Chapter 77: Two Powerful Treasures
The azure-robed young man completely ignored the trio as he calmly made his way over to the massive head of the black wyrm, then reached out with one hand to make a grabbing motion.
A certain part of the wyrm's head instantly exploded, following which a translucent black core flew out from within. The object was riddled with a series of profound black patterns, and it was none other than the black wyrm's demon core.
The young man examined the demon core momentarily in an expressionless manner, then stowed it away.
After that, he raised a hand before making a downward chopping motion, and the four giant claws of the black wyrm were all severed amid a string of loud cracks.
The young man stowed the claws away, then directed his gaze toward the neck of the giant wyrm.
His gaze settled on a light silver scale that was close to 10 feet in size, which was completely different in appearance from all of the black scales around it. There were also several light silver bone spikes around the scale that were giving off astonishing spiritual power fluctuations.
The scale and the bone spikes were also riddled with patterns that were similar to the ones on the demon core.
The young man carefully extracted the silver scale and the bone spikes, then took several more parts of the black wyrm's body, and only then did he cast his gaze toward the nearby trio of cultivators.
Even though there was no animosity in his eyes, the trio still immediately tensed up, at a complete loss for what to do as they sweated profusely.
Thankfully for them, the azure-robed young man quickly withdrew his gaze before flying away into the distance as a streak of azure light.
Only after he had completely disappeared into the distance did the trio dare to heave a collective sigh of relief.
"Could that wyrm have been the Five-clawed Black Dragon that we were just talking about?" the middle-aged daoist priest asked as he looked down at the carcass of the black wyrm.
The black-robed elderly man took a moment to compose himself, then nodded in response. "It looks like it. Judging from what we just saw, there's a very good chance that this wyrm had already reached the Grand Ascension Stage!"
Both the green-robed young woman and the middle-aged daoist priest drew a sharp breath upon hearing this.
The green-robed young woman still had some lingering fear in her heart, and she mused with a perplexed expression, "Not only was that senior able to slay that wyrm without using any treasures, it didn't seem to have taken him much effort at all.
“Could it be that he was also a Grand Ascension cultivator? I've seen portraits of both Senior Sima of the Cold Flame Sect and Senior Closed Mountain of the Origin Realm Temple, but he didn't seem to be either of them."
"Could it be that that was one of them in disguise?" the middle-aged daoist priest speculated.
"I don't think so. Judging from the wounds sustained by the black wyrm, it seems that that senior from just now is a pure body cultivator, so I don't think he's one of those two seniors," the black-robed elderly man said with a shake of his head.
"If it's not those two, then are there other Grand Ascension Stage beings in the Spirit Domain Realm?" the green-robed young woman asked as her brows furrowed slightly.
"There's one more... Have you forgotten that Senior Han Li, who destroyed the Heavenly Ghost Sect in one night? He was precisely a body cultivator!" the black-robed elderly man exclaimed.
The green-robed young woman's eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this. "Ah, now that you mention it, that Senior Han was purported to have an extremely youthful appearance. Was that really him just now?"
"Apparently, Senior Han is a descended immortal from the Immortal Realm, so he's an actual immortal!" The middle-aged daoist priest was also getting quite excited.
While the three of them were conversing with one another, their attention quickly turned to the carcass of the Five-clawed Black Dragon, and the excitement in their eyes only became more pronounced.
Han Li had abandoned the carcass, but for a trio of Deity Transformation cultivators like them, if they could take back even a small piece of the wyrm's flesh, that would be enough to create a massive stir.
After all, this was the flesh of a Grand Ascension Stage demon beast!
……
The Heavenly Crystal Sect was a sect that had a history of 200,000 to 300,000 years. It couldn't compare with the superpower sects like the Cold Flame Sect and the Origin Realm Temple, but it had several Body Integration cultivators among its ranks, and it was certainly not to be looked down on.
However, the sect had always kept a low profile, so it wasn't very renowned in the Spirit Domain Realm.
At this moment, a burst of blinding golden light was erupting on a drill ground in the sect, and it was accompanied by a thunderous boom.
A silver-robed elderly man was sent flying like a ragdoll before crashing into the restriction around the drill ground, upon which he threw up a mouthful of blood before tumbling to the ground.
A light golden bowl also clattered onto the ground not far away from him, and the spiritual light radiating from its surface had dimmed significantly.
Standing in mid-air across from the elderly man was an azure-robed cultivator whose face was concealed behind a film of azure light, and he was in the process of slowly retracting his extended right hand.
There were three other Body Integration cultivators gathered around the drill ground, and they were stunned by what they saw. They hurriedly withdrew the restriction around the drill ground, then rushed over to the silver-robed elderly man's side before turning to the azure-robed cultivator with wary expressions.
"Are you alright, Supreme Elder?"
"I'm fine. That fellow daoist held back at the last moment," the silver-robed elderly man replied as he pulled out a yellow pill before taking it, and only then did his complexion gradually begin to improve.
The other three Body Integration cultivators were stunned to hear this.
"Your powers are truly extraordinary, Fellow Daoist. I am ashamed to concede that I'm unable to take even a single attack from you," the silver-robed elderly man said with a wry smile as he cupped his fist in a salute toward the azure-robed cultivator.
"If you concede, then according to our agreement, it's time for you to hand over your Exquisite Eight Treasures Jade," the azure-robed cultivator said in an indifferent voice, and he sounded quite young.
