If not for Li Yan's extremely fast reaction, he would have been pulled head over heels to the ground, which surprised him greatly.
Bringing the section of tailbone before his eyes again, Li Yan focused his attention and began to inspect it…
After a long while, Li Yan looked up. He could not determine what kind of demonic beast this bone belonged to; he couldn't even tell what rank of demonic beast the remnant bone was from. Perhaps because of its great age or some other reason, besides being exceptionally heavy, this remnant bone no longer had the slightest fluctuation of spiritual energy.
"Although I don't know where Chan Master Dajing obtained this tailbone, it's possible that even he himself didn't know what demonic beast it came from. Otherwise, with his Buddhist body cultivation methods, this beast bone could have been refined into a magical treasure suitable for a Body Cultivator. He probably left it here hoping to figure out its origin, to avoid misusing it and regretting it later."
In the end, Li Yan could only temporarily set this unknown tailbone aside.
He glanced at the materials. Since Li Yan possessed the Fragmented Poison Body and had studied a wide variety of medicinal herbs, he recognized a good number of them. He would later keep the ones he fancied, and the rest could be sold or exchanged with others in the future. As for the demonic beast materials, Li Yan would not sell them easily.
He estimated that he would have to spend some time studying them again. He would only decide whether to sell them or keep them for refining magical treasures after assessing their value. And this research process, just like studying the Fragmented Poison Body, was a process of both pain and pleasure.
After setting these things aside, Li Yan saw another small gray stone block in the monk's pouch. He had now learned from Gu Jiuqi's message that this item was called a "Sand Star Stone," but a specially refined one. Not only could it be used for positioning, but it could also tear the void and provide extremely strong defense within the Chaotic Flow Space.
"This is a good item. There should be a corresponding one for it. I wonder if they've taken it away? Hm... I can try it out later. If I can find the other piece, wouldn't that be even better?" Li Yan thought to himself but wasn't in a hurry to look for the "Sand Star Stone" immediately.
If the thing hadn't been taken away yet, there was no need to rush. Otherwise, several days had already passed; whoever was going to take it would have done so long ago. With so many Nascent Soul cultivators gathered here recently, Hang Lin and the others wouldn't dare to approach again for a short while.
By now, Li Yan had seen most of the items in the golden-yellow monk's pouch.
He turned his gaze to the remaining two gray monk's pouches, and a divine sense spike shot toward their openings…
A quarter of an hour later, Li Yan had quickly finished inspecting the remaining two monk's pouches. The situation was both within his expectations and beyond them.
Just by looking at the color of the two pouches, one could tell they were likely not as precious as the golden-yellow one, and that was indeed the case. Each pouch had a space of only a hundred zhang, and the items inside were much more chaotic: piles upon piles of medicinal herbs and artifact-refining materials; mid and low-grade spirit stones, second and third-rank medicinal pills; as well as fourteen magical treasures and some formation artifacts, monk's robes, and so on.
These items were clearly some of the mid to low-grade things that Chan Master Dajing had kept. They were either loot from killing others that he hadn't had time to deal with, or things he had saved for other uses.
"The old fellow certainly killed his fair share of people!"
Many of the items were not things used by Buddhist disciples, so their origin was easy to guess.
Although these things might seem ordinary to a Nascent Soul cultivator, in the hands of an ordinary cultivator, each would be a top-tier treasure. So Chan Master Dajing hadn't discarded them, instead just piling them up in the monk's pouch.
What surprised Li Yan the most was the number of mid and low-grade spirit stones in the two gray monk's pouches. They were piled everywhere like miscellaneous items, in mounds and heaps.
Crystalline and brimming with spiritual energy!
With just a quick sweep of his Divine Sense, Li Yan estimated there were at least one hundred ten to one hundred twenty thousand mid-grade spirit stones, and at least five to six hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones.
"This is too wealthy. I was so short-sighted before."
Thinking again of that supreme-grade spirit stone and the tens of thousands of high-grade spirit stones, Li Yan's horizons were truly broadened. He could only sigh that the wealth of a Nascent Soul cultivator was beyond his imagination, leaving him awestruck.
In fact, it was normal for Dajing to have such wealth. He was a great elder of Mingtuo Temple and had been in the Nascent Soul realm for so many years. Whether through murder and robbery or the temple's resources, he had taken quite a lot. However, his expenditures were even greater. This was only what he had left.
