82: Chapter 82 The Frustrated Old Soul

Courtyard.

After returning to his residence.

Lin Shen set up a shielding Formation and sat cross-legged in the middle of the room.

He took out that thunder spirit bead, examined it carefully, and then retrieved the soul-absorbing banner from his Storage Pouch.

"You brat are truly cautious, actually imprisoning me for four or five years without even finding this old man to chat. It's driving this old man crazy!"

As soon as the imprisonment of the soul-absorbing banner was lifted, Elder Hun's voice impatiently rang out.

Ever since leaving that cave, aside from Lin Shen occasionally asking him some things along the way, he had basically been kept imprisoned within the soul-absorbing banner.

This soul-absorbing banner was an item refined by Lin Shen, bearing his Divine Soul imprint, which naturally suppressed soul bodies like his.

Facing Lin Shen's imprisonment, he had not even a shred of resistance, and could only obediently endure it. Furthermore, he couldn't sense a single bit of information from the outside world, having to deal only with those vicious ghosts inside the soul-absorbing banner.

After these four or five years of recovery, coupled with occasionally devouring some weak soul bodies within the soul-absorbing banner, Elder Hun had recovered quite well during this time, and his voice sounded rather full of vital Qi.

"Isn't this to nourish you?"

Hearing Elder Hun's grumbling, Lin Shen smiled and said, "Look, the weak soul bodies inside the soul-absorbing banner are almost all devoured by you. If it weren't for my secret instructions, do you think those few powerful vicious ghosts would let you do as you please? Do you think you'd still be able to talk to me with such full vital Qi?"

"Hehe, that does make some sense!"

Elder Hun chuckled a bit sheepishly. During these four or five years, although he had seen no daylight, his soul body's injuries had indeed received a certain degree of nourishment.

This point was much better than when he followed Li Yifan previously.

After all, when he originally followed Li Yifan, that Li Yifan used the treasure-seeking compass three times in just three short years, frequently draining him.

And to help Li Yifan grow, despite working himself to the bone and absorbing many treasures for recovering soul bodies, his own soul injuries hadn't received the slightest treatment.

In contrast, during the four or five years since Lin Shen obtained the treasure-seeking compass, he hadn't used it even once, merely accumulating the lunar essence absorbed by the treasure-seeking compass.

Just this point alone made life with Lin Shen far more comfortable than when he was by Li Yifan's side.

The only drawback was that it was too stifling; whenever nothing was going on, Lin Shen would imprison the soul-absorbing banner, making it impossible for him to even perceive outside information.

"So you should be content!"

Lin Shen said with a smile.

Toward such an old monster who had lived for who knows how many years and was reduced to an artifact spirit after death, he naturally couldn't set his mind at ease.

However, thinking that Elder Hun still had great utility, he naturally had to keep him by his side; otherwise, he would have exterminated him long ago.

For the sake of safety, Lin Shen's attitude toward Elder Hun was to greet him with a smiling face when there was business, and to imprison him inside the soul-absorbing banner when there wasn't, letting him deal with those soul bodies.

After all, he himself had quite a few secrets.

Some things were better kept known only to himself; even though the other party was under his control, he must never lower his guard.

Otherwise, if he grew careless and Elder Hun somehow broke free from his control one day, stabbing him in the back?

By that time, wouldn't all the secrets on his body be completely exposed to the public?

Especially that jade pendant piece of the heaven-stealing cauldron—such a Heaven-Defying item that could devour Luck and enter an Epiphany state would probably make even powerhouses at the Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation Realm level tempted if they knew about it.

Once that happened, he would truly be beyond redemption.

Therefore, whenever he didn't need Elder Hun, Lin Shen would imprison him, preventing him from discovering even a shred of secrets on his body.

Smiling, Lin Shen raised the thunder spirit bead in his hand and said to Elder Hun inside the soul-absorbing banner, "Help me check if there's any problem with this thunder spirit bead? Or if someone else has placed any restrictions on it?"

Lin Shen's Shen was the Shen of caution!

Even treasures bestowed by the Sect were still somewhat untrustworthy to him, so he had to specifically ask Elder Hun about it.

As the artifact spirit of the treasure-seeking compass and a wisp of remnant soul of an ancient mighty figure, even if his memories hadn't fully recovered, Lin Shen believed that identifying this thunder spirit bead would be a breeze for Elder Hun.

Hearing Lin Shen's words, Elder Hun didn't dare to delay, quickly extending his Divine Sense to probe toward the thunder spirit bead.

After quite a long while, Elder Hun's voice came from inside the soul-absorbing banner, saying, "What problem could there be? You brat are just too cautious. This is actually a pretty good treasure. You possess a thunder Spiritual Root, which will provide a tremendous advancement for your Cultivate."

Elder Hun said, then chuckled with a hehe: "Judging by your identity, it's also rather extraordinary. Could such a treasure have been bestowed upon you by some elder of yours? You brat are truly measuring the belly of a gentleman with a villain's heart."

"What are you talking about? This is called being cautious! Caution sails a ten-thousand-year ship! If I were like Li Yifan, I'm afraid I would have died long ago without even a scrap of bones left."

Lin Shen rolled his eyes and retorted irritably.

To go further in this immortal cultivation world, one could never completely trust others wholeheartedly, not even the closest people around oneself.

Only in this way could one live longer and avoid knife-stabbings and betrayals from those around them.

After all, such things were common occurrences.

Even real brothers would fight tooth and nail for an Opportunity, killing each other, let alone himself and those without any blood relation.

Lin Shen's words left Elder Hun momentarily silent.

It seemed that the real reason for the deaths of the previous people who obtained the treasure-seeking compass was simply not being cautious enough.

Causing him to change master after master, to the point where even the term servant of ten surnames couldn't describe him anymore.

After confirming that there were no problems with this thunder spirit bead, Lin Shen asked Elder Hun again, "Do you know Chiyun Valley?"

If the Elder Hun in front of him knew about Chiyun Valley, it would naturally be best for Lin Shen.

Then he could learn from Elder Hun's mouth about the Secret Realm controlled by those five major forces, understanding the details and dangerous places inside.

Facing Lin Shen's question, the silent Elder Hun shook his head and said, "Chiyun Valley? What kind of minor Sect or minor faction is that? Never heard of it, never heard of it!"

"Alright, then continue staying in the soul-absorbing banner!"

Seeing that Elder Hun didn't know, Lin Shen wasn't too disappointed. After all, for a remnant soul and artifact spirit left over from the ancient times like this, not knowing about Chiyun Valley was quite normal.

"You brat..."

Hearing that Lin Shen had finally let him out only to imprison him again, Elder Hun couldn't help speaking up quickly, wanting to say a bit more.

But before he could finish his words, Lin Shen had already imprisoned the soul-absorbing banner, directly putting it back into the Storage Pouch.

"What for? Not getting any useful information, do you think I'll waste time chatting with you? With this time, I might as well properly Cultivate."

Lin Shen sneered and shook his head, gazing at the thunder spirit bead in his palm.

Since it was confirmed that this thunder spirit bead had no hidden dangers, he naturally had to make good use of this thunder spirit bead to Cultivate and see how much help it would be to him.

Sitting cross-legged on the futon, Lin Shen took out a Tier 2 top-grade gathering Spiritual Qi Formation Plate. With the operation of the Tier 2 top-grade gathering Spiritual Qi Formation, dense Spiritual Qi rushed towards his face. The Sanyuan Qi-Guiding Technique inside Lin Shen's body operated, entering a state of dedicated Cultivate.

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