Crusher Brand Universe Bag

That gaze was cold, venomous, like a viper lurking in the shadows, coiling tightly around the back of Zhou Xuan.

Zhou Xuan's body tensed instantly; the joy he had just felt from his bountiful harvest was washed away by this sudden surge of malice.

Alarm bells rang out in his heart.

Who?

Since arriving in this world, aside from Liu Ruyan and that Zhao Long, he didn't seem to have offended anyone of any real consequence.

Could it be Liu Ruyan?

As soon as this thought emerged, Zhou Xuan frowned slightly.

Based on his understanding of Liu Ruyan, although that woman was heartless, she was arrogant to the core.

She would never stoop to such underhanded tactics to deal with him; she would only use absolute strength and status to crush him openly, leaving him without even the qualification to look up at her.

If she wanted to root out the problem, she wouldn't send someone to monitor him; she would simply have the sect kick him out.

Then, only one possibility remained.

Zhao Long!

That greedy and self-righteous guy!

He must have discovered the spirit stones were fake, but couldn't figure out how a piece of trash at the first stage of Body Tempering like him had pulled it off, so sending him to the Miscellaneous Affairs Department wasn't enough—he had to send someone to monitor his every move?

Zhou Xuan's eyes turned cold in an instant.

He remained calm, his footsteps not faltering in the slightest, as if he hadn't noticed a thing.

But his right hand had already quietly reached into his robes, his fingertips gently pinching that Blazing Fire Bead he had dubbed the Immortal Cultivation World Grenade.

The cold sensation gave him a sliver of confidence.

Damn it!

Do they really think I'm a soft persimmon to be squeezed at will?

Zhou Xuan felt a surge of ruthlessness, and a crazy plan instantly took shape in his mind.

If that guy dared to follow him and make a move, he'd shove this bead right down his throat!

Although private fights between disciples were strictly forbidden in the sect, what place was this?

Pill Peak!

Right next to the Miscellaneous Affairs Department!

When the time came, he would just say that while processing waste pills, the medicinal properties became unstable and it exploded by accident!

Who could prove otherwise?

Dead men tell no tales!

A servant's life for an inner sect disciple's life—even if the Law Enforcement Hall investigated, with Zhang Ling, the Explosion Immortal, there to take the heat, who would dare say her waste pills were fine?

Thinking of this, a cold arc curled at the corner of Zhou Xuan's mouth.

Fortunately, that malicious gaze did not last long.

Just as Zhou Xuan was about to step out of the Pill Peak area, the gaze quietly vanished.

Zhou Xuan let out a sigh of relief, but the vigilance in his heart did not relax in the slightest.

When Zhou Xuan's figure reappeared in the gray, gloomy mountain hollow of the Miscellaneous Affairs Department, all the servant disciples working there stopped what they were doing in unison, as if they had seen a ghost.

A dozen pairs of eyes converged on him.

Shock, astonishment, disbelief.

Zhou Ye was listlessly dragging the carcass of a Spirit Beast; seeing Zhou Xuan return unscathed, the corpse in his hands dropped to the ground with a thud, yet he didn't even notice.

His face, which looked like that of a fifty-year-old man, was filled with incredulity.

"You're back?"

"You're okay?"

Zhou Xuan looked at their expressions and felt a sense of speechlessness.

Good grief, we're all out here risking our lives on the edge of a blade, can't you people wish me well?

He forced a smile that looked worse than a cry and waved his hand weakly.

"Got lucky."

The surrounding servant disciples looked at each other, ultimately attributing Zhou Xuan's safety to sheer dumb luck.

"Sigh, the kid's got a lucky life."

"He won't have such good luck next time."

They whispered to each other, shaking their heads, and returned to their numb and dangerous labor.

In their eyes, Zhou Xuan had merely postponed his date with death by a few days.

Zhou Xuan ignored their chatter and headed straight back to the wooden shack that Zhou Ye had arranged for him, which was even more dilapidated than the one he had previously occupied in the servant quarters.

A busy day soon began once again.

Zhou Xuan immediately transformed into a warm-hearted, good-natured fellow, wandering all around the mountain hollow.

"Senior brother, these discarded talisman papers are too dangerous; let me handle them for you!"

"Junior brother, stay away from that pile of medicinal dregs; they are highly toxic, leave it to me!"

He took the initiative to shoulder many of the tasks that others considered the most dangerous and troublesome.

Those miscellaneous disciples were only too happy to have someone act as such a sucker, and one after another, they cast grateful gazes toward him.

While they praised Junior Brother Zhou Xuan as a good person with their mouths, they were cursing him as a fool in their hearts.

While Zhou Xuan was busy helping others, he was frantically communicating with the system in his mind.

"Absorb!"

[Ding! Detected low-level energy material—damaged Explosion Talisman, spiritual energy severely depleted, can be converted into 1 Gold Touch Value.]

"Absorb!"

