Xu Zifan eliminated the few remaining evil spirits and then provoked the old man, saying, "Your magic weapon is too fragile. How did you end up like this your whole life? No wonder you hide in the mountains and dare not show your face. Someone like me would rank outside the top ten. If you went out, you would have been dead long ago."
"Tsk, you're quite clever, hiding so well and managing to survive for so many years."
Jiang Tianxin chimed in, "Master, he's just hiding here deceiving himself. Harming the innocent and kind people in the mountains probably makes him arrogant and confident, making him think he's some kind of great master. People like that are usually mentally ill and prone to going crazy. Master, you have to be careful."
Xu Zifan glanced at her with satisfaction and laughed, "No need. A simple formation has him trapped inside. Believe it or not, he'll starve to death there. Oh, by the way, he's about to become a zombie, so he won't be hungry anymore."
Jiang Tianxin feigned surprise, "He really wants to achieve immortality using the methods of zombies? That's too stupid! Zombies have no feelings. He won't know hot or cold, can't taste sweet or sour, can't feel anything when touching things, and won't feel sleepy. What's the point of living? He'd be better off as a ghost cultivator, at least he can eat some incense offerings!"
Uncle San was in a state of agitation, his head was buzzing, and he spat out another mouthful of blood. His face was ashen, and he showed signs of going into a state of demonic possession!
Xu Zifan laughed out loud, finding his serious yet annoying little apprentice too adorable. He couldn't help but reach out and pinch her cheek. The touch was smooth and soft, quite unlike her usual aloof image. No wonder the Jiang family treated her like a little princess.
Jiang Tianxin was startled, covered her face and glared at Xu Zifan, "What are you doing!"
Xu Zifan coughed lightly, casually put his hands behind his back, and turned his gaze away. "It's nothing, just praising you. Well done, my good disciple!"
Jiang Tianxin had a feeling he wasn't telling the truth, so she stepped forward and pinched his cheeks, saying seriously, "Master deserves more praise, I'll give you double."
Xu Zifan was both amused and exasperated. He rubbed his cheek, which had been pinched so hard. How could this little girl be so naughty? He hadn't pinched her hard at all; he just thought she was cute. He didn't feel comfortable settling the score. Like master, like apprentice; his little apprentice had clearly inherited his true skills.
He called Jiang Tianxin to walk with him to the cave entrance, threw in a luminous pearl, and the scene inside the cave became clearly visible. He pointed to his third uncle, who was struggling to stay upright, and the zombie beside him, and said, "Watch closely, he's about to separate his soul and merge with that zombie. You usually can't see this kind of scene, so you can record it and study it repeatedly to gain experience."
Jiang Tianxin became serious in a second, quickly took out her phone and started recording them. She also took the opportunity to ask a lot of questions, such as natal magic weapons, demonic possession, zombie nurturing, and eliminating zombies. She was learning relevant knowledge based on the situation and wanted to record it for easy review later. However, every question she asked hit Third Uncle's heart hard, making his heart bleed, almost to the point of being dry!
"Ah—!" Uncle San suddenly shouted, opened his eyes, stood up, and started running around wildly inside the cave, unable to break free.
Jiang Tianxin hurriedly moved her phone to record all his movements, excitedly saying, "Has he gone mad from qi cultivation? His eyes are bulging, the whites of his eyes are bloodshot, the veins on his skin are bulging, he's lost his mind, and his behavior is chaotic. He's gone mad from qi cultivation, isn't he? Master, so being unsettled while practicing qi cultivation is this dangerous?"
Xu Zifan considered carefully and said, "Normally practicing internal energy isn't this dangerous. It's just that he heard so many angry and hurtful things at a crucial moment, which caused his mind to be in chaos and he suffered a qi deviation. So, having a reliable protector is very important when doing important things. You must never try to do dangerous things casually in the future, understand?"
"I know, Master, don't worry!" Jiang Tianxin nodded repeatedly. Seeing that Third Uncle had hit the zombie and the zombie had fought back, he quickly moved to a better position to record their fight on camera.
Xu Zifan stroked his chin, observed carefully, and shook his head. "He hasn't completely lost his mind yet. Observe carefully and record it."
Jiang Tianxin stared at the old man without blinking, and sure enough, she noticed a subtle struggle in his eyes, especially when attacking the zombies, as if he really didn't want to do it.
A moment later, the old man's body suddenly went limp, and the zombie froze. Xu Zifan said, "His soul has left his body and is merging with the zombie's body."
Xu Zifan took out a whip and lashed it into the cave, pulling the old man's fallen body out. The body had no soul, so it was neither a living being nor a zombie, and the formation was useless against it. The whip landed heavily between Xu Zifan and Jiang Tianxin.
Jiang Tianxin glanced down at Xu Zifan, then looked at him again, and guessed, "Master, you... want to find out the last bit of treasure he has?"
Xu Zifan squatted down, looked up at her, and smiled. "You're a promising young man. Remember, metaphysics has declined in this world, and good things are extremely rare. You must cherish them and not waste them. Even if the organization you joined came here, they would do the same. Otherwise, what would the next generation use?"
He took out a dagger and slashed open the old man's clothes, revealing a golden silk armor underneath. No wonder the old man, despite his poor health, could fight for so long after the explosion. He peeled off the armor, dusted it off, and said, "Here, this is our spoils. We just rebuilt the Taoist temple, and the warehouse is still empty. As the successor of the temple, you must always remember to find a way to fill the warehouse, understand?"
