Counting the Spoils

In an unnamed mountain range within the Azure Cloud Sect lay Lin Chen's cultivation experimentation site.

In one corner of the laboratory, Lin Chen sat on a wooden chair, his eyes slightly closed.

Whether it was Luo Ziyan's Dream Divination alerting the Azure Cloud Sect's upper ranks, or True Person Qingyang's avatar secretly returning to the sect to make plans for the future, Lin Chen knew nothing of any of it.

After all, none of it concerned him yet.

Right now, he was reviewing the battle from the previous night.

"I wasn't injured during the entire fight, nor did I leave anything behind." Lin Chen opened his eyes and muttered, "Even if they want to track me down, without a sufficient medium, it won't be so easy for them to pin down my identity."

"Even if my identity is exposed, so long as I haven't touched the Foundation Establishment Secret Method, my current status as an outstanding Outer Disciple should keep my life out of danger. After all, we're ultimately on the same side..."

Unlike Zhang Hao, a cultivator who had joined halfway through, Lin Chen had spent a full ten years in the Azure Cloud Sect and had almost completely cut ties with the Lin Family. He could be said to have roots that were straight and shoots that were red.

"Still, entrusting my life to someone else's hands is never a good thing..."

"For the next few days, I should adjust my condition and hurry up with my breakthrough. An Inner Disciple with hopes of reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm is worlds apart in status from an outstanding Outer Disciple. If I can become a True Disciple as well, I'll be considered part of the sect's upper ranks. By then, this matter naturally won't affect me in any way."

Having thought everything through, Lin Chen reined in his thoughts and took out the more than twenty Storage Bags he had obtained.

"What a bountiful harvest..." Even Lin Chen, normally so calm, could not help but feel a trace of delight.

Normally, he had to kill several cultivators just to get one Storage Bag. When had he ever hauled in more than twenty at once?

Let alone the fact that the former owners of these Storage Bags had all been Rogue Cultivators or relatively wealthy cultivators from cultivation families. The wealth inside was surely even more abundant.

After examining them, Lin Chen took hold of the Storage Bags one by one and sent a strand of true qi into each. Before long, a huge pile of items poured from the bags and filled the tabletop.

There were more than five thousand Spirit Stones alone, along with over three hundred Azure Cloud Spirit Leaves worth the equivalent of one hundred Spirit Stones each. Together, they came to nearly forty thousand Spirit Stones.

The value of the Spirit Stones alone was enough to purchase several Foundation Establishment Pills!

Next came all kinds of Spirit Artifacts—spirit swords, great sabers, bracelets, and more—dozens in total, preliminarily estimated to be worth over ten thousand Spirit Stones.

"This is... a Spirit Needle made from the tail of a Jade Scorpion, possessing both Law Breaking and highly poisonous attributes?"

Lin Chen studied the Spirit Needle in his hand with great interest.

"A Law Breaking attribute... it's worth researching." Lin Chen considered it before setting it aside.

Alongside it were two Spirit Artifacts capable of defending autonomously.

Spirit Artifacts that could automatically trigger defensive measures when danger arose were already among Lin Chen's research projects. Unfortunately, he had not made any major progress so far. A few more experimental samples would be quite helpful.

Then there were all sorts of medicinal pills: Rejuvenation Pills, Detoxification Pills, Yellow Bud Pills, and even highly precious pills for Qi Refining Stage Cultivators such as Pulse Protecting Pills and Hundred Herbs Rejuvenation Pills.

"This is a Yimu Returning Vitality Pill?!" Lin Chen picked up a specially made porcelain bottle, surprise flashing in his eyes.

This pill was a renowned healing elixir in the Foundation Establishment Realm. Furthermore, because its medicinal properties were mild, it could be refined through special methods so that even Qi Refining Stage Cultivators could consume it.

It was an exceptionally precious life-saving item. He had not expected to acquire one here.

"Indeed, a man does not grow rich without windfall wealth, and a horse does not grow fat without night grass." Lin Chen could not help but sigh in praise.

"And there's more than just pills." As he said this, a hint of anticipation entered Lin Chen's voice.

The most precious things in most cultivators' Storage Bags were nothing more than four kinds of items: Spirit Stones or their equivalents, Spirit Artifacts, medicinal pills, and lastly, the cultivation methods and secret arts they practiced!

And these were what Lin Chen looked forward to most. In his eyes, they were the most valuable things, for they represented the knowledge and wisdom of cultivators who had come before. In this world, nothing was more precious than those two things!

"Evergreen Art, Five Elements Spirit Art, Primordial Chaos Art... what kind of trash is this?!" Yet after sorting through half of them, all he found was this garbage. Lin Chen could not help but become irritated and curse aloud.

Couldn't these cultivators improve their cultivation methods and secret arts? Why were they all such commonplace junk that could be found on the market?

"Hmm? Blood Sacrifice Fortune Seizing Method?" Lin Chen picked up a jade slip. But after finishing it, he suddenly froze.

It was a very simple, direct name, laying out its function with perfect clarity.

"Fortune..." Lin Chen's interest was immediately piqued.

According to the intelligence he knew, fortune was intangible and elusive. Within the Cultivation World, only mysterious Heavenly Secret Masters could influence it.

"So this should be a unique Heavenly Secret art? But sacrificing the fortune of another and seizing their fate... Good heavens, is its creator really not afraid of the Great Meteorite Technique?" After carefully sorting through it all, Lin Chen's mouth twitched.

