Immortal Refiner

Having explored a portion of the secret realm, Gu Ming’s storage pouch was surprisingly well-stocked.

First and foremost was a pile of spirit stones, totaling over eighteen hundred, stacked in a corner of the pouch. They shimmered brightly, a dazzling sight.

Next came a substantial quantity of Heavenly Star Grass, a spiritual herb that could fetch a considerable number of spirit stones if sold.

Beyond the Heavenly Star Grass and other common Spirit Herbs, what truly astonished Li Qing were the rarer medicinal ingredients.

”Profound Ice Leaf, Eight-Cornered Grass, and this... it looks like an Illusory Heart Fruit. These are all auxiliary ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Pill?!”

Li Qing’s eyes widened in disbelief. He never imagined Gu Ming would be so ambitious as to start collecting materials for crafting the Foundation Establishment Pill himself, and in such quantities. There were even a few Spirit Herbs he couldn’t identify.

While auxiliary ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Pill weren’t as globally scarce as the primary ingredients, they remained highly valuable. Gathering such a collection demonstrated the immense effort Gu Ming had invested.

Seeing these priceless medicinal materials, Li Qing’s heart pounded wildly, his emotions surging.

After a long moment, he finally tore his gaze away from the Spirit Herbs and turned his attention to the remaining contents of the storage pouch.

Several jade-like porcelain bottles caught his eye. Li Qing immediately recognized them as pills for enhancing mana in the Qi Refining Realm.

One bottle contained Foundation Nurturing Pills, while another held less than a full bottle of Guangling Pills.

The remaining two bottles contained pills. One was Spirit Recovery Pills, while Li Qing didn’t recognize the other. However, judging by the faint vital energy emanating from it, he surmised it was a healing pill.

Spirit Recovery Pills, as the name suggested, rapidly replenished a cultivator’s spiritual energy within a short period. Consuming one during battle could prove invaluable.

”Good thing I restrained him with the Water Entangling Net beforehand,” Li Qing mused. ”If he’d managed to free his hands and swallow a couple of Spirit Recovery Pills, things would have gotten much more troublesome.”

With a sigh of relief, Li Qing smoothly and naturally transferred all the pill bottles into his own storage pouch.

In addition to the pills, the storage pouch also contained several Magic Artifacts.

First was the Crimson Shadow Umbrella. Needless to say, Li Qing immediately retrieved it. Since acquiring this umbrella, he hadn’t had much opportunity to use it himself.

However, he was certain it was a versatile Magic Artifact capable of both offense and defense, with limitless applications.

Besides his own Crimson Shadow Umbrella, Li Qing also found a cracked wooden shield—none other than the Profound Willow Shield!

Li Qing chuckled wryly. He had sold this shield to Gu Ming last year, never imagining it would return to him in such a way. Fate truly plays strange tricks.

After a quick inspection, Li Qing confirmed the Profound Willow Shield was only slightly damaged. He stored it away, planning to repair it later and resell it.

”A flying sword, reaching the level of a Mid-Grade Magic Tool? Impressive!”

Li Qing drew out the meticulously crafted flying sword and examined it with appreciative eyes.

No need to say more—I’ll sell it all at the first opportunity!

The number of Magic Artifacts was modest, only three, two of which had originally come from Li Qing himself.

However, Li Qing wasn’t concerned. The abundance of medicinal pills and Spirit Herbs in the storage pouch made it clear that Gu Ming was a cultivator focused on enhancing his cultivation, having spent most of his spirit stones on such resources.

Especially valuable to Li Qing were the auxiliary ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Pill.

”I’ve heard that refining a batch of Foundation Establishment Pills can yield two to three pills. In the cultivation world, many rogue cultivators band together in small groups to gather the necessary Spirit Herbs and then hire a Pill Refiner to refine a batch.”

”Now that I have these auxiliary herbs, I can start paying closer attention to this information,” Li Qing murmured, his eyes gleaming with anticipation.

If luck was on his side, he might even be able to gather enough Spirit Herbs to obtain his own Foundation Establishment Pill.

He quickly collected Gu Ming’s storage pouch. The remaining items were of little value, aside from Gu Ming’s basic cultivation manual. There were no other precious secret techniques.

Li Qing took this in stride. After all, Gu Ming was just a rogue cultivator; his possessions couldn’t possibly rival those of a sect disciple.

He hadn’t expected the storage pouch to contain everything—cultivation manuals, secret techniques, Magic Artifacts, and more. If that had been the case, Li Qing would have gotten off too easily.

”I remember this guy bought a Mechanical Puppet. It must have been destroyed in the secret realm.”

The mention of the secret realm immediately prompted Li Qing to search Gu Ming’s tattered robes. The robe had already been torn to shreds, first during his battle with Ye Feng, then during Li Qing’s ambush, and finally when Fan Tong finished him off with a brutal, post-mortem beating.

Li Qing’s movements were swift and efficient. Before long, he retrieved a crescent moon-shaped Jade Pendant from Gu Ming’s inner pocket.

”This must be the key to entering the secret realm,” Li Qing murmured, holding up the Jade Pendant and aiming it at the Blood Moon hanging in the night sky of the World of Eternal Night.

In the next instant, a startling transformation occurred!

Li Qing felt a faint tug on his spiritual energy as the crimson moonlight of the Blood Moon was drawn toward him.

His face paled at the sight, and he immediately recalled the twisted creatures in the World of Eternal Night, warped by the Red Moon Secret Power.

Without hesitation, Li Qing cut off the flow of spiritual energy and hastily stuffed the Jade Pendant back into his storage pouch, vowing never to expose it to the light of day again.

