Chapter 399: Barter

Yuan Li Dan is an elixir for breaking through the mid-stage Yuan Ying bottleneck.

Although Yunhe has not yet reached completion of early-stage Yuan Ying, and theoretically he still has Feng Qing Dan to assist in breaking through, he cannot possibly rely solely on Feng Qing Dan without any other preparation.

So, he naturally needs to prepare early.

And in the contribution exchange list, it shows that there is only one Yuan Li Dan.

It is foreseeable that many early-stage Yuan Ying cultivators will frenziedly earn contributions for this elixir, so he must secure it as soon as possible.

As for the Li Huo Kongque, Yunhe heard about it from Ji Liuyun, and Wu Xiang Jianjun once slew a fourth-level Li Huo Kongque.

This demon beast once slaughtered mortals and cultivators on a large scale, even taking a small immortal city as its lair, treating all the humans there as food, and was finally slain by the passing Wu Xiang Jianjun.

The Li Huo Kongque is an extremely powerful demon beast, belonging to the exotic fire-attribute demon beasts, far stronger than the Qing Mou Niu Wa that Yunhe hunted.

Perhaps Wu Xiang Jianjun still possesses some essence blood of the Li Huo Kongque on his person.

After all, for most cultivators, demon beast essence blood is precious but rarely has a use, so Wu Xiang Jianjun likely still has some stored.

Seeing these talismans, Wu Xiang Jianjun showed a look of surprise.

He then took out a stack of talismans from his storage bag.

Just as Yunhe had expected, Wu Xiang Jianjun took out twenty talismans and handed them to Zi Yi Zhenjun.

If it were just a trace, Wu Xiang Jianjun wouldn't mind selling a favor to give it to Yunhe.

Fourth-level talismans are very rare, because high-level talisman masters are few, and the materials for making fourth-level talismans, whether talisman paper or cinnabar, are even scarcer, causing such talismans to hardly appear on the market.

"The more, the better."

Moreover, they are all fourth-level five-element technique talismans.

At the same time, Wu Xiang Jianjun roughly guessed why Yunhe wanted the demon beast's essence blood: to draw talismans.

In this regard, as a sword cultivator, his demand is really not high.

Indeed.

Yunhe pursed his lips and said, "I, Yunhe, still have some modest wealth; I wonder if we can exchange?"

Even though special talismans were attached above, Yunhe and Zi Yi Zhenjun could clearly feel a wave of hot air blowing toward them.

Upon seeing this bottle of essence blood, Yunhe's eyes lit up.

Even setting aside Yunhe's cultivation base and strength, his proficiency in formation arts and talisman arts alone is enough to make many factions seek to befriend and win him over.

Having obtained the essence blood, Yunhe also prepared to take his leave, saying, "I also need to make further preparations; when the time comes to depart, please trouble the two fellow cultivators to notify me."

After hearing Yunhe's request, Wu Xiang Jianjun nodded and said, "The Yuan Li Dan can be given as an advance payment of one of this mission's rewards; I decide on this."

At least not less than thirty sheets.

But honestly, having so many fourth-level talismans is still quite attractive to him.

There are indeed not many things that could interest a late-stage Yuan Ying great cultivator, but Yunhe had already considered this before coming.

"Good."

If a stack of thirty fourth-level talismans were thrown out all at once, even if he were unprepared, it would still be dangerous.

To be honest, Wu Xiang Jianjun thought Yunhe would produce some precious materials or treasures, magical or ancient.

Compared to the demon beast essence blood he has left unused for so long, these talismans are clearly more useful.

Afterward, the two exchanged items, each obtaining what they wanted.

Indeed, Wu Xiang Jianjun then said, "Forget it; this bottle of essence blood is useless to me, so I'll exchange it with a fellow cultivator."

But he then laughed and said, "Well, I'm actually curious what fellow cultivator Yunhe can produce to pique my interest."

Even if I myself have no use for it, casually giving a fourth-level talisman to a disciple would definitely greatly increase their safety.

