Chapter 121: Reciprocity

Naturally, Xuanchen Zhenjun could not stop such a face-to-face inquiry.

However, Xu Chen's answer left him extremely satisfied, effectively sealing off any plans Yuqing Hall and Longmen Mountain might have had to get to the bottom of things.

Whatever secrets Xu Chen possessed, they were the secrets of Taiyuan Sect, and could even be considered classified.

In the presence of the five True Monarchs, as long as Xu Chen did not wish to speak, the matter was considered closed, and no one would ask again in the future, for to ask again would be to tear off the mask of civility.

Therefore, after a moment of silence among the four True Monarchs, Chixia Zhenjun said, "Very well, then we shall wait until young friend Xu reaches Spirit Transformation before speaking further. When that time comes, we old fellows will certainly not let you down. You deserve great credit for obtaining so many Soul Beads with such minimal casualties this time. I have a third-grade Magic Treasure here, which was once my own protective treasure; I gift it to you today as a token of thanks for guarding the Array Eye and saving the disciples of my Yuqing Hall!"

Chixia Zhenjun flicked his horsetail whisk, and a palm-sized, antique bronze mirror hovered before Xu Chen. The Spirit Qi fluctuations radiating from it carried an ancient aura; it was clearly no ordinary Magic Treasure, but one with significant age and provenance.

Looking at this treasure, not only were Yuyang Zhenjun and Baiyun Zhenjun filled with astonishment, but even Taiwuzi's beard twitched violently, and Xuanchen Zhenjun nearly lost his grip on his teacup, exclaiming, "Could this be the Qinglan Light-Splitting Mirror?"

Chixia Zhenjun nodded slightly and said, "Indeed. I obtained this treasure five hundred years ago. Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, I have grown old. This treasure requires an extremely powerful Soul talent to use; none of my disciples at Yuqing Hall are suited for it. Young friend Xu's Soul is extremely powerful, even stronger than mine was at that age. In your hands, this treasure will not have its brilliance buried. I only hope you will treat it well in the future."

"Many thanks for the gift, Senior Chixia!"

Although Xu Chen had never heard of the Qinglan Light-Splitting Mirror, he knew from the emotional shifts of the group of Great Cultivators that this was no ordinary Magic Treasure and must be incredibly powerful, so he hurriedly grabbed the copper mirror and thanked him.

"Senior Chixia has gifted such an excellent protective treasure, and while I cannot match that, I fear being laughed at by you all if I send something inferior, so I shall simply gift a treasure that the young friend can use right now!" Taiwuzi flicked his horsetail whisk, and a pitch-black bracelet with dark patterns floated before Xu Chen.

"This is a storage Magic Treasure I won in a bet with someone in the past, called the Mysterious Gold Bracelet. It has a space of three zhang square inside, and its value is not too bad!"

"Many thanks, Taiwuzi!" Upon hearing it was a storage Magic Treasure, Xu Chen was so happy he couldn't close his mouth.

He was currently using a Storage Bag, which only had five feet of space. While it was sufficient for daily use, the Storage Bag was the lowest-grade storage Magic Treasure; not only was it fragile, but its security was also very poor, and it could collapse if he encountered intense combat.

A large-capacity storage bracelet like this was something every cultivator dreamed of, but such items were expensive, costing at least several thousand or even tens of thousands of Spirit Stones, and definitely belonged to the luxury category of Magic Treasures.

Most importantly, this type of high-grade storage Magic Treasure was very sturdy; generally speaking, it would not easily shatter even in battles between Spirit Realm Great Cultivators. It not only had a large number of built-in stabilization and self-protection arrays, but also an extremely powerful Soul-binding function, which was completely different from a common Soul Locking Array.

Once a Soul imprint was branded onto this type of Magic Treasure, even a Spirit Realm Great Cultivator would be helpless if they did not know the method to open it.

"Since the Martial Uncle and Daoist Friend Taiwu have both gifted Magic Treasures, I shall not follow suit; I will gift the young friend a secret technique I created myself!"

