Chapter 224: Universe Bag (Bonus chapter for Alliance Leader Juyi)

The group bid farewell at Five Thunder Mountain. Wei Hongqing returned to Mount Tianmu overnight to nurse his injuries, while Zuo Gaofeng and Tan Ba accompanied each other to Chicheng Mountain to sell their goods.

The Chicheng Sect is one of the ten great sects under heaven, yet it differs from other blessed lands. It is a refining sect jointly established by the seven elders of Chicheng, possessing an alliance-like nature. It lacks the strict rules of orthodox sects and is relatively loose. The Chicheng market at the foot of the mountain is also the largest market under heaven, making the risks when offloading goods relatively small.

Liu Xiaolou and Fang Bu'ai returned to Dry Bamboo Ridge under the cover of night.

Fang Bu'ai had obtained a large sum of spirit stones and needed to seize the time to cultivate, striving to break through to the third stage to make up for the year he had lost. Liu Xiaolou prepared to go into seclusion to break through to the sixth stage of Qi Refinement, while also studying the Universe Bag he had just acquired.

He probed his spiritual sense into the Universe Bag, feeling only a hazy blur before his eyes. After observing for a long time, he discovered it was a small space, about the height of a person, seven feet long and seven feet wide—not small at all.

Surveying the space within the bag with satisfaction, a thought slowly took shape in his mind. After withdrawing his spiritual sense, he went into the woods to cut several bundles of bamboo. It took him half a day to weave a bamboo frame that was almost equal in size to the space inside the Qiankun Bag.

The rack was divided into five levels, with the bottom two levels slightly taller and the top three slightly narrower. Once the rack was woven, he used his spiritual intent to "will" it into the Universe Bag. At first, he found it stuck and unable to enter, but after some trimming, it finally went in.

Then, he hurried to the underground cave of the Three Mystical Sect and sent the items hidden there into the bag, categorized by type.

On the bottom level, he piled the surplus spirit materials from refining array plates, mainly spirit ores like five-metals and eight-stones, filling about half the level.

The empty half-level could be used to store spirit wine. When he broke into the treasury of the Brocade Screen Villa years ago, he had found a jar of spirit wine, but because he couldn't take it with him, he could only drink a few large gulps on the spot, and the rest had to be given to the Long Mountain Loose Practitioner.

Such a situation would not happen again; there would be no problem putting ten jars of Bamboo Leaf Green in this half-level of space!

The second level still stored spirit materials, mainly rare and precious ones like pine resin essence, great king lotus seeds, spring essence jade, gold leaves, and water-milk quartz, all of which were leftover materials from refining array plates. Combined with the five-metals and eight-stones on the first level, he had already gathered enough materials to refine another set of the Deep Abyss Profound Stone Array, with some to spare!

Besides this, he also placed tiger whip, deer antler, and cinnamon on the second level. These were materials for refining the Illusory Fragrant Tendons, kept ready so they could be refined at any time.

The gourd of miasma he had collected in the great mountains was also placed on this level. He hadn't yet decided how to add it to the array plates and needed to ponder it slowly.

The third level held a pitifully small number of bottles of spirit elixirs, including Heart-Nourishing Pills and Tiger Bone Pills; the three Sect Master tokens of the Three Mystical Sect, Purple Extreme Sect, and Criminal Underworld Sect were also placed here.

This place also served as a library for Daoist books. The "Mystical Truth Scripture," "Yin-Yin Yin Yang Jing Jing," "Illusory Scripture," "Five Talismans," "Essentials of the Golden Slip Array," "Thousand Extremes Formula," "Book of the Deep Abyss Profound Stone Array," and "Secret Technique of the Serpent Gushu" were all neatly arranged on this level.

Looking at these Daoist books, a huge sense of accomplishment suddenly arose in his heart. Could his hard work over these past few years be considered strengthening the sect?

Suddenly remembering something, his spiritual sense hurriedly withdrew. He took paper and pen and wrote furiously at his desk. Spending two days, he authored a book titled "Secret Manual of Dry Bamboo Ridge Array Techniques," transcribing the "Book of the Deep Abyss Profound Stone Array" into it, and adding more than a dozen types of array chapters such as the "Earth Gate Array Technique" and "Northern Profound Water Array Leaving Nine Palaces Array Technique." Most of these came from the harvest of refining the mountain-protecting array at Jin Tingshan. He had to write them down quickly while his memory was still clear; if he waited a few years until his impressions blurred and he couldn't remember clearly, it would be too late for regrets.

Additionally, the "Heavenly Origin Beginning and End Method" could not escape being transcribed and was also placed as a chapter within the "Secret Manual of Dry Bamboo Ridge Array Techniques."

Very good, very powerful; the heritage of the Three Mystical Sect was even more abundant!

