The old butler, seeing that the curse on the carving knife couldn't harm the young master, put his worries aside.
To conserve his Soul Power, Lin Rong's innate domain only covered the Spirit Devouring Carving Knife in his hand.
The curse's power on the carving knife was potent, but without an energy source, even the strongest power was like a rootless duckweed.
As time passed, the Life Dragon Soul gradually converted the curse's power into life.
With the curse weakened, the Spirit Devouring Carving Knife could no longer maintain its ancient, dark appearance, gradually revealing its natural, translucent emerald green.
After about two hours.
The curse on the carving knife was completely removed, and the entire carving knife returned to its original appearance as the Blade of Life:
It was a flawless emerald green all over, like a beautiful work of art crafted from top-quality jade.
"Hoo." Lin Rong let out a breath, looking at the Blade of Life in his hand, a knowing smile gracing his face.
"It took two hours of conversion, but the curse is finally gone."
"I didn't expect what Ilex could purify in an instant took me so long."
"He truly is a god; even with just a sliver of divine consciousness remaining, his power level is still far beyond my current capabilities."
"Besides, purifying evil energy is Ilex's specialty, so it's normal for him to be faster than me."
At this moment, the Nine Bend Vine Dragon, which had been napping curled up in Lin Rong's sleeve, seemed to sense the pure life force contained within the Blade of Life. It flew out of his sleeve and began circling the Blade of Life.
A faint dragon's roar came from the Nine Bend Vine Dragon's mouth. Lin Rong, who was connected to it mentally, immediately understood and said:
"Don't be impatient; absorbing the Life Gold won't happen overnight."
"We're still on our way back to Heaven Dou City, and the carriage isn't a suitable place for closed-door cultivation."
"We'll discuss it once we're back at the mansion."
Considering the Life Gold's ability to decompose metal and ore, Lin Rong thought for a moment and took out a wooden box to store the Blade of Life.
Wood was not metal or ore, so it wouldn't be decomposed by the unique properties of the Life Gold. Thus, the wooden box could serve as a container for the Blade of Life.
...
Evening.
The border of the Heaven Dou Empire.
The carriage convoy stopped at the border entrance for routine inspection.
Logically, as a hereditary Duke of the Heaven Dou Empire, Lin Rong only needed to state his identity to pass through without inspection.
However, these border inspection soldiers were nominally under the Heaven Dou Empire, but the patrol members were direct forces of a subordinate kingdom of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Lin Rong had learned from Ghostly that all the kingdoms and duchies on the continent had secretly submitted to Spirit Hall.
Border inspections were recorded in official files.
While stating his identity could save him the tedious inspection, being recorded in the files meant exposing his whereabouts to Spirit Hall.
Therefore, even if it was troublesome, he could afford to wait for this bit of time.
There were twenty-four carriages in the convoy.
Excluding the two carriages carrying Lin Rong, the old butler, Dugu Bo, and Yang Wudi, the remaining twenty-two carriages were for the more than two hundred members of the Breaking Clan.
The so-called border inspection was essentially checking for contraband.
However, such inspections had many loopholes, such as not searching personal belongings and not checking storage Spirit Tools.
Of these two points, Lin Rong didn't quite understand the former, but the latter was easy to grasp.
Spirit Tools, as the name suggested, required Soul Power to use and were rare.
Anyone possessing a Spirit Tool was either a noble of high status or a powerful Spirit Master.
Either way, they were not people ordinary soldiers could afford to offend.
Situations like Tang San encountering the vulgar trio and being robbed at the imperial border in the original work were highly unlikely to happen.
After all, the vulgar trio were alone and could leave whenever they pleased, but these soldiers were not. If the robbed nobles and Spirit Masters sought revenge, their families would suffer.
After a short while, the soldiers finished inspecting all the carriages. A soldier captain at the front, holding a paper and pen, stepped forward and said:
"So many people, migrating as a family?"
"What's your status? Where are you from? Where are you settling? I need to register."
The soldier captain spoke politely because, with so many carriages, there was no visible cargo inside the carriage compartments; it must have been stored in Spirit Tools.
The supplies needed for over two hundred people meant these people possessed at least ten storage Spirit Tools, indirectly indicating their extraordinary status.
Among the group, Dugu Bo and Yang Wudi were not adept at conversation or improvising stories.
Therefore, when the soldier captain asked, the old butler, Yu Yuan, stepped forward first and calmly replied:
"We are a family of physicians. This trip is for our return to our main family within the Heaven Dou territory, hence the clan migration."
After listening, the soldier captain noticed that a Gold Soul Coin card with a face value of ten thousand had appeared in the open book in his hand.
He hadn't seen the old man in front of him make any move, but the Gold Soul Coin card in the book didn't lie.
This led him to immediately recognize the gentle old man before him as an extremely powerful Spirit Master.
"I see." The captain of the guards forced himself to remain calm, picking up his brush and pretending to record something in a book. As he did so, he subtly tucked the Gold Soul Coin card into his sleeve.
"No problem, you may pass."
With that, the guard captain turned and signaled his subordinates to open the border gate.
Seeing this, the more than two hundred people returned to their carriages and passed through the border without incident.
Inside the carriage.
Dugu Bo, who had been silent at the border checkpoint earlier, now asked:
"Sir, didn't Ju Hua Guan give you his and Old Ghost's Elder Tokens?"
"As long as you show the Elder Token from Spirit Hall, why would you need to waste ten thousand Gold Soul Coins?"
Hearing this, Lin Rong continued to lean against the window, gazing at the scenery outside, and replied without turning his head:
"It's the royal families of kingdoms and duchies who have defected to Spirit Hall, not the soldiers at the border checkpoints."
"For such an open act of betrayal against the two great empires, these royal families would not let anyone outside their trusted circle know of their allegiance to Spirit Hall before Spirit Hall has openly broken ties with the two empires."
"Therefore, presenting the Elder Token would only waive the ten thousand Gold Soul Coins; registration would still be required."
"When a Spirit Hall Elder leads over two hundred people through the imperial border, those soldiers will definitely report it to their superiors."
"With the recent news of the Wind Sword Sect's destruction still fresh, the more sensitive the situation, the more cautious we must be."
"It's well worth spending ten thousand Gold Soul Coins to avoid potential trouble and risks."
"You must remember one thing: any problem that can be solved with money is not a problem."
"But you can't be stingy with money that needs to be spent."
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