Chapter 28: Who Keeps a Diary Anyway?

Yu Xian hid in the shadows, watching as the faint red lines in the air gradually dissipated, confirming that the two had indeed abandoned their companion.

He let out a sigh of relief.

Although he had taken the initiative to weaken them with poison, they were clearly on guard, and the effect was far less potent than it had been on the young man in the red robe. If it had come to a real fight, facing three opponents at once, there was a non-zero chance he could have been defeated. After all, his magic artifact was not yet refined, and aside from his meager fireball spell, his only means of defense was the poison he had just used on the trio.

Come to think of it, this was the loot he had obtained when he captured Chen Xiao—the "Poison Classic" written by a cultivator who had passed away while meditating. It contained several poison formulas effective against immortal cultivators. The poison the three men had been afflicted with was known as "Bone-Eroding Maggot," which attached itself to spiritual power like a parasite. Furthermore, those poisoned would emit an odor imperceptible even to themselves, which was how Yu Xian had been able to track them so easily.

However, if one was prepared in advance and discarded the contaminated spiritual power immediately, the poison would lose its effectiveness. Then again, one could hardly expect a cultivator who had fallen so far as to seek a place in the mortal world to die to leave behind any truly lethal weapons.

When he had asked Doctor Huang to help him source some medicinal ingredients earlier, he had refined the poison out of boredom, never expecting it to be useful. But once he was able to project his spiritual sense, and frustrated by the lack of a proper magic artifact, the poison finally found its purpose. Within a range of ten meters, his formless spiritual sense could carry the toxic powder silently. It was incredibly convenient to be able to poison people right in front of their faces, bullying them for their lack of cultivation level, which prevented them from detecting his spiritual sense.

Even so, Yu Xian did not rush to reveal himself. He waited for a good while, and seeing that the scholar and the burly man did not return, he moved his spiritual sense to scatter another powder, known as "Bone-Softening Fragrance," into the room.

Inside the room, the young man was unable to move, his emotions gradually collapsing. Because he was overly agitated, his internal spiritual power could no longer resist the toxicity of the "Bone-Eroding Maggot" and was finally exhausted. With no spiritual power to protect him, the poison began to invade his body. It started as an itching sensation like ants crawling over his skin, followed by the stinging pain of needles, and then the agony of insects gnawing at him.

"Come out!" the young man screamed in a breakdown of fear and pain. "If you have the guts to use poison, have the guts to show yourself!"

Only the silent air responded to him. Suddenly, the young man felt his entire body go limp; he lost all strength, unable to move even a single finger.

The hand he had been clutching tightly fell limply to the floor, revealing a fiery red talisman that was pulsing with spiritual light.

*Thump, thump.*

Lying on his back, the young man’s half-open eyes saw a pair of black boots approach him at an unhurried pace.

"Despicable..." he tried to speak, but he no longer had the strength to even form the words.

When Yu Xian saw the fiery red talisman, he did not know what kind it was, but the danger it contained made his brow twitch. Clearly, if this talisman were to detonate at close range, even he would be in mortal danger.

"You are too despicable! Trying to ambush me!" Yu Xian snatched the talisman from the young man's hand, wearing a look of lingering fear and contempt. "As compensation for my mental distress, everything you have belongs to me now."

Yu Xian rummaged through the young man’s belongings, his breathing slightly rapid. It was his first time looting a corpse, and he couldn't help but feel a bit nervous and excited. Before long, he found a bulging gray cloth bag in the young man's robes, and his spirits lifted immediately.

"This... could this be the legendary storage bag?!"

A storage bag was the most basic storage artifact for cultivators, a standard accessory for any practitioner with a bit of wealth. Clearly, Yu Xian did not fall into that category. The cheapest standard one-cubic-meter storage bag cost at least ten spirit stones. When Yu Xian had worked as a farmhand, his annual income was less than three spirit stones; after his own cultivation expenses, saving even half a spirit stone a year was a success. If he wanted to buy a storage bag, he would have to save for twenty years!

Although the bag was gray and unattractive, Yu Xian still couldn't put it down and immediately probed it with his spiritual sense. Naturally, low-end storage bags had no anti-theft features; any cultivator's spiritual sense could enter them at will.

The space inside was not large—a little over a cubic meter—but it was already packed. Too lazy to inspect everything one by one, Yu Xian willed the contents to spill out.

On top were spirit stones—thirteen in total, all low-grade. There was also a bag of spirit sand, as fine as white grit, weighing about seven or eight pounds. Spirit sand was a lower-tier currency than spirit stones, with about twelve taels equivalent to one spirit stone; it contained a small amount of spiritual energy and was usually used as a material for refining artifacts. Rogue cultivators at the bottom of the ladder couldn't afford spirit stones and generally used spirit sand for cultivation and trade.

There was also a jade bottle, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, labeled "Spirit-Nourishing Pill." Yu Xian remembered hearing the name somewhere before.

Next were two low-grade talismans: a cyan "Light-Body Talisman" and a blue "Breath-Concealing Talisman." The former made one light as a swallow, able to leap three zhang high, while the latter hid one's scent and breathing—truly essential for home and travel. Yu Xian had seen these in the cultivation markets before, though only from a distance. A single talisman could be used multiple times, but even a low-grade one cost at least half a spirit stone; even if he was curious, he would never buy one to test it.

Following that were red bodices, white undergarments, lace-trimmed panties... these private items belonging to women were balled up in a messy pile.

"Damn it, you beast!" Yu Xian delivered a fierce kick to the young man’s lower body. He recognized at least seven or eight different