Wu Xiang Jianjun raised his eyebrows, understanding Yunhe's implication; the divine ability he once promised, "Refining Sword into Silk," Yunhe still wants.

He naturally took out the talismans, seeing that Zi Yi Zhenjun also participates in this mission; these talismans may be useless to Wu Xiang Jianjun, but they can certainly be considered one of Zi Yi Zhenjun's trump cards.

He then laughed and said:

Wu Xiang Jianjun glanced at him sideways, swept his hand over his waist at a storage bag hidden somewhere unknown, and then a special bottle appeared in his hand.

Quantitative change is inferior to qualitative change, but if the quantity reaches a certain degree, it also poses a certain threat to quality.

Yunhe also doesn't know how much Wu Xiang Jianjun has left; if it's too little, it truly wouldn't be enough for him to condense a fire-attribute spirit body.

"I heard that fellow cultivator Yunhe is a fourth-level formation master, but I didn't expect him to also be a fourth-level talisman master," Wu Xiang Jianjun sighed.

The value of the two items, however, cannot be said to be higher or lower.

He could feel that this bottle of essence blood should be enough for him to condense a fire-attribute spirit body.

Afterward, Yunhe performed a salute and departed.

"The essence blood of the Li Huo Kongque, I indeed have plenty on my person; I don't know how much fellow cultivator Yunhe needs."

"Zi Yi, keep these for self-defense."

Given Wu Xiang Jianjun's regard for Zi Yi Zhenjun, he would surely not refuse to use something useless of his own to exchange for this stack of talismans for Zi Yi Zhenjun.

Upon hearing this, Yunhe smiled and gave no definite answer.

And Zi Yi Zhenjun did not refuse; she asked with a hint of hesitation:

"Senior brother, is fellow cultivator Yunhe trustworthy?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Xiang Jianjun paused his drinking, slightly narrowed his eyes, and said, "Zi Yi, you should understand that no one is absolutely trustworthy, including your senior brother me."

He then added:

"But on this basis, this fellow cultivator Yunhe should be somewhat more trustworthy than others."

Zi Yi Zhenjun pondered slightly and then nodded.

Returning to Bai Xiao Lou, Yunhe gave Ji Liuyun a list, asking him to help purchase some items.

Nowadays, Taixuan City has gathered a great number of cultivators, among whom there are no shortage of Yuan Ying cultivators.

And such a gathering place of cultivators necessarily involves a large flow of treasures and materials; gathering the auxiliary materials Yunhe needs is not difficult.

Afterwards he once again drilled into the cultivation chamber.

"With so little time, it shouldn't be enough for me to refine essence blood and condense a fire-attribute spirit body."

"Besides, a large number of spirit talismans were used up at once, which can make up for one or two."

"The corpse of Ji Huan Lao Zu can also be put to use."

Because the time is too short, there isn't much he can do; he can only adjust his condition as much as possible while increasing his strength.

Yunhe flipped his palm and took out several infant gu of the heavenly corpse gu.

The infant gu that can affect a Mid Yuan Ying Cultivator is naturally stronger than all the heavenly corpse gu infant gu Yunhe had seen before; he did not hesitate and directly commanded the heavenly corpse gu to devour it.

Afterwards he began drawing the spirit talismans.

Inside the cultivation chamber only the sound of 'shua shua' remained, along with occasional faint explosive sounds of 'pu'.

Not to mention, Ji Liuyun's movements were still very quick; upon understanding what Yunhe needed, the information capabilities of Bai Xiao Lou quickly gathered all the materials he required, and the time spent was even just half a day.

This made Yunhe unable to help but sigh; the immensely powerful information network of Bai Xiao Lou indeed handles affairs much faster than other forces.

Also sent along with him was the 'Yuan Li Pill' promised by the Formless Sword Lord, which Yunhe carefully stored in his storage bag.

