Chapter 42: Refining Treasures
"Where are they, and what are their cultivation levels? Also, why have you guys set your sights on the Grand Xia Empire? Do you have cultivators in the Guhe, Longdu, Yizhou, and Qingsong Empires?" Fang Chen asked one question after the other.
"Will you let me off if I tell you?" The old woman spoke with difficulty, her voice raspy, as if each of her words were a knife stabbing into her throat.
"Of course," Fang Chen reassured.
"Hehehe..." The old woman chucked in a low voice. Mockery filled her eyes. "Do you really think I'd believe you? If I tell you, I won’t be the only one who is killed. Even my family won’t be spared! I don’t care who you are. Since you dare to lay hands on a cultivator of the Spirit Blood Sect, you can prepare to be killed. We possess power beyond your imagination!”
"You’d rather die than speak?" Fang Chen furrowed his brows.
She didn’t answer. She simply stared at him, a stream of black blood oozing down her lips.
When Fang Chen stepped closer to her, he discovered that she had killed herself.
"The Spirit Blood Sect is really formidable. Their disciples would rather kill themselves than betray the sect," Fang Chen said to himself with slight regret.
His brows locked tightly together. He found it a real pity. She clearly knew more than what she had told him, but she chose to end her life instead. It seemed as though he could only start his investigation from Qin Dong.
"My lord, this person is like a damn tortoise. We can't kill him!" By the time he was done with the old woman, Huang Sihai and Tie Ma had captured the last cultivator, the one at the third stage of the Qi Refining Realm, and brought him over to Fang Chen.
"Please, fellow cultivator, I admit defeat! Please spare my life!” Glancing at the old woman’s limp body, he pleaded and begged for mercy, heart trembling with fright.
"Tie Ma, give me your sword," Fang Chen requested with a smile. Tie Ma nodded and handed him his sword.
Fang Chen’s spiritual energy poured out of him and into the blade. He stabbed the sword into the cultivator’s heart.
"He has some sort of special treasure on him. You can only use spiritual energy to penetrate it. Your internal qi isn’t very useful against him,” Fang Chen explained to Huang Sihai and Tie Ma.
Spiritual energy? Looking at each other, the two were extremely puzzled, but they wouldn’t ask about it if Fang Chen didn’t intend to reveal anymore himself.
At that point, all four cultivators who had wanted to rob them had fallen. Fang Chen went through their belongings and found some spirit stones. He even obtained two treasures. One of them belonged to the old woman while the other came from the cultivator at the third stage of the Qi Refining Realm.
Additionally, he acquired a Daoist scripture from the old woman. It was the method for conjuring a Fireball, the Fireball Technique.
Fang Chen had Huang Sihai and Tie Ma dispose of the bodies before they headed back to the capital city.
Inside the carriage, Fang Chen counted his spirit stones. He had over a hundred low-grade spirit stones. He also inspected the two treasures. The treasure from the old woman was a palm-sized straw doll. It had five Soul Imprints.
"Five Soul Imprints. That’s a treasure for cultivators at the fifth stage of the Qi Refining Realm. It’s probably worth one to two hundred low-grade spirit stones.” Fang Chen said to himself.
The other item was a jade pendant with only three Soul Imprints.
Fang Chen decided to try and refine them to erase their previous owners’ imprints. He wouldn’t be able to use them otherwise.
“Let’s try it out.” Making up his mind, Fang Chen picked up the old woman’s treasure and tried to erase her imprint.
After two hours of trying, Fang Chen exhausted his spiritual energy and failed to remove the imprint on the straw doll, but he didn’t panic. He waited patiently for his spiritual energy to recover.
Once his spiritual energy was back at its peak, Fang Chen discovered that it worked just like how he had imagined. His spiritual energy reserves increased a little, once more. He quickly tried once again. Finally, after another day, the imprint was fully erased, and Fang Chen left his own imprint on it. He had clearly managed to refine the treasure.
After another day, the jade pendant was also successfully refined
He first tested the jade pendant's power. When he imbued the pendant with his spiritual energy, he felt a barrier spread and surround his body. The barrier was made from his spiritual energy. As long as he didn’t exhaust his reserves, it would be challenging for ordinary cultivators at the third or fourth stage of the Qi Refining Realm to harm him.
Earlier, the Qi Refining Realm cultivator was effortlessly killed by Fang Chen because his spiritual energy had been significantly depleted by Huang Sihai and Tie Ma's attacks. The jade pendant would serve as a passable treasure from now on.
"I wonder what this straw doll is used for..."
Fang Chen sent his spiritual energy into it, and in the next moment, it transformed into a middle-aged man who immediately kneeled before him.
Slightly taken aback, Fang Chen inspected the figure before him carefully. He discovered that the middle-aged man resembled the description Granny Wu and that fellow Granddaddy Lu had given him.
"Decent aura. He’s filled with spiritual energy. Unfortunately, he’s not a cultivator and shouldn’t be able to use any Dao techniques. He seems similar to a martial artist, but his strength should be above that of experts in the Qi Core Stage. His abilities might even reach the Earth Profound Realm.” Fang Chen scrutinized the middle-aged man before he yelled to the two outside. "You two, stop for a moment."
Tie Ma and Huang Sihai immediately halted the carriage. When they saw an unfamiliar middle-aged man stepping off with Fang Chen, a trace of shock appeared on their faces.
"You two can spar with him." Fang Chen smiled.
"Both of us?" Huang Sihai was slightly taken aback, then a wide grin appeared on his face the next moment. “My lord, one of us is more than enough. He won’t be able to keep up with both of us.”
"Go ahead then." Fang Chen's lips curved upwards slightly.
A few breaths later, Huang Sihai was sent flying by a punch from the middle-aged man. He landed several feet away. He sat on the ground, dazed, for a long time before finally managing to stand up. When he had calmed the surging blood and qi in his body, he stared at the middle-aged man in disbelief.
"Let's join forces." Tie Ma narrowed his eyes slightly.
Huang Sihai no longer objected. They worked together, but the middle-aged man was extremely quick. He proved to be really elusive. Additionally, every one of his punches and palms carried tyrannical force.
After only five or six moves, both of them were sent flying.
Huang Sihai and Tie Ma were secretly shocked. "My lord, who is this?"
Seeing their reaction, Fang Chen withdrew his spiritual energy. The middle-aged man transformed back into the straw doll that returned to Fang Chen’s palm.
They were absolutely flabbergasted. They thought back to the talismans Fang Chen had given them and couldn’t believe what they were seeing. They were secretly amazed that in the five years that passed, Fang Chen managed to cultivate such mystical techniques.
"This straw doll is a treasure. It’s stronger than Qi Core Stage martial artists. Moreover... he can fight against cultivators!” Fang Chen lips rose further.
In situations like the one before, where the other two couldn't handle the opponent together, the straw doll could resolve the issue easily since it also used spiritual energy.
With a strange look on his face, Tie Ma asked, "My lord, I once heard that there were people in this world who surpass martial artists, people who exceed the limits of mortals. They’re like the legendary immortals...”
Fang Chen nodded, confirming his words. "Yes, they follow a different path from martial artists. They cultivate the Dao and they’re called cultivators.”
They finally understood! As it turned out, their lord had embarked on a completely different path! But instead of shock, delight filled their hearts!
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