Chapter 361: Concealment [Thanks to big shot Master Wang Xiu for the donation]

Qin Ming happily put away the storage pouch.

Then he said to the little silver fox, "Pass on my thanks to your mother."

"Qin Qianbei need not be polite; in any case, we have no use for these things."

In high spirits, Qin Ming picked some spiritual fruits, cooked a large pot of third-grade Jade Emperor Spiritual Rice, and caught several Rice-Flower Spiritual Fish from the lake to treat the little silver fox who had traveled so far.

Thanks to the little silver fox's good fortune, the Devouring Heaven Rat, the Profound Water Crocodile, and the Silver-Winged Frost Bee also joined in the feast.

"Such a blessed land with so much delicious food; this humble one is truly envious," said the little silver fox, stuffing spiritual fruits and rice into its mouth while speaking indistinctly to the Devouring Heaven Rat.

The Devouring Heaven Rat chuckled, "Then why not just stay? You can eat the finest foods and drink the spiciest wines with Master."

"No, no, no; this humble one must return, otherwise Mother will worry," the little silver fox said hurriedly, waving its paws.

Remembering something, Qin Ming asked the little silver fox, "By the way, I heard some changes have occurred within the Beast Cry Mountain Range; what is the current situation?"

"Currently, the four largest demon clans within the Beast Cry Mountain Range are our Silver Moon Heavenly Fox clan, the Gale Eagle clan, the Mountain-Colossus Giant Ape clan, and the Seven-Colored Kong Que clan."

"Each of these four demon clans has a fourth-grade Demon Saint presiding over it, with the Gale Eagle and the Mountain-Colossus Giant Ape possessing the strongest foundation and power."

"Within the Gale Eagle clan, there are two great fourth-grade Demon Saints; the newly promoted Great Black Heaven Demon Saint is a hawk, advocating for territorial expansion and competing with humans for resources."

"Our Silver Moon Heavenly Fox clan has just stabilized, so naturally, we oppose war."

"The Mountain-Colossus Giant Ape clan and the Kong Que clan both remain neutral; they will not easily take action unless humans infringe upon them."

"Originally, the Green-Faced Poisonous Flood Dragon clan had great hope of rising to become the fifth major clan, but this humble one heard from Mother that the Flood Dragon Demon King was slain by Qin Qianbei; since then, the Poisonous Flood Dragon clan has been unable to recover and has been replaced by other demon beast Wang Zu."

"Of course, deep within the Beast Cry Mountain Range, there are some powerful demon beasts living in seclusion, unknown even to us."

Hearing this, Qin Ming pondered; thus, there were quite a few fourth-grade transformed great demons in the Beast Cry Mountain Range.

On the human side, the total number of Nascent Soul cultivators across the three large Immortal Realms was probably roughly equal in strength.

A fourth-grade early-stage transformed great demon possessed strength far exceeding that of an ordinary human Nascent Soul cultivator, comparable to a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, though this could not always be generalized.

Fortunately, among the demon clans, only the Gale Eagle clan was hawkish, which was somewhat good news for humanity.

During the meal.

Qin Ming asked the little silver fox about more situations within the demon clans.

After eating and drinking her fill, the little silver fox bid farewell to Qin Ming: "Qin Qianbei, it is about time; this humble one must return."

"Mm, I will have the Devouring Heaven Rat escort you back."

"Devouring Heaven Rat, ensure Yue'er is safely returned to the fox clan," Qin Ming instructed calmly.

Hearing this, the Devouring Heaven Rat immediately perked up and hastily patted its chest: "Master, rest assured."

Afterwards.

Qin Ming packed some spiritual fruits and spiritual wine from the Small Xiao Lingjing for the little silver fox.

The Devouring Heaven Rat then took the little silver fox and returned to the Beast Cry Mountain Range.

In the following days.

Qin Ming took out the spiritual materials sent by the little silver fox and began attempting to refine the Divine Wood Pill.

As the Divine Wood Pill was an ancient pill formula and several spiritual materials had been substituted, refining it was quite difficult.

Qin Ming failed more than ten times in succession before barely succeeding in refining two pills.

Fortunately, the little silver fox had sent enough spiritual materials, giving Qin Ming the opportunity to learn from his mistakes.

Qin Ming set aside a portion of the spiritual materials to plant within the Small Xiao Lingjing, so that he could refine more in the future.

