This was a new inn.

Xu Xiaoshou chose to stay in this one after he and Mu Zixi left the previous one. He didn't dare to make any trouble this time.

He had paid more than 10,000 spirit crystals for the explosion. It was the amount he paid because the owner of the inn thought that he was a.s.sa.s.sinated and didn't dare charge for the repair of the barrier.

In fact, Xu Xiaoshou regretted what he had said to Mu Zixi about setting an example after he heard the amount he had to pay.

However, he had already said it, so he had no choice but to pay up.

Otherwise, his righteous and majestic image in the eyes of his junior sister would be gone.

He and Mu Zixi agreed to rest for two more days and take the opportunity to practice making magic pills before they took the exam for the badge.

Xu Xiaoshou went back to his room alone again.

It was clean.

'How nice!'

He felt a bit sentimental.

He decided that he wouldn't use the remaining Pa.s.sive Points recklessly again. He had saved them for any emergency.

“Meow!”

The little white cat landed on the end of the bed. It sniffed with its nose, showing a joyful expression on its face, even though the cat was at Xu Xiaoshou's feet.

“Is your name Greedy the Cat Spirit?”

Xu Xiaoshou looked the cat up and down for a while but failed to find out what was so special about it.

Apart from its purple eyes, this little white cat was really nothing out of ordinary.

Yet, he was fully aware of the fact that…

It was a ghost beast.

It was similar to the grey mist figure.

Although he couldn't tell why the white cat was so weak, a ghost beast was a ghost beast anyhow. Only one creature was born in each sub-dimensional s.p.a.ce, so it couldn't be ordinary.

“Meow!”

The little white cat looked up at him and called out intimately.

“Greedy…”

“How nice.”

Xu Xiaoshou murmured to the cat. He envied this kind of carefree state. If someone could provide him with Life Force every day, let him live a life without worrying about food and drink, and guarantee his safety…

It would be the life of a deity.

'I can't have such a life, but a shabby cat can.'

Xu Xiaoshou kicked the cat.

The little white cat didn't get upset. It was aware that its master didn't use much force to do it. The cat turned over and got on Xu Xiaoshou's feet again.

“Ma Ma…”

The guy on his chest was unhappy. With a cry, two flashes of red light came out from its body.

Xu Xiaoshou was alerted.

Was it a killing intent?

Greedy the Cat Spirit puffed up its hair and leaped behind the bed, shrinking its body in the air.

“Very sensitive, eh!”

Xu Xiaoshou raised his eyebrows, thinking that its reaction was not slower than his.

He patted Aje, which was a stone at the moment, and explained, “Do not mess around. This is your junior brother whom you can't kill.”

“Hmm? Junior Brother?”

Xu Xiaoshou waved his hand to beckon for Greedy the Cat Spirit to come over. He turned the cat around and changed his wording, “This is your junior sister. Take care of it in the future!”

“Ma Ma…”

“Meow!”

Xu Xiaoshou was pleased. He caressed the cat with one of his hands and held the stone with another hand, falling in deep thought as he laid quietly on the bed.

“Ghost Beast…”

He thought of Mo Mo. Te lonely and quiet woman was different from both Jiao Tangtang and Xin Gugu.

They were all ghost beast host bodies, but one accepted it willingly while the other two resisted it.

'Is this some kind of a force?'

Xu Xiaoshou looked at the white cat and narrowed his eyes.

He had sensed the liberating power exerted by the grey mist figure.

If the Tianxuan Gate hadn't suppressed it, and Berserk Giant hadn't intervened, he figured that he might have died there.

However, they were not the only ones in this world.

Compared to Jiao Tangtang and Xin Gugu, Mo Mo and the grey mist figure were more like lone wolves who developed and acted alone.

But the other two were apparently not that type.

'Hence, there is a pure ghost beast… In other words, there is an organization for the pure ghost beast host bodies.'

Xu Xiaoshou felt a chill on his scalp.

One of them would be able to destroy heaven and earth. What were they attempting to achieve by binding themselves together?

He recalled his last conversation with Elder Sang. It seemed that the goal of Saint Servant was the same as that of Mo Mo, who had become a ghost beast host body.