The second level held all his magic artifacts, including the Deep Abyss Profound Stone Array plate, Three Mystical Sword, bone flute, and Concealing Jade Pendant. The Illusory Fragrant Tendons no longer needed to be wrapped around his arm all day. The benefit of the Universe Bag was that it could be summoned by spiritual intent; with just a thought, items could be retrieved, and the Illusory Fragrant Tendons could be used at any time—it was very convenient.

Besides this, there were the commonly used combat artifacts: the bamboo hat and black cloth. These two items were indispensable, and Liu Xiaolou put both spare sets he had in his room into the bag.

The Profound Truth Rope could not be put inside; it had already transformed into a blue vein under the skin of his left arm, and its effect was better than being stored in the Universe Bag.

On the top level, more than fifty spirit stones and over a hundred taels of silver were arranged. This was the foundation of his cultivation.

After finishing, he tied the Universe Bag to his waist with a rope. Liu Xiaolou felt much more at ease; from now on, no matter where he went, he would no longer need to worry about his belongings.

Next, without the visits from Zuo Gaofeng and Tan Ba, Liu Xiaolou and Fang Bu'ai both went into seclusion to cultivate. Even Dabai and Xiaohai were very sensible and no longer "quacked" or "meowed." Dry Bamboo Ridge suddenly became quiet, and with this quiet, spring arrived.

Spring rain fell in a drizzle, landing on the Jin Huan beehive hanging high on the cliff wall, startling the Jin Huan bees inside. One Jin Huan bee poked its head out, its two antennae twitched for a moment, and its whole body crawled out of the hive, flapping its wings to take flight.

After flying in the light rain for a moment, it flew out of the bamboo forest and into the small courtyard, landing on a wild flower that had just bloomed by the terrace. Just as the bee's head poked into the flower stamen, a yellow shadow pecked over like lightning—it was Dabai.

Yet it didn't peck this Jin Huan bee. Dabai's long neck was grabbed by Liu Xiaolou with one hand, lifted up, and thrown far to the side.

"You wasteful thing! Have I told you or not, this is a Jin Huan bee, not some ordinary, messy wild bee! Look clearly before you peck! Do you still want to eat honey? Honey with spiritual power!"

Scolded by Liu Xiaolou, Dabai had no choice but to tuck in its wings and pace away with square steps.

Liu Xiaolou stared intently at the Jin Huan bee collecting honey in the flower stamen, then watched it flap its wings and fly away, his heart filled with immense joy. In a few months, he should be able to eat Jin Huan honey, right? Just thinking about it made him drool.

Besides the honey, what made him even happier was the breakthrough in his cultivation. After two months of cultivation and consuming five spirit stones, he finally opened the Foot Qiao Yin point, and his cultivation level rose by another stage.

Qi Refinement Stage 7!

Finally caught up to Tan Ba; the next target, Wei Hongqing!

This breakthrough was quite timely, happening just before Dabai could peck, and it was also very thrilling; he had almost lost a Jin Huan bee.

Qi Refinement Stage 7, the last stage of Mid Qi Refinement. Not to mention anything else, just based on the vigor of his true qi, he could now rank among the upper-middle tier in Wulong Mountain. When he received the Heroic Post again, he would be a core force.

With a turn of his spiritual intent, he took the Three Mystical Sword out of the Universe Bag. As true qi penetrated inward, sword light emerged from the tip of the sword. Putting in his full effort, the sword light grew a few inches longer, almost reaching two feet.

The two-foot-long sword light swam in the rain like a vine; though soft, it had resilience, and the tip of the light faintly branched, as if it were sucking up the falling raindrops.

Hmm? Branching?

Liu Xiaolou was very puzzled. He leaned in to look closely, looking left and right—that's right, it was indeed branching. What the hell?

Whose sword light branches?

Thinking and thinking without finding the key, he had to put the puzzle aside for now. Regardless, after getting used to this soft, limp sword light, it was still very easy to use, especially as its length increased. In actual combat, it was quite unpredictable, often wrapping around certain key parts of the enemy during the dance, and all that was needed was a downward pull—

Hmm, the image is too beautiful.

Besides the sword light becoming longer, when leaping, he was three feet higher, and running was a fraction faster. His sensitivity to perception and the endurance of his true qi had all advanced a step further. All these benefits needed to be slowly explored and adapted to.

Entering Qi Refinement Stage 7, it was time to cultivate the Hand Shaoyin Meridian. This meridian had a total of only nine acupuncture points, much fewer than the Foot Shaoyang Meridian of the sixth stage. Eight acupuncture points were distributed on the palm side of the upper limb, and one acupuncture point was in the axilla, namely Jiquan, Qingling, Shaohai, Lingdao, Tongli, Yinxi, Shenmen, Shaofu, and Shaochong.

Don't look at the small number of acupuncture points; every one of them was a major point, each with a true qi point pool. Truly, the road ahead was long.

However, Liu Xiaolou was not in a hurry. He went down to Half Pine Flat to take a look and saw that Fang Bu'ai was still in seclusion, cultivating diligently, so he didn't disturb him. He went straight down the mountain, heading toward Mount Shenwu.