Wealth Moves the Hearts of Men

Xuan Ye glanced at Song Wen, whose intent to retreat was obvious, and sent a voice transmission.

"Fellow Daoist Niu, since you dare to come here to retrieve your elder brother's corpse, you cannot possibly be without preparations. Tell us what means you have readied. If the risk is not too great, Fellow Daoist Guo Tao and I can lend you a hand. But if the danger is too high, you cannot blame us for being unrighteous and leaving right here."

Niu Ding pondered for a moment before speaking.

"I have indeed prepared some methods, but I am not entirely confident."

"I know Fellow Daoist Xuan Ye is a ghost-path cultivator. I hope you can use the fierce ghosts you rear to help me lure the phantoms and Wraiths out of the nest. That will make it easier for me to slip inside and recover my brother's remains."

Hearing this, Xuan Ye flatly refused.

"Impossible. There is no way I can hold back more than twenty Wraiths."

Xuan Ye only had a cultivation at the seventh layer of Qi Condensation. Facing over twenty late-stage Qi Condensation Wraiths, even with all his methods, victory was nearly impossible. He and Niu Ding were merely acquaintances brought together by chance; he would not take such a massive risk for him.

Perhaps realizing that Xuan Ye would never agree without some tangible benefit...

Niu Ding patted the Storage Bag at his waist, producing a thick stack of talismans.

"I have ten Ghost-Slaying Talismans and four Evil-Destroying Talismans here, which I can divide between the two of you. Relying on these talismans along with your own abilities, you should be able to retreat unscathed."

The Evil-Destroying Talisman was a first-grade High Grade talisman. Much like the Ghost-Slaying Talisman, it was specifically forged to eradicate spectral entities.

According to Song Wen's knowledge, Evil-Destroying Talismans carried a hefty price tag, far exceeding ordinary first-grade High Grade talismans. The four Evil-Destroying Talismans Niu Ding brought out were likely worth around four hundred Spirit Stones.

However, Niu Ding only offered four of them. Had there been twenty, Song Wen might have considered the risk worth taking.

After all, slapping one onto each Wraith-not to kill them, but just to injure them and buy a sliver of time-would give Song Wen total confidence in his escape.

Seeing that neither Song Wen nor Xuan Ye replied, Niu Ding continued.

"I do not need you two to fight to the death on my behalf. I merely need you to lure out the majority of the Wraiths. After that, whether you fight or flee is entirely up to you."

"In addition, I have one thousand Spirit Stones here to serve as compensation for your efforts."

Xuan Ye frowned slightly. His heart was somewhat tempted, and he sent a voice transmission.

"You need to think this through. If you are trapped inside that nest, you will absolutely die without a doubt."

If it went exactly as Niu Ding said and they only needed to lure out the Wraiths, the danger was not truly insurmountable.

Among the fierce ghosts he reared, there was a goat-headed ghost that possessed a degree of sentience and could act on its own. In the worst-case scenario, he could simply have this fierce ghost act alone while he hid far away. At most, he would only lose a single fierce ghost.

And the value of the talismans and Spirit Stones Niu Ding had presented far exceeded the worth of that goat-headed ghost.

Niu Ding said, "You two need not worry. Life and death are dictated by fate. No matter the outcome, I will bear the consequences myself."

Xuan Ye nodded, accepting the talismans and Spirit Stones Niu Ding handed over.

He pulled out five Ghost-Slaying Talismans and one Evil-Destroying Talisman, holding them out to Song Wen.

Song Wen shook his head in refusal. "The cultivation technique and Magical Artifacts I use are not suited for dealing with spectral entities. I won't be able to exert much effort in this battle. Fellow Daoist Xuan Ye should keep these talismans."

Song Wen's underlying meaning was clear: since he wasn't taking a share of the benefits, he naturally wouldn't partake in the risk.

Five Ghost-Slaying Talismans and one Evil-Destroying Talisman were only worth a little over two hundred Spirit Stones. There was no way he would risk his life for such a paltry sum.

Furthermore, Xuan Ye had no intention of sharing too many Spirit Stones or talismans with Song Wen anyway.

Xuan Ye did not say much more, simply stowing all the talismans and Spirit Stones away.

