Chapter 92: with translation of chapter title

This time I really got into trouble.

After using the Earth Escape Technique to flee a distance, Yunhe only felt his head aching unusually.

First, the self-detonation of the Crimson Sheath Fan damaged his divine sense, but for him who possessed a hundred-zhang divine sense, such damage was still within tolerable limits.

But the divine sense damage caused by the later self-detonation of the talisman treasure was great; not only did it make his thoughts chaotic now and his head ache sharply, but his outward divine sense could no longer exceed ten zhang.

Adding to the depletion of his mana, it is estimated that any random Foundation Establishment cultivator could finish him off.

But the worse his condition, the less Yunhe dared to stop.

He could not guarantee whether there were still pursuers behind him, nor whether the fleeing Zhou Kui would react belatedly, learn of his condition, and then bring people to chase after him.

So Yunhe could only keep running, keep running.

When his mana was exhausted, he would stuff a few elixirs to replenish.

He also did not know how long he had been running.

Yunhe only felt that he had arrived at a place where the temperature was not low and the yang energy was quite abundant.

Although he did not know exactly where he had arrived, he thought that this place, with its abundant yang energy, was a place that those soul-manipulating demonic cultivators disliked and were unwilling to approach.

Only then did he stop his escape.

He did not return to the surface either; he merely barely sacrificed a flying sword and, in a few strokes, dug out a pit of moderate size underground.

Then he used formation flags to set up a simple formation to conceal his aura and mana fluctuations.

He opened his spirit insect pouch and released a swarm of Red Pattern Spirit Bees to guard inside the cave.

After doing all this, Yunhe finally felt his heart relax, and an extreme sense of fatigue and weariness welled up.

Suppressing his drowsiness, propping up his heavy eyelids, he finally took out a few elixirs, stuffed them into his mouth, and then fell into a deep sleep.

But Yunhe himself had not expected this.

Those who, like him, had found this place of abundant yang energy to avoid demonic cultivators such as the Blood Rite were not only him.

That sleep.

He did not know how long he had slept.

Yunhe gradually woke from his muddled consciousness.

First thing, he checked his surroundings.

After confirming he was still underground, and that the formation and the Red Pattern Spirit Bees showed no abnormality, he then secretly breathed a sigh of relief and began to check his own condition.

As soon as he invoked his divine sense, Yunhe revealed a hint of bitterness.

Although his severely damaged divine sense had recovered somewhat, it was obviously still a considerable distance from returning to its peak state, and the slowness of its recovery exceeded his expectations.

"Fortunately, the damage to his mana and body has recovered."

Not only was it a recovery, but after the self-detonation of the talisman treasure instantly drained his mana, he had all along forced himself to flee using the Earth Escape Technique, and now it actually allowed his mana to make progress.

"He now had roughly forty-five drops of liquid mana."

When he had just broken through Foundation Establishment, the effect of the Foundation Establishment Elixir gave him more liquid mana than an average early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, estimated at around forty drops.

Later, after switching cultivation methods, the Grand Longevity Great Five Elements True Classic purified his mana, reducing it from over forty drops to about thirty-five drops.

After several years of cultivation, and after this time constantly draining his mana, his liquid mana rose again to forty-five drops.

At this moment, the purity of each drop of his liquid mana could not compare to the quality of liquid mana when he cultivated the Gold Water Element Classic.

"According to several mid-Foundation Establishment senior brothers of the sect, when liquid mana reaches sixty drops, one can roughly attempt to break through to mid-Foundation Establishment."

If he diligently cultivates for a few more years, he might be able to break through to mid-Foundation Establishment!

This counts as good news.

After all, he has only broken through Foundation Establishment for a few years.

"I hope these things do not disappoint me."

He took out two storage bags and one storage ring.

The storage bags respectively came from an early-stage Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator and from Zhou Zhongping.

And this storage ring is obviously of higher grade than the storage bags, also coming from Zhou Zhongping, but given his careful manner of carrying it, it likely does not belong to him.

"However, erasing the mana imprint is also a troublesome matter."

Several hours later.

Finally, he erased the mana imprints on those storage bags and storage ring one by one.