The silver-robed elderly man turned to a burly man next to him with a resigned expression before issuing an instruction, and despite his reluctance, the burly man still did as he was told.
Shortly thereafter, he returned with a white jade box that was several feet long and around half a foot wide in his hands, then handed it over to the silver-robed elderly man.
The elderly man stroked the jade box with a wistful expression, then tossed it toward the azure-robed cultivator, where it hovered in front of him, enveloped within a ball of golden light.
The azure-robed cultivator caught the jade box, then tapped it with a fingertip that was glowing with azure light.
A faint crack rang out, and the white jade box slowly opened on its own, revealing several pieces of white jade of different sizes. They appeared to be quite unremarkable, but there was eight-colored spiritual light surging incessantly over their surfaces, presenting quite a mesmerizing sight to behold.
The azure-robed cultivator nodded with a pleased expression, then placed the lid back onto the box before stowing it away.
"It's taken us tens of thousands of years to accumulate these pieces of premium Exquisite Eight Treasures Jade from our sect's jade mines. I hope you can put them to good use," the silver-robed elderly man sighed.
"Rest assured, I won't let these precious treasures go to waste," the azure-robed cultivator promised, then swept a hand through the air to send a burst of white light containing a storage bracelet flying over to the silver-robed elderly man.
"I won't take these pieces of jade for free. The items in that storage bracelet should be sufficient compensation," the azure-robed cultivator said in an indifferent voice, then flew away as a streak of azure light, disappearing into the distant sky in the blink of an eye.
The silver-robed elderly man injected his spiritual sense into the storage bracelet, and a stunned look immediately appeared on his face.
The bracelet contained a vast number of spirit stones, as well as some extremely precious spirit medicines and demon beast ingredients.
In terms of overall value, these items were indeed not inferior to the Exquisite Eight Treasures Jade. In fact, they were of an even superior value.
……
Within the span of just a few short months, a string of strange events took place in the Spirit Domain Realm one after another.
Many sects had their precious materials, or secret techniques, cultivation arts, or scriptures taken away by a mysterious figure.
No one knew who this person was, but he was extremely powerful. However, he was also quite a reasonable man, and all of the sects that had had their treasures taken received handsome compensation. As a result, there was no public outrage arising from these events. Instead, this became a hot topic of discussion for many vagrant cultivators and disciples of other sects.
After several months of activity, the mysterious figure suddenly vanished, and no one ever saw him again.
Close to a year passed by in the blink of an eye.
There was an enormous crimson mountain range in the southeastern region of the Spirit Domain Realm. The mountain range was known as the Fire Cloud Mountain Range, and it extended for hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
The mountain range was filled with countless connected volcanoes that were constantly spewing scorching lava up into the air, filling the entire area with incredible heat and the acrid stench of sulfur.
All of the mountains in this mountain range were a dark red color, resembling red-hot rocks, and even the clouds above the mountain range were always tinted with a crimson hue, thereby giving the mountain range its name.
This was the largest fire spiritual area in the Spirit Domain Realm and also one of the most perilous regions in the entire realm. Even among advanced cultivators, very few had the courage to venture deep into this mountain range.
Deep in the Fire Cloud Mountain Range was an enormous abyss, at the deepest part of which was a river of molten lava, which rumbled loudly as it flowed incessantly.
The river was glowing with red light, as if there were countless flames burning on its surface.
The temperatures here were so high that the air was extremely warped, severely impacting visibility.
On a cliff face no more than 1,000 feet away from the river of lava, a massive cave had been hollowed out, and there were lights of all types of different colors flashing within it, accompanied by occasional loud noises.
On this day, a draconic roar rang out from within the cave, following which an incredibly thick pillar of white light erupted out from within before hurtling directly up toward the heavens.
Within the pillar of light, projections of two wyrms and a massive suit of bone armor could be seen, and those projections lingered in the air for a long time before slowly fading away.
Inside the cave was an azure-robed man seated with his legs crossed.
It was none other than Han Li, and there was an elated look on his face.
There were two treasures that were shimmering with spiritual light hovering in front of him, one of which was a suit of white bone armor with a rather antiquated design. Its surface was riddled with engravings of different images depicting items such as shields and umbrellas.
The other treasure was a pair of silver gloves with a series of silver bone spikes on them, giving them the appearance of a pair of wyrm heads.
Both of the treasures were giving off astonishing spiritual power fluctuations, and a pleased look flashed through Han Li's eyes as his gaze roamed over the pair of treasures.
The suit of bone armor was known as the Exquisite Eight Treasures Bone Armor, while the gloves were known as the Heaven Piercing Gauntlets.
He had found the refinement methods for both of these treasures in the scriptures of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, and these treasures were perfect for him as they required the user to possess extremely formidable physical strength in order to unleash their full potential.
Sima Jingming had told him that this alternative method of ascension was very dangerous, so as a safety precaution, he had gone out of his way to gather countless precious materials in order to refine these two treasures.
Han Li opened his mouth to release a burst of azure light that stowed the pair of treasures away, then flipped a hand over to produce an azure jade slip, which contained a detailed map of the Spirit Domain Realm.
There were several locations that had already been annotated on the map, and they marked the brittle spatial nodes that he had found from the scriptures that he had read in various sects, but he hadn't yet verified those spatial nodes in person.
After a brief moment of contemplation, his gaze fell upon an annotated point on the southeastern part of the map, and a thoughtful look appeared in his eyes.
Moments later, a streak of azure light flew out of the valley before hurtling away into the distance.
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