”Good heavens! This Jade Pendant can not only draw moonlight from the Azure Ridge Domain but also the crimson moonlight of the World of Eternal Night! It’s utterly miraculous!”

Li Qing sighed in awe, his heart pounding with lingering fear.

Had he been careless, concentrating the crimson moonlight on himself could have triggered his own grotesque transformation.

”I almost went from being an immortal cultivator to an aberrant human...”

The Blood Moon of the World of Eternal Night remained shrouded in mystery. He couldn’t yet fathom the secrets it held, nor could he confirm whether the moonlight drawn by the Jade Pendant carried the Red Moon Secret Power.

In any case, unwilling to risk a bizarre transformation, Li Qing dared not attempt to draw the crimson moonlight again.

After stowing away the crescent moon jade pendant, Li Qing resumed his looting.

”I remember this guy had another magical treasure that could block the most potent and yang-aligned thunder and lightning. The Thunder Flash Talisman had no effect on him.”

”I wonder if it’s a talisman or a secret artifact.”

Li Qing’s eyes burned with desire for this treasure. If it could truly withstand the most potent and yang-aligned thunder and lightning in the world, wouldn’t that make him invincible against cultivators with Thunder Spirit Roots?

As his words faded, Li Qing searched Gu Ming’s waist and retrieved a small leather drum—the last item on his person.

The drum’s material was unusual, unfamiliar to Li Qing. However, he was certain this secret artifact had protected Gu Ming from the Thunder Flash Talisman’s attack.

”The spirit patterns on this are so faint... It can block lightning attacks, but it must have a limited number of uses. This is likely a consumable secret artifact.”

With the discerning eye of an artifact refiner, Li Qing accurately assessed the drum’s function and limitations.

The drum could indeed withstand lightning attacks, but its use was limited. Once it reached its maximum capacity, not only would the spirit patterns dissipate, but the entire drum would be completely destroyed.

It wasn’t as invincible as he’d initially imagined.

But that made sense. If such a powerful artifact truly existed, cultivators with Thunder Spirit Roots would have no need to cultivate at all, as anyone wearing it would be completely immune to their attacks.

”The Heavenly Dao is fair,” Li Qing mused. ”Judging by the drum’s level of damage, it can probably withstand only three more attacks from Thunder Flash Talismans, or a single strike from a Second-Tier Thunder Talisman, before it’s completely destroyed and becomes useless scrap.”

Despite this, Li Qing felt no regret. He refined the drum once more and fastened it to his waist.

With this, Li Qing had thoroughly scavenged all of Gu Ming’s belongings. Anything even remotely worth spirit stones had been collected.

However, now carrying five storage pouches felt excessive. After a moment’s thought, he consolidated all his possessions into just three pouches.

Li Qing gathered all the illicit loot into one storage pouch and stashed it in the World of Eternal Night.

The remaining two pouches contained his daily cultivation necessities, which he kept on his person.

As for the final two pouches, Li Qing planned to sell one at his earliest convenience. If it didn’t sell, he intended to study it thoroughly, carefully examining the spirit patterns used in its construction.

In short, he wasn’t particularly short on spirit stones, so it wouldn’t matter if the pouch didn’t sell.

This would satisfy his curiosity about storage pouches, and if all else failed, he could simply pretend he’d never acquired it in the first place. After all, it wasn’t worth much anyway.

With everything sorted, Li Qing carefully concealed the pouch containing the stolen goods.

”I’ll leave this pouch untouched for now,” he muttered. ”If Ye Feng can still be saved, I’ll return everything to him.”

As he spoke, Li Qing couldn’t help but recall his interactions with Ye Feng.

Though Ye Feng had initially been somewhat arrogant when they first met, he had shed his aloofness after they grew closer, becoming surprisingly approachable.

In short, Li Qing believed that befriending Ye Feng was a worthwhile endeavor. He trusted Ye Feng’s character and, if the man survived, wouldn’t mind leveraging this life-saving debt to deepen their bond.

After all, a Talisman Master always held considerable value.

Suppressing the urge to rummage through Ye Feng’s storage pouch, Li Qing fastened it to his waist. He planned to return to the small hill before nightfall and attempt to enter the secret realm using the Jade Pendant, hoping to find any remaining trace of Ye Feng’s life force.

”This guy’s soul lamp hasn’t gone out yet. There’s still a tiny spark of embers flickering. He’s remarkably resilient,” Li Qing marveled, clicking his tongue in admiration. He carefully stored the soul lamp away, then couldn’t help but wonder how Ye Feng had managed it.

Despite his defeat, Ye Feng had clung to life. What state was he in now?

Just as Li Qing was pondering this, a thunderous tiger’s roar echoed from the distance!

”Aow-hoo!”

The roar jolted Li Qing awake, his gaze snapping toward the source of the sound.

Fan Tong’s furious roar, transmitted through the Blood Pact Seal, carried a sliver of the tiger’s thoughts. Li Qing immediately understood: they had encountered enemies!

”Not humans, but strange beasts... Could they have been drawn here by the moonlight attracted by the Jade Pendant just now?”

The thought made Li Qing’s head ache. He quickly retrieved the porcelain bottle containing Spirit Recovery Pills, swallowed one, and charged toward Fan Tong’s location.

”Damn it! Did we attract a whole horde of these things?!”

Li Qing dared not dwell on the possibility. Though he had long planned to capture strange beasts from the World of Eternal Night, he certainly hadn’t anticipated facing a massive stampede. Even as an immortal cultivator, his spiritual energy wasn’t limitless.

He soon reached Fan Tong’s side, where three bizarre, misshapen beasts were creeping closer, their movements unnervingly unnatural.

”Thank goodness, only three. No stampede after all,” Li Qing sighed in relief.

(End of the Chapter)

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