Top-tier Unruly Master

Ding Fan, carrying Gusu Qingwen, turned and came to the third room.

As Ding Fan unfolded the door with his Immortal Sword, a dense fragrance suddenly assailed their nostrils.

"This... This Ancient Demon Lord... actually hoarded so many Spirit Stones..." Despite Gusu Qingwen's vast experience, she was still shocked by the scene before her, her mouth agape.

At that moment, it wasn't just Gusu Qingwen; even Ding Fan's mouth hung wide open, his eyes bulging.

This room was exceedingly large, and it was filled entirely with Block Spirit Stones.

The so-called Block Spirit Stones are Spirit Stones with a higher concentration of spirit than ordinary ones. Generally speaking, one Block Spirit Stone could be worth a hundred common Crystal Stones.

And within this room, just the Block Spirit Stones alone were piled up to the brim, in Gusu Qingwen's estimation there were at least ten thousand of them.

What did that imply?

It meant there were the equivalent of one million ordinary Spirit Stones here!

One million, a full one million ordinary Spirit Stones. Even Gusu Qingwen was stupefied, wondering how the Immortal Sect could not even come up with such an amount of Block Spirit Stones in one go.

In the Cultivation World, even Ding Fan had seen Block Spirit Stones before, but he had never seen so many at once. After all, such Block Spirit Stones were quite rare in the Cultivation World.

Without further ado, Ding Fan began to collect them, not paying attention to Gusu Qingwen. He had many storage rings from martial artists he had killed, and after a busy flurry of activity, he managed to gather all of the Block Spirit Stones in the room.

Gusu Qingwen simply watched quietly.

"A disciple of the Immortal Sect like you certainly wouldn't care about such trifles..." Ding Fan now looked quite satisfied as he turned and spoke to Gusu Qingwen behind him.

Gusu Qingwen did not respond to Ding Fan's words.

Having obtained so many Crystal Stones, Ding Fan was now looking forward to what other treasures might be in this palace.

If one room contained so many Block Spirit Stones, the Ancient Demon Lord truly was lavishly extravagant.

Continuing on, Ding Fan carried Gusu Qingwen to another room.

When he opened that room, Ding Fan found it to be filled with various Magic Artifacts and Magical Treasures.

With a sweep of his Divine Sense, Ding Fan realized that all the Magic Artifacts and Magical Treasures inside were Soul Refinement Artifacts.

So-called Soul Refinement means using living souls in the Refinement of Magical Treasures, which, although they turn out incredibly powerful, also carry the risk of severe backlash. In the Cultivation World, Ding Fan had once seen a martial artist at the Tribulation Stage get devoured alive by the backlash from a Soul Refinement Artifact...

Hence, Ding Fan was truly frightened of these Soul Refinement Artifacts.

He only took a quick look around before turning to leave.

Seeing Ding Fan's reaction, Gusu Qingwen was taken aback, not expecting him to act in such a way. Anyone else, upon beholding the treasures left behind by the Ancient Demon Lord, would undoubtedly have taken them all.

But Ding Fan had simply given up on them after one glance.

"Don't you like these Magic Artifacts?" Gusu Qingwen asked curiously.

"I might have the life to take these Soul Refinement Artifacts, but not the life to use them," Ding Fan said indifferently.

Gusu Qingwen seemed to be seeing Ding Fan in a new light.

Ding Fan's knowledge was not weak; he had recognized at a glance that these were Soul Refinement Artifacts. And his insights were quite unique.

Those Soul Refinement Artifacts were highly sought after, and even disciples of the Immortal Sect would definitely fight over using them upon obtaining such Artifacts.

Although disciples of the Immortal Sect were aware of the backlash, they would disregard it for the sake of temporary prestige.

Yet Ding Fan, an ordinary mortal, could have such an awareness...

At that moment, Ding Fan did not notice Gusu Qingwen's thoughts behind him. He strode to another door, and with a few swishes of his Immortal Sword, he directly cut through another door.

But as soon as Ding Fan opened that door, a fierce wind suddenly roared towards them.

Having not taken any precautions, Ding Fan, along with Gusu Qingwen on his back, were both blown away instantly.

Ding Fan and Gusu Qingwen each landed with a thud on the ground.

Ding Fan silently reprimanded himself. After all, this was the Ancient Demon Lord's residence, and it would be unusual for it not to be booby-trapped. He had let his guard down after benefiting from the first few rooms, becoming somewhat complacent.

Luckily, the forceful wind was not particularly strong. If it had been Sword Qi instead, Ding Fan might well have been dead already.

"There's someone here!" Gusu Qingwen exclaimed with a hint of panic in her voice.

Someone here? Ding Fan was startled. It had been at least a few hundred years since anyone had come to the Ancient Demon Lord's palace; how could there be someone here?

Looking in the direction of the voice, Ding Fan saw a slender figure with a straw-hat, standing with a sword in hand in front of the door that had just been opened.

It seemed that this person had launched the sneak attack.

But why would anyone be here? After hundreds of years had passed, how could there be someone here?

Ding Fan sent his Divine Sense to investigate, and to his astonishment, the person in front of him was indeed just a person. A human, just like himself.

Centuries have passed, and there are still living people here!