Finally, Li Yan turned his gaze to the ring floating in the air. It was Qi Jinghong's storage magical treasure. At this moment, Li Yan felt his heart begin to beat a little faster. He was like a poor man who had suddenly become rich. With the three monk's pouches from Chan Master Dajing as a foundation, his heart was now filled with even greater anticipation…
After an incense stick's worth of time, Li Yan let out a long breath.
The space inside Qi Jinghong's storage ring was also four to five hundred zhang in size, and its contents were also exceptionally rich. Besides a massive amount of high-rank artifact-refining and alchemy materials, there were also many fourth and fifth-rank pills and high-grade talismans. But after seeing the three monk's pouches from Chan Master Dajing, the kind of things that made Li Yan's eyes light up did not appear so readily.
There were over eight hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones, three hundred thousand mid-grade spirit stones, and over thirty thousand high-grade spirit stones. If looking at the spirit stones alone, Qi Jinghong's wealth was much greater than Chan Master Dajing's.
As for magical treasures, besides that crimson brush, there were three other high-rank magical treasures: an inkstone, paper, and an ink slab. They were clearly a set with the crimson brush. Such sets of magical treasures were usually very powerful, but they also required practicing related exclusive arts.
Unfortunately, after searching in the storage ring for a long time, Li Yan not only didn't find the cultivation method for this set, he didn't even find any other cultivation methods. It was obvious that Qi Jinghong placed great importance on his cultivation methods. So besides memorizing them in his sea of consciousness, he had probably stored all the various cultivation method classics in some secret place.
This type of cultivator usually trusted the safety of their own treasure troves more. So, Li Yan guessed that Qi Jinghong had even more precious treasures that he didn't carry with him, and he couldn't help but feel a little regretful.
Under such circumstances, these four magical treasures, apart from being forcibly activated by infusing magical power, were of no use to Li Yan for the time being. Li Yan decided to study this high-rank magical treasure when he had time. If he really couldn't find a way to unleash its true power, then he would just sell it.
In the storage ring, Li Yan also found another "Sand Star Stone," which did not surprise him. The fact that several Nascent Soul cultivators had this item on them was a preparation for the eventuality of escape. It was just that these two never got the chance to use it.
At this moment, in the cultivation chamber, two jade boxes, one large and one small, floated before Li Yan's eyes. The moment Li Yan saw these two jade boxes in the storage space just now, his heart had been filled with immense joy.
"Could it be more supreme-grade spirit stones? Qi Jinghong didn't store all his valuables after all. The foundation of these old Nascent Soul cultivators is unimaginably deep!"
As Li Yan thought, his hands did not stop. After once again stabilizing the cultivation chamber with his magical power, his divine sense spike stabbed fiercely at the residual imprint on the larger jade box…
A few breaths later, when the jade box opened, Li Yan, who had already been mentally prepared, was once again shocked. Two powerful pressures rushed toward him. Even though Li Yan was prepared, his bones still crackled under the two pressures, and a sharp, needle-like pain spread across his skin.
Inside this jade box were actually two supreme-grade spirit stones, one yellow and one green. The pressure emitted by the two supreme-grade spirit stones caught Li Yan off guard, and he suffered a small loss. A fiery pain spread across his skin.
"Two... two of them? These are... earth and wood supreme-grade spirit stones!"
Qi Jinghong actually had two supreme-grade spirit stones in his possession! Not every Nascent Soul cultivator could obtain a supreme-grade spirit stone. Someone like Wei Zhongran didn't even have one. This kind of treasure could only be encountered by chance. Even if you wanted to exchange for it, you probably wouldn't find the opportunity. Li Yan didn't know where Qi Jinghong had gotten them.
He didn't know that Qi Jinghong's original wealth was not as great as Chan Master Dajing's. He had obtained these through a fortuitous encounter during the decisive battle at the Devil's Cliff Crevice. The spoils of war he obtained during that battle contained three storage rings. Even he himself couldn't remember from whom he had taken them. In such a brutal and chaotic battle, cultivators on both sides had their eyes red with killing. It was not uncommon for them to perish together. Storage rings flying off of shattered corpses and not being collected for a short time were also a common sight.
Nearly half of the things on Qi Jinghong were obtained at that time. It was just that the mid and high-grade spirit stones had been consumed by him over the years, otherwise, the quantity would have been even greater.
