Crow Immortal: I Can Duplicate Infinite Resources

Chapter 256: The Crushing Spindle

“Temple Master, what exactly is that monster’s background? What level is his cultivation?” a cultivator of the Seeking Truth Daoist Temple whispered, his voice trembling as he stepped forward.

“How should I know?” Temple Master Lin snapped, his white beard quivering with lingering terror and irritation. “We were just unlucky to cross paths with such a tyrant! Ma Quan, are you completely blind? How could you casually invite such a calamity into our home? Now we have a master hovering over our heads who could slaughter us on a whim!”

Ma Quan offered a bitter, self-deprecating smile. “Temple Master, I accept the blame, but how could I have possibly known? A powerhouse capable of bringing the Little Sky Net Sect to heel disguised himself as a mere Qi Refining rogue cultivator just to ask trivial questions about the Mystic One Sect’s market! I genuinely thought he was a bumpkin with no backing. I only wanted to recruit him as a Novice.”

“Keep your eyes sharp from now on! Do not invite disaster to our doorstep again!” Temple Master Lin scolded.

“Even if I wanted to find another freak like him, I doubt I could manage it with a lit lantern,” Ma Quan muttered under his breath. “Who knew the heavens would curse us so thoroughly today?”

“What did you say?” Temple Master Lin demanded, his brow furrowing.

Ma Quan let out a dry cough. “I said, since the die is cast, let us eat. Once we finish the banquet, we can decide who will carry out Senior Li’s orders.”

“Who will go?”

A harsh voice interrupted them. Supervisor Liu strode out from the inner halls, his chest and back heavily bandaged, his face twisted in a vicious sneer. “I certainly refuse!”

“You fools are so eager to act as lapdogs for this ‘Senior Li,’ but have you considered the consequences?” Supervisor Liu spat. “Once the Mystic One Sect discovers our treason, do you realize the sheer scale of the disaster that will fall upon the Seeking Truth Daoist Temple? No matter how strong this man is, he is tied to the Little Sky Net Sect. We are standing directly in the Mystic One Sect’s territory!”

Temple Master Lin’s face drained of color. “Supervisor Liu, lower your voice!”

“Afraid of the truth, Temple Master?” Supervisor Liu clutched his bandaged chest, his eyes burning with venom. “That bastard didn’t show me a shred of mercy! Why should we risk our necks for him?”

Temple Master Lin’s expression darkened into a scowl. “Supervisor Liu, you will not place your bruised ego above the survival of our temple! Do you honestly believe we have a choice? If we hadn’t begged like dogs, the temple would be a graveyard right now. Where would your brave words be then?”

He pointed a trembling finger at the courtyard gates. “If we obey Senior Li, we might face the Mystic One Sect’s wrath eventually. But if we disobey him, death is right outside our door. For the sake of our survival, we must obey him quietly and hide our tracks. I saw how he operated; he leaves room to maneuver and doesn’t slaughter blindly. Serving him might actually be our only way out.”

“You are completely delusional!” Supervisor Liu roared indignantly. “If we march straight to the Mystic One Sect right now and report him, we will have their protection! Why would we fear the Little Sky Net Sect then? But if we wait for the Mystic One Sect to uncover our betrayal later, we will die without a burial place!”

Snatching an embroidered Daoist robe from a terrified young acolyte, Supervisor Liu threw it over his shoulders and summoned his flying sword, preparing to launch into the sky.

“Supervisor Liu, stop!” Temple Master Lin yelled, reaching out.

Suddenly, the Temple Master froze, his eyes widening as he stared at the empty space above Liu’s head.

A heavy, suffocating pressure instantly crushed the air in the courtyard, accompanied by a dull, terrifying roar. Something massive and invisible was plummeting from the sky.

Sensing the lethal distortion in the air, Supervisor Liu remembered the invisible threads that had pierced him earlier. Panic seized his face. He frantically summoned his shield-shaped Magical Artifact, projecting it above his head while screaming, “Senior Li—I was only speaking out of—!”

The invisible object did not slow down.

With the effortless crunch of a boot stomping on dry twigs, the descending force shattered the Magical Artifact into glittering shrapnel. It slammed into Supervisor Liu, driving him and his flying sword directly into the stone pavement with a sickening tremor.

Supervisor Liu’s eyes bulged from his skull. Blood erupted from his mouth and burst from his pores, painting a fine crimson mist in the air.

As the blood coated the invisible force, the horrified cultivators finally saw its shape. It was a slender, elegantly carved spindle. It was identical in design to the ones carried by the Little Sky Net Sect disciples, but magnified to the size of a battering ram.

The colossal spindle smoothly rolled forward, mercilessly grinding over Supervisor Liu’s shattered chest. The Foundation Establishment cultivator breathed his last instantly, reduced to a broken smear on the stones.

“Dare to leak half a word again, and all of the Seeking Truth Daoist Temple will die.”

The cold, disembodied voice echoed across the courtyard as the blood-stained spindle shot back into the sky, vanishing into the night.

A heavy thud echoed as every single member of the Seeking Truth Daoist Temple dropped to their knees, pressing their foreheads so hard against the stone that blood trickled from their skin. None dared to look up.