That early-stage Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator seemed not to have much wealth; he was likely just a lackey of the Blood Rite, so the contents of his storage bag were rather ordinary.

Besides three medium-grade Spirit Stones and dozens of low-grade Ling Stones, the most valuable items were the two sickles he was holding at the time.

They belonged to a relatively outstanding pair of low-grade Spiritual Artifacts.

When a cultivator simultaneously uses both sickles, the power of these two Spiritual Artifacts can be increased, barely comparable to medium-grade Spiritual Artifacts.

Of course, what Yunhe valued most was actually a jade slip found in that storage bag.

It contained a cultivation method titled the Blood Devil True Classic, which is a medium-to-high demonic path cultivation method.

This cultivation method held little appeal for Yunhe, but some of the secret techniques recorded within did interest him greatly.

For example.

The Blood Devil Escape Technique, which is performed at the cost of one's own fresh blood.

As long as one is willing to pay the price, this escape technique's speed is still quite outstanding, counting as a life-preserving divine ability.

Another example.

The matching three secret techniques: Soul Attraction Technique, Soul Reception Technique, and Soul Slaughter Technique.

All are demonic path secret techniques specifically targeting cultivators' souls.

Furthermore, combined with a standard low-grade Spiritual Artifact found in the same storage bag, the Soul Attraction Talisman, which poses a considerable threat to cultivators' souls.

However, these are only effective against cultivators who are already dead but whose souls have not scattered, or outright ghost cultivators; they cannot exert much effect on cultivators in good condition.

Presumably, the subordinates of these Blood Rite demonic cultivators hunted down the Foundation Establishment cultivators gathered at the Zou family at that time by these means, harvesting their souls.

As for Zou Zhongping's storage bag, it made Yunhe fairly surprised.

Just the mid-grade Spirit Stones alone amounted to over forty pieces.

Equivalent to over four thousand Low-grade Ling Stones.

Definitely counts as a cultivator of modest means.

These mid-grade Spirit Stones greatly replenished Yunhe's scarce Spirit Stone reserves.

Thus, he no longer needed to exchange Second-tier Beast materials each time he went out to buy things, greatly reducing the chance of being targeted.

Besides that.

Yunhe also found a Li Fire Pearl from his storage bag!

As a Spiritual Artifact refined from the Li Fire that split off from the Zou family ancestor's treasure Southern Bright Li Fire Pearl, the Li Fire Pearl's power is beyond doubt.

From this, it can also be seen that Zou Zhongping's status in the Zou family is likely not low.

"Losing a Red Sheath Fan but gaining a Li Fire Pearl, on the Spiritual Artifact front it's not a loss."

Although the Li Fire Pearl's attribute does not match his spiritual root, preventing it from exerting its maximum power, Li Fire belongs to Yang Fire, so it can to some extent be considered one of the means to restrain evil spirits.

Moreover.

If in the future he can find a trace of beast blood essence containing the bloodline of fire-attribute Five Elements spiritual beasts such as phoenix, vermilion bird, and azure goose, and use the Great Longevity Five Elements True Scripture to sacrifice and refine a condensed spirit body, then he could fully unleash this pearl's power.

But aside from the Li Fire Pearl, Zou Zhongping's storage bag had nothing else in terms of Magical Artifacts, Spiritual Artifacts, spirit seals, or Elixirs.

Presumably, he had used up various things during his escape, and this Li Fire Pearl was his last trump card.

But he never expected that he wouldn't even get a chance to use it before being slain in an attempt to frame Yunhe.

Actually, even if Zou Zhongping unleashed the Li Fire Pearl, he would very likely not be a match for Yunhe.

After all, the Black Tortoise Bracelet still restrains the Li Fire Pearl to a certain extent.

After putting away these things, Yunhe turned his attention to the storage bracelet he valued most; given how carefully Zou Zhongping kept it, the contents inside should not be bad either, right?

The time spent erasing its magical imprint was likewise the greatest.

"I hope it doesn't disappoint me; ideally, it would be the Zou family's centuries of accumulation, the treasures hidden by Zou Changming, third-grade Elixirs, and such."