He had not expected the creator of this method to be so mad. Making a move against one with great fortune—were they not simply tired of living?

"Still, it does have some use. I can extract its method for identifying those with great fortune and create a simple Heavenly Secret art for deducing a person's fortune."

Lin Chen thought for a moment, then set it aside.

"Eh? Blood Curse Gu?" As the jade slips beneath his hand dwindled, Lin Chen discovered another item of some value.

"This is... a Blood Gu Technique? By using this technique, one refines their own blood into Blood Gu and has it parasitize another person's body, continuously plundering their life essence until it causes bodily weakness or even death..."

After reading it, Lin Chen raised his brow.

Why did this sound somewhat similar to the parasites from his previous life?

"Though a gu seems to be a kind of insect by nature..." Lin Chen pondered for a moment, then placed the jade slip aside. "It's worth referencing. And the methods involving blood within it may perhaps be incorporated into the Body Refining Cultivation Method I created, the [Marrow Cleansing Scripture]..."

"This is... Curse Method, and it's an incomplete copy?"

The third item Lin Chen found interesting was not a cultivation method, but an incomplete copy of Curse Method.

"The life in this world evolved from spiritual qi, and the human body moves through qi. Thus, one can use the residual aura left behind by a human body to exert influence from afar, thereby causing illness, death, and the like—is this the so-called curse?"

Lin Chen considered it, then set it aside.

Lin Chen continued looking through them. Before long, however, his hand suddenly paused as he flipped through the cultivation methods, and a trace of gloom appeared on his face.

"Hmm?!"

The cultivation method in his hand was called the Blood Refining Spirit Returning Great Law, a demonic path art that refined all things in the world into Blood Spirit Seeds for cultivation.

This demonic path art alone was not enough to move Lin Chen, but the problem was, he had seen this method more than once!

"Sure enough, someone is deliberately spreading this method throughout Azure Cloud Sect's vast territory, with the aim of undermining Azure Cloud Sect's rule!" Lin Chen's expression darkened completely.

This cultivation method emphasized slaughter and twisted one's mind. The blood cultivators it created were enough to destroy the peace and order of an entire region.

Coupled with its widespread dissemination throughout Azure Cloud Sect's territory, it gave Lin Chen a faint feeling that wind and rain were coming!

"Truly..." Lin Chen could not help gritting his teeth.

The ever-rising price of life-saving talismans at Cloud Arrival Market, the continuous spread of demonic path cultivation methods that slaughtered people and refined blood to increase cultivation level, as well as the repeated emergence of Zhang Hao and others who seemed to be favored by fate—all of it convinced Lin Chen that a tremendous upheaval sweeping across the entire Lingnan Great Land was bound to come in the future!

In this upheaval, perhaps no one would be able to remain untouched!

"I must seize the time to increase my strength and prepare for unforeseen changes!" Lin Chen made his decision resolutely in his heart.

He then withdrew his thoughts, focused on the present, and swiftly dealt with the matters before him.

As time passed, Lin Chen quickly sorted out the valuable cultivation methods and secret arts.

Although quite a few of the cultivation methods had different names and were not sold on the market, in Lin Chen's experienced eyes, they were merely old wine in new bottles, without the slightest novelty. They could not bring any new ideas to his research at all.

"So I might as well sell them." Lin Chen said indifferently.

Lin Chen continued taking stock of his haul, unexpectedly finding two items related to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

One was a gray, unremarkable bead that appeared rather old. It was likely the trump card this cultivator had obtained while exploring ancient cultivator ruins.

The other was a small sword, acquired from the Storage Bag of the Chen Family cultivator who had bought the Hundred Year Jade Marrow. It was likely made by their family's ancestor.

Moreover, under Lin Chen's examination, he discovered that its power was exceptionally formidable. The person who had made this small sword was likely considered an expert even within the Foundation Establishment Realm.

After tidying up everything before him, Lin Chen solemnly took out five items. These were the most valuable gains from this operation.

First was the Void Refinement Talisman, the Instant Thousand Mile Talisman.

"I've always complained that my luck was bad. Who would have thought that the moment I got something, it would be this precious? But why can it only be used upon reaching the Golden Core Realm?" Lin Chen was somewhat speechless, though he still put it away carefully.

Next were three cultivation methods: the Blood Origin Marrow Refining Scripture, the Five Elements Primordial Chaos Method, and the Great Evolution Spirit Dream Art.

"The Blood Origin Marrow Refining Scripture can help me improve the Marrow Cleansing Scripture, my Body Refining Cultivation Method. As for these two Golden Core cultivation methods..."

Lin Chen hesitated somewhat.

Cultivation methods in the Cultivation World prized profound words and great meaning, mysterious beyond mystery. If even one word was interpreted incorrectly, the outcome could be completely different.

Let alone these two Golden Core cultivation methods—one involved illusory dreams, while the other involved spiritual roots. Lin Chen did not dare begin cultivating them recklessly.

So...

"I should find some people to conduct experiments on first." After giving it some thought, Lin Chen made his decision.

Finally, Lin Chen opened the jade box. Inside lay the original and most important target of this operation—the Hundred Year Jade Marrow!

At the sight of this item, a trace of excitement surfaced on Lin Chen's face.

"With this, my experimental plan for mistifying true qi finally has some assurance. Next, it is time to begin preparing for a breakthrough."