Chapter 268: Chapter 266: The Major Disciple’s Storage Pouch
In Ancient Times, the Supreme Qingwei Sword Box was the Supreme Treasure a Sword Cultivator from the Upper Realm used to store his Flying Swords.
Though its exact nature was unclear, this so-called Celestial Treasure was undoubtedly of the highest caliber.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t have made the Tier Four Moon Xuan Sword feel so inadequate that it dared not enter directly.
Once the Moon Xuan Sword returned to the Sword Box, it was immediately enveloped by a ball of Pure Qi and settled down completely.
’Although I don’t know if the Supreme Qingwei Sword Box has any other miraculous uses besides reducing the cost of Sword Control to a mere one-hundredth, at least the Moon Xuan Sword and the Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword Embryo are perfectly content inside.’
He tossed out a ball of fire, quickly burning Huang Ping Wanderer’s corpse to cinders.
By the time Bai Zichen was already hundreds of miles away on his Seeking Truth Ship, two streaks of Escape Light descended. It was none other than Master Zhu and Qin Chu.
Qin Chu had already sensed the intense Combat taking place here through the Sect Grand Array, a battle between two powerful Core Formation True Men.
Unfortunately, Master Zhu had gone to the Danxia Sect’s secret vault to store the proceeds from the elixir sales and was temporarily unreachable.
As a mere Fake Pill Cultivator, how could he dare to rashly appear at the scene of a battle between two Core Formation True Men?
He could only diligently guard the Sect. It wasn’t until Master Zhu emerged that the two of them set out together to investigate.
However, just as they left the range of the Sect Grand Array, they felt the True Essence fluctuations cease—a clear sign that the Combat had ended.
The two of them advanced with extreme caution, as if navigating a minefield, terrified of falling into a trap.
"This must be where they fought. The affected area isn’t small. It looks like one was fleeing while the other gave chase..."
Qin Chu stepped forward and picked up a still-warm fragment. Rubbing it between his fingers, he could feel it was mixed with fresh blood.
"So fast. A victor was decided in such a short time, ending with one of them dead."
"The Sect Grand Array could sense it clearly even from hundreds of miles away. I’m afraid this was a battle between Late-Stage Core Formation Cultivators, or perhaps even those at the Perfect Core Formation Realm..."
Master Zhu scanned the area, then immediately grabbed Qin Chu and flew back toward Danxia Mountain as if a terrifying enemy was on their heels.
"It’s only been a short while. That True Man probably hasn’t gone far. Aren’t we just courting death by staying here? After we get back, we must notify the Sect Disciples to be extra cautious for a while. The deceased cultivator’s friends and family might come searching for clues in the area."
At the same time, Master Zhu couldn’t help but think, ’For something like this to happen right after my Pill King Conference... I wonder if the two Core Formation True Men who fought have any connection to my guests.’
’However, none of the Core Formation True Men who attended the Pill King Conference were that powerful... The only one with a mysterious background who might possess such strength was that white-robed female cultivator, and she’s from Beiyuan. It’s highly unlikely she has enemies in Liang Country. In that case, this must be a coincidence, probably unrelated to my Pill King Conference.’
Master Zhu mentally reviewed all the attending cultivators and, concluding that none were of that caliber, put his mind at ease.
...
’This Magical Treasure is actually not bad, but it took a hit from the Moon Xuan Sword, and it’s someone else’s Lifebound Magical Treasure... Even if I repair it, I’d still have to erase the spiritual connection and re-refine it. It’s too time-consuming and laborious, not really worth the effort.’
Bai Zichen sat in the Seeking Truth Ship, inspecting the items he had obtained from Huang Ping Wanderer one by one.
Lately, two Core Formation True Men had basically delivered treasures right to his doorstep. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
It only proved what his great-uncle, Bai Jiu’an, had once said: killing for treasure was a fast way to get rich, but eventually, you were bound to bite off more than you could chew.
The hunter had become the hunted.
Huang Ping Wanderer had hidden his true cultivation; no one would have guessed his real strength was so immense. He had likely used this method to prey upon many other cultivators.
