Main Peak Tremors (Seeking Sanjiang Votes)

PS: Young ones, throw your Sanjiang votes over here!

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At the very bottom of the large pit, an object the size of a chicken egg, emitting a faint cyan glow like a precious gem, suddenly appeared before Ye Zhen's eyes.

In particular, a small section of a stalactite was still connected to this glowing cyan gem. At this moment, traces of cyan liquid were faintly seeping out from where the stalactite met the cyan treasure, and the remaining stub of the stalactite even showed signs of Marrow Spirit Liquid oozing out.

Looking at this scene, Ye Zhen could almost confirm that the egg-sized, cyan-glowing treasure before him was the source of the Marrow Spirit Liquid.

The effects of the Marrow Spirit Liquid were already miraculous enough; one could only imagine how extraordinary the treasure capable of producing it must be.

Suddenly, Ye Zhen's expression shifted violently.

After being exposed to the air, the glistening moisture on the surface of this treasure began to dry up. The remaining section of the stalactite lost all its moisture in an instant, crumbling into a pile of fine sand, while the egg-sized cyan gem itself began to shrink slowly, looking like a shriveled egg.

As the moisture vanished and the luster faded, the gem that had just moments ago radiated a divine glow transformed into a dull, unremarkable pebble.

Ye Zhen grew anxious and scrambled to bury the Marrow Spirit Pearl back under the sand and soil. "Marrow Spirit Pearl" was the name Ye Zhen gave to this miraculous gem capable of producing the Marrow Spirit Liquid.

However, no matter how hard Ye Zhen tried, or how much sand and stone he piled on, the Marrow Spirit Pearl remained dull, devoid of moisture, and showed no signs of recovery.

After waiting for two full hours, Ye Zhen completely lost hope that the Marrow Spirit Pearl would recover. Moreover, he could not wait any longer; in another hour or two, dawn would break.

He had no choice but to take the Marrow Spirit Pearl with him.

Ye Zhen believed that this Marrow Spirit Pearl was definitely an extraordinary treasure and must have uses he was yet to discover.

The Marrow Spirit Pearl felt incredibly heavy in his hand; it was hard to imagine that a cyan stone the size of a chicken egg could weigh as much as a stone the size of a watermelon. However, what Ye Zhen found most remarkable about the pearl was another discovery he had made.

Just now, as he picked up the Marrow Spirit Pearl, the still-hopeful Ye Zhen had a sudden whim and attempted to channel a wisp of his True Essence into it.

A terrifying event occurred.

The moment that wisp of True Essence, thinner than a strand of hair, entered the pearl, the Marrow Spirit Pearl acted like a ignited powder keg, and a terrifying, violent force surged out from within it.

Ye Zhen's wisp of True Essence was instantly shattered by the violent power inside the pearl, and the backlash from that force caused significant internal damage to the meridians in his palm.

However, strangely enough, the moment Ye Zhen's wisp of True Essence was completely destroyed by the pearl, the violent power that had terrified him vanished instantly, leaving the object as calm and unremarkable as an ordinary stone.

Afterward, Ye Zhen was left with lingering fear.

Fortunately, he had been cautious and only sent in an extremely thin wisp of True Essence. Had he sent in a wave of energy carelessly, the backlash from the violent force within the pearl would have easily shattered his arm.

If things had gone poorly, it could have easily cost him his life.

"This Marrow Spirit Pearl is definitely an incredible treasure. I must keep it safe; it might come in handy later!"

After stowing the Marrow Spirit Pearl away, Ye Zhen looked at the large pit Gu Duozhi had carved out with a sense of melancholy. The miraculous Marrow Spirit Liquid was now gone.

However, what one loses in one place, one may gain in another. Perhaps this Marrow Spirit Pearl was an even more extraordinary treasure?

Before leaving, Ye Zhen had to deal with Gu Duozhi's corpse, or at least bury it. Of course, he would not easily pass up the wealth on Gu Duozhi's person before doing so.

Gu Duozhi did not carry much on him: a bottle and a half of Condensing True Pill, a Human-tier Low Grade Cultivation Manual titled Lesser Heavenly Star Swordplay, and a hundred gold leaves worth one tael each. The most valuable items, however, were ten Blackwater Bank silver notes, each worth one thousand taels.

Aside from these, there was his personal long sword and the Identity Jade Token that signified his status as an Outer Disciple.

Ultimately, after careful consideration, Ye Zhen only took the bottle and a half of Condensing True Pill and the hundred gold leaves.

As for the ten thousand taels in silver notes, after carefully comparing them to the ones he already possessed and finding no difference—the seals were identical and the serial numbers were equally chaotic—Ye Zhen tucked them into his robes.

As for the most valuable item, the Human-tier Low Grade Cultivation Manual Lesser Heavenly Star Swordplay, and Gu Duozhi's long sword, Ye Zhen honestly buried them along with the corpse.

Ye Zhen was wise enough to know what could be touched and what could not. Even though Gu Duozhi had mentioned that his room contained pills worth ten thousand gold and even more valuable treasures, Ye Zhen never once harbored the foolish thought of going to Gu Duozhi's room.

In his youth, Ye Zhen loved reading novels and biographies, and there were far too many examples of people who had money but no life to spend it.

