Zhou Yi carried the finished Talisman Paper with him and prepared to visit the Treasure Pavilion to ask whether they had any Pure Spirit Bone.
After declining the young lady at the entrance's offer to guide him, Zhou Yi went alone to the fifth floor of the Treasure Pavilion. After exchanging the talismans in his hand for banknotes, he headed to the sixth floor.
The fourth floor held Spiritual Skills, the fifth held talismans and weapons, while the sixth held cultivation methods and various materials. The Treasure Pavilion actually had more cultivation methods than the Scripture Repository, and it even placed the materials needed for breakthroughs together with their respective methods.
Zhou Yi found a clerk and asked, "Do you have any Pure Spirit Bone here?"
The clerk flipped open the ledger before him and said, "We do. Would you like me to bring it over?"
Zhou Yi nodded. The clerk searched for a long while before finally placing a box before him. When Zhou Yi opened it, he saw something shaped like a human finger bone.
Although it resembled a human finger bone, it was actually the fruit borne by a plant called the Clear Spirit Tree. This plant did not flower before bearing fruit. Even after its fruits filled every branch, they still could not be used as breakthrough material. One had to wait another ten years, until only the last fruit remained on the tree after all the others had fallen. Only then would it become a true Pure Spirit Bone.
After paying, Zhou Yi took the Pure Spirit Bone home. As he pondered how to make the panel absorb the fruit, he picked it up.
At that moment, a plus sign appeared after the Hundred Refinements cultivation method. When Zhou Yi set the fruit down, the plus sign after Hundred Refinements vanished as well.
After playing around with it for a while, Zhou Yi held the fruit in his hand and tapped the plus sign with his mind. The fruit in his grasp rapidly disappeared, while Zhou Yi felt his body lighten, as though some sort of restraint had been removed.
The fruit completely vanished from Zhou Yi's hand. He opened the panel.
Name: Zhou Yi Race: Human (10%) Vital Energy: 150 Spirit: 50 Cultivation Method: Hundred Refinements (Mastery) (Will Heart) Techniques: Body Refining, Saber Arts, Fist Arts, Movement Arts, Other Divine Ability: Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill (Level One) Yin Energy: 200 Exotic Qi: Qi (25)
Seeing that the restriction on Hundred Refinements had been lifted, Zhou Yi breathed a sigh of relief. However, Hundred Refinements at Mastery had actually granted him fifty points of Vital Energy while consuming only two hundred Yin Energy. After entering the mid-stage Vitality Realm, Zhou Yi's Vital Energy had been compressed once more, its color becoming increasingly transparent. Once he broke through to the late-stage Vitality Realm, he could transform his Vital Energy into pure Origin Qi.
Closing the panel, Zhou Yi considered the road ahead. To continue breaking through to the late-stage Vitality Realm, he first needed to raise his Vital Energy to its limit. Then, he needed to find the other material required to break through Hundred Refinements Mastery—Will Heart.
Zhou Yi had seen this material in the Hundred Refinements manual, but it was exceedingly rare. Or rather, all materials needed to break through to the late-stage Vitality Realm were rather rare. When searching for the Pure Spirit Bone, Zhou Yi had already asked at the Scripture Repository, but they did not have such material.
Zhou Yi could only place his hopes on the Treasure Pavilion once again.
As for increasing Vital Energy, ordinary people slowly raised it by cultivating their methods over and over again. But that method was far too slow for Zhou Yi.
After thinking for a while, Zhou Yi decided to use a large number of Vitality Realm Body Refining Techniques to increase his Vital Energy. However, this method required a great deal of Yin Energy to support it.
Having made his decision, Zhou Yi arrived at the Provincial Governor's Office early and plunged headfirst into the Scripture Repository. Yet after searching for half the day, he found only seven Vitality Realm Body Refining Techniques. Three of them overlapped with the Body Refining Techniques Zhou Yi had previously obtained from the Treasure Pavilion. After doing the math, only four were usable.
Still, Zhou Yi exchanged for those four Body Refining Techniques. Something was better than nothing. After merging the four techniques into the Indestructible Golden Body, the Indestructible Golden Body's realm fell from Perfection to Mastery.
At this point, the remaining two hundred Yin Energy on Zhou Yi's panel had been completely exhausted.
Meanwhile, in the basement of a residence in Luoshi City's outer district, several people entirely shrouded in black robes gathered around a long table.
"Where's Third Brother? Why hasn't he come?" the leading black-robed figure asked.
The black-robed people below all shook their heads, saying they did not know.
Seeing that no one knew Third Brother's whereabouts, the leading black-robed figure shook his head as well, then continued, "Forget it. We won't wait for him. Let's begin."
After saying this, the leader turned to the person beside him. "Second Brother, have you prepared the bait?"
The black-robed figure called Second Brother nodded, then said to their leader, "He's a young man with decent-looking talent. He killed my treasure, so I had no choice but to make him the bait."
After saying that, Second Brother seemed to recall something amusing and burst into hearty laughter. The people in the room appeared to know Second Brother's temperament and did not mock him.
Once Second Brother had finished laughing, the leading black-robed figure turned to another black-robed figure. "Fourth Sister, has the Talisman Array been set up?"
An aged voice rang out. Fourth Sister's voice sounded even hoarser than that of the leader in the basement.
"Almost. I still need a few sacrifices on my end."
After Fourth Sister spoke, she said nothing more. At that moment, the basement door suddenly opened, and another black-robed figure walked in.
The leading black-robed figure frowned. "Third Brother, why are you only arriving now?"
Hearing their leader's displeased voice, Third Brother immediately began apologizing profusely to the leading black-robed figure and explained the reason for his lateness.
"Oh? So your task was actually the first to be completed?"
The leading black-robed figure seemed quite interested in this news, so he waved a hand and allowed Third Brother to return to his seat.
Looking at the three people in the hidden chamber and the other black-robed figures, the leader said solemnly, "For the success of this plan, we spent a full three years. Now that success is within reach, not even the slightest mistake can be tolerated. So if anyone slips up, don't blame me for turning ruthless!"
"Yes, Boss!"
The other black-robed figures answered the leader in unison.
After sweeping his gaze around the room, the leader placed his right hand over his left chest and said, "Everything is for the Moon God."
"Everything is for the Moon God!"
The people below also placed their right hands over their left chests and repeated the words.
Then the leading black-robed figure removed his hood, revealing that he was actually a Paper Figure. At the same time, the other black-robed figures in the basement removed their hoods one after another, exposing their faces. Not a single one was alive. If Zhou Yi had been here, he would certainly have recognized that these Paper Figures looked exactly like the Paper Figures he had killed last night.
Then flames began to rise in the basement, and all the Paper Figures began to spontaneously combust.
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