50: The spiritual root grew by two and a half centimeters.

Riding a kite and holding the crimson heavens cry, although he carried three corpses of fellow Disciples on his back, it couldn't hide the joy in his heart.

He had gone on a logistics mission and reaped abundant rewards.

One and three-quarters bottles of herb, a spirit sword of extremely high quality, a friend from the Profound Sword Sect, and hundreds of Resentful Souls secretly collected.

His gaze continuously swept downwards, finding a deep mountain gully with no one around, and descended.

Waving his soul banner, he summoned all the Resentful Souls. Fang Huai ordered:

"Drive away all living creatures within a five-li radius. If they refuse to leave, grab their fur and throw them out!"

The Resentful Souls, having received the order, howled and scattered.

Fang Huai took out a slightly damaged calamity-gathering vial from his Storage Pouch, his thoughts immersed within it.

Jiang Miao only said to collect one bottle, so he would gladly accept the rest.

Absorbing the herb after bringing it back to the Sect carried too much risk. If it caused any unusual phenomena and attracted the attention of others, it would be hard to explain.

Therefore, he could only find a nearby place to absorb it and see if, as the Hundred Fiends Art claimed, strange fiend could help the Fiend Spiritual Root grow.

It was a pity that some of it had leaked during the battle with the Green Scabies Spider; otherwise, this would have been a whole bottle of extra gain.

Although herb was a type of strange fiend, it was relatively gentle. When Fang Huai's thoughts touched it, there was only a slight resistance, as if it was looking forward to being absorbed by Fang Huai.

"As expected of the strange fiend that both the Ascension Society and Jiang Miao desire, it is indeed extraordinary! This Fang shall now integrate you into my Spiritual Root."

Opening the calamity-gathering vial, a glowing green Evil Qi drifted out. Under Fang Huai's guidance, it slowly merged into his skin, gathering and flowing through his Meridians.

Just as Fang Huai was secretly pleased that the process was so smooth, the herb stopped at a certain point in his Meridians and no longer flowed.

What's going on?

Fang Huai tried to drive it with Spiritual Qi, but the herb, as if rooted, began to disobey commands and fuse into the surrounding flesh and blood.

At the same time, his flesh and blood experienced sharp pain, followed by numbness.

His gaze focused on that area of flesh and blood, which had solidified like wood, developing wood grain textures.

Oh no, I was careless!

Unlike the slightly mutated Evil Qi produced after filtration by Blood Jade Worms, this was a genuine strange fiend, naturally possessing its unique characteristics.

He hadn't inquired about how others absorbed it, relying solely on the incantations from the Hundred Fiends Book to drive it. This was troublesome now.

Just as he was anxious, the Small Corpse Meteor Worm moved.

Its black claws trod on Fang Huai's Meridians, sending vibrations towards the gathering point of the herb.

And the herb that had invaded his flesh and blood, as if seeing a natural enemy, fled to other parts of his body, causing the flesh and blood in those areas to solidify and lignify.

"Good worm, keep going! Help me subdue this guy, and I'll reward you with ten poison heart grasses!"

Fang Huai mentally urged the Small Corpse Meteor Worm to continue emitting vibrations. After fleeing for a while, the herb finally calmed down and obediently returned to the Meridians.

To Fang Huai's surprise, these herbs seemed to have their own consciousness, even transmitting emotions of unwillingness to fuse to Fang Huai.

As expected of something formed from the core of demon suppressing wood, it was truly miraculous.

But now was not the time to care about what this wisp of Evil Qi thought.

Fang Huai intensified his control over the Small Corpse Meteor Worm, chasing the herb along the Meridians to his Sea of Consciousness.

The herb circled Fang Huai's inch-plus Spiritual Root a few times, seemingly conveying a sense of disdain to Fang Huai, as if to say:

"This is too short, isn't it?"

Fang Huai understood the herb's meaning and was annoyed, thinking that this small strange fiend was actually being picky.

He urged all his Spiritual Qi and the Small Corpse Meteor Worm to exert pressure on the herb, finally forcing it to merge into his Spiritual Root.

