A Well-Stocked Storage Bag

Five days later, in a deep yellow maple forest, Song Qingming sat atop a Withered Wood, a faint spiritual glow emanating from his body.

After fleeing the pool that day, Song Qingming found a relatively clean patch of open ground nearby and swallowed several Blood Replenishing Pills and Recovery Pills to recover from his injuries.

Afterward, he followed the traces left by the fleeing group, hoping to catch up with them. Yet before he had gone more than a few li, he spotted the Black Feathered Python returning to the pool in the distance. Frightened out of his wits, he hurriedly flattened himself in the wild grass, not daring to show his head until night had fallen.

Eager to catch up with the others, Song Qingming could only continue traveling through the night. Who would have thought that, in the pitch-black darkness, he failed to see the road he had taken before and actually went the wrong way, losing all trace of the group.

It was Song Qingming's first time in the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, and he was utterly unfamiliar with its mountains and terrain. He happened to have brought no map, and after searching for a long time without finding the way back, he became lost among these mountains.

Fortunately, he knew that north lay the depths of the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, a paradise for demonic beasts, while south was human territory. As long as he headed south, he would eventually leave the Floating Cloud Mountain Range.

Whether he reached Pingyang County, where he had come from, or one of the surrounding marketplaces, once he got there, he would naturally find a way to return to Qinghe County.

Song Qingming had already traveled south for several days. He had wanted to find someone to ask for directions, but unfortunately, he had not seen even half a human shadow along the way. The Floating Cloud Mountain Range was a place where demonic beasts ran rampant and danger lurked on every side. Two days ago, when passing through a stretch of grassland, he had even run into a vicious High-level Giant Crocodile. That beast had chased him for half the day before he escaped danger, and even now, the memory still left his heart unsettled.

Half an hour later, after meditating for a long while, Song Qingming felt that seventy or eighty percent of his spiritual power had recovered. He gathered the mana within his body with both hands, and a streak of azure light instantly shot toward a small red pouch at his side, slowly wrapping it within his spiritual power.

Over the past five days, Song Qingming had tried to open the red Storage Bag he had picked up at the bottom of the pool and see what treasures it contained. Unfortunately, the Restriction placed upon this High-grade Storage Bag truly was troublesome. Only after casting spells continuously for several days had Song Qingming erased most of the Restriction on it.

A cultivator's Storage Bag would normally be protected by a secret Restriction known only to its owner. If outsiders wanted to force it open, they had to use mana to wear away the Restriction upon it.

Generally speaking, cultivators with profound cultivation would set more profound Restrictions. If a lower-cultivation cultivator wanted to erase a mana Restriction set by someone stronger, they could only slowly grind it away with time. How long it took depended entirely on the gap between their mana and a bit of luck.

The difference in mana between cultivators of the same rank was not too great, and at most ten days to half a month would be enough to erase a Restriction successfully. But if a Qi Refining Cultivator wanted to cross realms and break a Restriction set by a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, that was hard to say. It might take years.

Three hours later, a faint sound suddenly rang out. Spiritual power rippled across the red Storage Bag, and a flash of violet light lit up. Only today did Song Qingming finally open this Storage Bag. He truly had the Incomplete Map to thank for speeding up his spiritual power recovery; otherwise, he would have needed several more days of effort.

Song Qingming poured everything from the Storage Bag out in one go. With only a rough glance, the items inside had already widened his eyes in shock.

There were nearly two hundred Spirit Stones in the Storage Bag alone, along with a pile of Magic Tools, Spirit Talismans, medicinal pills, and other items.

Whose Storage Bag was this? How could its owner be so wealthy? Song Qingming ran through the many cultivators who had participated in the battle at the pool that day, but still could not determine its owner. He could only search for an answer among the items in the Storage Bag.

One High-grade Magic Tool, two Mid-grade Magic Tools, five High-grade Spirit Talismans, more than a dozen Mid-grade and low-grade Spirit Talismans, as well as three bottles of medicinal pills he could not identify for the moment.

There were also several cultivation method Jade Slips, a black Token, an ancient jade box, and several sets of clothing.

Song Qingming picked up the black Token and examined it. Only then did he learn who the owner of this Storage Bag was.

The two small words "Patriarch" were clearly engraved upon the black Token. Combined with the several sets of black-and-white clothing, the standard attire of Liu Family cultivators, Song Qingming could roughly guess that the owner of this Storage Bag was none other than the Liu Family Patriarch, Liu Tianlong.

He truly had not expected that the Storage Bag he had picked up from the bottom of the pool would be such a hot potato. Song Qingming could not help drawing a deep breath.

The Liu Family Patriarch's Storage Bag... it seemed he would need to act even more cautiously in the future. If these cultivation methods, Magic Tools, and items were recognized someday, the Liu Family would soon suspect him.

