"Damn!" The horse-faced cultivator's bulging leather pouch was clearly his Spirit Stone bag. Wei Suo opened it and could not help crying out inwardly.
Compared to these high-level cultivators, Wei Suo truly was still a pauper.
Moreover, the horse-faced cultivator seemed to have a particular hobby of collecting High-grade Spirit Stones. There was not even a single Mid-grade Spirit Stone in his Spirit Stone bag. Apart from more than fifty Low-grade Spirit Stones, there were actually over thirty High-grade Spirit Stones.
A single High-grade Spirit Stone contained as much spiritual energy as a hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones. Wei Suo had seen them before, but he had never owned even one himself. To him, High-grade Spirit Stones were exceedingly rare.
So he could not resist taking one out to inspect it.
It was no different in size from Mid-grade or Low-grade Spirit Stones, but it was milky white in color, with a more crystalline and translucent luster.
Seeing Wei Suo actually studying a High-grade Spirit Stone, the Green Robe Old Man immediately shouted in fury, "You still have time to study High-grade Spirit Stones? Hurry up and see if there's anything that can save your life!"
Wei Suo broke out in a cold sweat and immediately put away the High-grade Spirit Stone, then began examining the remaining items.
Besides a pile of Spirit Stones, the Purple Robe Old Daoist's Treasure Pouch contained two white jade pill bottles, a gold-leaf Daoist scripture, six golden objects shaped like willow leaves, and a black bead.
"Those are Golden Spirit Pills!"
Wei Suo took out the two white jade pill bottles, originally thinking they contained nothing more than Qi Replenishing Pills like Lin Daoyi's. Yet one bottle held twenty Qi Replenishing Pills, while the other held three pale golden pills. Wei Suo recognized them at once—they were Golden Spirit Pills, refined from the demon cores of Level Three demon beasts and several spiritual herbs!
Cultivators of the present day all relied on Spirit Stones and pills refined from demon cores for cultivation. The spiritual energy contained in a Golden Spirit Pill refined from a Level Three demon core was less than that of a High-grade Spirit Stone, but cultivators could refine it far faster than they could absorb the spiritual energy of a High-grade Spirit Stone. Therefore, each Golden Spirit Pill cost more than one hundred and ten Low-grade Spirit Stones.
Only Circulation Realm cultivators like the Purple Robe Old Daoist, who had the ability to kill high-level demon beasts, could afford to cultivate with Golden Spirit Pills. Ordinary low-level cultivators knew perfectly well that cultivation with pills refined from demon cores was faster, but they simply could not possibly have enough Spirit Stones to buy such pills.
Even Wei Suo normally could not bear to spend the equivalent of dozens of extra Low-grade Spirit Stones on Golden Spirit Pills for cultivation.
"A high-grade Mystic-class cultivation art?"
When Wei Suo picked up the gold-leaf Daoist scripture, he did not know whether to laugh or cry after just one glance. The Purple Robe Old Daoist's gold-leaf scripture was actually a high-grade Mystic-class True Essence cultivation art, the Golden Liquid Pill Art. Wei Suo had once dreamed of obtaining a better cultivation art to replace the Purple Profound True Art, but now that he had the Heaven Mending Pill, he could not possibly cultivate the Golden Liquid Pill Art anew. Naturally, this scripture was of no use to him.
"A set of magical artifacts?"
When Wei Suo picked up the six golden willow-leaf-like objects, he discovered that they were six thin refined-gold flying blades, and the runes on each blade were different.
"Glimmering Flying Blades, a Half Spirit Artifact. They do not consume much True Essence." As Wei Suo inspected the set in surprise, the Green Robe Old Man coldly gave him the answer, adding, "If your Yin Phosphorus Bone Sword is used up and you have no True Essence left to use the Yin Charm Blade, this set can still hold the line."
"An offensive Half Spirit Artifact?" A flash of delight appeared in Wei Suo's eyes, only for him to smile bitterly again.
A set of magical artifacts like this was already extraordinarily rare under normal circumstances, yet against the opponents he now faced, it seemed somewhat inadequate.
"What's this?"
Wei Suo could not identify the last black pellet in the Purple Robe Old Daoist's Treasure Pouch, which looked like a wax pill.
"A Throat Sealing Pill." The Green Robe Old Man sneered disdainfully. "It dissolves in water without color or taste, yet it can poison even many Level Five demon beasts to death. If one day you lose your mind and swallow it, even a hundred of you would be finished at once. Looks like that old Daoist was quite the sinister fellow."
"Quicksand Talisman, Stone Pillar Talisman, Fire Shield Treasure Talisman. Better to have them than not." The Green Robe Old Man also rattled off the horse-faced cultivator's miscellaneous items in one breath.
"What is this?" Wei Suo opened another leather pouch belonging to the horse-faced cultivator. At first glance, there were only two items inside: a bag of white powder and a piece of silver refined metal, both apparently artifact refining materials. He could not help feeling greatly disappointed. But when he took out the bag of white powder and looked at it, he became excited instead.
This bag of white powder was actually White Phosphorus Beast Bone Powder.
It seemed the yellow-robed cultivators had also prepared for Tie Ce and the Heart Devouring Worm to fight until both sides were battered and exhausted, with Tie Ce unable to defeat the Heart Devouring Worm, so that they could enter afterward and kill it.
With this bag of White Phosphorus Beast Bone Powder, if Wei Suo had the misfortune of encountering a Heart Devouring Worm in the Green Wind Mausoleum, his chances of surviving would increase considerably.
