Chapter 97: Strengthening Treasures

This...

This woman, how did she know my body was sticky and greasy?

Huh?

That's not right... why would I have this feeling on my body?

So filthy!

He Ping was confused for a moment, but he quickly stopped worrying about it.

Regardless of why his body was so dirty, he should go wash up first.

Following Qiao Huizhu's instructions, he walked about two or three miles to the left along the valley and sure enough, he saw a clear stream.

The wilderness was empty and deserted, so He Ping took off his clothes right there, had a comfortable bath, then changed into a clean moon-white robe and returned to the cave.

The first thing he did upon returning was to set up a formation.

The defensive formation was too far inside the cave and couldn't block the entrance.

This time, He Ping moved the formation to the entrance, and when the formation's light membrane expanded, it perfectly blocked the cave mouth.

At this point, it would be impossible for anyone outside to enter.

Then, he used stones to pile up a thick brick wall inside the formation.

This way, he wouldn't have to worry about people or wild beasts accidentally stumbling into the cave.

Even in the unlikely event that someone entered the cave, they wouldn't be able to see his Treasure-Gathering Basin.

Everything done, He Ping took out the Treasure-Gathering Basin.

Now, he had three types of items that needed strengthening.

First: the storage bag.

This thing belonged to Xiao Bufan.

You couldn't carry it out openly.

Otherwise, if you were the only disciple among all the sects carrying a storage bag, other Elders would see through your disguise with a single sweep of their spiritual sense.

Wouldn't that just mean you killed Xiao Bufan?

What He Ping needed to do was strengthen this storage bag into the top-tier kind that could turn invisible.

Clatter...

The storage bag was placed into the Treasure-Gathering Basin.

Second: three green 【Water Origin Spirit Apricots】.

As for whether they could be strengthened into mature Water Origin Spirit Apricots, He Ping didn't know.

But he had to try.

Last one: the Dao talisman.

This Taoist talisman left behind by Xiao Bufan was a first-tier Taoist talisman, but it possessed attack power that surpassed the Qi Refining Stage.

It could cause a certain amount of damage to Foundation Establishment disciples.

But this wasn't enough.

To kill Master Yude, he needed this talisman to have the effect of a one-hit kill against Foundation Establishment cultivators at the very least.

That could only be achieved through strengthening.

Hopefully, its power would increase after strengthening.

He Ping tossed the Dao talisman into the Treasure-Gathering Basin as well.

Then, he sat cross-legged on the pink meditation cushion.

Looking at this pink cushion, He Ping's brow furrowed again: It's really strange, wasn't my original cushion perfectly fine? Why change it to a pink one for me?

Sigh...

Can't understand it!

Women are truly strange creatures!

He Ping took a deep breath, cleared all the messy thoughts from his mind, and began to continue cultivating the 【Xuan Men Elder Jingxin Zhen Jue】.

The Xuan Men Elder Jingxin Zhen Jue could increase the strength of one's spiritual sense.

Of course, for someone like He Ping whose spiritual sense had suffered heavy damage, cultivating this technique could also allow for a slow recovery.

However, this speed was too slow; it would be impossible without several years of effort.

To quickly recover his spiritual sense, the best method was to refine a batch of 【Yu Shen Dan】, and by consuming them, he could recover in a few months.

If he had top-tier Yu Shen Dan, he could restore his injured spiritual sense to its original state in just a few days.

He Ping didn't expect to heal his spiritual sense through these last few days of cultivation; he just wanted to repair a tiny bit of it so he could use it.

Unknowingly, a day and a night passed.

He Ping opened his eyes, his gaze turning directly toward the Treasure-Gathering Basin.

His brow furrowed slightly.

Originally, he felt that this Treasure-Gathering Basin should be able to strengthen all three items.

However, he had overestimated the Treasure-Gathering Basin's current capabilities.

It had strengthened them, alright.

But it had only strengthened one type of item.

The three green apricots had now turned golden yellow.

And they had become six.

He Ping held one in his hand; a faint fragrance wafted out, and on the fruit's skin, there was a faint golden mark, mysterious and profound.

"Great!" He Ping was overjoyed.

The immature Water Origin Spirit Apricots had truly been strengthened into mature ones.

Put them away!

All six apricots were tucked into his storage bag.

It was a pity that although there were many apricots, such heaven-defying treasures all followed the rule of "a one-time encounter."

What is a one-time encounter?

It means that eating it once is useful.

Eating it a second time is useless.

When He Ping reached the Perfection Stage of Qi Refining in the future, he might encounter the three bottlenecks of the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth layers.

Eating one apricot could break through one layer of the bottleneck.

But eating another wouldn't be able to break the next bottleneck.

This was the one-time encounter rule.

Many heaven-defying treasures followed this rule of a one-time encounter.

Setting aside the 【Water Origin Spirit Apricots】, He Ping's gaze fell on the other two items.

The Dao talisman and the storage bag.

Neither of these had been strengthened.

But He Ping wasn't worried, because he had previously used the Treasure-Gathering Basin to strengthen a 【storage bag】 once before.

He Ping felt that the reason it hadn't strengthened this time was likely due to the insufficient amount of moonlight gathered by the Treasure-Gathering Basin.

Let's try again tonight!

Sure enough, it was just as He Ping had guessed.

After the second night passed, the storage bag was strengthened.

A plain, ordinary storage bag had turned into two storage bags that could turn invisible.

And each of these two invisible storage bags had a space ten zhang high, ten zhang wide, and ten zhang long.

Each one could hold a massive amount of items.

"Hide..."

The storage bag hummed and vanished onto He Ping's body.

This thing didn't possess many layers of restrictions like a magic treasure; as long as one attached their spiritual sense to it, a storage bag could be used.

No refining required.

"Hide..."

The second storage bag was also hidden away by him.

In the Treasure-Gathering Basin, the 【Dao talisman】 remained completely motionless.

But there was no need to worry; He Ping believed that after one more night, it would definitely change.

After the third night passed, the Dao talisman inside the Treasure-Gathering Basin finally changed.

One Dao talisman had become two.

One green Dao talisman, one golden Dao talisman.

He Ping excitedly reached out and took both Dao talismans into his hands.

He placed the green Dao talisman against his forehead to look, and the information on the talisman was revealed.

Name: Ten Thousand Sword Dao Talisman.

Tier: First-tier top-tier!

Effect: Instant activation; upon activation, it can condense hundreds of sword shadows to kill enemies, with the power of a single strike capable of slaying Foundation Establishment creatures.

Hiss, hiss, hiss...

Upon seeing this description, He Ping was overjoyed and simultaneously drew a cold breath.

Powerful!

It really could slay Foundation Establishment disciples.

And it was instantaneous!

Heh heh...

Now, if he happened to run into that old bull-nosed Master Yude in a narrow encounter, he wouldn't have to be afraid anymore.

After putting away the green Ten Thousand Sword Dao Talisman, He Ping pressed the golden Dao talisman against his forehead.

Name: Golden Sword Dao Talisman.

Tier: First-tier top-tier.

Effect: Instant activation; upon activation, it can condense a golden sword shadow ten zhang long, and when the sword shadow lands, it can slay Foundation Establishment creatures. ===== CHAPTER 98 =====