Chu Ning and his companions departed from Du Han’s residence.
Along the way, everyone felt a heavy heart.
For such a short distance, it seemed as though they had walked for a long time.
Upon reaching the shop’s entrance, Gu Xiaoqing looked at Lu Miaoying, who had remained silent.
"Junior Sister Lu, is there anything left to manage in the shop? I can help you with it.
And why not rest at my place tonight?"
Gu Xiaoqing has always been considerate of others, evidently out of concern that Lu Miaoying was too frightened today.
Additionally, with Luo Yiping’s passing, she feared her junior sister might be scared.
Unexpectedly, Lu Miaoying shook her head and forced a semblance of a relaxed smile at Gu Xiaoqing.
"Senior Brother Luo left quite a few spirit beasts; I need to take care of them. This shop still needs to continue operating tomorrow and the day after."
Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.
At this moment, Chu Ning couldn’t help but take another look at Lu Miaoying.
He hadn’t paid much attention to this junior disciple of the Spirit Beast Room.
He only knew she always followed Luo Yiping’s lead and seemed to lack her own opinions.
Yet he hadn’t expected her to have such deep feelings for Luo Yiping.
At this moment, however, she exhibited a resilience and determination unlike before.
After Lu Miaoying left, the group exchanged glances and prepared to part ways.
Shen Zhengquan left first, while Gu Xiaoqing lagged a few steps behind.
Just as Chu Ning was about to enter the shop, she called out to him and quickly walked over.
Subsequently, Gu Xiaoqing produced the storage bag belonging to the Yin Demon Sect disciple and handed it to Chu Ning:
"Junior Brother Chu, I must thank you. Without you, I would’ve been doomed today.
This storage bag should be handled by you. Without your help, I wouldn’t have been able to kill that person."
"Since Senior Sister insists, I shall accept it with gratitude."
Seeing Gu Xiaoqing’s grateful expression, Chu Ning considered for a moment and accepted the bag without further insistence.
After all, women tend to be more emotional, and if he didn’t accept it, this senior sister seemed quite troubled by it.
Indeed, upon seeing Chu Ning accept the storage bag, a faint smile appeared on Gu Xiaoqing’s face.
Since encountering the attack, this was her first time showing such an expression.
After Gu Xiaoqing left, Chu Ning took the storage bag back to his residence.
At the same time, he retrieved three other storage bags from his belongings.
It remained uncertain whether Lin Changqing thought Chu Ning and the others had indeed suffered losses today or simply had no interest in the items of these Qi Refining disciples.
Lin Changqing only took a few identity tokens from Yin Demon Sect disciples and left the rest behind.
Now, Chu Ning decided to pour out all the contents of the storage bags.
Instantly, an array of dazzling items spread across the table, momentarily making Chu Ning’s eyes blur.
Recalling Lin Changqing mentioning that the Yin Demon Slash was unleashed from a magical artifact, Chu Ning’s gaze first fell on several magical artifacts.
He initially picked up the magic staff used by the black-clad man to release the gray mist, and immediately, a chill emanated from the staff.
Chu Ning couldn’t help but frown slightly.
Even though he wasn’t well-versed in magical artifacts, he knew this was an object of chilling nature.
Yet, this artifact appeared quite remarkable, as it was also an intermediate magical artifact.
He attempted to inject magical power, and after several tries, quickly mastered its use.
The staff had two small arrays inscribed upon it, corresponding to two functions.
One function was the gray mist that could obscure vision; as long as magical power was activated, it could be used, and Chu Ning tested it, capable of enveloping an area up to about ten zhang.
The other function was to activate a gray light spell through magical power.
Chu Ning carefully sensed it and realized that this spell wasn’t any of the Five Elements.
It emitted a faint chilly aura, hinting at some demonic cultivation spell.
"The gray mist is indeed a useful tactic."
Though Chu Ning found the staff somewhat unattractive, its practicality was quite appealing.
In combat, it could indeed prove useful.
Today was simply a fortunate encounter for the black-clad man to meet Chu Ning; for an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator, even at Qi Refining Late Stage or Qi Refining Perfection, without divine sense, being trapped like this would mean being at his mercy.
Based on the black-clad man’s actions, he likely didn’t know Chu Ning was using spiritual sense.
Therefore, this Refining Spirit Technique wasn’t something from the Yin Demon Sect but was acquired by Qi Chongmao elsewhere.
Storing the staff securely, Chu Ning turned his attention to another magical artifact, the black wheel of the person killed by Gu Xiaoqing.
From how the other party used it, this artifact was also a combination of offense and defense.
However, after a brief test, Chu Ning quickly lost interest.
While the artifact could both attack and defend, its quality was average, just barely reaching intermediate magical artifact level.
Its attack relied mainly on launching the artifact post-activation, yet controlling it required certain spells for cooperation.
As for defense, it merely depended on a material-embedded array that didn’t shield the whole body.
Chu Ning’s gaze then fell upon two other magical artifacts: the long saber wielded by the yellow-clothed man he had killed.
It was also an intermediate magical artifact, seemingly quite lethal.
However, it seemed Chu Ning had little use for it.
The first adversary Chu Ning killed, who initially opposed Lu Miaoying, used a basic magical artifact.