"This is Azure Silver, an exceptional material for artifact refining!" The other piece of silver refined metal, only half the size of a fist, even made the Green Robe Old Man cry out in shock. "That horse-faced miser actually had something like this on him?"
Wei Suo asked in surprise, "What is Azure Silver?"
The Green Robe Old Man answered irritably, "There's no use telling you now anyway. I'll tell you when you make it back alive."
Wei Suo did not argue. After stowing the Spirit Stones, the Dragon Tiger Ziwei Robe, and other items that were temporarily useless into the Purple Robe Old Daoist's black Treasure Pouch, he calmed himself and considered what he should do next.
But at that moment, rumble, rumble, rumble—a series of muffled booms sounded, and the ground trembled faintly, as though the Green Wind Mausoleum had suddenly been struck by an earthquake.
The moment Wei Suo heard the sound, his face fell. "Damn it, old man, I like crawling into small holes. I don't like crawling into such huge holes."
Those muffled booms had indeed come from beneath the Green Wind Mausoleum.
Within a dense forest on the northern side of the Green Wind Mausoleum, several nearly vertical shafts resembling mine tunnels flashed repeatedly with streaks of light as the muffled booms echoed out.
If one descended straight down through those mine tunnels, one would reach the Green Wind Mausoleum's infamous, utterly filthy underground mausoleum.
These underground palaces left behind from ancient times had mostly fallen into ruin. Precisely because they were so dilapidated, with some places collapsed and others intact, the Green Wind Mausoleum's underground mausoleum—where even a single corner was larger than the Stone Maggot Cave—was no less complex and winding than a labyrinth.
If words had to be used to describe it, imagine a great city of several million people shaken into utter chaos by a massive earthquake, then plunged into eternal night, never to see the sun again. Even an old resident of that city would probably be unable to distinguish east, south, west, or north inside it. Tell him to find the road to the brothel he frequented most, and he probably would not be able to find it at all.
Not to mention the huge number of demon beasts inside, such as Corpse Devouring Worms.
At that moment, deep underground within the Green Wind Mausoleum, Nangong Yuqing and her group were surrounded by a swarm of Corpse Devouring Worms in an underground palace.
There were more than thirty Corpse Devouring Worms in the swarm. The corpses they controlled were pitch-black from head to toe, their skin glossy with oil, looking like people who had been soaked in black oil for who knew how long. The bodies of those thirty-odd corpses were twisted into all sorts of deeply unsettling postures, yet they charged toward Nangong Yuqing and the others from every direction at tremendous speed, swinging their glossy black arms. They looked as though they intended either to smash Nangong Yuqing and the others to death with their fists or tear them to pieces.
Including Nangong Yuqing, there were only five cultivators surrounded, and Liu Wu—the one Wei Suo had met in the Stone Maggot Cave—was among them.
A bearded cultivator dressed in rough hemp clothing stood in the middle of the five. Every time he raised his hand, circular lightning shields the size of watermelons appeared around them.
At that moment, thirty or forty of the densely packed lightning shields already floated around the group.
Any corpse that touched those bright lightning shields was jolted until it twitched all over, making for a rather comical sight.
Beside him stood a very short cultivator in black robes. Every time he cast a spell, numerous bamboo-shoot-shaped stone spikes rose from the ground within a radius of one or two zhang, leaving the pierced corpses unable to move for the moment.
Nangong Yuqing, Liu Wu, and another sallow-faced young cultivator focused solely on casting offensive spells. The sallow-faced young cultivator wearing a conspicuous emerald-green Daoist robe was actually a Circulation Realm First Level cultivator. Each time he cast a spell, five dark-green blades of light shot forth, slicing a corpse into several pieces.
The five worked together seamlessly in attack and defense. They dealt with the thirty-odd Corpse Devouring Worms with great ease, more than enough to spare. In just a short while, they had already killed more than ten Corpse Devouring Worms.
Yet the faces of all five, Nangong Yuqing included, carried faintly uncertain expressions.
"Nangong Yuqing, what's wrong?" Suddenly sensing Nangong Yuqing's obvious abnormality beside him, Liu Wu quickly turned and asked.
Nangong Yuqing said in disbelief, "He actually came."
Liu Wu and the other three cultivators looked at the slightly stunned Nangong Yuqing in confusion. "Who?"
"Wei Suo, the one you met. This communication jade talisman only lights up when he is within three hundred li of me. This underground palace is already a hundred li deep beneath the earth, so he must be near one of the entrances to the Green Wind Mausoleum's underground mausoleum by now." Nangong Yuqing glanced at the communication jade talisman still glowing in her hand and said to Liu Wu and the others, "Logically speaking, he should not have come to the Green Wind Mausoleum at a time like this. And since he used the communication jade talisman here, he should know that I am here and wants to pass me some message."
"Something does seem wrong." The sallow-faced young cultivator at the Circulation Realm First Level said gravely, "We split into three groups to search for the Heart Devouring Worm. Logically, it should be impossible for all three locations to be attacked at the same time. And these Corpse Devouring Worms are unlike usual. They seem to be merely holding us back, preventing us from joining up with the other two groups."
"How could that be possible? Things like Corpse Devouring Worms cannot possibly possess such intelligence." The short black-robed cultivator immediately shook his head, his voice sharp and thin.
The sallow-faced young cultivator, who seemed to be the leader of the five, pondered briefly. "No matter what, we should join up with Nalan Bing and the others as soon as possible. Then we can find a way to contact Nangong Yuqing's friend."
Before you continue