[Ding! Detected low-level energy material—poisoned Spirit Beast Bone, spiritual energy severely depleted, can be converted into 2 Gold Touch Value.]

After a round of hard work, Zhou Xuan was panting with exhaustion, yet his Gold Touch Value had only increased by less than thirty points.

He sighed helplessly.

As expected, the spiritual energy within these aged scraps, which had been discarded here for who knows how long, had long since dissipated for the most part.

According to some of the veteran miscellaneous disciples who had stayed here for a long time, those truly dangerous items—the ones with the most abundant spiritual energy—were always prioritized for disposal, leaving no chance for him to scavenge them.

Even so, this place remained filled with danger at every turn.

However, Zhou Xuan soon made a new discovery.

[Ding! Detected damaged low-grade magical artifact—Black Iron Shield (fragmented), can consume 50 Gold Touch Value to perform a Gold Touch restoration.]

It could be repaired!

Zhou Xuan's eyes lit up instantly.

This Miscellaneous Affairs Department was not just an energy recycling station; it was a scrap acquisition and processing plant!

A new plan immediately formed in his mind.

Instead of picking up those leftovers, it would be better to take the initiative and properly hunt for treasures here!

He acted as soon as he thought of it!

Zhou Xuan began to carefully rummage through the piles of trash mountains that emitted foul odors and dangerous auras.

He was like an experienced scavenger, his gaze sweeping over broken flying swords, shattered dharma robes, and scorched formation disks.

Hard work pays off.

Soon, his gaze was drawn to a dusty cloth bag in the corner.

The style of the cloth bag was quite archaic, and the opening was tied with an unknown animal tendon; although it was covered in dust, the body of the bag was completely undamaged.

Universe Bag!

Zhou Xuan's heart skipped a beat!

This was a spatial magical artifact!

Even the lowest grade one would sell for dozens of low-grade spirit stones at the outer sect market!

Furthermore, it was a rare item that was often unavailable even if one had the money.

He walked over quickly, just about to bend down to pick it up.

"Junior Brother Zhou Xuan, don't touch that!"

Not far away, a miscellaneous disciple who was moving waste ore shouted loudly, his face showing a hint of apprehension.

Zhou Xuan paused his movements and looked back at him.

The disciple walked over, pointed at the Universe Bag on the ground, and said with lingering fear: "This thing is extremely wicked!"

"It was thrown away by an inner sect senior brother after a failed attempt at artifact refining; it looks fine on the outside, but the spatial formation inside seems to have malfunctioned."

"A senior brother who didn't believe it tried putting his identity token inside, and guess what happened?"

He lowered his voice and said mysteriously: "When he took it back out, the token had turned directly into a pile of powder!"

"Anything put inside will be shredded into pieces by the spatial rifts within!"

After hearing this, Zhou Xuan couldn't help but complain wildly in his heart.

Good grief!

He actually refined a spatial magical artifact into a Crusher?

That senior brother is truly a talent!

Seeing that Zhou Xuan was still staring at the Universe Bag, the disciple advised him again: "This thing is just trash; it's useless to keep it, and it just takes up space. You might as well throw it into the Incineration Pit."

Zhou Xuan was overjoyed, yet he wore the expression of a curious child as he picked up the Universe Bag and weighed it in his hand.

"It's nothing, Senior Brother. I just think this bag is quite unique; I'm just taking it back to use as a trinket."

Seeing his persistence, the chore disciple couldn't be bothered to persuade him further, assuming he was just a naive newcomer, and shook his head before walking away.

Clutching the Crusher, Zhou Xuan suppressed his inner ecstasy and hurried back to his dilapidated wooden shack.

Closing the door, he couldn't wait to issue a command to the system in his mind.

"System, enlighten it!"

[Ding! Detected a damaged low-grade spatial artifact--Universe Bag (inferior).]

[Its internal spatial formation is chaotic and possesses strong cutting properties.]

[Do you wish to consume 100 Gold Touch Value to enlighten and repair its internal formation?]

One hundred points!

The corner of Zhou Xuan's eye twitched.

That is damn expensive!

He had risked his life working hard at Pill Peak to earn only a little over three hundred points, and upgrading his spiritual root had already cost 100 points; in the blink of an eye, nearly a third of his remaining balance was about to vanish.

But thinking about owning his own storage artifact, which would make hiding or carrying things infinitely more convenient in the future, he gritted his teeth.

"Yes! Enlighten!"

[Ding! Command received, consuming 100 Gold Touch Value.]

[Enlightening the damaged Universe Bag...]

The moment the voice faded, the Universe Bag in Zhou Xuan's hand suddenly emitted a faint hum.

A layer of pale golden light flashed across the mouth of the bag and vanished.

The once plain cloth bag seemed to become slightly more substantial in that instant, and the animal tendon tied around the opening began to shimmer with a faint spiritual glow.

Zhou Xuan focused his mind and probed inside with his divine sense.

The next second, a storage space the size of a room, with smooth walls and a stable environment, appeared clearly within his perception!

It worked!