He might have succeeded ten times, or a hundred, but a single failure meant utter annihilation.
In the end, he chose Bai Zichen, a man whose strength also far exceeded public perception. He died in utter bewilderment, never understanding, even at the moment of his death, how his opponent could control a Tier Four Flying Sword for so long.
The Dragon Pattern Bronze Cauldron was a Top-Grade Magical Treasure. Its body was engraved with twelve flying dragons, each unique in posture and color.
Only upon careful inspection could one discover that even the Spiritual Materials used for each dragon were different. When activated, they could manifest as flying dragons to protect their master.
It was, by all accounts, an incredibly profound defensive Supreme Treasure.
It truly couldn’t be blamed for its poor performance.
Any other Tier Three Defensive Magical Treasure would have met the same fate against the Tier Four Moon Xuan Sword when it was wielded at the Refining Sword into Silk Realm. None could have done any better.
If the Magical Treasure were merely damaged, Bai Zichen would have been willing to spend the effort to repair it.
A Top-Grade Defensive Magical Treasure could still be of great use to him.
But this item was Huang Ping Wanderer’s Lifebound Magical Treasure, and that made things very troublesome.
That man had spent a century forging a deep, spiritual link with it, entrusting a wisp of his Divine Sense to the treasure.
Even though its master had already perished, erasing the original Spiritual Mark so that a new owner could perform Refinement was a long and arduous process.
A cultivator like Bai Zichen, who had a boundless future and whose every moment was precious, would never waste his energy on such a task.
’I’ll set it aside for now. I can see later if there’s a way to speed up the Refinement or perhaps trade it with someone...’
After putting away the Dragon Pattern Bronze Cauldron, he noticed that Huang Ping Wanderer’s storage bag was clearly a standard-issue item, in a style completely different from any Bai Zichen had seen before.
It was shaped like a Brocade Bag, felt as light as a feather, and was dotted with some kind of Spiritual Material that formed a pattern of the starry heavens.
When he tried to open it, he was met with a stubborn resistance that prevented his Divine Sense from advancing even an inch.
Compared to the storage bag of Daoist He, who also had a Mid-Stage Core Formation Cultivation, Huang Ping Wanderer’s was several times more difficult to open.
By the time the Seeking Truth Ship landed in Feiyue Lake, the Star Storage Bag still hadn’t budged.
This storage bag was clearly a product of the Celestial Star Sect; its defenses against Divine Sense intrusion were extraordinary.
This forced Bai Zichen to resort to the crudest method: repeatedly lashing it with his Divine Sense. It took a full ten days before he finally wore away the previous owner’s mark.
And that was only because the strength of his Divine Sense far surpassed that of his peers. For anyone else, it would have normally taken several months.
This also served as a testament to how extraordinary the Central Domain Cultivation World was; many of its techniques were clearly superior to those in the Northern Domain.
The star-decorated storage bag opened to reveal a surprisingly small number of items, not at all what one would expect a Core Formation True Man to possess.
Generally, as one’s cultivation journey progresses, one tends to accumulate some decent treasures, or at least items that aren’t valuable but are too sentimental to discard.
Gradually, the miscellaneous items in a storage bag would grow more and more numerous.
But Huang Ping Wanderer’s storage bag was spartan and organized, containing only a few distinct piles of items.
The first was a pile of bottles and jars, from which he immediately picked out a familiar Jade Bottle of Guangling Pills.
He opened it and found, as expected, nine carefully separated Guangling Pills.
’Was it really necessary? If he had just handed the pills over to me, he could have continued on as an outcast of the Celestial Star Sect, with plenty of time left to strive for a higher realm...’
Bai Zichen placed this bottle of Guangling Pills together with his own and sighed wistfully.
However, judging from Huang Ping Wanderer’s methods, this was clearly not his first time acting as a Tribulation Cultivator and engaging in murder and robbery.
The other Jade Bottles contained various types of Tier Three Elixirs for healing wounds, dispelling poison, and rapidly recovering True Essence, covering almost every possible need.
