251 Blue Fluorescent Butterfly

[Important Spirituality Material]

[You have been nominated for this year's 'Immortal Sect Materials and Exploration Award']

[251 Blue Fluorescent Butterfly: Class Insecta, subclass Neoptera, order Lepidoptera, superfamily Papilionoidea, family Blue Fluorescent Butterfly, genus Blue Fluorescent Butterfly. Origin: Unknown private plane No. 251. Wingspan: 13–17 centimeters. Its wings possess a dazzling blue metallic sheen, with green, purple, and other colors as well. At night, it emits a blue fluorescence...]

[Effect: Once plucked, butterfly wings within three days can yield a substance that promotes the formation of a 'Dao Body Prototype,' accelerating its formation. Provisionally named 'Blue Gold 2413.' No side effects have currently been discovered.

A high-level Gold Attribute great demon is suspected to have fallen at its place of origin. After thousands or tens of thousands of years, this unknown species formed naturally. Reserves unknown.

There is an extremely small probability that 'Blue Gold 2413' can be artificially synthesized. If that proves true, this will be the greatest discovery of the millennium, certain to vastly increase the number of Immortal Sect Cultivators and create an enormous impact...]

"I... I'm going to be rich."

Jiang Ding's lips trembled slightly as he rapidly logged into the Immortal Sect Library to look up relevant literature.

<Research on Dao Body Elixirs Using the Heavenly Phoenix Bloodline of the Blazing Fire Bird>

<Conjectures on Dao Body Elixirs Using the Bloodline of the Greenwater Whale>

After an hour of reading article after article, Jiang Ding's surging inner heart finally calmed, and he gained some understanding of what "promoting the formation of a Dao Body Prototype" meant.

This was not a new discovery.

Over four thousand years ago, scientists had discovered that the Myriad Beast Immortal Sect, one of the Nine Outer Immortal Sects, possessed similar methods. They could bathe themselves in the essence blood of demonic beasts with Heavenly Grade Bloodlines, slightly improving their Spiritual Root Aptitude.

This technique bore the characteristics of Outer Realm Cultivators: its cost-effectiveness was extremely low, and it could be applied to no more than a few people, making even limited popularization difficult.

One had to know that a demonic beast with a Heavenly Grade Bloodline, even if that bloodline was exceedingly thin, had hope of reaching the Nascent Soul Realm. If its bloodline was rich enough, it could even glimpse the Spirit Transformation Realm.

As adults, they were immensely powerful. Even for High-level Cultivators, obtaining their essence blood was a nine-deaths-one-life ordeal.

Moreover, demonic beasts with Heavenly Grade Bloodlines were extraordinarily rare. Encountering one required tremendous fortune; often, one did not even have the chance to risk nine deaths for that single chance at life.

As juveniles, they were better tamed as exotic beasts. Once successful, they could become a family's suppressive foundation for at least a thousand years. Was that not far better than a slight improvement in Spiritual Root Aptitude?

It could only become a luxury for top-tier cultivators.

The Outer Realm Cultivation World had always been like this. A very few High-level Cultivators held everything in the cultivation world in their hands, including the development of cultivation technology. They had not any motivation to spread it to the middle and lower levels.

After the Immortal Sect acquired this technology, it began researching it. After three thousand years of effort by more than a dozen generations of cultivators and several hundred generations of mortals, a major breakthrough came a thousand years ago.

Essence blood containing the bloodline of Earth Grade Demonic Beasts could be used as a substitute, while the other auxiliary materials were also greatly reduced, lowering the cost—it became a luxury for the few cultivators in the Golden Core Realm and above.

Earth Grade Demonic Beasts had hope of reaching the Golden Core Realm, and those with rich bloodlines could also glimpse a little of the Nascent Soul Realm.

The reason the Blue Fluorescent Butterfly had been nominated was that this creature appeared in large numbers and seemed capable of extensive reproduction. As for whether Blue Gold 2413 would still exist in their bodies after large-scale breeding or harvesting, that remained unknown.

"An endless treasure trove from another world..."

Jiang Ding murmured, "If someone knew that treasure was held by a mortal, then even with Immortal Sect Law being so strict, I'm afraid a great many cultivators would be unable to resist risking everything, wouldn't they?"

Unable to sleep for the moment, he dressed neatly and returned to the rear courtyard once more.

It was noon, when the blazing sun was at its fiercest and the cicadas' cries were shrill.

