The person standing in front of Shen Tian was a girl.
She donned shiny silver mail, and a White Tiger cape draped over her shoulder blades, making her look extremely indomitable.
At the same time, a red Phoenix Feather Mask covered her face, emitting mysterious Dharmic vibes.
Though none could see her face, the body-fitting mail suit showcased her perfect figure. The only parts of her body, which were revealed—her hands and her neck—looked exceedingly fair and tender and reminded people of what was described as a fairy’s complexion.
Given the way she carried herself, Shen Tian felt she must be a beautiful girl—and one who would not pale in comparison against Little Spirit Fairy!
However, what truly shocked Shen Tian was the halo she carried above her head.
It was a golden halo, and its strong rays were simply dazzling.
Apart from specks of red flecking its surface, this halo was almost entirely gold!
One must recall that even after Little Spirit Fairy inherited the Spirit Venerable Divine Water’s skills, her red halo had merely upgraded to one that had slight golden rims.
Yet this girl’s halo was almost pure gold in color. This hinted at how unimaginably great her providence was!
This girl did not seem at all friendly toward Shen Tian and Jiu’er, though. The moment she appeared, both of them could feel the room’s atmosphere become immensely pressurizing.
The girl stepped into the room, and her gaze shifted to the string of rosary beads that Shen Tian held in his hands.
Just like what I expected, this is the typical kind of heretic armaments which the Evil Spirit Sect’s followers like to make!
This whatever Celievers’ Sect Master, he must be a heretic arts practitioner!
With that thought, her gaze locked upon Shen Tian’s face.
Yet the longer she looked at him, the more puzzled she felt.
This… How come he possesses such a disposition?
It was a known fact that the Evil Spirit’s followers proceeded with their cultivation by absorbing blood essence, resentment, and evil spirits. As such, their temperaments would eventually become malicious, dark, and dreadful, making anyone who came into contact with them extremely uneasy.
Yet one could feel sturdy and fiery vibes being given off from this young lad.
Moreover, he looked exceptionally good and didn’t seem like a devilish fiend!
Last but not least, how would anyone from Evil Spirit use Spirit Stones to nurture their heretic armaments!?
There must be some misunderstanding here!
Upon this thought, the girl retracted the Golden Core Restriction spell, which she had placed upon this room. The dreary atmosphere in the room got lifted, and it became much light-hearted and breathable.
The girl cupped her fists and greeted Shen Tian with an indifferent tone, “A good day to you, my fellow cultivator.
“I am Zhang Yunxi, Saintess of the Divine Firmament Sacred Grounds.
“I heard that Evil Spirit’s followers were spotted in the Myriad Spirit Garden. As such, I came here to investigate.
“The Hariti Rosary Beads are an advanced enchanted armament from Evil Spirit. Can you kindly explain why it ended up with you?”
Although this girl seemed cold and unfeeling, Shen Tian secretly felt relieved by her attitude.
This was because she was the first girl who managed to ignore his looks and spoke rationally to him.
At the same time, he knew how circumstances might have taken a turn for the worst. In a typical novel, if Shen Tian was found to possess the Hariti Rosary Beads by followers of those orthodox sects, they would attack him without giving him any room for explanation.
Yet this girl had not jumped to conclusions, and in fact, she had taken the liberty to consult him first.
Shen Tian always admired people with such calm characters.
It’s just that her name really made him want to laugh.
Zhang Yunxi, the Saintess of Divine Firmament Sacred Grounds? I wonder if she has a brother named Zhang Yunlei[1]**?!
In any case, Shen Tian sat down and passed the string of rosary beads to Zhang Yunxi. After which, he recounted his encounter on the cliff a few days ago.
“The incident about Perfected Black Blood attacking me, it’s true. You can ask the three leaders from the Enforcers team. They can prove it.
“Meanwhile, the crack marks on the Hariti Rosary Beads are also there. Do go ahead and check them by yourself if you don’t believe me.
“Everything I said is true, and I am willing to go along with your investigations if required.”
Shen Tian’s cooperative attitude made Zhang Yunxi put down her suspicions.
However, to verify if what he said was the truth, she would still check his words against that of the three leaders.
Unlike other girls, Zhang Yunxi had always believed that she was not one to be befuddled by looks.
Even though this young lad in front of her might seem a tad too good-looking, if she found out that he was related to Evil Spirit, Zhang Yunxi would still arrest him and bring him back to the Divine Firmament Sacred Grounds for interrogation.
Cough, but of course, if this chap was ugly, she might have begun her punishment right on the spot already.
Shen Tian felt that he could not let go of this rare opportunity—how many times could he meet a Saintess?
He looked sincerely at Zhang Yunxi, “Fairy Zhang, I have a favor to ask of you.”
Zhang Yunxi creased her forehead. She had never liked to attend to people’s requests. Yet she could not help but nod her head when she saw the genuine expression on Shen Tian’s face.
“Speak then! I can consider helping you, as long as it’s a reasonable request.”
Shen Tian was exhilarated. He commented, “Can Fairy Zhng kindly help me purge these ghost babies?”
Other than the Ghost Mother, Jiu’er, the Hariti Rosary Beads still contained hundreds of ghost babies. As they had been nurtured with heretic arts, they would not be able to go into reincarnation unless expert monks or priests purged them.
Shen Tian knew nothing about purging souls, and hence he could only ask Zhang Yunxi for help.
When Zhang Yunxi heard his request, she was stunned for a moment.
She was initially skeptical of what Shen Tian might ask her to do—but she would never have expected that Shen Tian was asking for her help on behalf of those ghost babies.
After all, ‘survival of the fittest’ was the golden principle in this cultivation world. One could never expect much sympathy from others.
In fact, the main reason why many supposedly ‘righteous’ sects were willing to slay demons was that those cultivators wanted to obtain the demons’ essence pills for potioneering purposes.
Slaying demons was also an excuse to strengthen their sects’ influence in the cultivation world and a means to get rid of those who opposed them.
After killing Evil Spirit’s followers, most of the cultivators would simply destroy those heretic armaments. Some might even trade them in the black markets in exchange for more cultivation resources.
Only top-notch sects like the Leiyin Sacred Grounds or the Divine Firmament Sacred Grounds would teach their disciples Dharma spells to purge souls for reincarnation and encourage them to help expiate the sins of the dead.
Even so, many of their disciples would not choose to do so.
This was because lots of powers were required to conduct such purgatory spells, and considering how scarce cultivation resources were, why would anyone spend their efforts to do things that would not benefit them?
When Zhang Yunxi saw that Shen Tian was nurturing the Hariti Rosary Beads with Spirit Stones, she was already quite surprised.
And now, Shen Tian actually asked if she could help to purge those spirits. This made her even more astonished.
“You don’t know any purging Dharma spells? Then why do you still keep these rosary beads by your side?”
If one did not know any purging Dharma spells but still insisted on keeping such heretic armaments, they would usually end up with either of these three scenarios:
The first scenario would be that they had to continue sustaining Jiu’er with resentment, evil spirits, and blood essence. Jiu’er could then continue killing ordinary folks and thus help its owner achieve cultivation aims.
The second scenario would be like what Shen Tian was doing now—having to sustain it with large amounts of Spirit Stones.
Finally, should one be unable to commit to either of the above two scenarios, they would end up with the third scenario: When the Ghost Mother and ghost babies became too hungry and lost their last restraints, they would attack their owner!
To be honest, all of the three scenarios were thankless tasks.
But to Zhang Yunxi, Shen Tian didn’t look like a fool who would disadvantage himself!
Shen Tian was rather confused by Zhang Yunxi’s question.
“Well, I just think that if Miss Jiu’er and these children continue to be trapped in the rosary beads, they will not get reincarnated.
“I thus came up with this idea of feeding them with Spirit Stones so that they will not meet any harm for now. I’ll keep doing this until I find some way to let them leave the world in peace.
“Does Fairy Zhang feel that there’s anything wrong with this method?”
As a 21st century youth that had been educated to help others in need, Shen Tian never thought there was something wrong with what he was doing.
However, he felt rather disturbed by the way this Saintess looked at him now—because she seemed like she was looking at a fool!
Zhang Yunxi smiled and shook her head. She was honestly quite impressed with what she heard.
“There’s nothing wrong with what you are doing. It’s just that you are too kind and righteous. I would like to salute you for your actions.
“I do know of some Dharma spells to help purge souls, and I can help you purge these ghost babies.
“However, I have a question which I hope you can enlighten me.”
Shen Tian was happy that Zhang Yunxi agreed to help him. He replied immediately, “Sure, as long as Fairy Zhang agrees to help me, I will answer any question.”
Zhang Yunxi stared at Shen Tian intently and asked, “Why do you only request me to purge those ghost babies, when that female ghost, in fact, looks more vengeful?
“Don’t you want to purge this female ghost too?”
[1] 张云雷 (hanyu pinyin: zhāng yún léi), taking reference to a Chinese crosstalk comedian.