Finally, Ye Zhen stared at Gu Duozhi's Identity Jade Token, unsure of how to handle it.

Every Outer Disciple possessed an Identity Jade Token. This token was extremely miraculous; it could record an Outer Disciple's Sect Contribution Points, resonate with the Heaven and Earth Ranking, and was said to have many other unknown, magical functions.

Ye Zhen did not know what other wonders the token held, so he dared not dispose of it rashly. Any slight mistake could cost him his life.

In the Qi Yun Sect, harming a fellow disciple meant death without exception!

After pondering for a long time, Ye Zhen suddenly recalled a piece of gossip he had heard in the cafeteria: an eccentric Outer Disciple had died in the back mountains, and his body had rotted for half a year before anyone discovered it.

In the end, it was only through the remaining Identity Jade Token that the disciple's identity was confirmed.

If this gossip were true, it meant one thing: a functional Identity Jade Token did not serve as a notification of the holder's life or death to the sect.

With this confirmed, Ye Zhen only needed to be certain of one more thing to cover up the news of Gu Duozhi's death for a period of time.

Carefully clearing away all traces within the Cliff Secret Cave, Ye Zhen took Gu Duozhi's Identity Jade Token and left the area silently.

Ye Zhen left Hundred Pine Peak without alerting anyone. When he arrived at East Arrival Peak and saw Gu Duozhi's name still shining brightly on the Earth Ranking, the last bit of tension in Ye Zhen's heart finally eased.

As long as an Outer Disciple's Identity Jade Token remained intact, their name would not vanish from the Earth Ranking upon death. In this way, Gu Duozhi's death would not be discovered by the sect for a short time.

The later the sect discovered it, the safer Ye Zhen would be.

The next day, Ye Zhen notified Steward Liu at Guan Peak on East Arrival Peak, then shouldered his pack, left the Qi Yun Sect, and embarked on the journey home.

The Qi Yun Sect was located in the Qi Yun Mountain Range, about four thousand li away from Ye Zhen's hometown in Jincheng County, Wuan Commandery. The roads were rugged; if he traveled on foot, it would take at least a month, which was a massive waste of time.

Fortunately, the small town at the foot of the Qi Yun Sect sold Thousand-Mile Horses that could traverse mountains as if they were flat ground. Ye Zhen spent two thousand taels of silver to purchase a white Silver-Horned Horse with a single horn on its head to aid his travel.

The Silver-Horned Horse was a breed possessing the bloodline of a rare Monster Beast. Over ten thousand years of human history on the True Profound Continent, humans had gradually tamed these incredibly strong horses that could traverse mountains with ease.

However, the Silver-Horned Horse was not only expensive to purchase, but also quite costly to feed; the nearly one tael of silver required for its daily upkeep was something an ordinary person could never afford.

Of course, for Ye Zhen as he was now, this was nothing at all.

Ye Zhen seized every opportunity to travel during the day, but he still carved out time morning and evening to cultivate, never daring to slack off in the slightest.

On this day, Ye Zhen rode the Silver-Horned Horse to the banks of the Blackwater River, which wound for ten thousand miles. Looking at the ink-black, surging waters of the Blackwater River, a sudden thought struck him, and he tossed the Identity Jade Token of Gu Duozhi, which he had been carrying for several days, into the rushing river.

This dangerous object, which he had carried for four or five days, bobbed up and down along the ink-black water after being thrown into the Blackwater River, drifting away toward the distance.

At times it was struck to the bottom of the river by a wave, at times it collided with hidden reefs along the undercurrents, and at times it was smashed against the river embankment by the flow. Finally, after countless impacts, cracks slowly began to appear on Gu Duozhi's Identity Jade Token.

Two days later, a wave crashed down, and Gu Duozhi's Identity Jade Token finally shattered into countless fragments, flowing away with the black water.

Almost the instant Gu Duozhi's Identity Jade Token shattered, the name of Gu Duozhi on the Earth Ranking at the Heaven and Earth Cliff of the Qi Yun Sect flickered rapidly before vanishing from the list entirely.

Ye Zhen's name on the Earth Ranking flickered slightly and then took the number one spot, while the name of Hong Bao, whom Ye Zhen had once beaten down to third place, climbed back up to his old position in second.

Steward Liu of East Arrival Peak, sensing something amiss, looked at the vanished name of Gu Duozhi. After rushing to Gu Duozhi's living quarters to investigate and make inquiries, his expression changed drastically, and he hurried toward Qi Tian Peak, the main peak of the Qi Yun Sect!

"What? Gu Duozhi, the number one on the Earth Ranking, has died unexpectedly? That was a disciple I had my eye on."

In an instant, the main peak of the Qi Yun Sect was shaken, and several True Disciples who had not appeared for a long time, including Fan Chuyu of Spirit Sword Peak, all descended the mountain together!

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PS: Pig Three is fortunate enough to have boarded the Sanjiang flight, but there is one very important metric for Sanjiang, and that is the Sanjiang votes. If one can rank first in Sanjiang votes by the end of the week, one can enter the Sanjiang Hanlin Academy.

I ask all my brothers and sisters to lend Pig Three a hand and cast a Sanjiang vote for me.

A reminder: Sanjiang votes must be claimed. You can find them in the upper right corner of the Sanjiang category channel; once claimed, you can cast them!

Pig Three bows to you all here!