Inventorying Gains

That night.

Jade Spring Artifact Pavilion, East Wing.

This trip had gone almost entirely according to Chen Heng's plan; he hadn't expended a single bit of unnecessary mana.

Yet, he returned with his hands full.

It wasn't until the dead of night, when all was quiet, that Chen Heng began to inventory his gains from the trip.

His most significant haul was undoubtedly the underground cavern and the three Cultivation Methods left by the Water Wood Hermit. Upon returning to Southern Foothills Market, he had gone straight to the Garrison Mansion and, through his ancestor Chen Tianrui, submitted the Cultivation Methods to the clan.

The ancestor had been quite generous, waving his hand and directly awarding Chen Heng three thousand merit points.

However, considering Chen Heng only had less than a year before he was to be admitted into the Azure Profound Sect, clan merit points wouldn't be of much use to him. Thus, they were exchanged at par for three thousand low-grade Spirit Stones.

Two of the Cultivation Methods were rather standard for the Chen Family, as they were a cultivation family that had once produced a Violet Palace Venerable and still possessed a water-attribute Cultivation Method that could cultivate to the Violet Palace realm.

But the Water Forging Secret Canon, which detailed water-based artifact forging, filled a void in the Chen Family's artifact forging lineage.

Jade Spring Mountain was naturally rich in cold and frigid springs, making it ideal for water-based artifact forging.

However, legacies of water-based artifact forging were always scarce. Among the five major cultivation sects, it was rumored that only the Azure Water Palace and the Nether Spring Sect held partial inheritances.

Even the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, with its branches spread across the market towns of the Southern Profound Domain, rarely stocked such rare inheritances.

The Chen Family, even if they wanted to purchase one, would have no way of doing so.

Next, he had gained a loyal maid, Wen Ning, who was also a high-grade first-tier talisman master.

Finally, there were the storage bags of Luo Yu Lei, Wang Yi, Li Zheng, and the others.

This was what Chen Heng anticipated the most. Even after living two lives and possessing a much more mature mind, he still enjoyed the thrill of opening blind boxes.

What if there were unexpected treasures?

He placed the storage bag of the Luo Family's eldest young master, Luo Yu Lei, aside on the table, intending to open it last.

Chen Heng randomly selected one of the remaining five storage bags. He pointed his finger, channeling his true essence, and a wisp of mana entered the magical imprint and restrictions on the bag's opening.

After a short while.

With a soft click, he easily opened the slightly worn storage bag. However, the contents immediately made Chen Heng laugh and cry at the same time.

Most of the items inside were things used by women, such as low-grade first-tier Beauty-Nourishing Pills, mid-grade first-tier Youth-Preserving Pills, and high-grade first-tier Complexion-Fixing Pills.

Only a high-grade first-tier Flying Cloud Talisman held some value for him; it was a relatively rare escape talisman.

Furthermore, there wasn't even half a Spirit Stone.

Undoubtedly, this had to be the storage bag of Wang Yi, that old dissolute fellow who enjoyed frequenting brothels and discussing Daoist principles.

Chen Heng had never expected that this person had fallen so low.

After all, he was a talisman master at the seventh level of Qi Refining.

Look at how wealthy Wen Ning was, gifting him five hundred Spirit Stones with five hundred remaining.

It seemed that frequenting brothels and discussing Daoist principles were indeed the most Spirit Stone-consuming hobbies in the cultivation world.

Chen Heng shook his head and pocketed the old dissolute fellow's storage bag. At the very least, those few pills could probably fetch a good price if sold to female cultivators.

Next, he opened the storage bags of Luo San Mu and Luo San Shi. Both bags bore the distinct mark of the Luo Family, so Chen Heng took them out together.

Although they were cultivators in the late Qi Refining stage, they were merely guards for the Luo Family, and their wealth was equally ordinary.

Chen Heng only managed to obtain two hundred low-grade Spirit Stones and four sets of Luo Family's first-tier standard magical artifacts from them. The rest of the items held little value.

There were only two hundred catties of first-tier Spirit Rice and a few first-tier talismans.