Song Qingming directly threw the Token and clothing from the Storage Bag into a stream some distance away. He did not dare keep the three Magic Tools for use either. He planned to leave them in the Storage Bag for now, then, after some time had passed, find a way to dispose of them together with the High-grade Storage Bag at a more distant marketplace.

The several Jade Slips all contained ordinary Qi Refining Stage cultivation methods passed down by the Liu Family. They were not worth much, so Song Qingming chose to discard them all. Only a Formation Canon inherited from that Liu Family Foundation Establishment Ancestor was somewhat useful to Song Qingming, so he kept it.

The canon not only recorded more than ten first-grade formations, but also two Second-grade Array Formations. It would come in handy when he sought to improve his Way of Formations in the future.

The remaining Spirit Stones and Spirit Talismans were all common goods on the market, so he was not afraid of others recognizing them and safely stored them in his own Storage Bag. He could not identify the several bottles of medicinal pills and did not dare take them. He would need to bring them to a marketplace and have an Alchemist appraise them. If they were useful to him, he would keep them; if not, he would sell them directly.

Song Qingming opened the last remaining jade box, and what he saw gave him another fright.

"This is... a Water Spirit Fruit. How could Liu Tianlong's Storage Bag contain such a Spiritual Item? What is going on?"

The moment Song Qingming saw the item in the jade box, he recognized it. "Water Spirit Fruit, one cun and three fen in diameter, completely transparent when mature, emitting a blue gleam..."

He had indeed not been mistaken. The item in the box was a mature Water Spirit Fruit. This Level Two Spiritual Item had been explained to him repeatedly by the First Elder at the Family School when Song Qingming had first begun cultivating. It was also recorded in the Spiritual Medicine Compendium distributed to each of them, which documented all kinds of spiritual fruits and spiritual medicines in the Cultivation World.

Though this was Song Qingming's first time truly seeing the real thing, a cultivator's memory was several times better than that of an ordinary mortal. He had long become deeply familiar with most of the spiritual medicines recorded in the Spiritual Medicine Compendium. Taking the compendium from his Storage Bag, Song Qingming checked it again before finally confirming it completely.

This Water Spirit Fruit was a Spiritual Item worth as much as a Foundation Establishment Pill. How could the Liu Family possess such a Spiritual Item? This Water Spirit Fruit looked as though it had been picked not long ago. Could it be a Spiritual Item Liu Tianlong had just found in the pool? The Liu Family's luck was simply too good—they had actually found such a priceless Spiritual Item in some random pool.

Song Qingming thought it over. Although this was only his own speculation, it was the only explanation that could barely account for the origin of the Water Spirit Fruit in Liu Tianlong's Storage Bag.

If the items Song Qingming had found earlier in Liu Tianlong's Storage Bag had made him rich overnight, then this Water Spirit Fruit had directly given him hope of Foundation Establishment in this lifetime. If he brought such a Spiritual Item to the Carefree Sect in the future, he would certainly be able to exchange it easily for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Song Qingming stared at the Water Spirit Fruit for a long time in shock before finally coming back to himself. He carefully placed it back into the jade box and stored it in his Storage Bag. He had no use for it yet, but fortunately, preserved in this jade box, the Water Spirit Fruit could last at least around twenty years. For now, he did not need to worry that the Spiritual Item would spoil.

Speaking of which, Liu Tianlong had been truly unlucky that day. He had finally managed to pick the Water Spirit Fruit successfully, only for a Level Two Black Feathered Python to suddenly appear in the cave. Though he escaped by the skin of his teeth under the desperate protection of the two Liu Family Elders, as he fled the cave, the Black Feathered Python sprayed out a breath from afar that swept across his abdomen. Not only had it injured his Dantian, but his Storage Bag at his waist had also accidentally fallen to the bottom of the pool. When he wanted to return and retrieve it, the Black Feathered Python had already charged after him, so he could only prioritize saving his own life.

After Liu Tianlong led the Liu Family cultivators out of the Black Feathered Python's pursuit, though unwilling, he did not dare risk returning to search for his lost Storage Bag. The Level Two Black Feathered Python in the pool was not something they could handle at their current strength. He could only lead the remaining family cultivators on the journey home.

After returning to Qinghe County, Liu Tianlong had not been home for long before his severe injuries caused him to spit out a mouthful of blood, leaving him bedridden.

This old patriarch, who had guarded the Liu Family for many years, had a pale face and a listless spirit. Compared with when he had left Qinghe County two months earlier, he seemed to have suddenly aged several years.

The Liu Family's trip to Floating Cloud Mountain this time could be called catastrophic. Of the more than twenty family elites who had taken part in the mission, only a little over half returned, and two Elders had perished. This had truly injured the Liu Family down to the sinews and bones; it would take at least twenty or thirty years for them to recover their strength.

Even Liu Tianlong, a Qi Refining Stage peak cultivator who had dominated Qinghe County for decades, had injured the Dantian within his body this time. Even if he managed to recover from his injuries in the future, he was likely to find it difficult to fight others again.