Chapter 294

"This is the ancestral blood essence of a beast, and the beast serpent you slew clearly has an extraordinary lineage—only beasts with a potential of second-rank or higher can condense such essence within their bodies," said the old man in gray robes, his eyes widening as he saw the emerald horn in the box and heard its origin.

"The ancestral blood essence refers to the blood veins inside this horn? Is it really that valuable?" Wang Yu asked, curious at the old man's reaction.

"Whether it's valuable or not is hard to say—it depends on whether you find someone who specifically needs this ancestral essence. If you do, you can sell it for a high price; if not, it's worth little," said Master Li, picking up the emerald horn and studying the blood veins within it under the light before speaking solemnly.

"What do you mean by that? What's so special about this ancestral essence?" Wang Yu asked again.

"Ancestral blood essence, as the name implies, is the process of restoring the strongest ancestor's blood within the beast's body, allowing the beast to grow stronger in the future."

"Normally, when we speak of a beast's first-rank or second-rank potential, we mean the highest realm it can naturally reach. But with ancestral essence, it gains the possibility of breaking through its species' bottleneck and evolving into a higher-tier beast."

"Similarly, for human bloodline cultivators who wish to further awaken or even evolve their bloodline, they also require corresponding ancestral essence—and your ancestral essence is no ordinary one," said Master Li, placing the horn back into the box and speaking to Wang Yu with solemn care.

"I see. But what do you mean by 'no ordinary one'?" Wang Yu said, understanding for a moment, then asking curiously.

"According to your account, this horn was peeled from a fleshy bulge on the serpent's head, meaning the serpent was about to grow horns—this is already a sign of jiao transformation. Thus, the essence within is almost certainly the ancestral blood of some kind of jiao dragon."

"You already know how powerful jiao dragons are. Even the weakest gray jiao reaches third-rank strength upon maturity; stronger ones like white or green jiao attain fourth-rank power; as for the legendary golden and silver jiao dragons, they're said to summon wind and rain, overturn rivers and seas, their divine powers unfathomable," Master Li spoke with calm enthusiasm.

"So if this essence truly is ancestral jiao dragon blood, it has fourth-rank potential?" Wang Yu stared at the small horn in the box, his eyes wide.

"Hah, you're overthinking it. How could a low-tier serpent, not even second-rank, possess such a potent ancestral jiao bloodline? It's almost certainly the most common gray jiao essence."

"But even so, if you find someone who needs jiao blood and is willing to take a chance, selling it for six or seven thousand spirit stones is easy," Master Li chuckled.

"Only six or seven thousand spirit stones?" Wang Yu's face fell slightly at the news.

"What are you thinking? Even with jiao dragon essence, these few strands can't fetch a high price. Six or seven thousand spirit stones is already a generous estimate."

"By the way, I recall that crocodile-type beasts also have the potential to evolve into jiao dragons. Why not just give this essence to your spiritual beast? Even if it doesn't trigger bloodline evolution, it'll still bring some benefit," Master Li added with a smile, offering advice.

"If it's useful for crocodile-type spiritual beasts, then maybe I can take it too—I awakened the Iron-Devouring Crocodile bloodline," Wang Yu thought for a moment, then suddenly said excitedly to the old man.

"Wang Shixiong, you don't seriously plan to swallow this ancestral essence directly, do you?" Master Li stared at Wang Yu's eager expression and was momentarily speechless.

"Why not? Can't I take it?" Wang Yu blinked, sensing something.

"Haha, of course you can take it—but not directly. You must refine it into a pill using it as the main ingredient. Swallowing it raw could have unpredictable consequences," Master Li said slowly.

"I understand, Master. We aren't beasts—directly ingesting a beast's ancestral essence would naturally cause problems," Wang Yu replied, instantly comprehending.

"Good that you understand. But if you wish to sell it outright, I'll buy it for six thousand spirit stones—I'd actually like to study jiao dragon essence myself," Master Li added with a smile.

"I haven't decided to sell it yet. If I ever do, I'll come to you first," Wang Yu replied without hesitation.

The man in gray robes nodded.

…

Inside a hall of the General Affairs Hall.

On a large table lay about a dozen low-rank magical artifacts, each wrapped in faint black mist, clearly bearing the style of demonic cultivation. Among them, a small black sword entwined with crimson threads stood out strikingly.

A thin, middle-aged man inspected each artifact one by one, moving quickly, finishing in moments. He then turned to Wang Yu, who stood beside the table, and said:

"Fourteen artifacts total: five non-rank, eight standard rank, one high-quality rank. Since they're demonic artifacts, not many of our sect's disciples can use them, so the Spirit Goods Pavilion can only repurchase them at half price—total: six thousand three hundred spirit stones," the man stated calmly.

"Fine, I'll sell them all to the sect at this price," Wang Yu replied without hesitation.

In the Jialan Secret Realm, he had looted several storage bags from demonic disciples. These demonic artifacts weren't high-quality nor suited to him, so he'd sold them all to the Spirit Goods Pavilion; the bone artifacts, however, might still be useful later, so he kept them in his cave dwelling.

"Master, could you also appraise these materials and spiritual items? Is the Spirit Goods Pavilion interested?" Wang Yu said, pulling several boxes from his waist storage bag. The man nodded and opened them—inside lay a serpent gallbladder, a golden-yellow eye, a blue scale, and a massive fang.

"Hmm, these are interesting. You've clearly had a fruitful trip, Wang Shixiong," the thin man said, eyes brightening as he hurried forward to examine them.

"These items—I'll take them all for three thousand spirit stones."

"The rest are ordinary, but this first-rank full-grown serpent gallbladder is the main ingredient for Qingming Powder—our pavilion's stock is nearly depleted. Also, the magical runes on this scale are intriguing, though incomplete; someone specialized would need to restore them before they could be studied. The rest are unremarkable," the man quickly gave his appraisal and explanation.

"Alright, I'll sell all these to the Spirit Goods Pavilion. Also, Master, could you help me identify this pill?" Wang Yu nodded, then pulled a vial from his storage bag and poured out a pliable, blood-red pill.