Jiang Tianxin's family was very wealthy, but money couldn't buy such treasures as metaphysics. She hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded solemnly, "I understand, Master. I... I will get more spoils."
The last vestige of Uncle San's sanity crumbled under the stimulation of the two men, and the zombie's eyes turned completely red, its ferocious light gleaming.
He charged towards them, but the Binding Array was no joke, and Xu Zifan's advanced Binding Array was not something he could break through.
He repeatedly rammed into the array barrier, and when he couldn't break through, he would try another spot, causing the stone walls inside the cave to continuously pelt down rocks and dust. But he had lost his mind; all he knew was to go out and kill, relentlessly ramming into every part of the cave.
Xu Zifan, single-minded and focused, thoroughly looted the old man. Even with his Shaohua Scan, he didn't strip the old man naked, but precisely obtained the golden silk soft armor, silver whistle, defensive ebony plaque, black iron dagger, ghost-binding chain, and soul-summoning bell.
He whistled happily, pleased with his haul. Gaining spoils was far more satisfying than depleting his own reserves; it was worth all the talismans he'd drawn to deal with the old man.
The zombie was ramming the cave so hard it was about to collapse, and Xu Zifan certainly couldn't let it get buried inside. He handed the sledgehammer to Jiang Tianxin and told her to smash the zombie to death.
Jiang Tianxin loved practicing her skills, so without hesitation, she started swinging the sledgehammer. She missed the first two swings, but on the third, every blow landed squarely on the zombie's head. The zombies in the formation grew stronger from the outside in, and this one was even harder to defeat than the ones she'd faced before. But she was incredibly patient and even found a trick: she kept hitting the same spot with every swing.
The zombie, having lost its senses, charged towards the cave entrance to grab Jiang Tianxin after being attacked. As it got closer, Jiang Tianxin gripped the hammer handle and swung both hands simultaneously, striking the same spot with greater accuracy and force. After five minutes of hammering, she finally deformed the zombie's head, and with a final blow, smashed it apart!
The zombie fell, and Jiang Tianxin hurriedly looked at Xu Zifan, "Master, has his soul escaped? Don't let him get away!"
Xu Zifan shook his head. "His soul was already very weak. When you put the hammer away just now, you hit his soul directly, and it has already been destroyed."
"That's good." Jiang Tianxin was slightly out of breath, raised her hand to wipe the thin layer of sweat from her forehead, and then asked, "Master, did you record everything?"
Xu Zifan returned the phone to her and nodded silently. Jiang Tianxin checked it and saw that her process of smashing the zombies had indeed been recorded, and smiled happily.
Xu Zifan turned his head away, thinking that his little apprentice's moments of happiness always seemed to be related to ruthless things. She really had no other suitable profession in her life besides this.
Xu Zifan removed the formation and collected the spirit stones. He used a Flame Talisman to burn the zombie to ashes, clapped his hands, and said, "Let's go and see how the kitten is doing. It must be ecstatic."
He stored all his weapons in his spatial storage, and Jiang Tianxin followed him with ease, asking expectantly, "Master, when will I be able to see souls? If I could see the black cat and those evil spirits in today's battle, it might have taken even less time."
Xu Zifan sensed that she was acting out of her professional instincts, having finished a case and starting to reflect on her work as she prepared a report. He quickly said, "I'll find a way to teach you in the future. You've just been through a tough battle, and you must be exhausted. Take a break."
Jiang Tianxin nodded, a little bewildered, but quickly adapted to Xu Zifan's pace. She wasn't at the police station anymore, didn't have as many cases, and didn't need to be so tense anymore.
Xu Zifan glanced at her but didn't say anything more. Just as he was holding her hand to cut the Hundred Ghosts Banner, he saw another scene.
He originally wanted to verify whether her crisis was over, but unexpectedly, while the crisis was indeed over, he saw a fragment of her past.
The clip shows Jiang Tianxin, who is only five or six years old. She is wearing a pretty pink princess dress, her hair is curly and she wears a small crown. Her eyes are blinking and she is extremely cute. It was probably at some kind of banquet. She was holding a doll and ran to find Jiang Dong, but she saw Jiang Dong being pushed down by a boy. The boy was also calling Jiang Dong a coward and a loser.
Jiang Dong naturally fought back, but he was naturally averse to sports and lacked strength. His resistance only earned him kicks and punches from the boy. The boy was only about ten years old and didn't have much strength. Even if an adult came, they would probably just scold the boy and tell him not to fight.
But Jiang Tianxin's expression changed; she was no longer the cute little princess, but had turned into an angry little queen!
She threw the doll at the boy, then pounced on him, knocking him down and punching him repeatedly. Her childish voice was angry yet resolute: "Don't bully my brother! Don't!"
Xu Zifan didn't know what happened after this scene, or how the adults handled the children's situation, but one thing was certain: that incident had a huge impact on Xiao Tianxin.
She no longer loved dolls, but instead fell in love with martial arts. She studied hard and skipped several grades, just to be in the same class as her brother and protect him at school. She was protective of her family and stood up for them when they were vulnerable, comforting them and trying to find solutions.
Perhaps her strength made those around her overlook that she also needed care and protection. Now that she is his little apprentice, he, as her master, should pamper and protect her from now on.