Chapter 324

Words : 2519 Updated : Oct 5th, 2025

Chapter 324At noon, Mago found a patch of forest and stopped the carriage. Lu Qing, meanwhile, sought out a large boulder nearby, jumped onto it, and sat down cross-legged. His mind quickly immersed itself into the Spatial Qi Bag. The old doctor stood by, guarding him. At this moment, within the Spatial Qi Bag, the Plague Gourd was emitting waves of power, trying to break free from its restraints. However, the Spatial Qi Bag, as a spiritual artifact aligned with space and wind attributes, had one of its strongest abilities in suppression and confinement. Given that the Plague Gourd itself was damaged and ownerless, with no one to control or activate it, even if it were in perfect condition, it would still struggle to break free without external assistance. Nevertheless, Lu Qing had stored many items inside the Spatial Qi Bag. Although he had intentionally suppressed the Plague Gourd in a separate location when he first placed it inside, if it were to go on a rampage, it could still potentially damage the other items within. "Old man, don't waste your energy. Inside my treasure, you won't be able to cause any trouble." As soon as Lu Qing's mind entered, the suppressive power within the Spatial Qi Bag suddenly increased. The Plague Gourd, which had been struggling slightly, was immediately pinned down and couldn't move at all. Seeing no hope of escape, the Plague Gourd stopped struggling and returned to a state of stillness. However, it remained silent, as if it had become a dead object. Lu Qing sent out a wave of soul power: "Old man, you were struggling so desperately earlier, trying to get my attention. Why are you playing dead now?" The Plague Gourd remained silent, as if it hadn't heard Lu Qing's words. Seeing this, Lu Qing didn't coddle it. "If you're going to play dead, then you'll just stay locked up here for ten or twenty years." With that, he prepared to withdraw his mind. At this moment, the presence within the Plague Gourd couldn't stay silent any longer. If Lu Qing really left him trapped here for ten or twenty years, without the nourishment of spiritual energy, his true spirit would indeed perish. After enduring for tens of thousands of years, finally reaching the day when spiritual energy was reviving, he absolutely could not let his efforts go to waste. "Wait, young friend, we can talk things over slowly. There's no need to be so hasty." "Old man, you finally decided to speak?" Lu Qing revealed a slight smile, but his tone remained unfriendly. "I thought you had so much pride that you'd continue pretending to be dead." "Young friend, there's no need to be so aggressive. I have no enmity with you, yet you continue to speak with such hostility. This isn't the demeanor of a cultivator, is it?" "No enmity?" Lu Qing let out a cold laugh. "Old man, have you been stuck in this broken gourd for so long that your brain isn't working properly? Weren't you just opposing us earlier, almost injuring my master?" "That was out of necessity. I didn't want to be your enemy, but as the spirit of a weapon, my actions aren't my own. My life and death are at the whim of my master. That Qi Changfeng wanted to be your enemy, and as a mere weapon spirit, how could I disobey his orders?" The presence within the gourd sighed. "Is that so?" Lu Qing's cold smile deepened. "You play the innocent well, but Plague Old Ghost, do you really think no one can see through you? You abandoned your body and took over your own weapon spirit, surviving for tens of thousands of years just to await the resurgence of spiritual energy. Do you really expect anyone to believe you'd willingly let a mere Precelestial cultivator refine you? From what I see, Qi Changfeng was just a puppet you manipulated. You pretended to be refined by him, then took the opportunity to manipulate the Qi family into spreading a plague in Fengzhou, all to cultivate plague energy and restore yourself. Am I right or wrong?" "How do you know?!" This statement caused the Plague Gourd to tremble slightly. The presence within was utterly shocked. Not only did Lu Qing reveal his entire plan without missing a detail, but he also knew his true identity. It should be noted that when he took over his own weapon spirit back then, no one saw it. Such a deeply hidden secret, suddenly exposed by someone—how could he not be terrified? "Who exactly are you?" The presence within the gourd could no longer maintain his composure and urgently asked. "Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is that, Plague Old Ghost, I know everything about you. No matter how you try to act mysterious, it won't work on me," Lu Qing said