The instant he appeared, Jiang Ding immediately focused his vision on the drone display in his contact lenses and rapidly reviewed the surveillance footage from after he had left.

Based on previous experience, the broken sword would place him in a corner where no one could see him, rather than exposing him in public.

Scene after scene flew past. Pedestrians came and went along the street. While everyone else was on holiday, Han Lin was temporarily homeless and staying in the front courtyard, cooking and practicing his fists. Jiang Ding also spotted a man several hundred meters away, his figure evasive, suspected to be someone from the Wild Wolf Gang...

There were no large groups of people, no experts lying in wait.

For the time being, unless there were cultivators capable of optical invisibility spells, it should be safe.

Grasping the sword hilt, Jiang Ding felt the sunlight shine over his body. He closed his eyes to sense the internal force flowing through him, then walked out of his rear courtyard.

"Hey! Ha!"

At the entrance of the half-open shop, whose door bore the words "Closed for Two Days," a sturdy teenage boy with a dark reddish complexion and ordinary features was practicing his fists. Sweat poured down him as every punch was thrown with full force, his sleeves whistling through the air.

Jiang Ding watched for a while.

His practice was... very mediocre.

A simple boxing technique with five routines had been distorted beyond recognition in his hands. Not only would this fail to train him, it would damage his limbs.

Fortunately, the boxing technique was simple enough that as long as he did not practice with such deadly force day after day, it would not reach the point of crippling him or anything.

Forget it. He could not allow a workplace injury.

Whoosh!

The sword sheath swept up an unmistakable sound of wind.

A chill ran through Han Lin's heart. His fist instinctively smashed toward the sword sheath, only to see it move with the agility of a spirit snake, easily evading him as it jabbed toward his heart.

His soul nearly fled in terror. He swiftly stepped back, but the sword sheath continued pursuing him.

It even split the air with a piercing shriek. One could imagine that if it struck his body, it would surely leave a hole as wide as a bowl.

Forward, backward.

Like this, the sword sheath was like a puppet master's baton, producing invisible threads that forced Han Lin to move. Before he knew it, his boxing grew increasingly smooth and fluid. His bones, joints, and muscles seemed to join into a single whole, rumbling and sounding within him.

"Ha!"

Han Lin let out a roar. His fist, more than twice as fast as before, finally slammed into the Sword Sheath, forcing him back a step.

Panting Heavily, Cold Sweat streaming down him, he had finally escaped that sensation of being watched by a Fierce Beast at the critical moment.

Only then did he notice that, at some point, a youth in green robes had appeared before him. His Long Hair fell to his waist, his bearing was like jade, and he held a longsword in his arms.

"Boss!"

Han Lin bent at the waist in salute, filled with gratitude.

In just a few exchanges, his Rolling Stone Fist had already crossed the threshold. He was no longer twisting about wildly like a complete amateur.

"Mm."

Jiang Ding nodded.

"Keep practicing like this from now on. Once you've mastered it, then consider making small adjustments that suit you."

"Also, do me a favor."

Jiang Ding took out a fragment of silver. "Give this to the short man in gray at the Li Family tea stall. Tell him I'm treating him to tea."

They were all laborers struggling through hard lives. He did not want to vent his anger on anyone.

But if they insisted on continuing to watch him, then they could not blame him for what followed.

"Yes, Boss."

Han Lin did not ask any questions. He took the silver and left.

He hurried along at a jog and arrived near the Li Family tea stall. Sure enough, he spotted a sharp-faced man in gray, around thirty years old. He was simply drinking as usual, with nothing but a small dish of fennel beans on his table—utterly unremarkable.

"Uncle, our boss says he's treating you to tea." Han Lin handed over the silver.

The man in gray looked doubtfully at the boy before him. He had an ordinary face and dark skin, just another child one could find anywhere.

Then he suddenly jolted.

"Your boss is...?"

Han Lin said with some pride, "I'm a clerk at the general store."

A job with only four hours of work a day, two days off every seven days, and generous wages was not something one could find just anywhere. Matchmakers had already come to the shop, one after another, to inquire about the clerks.

"The general store?"

Cold Sweat instantly poured down the gray-clothed man's face. This was the ruthless figure who had crippled one arm of Long Shi, the Wild Wolf Saber.

He did not dare ask anything further. Snatching up the fragment of silver, he hurriedly left.