Holding the storage bracelet, Yunhe's heart pounded 'thump-thump' a little uncontrollably.

He barely suppressed his excitement and poured his divine sense into the storage bracelet.

But after Yunhe's divine sense made a full circle inside the storage bracelet, his expression shifted from excitement to speechlessness.

This storage bracelet is indeed superior to a storage bag; its internal storage space alone is several times that of a storage bag.

Yet in such a vast storage space, only two items were placed!

One piece, an insignia engraved with a beautiful bird pattern.

Held in the hand, it gives off a faint warmth; its texture is like jade yet like wood, extremely hard, and divine sense cannot be poured into it.

"What kind of bird is this? A phoenix? A vermilion bird? An azure goose?"

It seems somewhat like each, yet also seems like none of them.

After playing with it in his hand for a while, Yunhe still couldn't figure out what this thing actually was.

But given how carefully it was preserved, it should be something remarkable; later, when he browses the sect's records, he might find some clues.

Aside from the insignia, there remained only an antiquated deep-gray small bottle with a spirit seal affixed.

From the outside, there is nothing special to be seen at all.

A gentle shake suggests it contains some kind of liquid inside.

After hesitating repeatedly, Yunhe still, on the premise of not breaking the spirit seal, lifted a corner of the seal.

The next second.

Sizzle!!!

As the corner of the spirit seal was lifted, a puff of hot, dry air gushed out.

The temperature in the modest underground cavern surged.

Even the moisture in the air was scorched dry by the vapor escaping from the bottle.

If it weren't for the formation Yunhe had set up, this wisp of vapor would likely have baked the surrounding earth layers of the entire cavern dry.

He hurriedly reapplied the spirit seal.

Only then did the temperature inside the cavern gradually fall.

But just that instant let Yunhe know what was sealed inside the bottle.

"It's actually the essence blood of a third-tier beast!"

Moreover, judging from the situation when a slit was previously opened, it is likely a fire-attribute beast.

Yunhe suddenly recalled a rumor that Huang Ling had told him on the way to the Zou family.

It is said.

That year, the Zou family patriarch Zou Changming had cultivated to Foundation Establishment perfection, attempting to stimulate himself with external risks to firm his resolve to form a golden core, thereby increasing his success rate.

He thus resolutely ventured into the Heavenly Ridge Mountain Range for adventure, but never expected to encounter a dying third-tier beast, the Southern Bright Bird, in a mountain stream river by chance.

And after a struggle, Zou Changming gave up the slight chance of forming a golden core on his own, opting for a more secure method.

Finally, he took the Southern Bright Bird's inner elixir to achieve his false-core cultivation, and forged its blood, feathers, and flames into the treasure Southern Bright Li Fire Pearl.

Thus, although he is a false-core cultivator, his false core and treasure are highly compatible; moreover, Zou Changming himself cultivates a fire-attribute technique, so his combat ability is quite impressive among early golden-core cultivators, and in his youth he also made a name for himself.

Of course, whether this rumor is true or false is unknown; it merely made Yunhe, upon hearing it back then, secretly sigh at the Zou family patriarch's fortune.

But now, combining that rumor with the signs when the seal was opened, it indicates that the essence blood in this bottle is very likely truly that of the third-tier beast Southern Bright Bird.

"If it is the Southern Bright Bird, it should contain the bloodline of the Five Elements spiritual beast phoenix, right?"

Thinking of this, Yunhe's spirit was involuntarily lifted.

Perhaps it could be used to cultivate the "Great Longevity Grand Five Elements True Scripture".

Although it isn't the Zou family's century-old treasure, which is a pity, this batch of third‑grade demon beast essence blood is also something rare and hard to come by.

Actually, Yunhe didn't even think about it.

Who would store away the whole family's treasures and valuables during a great longevity celebration?

Or else, hand the treasures over to a family junior at mid‑Foundation Establishment.

These items are likely what Zou Zhongping personally retrieved from the Zou family treasury after realizing the Zou family was about to be destroyed.

They can be considered among the more precious items in the Zou family's century‑long treasure.

(End of chapter)