"What are you waiting for? Why are you still not bowing to your incredible Senior Martial Brother Bo?" Bo Fei puffed out his chest in pride.
"The lowly Zhao Yunxiao pays my respect to the amazing Bo Fei!" Zhao Yunxiao gave him a deep bow immediately.
"Stop acting like you are the one who got us the invitation," Gu Qiansi chided before turning to Zhao Yunxiao. "We have only just heard of this matter from the Black Rose as well. Apparently, this arose from Senior Martial Brother Kang inviting the Sentient Light Performance Group to perform for the core and inner disciples, as a way of helping everyone relax before the upcoming Meeting of the Great Symbols. Thankfully, our New Year's performance seemed to have left an impression on him, so he generously decided to invite us along to enjoy the performance."
"And I was part of the group performing on New Year, so I am effectively part of the reason why we got the invitation," Bo Fei added.
"So, that's why!" Zhao Yunxiao nodded in excitement. "If I recall correctly, the Meeting of the Great Symbols will be happening just next week. When will this performance be held?"
"It's in three days," Gu Qiansi answered.
"What? That's really soon!" Zhao Yunxiao was slightly taken aback. "We have to hurry up and practise while we still can!"
"Practise?" Lu Zhiying tilted her head in confusion. "Aren't we just going to watch the Sentient Light Performance Group perform? Why do we need to practise?"
"For Senior Martial Brother Kang to have invited us due to our performance, there is always a chance that we might be asked to show a thing or two to justify our attendance," Zhao Yunxiao shook his head. "Rather than being caught by surprise when called upon to perform, it's better to be prepared. Otherwise, not only could we end up embarrassing ourselves, but we might also embarrass Senior Martial Brother Kang for having invited us."
"That makes sense. In that case, let's focus on practising over the next two nights," Gu Qiansi nodded.
"Oh! Then why don't we just start tonight?" Lu Zhiying was all eager to begin.
"Your Senior Martial Brother Zhao always has a lot of random things to do after coming back from a mission, so let's spare him tonight," Gu Qiansi said.
"Random things?" Lu Zhiying turned to look at Zhao Yunxiao.
"Don't listen to your Senior Martial Sister Gu spout nonsense. What 'random things'? Those are essential matters that need to be attended to!" Zhao Yunxiao rebutted. "She is just too lazy to do them immediately, so she always ends up procrastinating!"
"Are you calling Senior Martial Brother Bo and Junior Martial Sister lazy as well?" Gu Qiansi smirked.
"Aren't they?" Zhao Yunxiao answered without hesitation.
"I'm not lazy! Senior Martial Brother Zhao is the overly meticulous one!" Huang An protested softly.
"Are you looking to die tonight?" Bo Fei cracked his knuckles menacingly.
"What? Looking to resort to violence?" Zhao Yunxiao shook his head in disapproval. "You can force my body into submission, but my heart will never falter!"
"Is that so? Let's give it a try then. I don't believe I can't claim your heart for myself!"
"Damn it, when did the great Casanova start getting into guys?!"
After a few more rounds of banter, Zhao Yunxiao began to have his long-awaited fill of monster meat while listening to the others continue to share their insights on the cultivation lecture that was held just earlier that day.
That said, they had already been discussing this matter since noon, so it did not last much longer. The group left soon after, and Zhao Yunxiao quickly found himself back in his residence.
However, it was not quite time to rest just yet.
He immediately got to work, cleaning up his tools before putting them away in an orderly manner. This was something that he did every time he returned from a mission, and had already become akin to a ritual by now.
But this time, there was something else that he had to attend to after completing the usual.
Zhao Yunxiao sterilised the top of two long wooden chests and brought them into his meditation room, on top of which he laid down the corpses of the two Origin Core realm cultivators that he had obtained from Blueflag Mountain.
Back in Thousand Autumn City, he had already checked out the items in their possession, but had refrained from bringing out their corpses for inspection due to two main reasons.
Firstly, he knew that their corpses were tainted with the aura of corruption from Ke Huofen's Essence Reaper. In that light, his residence was a far more controlled environment than his inn room, where he could put in place far more layers of protection that prevented the aura of corruption from spreading.
Secondly, he did not know what kind of trackers had been placed on the corpses, be it from their friends or their enemies. Should he accidentally activate any such trackers during the course of his inspection, he might just end up having to deal with more troublesome opponents.
But now that he had returned to the safety of the sect grounds, it was finally time for him to get to work!
The first task – to deal with the aura of corruption that lingered on their corpses. As of now, Zhao Yunxiao had three main ways of dealing with the aura of corruption.
He knew of a few basic purification and sealing techniques, though their effects were not exactly the most effective.
Next, he naturally had the Divine Tether, which seemed to be capable of sealing anything under the heavens. Using it to seal away the aura of corruption should not be impossible.
Finally, he had the Dragon Aspect of the Zodiac Scripture. This aspect was able to help resist the aura of corruption, blasting it completely out of this world. It had been surprisingly effective against Ke Huofen, and definitely had great potential if practised to perfection.
And that was exactly what he was planning to do right now – practice. After all, it was not every day that one would get to collect and experiment on aura of corruption.
