Outside the palace, on the ship –

The young maid suddenly looked up towards the direction of the palace where the deep roars were coming from.

Her lips lifted in a cold smile. That bastard, he should probably be drowning in despair and fear right now, right? When she arranged for Qin Yu to go out with the large fellow she had already expected this to happen.

But as time slowly passed, no one came out from the crack. The young maid furrowed her eyebrows together.

It looked like this bastard’s strength was also quite good; he must have managed to drag that large fellow into the grave with him. But, that had actually benefited the large fellow. Lord Mantuo was originally thinking that once this task was completed, she would play around with the large fellow before sending him out to die again.

The commotion left as quickly as it came. Moments later, the inside of the palace was calm once more.

Shu He said, “It looks like two of our fellow daoists have suffered an accident. I hope they are safe.”

He had a concerned expression, but when others saw it they all felt it was strangely funny. How could they be safe in such a situation?

Keep dreaming!

But the ones that died were others so they didn’t care at all. Several men’s gazes started to linger upon the young maid.

Soon, two hours passed.

Shu He stood up, “Everyone, according to the original order, when the assigned treasure chests are retrieved, the mission will be complete.”

The first group of two cultivators flew out from the ship. They soon returned, their faces filled with startled anger. “Our treasure chests have disappeared!”

Shu He’s complexion darkened. “You two, the treasure chests are items belonging to the Three United Trade Association. They have a special spell placed upon them and cannot be hidden.”

The two cultivators anxiously said, “They really did disappear; I haven’t done anything at all!”

Mantuo furrowed her eyebrows. She closed her eyes, her ten fingers moving in a law formula beneath her sleeves.

Soon, the existence of the two treasure chests vaguely appeared in her senses.

They were in the palace in front of her in a moving state; they had clearly been taken away.

This sort of situation had happened before where walking corpses had taken away the chests on the stone platform. Fortunately, the chances of that happening were extremely low. Since it was only two chests, this was a loss that the trade association could withstand.

Shu He nodded. “You two sit down first. The next group will head out.”

Two cultivators flew out. But after several dozen breaths of time, the two returned empty-handed. Mantuo fiercely stood up.

“Our treasure chests have also vanished!”

Something was wrong!

It was rare for walking corpses to take away the chests even once in several dozen years. But today, chests had been taken away from two different altars. There was absolutely a problem here.

Mantuo’s fingers furiously moved in a law formula. She could sense that these two chests were also moving. And from their position…her eyes flew open. The law formula slightly changed. She could sense that the first two chests…as she thought, they were together.

This wasn’t the work of walking corpses!

Those dead things might be strong, but they had long since lost their intelligence.

Just what was happening?

Mantuo was filled with shocked anger. Not caring about the losses, she started to sense the locations of the other chests.

Moving, moving, moving…moreover, their locations were all in the same place!

“Ahh!” Mantuo screamed in anger. Her mild and sweet face thoroughly twisted with hate. “Who are you, just who are you!?”

These more than 100 chests of stone beads had been saved up by the Three United Trade Association over the years. In fact, a large portion of them were a part of their private wealth.

And those that could bring along their private belongings on this ship of the Three United Trade Association were definitely peak characters with strength that defied the heavens.

How would they give up on stone beads that they had handed over? As Mantuo thought about this, her face rapidly paled and fear rose in her eyes.

“Shut up, what are you shouting about!?” A cultivator screamed out loud. Now that the treasure chests had disappeared, everyone was in a state of panic.

Shua –

Mantuo fiercely spun around. Although she still wore the clothing of a maid, her aura was as horrifying as purgatory.

She lifted a hand and grasped outwards. The cultivator’s head blew apart and the headless corpse toppled to the ground, wildly spurting blood.

The ship fell into a deathly silence.

No one thought that this charming and gentle young maid could kill…and she killed so easily…

“Damn it, damn it all!”

