Chapter 35

The world seemed to fall silent all at once, desolate and soundless.

Yunhe watched Wei Qingfei's corpse, under the gnawing of the Red Pattern Spirit Bees, disappear at an extremely fast speed.

His body swayed slightly, and he fell to sit on the ground.

"Huu—"

He exhaled, his brows furrowed tightly, and the pain in his shoulder blades made him draw a sharp breath.

Struck by a one-time magical artifact, the Bone-Piercing Nail, although the Diamond Talisman blocked most of its power, his shoulder blade bone is likely broken.

He slapped a Hemostatic Talisman onto his body.

"Leave first!"

He forced his body to stand, enduring intense pain all over, gesturing for the Red Pattern Spirit Bees to pick up the fallen Black Water Banner and Wei Qingfei's storage bag and everything else, even not missing the ineffective Bone-Piercing Nail; he walked a few steps trembling, gradually getting used to the pain, then sped up.

Soon, this place returned to calm again.

But the commotion caused earlier and the pervasive smell of blood soon brought rustling sounds from the forest.

These things no longer concern Yunhe.

"Hss—"

Returning to the shantytown of the market, Yunhe's tense body finally relaxed completely, sitting on a futon, head covered in cold sweat, face pallid.

"This time there are several lessons to learn."

He slowly took off his clothes, looking at the shocking wound on his shoulder, his heart pounding.

If the Bone-Piercing Nail had aimed a bit more accurately, or if he had been a bit slower in applying the Diamond Talisman, he likely would have died from this sneak attack.

He took out a bottle of restorative elixir from his storage bag, crushed the white pills into powder and sprinkled it on the wound; instantly a cooling sensation came, followed by numbness that alleviated his pain.

"First point, one shouldn't so readily believe what Zou Dacheng said before his death; although he indeed had no concealment, what he knew might not all be true, and it could be a smokescreen deliberately released by Wei Qingfei."

"Just like this time."

"From the mouths of Zou Dacheng and Chen Ping, Yunhe learned that Wei Qingfei was going to buy a high-grade magical artifact, but what was the result?"

"Wei Qingfei had already purchased a high-grade magical artifact!"

"His going out had another purpose!"

Of course, Zou Dacheng also provided quite a bit of useful information; otherwise Yunhe would hardly have known the attribute of Wei Qingfei's cultivation technique, the existence of the "Qingmu Banner" magical artifact, and thus could not have devised a series of countermeasures and tactical arrangements for the duel.

"Second point, during the duel one should immediately use the Diamond Talisman; if the reaction is even slightly slower, one might die; at a true life-and-death moment, one shouldn't still think about saving, even subconsciously. Ideally, one should find a way to obtain a defensive magical artifact."

"Third point."

Yunhe rubbed his shoulder blades, and as the elixir took effect, he felt much better.

"Damn it, from now on try not to challenge opponents with higher Cultivation Base; I still prefer to absolutely crush opponents when overcoming levels."

This time I really suffered a huge loss.

Not to mention using two talismans, the important thing is the loss of the Red Pattern Spirit Bees.

A full eighty-seven Red Pattern Spirit Bees were sent out, but fewer than half returned.

"Fortunately, the queen bee's first batch of eggs will hatch in these two days, and then should be able to quickly make up for the shortage in the bee colony's numbers."

Thinking of the crystal-clear, plump red bee eggs in the insect bag, this made his feeling of pain lessen considerably.

"However, exchanging several dozen Red Pattern Spirit Bees for a high-grade magical artifact."

Yunhe took out that black small banner measuring one chi three cun, showing a hint of joy.

"High-grade magical artifact, Black Water Banner!"

This banner can to some extent corrode the flesh, but its greatest function is to contaminate and interfere with Spiritual Power.

It can be imagined that, when facing an enemy, rolling black water onto the enemy's magical artifact will certainly cause the artifact to fail due to loss of Spiritual Power control, and at worst greatly reduce its potency.

You should know that for any cultivator, magical artifacts are very important means; even for a Qi Refining cultivator, saying it is the most important means is not an exaggeration.

If it weren't for the "Blood Refining" method maintaining the link with the Red Pattern Spirit Bees, and plus the queen bee being able to some extent direct the swarm via queen bee pheromones, the situation back then would really be hard to say.

"Unfortunately it is a demonic banner, difficult to use as a regular means, and moreover it's estimated to be hard to sell."

Yunhe doesn't know how the Black Water Banner was forged, but the demonic cultivator aura on it is very obvious.

That black water is obviously condensed from various filthy substances, possibly even using the blood of boys and girls born on yin years, yin months, yin days, and yin souls and such.

Demonic cultivators are extremely unwelcome in the Heshui Market and even throughout the Qingzong Sect's territory; it is said that the Qingzong Sect has an order: once a demonic cultivator is discovered, they must be surrounded and exterminated!

This is also why Wei Qingfei didn't dare to immediately unleash the Black Water Banner.

"But using it as one of the life-saving trump cards is still not bad."

Having the Black Water Banner as a trump card, plus the Red Pattern Spirit Bee swarm skirmishing, he should be fearless against ordinary mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators.

Even against late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, he at least gains some extra confidence for self-preservation.

"No matter what, even the lowest-grade high-grade magical artifact has a market price of at least a hundred Low-grade Ling Stone."

Besides the Black Water Banner, that "Qingmu Banner" is also a decent medium-grade magical artifact.

