not only had You Su seen through it, but his master’s wife had severed its foundation with her very first strike.
Sure enough, Master’s wife hadn’t intended to kill him with that sword strike-she had aimed to slay the Dream Centipede on his neck. She had saved him, yet he had misunderstood her.
The malevolent entity that had tainted both his junior sister and his master’s wife must have been extraordinarily powerful. It was only after seeing them in his dreams that You Su encountered the Lantern Ghost, just as Elder Ling had anticipated, leading Elder Ling to mistakenly believe that his plan was proceeding smoothly.
However, there were still many mysterious aspects about the battle with Elder Ling.
For instance, why had You Su suddenly been able to see Elder Ling transform into a monstrous creature? If it was because his cultivation level was high enough, then he should have been able to perceive it from the very beginning. Besides, the evil entity that possessed Elder Ling clearly belonged to the “flesh and blood” category. According to what Elder Ling had said, the powers of different categories of subordinates weren’t interchangeable. So, what had caused You Su to suddenly see through Elder Ling’s disguise?
You Su ventured a reasonable guess: The malevolent entities afflicting his junior sister and master’s wife weren’t one, but two separate entities.
The one attached to his junior sister belonged to the “flesh and blood” category, while the one within the master’s wife fell under the “dream master” category. Moreover, their dominance over their respective realms must have been extremely strong, which explained why Elder Ling had completely given up his resistance after realizing this.
Thus, after consuming the piece of corrupted flesh that his junior sister had cut off, You Su himself had fallen under the influence of the malevolent force. However, this also granted him an explosive surge in physical power, even allowing him to briefly regain his vision, ultimately turning the tide of battle in his favor.
From this perspective, despite being tainted by evil, both his junior sister and Master’s wife had saved him in their own ways.
At this thought, You Su was overwhelmed with mixed emotions.
He could already foresee how difficult the road ahead would be. He would need to conceal the fact that all three of them were possessed by malevolent forces while simultaneously searching for a way to exorcise the evil from them.
But he wouldn’t regret his choice.
“It doesn’t matter anymore. What Elder Ling, what ‘Master’, what nonsense about divine revelations or clouds spreading chaos – it is all meaningless. None of it can stop me.”
You Su tightened his grip on the Evil Repelling Token, silently growling in his heart like a lion, battered and bloodied but unyielding in the face of encircling hyenas.
Suddenly, he felt a strange tremor emanating from the Evil Repelling Token. It began to vibrate faintly. You Su was baffled until he infused it with his cultivation energy to stabilize it. At that moment, several lines of text abruptly appeared in his mind:
“To all the cultivators of Eternal Height Divine Mountain holding the Evil Repelling Token: A great heavenly ancestor ritual at Heaven’s Dawn Divine Mountain in the Southern Blaze Continent has been disrupted. A Dream-Eating Ghost has stolen treasures from the altar and fled, likely heading toward the Central Realm Continent. Anyone with information must report it immediately! Remember this well: Those below the Feather Transformation Realm must not act rashly! – Eternal Height Divine Mountain Exorcism Bureau.”
Before You Su could even process what he had read, his eyelids grew unbearably heavy, as if weighed down by a thousand pounds. Overcome by exhaustion, he collapsed into a deep sleep.