Chapter 458

Ling—

A clear, resonant cry echoed within the cave dwelling.

A phantom of an entirely snow-white Ice Phoenix suddenly appeared, its crystal-clear wings fluttering in midair, accompanied by a profusion of glittering specks drifting down.

As its wings continuously vibrated, soft, thread-like green silk lines twined upward, making the Ice Phoenix appear even more lively and spirited.

Suddenly.

A surge of mana condensed into a seal sigil that flew forth and landed upon the Ice Phoenix.

In the next instant, the lifelike Ice Phoenix transformed into a pair of snow-white wings the size of a palm, which slowly settled into Yunhe's palm.

"The combination of ice and wind attributes is quite good."

Looking at the pair of snow-white wings in his hand, only the tips of a few feathers bore a faint hint of azure.

After his Ice Phoenix wings were successfully merged with the wings of a Fourth Level mid-stage demon beast, the Wind-Swallowing Beast, they finally broke through the bottleneck of a Fourth Level high-grade treasure, reaching the Fourth Level peak-grade level!

Only an artifact refiner who has personally forged a Fourth Level peak-grade treasure can comprehend just how vast the gap is between a Fourth Level high-grade and a Fourth Level peak-grade treasure.

Its speed increased by more than a notch compared to before.

After a brief moment of consideration, Yunhe made his decision.

After a simple test of the Wind Snow Wings' speed, he did not linger any longer and quickly returned to the Ice Immortal Pavilion.

The elevation of this pair of Ice Phoenix wings' grade boosted his self-defense capability by at least one level.

Yet no amount of curiosity could suppress the joy welling up in Yunhe's heart at this moment.

Sunlight shining upon the wings refracted into five-colored iridescence, as brilliant and variegated as a rainbow.

"Hoo—"

Hundred-Mile City

Yunhe transformed into a streak of flowing light and shot forth, covering several li in an instant.

Pfft!

A pair of crystal-clear wings unfurled behind his back.

"Wind Snow Wings!"

Yunhe exhaled lightly, "If we also add a Cloud Escape Talisman, the speed can at least continue to increase."

Now, the intensity with which Yunhe employs the wings to manipulate ice-attribute mana for casting spells will also see a considerable increase.

This also makes Yunhe even more curious about the origin of this pair of Ice Phoenix wings buried deep beneath the frigid pool of the Ice Immortal Pavilion.

Thus one can see just how difficult it is to obtain a Fourth Level peak-grade treasure.

He clenched his palm.

Even when facing a late-stage Yuan Ying cultivator, even if he cannot win, his chances of escaping have increased somewhat.

Of course, this is also because Yunhe himself primarily uses the Ice Phoenix wings as his main vessel.

Golden sunlight poured straight down, forming in the air a resplendent path akin to a dusty haze.

Moreover, what the Ice Phoenix wings enhance is not merely speed, but also their power.

His eyes flashed.

Nevertheless, this is sufficient to show that the Ice Phoenix wings' original grade must be far higher than that of the Wind-Swallowing Beast's wings.

His figure then vanished from the spot.

This is also Yunhe's first true Fourth Level peak-grade treasure!

"The enhancement and support brought by the Wind-Swallowing Beast's wings are important, but the true reason this treasure's grade broke through is the further excavation of the Ice Phoenix wings' potential."

By now, Yunhe finally has reason to suspect that these wings very likely originate from a fifth-stage Ice Phoenix!

"Fifth stage?"

Thus it can be seen.

"Fellow Daoist Wu, thank you for this."

Without a doubt.

The wings in his palm vanished from his hand, returning to his Qi Sea Dantian, where the Yuan Ying carefully grasped them and finally pressed them onto his back.

"That is called."

Even though the Wind-Swallowing Beast is a Fourth Level mid-stage demon beast, its wings still appear somewhat lacking before these Ice Phoenix wings.

"Calling them merely 'Ice Phoenix Wings' would be somewhat inappropriate, after all, the wind attribute's assisting role is still significant."

The reason is simple.

Within the lord's manor, a Yuan Ying cultivator exchange gathering was underway, and Yunhe was among its participants.

Hoo—

To speak without exaggeration, the difference here may perhaps be even greater than that between a Fourth Level low-grade and a Fourth Level high-grade treasure!

He muttered softly.

He enriched his own means of attack.

Upon reappearing, he was already at an altitude of tens of thousands of li above the Snow Ice Pavilion.

The wings gave a light tremor.

The one with whom he was currently conducting the exchange was a stooped old woman leaning on a cane, her head full of silver hair—namely, the Fellow Daoist Wu he had mentioned, an early-stage Yuan Ying cultivator of the Spirit Insect Sect, Wu Zhou.

"Hehe, Fellow Daoist Yun, this exchange was exactly what it was; the old lady also obtained what she wanted."

Saying this, she slowly placed the wooden box in her hand into her bosom.

