Chapter 808: The Remnant Soul of the Earth Phoenix Sage

He poured out all the grave soil. What was immediately visible were a few rotten feathers, which he tossed aside.

Jiang Fan used his jade shovel to level the grave soil, clod by clod. To ensure nothing was missed, the soil clods were thoroughly crushed. During this process, he found a few more rotten feathers.

An hour later, gazing at the scattered grave soil particles, he started to doubt. "Could I have made a mistake somewhere?" Looking at the last small pile of grave soil, he patiently continued to crush it little by little. What if the miracle was hidden in the very last bit? But even after the very last clod of soil was flattened, there was still nothing.

Jiang Fan was so frustrated he almost threw his jade shovel away. "Are you kidding me?! All that for this?" In the end, besides finding a pile of rotten feathers, there was nothing else! He was very unwilling to accept this. Could something have been missed inside the tomb? But he had watched them excavate. There was just a small grave mound; nothing else remained. If there was truly anything, it had to be within this grave soil.

"That's not right!" he muttered. "The inexhaustible Earth Phoenix grass juice must have a source." He stroked his chin, pondering for a long time. He looked back at the scattered soil. After a moment of thought, he took out the Mountain River Cauldron. "Could some intangible substance be mixed in the soil? Like that Yin Marrow, which disperses into Yin energy when it bursts but forms crystals when gathered."

Thinking this, he grabbed a handful of grave soil and put it into the Mountain River Cauldron. He tried to activate the small cauldron. The grave soil showed no change, indicating it was just ordinary soil, with no possibility of concentration. However, Jiang Fan carefully noticed a faint reddish-yellow mist subtly clinging to the surface of the grave soil. "Oh?" He looked doubtful. He put more grave soil into it. As a result, the faint reddish-yellow mist became distinct. "Hiss, there really is something in here!"

Jiang Fan became excited and quickly put all the grave soil inside. The palm-sized cauldron automatically expanded to the size of a small mound. As Jiang Fan channeled his spiritual energy, the reddish-yellow mist grew increasingly solid. Finally, when it was refined to its limit, a beautiful reddish-yellow feather floated in the cauldron. "This is..." Jiang Fan examined it closely, a strange expression on his face. "A chicken feather?" He even doubted his own judgment, but this was, without a doubt, a feather from a large rooster. "Could it be that this so-called Earth Phoenix was actually just a large rooster? A rooster that cultivated to the True Spirit level?"

Jiang Fan felt a little dizzy. The amount of information was a bit overwhelming. After a moment, he looked at the chicken feather in the cauldron. He tried to grab it, but his hand passed right through. It seemed it was still just an ethereal stream of air. Jiang Fan couldn't help but complain, "After all that, I get a useless chicken feather? What a waste of my time."

Cackle, cackle— Suddenly! A remarkably clear rooster's crow suddenly rang out from the feather! Immediately after, the feather, formed from condensed light, spun, and its tip pointed directly at Jiang Fan. With a whoosh, it shot into his chest.

"What the—!" Jiang Fan was startled and quickly pulled open his collar to look inside. On his chest was a glaring chicken feather tattoo. It looked like it was tattooed on, and he couldn't rub it off. It seemed as if the feather, having heard Jiang Fan's complaint, was displeased. It intentionally tattooed itself onto him. The more he disliked it, the more it clung to him, firmly imprinted and impossible to shake off.

"How many years have you been dead?" Jiang Fan felt like cursing. "Why are you still holding grudges?" That rooster must have had a bad temper in life! He wondered if this feather had any negative effects. Suddenly, he heard rustling sounds. He poked his head out of the cave to look, and was astonished to find that the surrounding ants, centipedes, snakes, and insects were all moving out, as if a natural predator had arrived. Jiang Fan looked down at his chest and said in surprise, "It still has some use. At least I won't be bitten by insects and ants when I sleep." He frowned, worried for a while. Finally, he said helplessly, "I'll increase my strength first, then find a chance to figure out how to remove this feather." With a thought, he took out the tribulation lightning from the Sky Thunder Stone, preparing to cultivate the Indestructible Blade to its second level.

Meanwhile, True Lord Xiaoyao sprinted all the way. He finally arrived before a patch of amber, confirming there was no danger around. He quickly took out a healing elixir. After swallowing it, the internal bleeding finally began to subside. His life was saved, but his vital energy was greatly damaged. It would take at least a year to recover to his peak.

"Little bastard!" True Lord Xiaoyao hated Jiang Fan to his core. After resenting for a long time, he looked at the spatial storage device in his palm. "Fortunately, he's not at the Nascent Soul realm. Otherwise, with me so severely wounded, he could easily kill me! I can't believe he got a spatial storage device from the Vice Lord of the Jiangshan First-Grade Pavilion. A Vice Lord's storage device would have an amazing collection!" He smiled, "I might not have lost out this time."

He picked up the spatial storage device, preparing to inspect its contents. Suddenly, his head was plunged into darkness. At first, he thought it was a cloud passing by, but as his surroundings grew darker, he looked up and almost had his soul scatter! It was actually the Hellish Desolate Beast! Its eyes showed a playful glint, and it spoke in human tongue: "That little human actually has some skill. He almost killed another Nascent Soul."

True Lord Xiaoyao immediately understood how the spatial storage device in his hand came to be. That kid had actually killed the Vice Lord of the Jiangshan First-Grade Pavilion and stolen it. That scoundrel, so powerful? But he had no time to think further. With a backhand, he launched two fire beams at the Hellish Desolate Beast, then, without looking at the result, turned and fled. The Hellish Desolate Beast merely smiled faintly, "Can you escape?" Its massive body transformed into a black shadow and pressed down. "Ah! No! Mercy!" How could True Lord Xiaoyao's already severely wounded body withstand such an attack? He was instantly crushed by a single claw. A palm-sized soul, clutching two spatial storage devices, turned and fled.

The Hellish Desolate Beast chuckled, extended its claw, and grabbed. Though an ethereal soul body, it was easily caught, and then, amidst True Lord Xiaoyao's screams, it was thrown into its mouth. Crunch, crunch. Chewing sounds and screams simultaneously echoed from the Hellish Desolate Beast's mouth.

A moment later, as it tilted its head back and swallowed, a Nascent Soul realm expert was thus eaten alive. Immediately after, the Hellish Desolate Beast's colossal body gradually shrank. Finally, it transformed into an aged body. If one only looked at its eyes, they were exactly like True Lord Xiaoyao's! The Hellish Desolate Beast, after devouring another's soul, could actually transform into an identical physical body!

It opened its mouth and spat. Two spatial storage devices were spat out. One was True Lord Xiaoyao's own. It had eaten True Lord Xiaoyao's soul and seemed to have read his memories. Muttering a spell, it easily opened it. After a quick scan, it frowned slightly: "Not here? So, the grave soil is still with that human boy? A wisp of the Earth Phoenix Great Sage's remnant soul resides within that grave soil. Even I am greatly wary of it and dared not touch it easily. That little human, he better not awaken that remnant soul and blow himself up."

It paused. Its eyes flickered slightly: "That boy's spirit beast took my bane, the Merit Divine Orb. I must retrieve it." With a thought, it took out a set of black robes from the spatial storage device. It said with a half-smile, "Isn't he searching the world for the Hellish Desolate Beast? As he wishes. I will deliver myself to him."