Two cyan-colored spiritual pills lay quietly in Qin Ming's palm, emitting a layer of pill halo; a fresh fragrance of grass and trees drifted into his nose, refreshing his spirit.

He took one of the Divine Wood Pills, swallowed it, and sat cross-legged beneath his innate spiritual plant, the Yin-Yang Xuanteng, to cultivate.

A stream of pure medicinal power instantly spread through Qin Ming's limbs and bones; then he circulated the 'Green Emperor Art'. At the same time, the illusory image of a spiritual plant formed by the Green Emperor Wood Emperor Sacred Body appeared behind him.

Although several spiritual materials had been substituted, the medicinal power was not diminished at all; looking at the current Immortal Realm, probably only a monster like Su Yuqing in the path of pill refining could have adjusted the formula.

The Divine Wood Pill was a miraculous medicine designed to enhance those in the mid-to-late Jin Dan stage, even superior to the previous Dust-Extinguishing Pill.

In the current Immortal Realm, there were probably only these two pills in Qin Ming's possession.

Several days passed.

Qin Ming woke from his cultivation state and slowly opened his eyes, black as ink.

After digesting the medicinal power within this Divine Wood Pill, his cultivation had advanced significantly, drawing him ever closer to the late Jin Dan stage.

"This Divine Wood Pill truly lives up to its reputation as an ancient spiritual pill; it is indeed extraordinarily miraculous. If this pill were released to the world, it would likely spark a scramble among those old Jin Dan monsters."

Afterwards.

Qin Ming took out the spiritual materials needed to refine the Five Elements Command Flags and began refining the magical treasure.

"Third-grade late-stage Golden-Plumed Heavenly Falcon feather silk."

"Thunder Tiger essence blood, Ink Flood Dragon essence blood."

"Earth Nether Yin Wood..."

"Refining this set of top-grade magical treasures is indeed extremely difficult."

"But since I promised the Devouring Heaven Rat, I must make it for him."

In the following days, Qin Ming did not leave his residence, busying himself with refining the remaining four command flags.

Several months passed.

Qin Ming had nearly completed refining the embryos of the four Five Elements Flag magical treasures.

Only the final few steps remained before the magical treasures could be fully formed.

On this day, Qin Ming went to the Five Elements Mountain Market to purchase a few spiritual materials, intending to decorate the Five Elements Flags.

However, he received an urgent message from Han Yuan and the other two, seemingly regarding something very important they needed to tell him.

Thus, Qin Ming had no choice but to go meet them.

Having not seen each other for a long time, the group went up to the Wind-Riding Tower, ordered a table full of dishes, and drank wine while reminiscing about old times.

After taking his seat.

Han Yuan, with an extremely grave expression, warned Qin Ming: "Fellow Daoist Lu, your merchant guild's caravans must exercise extra caution in their recent travels."

"Oh? Fellow Daoist Han, has something happened?" Hearing this, Qin Ming furrowed his brows, a vague sense of foreboding arising within him.

Thus, following up on the other's words, he asked directly.

Han Yuan said: "Indeed, several shocking incidents of caravan robberies have occurred recently, already alarming the upper echelons of the Shang Alliance."

"However, to save face, the Shang Alliance has sealed off the news and simply has not allowed the matter to spread outward."

"Originally, the upper levels assumed this was merely ordinary rogue cultivators causing chaos, but unexpectedly, just a few days ago, one of the top ten merchant guilds within the Myriad Dao Shang Alliance, the Lingyuan Merchant Guild, had one of its caravans robbed while transporting supplies."

"Even the Jin Dan elder responsible for escorting the caravan met a tragic end and perished."

When Han Yuan spoke to this point, Gao Feng, sitting nearby, took over his words and said gravely: "You must know that the elder escorting the Lingyuan Merchant Guild's caravan this time was Senior Chi Yangzi, long famous throughout Great Jin, whose cultivation had even reached the mid-stage of the Jin Dan."

"Elder Jin Han of our Benshang Alliance flew into a rage over this; he has already organized personnel and personally departed to investigate the matter."

After listening, Qin Ming was utterly astonished, his gaze flickering continuously as his mind turned over various thoughts.

Thanks to the big shot 'Master Wang Xiu' for the donation of 10,000 coins!!

Thanks to all fellow daoists for all kinds of votes; I bow in gratitude!

(End of Chapter)