With the appearance of the water-attribute spirit stone earlier, Li Yan quickly recovered. After calming down, he carefully inspected the two spirit stones. He found that the spiritual energy inside was extremely abundant. Li Yan judged that these two supreme-grade spirit stones had probably not been used either, but he had never really been in contact with a supreme-grade spirit stone before, so this was just a guess based on his feelings.
This time, his inspection speed was much faster. He quickly put away the two jade boxes and looked at the last remaining white jade box.
"It can't be that there's another supreme-grade spirit stone here, can it? Then this harvest would be truly unbelievable."
As Li Yan thought, his Divine Sense had already directly probed it…
A few breaths later, with a crisp "click," a strange light flashed in Li Yan's eyes. Although the Divine Sense imprint on the jade box had been removed, a layer of red light appeared on its surface.
"Hm? There's another layer of formation restriction below!"
Seeing this, Li Yan was not alarmed but pleased. This jade box seemed to be even more important in Qi Jinghong's eyes than the one containing the supreme-grade spirit stones.
Li Yan then carefully looked at the restriction…
Half an hour later, with the last hand seal from Li Yan, after he had tried thirty-seven different restriction-breaking techniques, the red light on the jade box flashed wildly a few times. Under Li Yan's somewhat worried gaze, the jade box before him finally did not self-detonate along with the technique. Instead, the lid slowly popped open!
Li Yan's gaze quickly looked over. This one look was no small matter. Li Yan's expression changed drastically in an instant, and he shot to his feet. Then, he strode to the jade box and reached in to take out the contents. It was actually three sheets of silver paper.
The moment the silver papers were in his hand, Li Yan's body couldn't help but tremble. He didn't even need to probe it with his Divine Sense; he was too familiar with this item—the Undead Nether Phoenix essence blood.
"How can there be so many..."
This was something Li Yan had never dreamed of. Why had he suddenly obtained three sheets of the thing he had been longing for? For a moment, Li Yan felt as if he were in a dream.
He stood there in the cultivation chamber, holding the three silver papers, somewhat dazed, countless thoughts flashing through his mind…
After another dozen breaths, the vacant look in Li Yan's eyes finally disappeared, and they slowly became clear again.
Calming himself, he noticed that there was also a jade slip placed inside the white jade box. Li Yan's other hand immediately grabbed the jade slip and placed it on his forehead. A moment later, Li Yan slowly put down the jade slip. Inside the jade slip was a map.
On this map, several areas were marked, specifically, a partial map of the Pure Land Sect and the Ten-Pace Courtyard's territories. On the map, seventeen red dots were marked. Eight of them were crossed out, and of these eight, five were places Li Yan actually knew of, or rather, had guessed.
Four of them had the same sect or family name as the ones Bu Luo had given him. For example, one of the crossed-out locations was the Qiu family, a second-rate family of the Pure Land Sect. Li Yan remembered Bu Luo saying that a person named Qiu Shi had participated in the siege against him in the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. And when Qiu Shi was inciting others to attack, he spoke as if he were very familiar with the silver paper. This didn't rule out the possibility that the other party had obtained the silver paper even earlier than Bu Luo. So Bu Luo had listed this person as a key target and told Li Yan.
"Three silver papers... eight red crosses... This map should be... a map drawn by Qi Jinghong of places where the 'Undead Nether Phoenix' essence blood might appear? Three sheets appeared here at once, and he guarded them with so many layers of restrictions. This means he was intentionally collecting the silver papers. For some reason, he obtained this item and probably also learned the secret of the 'Undead Nether Phoenix' essence blood. Although he couldn't refine it, he still wanted to gather them all first. But he wasn't sure who had the silver papers, so after investigation, he marked seventeen red dots where they might appear. Eight red crosses... does that mean he's been to all eight places, either annihilating the entire family or sneaking in to steal them, and in the end, he only got these three silver papers..."
Li Yan's mind raced as he continuously reasoned.
Another reason for his speculation was that the Zuo family of Shengzhou and the Huchen family were also marked on this map. This undoubtedly meant that the other party had found information about Bu Luo or Zuo Qiudan who had appeared in the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence?
"The Zuo family of Shengzhou was targeted because Zuo Qiudan and Bu Luo's target was obvious. Many people saw Bu Luo snatch the silver paper. But the Huchen family being targeted is worth considering. At that time, I was coincidentally impersonating Huchen Jianghai to enter the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda..."