At that moment, Ding Fan felt a chill run down his spine. It was truly too horrifying to comprehend.

"I never expected... after being trapped for hundreds of years, I would manage to break free from the prohibition again," said the Straw-hat weirdo with a series of eerie, cackling laughs.

The person's voice was extremely hoarse, sounding very uncomfortable to listen to.

"Are you human, ghost, or demon?" Gusu Qingwen asked the Straw-hat weirdo.

After hearing Gusu Qingwen's words, the Straw-hat weirdo laughed again, but this time, the laughter was filled with much more resentment and unwillingness.

"Am I a human? I have long since been turned into a... demon? Heh, I actually wish I were a demon..." After saying that, the Straw-hat weirdo directly took off the straw-hat on his head.

When Ding Fan and Gusu Qingwen saw the person's full appearance, they both widened their eyes, finding it hard to believe.

Underneath the straw-hat, although the person's head looked normal, he had no ears, and his mouth and nose were connected, just like a tiger's muzzle.

The person's face was covered in beastly fur, looking incredibly terrifying.

"Look at me, am I human, devil, or demon now!" The Straw-hat weirdo said this and laughed again, but this time there was a hint of tragedy in his smile.

At this point, Gusu Qingwen looked serious. In all her years, she had never seen a person who looked like a mix of human and beast.

"How come you're here?" Ding Fan spoke warily to the person.

The Straw-hat weirdo glanced at Ding Fan, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. "I never expected an ordinary person to be able to enter the Ancient Ancestor's palace... If the Ancient Ancestor knew about this, I wonder if he would die of rage!"

At this moment, Ding Fan did not respond; he just watched the Straw-hat weirdo.

"But this girl is quite nourished, this skin of hers is not bad..." The Straw-hat weirdo said with a flicker in his form.

In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Gusu Qingwen.

Gusu Qingwen's legs were severely injured, and at this moment she was utterly unable to move, so she hurriedly unleashed two palms.

Gusu Qingwen's intention was to use the force of her palms to repel the Straw-hat weirdo.

However, the Straw-hat weirdo's movements were incredibly agile; before the palm wind could reach him, he had already dodged it, and then a withered hand reached out towards Gusu Qingwen's body.

Gusu Qingwen was frantic at that moment; the withered hand was blackish-purple, with no appearance of flesh at all, just like the hand of a dead man. If such a hand touched her, Gusu Qingwen would rather die right then and there.

But just when the Straw-hat weirdo's hand was about to touch Gusu Qingwen, a Sword Qi swept straight towards them.

The Sword Qi was strong and the Straw-hat weirdo dare not be careless, retreating repeatedly. He just barely managed to dodge the opponent's slashing Sword Qi.

Although Gusu Qingwen appeared very calm on the surface, in reality, she was scared to death.

At this time, Ding Fan stood in front of Gusu Qingwen, holding an Immortal Sword. Clearly, it was Ding Fan who had repelled the Straw-hat weirdo with the Immortal Sword just now.

"Heh heh... A disciple of the Immortal Sect being protected by a mortal, I wonder if the Sect Leader would die spitting blood if such news got out..." The Straw-hat weirdo let out another series of strange laughs.

Ding Fan now stood with his sword in front of Gusu Qingwen, not daring to act rashly for a moment.

Knowing that Gusu Qingwen's cultivation was so defiant, and yet she had been caught off guard by the Straw-hat weirdo, how could he with his minor cultivation rashly step forward, only to face certain death.

"This person is not alive..." At this moment, Gusu Qingwen suddenly said to Ding Fan.

Ding Fan was startled. "What? What did you say?"

Gusu Qingwen continued, "This person is a shape of a puppet, he is a non-existent person!"

Ding Fan once again swept his Divine Sense over, and upon this examination, he found there was indeed something peculiar about the Straw-hat weirdo. Though there was breathing and vitality in the body, all of it seemed designed and not real.

For a while, Ding Fan felt that what Gusu Qingwen had said was mostly true; the person before them was most likely a puppet.

Ding Fan had encountered those who manipulated puppets before, and at that time, it was a Soul Body.

And judging from the Straw-hat weirdo's movements just now, if this truly was a puppet, then the one controlling the puppet must be an existence higher than a Soul Body.

"The girl's eyes are quite discerning..." The weirdo let out one laugh after another.

After hearing what had been said, Ding Fan became even more certain that the person before his eyes was undoubtedly a puppet.

Ding Fan admired Gusu Qingwen's insight even more. Without Telekinesis, she could tell at one glance that the other was a puppet.

The Straw-hat weirdo then said, "The two of you, one is an ordinary mortal, the other is an Immortal Sect disciple with severe leg injuries. Even if you know I'm using a puppet, what can you two do about it? Aren't you both still going to die?"

After hearing the Straw-hat weirdo's words, Ding Fan snorted coldly, "You are too confident. You alone cannot determine our life or death."

Ding Fan's tone was calm and not arrogant. This composure made Gusu Qingwen take a second look.

She, Gusu Qingwen, had always called herself the most outstanding disciple of the Immortal Sect for hundreds of years, yet now facing the Straw-hat weirdo, she was greatly panicked, lacking that composure.

Merely from this point, she, Gusu Qingwen, truly felt inferior to Ding Fan...