Baiyun Zhenjun waved his horsetail whisk, and a palm-sized white Jade Slip landed before Xu Chen.

Xu Chen hurriedly held it carefully in his hands, his heart pounding with excitement.

Magic Treasures were indeed good things, but they were external objects; not only did they have many restrictions on their use, but they would also slowly lose their value as one's cultivation grew. However, a Magic Spell created by a Spirit Realm Great Cultivator was the best kind of cultivation insight and realization; if one could study it thoroughly, it would be of great benefit to one's cultivation and useful for a lifetime.

Moreover, this was a secret technique, almost the core and essence of Baiyun Zhenjun's entire cultivation. Ordinarily, let alone Core Disciples of Yuqing Hall, even Personal Disciples would likely not be taught this easily.

"This secret technique is called Cloud Flow Step. It is not an attack technique, but an evasive movement technique. When performed, the body can transform like flowing clouds. If you use it when encountering a strong enemy, as long as they are not a cultivator more than one major realm above you, it can basically guarantee you a chance to counterattack or escape. However, performing this technique also requires an extremely strong Soul and deep True Essence support. The young friend currently possesses top-tier aptitude in both, so as long as you practice it until proficient, you should be able to perform it. Remember, this technique must not be passed on to others. Young friend, read the Jade Slip now and commit it to memory!" Baiyun Zhenjun explained and reminded him.

"Many thanks, Senior!"

After thanking him, Xu Chen hurriedly pressed the Jade Slip to his brow and probed it with his Divine Sense; he soon felt a thick aura surging into his Sea of Consciousness.

Because the aura came violently, Xu Chen felt the Blue Light Jade Bottle vibrate slightly under the impact, but this impact was no pressure at all for him now. The moment his Divine Sense touched the aura, a Magic Spell immediately appeared in his mind, as if it had completely merged with his memory, yet he could not perceive a single word or character from it.

Just as he was stunned and contemplating this spell, he heard a faint 'Crack!', and the Jade Slip pressed against his brow shattered into powder, drifting down in a flurry.

Xuanchen Zhenjun's expression turned instantly surprised, and his facial muscles couldn't help but twitch fiercely.

He had only recently reached Spirit Transformation and had underestimated the intentions of these veteran Great Cultivators.

Secret technique transmission, without the use of text.

He did not know how powerful this cultivation method was, but he considered his own cultivation to be no lower than Baiyun Zhenjun's. However, in terms of cultivation, he was still a large step behind; he could not yet comprehend this method of secret transmission.

This method of transmission could not be explained by Xu Chen to outsiders, because it was a pure infusion of Soul consciousness, completely different from text or graphics.

Seeing the Jade Slip shatter instantly, Baiyun Zhenjun's two long eyebrows also couldn't help but twitch slightly, his heart filled with immense surprise.

He had already thought highly of Xu Chen, but he had not expected Xu Chen's Soul strength to be even greater than he had imagined.

Among the Kaiyuan Realm disciples of Yuqing Hall, absolutely no one could read this secret technique. Even for disciples at the True Essence Late Stage, to read it, they would have to endure immense Soul pressure; disciples without sufficient talent simply could not bear it, and if they forced themselves to accept it, their Souls might even suffer severe damage.

But Xu Chen not only read it easily, but did so in less than five breaths of time.

As for the three True Monarchs, Chixia Zi, Taiwuzi, and Yuyangzi, their expressions also changed.

Everyone's evaluation of Xu Chen was raised another notch.

"Since Martial Brother Baiyun has gifted an escape spell, I shall gift you an offensive Magic Treasure. With Cloud Flow Step combined with the Spectral Mirror, young friend Xu will be almost untouchable among those of the same realm. With this Magic Treasure of mine, you can truly be called invincible within your realm!"

Yuyang Zhenjun raised his hand and waved it gently, and a half-foot-long, blue-black iron rod-like Magic Treasure landed before Xu Chen.

