Chapter 142: Mid-grade Spiritual Stone

It's actually a three‑transformation Gu worm?!

One must know that a three‑transformation Gu worm cannot be refined by ordinary cultivators; one also needs to master the art of controlling Gu. This three‑transformation blade‑mantis Gu worm is at least something a late Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator, or even a Golden Core cultivator, could possibly refine!

As for how powerful it is?

Back when the Magical Cultivation and Gu cultivators of the Nan Ting Mountain Region waged war, this three‑transformation blade‑mantis Gu worm was famous far and wide; even today it's not a Gu worm ordinary cultivators can see!

Yan Buji's expression changed, he took a deep breath: 'I want to sell this blade‑mantis Gu worm at a discount.'

The old master nodded, knowing that a Lianqi Phase cultivator had no right to possess such a powerful Gu worm, so he called for the shopkeeper Hua Fei.

Hua Fei clasped his hands and smiled: 'Fellow Daoist, please, let's go to the back to discuss the price.'

'Okay.'

Yan Buji followed Hua Fei to the back hall; Hua Fei examined the blade‑mantis Gu worm carefully, frowned, and said: 'According to reason, this blade‑mantis Gu worm is worth at least eight thousand Spiritual Stones, but because one of its wings is broken, it must be retrained and nurtured. After the discount, I can only offer four thousand five hundred Spiritual Stones.'

'No problem.' Yan Buji said directly, his expression unchanged.

He only knew the prices of various materials up to the Lianqi Phase; beyond that, he wasn't very clear.

The prices of key Gu worms and Spiritual Materials are different, with many more evaluation criteria; he really hadn't studied them in detail.

'Haha, Fellow Daoist is straightforward; may I ask how to address you?'

'Shopkeeper Hua, please call me Ji Bu.' Yan Buji bowed his hands.

Hua Fei nodded and smiled: 'Ji Bu Fellow Daoist, if we settled with low‑grade Spiritual Stones it would be too troublesome. Here are forty mid‑grade Spiritual Stones; take a look.'

While speaking, Hua Fei actually laid out forty Spiritual Stones on the table that were several times richer in spiritual energy than ordinary Spiritual Stones; Yan Buji's eyes lit up.

These mid‑grade Spiritual Stones are far more useful than low‑grade ones; although after the discount I only get forty, the conversion of low‑grade to mid‑grade Spiritual Stones isn't a fixed 1:100 ratio, and mid‑grade Spiritual Stones aren't something ordinary cultivators can come into contact with.

Yan Buji put away the mid‑grade Spiritual Stones, nodded, and said: 'Thank you, Shopkeeper Hua.'

'You're welcome. Fellow Daoist Ji, do you still want to continue stone‑cutting today?'

Yan Buji was eager to try, but then he shook his head with a wry smile: 'I don't know how many people will be watching me; I'll go out to avoid the spotlight first and come back later.'

'Hahaha, Fellow Daoist Ji, you're welcome anytime.'

After Yan Buji left through the back door, the news that a Lianqi Initial Phase cultivator had unearthed a three‑transformation Gu worm spread like wildfire from the Precious Stone Studio, attracting a large number of cultivators.

Hua Fei stood beside the old master and asked: 'Old Zhao, did that cultivator who just unearthed the blade‑mantis Gu worm show any abnormalities?'

Old Zhao shook his head: 'Just pure good luck.'

Hua Fei sighed: 'It seems finding the descendant of that Stone‑cutting Expert here won't be that simple.'

A few days passed.

Yan Buji found an inn, closed himself off, avoiding the spotlight while focusing on studying the cultivation method of the Wang family cultivators.

Although Yan Buji had dabbled a little before, upon looking now he saw that the Wang family cultivators' method was not the ordinary Five Elements technique but a very agile wind‑based cultivation art!

'No wonder those few Wang family cultivators are so fast; in an instant they could surround Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator Wang Jie—turns out it's this kind of method!' Yan Buji felt a little surprised.

Although the wind‑based cultivation art doesn't mesh well with his still‑unmastered basic Five Elements cultivation, the 'Wind‑Tuning' secret technique recorded therein is extremely powerful!

