Three Treasures

Once Qiusheng finished resolving the issue of the Golden Dragon Locking the Jade Pillar, it was time to properly organize the gains he had made over the past few days.

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

Looking at these three items before him, the first two needed no introduction, but as for the last one, it was something he had scavenged from the White-Robed Twin Fiends.

He had been far too busy over the last two days to figure out exactly what it was, so he had never found the time to examine it.

Today, with nothing pressing on his hands, he finally began to study it.

He gripped the iron plaque tightly in his right hand, and immediately, a profound chill surged up his arm and into his body.

"Hiss!"

Qiusheng gasped; the iron plaque was imbued with an incredibly dense Yin energy.

Moreover, the purity of this Yin energy was extremely high, barely inferior to that of the White-Robed Twin Fiends, which meant this item was at the very least a ghost artifact.

So-called ghost artifacts were objects tainted with concentrated Yin energy. Such items all shared a distinct characteristic: they were ideal hiding spots for ghosts, and were often highly coveted by those who practiced ghost-raising.

"Tsk tsk tsk, a ghost artifact of such high quality—if I could run into some fellow practitioners who know their stuff, I could probably sell it for a sky-high price."

"It's just a pity that this thing seems to be of no use to me."

Muttering to himself, Qiusheng put the iron plaque away and turned his gaze to the Mystic Dao Seal before him.

Because he had drained much of the spiritual energy from within it, its power had greatly diminished, and it would require careful nourishment before it could return to its peak.

Qiusheng knew there were no shortcuts for this; he would have to rely on slow, steady effort over time.

With a flick of his hand, he tucked it back into his robes.

Immediately after, Qiusheng's gaze finally fell upon the last item.

He had some thoughts regarding the Jingzhen Sword, but he had never been sure if doing what he planned was a good idea, or if it might lead to irreversible consequences.

If I were to absorb the spiritual energy within this Jingzhen Sword, I might be able to strengthen my spirit body once again.

However, this sword was the personal weapon of a generation's Heavenly Master. If I do this, will some unforeseen accident occur?

As Qiusheng hesitated, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"Ding! Host, the spirit body you previously awakened was the Earth Spirit Body. In the Five Elements, Earth generates Metal, so the next spirit body to awaken in sequence should be the Metal Spirit Body."

Hearing the sudden system prompt, Qiusheng let out a long, inexplicable sigh of relief.

"Heh, so to continue unlocking spirit bodies, there are elemental requirements for the artifacts in my possession. That saves me from having to agonize over whether or not to absorb this Jingzhen Sword."

"After all, this sword is of the lightning attribute, which is different from the attribute I require."

With his thoughts swirling, Qiusheng put the Jingzhen Sword away as well.

He then closed his eyes slightly and began to use the 1,000 Exorcism Points he had just acquired to enhance his cultivation.

"Ding! Congratulations to the host for consuming 240 Exorcism Points to raise your cultivation to the mid-stage of Human Master."

"Ding! Congratulations to the host for consuming 480 Exorcism Points to raise your cultivation to the late-stage of Human Master."

"Ding! The host's cultivation has reached a bottleneck. To break through again, you must awaken the Five Elements Spirit Body."

As the successive system prompts echoed in Qiusheng's mind, he felt a slight stir.

It seemed he would be stuck at the late-stage of Human Master for some time; after all, the method to unlock the Five Elements Spirit Body required top-tier artifacts corresponding to those five attributes.

Of what he currently possessed, he only had one of them.

As for the Jingzhen Sword, its attribute was lightning, which was fundamentally unsuitable for him to absorb for awakening.

As these thoughts turned in his mind, Qiusheng shifted his focus. After his battle with the five-hundred-year-old gorilla, he had realized exactly where his weaknesses lay.

His greatest weakness was the insufficient lethality of his techniques. Logically, for a cultivator proficient in lightning arts, this should have been impossible.

But while his lightning cultivation was decent, he was ultimately using his own internal mana rather than borrowing the power of heaven and earth, preventing him from fully unleashing the peerless dominance of his lightning arts.

Unfortunately, he didn't have enough Exorcism Points left—only 380 remained—which wasn't enough to raise either the Lightning Bolt Fist or the Palm Thunder to the top tier.

Helpless, he spent the points to upgrade his Maoshan Basic Martial Arts and his talisman-making skills to the advanced level, which exhausted all his remaining Exorcism Points.

After consuming those 1,000 Exorcism Points, his stats 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 the Five Elements Spirit Body).
Exorcism Points: 0.
Daoist Arts: Talisman Making (Advanced), Shangqing Dongxuan Record (Intermediate), Maoshan Basic Martial Arts (Advanced), Palm Thunder (Advanced), Lightning Bolt Fist (Advanced), Feng Shui Geomancy (Entry), God-Inviting Technique (Beginner).
Lifespan: 62.

Given Qiusheng's current cultivation, he could certainly be considered a leading figure among the younger generation of the entire Daoist sect.

However, he still lacked a sufficient variety of techniques, and in terms of overall combat, he had yet to fully unleash the potential of his cultivation.

Therefore, for the time being, Qiusheng planned to raise all the techniques he currently possessed to the advanced level.

If that were the case, his combat power would likely see another leap forward.

With this thought in mind, Qiusheng sat cross-legged on his bed and began to slowly contemplate the Shangqing Dongxuan Record.

Soon, the night passed.

The sky was only just beginning to brighten when Ren Wei arrived at the Public Mortuary once again with his subordinates.

He invited Qiusheng to head out and continue searching for that zombie.

Qiusheng naturally had no objections to this.

He could take this opportunity to sweep away all the monsters and demons lurking near Ren Family Town, and incidentally, earn himself some Exorcism Points as well.

It was precisely because of this shared idea that he and Ren Wei hit it off immediately.

Leaving at dawn and returning at dusk, three days passed in this manner.

During this time, Qiusheng did encounter a few fierce ghosts, but their cultivation levels were not high, and the Exorcism Points they provided were pitifully few—only 400 points in total, which was nowhere near enough for his Palm Thunder and Lightning Bolt Fist to make another breakthrough.

On this day, the sky had completely darkened, and Qiusheng was heading toward the Public Mortuary all by himself.

The place he and Ren Wei had gone to today was quite far, and having miscalculated the time, he was returning rather late.

Therefore, after escorting Ren Wei and his men back to Ren Family Town, Qiusheng headed toward the Public Mortuary alone.