"Is this the Mysterious Blue Thunder Fire Pestle?" Xuanchen Zhenjun's expression suddenly became incredibly surprised.

Yuyang Zhenjun chuckled and nodded, "Correct. This was my protective Magic Treasure, the Thunder Fire Pestle, back when I was in the Danyuan Realm."

Taiwuzi stroked his beard with a depressed expression, "Your Yuqing Hall's gratitude is too excessive. Young friend Xu has so many Magic Treasures and secret techniques now; won't Danyuan Realm cultivators in the Great Song territory have to take a detour when they see him from now on?"

Yuyangzi laughed dryly, "Young friend Xu has done a great service to our Yuqing Hall, so gifting a few Magic Treasures and secret techniques is only right. I am mainly worried about those blind Danyuan Realm cultivators who lack self-respect, bullying the weak with their strength and coming to harass him again. What does Daoist Friend Taiwu think?"

Taiwuzi's face turned black instantly, and he snorted and turned his head away.

Chixia Zhenjun waved his hand, "Enough. The young friend has received all the rewards for now, so let us not mention this again. The leakage of Nether Qi is the primary matter that we in the Great Song Immortal World need to unite and deal with. We must not take it lightly. From today on, we need to follow the strategy we previously discussed, continue to arrange for personnel to monitor the array in turns, and exterminate the Soul Beasts that have escaped. Additionally, since we have harvested so many Soul Beads this time, we must return to our sects as soon as possible to refine them and improve our cultivation. I fear that in the near future, even more unpredictable events may occur. Fellow Daoists, please be cautious!"

"We obey the order of Senior Chixia!" The four Spirit Transformation Great Cultivators hurriedly bowed and accepted the order together.

Xu Chen was naturally feeling incredibly pleased at this moment. He bowed repeatedly to thank the True Monarchs, and after putting away the several Magic Treasures, he took out all the Soul Beads he had collected in his Storage Bag and said:

"In this operation, this junior also harvested some Soul Beads. Having received such generous gifts from you seniors today, I dare not take them for nothing. These Soul Beads shall be left to you seniors to dispose of, as a return gift."

The True Monarchs laughed out loud in unison. Yuyang Zhenjun nodded, "The young friend is also an honest person; reciprocity is only reasonable."

Chixia Zhenjun guided with his Divine Sense and took a pitch-black Soul Bead, as large as a goose egg and resembling ink jade, before him. He observed it intently for a moment, a look of shock appearing on his face as he said, "Could this be the Black Spider Soul Beast that Daoist Brother Xuanchen killed with his own hands?"

Xuanchen Zhenjun nodded, "Indeed. If Chen'er hadn't arrived in time to block it, I wouldn't have been able to rescue them in time!"

Although three days had passed, Xuanchen Zhenjun still looked back on the matter with lingering fear.

The size of this bead and the strength of the Soul Power contained within it were indeed rare. The aura it radiated made even the True Monarchs feel their Primordial Spirits trembling with excitement, and they had an urge to swallow it in one gulp.

Refining this Soul Bead was almost equivalent to refining the Soul Power of a thousand ordinary Soul Beads.

But in cultivation, the math did not work that way.

Just like swallowing and refining Spirit Pills, those in the True Essence Realm could also eat Great Origin Pills to replenish their energy, but because the energy was too weak, eating one pill was useless. To replenish energy quickly, one needed the more potent Great Origin Pills; one pill was worth ten, and the more critical the situation, the more one required better Spirit Pills.

By the time one reached the Danyuan Realm, ordinary first-grade or second-grade energy-replenishing Spirit Pills were almost useless; one had to consume highly effective energy-replenishing items like Spirit Liquid.

Therefore, although the Great Cultivators dismissed Xu Chen's child-like return gift, this unprecedentedly huge Soul Bead made everyone's heart beat faster instantly. Their Dao hearts, which had been like old dogs after hundreds of years of cultivation, were faintly unstable, and they all wanted to snatch this Soul Bead.

(End of chapter)