in a cryptic tone. Yet, despite his words, the pressure on the presence within the gourd was immense. He had initially thought that with his mysterious identity and tens of thousands of years of experience, manipulating a young lad like Lu Qing would be a piece of cake. But now, realizing that his every secret had been laid bare while he knew nothing about his opponent, his heart began to waver. However, after all, he was an ancient being who had lived for tens of thousands of years. The presence within the gourd only hesitated for a moment before quickly regaining his composure. After some thought, he calmly said, "I didn't expect that young friend would know the truth about me. Yes, I am indeed the Plague Elder. I wonder which of my old acquaintances is by your side. Could you have them come out so we can reminisce?" Indeed, the Plague Elder quickly concluded that there must be someone similar to himself by Lu Qing's side—someone who had survived the terrible Five Decays of Heaven and Man and had lived to the present day. Otherwise, it was hard for him to believe that a mere young lad like Lu Qing could see through his true nature and know his history so well. Is it the spirit of the Spatial Qi Bag, or is it, like me, some ancient soul? "Trying to trick me, Plague Old Ghost? Stop dreaming!" Lu Qing saw that the Plague Elder had misunderstood something, but instead of correcting him, he taunted him. "You're not even qualified to make that person show themselves!" "Boy, don't be arrogant!" Hearing Lu Qing repeatedly call him an old ghost, the Plague Elder could no longer hold back. "Since you know who I am, how dare you be so disrespectful! Hasn't the person beside you told you of my fame back in the day?" "Oh? You still think you have the right to be angry?" Lu Qing chuckled lightly. "Plague Old Ghost, I think you're the one who doesn't understand the situation here. Do you really think you still have the leverage to threaten me?" The Plague Elder fell silent. He sensed the suppressive power on the Plague Gourd and knew Lu Qing was right. Given the current situation, he indeed had no leverage to threaten his opponent. But he was also not about to show weakness. After a moment of silence, he spoke again, "Boy, what exactly do you want?" "It's simple. Release your true spirit and let my soul power brand it," Lu Qing said bluntly. "Impossible!" The Plague Elder refused without hesitation. What a joke, releasing his true spirit to be branded. If that happened, he'd be fully refined, with his life and death under Lu Qing's control. As an ancient being who had survived for tens of thousands of years, how could the Plague Elder accept such a fate? "Young friend, asking me to release my true spirit is out of the question. How about this? Since you know my identity, you must have heard of my fame in the cultivation world. I know countless cultivation secrets and mystical techniques. Any one of them would be enough for the most talented cultivators to fight to the death for. Let me make a deal with you. If you release me, I will teach you all these divine techniques. How about that?" "No deal, Plague Old Ghost. At this point, you're still trying to deceive me. Do you think I'm as foolish as the Qi family fool, who would practice your evil arts and then fall under your control? If you want to leave here, there's only one way—release your true spirit and let me refine you. Otherwise, you'll die in my Spatial Qi Bag! You've barely kept your true spirit intact after surviving for tens of thousands of years. Without the nourishment of spiritual energy, I wonder how long you can hold out!" Lu Qing was completely unmoved by the temptation, directly threatening him. "I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. Recently, I nourished my true spirit with plague energy condensed from the life force of tens of thousands of people, and it's fully restored. Living another thousand years would be easy. It's possible that you'll die before me, and I'll still be alive. Boy, if you think you can threaten me, you're still too green!" Seeing that Lu Qing was neither enticed nor pressured, the Plague Elder finally realized that this young lad was far more cunning than Qi Changfeng, that simpleton. He decided to drop the pretense, retreating into the depths of the gourd and falling silent. When Lu Qing saw that he had stopped speaking, he focused his mind, and the space within the Spatial Qi Bag changed. Suddenly, numerous fierce winds appeared around the Plague Gourd, battering it. Sensing this, the Plague Elder inside the gourd sneered: "Boy, don't waste your effort. While the Spatial Qi Bag is formidable, its winds won't