'For power?'

Xu Xiaoshou caressed the cat with a grave expression on his face, but the cat was quite pleased with the treatment.

Even the masked man, who had astounding Sword Will and Swordsman Cen Qiaofu as his subordinate, was still craving power.

Those ghost beast host bodies with the most direct and purest source of power still formed an organization secretly, and they didn't even dare to let others know about them.

'For what?'

The more Xu Xiaoshou thought about it, the chillier he felt.

If those two super-powerful terrorist organizations had anything in common…

They were both purged by Divine Hall.

The difference was that one of them was pursued by the White Coat, which was specifically responsible for capturing and killing the rebellious humans.

The other one was pursued by the Red Coat, which existed to slaughter ghost beasts.

'Divine Hall?'

Xu Xiaoshou's impression of this continent's first organization was absolute justice and order.

He knew nothing else about the organization.

'Justice…'

'Perhaps, this is the compet.i.tion for the Dao that the old man talked about!'

Xu Xiaoshou hadn't believed it before.

However, as his strength improved and knowledge widened, he found that what the old man with a conical hat in the Spirit Palace said the night of the master-disciple ceremony made more and more sense.

The reality was rather cruel.

Xu Xiaoshou had learned the different positions of a chess master and a p.a.w.n in the Spirit Palace.

It was a helpless but realistic situation.

At the moment, he was the p.a.w.n at the mercy of others, and his own chess master was none other than Elder Sang.

He didn't dare to decline, even though he was reluctant the night of the master-disciple ceremony.

After the ceremony, no matter whether it was absurd acts or messing around, all he did was go astray from the path the old man designed for him.

In the end, he found that he could not escape the control of the old man.

He had merely veered slightly from the path that he wanted to stay away.

What happened after the deviation?

After he had walked away from the path, he found that Elder Sang had ladened thousands of paths for him.

How could he break away?

No matter whether it was Infernal Heavens, Tianxuan Gate, or Zhao Shu, or Zhang Xinxiong…

The old man seemed able to control people and matters perfectly.

No matter how off-path he had been, what he did was always the outcome the old man with a conical hat wanted, judging by the results.

“Phew.”

Xu Xiaoshou exhaled gently. He was very smart, so he could figure it out clearly.

Yet, he was helpless about it.

Fortunately, Elder Sang had a peculiar and eccentric personality, and he acted in his own style. Moreover, the others couldn't understand why the old man liked Xu Xiaoshou so much.

Xu Xiaoshou couldn't even understand it himself.

The old man seemed to understand him more than himself, which was terrifying for Xu Xiaoshou.

However, Elder Sang answered his questions clearly after the master-disciple ceremony.

He came to the Spirit Palace simply to avoid certain unnecessary calamities.

Someone with such strength, intelligence, personality, and acting style could only be his chess master.

'Am I a p.a.w.n in the eyes of others?'

“Heh!” Xu Xiaoshou sighed.

Among the great powers, was it true that every single one of them was very terrifying?

Divine Hall, Saint Servant, and the ghost beast organization…

And those horrific ent.i.ties operating in this world, which Xu Xiaoshou hadn't come into contact with…

'Perhaps as my strength keeps on improving, those people will appear by my side without warning like the white cat on my hand.'

Xu Xiaoshou felt that he had been embroiled in a dangerous situation.

'Yet, if I didn't take in Greedy the Cat Spirit back then, could I withstand Jiao Tangtang and Xin Gugu?'

'It seems that I'm still a bit powerless…'

The feeling of powerlessness couldn't be eliminated by Exploding Posture.

The feeling stemmed from the world, but it was also like fate and the relentless wheel of history.

It rolled over everyone, and no one could escape it.

Xu Xiaoshou lowered his head and saw Greedy the Cat Spirit displaying a joyful expression on its face.

The little creature was moaning slightly, taking a pleasurable nap, and enjoying itself.

'The compet.i.tion for the Dao?'

The young man didn't dare to think about it anymore.

He was afraid that Elder Sang's worldview would replace his own knowledge of this world if he thought too much.