This secret technique requires wind‑type magical power to activate; it can imbue the user with tremendous agility in an extremely short time, and even slightly manipulate wind power to accelerate.

If he could master it, combined with his Lightning Flash esoteric art, it might prove very useful.

Yan Buji tried practicing the Wind‑Tuning secret technique, but it was still the same—without even a little time to get started, it's difficult, let alone switching to cultivate the wind‑based art.

'This Wind‑Tuning secret technique should be a prerequisite secret technique for the Evasion Art that Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators can practice; the Lightning Flash is similar, also bearing a shadow of the Evasion Art. Similar to this attribute‑type Evasion Art, it can ensure a surge in speed while also possessing tremendous agility—if I could master it, that would be great.' Yan Buji thought.

Perhaps after reaching Lianqi Fifth Layer, he could try cultivating the Wang family's wind‑based art; first master the Wind‑Tuning secret technique, and if it can combine with Lightning Flash, a low‑grade version of the Evasion Art should be about the same.

Yan Buji currently does not seek overwhelming combat power; the combat power of Martial Dao Profound Skill is plainly visible—even if he bare‑blocks a normal strike from a black dragon near Golden Core Stage, he can still elicit a response, showing its toughness and combat power are currently superior to magical techniques.

Of course, there was also luck involved at that time; if that black dragon could have been fully controlled by the Daoist of Separation to exert its full strength, he would have been slapped to death long ago.

Cultivation naturally must not be neglected; with forty mid‑grade Spiritual Stones, low‑grade Spiritual Stones can be set aside for now.

Over the following time, Yan Buji spent an entire month absorbing all forty mid‑grade Spiritual Stones, barely reaching the stage of Lianqi Second Layer, Second Turn.

It's clear why this Nine‑Turn Technique is both loved and hated: relying solely on Yan Buji's current magical power, it's probably roughly equivalent to Lianqi Fourth Layer of an ordinary cultivator, yet the later stages of this Nine‑Turn Technique become harder to cultivate, and the amount of spiritual energy he estimates is needed might even surpass what's required to break through to Foundation Establishment Stage.

'Perhaps I'm also using the Spiritual Stones incorrectly; part of the spiritual energy absorbed from them leaks out, so I need to find a way to make efficient use of the Spiritual Stones' spiritual energy.' Yan Buji furrowed his brow.

Before, when he practiced, he felt he could never fully absorb the spiritual energy contained in a Spiritual Stone; in most cases, with a single low‑grade Spiritual Stone he could absorb at most about fifty percent of its spiritual energy, the remaining fifty percent being consumed in various stages.

Initially he thought it was just his poor aptitude, but now at least he has a high‑imitation mortal body, yet the absorption efficiency has improved by only about ten percent.

Perhaps for cultivators with better aptitude, the speed of absorbing spiritual energy from Spiritual Stones and its consumption rate aren't that high, but Yan Buji can't possibly turn into a celestial‑aptitude holy embryo out of thin air, can he?

It would be better to think of other methods.

Heaven does not cut off a person's path; Yan Buji doesn't believe other cultivators would fail to notice this.

Yan Buji said: 'After a month, surely no one is paying attention to me anymore? That day I also publicly sold the three‑transformation blade‑mantis Gu worm, so it shouldn't come looking for trouble.'

Yan Buji thought as he walked out of the inn and onto the street.

The Ascension Immortal Assembly is expected to last three years, with many cultivators coming and going.

Yan Buji wandered to and fro on the road, intentionally bringing up the issue of absorbing spiritual energy, and indeed he received quite a few responses from cultivators.

'For us loose cultivators, the best option is to find a way to join a faction. Some factions have specialized methods to convert and store leaked spiritual energy: either by constructing a Grand Gathering‑Spirit Array to reduce spiritual energy leakage, or by using certain special means to improve the efficiency of absorbing spiritual energy.'

'What would they see in us little folks?'

'That said, aren't there formation sellers in the city? Consulting them might yield a solution.'

'Come on, you know formation sellers earn who knows how many Spiritual Stones a year—could you even afford a small Gathering‑Spirit disc from them? That would cost several thousand Spiritual Stones and wouldn't be usable many times.'

Gathering‑Spirit Array?

Yan Buji's eyes shifted, and he noted down that term.