The Chaos Heaven and Earth Ring

The carriage came to a smooth stop in front of the Shen Residence. Liu Zhong saw Shen Jingchuan return and called his son Liu Hu to wait nearby. As Shen Jingchuan alighted from the carriage, they both bowed and greeted him.

"Young Master is back."

Liu Hu stepped forward, took the reins, and led the Big Black horses toward the stables.

Two little maids, Su Qingshu and Su Qinghua, darted out of the door and flanked him, calling him "brother" affectionately in their clear voices.

Living comfortably in the manor, with plenty of good food and drink and no worries whatsoever, the two girls were going through puberty and growing taller, becoming increasingly beautiful. Their skin became fair and radiant, and their features gradually matured, making them look more and more attractive.

Yue'er ran out right after him, and upon seeing Shen Jingchuan, she threw herself into his arms, her voice soft and affectionate:

"Young Master has been gone for so many days, Yue'er misses you terribly."

Surrounded by the three little girls, Shen Jingchuan felt a warm glow in his heart, and a smile unconsciously crept onto his lips.

Xiao Mingshu, who was following behind, glanced at the scene, pursed her lips, and walked towards her own second courtyard.

Shen Jingchuan entered the room surrounded by three young maids. Liu Zhong's wife, Madam Liu, and her daughter Liu Cui stepped forward, curtsied, and softly asked how he was doing before standing to the side with their hands at their sides.

Four figures emerged from behind the hanging flower gate. Lin Qingyao, accompanied by her personal maid Ju'er, and Bai Ruoli, with her maid Qinghe, walked forward side by side to greet them.

Having not seen each other for many days, both of them had eyes brimming with unconcealed longing and joy. Bai Ruoli stepped forward and softly said, "My husband is back," her voice gentle and her gaze fixed on him.

Lin Qingyao pouted and said, "So you do know how to come back?"

Without saying a word, Shen Jingchuan slapped her on the buttocks.

"You've gotten quite temperamental in just a few days. How dare you speak to your husband like that?"

Lin Qingyao covered her face with one hand, her face flushed with embarrassment. "How dare you do this in front of so many people?" she thought.

That evening, Bai Ruoli felt unwell and went to her room to rest early.

After washing up, Shen Jingchuan entered Lin Qingyao's room, closed the door behind him, and pulled her into his arms.

Lin Qingyao's cheeks flushed slightly. She had only uttered half a retort when he pressed her down and gave her a good "discipline" until she begged for mercy before he would stop.

Shen Jingchuan chuckled as he looked at her flushed face and pinched her cheek, thinking to himself that this woman really needed to be disciplined, otherwise she would really be climbing on the roof and tearing off the tiles.

As usual, Shen Jingchuan went to the west courtyard, entered the house, closed the door, and then took out Mid-Grade Spirit Gathering Formation Plate to activate it.

The array plate emitted a faint, almost imperceptible spiritual light, and an invisible barrier instantly appeared, enough to block the Divine Sense probing of the Qi Refinement Realm cultivator.

After sitting down, Shen Jingchuan first took out the Storage Rings that had been seized this time to count them.

He collected everything from the three male cultivators' Rings into one Ring, then took it all out. In total, there were only about 120 Low-Grade Spirit Stones, five Low-Grade Qi Nourishing Pills, thirteen Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills, and the rest were just some spare clothes. There were no other valuables.

There was also a jade bottle. When he opened it, he saw two milky-white pills that he didn't recognize lying at the bottom.

After he finished tidying everything up, he went to the yard and burned all the useless things.

He returned to his room, sat cross-legged, took out three thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones from his Storage Ring and placed them in his Spatial Ring, then called out with his mind, "Sister Xian'er."

"Alright, stop shouting. The smell of Spirit Stones is wafting over here."

Immediately, Xian'er's lazy voice came from the ring. As soon as she finished speaking, a flash of light appeared, and the two thousand Spirit Stones were sucked away out of thin air and instantly dissolved completely.

"You little rascal, that was a good haul this time."

"I've already returned home. How was the trip to the market?"

As Shen Jingchuan spoke, he pinched the two unknown pills between his fingertips and brought them to the front of the ring:

"Sister Xian'er, look at this pill, what kind of medicine is it?"

"Spirit Concentrating Pill."

