He looked down, wiped a hand over his robes, and pinched a sesame-sized fragment from a hidden bloodstain.
He placed this tiny fragment onto the larger one, and the two immediately merged together.
Li Ban didn't wait any longer and directly assimilated this fifth fragment of Xiao Suo's wizard embryo.
A second later, Priest Qian Que appeared in a flash, intently observing Li Ban's reaction.
This time, however, Li Ban seemed to take longer to finish the assimilation.
When he opened his eyes, he met Priest Qian Que's worried gaze.
He smiled. "There's no need to worry. I've assimilated it without any issues."
Priest Qian Que was not reassured. "Every time you assimilated a piece before, it took longer than the last. The difference was especially obvious this time."
"This is already the fifth fragment I've assimilated. In truth, I could have advanced long ago."
Li Ban shook his head. "Killing Xiao Suo is the best tempering I could ask for."
"If your wizard embryo becomes too full and exceeds what you can control, it will backlash against your state of mind and make it difficult for you to advance. Pushing too far will only backfire and damage your body."
Priest Qian Que remained deeply concerned.
Li Ban looked down and clenched his fist.
He already possessed the Star River that only a Great Wizard could have within his body. Why would he worry about a few extra wizard embryo fragments?
However, he also understood Priest Qian Que's meaning.
Simply put, a person who had eaten well could exercise properly, but someone who gorged themselves to bursting might end up throwing up if they tried to move.
Li Ban patted his chest. "I have a great appetite."
Seeing this, Priest Qian Que knew that Li Ban had made up his mind and stopped trying to persuade him.
Changing the subject, he said, "Your trusted aide shouldn't be in any mortal danger, but after being possessed by Xiao Suo, he still needs a good rest to recover."
Li Ban looked at Deng Jun on the floor and raised a hand, sending the man outside the room.
The members of the Myriad Ancient Pagoda who had been arranged to wait outside immediately received Deng Jun and took him to the infirmary.
Li Ban stood in the room, watching the crowd bustle outside. "We certainly made full use of Shi Ming and Deng Jun this time."
After learning from Shi Ming that Xiao Suo had sought him out, Li Ban had come to an agreement with the two Solar Priests. They knew Xiao Suo's appearance wouldn't be simple. If they dragged it out too long, the enemy would likely notice something amiss.
They couldn't set up a trap that was too complicated. They had to cut the Gordian knot with a swift blade—lure the snake out of its hole and deal with it immediately before he could react.
So, while it appeared that Deng Jun and Shi Ming had simply been received by a Spirit Awakening Priest, that priest had actually been Li Ban in disguise.
He had also asked Priest Li He and Priest Qian Que to cast a joint spell to alter his figure and aura, just enough to fool Xiao Suo for a short time.
With Li Ban's abilities, he had immediately detected Xiao Suo's aura on both Shi Ming and Deng Jun.
He instantly understood that Xiao Suo had divided himself yet again. One part was using this channel to gather information, while the other was preparing a future escape route.
Moreover, he had been much more cautious this time, preparing multiple clones right from the start.
When Shi Ming followed Xiao Suo's instructions and smeared a small amount of blood on Li Ban's robes, Li Ban immediately noticed that his robes now carried Xiao Suo's aura as well.
The aura was just incredibly faint.
A cunning hare with three burrows.
Anyone else who didn't know about Xiao Suo's abilities would have likely assumed that Xiao Suo was either hiding on Shi Ming or within that smear of blood.
It would be hard to imagine that Xiao Suo had already split himself into three parts to infiltrate the Unreturning Place.
He had to ensure all three pieces of Xiao Suo were dealt with, without a single omission.
Li Ban first teamed up with Priest Li He and Priest Qian Que to restrain Shi Ming.
Then, disguising himself as Shi Ming, he went back to find the piece of Xiao Suo that had possessed Deng Jun.
Because of the blood smeared on his clothes, the Xiao Suo possessing Deng Jun sensed his clone's aura on Li Ban and assumed the real Shi Ming had returned. This gave Li Ban the opportunity to get in close and launch a sneak attack.
Li Ban dragging Deng Jun into the study for a long conversation had also been a stalling tactic to buy time for Priest Qian Que to complete the seal outside.
However, he still hadn't missed his mark this time. He easily assimilated Xiao Suo and his even smaller clone fragments, rendering Priest Qian Que's seal unnecessary.
Priest Qian Que didn't have any complaints about this.
Wasting a little spiritual rhinoceros was better than accidentally letting Xiao Suo escape.
After finishing off Xiao Suo here, the two of them returned to the Myriad Ancient Pagoda in the Unreturning Place.
Shi Ming, who still had no idea what was going on, was still waiting there for Priest Qian Que and Li Ban to return.
Priest Li He had been guarding him the entire time, giving the Xiao Suo on Shi Ming's body no chance to pull any tricks.
When Li Ban returned, the three of them surrounded Shi Ming and easily extracted the small fragment from his body.
This fragment was also the size of a sesame seed, so assimilating it took no effort at all.
Once the assimilation was complete, Priest Qian Que transformed back into a streak of rosy light, taking Li Ban for a lap around the Unreturning Place.
Only after confirming that there were no more of Xiao Suo's clones lying around did they return to the main hall.
"Hahaha—" Priest Li He greeted the two of them in high spirits. "This Xiao Suo didn't know his own strength, daring to trespass into the Unreturning Place. With just a little preparation on our part, we made sure he came but couldn't leave."
'This is the importance of an information advantage,' Li Ban thought to himself, not feeling overly excited.
Ever since Shi Ming realized Li Ban had pulled a fragment of Xiao Suo's wizard embryo from his own body, he had been in a bit of a daze.
The whole affair had concluded so cleanly and swiftly.
And all his little schemes had turned to ash before they could even see the light of day.
A bitter smile touched his heart as he watched Li Ban surrounded by the priests.
'Ah, Shi Ming, you just don't have the destiny to become a priest.'
He stepped forward and looked at the gentlest of them all, Priest Qian Que, and finally voiced the question buried in his heart.
"Priest Qian Que... will I really lose all my memories soon and have to start over?"
The main hall instantly fell silent. Every priest turned their head to look at Shi Ming.
Some had cold eyes, while others looked at him with scrutiny.
Although Great Wizards made no distinction between black and white, in the eyes of these white-robed priests, Shi Ming was nothing more than a mortal corpse severed by a black-robed priest.
He was never on the same path as them to begin with.
As for him ending up in this state today, it was all caused by that Shaman Ming. It had nothing to do with them.
The fact that they had been willing to give Shi Ming some funds to live in a remote area before was already them doing their utmost out of benevolence and duty.
Even if they forced Shi Ming to toil for the Myriad Ancient Pagoda and catch insects for all his lifetimes to come, it would still be exactly what he deserved.
They were white-robed priests, not great saints who liked to repay malice with virtue.
Though Priest Qian Que was gentle, the words he spoke were still icy cold, because the truth was inherently cruel.
"Yes. The laws of all things are not something we priests can change."
"Is there really no chance for me to become a priest? Even a Black Robe?"
The moment he said this, even more priests stared at Shi Ming with unkind gazes.
Li Ban stepped out from the crowd and stood in front of Shi Ming, shielding him from the cold, scrutinizing stares of the priests behind him.
"Xiao Suo was lying to you."
Having already assimilated Xiao Suo's wizard embryo fragments, he was absolutely certain of this fact.
Shi Ming's eyes went completely dark.