“Hehe. It seems today’s my lucky day. I also got the Advanced Greenwood Tantra.”
Aksai chuckled as he held onto the jade slip retrieved from Haisha’s storage ring.
It was the same jade slip he had once borrowed from Haisha, paying five spirit stones just to partially record its contents. Back then, Aksai had used this Tantra as a reference to optimize his Basic Greenwood Tantra.
“I don’t really need the Advanced Greenwood Tantra anymore now that I have the Stellar Greenwood Tantra. But I can still use it to enrich the database of the neural link fabric,” Aksai thought to himself as he stored the jade slip away.
Aksai quickly sifted through Haisha’s belongings and found them to be mediocre compared to Lian’s possessions.
After all, Haisha was just a member of the Lakir family from one of its side branches, while Lian Lakir was the genius cultivator from the main branch.
Though Haisha had amassed personal wealth by exploiting poor Spirit farmers over the years, it paled in comparison to the resources Lian had access to as a prodigal scion of the Lakir family.
“This runic lamp is interesting,” Aksai mumbled to himself as he examined a peculiar Spirit treasure still held by Haisha’s severed arm.
The runic lamp that Haisha had in his possession was an intriguing artifact, its appearance alone hinting at the potent power it held within.
Crafted from a combination of obsidian and crystalline materials, its surface shimmered with a strange iridescence, reflecting the ambient light in mesmerizing patterns.
Embedded within its smooth, polished exterior were intricate glyphs and sigils, glowing softly with an ethereal luminescence that seemed to pulse with unseen energy.
At first glance, the runic lamp appeared to be nothing more than a decorative piece, its purpose hidden from all but the initiated. However, those who understood its true nature knew that it was far more than meets the eye.
Within its core lay a reservoir of condensed spiritual essence, carefully imbued with Essence Equations and enchantments designed to harness and manipulate the very fabric of the soul.
When activated, the runic lamp unleashed a focused beam of spiritual energy, capable of penetrating the barriers of the physical realm and striking directly at the essence of its target—its soul.
The intensity of the attack could be adjusted with precision, ranging from a subtle, probing sensation to a searing, all-consuming blaze that left its victim writhing in agony.
But the true power of the runic lamp lay in its ability to not only inflict physical harm but also to disrupt the mental faculties of its target. With each strike, it sowed seeds of discord and chaos within the victim’s soul, twisting and distorting their time-related and spatial perceptions.
The targets, once hit by the soul-based attack by the lamp, were bound to feel confused and even lose their sense of self for the time being, depending upon how powerful their mental control was.
Yet, despite its formidable capabilities, the runic lamp was not without its limitations. Its use required a considerable amount of Spirit Essence, and prolonged activation could quickly deplete its reserves.
The runic lamp also took a very long time to activate. Additionally, its effectiveness could be mitigated by strong spiritual defenses or countermeasures employed by skilled practitioners.
In the hands of a masterful wielder, however, the runic lamp was a fearsome weapon, capable of striking fear into the hearts of even the most powerful adversaries. Its mere presence on the battlefield was enough to instill a sense of dread and foreboding.
The presence of the runic lamp had triggered the Blood Bakshi into acting recklessly. It seemed they were aware of the treasure’s powers in advance and had decided to prevent Haisha from using the runic lamp’s soul-based attack on them.
Fortunately, Haisha was prevented from using the runic lamp.
Unfortunately, the Blood Bakshi died before they could retrieve this special spirit treasure from Haisha’s hands.
“Hmm. This treasure doesn’t appear to have been made using normal procedures,” Aksai estimated as he scanned the runic lamp with his Spirit Sense.
“It seems like a lot of live sacrifices’ blood was offered to this runic lamp before it was forged through some demonic procedure. Could it be that the Blood Bakshi were the original owners of this treasure?
If so, then Haisha might have stolen this artifact from right under the Blood Bakshi’s noses before his betrayal was revealed to the Lakir family.
One of the reasons why the Lakir family wanted to kill Haisha could also be because they wanted to retrieve this treasure from him,” Aksai concluded, shaking his head before storing the runic lamp away. In fact, he didn’t want to confirm his guesses. He didn’t have a reason to.
Aksai also didn’t care if the Spirit treasure had demonic origins or not. What mattered to him was its usability and functionality. As long as it could help him get rid of his opponents, he wouldn’t shy away from using this treasure against them.
“It seems that this Blood Bakshi force practices demonic techniques,” Aksai contemplated while caressing his chin.
“I think I know how the Lakir family is going to fall. The Purple River Sect has the right excuse to interfere in the battle between the two local warlords – the persecution of the Blood Bakshi for their demonic activities.
Haisha must have provided the Wilben family with the proof it needed to establish the existence of the Blood Bakshi and its demonic practices.
The Wilben family then convinced some elders of the Purple River Sect to act on the grounds of so-called righteousness,” Aksai concluded as he looked at Haisha’s destroyed-beyond-recognition body and some of the scrolls he had stored in the storage ring. By reading through these scrolls, he validated most of his guesses.
Due to Aksai’s final attacks launched at close range using the power of qi, Haisha’s torso had been opened as if someone had performed an organ-harvesting operation on a cadaver.
The body was beyond repair and couldn’t be used as a Scarecrow puppet anymore. Aksai had only retrieved the body to cover his tracks. Plus, he could use the bodies of his dead victims as fertilizer for his Everwood farm.