Xian'er glanced at it and immediately said the name:

"You'll see how useful it is when you break through from the third to the fourth stage of Qi Refining. If you're truly stuck at a bottleneck, it's not necessarily because you haven't accumulated enough Spiritual Power, but because your Divine Sense isn't strong enough. This pill is for nourishing your Divine Sense and stabilizing your soul, so it'll be perfect for breaking through."

Shen Jingchuan suddenly realized:

"I was wondering why I'd been vaguely sensing lately that my cultivation had hit a bottleneck, neither progressing nor falling behind. It turns out the problem lay in my Divine Sense."

Shen Jingchuan nodded in realization and carefully put the two Mind-Calming Pills into the bottle.

Xian'er's voice drifted over again:

"Having just absorbed this batch of Spirit Stones, my soul has become more stable, and I've also remembered some things."

"What did you remember?"

Shen Jingchuan immediately sat up straight.

"The Ring on your hand is called the Chaos Heaven and Earth Ring. It is a High Antiquity artifact, far more powerful than what you currently possess."

It needs to absorb a massive amount of Spiritual Qi to nourish itself, so don't always think about using Spirit Stones to upgrade this or that; you also need to let it absorb Spirit Stones regularly.

If it goes to a place with particularly rich Spiritual Qi, it can absorb Spiritual Qi from the world. Once it accumulates to a certain level, it will undergo other changes and have other uses.

Shen Jingchuan was filled with astonishment. He already thought that the Ring was an incredible fortuitous opportunity, capable of traversing between two worlds and upgrading items, but he never expected it to have other abilities as well.

Xian'er's tone became more serious:

"This Heaven and Earth Ring is no ordinary treasure; it's a genuine High Antiquity heirloom. As for its many other uses, I can only scratch the surface right now. Gather more Spirit Stones, and as I absorb more and my soul recovers better, I'll remember more, and then I'll tell you."

"Alright, hurry up and start saving up Spirit Stones."

After he finished speaking, there was no more sound from the ring.

Shen Jingchuan stared at the Chaos Heaven and Earth Ring for a long while before suppressing the shock in his heart.

Shen Jingchuan put the pills he had seized from the interceptor, along with the remaining Spirit Stones, into his Heaven and Earth Ring.

The Heaven and Earth Ring was used to absorb and refine the remaining thousand Spirit Stones from Xian'er, along with the hundred or so scattered Spirit Stones obtained from the Intercepting Cultivator, thereby upgrading this batch of pills.

The pills I brought back from the market have all been upgraded.

His gaze swept across the area and landed on the four Ancestral Reversion Pills prepared for Big Black and the others.

The faint green light that had enveloped the pill had completely faded away, leaving it smooth and translucent, its quality elevated to the superior grade, and its body radiating a warm and restrained glow.

Fearing something might go wrong on the journey, he hadn't dared to give the medicine to Big Black and the others. Judging that these guys were probably getting impatient, he got up, left the west courtyard, and went straight to the stables.

As soon as he entered the stable, Big Black rushed over, nuzzling his head against his hand, all his usual arrogance gone, replaced by fawning.

Shen Jingchuan chuckled and patted its head, knowing that it had been remembering the pill.

He took out a High-Grade Ancestral Reversion Pill from his Heaven and Earth Ring and handed it to Big Black's mouth. Big Black smelled the clear fragrance of the pill, and without the slightest hesitation, opened its mouth, grabbed it, and swallowed it, its tail swishing enthusiastically.

Little Black and Treading Snow followed closely behind, rubbing against his arm and licking the back of his hand, gazing at him expectantly.

"Don't worry, you'll all get your share."

Shen Jingchuan smiled and took out two more High-Grade Ancestral Reversion Pills, feeding them into the mouths of the two horses respectively.

Shortly after the pills were ingested, changes began to appear on the three horses.

A faint sheen first peeks through the fur, followed by a layer of grayish-brown, sticky substance slowly seeping from the skin's surface, gradually forming a thin, scab-like film.

The three horses, which had been full of energy just moments before, suddenly went limp and collapsed to the ground, their eyes closed as if they were fast asleep, with only their chests and bellies still rising and falling steadily.

Hearing the commotion, Liu Hu was on night duty nearby, ran out wearing his coat. He was terrified to see that all three horses were lying motionless on the ground.

Shen Jingchuan gave him a soft shushing and waved for him to go back and rest. Liu Hu was filled with suspicion and dared not ask any more questions. He retreated, looking back every few steps.