Chapter 112: Snake Egg

He was very clear about the origin of this ghostly soul—it was the one he had placed in the Xuanming Great Formation.

But one thing puzzled him: how did Lu An manage to subdue this ghostly soul? Moreover, this ghostly soul had reached the Foundation Establishment late stage; with Lu An's strength, how could he command it?

By now, he didn't have time to think further and had to change direction to break through.

However, a Foundation Establishment late-stage ghostly soul was evidently not so easy to deal with. With just a flash, it blocked his way again.

Like a maggot attached to his bones, no matter what means he used, he could not get rid of it.

Seeing this, Lu An joined his fingers and pointed at him. Countless ghostly souls, as if disregarding their lives, rushed towards him madly.

In no time, Young Master Zhuang was submerged in a sea of ghostly souls.

The sounds of his screams continued from within, gradually growing weaker with time, until there was no more noise.

Lu An dispersed the spell, and Young Master Zhuang's body fell from the sky. Meanwhile, the Nine-turn Blood Soul Banner added another Foundation Establishment early-stage ghostly soul to its collection.

Lu An approached the corpse, collected his storage bag, and then fell into deep thought.

"Indeed, a Foundation Establishment late-stage ghostly soul; controlling it is so exhausting. Just this short time, my true energy has already been consumed by more than half."

Although the recent battle had no real risk for him, it was not as effortless as he appeared.

This was his first time controlling a Foundation Establishment late-stage ghostly soul, and the consumption of true energy was far beyond his expectations.

"It seems I should not use this move lightly in the future; it's better to use it as a trump card."

"However, using early-stage ghostly souls consumes much less. It should be fine for combat purposes."

For Foundation Establishment early-stage ghostly souls, he could control four or five at the same time, and the energy consumption was comparable to controlling one late-stage ghostly soul.

If he only used one or two for combat, it should be able to last a long time.

With this thought, Lu An couldn't help but smile slightly.

Young Master Zhuang had set up the Xuanming Great Formation to deal with him, but he didn't expect that he had the Nine-turn Blood Soul Banner, a third-tier magic weapon, which had a natural suppressive effect on ghostly souls.

Otherwise, encountering that Foundation Establishment late-stage ghostly soul, with his strength, he might not have fared well.

The Xuanming Great Formation was filled with death energy, which had caused the Soul Devouring Sword to advance to the third-tier inferior grade. Its power had increased several times over.

However, Lu An soon shook his head. With both of his magic weapons reaching the third tier, although their power was immense, the consumption was also very high. It was best not to use them lightly.

It seemed he needed to find two more second-tier ordinary magic weapons for everyday use.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, his expression suddenly changed, and he took out the storage bag he had just collected.

Young Master Zhuang was a disciple of the Zhuang family; surely he had considerable wealth and perhaps even two magic weapons.

He entered his divine sense and soon showed a delighted expression.

Inside the storage bag, the space was over two zhang in length and width, much larger than his previous bag.

Without a word, he transferred the contents of his storage bag into the new one and continued to inspect.

There were many valuables inside, with six or seven hundred middle-grade spirit stones alone.

Next to the spirit stones were three stones of different shapes, and their spiritual energy was even higher than middle-grade spirit stones.

Lu An's heart trembled, and he quickly picked them up to examine.

"High-grade spirit stones!"

"Young Master Zhuang is indeed from a wealthy family; he even has high-grade spirit stones."

"If I hold one of these while breaking through a bottleneck, it would be more direct than any elixir."

Lu An was delighted, playing with the stones for a long time before reluctantly putting them away and continuing to inspect the rest.

The other items were not particularly special, mostly cultivation materials and herbs with little age.

Lu An was not very familiar with these, so he didn't pay much attention.

It wasn't until he found an ancient book in a purple-gold box that his interest was rekindled.

"'Tai Shang Ganying Pian,' what is this?"

Lu An's eyes flashed with curiosity as he immersed his mind into it.

After a while, he slowly opened his eyes, revealing a thoughtful expression.

"It's said that the current Zhuang Taiwei's cultivation method is exceptionally adept at controlling and understanding the flow of the world's spiritual energy, often allowing him to anticipate his enemy's moves during battle. Could this be that method?"

Young Master Zhuang was from the Zhuang family, so it wasn't surprising that he had this cultivation method. However, it was a pity that he only had the first twelve layers of this method, and could only cultivate up to the Foundation Establishment late stage.

Lu An pondered for a moment and then put away the cultivation method. Although he was somewhat interested in this technique, he understood the principle that biting off more than one can chew is unwise. He was currently practicing the Yimu Shenghun Jue, which was quite powerful. Relearning this method would be a waste of time.

However, the secret techniques attached at the end of this method were worth studying. Especially the technique for sensing the opponent's level of danger was truly eye-opening and had endless uses.

Lu An searched through the storage bag for a while and, as expected, found two magic weapons, both of second-tier intermediate grade.

One was a blue disk that, when activated, could form a protective shield around its user, blocking magical attacks. Lu An tested it and found the shield's durability to be quite good and usable.

The other magic weapon was a blood-red long knife that could store energy by absorbing blood qi and unleash a cutting attack. The longer the energy was stored, the more powerful the attack would be. However, with the blood qi reservoir currently empty, it obviously had no power, which was why Young Master Zhuang hadn't used it earlier.

Lu An grasped the knife's handle. Blood qi surged around him, and the long knife suddenly flashed with light before beginning to absorb. The blood qi reservoir's gauge rose slightly.

Seeing this, Lu An frowned slightly. The rate at which the blood qi reservoir filled was very slow; if he had to accumulate it during battle, he would likely run out of time. Fortunately, he found that the gauge retained its level after collecting blood qi, which was reassuring.

If he accumulated the blood qi beforehand and then used it during combat, it should be quite powerful.

He nodded with satisfaction and was about to retract his divine sense when he suddenly heard a "crack" sound from a corner.

"Hmm?"

He scanned the area with his divine sense but found nothing unusual, just some ordinary materials. However, the "crack" sound continued and grew louder.

Lu An poured out the pile of items and immediately identified the problem.

Among the various materials was an oval snake egg about the size of a fist. The egg was covered in cracks, with a small hole at the top, through which he could vaguely see a black shadow writhing, trying to break free.

However, the eggshell was extremely hard, and no matter how much it struggled, it couldn't break out.

"Interesting. The storage bag isolates the world, yet this black egg managed to survive inside. Remarkable."

"And with my supreme divine sense, I still couldn't detect its presence. It seems to be quite extraordinary."

"Since I've encountered it, I might as well help this little fellow."

He joined his fingers and cast a spell at the snake egg. The egg suddenly shook violently and soon cracked open, revealing the black shadow inside.

Lu An focused his gaze and saw a small snake, entirely black except for its pink tongue, with no other colors. It didn't seem to have any unusual features otherwise.

The little snake also noticed Lu An and, with a flash, disappeared from sight, appearing on Lu An's arm in the next moment, faster than he could react.

Lu An was startled and exclaimed:

"Spatial magic!"