Mantuo’s eyes turned blood red. She lifted a hand and took out a sphere. It was clear and transparent and one could see drops of blood floating within. As everyone’s eyes looked at the sphere, for some unknown reason their minds shrank and a great fear rose within them.

“What is that thing?”

“Hand it over!”

Mantuo’s fair fingers fiercely gripped inwards and the sphere exploded. The drops of blood inside exploded into nothingness.

On the ship, all of the cultivators froze in place. They maintained this final stance as their vitalities rapidly faded away.

Shu He shouted out loud, “Stop! What are you doing!?”

Mantuo was without expression. Her eyes surged with blood red light. “Don’t say anything. I am in a very bad mood right now. If I can’t handle it…you will die.”

Her eyes sharpened. She flicked her sleeves and Shu He immediately froze in place, his eyes clouding over.

She took a step forward and squatted down on the floor. She traced her finger on the deck.

There was one drop of blood…

In her rage, she had already destroyed the soul bead. All of the cultivators who had given a drop of blood should have had their souls extinguished by now. If there was still this drop of blood that hadn’t yet broken apart…that meant that its master was still alive.

This was the person who took away the chests!

Mantuo placed her finger in her mouth and her complexion immediately changed. She lifted a hand and furiously struck her chest, her body quaking and croaking. She spat out mouthfuls of blood that turned black as they splashed onto the deck. They were filled with a corrosive strength that caused great plumes of white smoke to rise up.

Even so, she couldn’t expel the poison that had snuck into her body. Her face rapidly swelled and turned purple-black. After that, her flesh and blood started to rot away. Thick bloody goo gushed out, emitting a horrid stench.

Mantuo fell into the puddle of blood. Her body tumbled and twitched as ghastly howls came from her throat, “It’s you…it’s you…I will never let you go…I will never…”

Shu He’s eyes lit up again. Then, as if he didn’t see the sight before him, he smiled and said, “Everyone, the mission has been completed. We will be returning now.”

The ship turned around, going back along the path it came from and soon vanishing in the fog.

In a corner within the palace, Qin Yu sat down cross-legged, looking at the various chests placed all around him.

Since he knew that stone beads were inside, he naturally wouldn’t let them go. He would just consider it a form of repayment from the maid.

Those that schemed against him had to pay the price…the only question was whether or not she could withstand it.

Suddenly, Qin Yu looked up in a different direction. The blood he left behind had actually been touched by others. He hoped that whoever this person was, they had a good resistance to poison, otherwise if they died to that drop of blood they would likely feel aggrieved.

Within his soul space, Meimei cheered out loud, “I’ve broken past it!”

But soon, her voice weakened. “I’m tired. Oh pitiful me, my strength wasn’t restored to begin with but I keep on being used by others…”

Qin Yu was expressionless. He coughed and said, “Alright, alright. If there is a chance in the future we will definitely compensate you.”

Meimei was suddenly full of energy. “Remember your words!”

A light mark appeared on Qin Yu’s palm. He placed his hand on the treasure chest.

Kacha –

The chest opened with a light sound.

Qin Yu smiled as he looked around. It was filled with stone beads. Although their quality wasn’t too high, the amount could make up for a lack of quality to some degree.

He flicked his sleeves and put away the stone beads. Then, he took out a second chest and opened it.

This sort of feeling was refreshing beyond description!

Kacha –

Kacha –

Kacha –

The chests that were opened soon created a small hill. Of course, this wasn’t the main point. The stone beads that Qin Yu harvested filled him with feelings. Even if there were no other harvests here, just these stone beads alone were sufficiently amazing!

But joyful surprises always came when least expected. The next several chests were filled with high-grade stone beads.

Qin Yu suddenly thought back to the white altars. These high-grade beads were from the chests he had gathered near the end.

He rubbed his temples, suddenly feeling heartache. If he had been a little bit slower he could have obtained even more high-grade stone beads.

But since the chests had been forcefully opened already, even an idiot could tell that they were no longer useful.