Hong Qi disappeared quickly, and Meng Fan, not being particularly sensitive, naturally didn't notice anything unusual about her.
His attention was focused on Ye Qingyu.
This young lady was already severely injured, and while she was healing, she was further affected by the attack from the Ghost Infant Banner, causing her to fall unconscious.
Meng Fan thought for a moment and decided not to intervene.
Such spiritual attacks could only be recovered from slowly by the individual themselves; even if he wanted to help, he couldn't.
As for her physical injuries, she had just taken a miraculous healing elixir. Even while unconscious, the medicine would continue to work, so there wasn't much to worry about.
She would be fine once she woke up on her own.
So, Meng Fan didn't disturb Ye Qingyu and instead turned his attention to Xiao Qing.
This little guy had shrunk back to the size of a finger.
Just moments ago, its body was thicker than a utility pole, and now it had turned into the size of a pinky finger.
This scene was indeed quite baffling.
After all, just a few seconds ago, this creature had swallowed an adult human.
To shrink so quickly, not to mention its digestion ability, was quite terrifying!
However, Meng Fan was already used to it. In this world, supernatural events were the norm.
Xiao Qing huffed and puffed as it climbed onto Meng Fan, trying to get back into his pocket.
In fact, it was a bit embarrassed; it had failed in its first battle and needed its master to step in and kill the man in the black robe.
For a pet beast like it, this battle was clearly a failure!
Meng Fan could see the little guy's face showing some shyness and helplessness, obviously dissatisfied with its own performance.
So, it was understandable that it wanted to quickly crawl back into Meng Fan's pocket.
Just like humans often say, it wanted to find a hole to crawl into.
Xiao Qing probably felt the same way…
Someone else might have considered Xiao Qing's feelings and let it into their pocket directly.
After all, it had tried its best.
But Meng Fan wasn't the kind to be easily fooled. He saw through Xiao Qing's little scheme at a glance.
He didn't let Xiao Qing into his pocket but instead pinched its tail with two fingers and lifted it up.
"You've already eaten the person, and now you want to be greedy for the items? Such greed is not a good thing!"
The man in the black robe was indeed swallowed by Xiao Qing, but the treasures on him couldn't just be "eaten" by Xiao Qing.
Even if it ate them, it had to spit them out!
Xiao Qing reluctantly spat out a storage ring from its small mouth.
It had seen this item long ago and indeed wanted to take it while Meng Fan wasn't paying attention.
But its master was too sharp to be fooled!
Meng Fan picked up the storage ring and then put Xiao Qing into his pocket.
"Don't be disheartened. You've already eaten a cultivator at the Condensation Pill Realm, which is a great supplement. It's probably equivalent to two or three lotus petals. Be content!" Meng Fan said to Xiao Qing in his pocket.
Human greed knows no bounds, just like a snake trying to swallow an elephant.
This scene was a perfect illustration of that saying.
Meng Fan ignored Xiao Qing and began to examine the storage ring of the man in the black robe.
His divine sense had greatly improved, and now breaking the restriction on a storage ring wouldn't take three days and nights anymore.
Now…
One day and one night would be enough!
Meng Fan put away the storage ring, planning to take it out and slowly break the restriction when he had some free time.
"So annoying. If I were at the Condensation Pill Realm now, I could probably break the restriction on this storage ring with just a thought!" Meng Fan muttered to himself, feeling quite displeased.
He hated such tedious tasks. Previously, breaking the storage ring of that fox demon in the Demon Realm almost drove him crazy.
It took him three whole days and nights!
This time, the storage ring of the black-clothed person wouldn't take three days and nights, but one day and one night was still exhausting!
It's a hassle, very annoying…
And this was under the condition that his divine sense was stronger than others due to cultivating Fu Xi's visualization techniques.
For a cultivator who had just entered the Heavenly Origin Realm, even ten days and nights might not be enough to break the restriction on this storage ring.
Meng Fan adjusted his mood and put the storage ring into his own storage ring, then turned his gaze to the ground in front of him.
On the ground were a ghost-head knife and a Ghost Infant Banner.
The ghost-head knife was nothing special, just an ordinary spiritual weapon. Meng Fan didn't use knives, so he didn't care about it.
With his talent in Sword Dao Transcendence, he naturally wouldn't bother with a knife.
He casually tossed the ghost-head knife into his storage ring and then picked up the Ghost Infant Banner to study it.
In fact, there wasn't much to study; this thing required specialized knowledge.
Meng Fan knew nothing about it and couldn't figure it out.
After a moment, he also tossed the Ghost Infant Banner into his storage ring.
This thing was an ominous object. According to the man in the black robe, it had devoured many infant souls, making it a thoroughly evil item.
Meng Fan planned to take the Ghost Infant Banner back to the Shu Mountain Sword Sect and hand it over to Elder Lin.
With Elder Lin's connections, he should be able to exorcise this item.
If the infant souls within the Ghost Infant Banner could be exorcised and sent to reincarnation, it would be a meritorious deed!
Thinking of this, Meng Fan felt even more hatred for the man in the black robe.
Unfortunately, that scum had already been swallowed by Xiao Qing.
Meng Fan had no way to take revenge.
However, since Xiao Qing had just swallowed him, if he hit Xiao Qing, wouldn't it indirectly affect the body of the man in the black robe?
That would be a form of revenge too!
Meng Fan shook his head, dismissing this inhumane thought from his mind.
After tidying up everything, Meng Fan glanced back at Ye Qingyu. She was still unconscious, but her injuries were healing on their own.
The miraculous healing elixir, known for reviving the dead and regenerating bones, was no joke; its effects were indeed remarkable.
He looked at the surrounding white bones and sighed helplessly.
They were all the bones of children and infants!
Drawing the Red Sheep Sword, two sword lights flashed, creating several large pits in the ground.
Meng Fan buried the bodies, the only thing he could do.
May they rest in peace!
"Sigh…" After finishing everything, Meng Fan let out a long sigh, feeling uneasy.
He couldn't understand how someone could be so heartless.
It was simply vicious to an unimaginable degree!
***
Seeing that Ye Qingyu showed no signs of waking up, Meng Fan walked into a nearby house.
This was obviously the residence of the man in the black robe, and Meng Fan wanted to see if he could find anything inside.
As it turned out, it was just some trivial daily items, not worth mentioning.
However, through these items, especially some letters, Meng Fan confirmed the identity of the man in the black robe.
His name was Zhao Binyuan, a disciple of the Soul Refining Sect.
The Soul Refining Sect had three branches.
Corpse Refining, Soul Refining, and Infant Refining.
Zhao Binyuan was a deacon of the Infant Refining branch!
Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan