I Can Devour Spirits

Duan Rong, Ximen Kankan, and Liu Shushan left the spot by the pond where they had been debating, and after walking for a while, they faintly heard the crisp sound of wind chimes not far away.

The three of them followed the direction of the sound, and after passing a few steep rocks, they saw that beside a cliff, there stood an unexpectedly seven-story ancient tower.

The tower was built of brick and stone, with thick wooden beams, looking old and simple at first glance.

On each of the four corners of the tower’s eaves hung wind chimes, which tinkled softly as the breeze blew.

It was clear that the Taiyi Order must be inside this ancient tower as well.

The three of them moved towards the ancient tower, and when they were about three zhang away from it, suddenly a person emerged from the tower.

It was a pale-faced, slender young boy. As he stepped out of the ancient tower, his expression was tinged with a hint of defeat between his brows.

Judging by his expression, he certainly hadn’t obtained the Taiyi Order from inside the tower.

The boy had just walked a short distance away from the tower when suddenly someone jumped out from the dense forest beside him, grabbing the young boy’s sleeve while shouting.

The newcomer was half a head shorter than the boy from the tower, but he appeared quite mischievous; his eyes flickered slyly as he glanced at Duan Rong and the others while still holding onto the young boy, and said, "Come with me. There’s a place inside the dense forest where we can play chess."

The boy, who had previously looked dejected, suddenly had his eyes light up.

"Chess?"

After all, he had grown up immersed in the world of chess.

The two of them then swiftly darted into the dense forest.

Duan Rong, Ximen Kankan, and Liu Shushan stood not far away, witnessing the scene clearly.

Ximen Kankan’s eyes flicked with a mischievous smile. "Chess? Should we go take a look too?"

"This..." Liu Shushan’s face showed a hint of hesitation.

Duan Rong glanced at Liu Shushan and immediately understood what he was thinking.

He suspected the two lads were setting a trap for them. However, this third round of assessment prohibited killing and plundering, so what would be the use of setting a trap?

Duan Rong said, "Brother Liu, this place prohibits killing and plundering. Perhaps there really is an opportunity for chess inside the dense forest, so why not take a look?"

Liu Shushan’s eyes flickered; he hadn’t expected Duan Rong to see through his worries at a glance and even point out the key concern.

"Brother Duan is right, I was overthinking it."

No sooner had Liu Shushan finished his sentence than Ximen Kankan had already dashed into the dense forest. "If you two continue to dawdle, those two will vanish without a trace."

Duan Rong and Liu Shushan immediately followed by speeding up and chasing after Ximen Kankan.

As the three navigated through the dense forest, their figures flitted quickly until they reached the heart of the forest.

The surroundings appeared noticeably quieter.

In the distance, they saw two fleeting figures slip behind a large stone.

The three of them quickened their pace, passing around the big stone.

Behind the stone was a grove of pine trees.

Amidst the pine grove were eight stone tables.

Only one stone table had two people playing chess, while the other seven had an empty seat occupied by one person, and those two lads were each heading toward one of the stone tables.

Duan Rong’s eyes twinkled slightly—no wonder those two lads hadn’t been discreet in their conversation earlier; it seemed there were plenty of open spots in this chess game.

Yet, this place indeed felt quite secluded!

Duan Rong raised his gaze to take in his surroundings, thinking to himself.

Meanwhile, Ximen Kankan and Liu Shushan moved towards the stone tables in the pine grove. After a brief bow in front of the respective tables, they took their seats.

They had already begun their chess match while Duan Rong leisurely walked over.

As Duan Rong approached Ximen Kankan’s table, he saw a registered disciple who had been sitting there already suddenly stand up and hand over his Sect Cloud Scroll and Assessment Form to the person across from him at the stone table.

The other person stamped their seal on the Assessment Form, then handed a Taiyi Order to the registered disciple.

The registered disciple was overjoyed, carefully placing the Sect Cloud Scroll into his sleeve while fondling the token in his hand joyously as he left.

The chess games had just begun, and over at Ximen Kankan’s table, it was hard to tell what was happening yet.

Occasionally, Duan Rong would also glance over at Liu Shushan’s side.

However, it wasn’t long before three more people arrived.

Gradually, the crowd grew larger and larger.

It seems, indeed, there are no secrets that don’t leak; despite its seclusion, once word gets out, people flock to it eagerly.

The originally tranquil pine grove quickly became noisy. In front of each stone table gathered two or three people waiting around.

With more people, chess pieces would occasionally fall to the ground, which Duan Rong would discreetly go over and pick up whenever he saw them.

In fact, back in Xianggu County, he had devoured quite a few Artifact Spirits from chess pieces. Initially, it was merely to deal with the torment of being constantly challenged to chess by Ximen Kankan.

However, at this moment, Duan Rong was curious whether the chess pieces in the sect had Artifact Spirit Tiers higher than those in Xianggu County.

But after trying several times, Duan Rong was utterly disappointed.

The Artifact Spirits of the chess pieces here were all blank. In other words, most of these pieces were brand new.

Just then, Duan Rong noticed Liu Shushan holding a Taiyi Order, squeezing his way out of the crowd.

Duan Rong’s eyes lit up, saying, "Congratulations, Brother Liu!"

Liu Shushan smiled and said, "There’s not much to rejoice. They’re quite easy to obtain here. To be honest, Brother Duan, although I have some knowledge of the art of chess, I’m far from being an expert. That game just now wasn’t particularly challenging to win!"

"I see!" Duan Rong’s eyes flickered slightly.

It seems he guessed correctly—considering this third assessment had an over 80% pass rate, there had to be some leeway, and it appeared this was one of those places.