Inside lay the demon beast meat of a Fourth Level mid-stage Flame-Treading Crimson Jackal.

Although the Flame-Treading Crimson Jackal's demon beast meat is likewise extremely precious and rare, compared to the Three-headed Insect Gu Grass that Yunhe needs, its value still falls somewhat short.

It is quite obvious that this Spirit Insect Sect's Wu Zhou has done Yunhe a favor.

According to Yunhe's understanding, the "Three-Headed Insect Worm Grass" among the human cultivator alliance originates from the Spirit Insect Sect.

So he simply sought out Wu Zhou in this exchange meeting, hoping to barter with him, but Wu Zhou not only did not refuse, he was actually very pleased, saying the Spirit Insect Sect was willing to directly give it to him, only to be stopped by Yunhe in the end.

The Spirit Insect Sect is, in the current Eastern Border cultivation world, one of the few insect-controlling sects.

Although this Wu Zhou is elderly and only has the Cultivation Base of an early Yuan Ying Cultivator, his reputation is not small.

He once had the record of single-handedly facing two early Yuan Ying Cultivators besieging him without falling behind, which is the power of an insect-controlling cultivator after training and fully commanding spirit insects.

However, such an existence still appears somewhat insufficient before Yunhe today.

This deliberate ingratiation is not limited to Wu Zhou alone.

As for Yunhe, perhaps it's uncertain whether he can reach Spirit Transformation, but nobody doubts that he will be able to break through to late Yuan Ying in the future.

Merely, with his mid-Yuan Ying cultivation, he can already face late Yuan Ying cultivators head-on; if he were to break through to late Yuan Ying in the future, it's hard to say what level his strength could reach.

Therefore, even if they cannot become allies, they should at least avoid offending him.

If they could befriend him, who knows how many cultivators would scramble for the chance to obtain such an opportunity.

Thank you.

Yunhe expressed his thanks again.

After his trials, he learned that the "Insect Nurturing Pill" indeed provides considerable help to the Corpse Soul Insect; obtaining another three Fourth-Level "Three-Headed Insect Worm Grass" from Wu Zhou should be sufficient to help the Heavenly Corpse Insect deal with this trouble.

This also let Yunhe breathe a little easier.

The role and assistance of the Heavenly Corpse Insect to him are unquestionable; moreover, if the Heavenly Corpse Insect survives this ordeal, it will become his most effective trump card against the Heavenly Corpse Insect, and unless absolutely necessary, he truly does not wish to discard the Corpse Soul Insect.

After concluding the exchange with Wu Zhou, he spoke aloud again:

"I still need some treasures and materials; this is the list, I hope fellow Daoists will take a look."

He then waved his hand.

Lines of text condensed in mid-air, most of them being very rare treasures, among which was also the "Azure Sea Tear Pearl".

Immediately after, he swept his hand before him, and another batch of treasures, materials, and talismans appeared.

Sharp-eyed cultivators quickly recognized what he had taken out.

"Flame Fire Red Jackal Pearl?"

"That is a beast soul! The beast soul of a Fourth-Level demon beast! It seems it might be the beast souls of the Flame-Stepping Red Jackal and the Wind-Swallowing Beast?"

"They are all Fourth-Level talismans? Yunhe is famous as a talisman master, his talisman quality is extremely high."

Facing the astonishment of the cultivators below, Yunhe gave a faint smile.

"If fellow Daoists possess what I need, as long as the value is equivalent, these can serve as exchange items."

Producing so many treasures at once naturally attracted the pursuit of many Yuan Ying Cultivators.

Among them, the "Flame Fire Red Jackal Pearl" is a middle-grade Fourth-Level fire-attribute magic treasure, its power is quite impressive, and it can also be considered a relatively famous magic treasure.

Although it cannot be forged into a life-bound magic treasure and cannot unleash its full power, it is still an extremely precious item.

As for the beast souls of those Fourth-Level demon beasts, they are even more so, extremely attractive to some demonic cultivators.

Moreover.

If these beast souls are refined into a magic treasure and condensed into an artifact spirit, they can also greatly increase the treasure's power.

Soon.

Soon, many cultivators contacted Yunhe via divine sense.

However, since the things he needs are not mundane, most people, although they tried to exchange, only received negative answers, leaving many greatly disappointed.

However, Yunhe does not mind.

Because this time he produced so many things, it was merely intended to make a single "severance" with his external incarnation.

After a while.

Yunhe's face showed great delight; he waved his hand, lidding all the wooden boxes, shot them out, and they landed in a mass of thick ghostly qi.

At the same time.

From that ghostly qi also flew out several treasure boxes, which Yunhe stored into his storage bag.

"Thank you, fellow Daoist."

He showed his joy on his face, slightly clasped his hands in a salute, and then flew back to his own position.

Did the exchange succeed?