They were all extremely practical elixirs, but since they had come from another person’s storage bag, consuming them without proper verification would be dangerous.
Although logically, it was unlikely that Huang Ping Wanderer would keep tainted elixirs in his own storage bag.
’I’ll have Han Qing examine these next time. Although he still lacks the foundation to refine Tier Three Spirit Pills, appraising Tier Three Elixirs should be no problem for him.’
Bai Zichen placed the bottles back into the storage bag and then took out the second pile: the Spirit Stones.
Aside from several thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones, the remainder were all Top-Grade Spirit Stones.
He counted them; there were twenty-three in total.
In terms of Spirit Stones, this was far less than what Daoist He had possessed.
’So much Celestial Star Silver Sand, more than a thousand grains... Why did he accumulate so much Silver Sand? Was he planning to refine some special Magical Treasure?’
Behind the Spirit Stones was a sturdy iron box. Opening it revealed it was full of Celestial Star Silver Sand, glittering brightly as if one were gazing into the starry expanse of the Milky Way.
Individually, a grain of Celestial Star Silver Sand wasn’t too expensive, worth about two thousand Spirit Stones.
But a box containing over a thousand grains was worth upwards of two million Spirit Stones.
Bai Zichen finally understood. Huang Ping Wanderer had become a Tribulation Cultivator, yet his storage bag was nearly empty and his fortune seemed meager because he had converted most of it into Celestial Star Silver Sand.
The problem was, he had no idea what this specific Spiritual Material was used for.
He would have to look through some Artifact Refining Scriptures later to see if he could find any information.
Finally, there were three Jade Scrolls.
The first was the True Skill of All Heavens Cloud Escape.
The second was the Map of the 36 Demon Caves in the Sea of Suffering.
The third was the Tai Ling Cang Guang True Techniques.
The True Skill of All Heavens Cloud Escape was an advanced Magic that could only be cultivated by those who had already comprehended Cloud Escape. Once mastered, one could truly merge with any clouds and mists between heaven and earth, without restriction.
With a single thought, one could use the clouds to escape for dozens of miles.
’Luckily, Huang Ping Wanderer’s Cloud Escape hadn’t reached that next level yet. If he had mastered the True Skill of All Heavens Cloud Escape, I would have had no chance of catching him.’
Bai Zichen felt a wave of relief. Of course, the cultivation requirements for this advanced Cloud Escape Magic were extremely high; it was very likely that even with his realm, Huang Ping Wanderer had not yet met the minimum threshold to practice it.
As for the second Jade Scroll, it was a map of the Endless Sea of Suffering, a necessary path through the Bitter Cold and Desolate Land. It marked the locations of thirty-six Demon Caves, where a large number of Demon Path Cultivators congregated.
In the past, for some specific reason, the Central Domain had launched a massive purge against the Demon Path.
This led to large numbers of Demon Cultivators fleeing the Central Domain and hiding in the desolate Sea of Suffering, where they established the Thirty-Six Demon Caves.
Later, the joint campaign to hunt down Demon Path Cultivators ended, but the Demon Caves remained.
In the Cultivation Realm, cultivators who committed heinous crimes and incurred public wrath often made the final choice to flee into the Sea of Suffering and seek refuge in one of the Thirty-Six Demon Caves.
Of course, the cultivators in the Demon Caves were mainly at the Foundation Establishment Realm. Each Demon Cave would have at most a few Core Formation True Men; it was highly unlikely to find anyone of a higher realm there.
A Nascent Soul True Monarch, no matter what terrible deeds they committed or how many enemies they made, could always find a Super Major Sect willing to take them in as an Honored Guest Elder, as long as they were willing to swallow their pride. Some power would always be willing to shoulder their burdens.
They wouldn’t be reduced to living a miserable existence in the Demon Caves of the Sea of Suffering.
Bai Zichen helplessly placed the first two Jade Scrolls into a storage bag he reserved specifically for Cultivation Technique Manuals.
For the time being, the information recorded on these two Jade Scrolls was essentially useless to him.
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