harm my Sёarch* The novёlF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Plague Gourd. If you're serious, you should consider my proposal carefully. I always keep my word. If you release me, I will teach you unparalleled divine techniques. In the future, condensing a Golden Core or achieving a Nascent Soul would be effortless!" "Is that so, old ghost? Do you really think I can't deal with you? Then just you wait." Seeing that the winds couldn't affect the Plague Gourd, Lu Qing ceased his futile efforts. After all, exerting the full power of the Spatial Qi Bag also took a toll on his mind. But seeing how the Plague Elder seemed confident of his victory, Lu Qing grew irritated. After dispersing the winds, he withdrew his mind from the Spatial Qi Bag, no longer willing to waste words with him. As Lu Qing withdrew, the space within the Spatial Qi Bag returned to calm. The Plague Elder waited for a long time, sensing that Lu Qing had indeed left. He carefully sensed the outside world and found that the suppressive power on the Plague Gourd was still present, making it difficult for him to move even slightly. Knowing that Lu Qing had not let down his guard, the Plague Elder felt frustrated but could do nothing about it. Back then, although he successfully took over the weapon spirit and escaped the Five Decays of Heaven and Man, greatly extending his lifespan and keeping his true spirit from extinguishing, surviving the era of spiritual energy depletion, it came at a heavy price. Firstly, after taking over the weapon spirit, he became the spirit of the Plague Gourd, losing all the earth-shattering cultivation power he once had. Aside from keeping his true spirit intact, he had nothing left. Secondly, as a weapon spirit, while he could control the power of the Plague Gourd, he lost the ability to cultivate on his own. To enhance his level, he needed external assistance. This was why he chose Qi Changfeng and allowed him to begin refining the Plague Gourd. Because on his own, restoring his condition would have been far too slow. This was a flaw of spiritual artifacts. Containing a trace of eternal life, spiritual artifacts could live far longer than any cultivator below the Ascension Realm. But at the same time, their immortality became their shackle. They could not break through their limitations or advance in level on their own. Only with external help could they improve. But for the Plague Elder to accept being refined was out of the question. If that happened, his life and death would be controlled by someone else, which was worse than dying. So no matter how much Lu Qing threatened, the Plague Elder would never release his true spirit. For now, he could only wait, waiting for the moment when Lu Qing realized he couldn't do anything to him and the real negotiations could begin. On this point, the Plague Elder was quite confident. Although he had never personally faced the Spatial Qi Bag, he had seen its power. Frankly, at its peak, this treasure was no less powerful than his Plague Gourd. But as a spiritual artifact containing the laws of space and wind, its strength lay in killing and suppressing enemies. However, forcibly breaking through the Plague Gourd's protection to refine him was impossible. So the Plague Elder had enough patience to wait until Lu Qing was ready to negotiate. The only thing that worried him slightly was that the plague energy he had gathered by manipulating Qi Changfeng into unleashing a plague in Fengzhou, nurtured by the life force of tens of thousands of people, had only temporarily halted the decay of his true spirit. But it hadn't fully restored it. If he didn't receive any nourishment from external spiritual energy within three years, his true spirit would start decaying again. Now, his only hope was that Lu Qing wouldn't have the patience to wait that long. "I don't believe that a mere lad would have the patience to keep me trapped here for three years!" The Plague Elder steeled himself, suppressing the murderous intent in his heart. He swore that if he ever escaped, he would do everything in his power to exact revenge on this young lad who had humiliated him so thoroughly today. Until this hatred was quenched, even if he broke free, regained his treasure body, and regained his freedom, his mind would never be at peace. "Ah Qing, how did it go?" On the large boulder, the old doctor saw Lu Qing wake up and quickly asked. "The situation is temporarily resolved," Lu Qing replied. But there was a hint of killing intent in his eyes. "Master, let's hurry back to Jiuli Village. There's an old man I want to deal with as soon as possible!" Table of content

Chapter 324

Comments (0)