The moment the Spiritual Root and the herb fused, a sensation of clarity came from his Sea of Consciousness.

As the clarity faded, Fang Huai re-examined his Spiritual Root and found that it had indeed changed—

It had grown two-and-a-half fen.

Fang Huai was very satisfied. This length was roughly consistent with that of a Five-Spiritual Root Disciple.

At the same time, he sighed with emotion, no wonder there were so many strange fiends in this world, yet very few Disciples who Cultivated the Hundred Fiends Art integrated them.

Risking one's life just to make the Spiritual Root grow two-and-a-half fen was too uneconomical a deal for ordinary Disciples.

He took out his skinning knife, dug out and burned the obviously lignified flesh, then took a few hemostatic pills. After that, Fang Huai recalled the Resentful Souls and once again rode his kite towards the Corpse Fiend Sect.

But he hadn't flown far when a Corpse Fiend Bird blocked his path.

There were three Cultivators on the Corpse Fiend Bird, one at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, one at the fifth layer, and one at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer.

Fang Huai stopped his kite, cupped his hands, and said, "Senior Brothers, may I know why you have blocked my path?"

Although he had no dealings with the three, within the territory of the Corpse Fiend Sect, he didn't believe they would dare to openly ambush him.

The leading Cultivator spoke, "I am Li Feng. Beside me are Cao Ming and Qu Yu, members of the Law Enforcement Hall. This is a routine inspection."

Law Enforcement Hall?

Fang Huai thought, they probably saw him carrying three corpses of fellow Disciples and, being only at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer, assumed he had scavenged the bodies and wanted to extort some benefits from him.

He spoke, "Senior Brothers, do you have identification?"

Li Feng glanced at Cao Ming, who immediately took out a dark green token with the characters "Law Enforcement" clearly written on it.

"Did you see clearly? You wouldn't think we're suicidal, daring to impersonate Law Enforcement Hall Disciples, would you?"

"Of course not, of course not."

"We've shown our tokens, shouldn't you show us your identity token too?"

Fang Huai cursed his bad luck inwardly.

He was already in debt to the Sect for five hundred Spirit Stones due to the failed mission, and now he encountered these guys. He could only part with more wealth.

So he patted his Storage Pouch, took out ten Spirit Stones, and handed them along with his identity token to Li Feng:

"Senior Brothers, you've worked hard. This Junior Brother has just finished a mission and didn't bring many Spirit Stones. This is all I have. Please be lenient, Senior Brothers."

Li Feng examined the token, put the Spirit Stones into his Storage Pouch, and then threw the token back to Fang Huai.

The Corpse Fiend Bird still blocked Fang Huai's path, showing no intention of letting him pass.

Li Feng's gaze shifted to another follower named Qu Yu, who immediately understood.

Qu Yu sneered, "A guilty conscience. I've never seen a Disciple offer Spirit Stones first when encountering members of the Law Enforcement Hall.

Furthermore, that spirit sword in your hand doesn't look like it was made by the Corpse Fiend Sect."

Fang Huai cursed inwardly, these people were truly greedy. Ten Spirit Stones were equivalent to a thousand contribution points, which ordinary Disciples couldn't accumulate in several months.

Now that they had received benefits, they were actually eyeing the crimson heavens cry.

However, this sword was the most valuable item he possessed and a spirit sword crucial for his survival, so he absolutely could not hand it over. Thus, he cupped his hands and said:

"Senior Brothers, this was obtained by chance and has already recognized me as its master."

"Obtained by chance?" Qu Yu raised his neck. "How by chance? Where did you get it?"

"This..."

Fang Huai couldn't exactly say that it was given to him by a Profound Sword Sect Disciple as thanks after he released thousands of Mortals in Qingwu City.

"Fang Huai, a Disciple of the Skinning Seal!"

Li Feng's voice suddenly grew louder: "I suspect you are colluding with the Profound Sword Sect!

You have two choices: first, come with us; second, hand over the spirit sword in your hand to the Law Enforcement Hall for destruction!"