He thought for a moment, realizing that as family cultivators, most of their accumulated wealth was likely in the form of clan contributions, merits, and good deeds. The resources they needed for their daily cultivation were probably directly exchanged from the clan.

Their duty was also that of guards, so they naturally wouldn't possess any Spirit Stones they couldn't use.

Three storage bags in a row yielded no valuable items, but fortunately, Chen Heng, having lived two lives, had a good temperament.

He immediately opened the storage bags of Li Zheng and the other.

He no longer bothered using his spiritual sense to probe them. Instead, he gave them a gentle shake, scattering all the contents onto the table.

Immediately, Chen Heng's breath hitched.

It turned out that these two were the leaders of this group of wicked cultivators who preyed on others. Their wealth was quite substantial.

The first thing that caught his eye was a full two thousand low-grade Spirit Stones, glittering on the table.

Although this sum of Spirit Stones was not as much as the reward Chen Family had given him, how could the two be compared?

One had to remember, this was all unexpected gain, acquired without any cost.

And atop the pile of Spirit Stones, four Spirit Stones, entirely crystalline and occasionally flashing with fine purple lightning patterns on their surface, were particularly dazzling.

They were, in fact, the extremely rare mid-grade Lightning Spirit Stones.

Just as cultivators had different grades and attributes for their spiritual roots, Spirit Stones were no exception.

Low-grade Spirit Stones, belonging to the five elements, were the most common.

Chen Heng carefully picked up a mid-grade Lightning Spirit Stone and placed it in his palm. It felt warm and smooth like jade, completely different from the feel of a low-grade Spirit Stone.

The spiritual energy contained within was several times more refined and potent.

Just holding it in his hand, without even refining it, he could feel the rich spiritual energy fluctuations.

"No wonder this piece of mid-grade Spirit Stone can be exchanged for a hundred low-grade Spirit Stones, and yet it's often unavailable no matter how much you're willing to pay," Chen Heng muttered to himself.

Even rarer were these two, which were quite uncommon Lightning Spirit Stones. For a cultivator with a Lightning Spiritual Root, they were priceless.

There were also over a hundred talismans, but they were all first-tier, not worth mentioning.

If there were any truly powerful talismans, they wouldn't have been killed on the spot by Luo Yu Lei and the other two.

As for the magical artifacts, they had all been damaged during the fight with Luo Yu Lei and the others, not worth many Spirit Stones.

The cultivation methods and spells recorded in the jade slips were also not worth mentioning. They were all relatively common techniques found everywhere in the market town.

Fortunately, there were quite a few first-tier spirit herbs and precious materials. However, what attracted Chen Heng's attention the most were two green jade boxes.

Without any hesitation, he casually opened them both.

Immediately, two distinct energies, bone-chilling cold and scorching heat, washed over him.

Chen Heng took a closer look. One was a second-tier low-grade spirit herb, Ice Mist Grass, which was crystal clear like jade all over, its leaves appearing as if carved from ice crystals. The other was a Crimson Flame Flower, its petals blood-red, shaped like flames, also a second-tier low-grade spirit herb.

As the cold mist and hot waves mingled, a wisp of extremely dense spiritual mist rose.

Chen Heng suddenly felt that the opportunity to break through to the sixth level of Qi Condensation had arrived. He immediately closed his eyes to regulate his breathing, circulated his cultivation method, the Water Fire Defense Scripture, and began to absorb and refine this spiritual mist that perfectly suited him.

Over half a year, his cultivation realm had already reached the peak of the fifth level of Qi Refining.

Seizing this opportunity to break through to the sixth level of Qi Condensation was merely a natural progression.

By this time, the sky had already begun to brighten.

Chen Heng sorted and put away the belongings of Li Zheng and the other person into categories. This was an astonishing amount of wealth.

Especially those two second-tier low-grade spirit herbs, worth one to two thousand low-grade Spirit Stones.

This also made him extremely eager for Luo Yu Lei's storage bag.

Chen Heng had previously asked Ancestor Chen Tianrui to personally inspect it. There were no tracking methods left by any Foundation Establishment cultivators, which was why he dared to open Luo Yu Lei's storage bag with confidence in the Jade Spring Artifact Pavilion.