After trapping the three wind chasing horses, Meng Zhang and the disciples began to clean up the battlefield. Each of the Zhang Brothers had a storage bag, although they were low-level ones, they contained a considerable amount of wealth from their years of robbing homes.
There were over four hundred pieces of low-grade spirit stones alone, and especially Boss Zhang's Formation Breaking Talisman and Shocking Soul Bell were intact. However, Zhang Second's golden knife and Zhang Lao San's small flag were damaged in the formation.
Meng Zhang kept the Formation Breaking Talisman and Shocking Soul Bell for himself and let Tian Zhen handle the rest of the items. Zhen Ling (True Spirit) Daoist and Li Jie had very little in terms of possessions. Taiyi Sect was originally a poor small sect, and its disciples all looked quite impoverished.
Upon seeing the bodies of Zhen Ling (True Spirit) Daoist and his disciple Li Jie, Daoist Clear Spirit felt deeply saddened. After all, they were fellow disciples for many years, and even though Zhen Ling (True Spirit) Daoist had betrayed the sect, the bond between fellow disciples could not be erased. Daoist Clear Spirit pleaded with Meng Zhang and personally sent off Zhen Ling (True Spirit) Daoist and Li Jie.
Meng Zhang couldn't be bothered to argue with a dead person, let alone concern himself with such trivial matters. While cleaning up the storage bags of the Zhang Brothers, he discovered three special tokens. Each of the three wind chasing horses was equipped with a beast-controlling ring, and these tokens were used to control the rings. The effect of the beast-controlling ring was somewhat similar to the "tightening curse" that Meng Zhang had heard about in his previous life. Once the beast-controlling ring was placed on a demonic beast, it was nearly impossible for the beast to break free. If the demonic beast misbehaved, one could tighten the beast-controlling ring with a spell to make the creature suffer.
Beast-controlling rings were very effective for controlling and taming low-level demonic beasts. The method to refine beast-controlling rings was special and originated from a sect in the distant south. Once it spread to the north, it became quite expensive.
With the tokens from the Zhang Brothers, it became much easier to tame the wind chasing horses. Wind chasing horses were not originally ferocious or aggressive demonic beasts, so Meng Zhang and Tian Zhen spent some effort to initially tame the three of them.
In the vast and sparsely populated Endless Sea of Sand, having three wind chasing horses as transportation could save them a lot of effort. However, for the impoverished Taiyi Sect, it was still a considerable burden to raise three wind chasing horses at once.
After finishing the day's tasks, Meng Zhang was impatient to enter the Trial Ground at night. Following the same method as before, Meng Zhang's soul successfully entered the Trial Ground. This time, although his soul experienced some hardship when entering the Trial Ground, the time consumed was reduced.
Meng Zhang's soul appeared directly at the place where he had disappeared last time. The ghosts that had besieged him were nowhere to be found. Unable to discern directions in this world, Meng Zhang randomly chose a direction and set off carefully.
Although the fighting power of the ghosts was not great, their numbers made them somewhat tricky. After returning last time, Meng Zhang had already summarized his gains and losses. While killing ghosts would allow his soul to be replenished with the cooling air, if too many ghosts swarmed him, the rate of consumption might surpass the rate of recovery, putting him in a dire situation.
Although he didn't know what would happen if his soul was scattered in this world, Meng Zhang was cautious and would never personally experience that feeling. Not long after he went out, he encountered a small group of ghosts again. Without saying much, Meng Zhang immediately went up and started killing them.
After gaining experience from the previous encounter, Meng Zhang became more adept at fighting in his soul state. His diligent cultivation of martial arts proved to be of great use. He maneuvered freely among the ghosts, punching, kicking, and colliding with elbows, making full use of his abilities to successfully kill the group of ghosts and allow his soul to replenish.
Continuing on, Meng Zhang encountered more large groups of ghosts and immediately turned to escape. When facing smaller groups, he decisively eliminated them. In his eyes, these ghosts were not enemies but rather precious treasures to nourish his soul and a valuable source of knowledge.
This time, Meng Zhang spent noticeably more time in the Trial Ground. He consecutively exterminated three groups of ghosts, totaling twenty.
He even had the illusion that he was not undergoing a trial in the Trial Ground but rather playing an online game. In this game, he could level up by killing monsters, and the monsters' drops were excellent.
Just as Meng Zhang was starting to feel relaxed, he heard a series of orderly footsteps ahead. As the footsteps approached, the mist in front seemed to thin out.
A sense of danger surged in Meng Zhang's heart, and he immediately turned around and fled. Shortly after Meng Zhang ran away, a group of soldiers dressed in armor and wielding weapons emerged from the mist, marching in two rows. Their direction of movement did not align with Meng Zhang's escape route.
The soldiers continued advancing, while two soldiers broke away from the formation and hurriedly chased after Meng Zhang.
The ghosts that Meng Zhang had encountered earlier floated lightly in the air, seemingly without substance. In contrast, these soldiers were fully armored and solid, appearing just like living beings.
It was evident that these soldiers were of higher rank and level compared to the ghosts.
Two soldiers quickly closed in on Meng Zhang, and he heard their footsteps getting nearer. Meng Zhang did not dare to stop and continued to run.
The sound of footsteps grew closer, and the pursuers were about to catch up with him.
Meng Zhang turned to look and knew that he wouldn't be able to escape from his pursuers with his current speed. Besides, there were only two of them, so they might not be unbeatable.
Deliberately slowing down his pace, Meng Zhang waited for the enemies to catch up.
A soldier wielding a long knife was slightly faster and managed to catch up to Meng Zhang first. He swung the knife at Meng Zhang's back.
Meng Zhang had been prepared and dodged the attack by side-stepping. He then bumped into the soldier, causing him to stagger and lose his balance.
At this moment, the soldier with the long spear had also caught up.
Meng Zhang abandoned his original target and rammed into the soldier, pushing him into his opponent's arms.
Meng Zhang's hands became like sharp blades, fiercely stabbing the enemy.
Engaging in close combat with the soldier, Meng Zhang neutralized the effectiveness of his long spear.
After being repeatedly stabbed by Meng Zhang, the soldier's figure began to fade, gradually dissipating.
With the long knife-wielding soldier joining the fight, Meng Zhang only needed to face one opponent.
It was another life-and-death battle. After eliminating the two enemies, Meng Zhang was exhausted and collapsed to the ground.
Two stronger streams of cooling air flowed into his soul.
Though his soul quickly recovered, Meng Zhang still wanted to rest a little longer. Since embarking on the cultivation path, he had never experienced such close combat.
When the time was up, Meng Zhang, still reminiscing about the life-and-death struggle just now, was forced to leave the Trial Ground.
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