“Senior Li, please be at ease!” Temple Master Lin screamed into the dirt, entirely abandoning his dignity. “Everyone in the Seeking Truth Daoist Temple is your loyal dog! If even one dares harbor disloyal thoughts, I will personally tear them apart to appease you!”

Silence answered him. Senior Li had truly departed.

They remained kneeling for nearly two hours. Only when the night chill settled deep into their bones did Temple Master Lin finally dare to stand.

He immediately rounded on his surviving subordinates. “You all saw it! Senior Li and the Little Sky Net Sect do not tolerate the slightest speck of dust in their eyes! From this moment on, anyone who entertains a second thought will be slaughtered by my own hands! Keep your mouths shut, dispose of Supervisor Liu’s remains quietly, and ensure not a single whisper leaves these walls.”

The remaining cultivators bowed deeply, their faces pale and solemn. A Foundation Establishment cultivator had been swatted like a fly. In the eyes of that terrifying predator, their entire sect was nothing but poultry waiting for the butcher. Whether the Mystic One Sect found out later didn’t matter anymore; if they didn’t work themselves to the bone for Senior Li immediately, they would share Supervisor Liu’s fate before dawn.

They spent the rest of the evening frantically organizing tasks, tightening internal security, and eating a tasteless, miserable banquet in complete silence. By the time the moon hung high and sparse stars dotted the sky, Temple Master Lin had already dispatched men to the Mystic One market to fulfill Senior Li’s commands.

Several miles away, concealed by the Thousand Illusions Secret Art, Han Yu had been silently standing in the temple courtyard the entire time. Only after witnessing their complete, unbroken terror and confirming that all thoughts of betrayal had been purged did he finally allow himself to leave.

Summoning his flying sword, he soared through the night sky.

After flying hundreds of miles away from the Seeking Truth Daoist Temple, Han Yu slowed down, momentarily unsure of his destination. The mortal towns were far too clamorous for proper meditation, and he desperately needed a quiet place to cultivate. He hadn’t absorbed much Spiritual Qi in days. As for the intelligence regarding the Mystic One Sect’s Spirit Stone mine, he had plenty of time to interrogate the cultivators later.

Finding a secluded patch of wilderness, Han Yu opened his two spirit beast bags. A flurry of black feathers erupted as the massive raven and the thirty-three smaller spirit crows swarmed out.

Cooped up for days with nothing but Beast Spirit Pills to sustain them, the flock was bursting with pent-up energy. They immediately formed a dark whirlwind around Han Yu, swirling affectionately and buoying him up in the air.

Han Yu chuckled, reaching out to scratch the large raven’s head while projecting his thoughts to the flock. Ever since his earth-shattering battle with Lin Lingxiu, he had become infamous as the “Spirit Crow Cultivator.” Traveling openly with a flock of crows would be a flashing beacon to his enemies. Thus, he had forced them to stay hidden until the safety of the deep night.

After the crows finished their joyful aerobatics under the moonlight, they obediently settled in a ring before him, waiting for commands.

“I have a task for you,” Han Yu instructed. “Use the darkness to your advantage. Scout a thousand-mile radius and find me a quiet, habitable place to establish a temporary camp and cultivate. If you spot a Formation, avoid it. If you detect other cultivators, do not approach. Just gather intelligence.”

The intelligent birds bobbed their heads in unison. With a rustle of feathers, they melted into the pitch-black sky, vanishing like shadows.

Not wanting to draw attention hovering in the air, Han Yu slowly drifted down into the desolate, overgrown wilderness to wait.

The silence was absolute and oppressive.

Suddenly, two hoarse, unnatural cries pierced the gloom.

Han Yu glanced up, an amused smirk playing on his lips.

The temperature plummeted as a dense, sickly Yin energy coalesced thirty feet away. A cluster of eerie, pale-green firelight flickered to life in the darkness.

Do I truly look so vulnerable standing alone in the wild? Han Yu thought, genuinely entertained by the sheer audacity of whatever was approaching.

From the gloom, a spectral flower sedan chair floated toward him, carried by four unnervingly stiff paper figures with painted, smiling faces. It stopped precisely in front of him.

“Oh my! The bridegroom is late! Please, hurry and board the sedan!” a shrill, ear-piercing voice scraped against the silence, carrying a necrotic chill that would make a mortal’s hair stand on end.

Han Yu saw straight through the pathetic illusion. These bottom-feeding vengeful spirits and Spiritual Qi-mutated vermin were truly blind to try their tricks on him.

Without a word, he lazily flicked his wrist.

A crescent of sword light cleaved the darkness. The sedan chair, the paper figures, and the hidden ghost within were instantly shredded into ribbons of spiritual confetti, leaving behind a single, abruptly cut-off shriek.

The blade’s momentum carried forward, slamming into the brush. A fox, which had been standing on its hind legs conjuring the green fox-fire, was cleanly impaled. Pinned securely to the dirt, the creature thrashed, letting out pitiful, high-pitched whimpers.

“Immortal Master, spare my life!” the fox wailed, its voice trembling with sudden, absolute terror. “I serve under the command of Yinyi Town!”