Unfortunately, the artifact's attribute does not harmonize with his spiritual root attribute and cultivation method attribute, so its power cannot be fully exerted.

The so-called spiritual root does not mean that a cultivator has only one or two attributes.

In fact, everyone possesses the five-element spiritual root; it's just that within the five-element spiritual root there will be one attribute or several attributes that stand out, meeting the minimum standard for cultivation.

And Yunhe's gold-water dual spiritual root represents that in his five-element spiritual root, the metal and water attributes are particularly prominent, and meet the minimum standard to become a cultivator; therefore the gold-water dual spiritual root can also be called a bias toward gold-water spiritual root.

For some immortal sects, although the number of spiritual roots can add points to some extent, the quality of the spiritual root is what matters most.

That is to say, a low-grade dual spiritual root biased toward gold-water attributes is far inferior to a single medium-grade spiritual root.

Only when facing cultivators who also have low-grade spiritual roots does the dual spiritual root have a slight advantage.

Of course, extraordinary spiritual roots are not included in this.

And when the five-element spiritual root fulfills the cultivation requirements, it becomes an even rarer five-element spiritual body!

Therefore, even though Yunhe has a gold-water dual spiritual root, he can likewise drive the "Wind Fire Fan" and use the "Qingmu Banner".

"Better to sell it and exchange it for a magical artifact with matching attributes."

"Put away the two magical artifacts and take out Wei Qingfei's storage bag."

"It took nearly an hour for Yunhe to erase Wei Qingfei's Spiritual Power imprint."

"A storage bag with two spaces!"

"Yunhe's eyes lit up a little."

"Not to mention the contents, this storage bag alone is valuable."

"With a 'hualala', he dumped out all the contents."

"What first caught his eye was a pile of nearly a hundred Spirit Stones!"

"I've struck it rich; this time I've made quite a bit."

"Yunhe murmured."

"However, Wei Qingfei's outing this time was precisely because he had saved enough Spirit Stones to do something, which was also expected."

"It's unexpected that a sixth-layer Qi Refining cultivator, while possessing a top-grade magical artifact, also has so many Spirit Stones, definitely making him a very wealthy existence among mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators."

"It seems the Extermination Team has reaped a lot, and most of the profits probably went into Wei Qingfei's pocket."

"But now all of this has become cheap for Yunhe."

"Now I have Spirit Stones for taking pills, even..."

"Could I possibly rent a cave dwelling in the market?"

"That would likely increase my cultivation speed by several levels."

"No, explaining where this wealth comes from is difficult. Although the Wang Clan won't inquire, it's inevitable to attract attention from those with ulterior motives; renting a cultivation cave at the fourth layer of Qi Refining really makes one a fat sheep in others' eyes."

"Besides Spirit Stones, Yunhe also saw many sealed jars."

"I also have Spirit Honey; the Wang Clan side can be accounted for."

"And two bottles of elixir."

"Unfortunately, these two bottles are both 'Wood Element Pills', elixirs used by Qi Refining cultivators who practice wood-attribute techniques to enhance their power; they were probably used by Wei Qingfei himself."

"Several Spirit Talismans and some elixirs for healing and detoxifying were temporarily set aside by Yunhe, possibly to be used later."

"There remained a pile of Jade Slips."

"Most of them record miscellaneous knowledge, travelogues, and human history, which Yunhe finds somewhat useful; he plans to read them for leisure when he has free time."

"Finally, this one."

"Yunhe picked up the last Jade Slip."

"This Jade Slip is somewhat special; at a glance one can see it differs from other Jade Slips, warm and lustrous, of special texture, and it's unknown what material it is."

"After a brief hesitation, he placed it on his forehead."

"After a while, Yunhe then set the Jade Slip down."

"What is recorded inside is the cultivation technique practiced by Wei Qingfei, the Yi Wood Longevity Technique."

"This technique allows a cultivator to progress from the early stage of Qi Refining all the way to the early stage of Foundation Establishment; it's a decent technique, and if encountered by a suitable cultivator who needs it, it could also fetch some money."

"But for Yunhe, who has a Gold-Water Spirit Root, it appears useless."

"Actually, it can't be said to be completely useless."

"In this 'Yi Wood Longevity Technique' is recorded a technique that can be cultivated even without a wood-attribute Spirit Root."

"This technique is called the Year Ring Technique."

"Calling it a technique is actually giving it too much credit."

"In reality, it's merely a small trick cultivators use with Spiritual Power and Spirit Sense."

"Its function is quite singular, yet it makes Yunhe feel an urge to try it out."

"It can test a cultivator's lifespan!"

"Normally, a Qi Refining cultivator's lifespan is between two and two and a half cycles of sixty years, meaning that without disaster they can often live to over 120 years, and their bodily decline is much slower than that of ordinary people."

"But once one successfully reaches Foundation Establishment, the lifespan nearly doubles, at least reaching 200 years, or even longer."

"Cultivating immortality, who wouldn't want to cultivate to become an immortal and enjoy long life?"

"So Yunhe is curious: now in his twenties, with his current fourth-layer Qi Refining cultivation, how much lifespan remains."

"Following the method of Spiritual Power circulation recorded on the Jade Slip, aided by Spirit Sense, Yunhe successfully used this technique in less than three hours."

"As soon as he began circulating it, he suddenly opened his eyes wide."

"His eyes were filled with disbelief and an indescribable excitement."

"Three, three hundred?!"

"(End of chapter)"