A moment later.

Xuan Ye summoned a towering fierce ghost with a goat's head and a human body. Under Xuan Ye's control, the goat-headed ghost charged straight toward the nest on the cavern wall.

"Roar!"

The goat-headed ghost dashed to the base of the cavern wall and suddenly unleashed a furious bellow.

It was as if the surrounding air began to boil and churn under the sheer force of the creature's roar.

Instantly, violent gales swept through the hundred-meter-wide cavern, echoes reverberating endlessly.

The deafening roar pierced the air, penetrating deep into the very core of the nest.

Like a slumbering demon violently awakened, the previously tranquil nest suddenly surged with yin energy, radiating a sinister ghostly aura.

One spectral entity after another continuously poured out from the various nests lining the cavern wall. Among them were quite a few extraordinarily powerful Wraiths.

Witnessing this scene, Xuan Ye's heart skipped a beat.

Even though he had mentally prepared himself, watching such a massive swarm of ghosts emerge still left him trembling with dread.

Not daring to linger for even a second, he spun around and fled, the goat-headed ghost following closely on his heels.

Xuan Ye did not choose their original path for his retreat; instead, he bolted in the direction of the Snake Scale Fruits.

Catching sight of Xuan Ye, eerie green light erupted in the eyes of the spectral entities, and they swarmed after him.

In the blink of an eye, Xuan Ye and the vast majority of the ghosts vanished down the cavern depths.

Right at that moment, a burly figure flashed past, darting into the cavern and rushing straight for the ghost nest on the wall.

Niu Ding swiftly scaled the cavern wall and slipped into the nest Song Wen had pointed out. After advancing a mere ten meters, he laid eyes on his long-sought elder brother's corpse.

An expression of wild ecstasy instantly bloomed on Niu Ding's face, completely devoid of the sorrow one would expect upon finding a close relative's remains.

He practically threw himself at the corpse, tearing the Storage Bag from its waist. After sweeping it with his Divine Sense, however, a look of profound disappointment washed over him.

Afterward, his hands frantically patted and searched all over the desiccated body.

A moment later, having found nothing, Niu Ding grew anxious. He stood up and began pacing, thoroughly scouring the ground surrounding the corpse.

Right then, Niu Ding's expression suddenly turned panicked. He hastily pulled a gray cloak out of his Storage Bag.

He draped the cloak over himself and flattened his body tightly against the stone wall.

Immediately, Niu Ding's aura vanished without a trace, and his figure seemed to meld seamlessly into the surrounding stone. Unless one were to physically touch the spot, it would be extremely difficult to detect a human hiding there.

A Wraith at the eighth layer of Qi Condensation drifted into the nest. It hovered directly over the corpse, glancing left and right, then sniffed at the lingering scent in the air.

It seemed somewhat perplexed. It had clearly caught the scent of a living person, yet not a single shadow of one was visible.

Could it be the residual human scent clinging to this dead body?

The Wraith's rather dim-witted mind failed to make sense of it even after a long while, and it soon turned and drifted out of the nest.

Everything transpiring within the nest was captured entirely by Song Wen's eyes through the Beetle Gu.

Having no intention of wading into these muddy waters, Song Wen had retreated to the cavern passage they had previously traversed even before the two men took action, finding a crevice in the wall and hiding himself within it.

Relying on his physical body's control to regulate his aura, Song Wen completely concealed his presence. The resulting effect was actually several degrees superior to that of Niu Ding's cloak.

Watching the events unfold inside the ghost nest, Song Wen thought to himself: Niu Ding didn't risk entering the ancient battlefield caverns for his elder brother's corpse after all. He was after some treasure hidden on the body.

That cloak of his had to be an exceptionally rare treasure capable of completely retracting one's aura and concealing one's figure.

This was Niu Ding's true source of confidence-the real reason he dared to plunge deep into a ghost nest and risk his life.

As expected, no one in this Cultivation world could be lightly trusted. No one would ever willingly expose their true trump cards.

He just did not know what grade of treasure this cloak was.

Still, for it to deceive an eighth-layer Qi Condensation ghost, it had to be at least a High Grade Magical Artifact.

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