Chapter 523: Hiding [Thank You, Master Wang Xiu for the Donation]

Qin Ming happily tucked away the storage bag.

He then said to the little silver fox, "Thank your mother for me."

"No need for formalities, Elder Qin; we have no use for these items anyway."

In high spirits, Qin Ming promptly picked several spirit fruits, boiled a large pot of third-rank Jade Emperor spirit rice, and caught a few rice-flower spirit fish from the lake to reward the little silver fox for her long journey.

The Devouring Sky Rat, the Blackwater Crocodile, and the Silver-Winged Frost Bees also benefited from the little silver fox's presence and joined in the feast.

"Such a paradise, and so much delicious food—I truly envy it," the little silver fox mumbled through a mouthful of spirit fruits and rice, speaking to the Devouring Sky Rat.

The Devouring Sky Rat chuckled, "Then why not just stay? Live well with your master."

"No, no, no—I must return; otherwise, my mother will worry," the little silver fox quickly waved her hands.

Qin Ming thought of something and asked the little silver fox, "By the way, I heard there have been some changes inside the Beast Roar Mountains—what's the current situation?"

"Currently, the four largest beast clans in the Beast Roar Mountains are our Moonlit Sky Fox clan, the Rending Wind Eagle clan, the Mountain Colossus Ape clan, and the Seven-Colored Peacock clan."

"Each of these four clans has a fourth-rank beast sage residing within, with the Rending Wind Eagles and Mountain Colossus Apes possessing the strongest underlying power."

"The Rending Wind Eagles have two fourth-rank beast sages; the newly ascended Great Black Heaven Beast Sage is a hawkish faction leader who advocates expanding territory and competing with humans for resources."

"Our Moonlit Sky Fox clan has only just stabilized—we naturally oppose war."

"The Mountain Colossus Apes and the Peacocks remain neutral; as long as humans don't invade them, they won't act."

"Originally, the Green-Faced Poisonous Dragon clan also had potential to become the fifth major clan, but I heard from my mother that the Poisonous Dragon King was slain by you, Elder Qin—since then, the clan has declined irreversibly and been supplanted by other beast royal clans."

"Of course, deep within the Beast Roar Mountains, there are also some reclusive powerful beasts unknown even to us."

Qin Ming pondered this—so there were still quite a few fourth-rank shape-shifting great beasts in the Beast Roar Mountains.

On the human side, the total number of Nascent Soul cultivators across the three major cultivation realms was roughly comparable.

Fourth-rank early-stage shape-shifting great beasts far surpassed ordinary human Nascent Soul cultivators, rivaling mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators—though exceptions existed.

Fortunately, among the beast clans, only the Rending Wind Eagles were hawkish—a good sign for humans.

During the meal.

Qin Ming further inquired about internal affairs among the beast clans.

After eating his fill, the little silver fox took her leave: "Elder Qin, it's about time—I must return."

"Hmm, I'll have the Devouring Sky Rat escort you back."

"Devouring Sky Rat, ensure Yue'er returns safely to the fox clan," Qin Ming said calmly.

The Devouring Sky Rat instantly perked up, thumping his chest: "Master, rest assured!"

Afterwards,

Qin Ming packed the little silver fox with spirit fruits and spirit wine from the Small Spirit Realm.

The Devouring Sky Rat then departed with the little silver fox, returning to the Beast Roar Mountains.

In the following days,

Qin Ming took out the spirit materials the little silver fox had gifted him and began attempting to refine the Divine Wood Pill.

As an ancient pill formula, and with several spirit materials substituted, its refinement was highly difficult.

After over a dozen failed attempts, Qin Ming barely succeeded in refining two pills.

Fortunately, the little silver fox had provided ample spirit materials, giving Qin Ming room for trial and error.

Qin Ming kept a portion of the materials and planted them within the Small Spirit Realm, so he could refine more later.

Two pale green pills lay quietly in Qin Ming's palm, emitting a faint pill aura, their herbal fragrance filling his nose and sharpening his spirit.

He took one Divine Wood Pill and swallowed it, then sat cross-legged beneath his life-spirit plant, the Yin-Yang Mystic Vine, to cultivate.

A pure medicinal force instantly spread through his limbs and meridians; he activated the Green Emperor Scripture. Simultaneously, the spiritual phantom of his Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Body emerged behind him.

Though several spirit materials had been substituted, the pill's potency remained unchanged—today's cultivation world likely had only Su Yuqing, a pill alchemy prodigy, capable of such adjustments.

The Divine Wood Pill was a rare medicine designed to enhance late-stage Golden Core cultivators, even surpassing the earlier Dust-Extinguishing Pill.

In today's cultivation world, there were likely only these two pills in Qin Ming's possession.

Several days passed.

Qin Ming awoke from cultivation, slowly opening his ink-black eyes.

After digesting the pill's medicinal force, his cultivation base had advanced further—he was drawing ever closer to late-stage Golden Core.

"This Divine Wood Pill truly lives up to its ancient reputation—extraordinary beyond measure. If this pill were made public, it would spark fierce competition among Golden Core elders."

Afterwards,

Qin Ming took out the spirit materials needed to forge the Five Elements Flag and began refining the magic treasure.

"Feather silk from a third-rank late-stage Golden Feather Sky Hawk."

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

Earth Yin Wood

"Refining this complete set of top-tier magic treasures is indeed extremely difficult."

"But since I promised the Devouring Sky Rat, I must deliver."

In the following days, Qin Ming stayed indoors, busy refining the remaining four flags.

After several months,

Qin Ming had nearly completed the embryonic forms of the four Five Elements Flags.

Only a few final steps remained before the magic treasures would fully take shape.

One day, Qin Ming went to the Five Elements Mountain Bazaar to procure several spirit materials to decorate the Five Elements Flags.

He received an urgent message from Han Yuan and the others—they had something important to tell him.

Thus, Qin Ming went to meet them.

After a long absence, the group gathered again at the Wind-Riding Tower, ordered a full table of dishes, drank, and caught up.

After seating themselves,

Han Yuan spoke with grave seriousness to Qin Ming: "Brother Lu, your merchant caravan must exercise extreme caution on future journeys."

"Oh? Brother Han, what's happened?" Qin Ming frowned, sensing a bad omen.

He pressed directly for details.

Han Yuan said, "Indeed, several shocking incidents of merchant caravan raids have occurred, alarming the Shangmeng Society's upper echelons."

"But to preserve face, the Society has suppressed the news and kept it from spreading."

"Initially, the upper ranks assumed these were merely ordinary bandit attacks, but just days ago, one of the caravans belonging to Lingyuan Merchant House—one of the top ten merchant houses in the Ten Thousand Paths Merchant Alliance—was also raided during transport."

"Even the Golden Core Elder assigned to escort the caravan was brutally killed."

At this, Gao Feng, seated beside him, took over, speaking solemnly: "That escorting Elder was none other than the famed Chi Yang Zi from Great Jin—a veteran with mid-stage Golden Core cultivation."

"Our own Elder Jin Han has erupted in fury, assembled a team, and personally gone to investigate."

Qin Ming listened, stunned, his eyes flickering as he pondered deeply.

Thank you, Master Wang Xiu, for your 10, 00-coin donation!!

Thank you all, fellow cultivators, for your votes and support!

(End of Chapter)