Having obtained these materials, Yunhe once again drilled into the cultivation chamber, took out the Congealed Fat Ice Clear Lotus and sat down in the middle of the chamber, then took out and arranged all the materials one by one.

Finally he waved his hand and released the corpse of Ji Huan Lao Zu.

Back then the situation left no room for Yunhe to hold back, so Ji Huan Lao Zu's corpse was not only disfigured beyond recognition but also missing an arm and a section of a leg.

However Yunhe didn't mind; after all, this was merely making full use of things.

He expressionlessly raised his hand, and a grayish-white corpse soul gu mother gu crawled out from his palm, wriggling as it burrowed into Ji Huan Lao Zu's corpse.

Afterwards he saw.

On Ji Huan Lao Zu's corpse, a layer of grayish-white corpse qi instantly covered it, and on the damaged parts numerous tiny flesh buds grew, wriggling and twisting.

Yunhe waved his hand again, and immediately several refined corpses appeared in the cultivation chamber, which originally had rich spiritual qi, filling the place with thick corpse qi.

Cultivating refined corpses requires a place of extreme yin with thick corpse qi, and using the corpse qi of so many refined corpses to temporarily form such an extreme yin place is undoubtedly an excellent choice.

Furthermore, with the corpse soul gu, the corpse can be refined into a refined corpse in a shorter time.

Having done these, Yunhe looked at Ji Huan Lao Zu's corpse and let out a light sigh.

Ji Huan Lao Zu once counted as a prominent figure; as a Mid Yuan Ying Cultivator, no matter how eccentric his behavior or how unpleasant his actions, few dared to provoke him.

Yet now he has become a refined corpse at his mercy, and even after death must become one of his aides, making it hard not to feel lament.

This made Yunhe feel a sense of wariness; the path to immortality is fraught with obstacles, and he must be extremely careful lest he follow in Ji Huan Lao Zu's footsteps.

Soon after.

Yunhe gathered his mind.

He formed a seal and elicited infant fire, then refined the materials laid out on the ground one by one.

Most of them were precious ores; after being refined by infant fire they turned into various scalding liquids, which were merged into the refined corpse.

Although Ji Huan Lao Zu was a Mid Yuan Ying Cultivator, his physical body was not strong and was severely damaged; moreover, Yunhe did not have much time to slowly prepare it, so the refined corpse produced in a short time would inevitably be considerably weaker than his Yuan Ying refined corpse.

But he has a way to unleash greater power from it in a short time; however, doing so would likely turn this refined corpse into a one‑time use product.

As for that, he wouldn't feel sorry about it.

After all the materials had been refined into the corpse, Yunhe extracted the remaining fragment of Ji Huan Lao Zu's soul.

Ji Huan Lao Zu's soul was already deficient; after his forcible soul search, it now lacks any trace of self‑consciousness, leaving it entirely at Yunhe's mercy.

Thereafter he forcibly implanted it into this refined corpse using a secret technique.

What remains to be done is to hand it over to the corpse soul gu.

The process of refining refined corpses is actually also the process of cultivating the corpse soul gu.

As for Yunhe himself, he once again immersed himself in drawing spirit talismans.

During Yunhe's secluded cultivation, human cultivators, under the leadership of numerous Yuan Ying Cultivators, launched a full‑scale assault toward the alien tribe's territory.

On the sixth day of Yunhe's seclusion, Zi Yi Zhen Jun came to his door and informed them that they too should take action.

At the same time, Yunhe finally learned who would be acting alongside him.

Formless Sword Sect, Zi Yi Zhen Jun.

Grand Mystery Orthodox Unity Sect, Fu Shan Dao Ren.

Fengdu City, Huang Sha Lao Guai.

Four Lords City, You Lan Ju Shi.

Besides him, they are all Mid Yuan Ying Cultivators!

What Yunhe and the five of them were assigned to, however, was Blue Demon Mountain in the Demon Realm.

In other words, what they must defend against and engage in combat with are Abyss Clan cultivators.

(End of Chapter)