Three Treasures

After Qiusheng had dealt with the Golden Dragon Locking Jade Pillar problem, it was time to properly sort through what he had gained over the past few days.

First, he took the Mystic Dao Seal and Jingzhen Sword from his person, then pulled an iron token from his robes.

Of the three items before him, the first two needed no further explanation. As for the last one, he had taken it from the White-Robed Twin Fiends.

He had been too busy these past two days to investigate what it was.

Now that he had some free time, he began examining it.

He gripped the iron token tightly in his right hand. At once, an intensely cold sensation traveled up his arm and into his body.

"Yikes!"

Qiusheng sucked in a sharp breath. The iron token was saturated with yin energy.

Its yin energy was incredibly pure, almost as potent as that of the White-Robed Twin Fiends. This meant that, at the very least, the item was a ghost artifact.

Ghost artifacts were objects tainted by dense yin energy. They all shared one obvious trait: they made ideal hiding places for ghosts, and were often coveted by those who raised them.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. An artifact of such high quality could fetch an astronomical price if I found someone in the trade who knew its value."

"Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be of any use to me."

After muttering to himself, Qiusheng put the iron token away and turned his attention to the Mystic Dao Seal before him.

He had drawn out much of the spiritual energy within the seal, greatly diminishing its power. He would have to nourish it carefully before it could return to its peak.

Qiusheng knew there was no shortcut. He would just have to restore it little by little.

With a casual flick of his hand, he tucked it away as well.

Next, Qiusheng's gaze finally fell on the last item.

He had an idea about the Jingzhen Sword, but he had never been sure whether it was a good one or if it might lead to irreversible consequences.

If I absorb the spiritual energy inside the Jingzhen Sword, I might be able to strengthen my spirit body again.

But this sword belonged to a Heavenly Master from a past generation. Could anything go wrong if I did that?

As Qiusheng hesitated, his heart suddenly gave a jolt.

"Ding. Host, the spirit body you awakened earlier was an Earth Spirit Body. In the Five Elements cycle, earth generates metal, so the next spirit body you awaken should be a Metal Spirit Body."

At the system's sudden prompt, Qiusheng let out a long breath.

"Heh, so continuing to awaken spirit bodies requires magical artifacts with the right elemental attributes. That settles whether I should absorb the Jingzhen Sword."

"After all, it has a lightning attribute, which isn't the one I need."

As his thoughts turned, Qiusheng put the Jingzhen Sword away too.

Then he closed his eyes and used the thousand Exorcism Points he had just acquired to improve his cultivation.

"Ding. Congratulations, Host. You have spent 240 Exorcism Points to advance your cultivation to the middle stage of Human Master."

"Ding. Congratulations, Host. You have spent 480 Exorcism Points to advance your cultivation to the late stage of Human Master."

"Ding. Host, your cultivation has reached a bottleneck. To break through again, you must awaken a Five Elements Spirit Body."

The system's prompts rang one after another in Qiusheng's mind, and he stirred slightly.

It seemed he would be stuck at the late stage of Human Master for a while. After all, awakening the Five Elements Spirit Body required top-grade magical artifacts corresponding to all five elements.

Of the artifacts currently in his possession, he had only one that fit the bill.

As for the Jingzhen Sword, its lightning attribute made it unsuitable for him to absorb and use to awaken a spirit body.

Turning these thoughts over in his mind, Qiusheng shifted his attention elsewhere. After his fight with the five-hundred-year-old giant ape, he had realized exactly where his weakness lay.

His greatest weakness was the insufficient damage of his spells. In theory, that should have been impossible for a cultivator skilled in lightning arts.

But although his mastery of lightning arts was decent, he relied on the magical energy in his own body rather than drawing on the power of heaven and earth. As a result, he couldn't fully unleash the unrivaled might of lightning arts.

Unfortunately, he was short on Exorcism Points, with only 380 left. That wasn't nearly enough to raise either Lightning Bolt Fist or Palm Thunder to the top tier.

With no other choice, he upgraded his basic martial arts, then raised his talisman-making skill to advanced as well. That used up all the Exorcism Points he had.

After spending a thousand Exorcism Points, his attributes now looked like this:

Character: Qiusheng (inner disciple of the Maoshan Sect).

Spirit Body: Earth Spirit Body.

Cultivation: Human Master (late stage) (to break through, you must awaken a Five Elements Spirit Body).

Exorcism Points: 0.

Dao Arts: Talisman-Making (Advanced), Shangqing Dongxuan Record (Intermediate), Maoshan Basic Martial Arts (Advanced), Palm Thunder (Advanced), Lightning Bolt Fist (Advanced), Feng Shui Geomancy (Beginner), God-Inviting Technique (Elementary).

Lifespan: 62.

With Qiusheng's current cultivation, he was undoubtedly one of the leading figures among the younger generation of the Daoist sects.

However, he still lacked enough techniques and spells. In terms of overall combat ability, he hadn't yet managed to bring all his cultivation to bear.

So, for the time being, Qiusheng planned to raise all the skills he currently possessed to advanced.

That should give his combat strength another significant leap.

With that in mind, Qiusheng sat cross-legged on his bed and began slowly studying the Shangqing Dongxuan Record.

Before long, the night had passed.

The sky had only just begun to brighten when Ren Wei brought his men to the Public Mortuary once again.

He invited Qiusheng to go out and search for the zombie again.

Qiusheng had no objections.

He could use the opportunity to sweep the area around Ren Family Town clean of ghosts and monsters, and earn some Exorcism Points along the way.

With this in mind, he and Ren Wei hit it off at once.

They went out at dawn and returned after dark. Three days passed like that.

During that time, Qiusheng ran into a few vicious ghosts. However, they weren't very powerful, so the Exorcism Points they yielded were pitifully few—only 400 in total, nowhere near enough to advance Palm Thunder or Lightning Bolt Fist again.

That day, it was already completely dark when Qiusheng headed back to the Public Mortuary alone.

He and Ren Wei's group had gone quite far, and they hadn't kept track of the time, so they were late returning.

Therefore, Qiusheng escorted Ren Wei and the others back to Ren Family Town, then continued alone toward the Public Mortuary.