With so many precious materials, and the treasures on that list, it's actually true that someone possesses them?

Many people turned their gazes toward the person enveloped in the ghostly qi.

However, at the exchange meeting, it is forbidden to use divine sense to inspect others at will; otherwise, one would be held accountable or even hunted, so fundamentally no one knows who this person is.

However, the Yuan Ying cultivators present are all sharp individuals, and among them there are many acquaintances; after several inquiries and speculations, it was roughly determined that this person is none other than the demonic path loose cultivator Gu Yan, who has recently made a name for himself.

That a mere early Yuan Ying Cultivator could be so wealthy inevitably stirred various thoughts in many people's hearts.

After all, among the treasures Yunhe previously produced, there were quite a few that even mid-Yuan Ying Cultivators found eye-catching.

Those fleeting gazes, and even some poorly concealed covetous intentions, were felt by the external incarnation sitting below with its legs crossed.

He casually picked up a spiritual fruit from the table, stuffed it into his mouth, and said with a smile:

"How many times have we gone fishing now?"

In his mind, the voice of Yunhe's true self sounded.

"I don't remember."

The external incarnation shrugged its shoulders.

He also didn't remember.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter; whether we fish or not is secondary—by making a name for ourselves again like this, more people will be unable to restrain themselves."

Borrowing the main body's name, he naturally felt no discomfort.

Soon.

The exchange meeting ended shortly after.

Given the current tense situation, many Yuan Ying cultivators gathering together makes such exchange meetings occur frequently.

After Yunhe left, some cultivators actually tried to contact his external incarnation.

But they were not the people Yunhe wished to see.

Instead, it allowed the external incarnation to meet and get to know many Yuan Ying cultivators, expanding his social circle and making the Gu Yan identity feel more real.

Although he failed to contact the Yellow Spring Old Ancestors' group, completing the severance between his main body and external incarnation counts as preliminarily achieving the goal.

Afterward, there was nothing he needed to rush about.

"Young master!"

Ice Immortal Pavilion.

In the ice pavilion beside the cold pool.

Pearl stood obediently to the side, spirit tea brewing on the jade stone table, and the Cold Chant Flood Dragon cautiously poked its head out of the cold pool.

Yunhe stood in the pavilion.

A pair of siblings stood opposite him.

They were the Shen siblings.

Shen Xingrui and Shen Mu finally saw the long-lost Yunhe.

"Young master!"

Seeing Yunhe, Shen Mu burst into a simple smile, his burly frame making him look somewhat awkward.

Compared to Shen Xingrui, Shen Mu could more keenly sense the threat emanating from Yunhe—though Yunhe showed no hostility, Shen Mu, whose nature was closer to a beast's, instinctively felt it.

Yunhe patted his shoulder and smiled, "Looks like you've found a way to break through?"

As he spoke, his gaze fell on Shen Xingrui.

"Hmm!"

Shen Xingrui nodded, "Everything is ready."

"What do you need me to help with?" Yunhe asked directly, not beating around the bush with the siblings.

"We want to find a safe place to retreat." Shen Xingrui, understanding Yunhe's nature, stated the need directly.

"This is simple." Yunhe gestured for them to sit and talk, then told Pearl, "Open another cave dwelling nearby."

The Ice Immortal Pavilion should have no safer place than here.

"Understood, Young Master." Pearl replied obediently.

Upon hearing that, Shen Xingrui exhaled lightly, smiled sweetly, and said, "Thank you, Young Master."

Yunhe waved his hand.

The path of cultivation is rough and long; as the long road goes on, all those one knows will gradually become bones in graves. Although Yunhe is not sentimental, he will still offer some help, however small, to those he knew from when they were weak, especially those on good terms with him.

Moreover, the Shen siblings' relationship with him is more than mere acquaintance.

"Right, Young Master, I brought you a gift." Shen Xingrui said again.

"Oh?"

Yunhe raised his eyebrows.

Then Shen Xingrui handed over a jade slip, explaining, "This is something I've been tinkering with recently. It contains information about that great sea clan formation; I thought you, stationed here, might find it useful."

After a quick scan of the jade slip, Yunhe confirmed that the recorded formation was the one they had used when hunting the sea clan not long ago.

And also some of Shen Xingrui's understanding and insights into that great formation.

"It really is useful; then I won't stand on ceremony." Yunhe put away the jade slip.

Then he also took out another piece, saying, "Take a look at the formation inside; it might help you."

"Oh."

Shen Xingrui also picked it up and looked.

The more she looked, the brighter her eyes became.

"Young Master, this is"

"It should be a part split off from the sea clan's Dragon Fish Vast Sea Grand Formation; perhaps you can gain some insight from it." Yunhe explained.

"I will!" Shen Xingrui nodded vigorously.

She understood she couldn't help Yunhe in other areas, but in the way of formations she still had some confidence.

(End of chapter)