Repeating the mantra of the Zodiac Scripture in his head, Zhao Yunxiao thought back to the visions of the Zodiac General using this exact same technique in his battles against the Soul Devil.
Roar-!
The roar of a dragon sounded out, creating a wave of energy that blasted towards the two corpses.
It was like a strong gale blowing across two lit candles. The lingering aura of corruption on the two corpses dispersed in an instant, leaving behind two clean wounds that were ready for inspection.
Success! So, what happened back on Blueflag Mountain was no fluke!
Zhao Yunxiao's eyes lit up in excitement.
This Dragon Aspect was truly a bane of the aura of corruption – something that he had to keep in mind should he come across similar issues in the future. Of course, it also helped that the lingering aura of corruption was not directly controlled by anyone, as opposed to Ke Huofen's streams of corruption, which made it far easier to deal with.
Now, on to the actual examination of the corpses.
That said, Zhao Yunxiao was still a cultivator who belonged to the orthodox faction, so he definitely did not intend to desecrate a senior's corpse. Therefore, he suppressed the urge to completely cut up the corpses, focusing instead on inspecting the fatal wounds.
Just that alone yielded quite a bit of useful information, including how the two individuals' defences held up against an attack of such level, as well as how their individual physiques were affected by the aura of corruption.
Of the two, Shao Chen's wound was far cleaner than that of the frail-looking member of the Scarlet Leaf Sect.
Back then, this Shao Chen had clashed with the Scarlet Leaf Sect member's blade using his bare fists. This pure physical defence and strength had greatly inspired Zhao Yunxiao, especially since he was also looking to pursue the path of body strengthening.
And now, Shao Chen's reinforced physique also prevented the aura of corruption from penetrating as deeply into his body. This was unlike his counterpart, whose wound had already rotted to its core due to the corruption effect.
As expected, cultivating the body strengthening system had more benefits than just gaining greater physical strength!
After performing a few more small tests, Zhao Yunxiao finally kept the two corpses away, intending to bury them the next time he left the mountain. Since they were not part of the Black Tortoise Sect, it would be inappropriate to bury them here in the sect grounds.
***
Early the next morning, Zhao Yunxiao sent his clone out to help him perform his sect job for the day.
It was too mentally taxing to do so while he was still out on his mission, so he had his clone keep to simple tasks like reading. But now that he was back in close proximity and able to focus better, there was no longer an excuse to not resume with his work.
As for himself, Zhao Yunxiao remained in his residence, laying out the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd before bringing out the earth topaz that he had obtained from Yan Qixin.
Now that he had managed to get his hands on an earth topaz, it was time to further improve his halberd by inscribing the third rune!
Unlike the flashy fire ruby and water sapphire that emitted bright red light and shimmering blue light respectively, the earth topaz emitted a dull brown light that was far less eye-catching. However, the sheer amount of energy contained within this dull brown light was unmistakable.
Holding it in one hand and an inscription knife in another, Zhao Yunxiao slowly closed his eyes in focus.
Countless archaic characters flashed past Zhao Yunxiao's mind, creating an entire wall of ancient text. This time, there were even more such characters than before, owing to the extra knowledge that he had gained from the visions of the Untethered Sage. The huge wall then started to shrink in size, the ancient characters quickly disappearing one after another, until only a single word remained.
[Weight]
When Zhao Yunxiao thought about the earth element, one thing instantly came to mind – indomitable weight. Ever since he decided on his combat style, Zhao Yunxiao had been searching for a powerful technique that he could use as a finishing move. And if things went well, this might just be it!
The indomitable weight of the earth – this shall become his weapon to literally crush his opponents in the future!
Zhao Yunxiao extended his spiritual sense into the earth topaz, causing the dull brown light to grow in intensity as he extracted the energy from within.
A trail of brown energy flowed out from the earth topaz, coiling around Zhao Yunxiao's right hand, then slowly descending along the inscription knife until it finally gathered at the tip of the small blade.
It felt much easier this time as compared to the fire ruby and the water sapphire, almost to the extent of feeling comfortable. Perhaps this was due to him already being accustomed to the process, or perhaps it was as Cha had mentioned – that he truly had an affiliation with the earth element.
Regardless of the reason, the most important thing was that the process was going smoothly.
Zhao Yunxiao raised the inscription knife and pressed it against one of the three remaining surfaces of the pentagon-shaped joint.
His hand moved quickly, using the inscription knife to carve into the flat surface like a hot knife through butter. A thin and shallow trace appeared wherever the knife passed, emitting dull brown light.
Even the rate of energy consumption seemed to be a lot lower than before.
Previously, every stroke of the character had drained a huge portion of Zhao Yunxiao's entire reserve of energy. This time, while the energy consumption remained rather high, it was a lot more manageable in comparison.
Still, Zhao Yunxiao made sure to pace himself properly, not wanting any mishaps to happen.
Finally, the entire process came to an end in a muted manner.
Everything had gone smoothly from start to end, but Zhao Yunxiao still could not help but let out a huge sigh of relief.
With that, the third array node of the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd was complete.
Three down, two more to go!