Practicing Evil Arts (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Shen Yue snatched up Li Wuyou's Soul-Devouring Halberd and storage bag, looking up at the sky with battle intent surging to the heavens.

"Old dog, come and fight!"

Before the words had even faded, the space around him turned illusory.

A blood-red hand slammed down, its five fingers plunging into the earth, crushing the soil, rocks, and trees within a radius of several miles into a single mass.

"Spatial displacement?!"

Amidst the black clouds, Blood Butcher True Person was stunned.

He let out a cold snort, and countless threads of karma wove through the void like a spiderweb.

However.

"Nothing?"

Blood Butcher True Person was shocked and furious.

"Impossible!"

He had sealed the entire Fallen Leaf Valley with his immense magical power; let alone a spatial displacement technique used by someone at the sixth level of Qi Refining, even a Dao-stage expert could not have escaped so easily.

The blood-red hand clenched violently, and the ball of earth in his palm exploded, sending gravel flying everywhere.

"Little thief, This Seat will surely kill you!"

The sound waves rolled out, shaking the land for a hundred miles.

Chusheng Market, a small courtyard by the lake.

Shen Yue sat cross-legged, circulating his energy to regulate his breathing as spiritual power flowed slowly through his body.

After a long while, he opened his eyes.

A great cultivator of the Dao Foundation... truly terrifying.

The moment that blood-red hand descended, he had truly felt what it meant to be an ant.

If I had been even a fraction of a second slower...

He would have been reduced to ashes.

Shen Yue secretly warned himself to be more cautious next time.

"The Golden Wave Water Dragon Spirit Array is powerful, but the consumption of spiritual power is simply too great."

The Golden Wave Water Dragon he used to kill Li Wuyou was an array he had refined by combining ten other spirit artifacts, using the Five-Colored Pearl and the Tide Rising Pearl as the array eyes.

Its power was indeed impressive, but the cost was equally terrifying, nearly draining his entire mana pool.

"Still, fortune favors the bold."

Shen Yue flicked his sleeve, and five items flew out.

The first was the Withered Grass Treasure Robe, a rare treasure among high-grade spirit artifacts, capable of summoning grass blades and even hundreds of vines to attack.

The second and third were the Feather Cloak and the Golden Light Rosy Crown.

Looking at these two high-grade spirit artifacts, Shen Yue thought of Chehou Yan's sycophantic behavior and couldn't help but laugh.

It was common knowledge that a sycophant never met a good end.

But these two spirit artifacts were genuinely good items.

The Feather Cloak had astonishing defensive capabilities, and the Golden Light Rosy Crown could summon a golden-armored warrior to fight.

Used together, one for defense and one for offense, they were no weaker than the Withered Grass Treasure Robe.

Unfortunately, he could only exert preliminary control over these three high-grade spirit artifacts.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed twelve spirit artifacts to form the Golden Wave Water Dragon Array; these three treasures and the Five-Colored Pearl alone would have been enough to deal with that demonic cultivator.

Fortunately, the result was much the same.

Shen Yue looked at the blood-red long halberd dropped by Li Wuyou.

"Soul-Devouring Halberd, a high-grade spirit artifact... every move can devour the spiritual power of others..."

Shen Yue's eyes lit up.

"No wonder my own spiritual power felt sluggish when we fought."

"These four high-grade spirit artifacts each have their own merits."

The Withered Grass Treasure Robe focused on offense, the Feather Cloak on defense, the Golden Light Rosy Crown on summoning, and the Soul-Devouring Halberd on consumption...

Shen Yue toyed with the long halberd for a while before putting it away and turning his attention to the black storage bag.

A storage bag belonging to a demonic genius at the late stage of Qi Refining—he wondered what good things might be inside.

He probed it with his divine sense, and then he froze.

"...So poor?"

A little over a hundred spirit stones, three small vials, two booklets, and nothing else.

For a mere second-level Qi-Refining cultivator, he had over six hundred spirit stones in his storage bag.

The only thing that could be considered decent was the storage bag itself, which had three times the capacity of his own.

Shen Yue transferred his spirit stones, spirit artifacts, and miscellaneous items into this black storage bag, then began to inspect the three bottles.

The first two bottles contained blood-colored pills that he did not recognize.

However, judging by the pungent scent of blood, they were likely not any orthodox medicinal pills.

The third bottle contained a single, smooth, translucent white pill that emitted a faint, refreshing fragrance.

"Barrier Breaking Pill!" Shen Yue was delighted.

The only shortcoming of his trip had been failing to purchase a pill for breaking through his cultivation realm.

Now, it seemed someone had delivered it right to his doorstep.

"With this pill, reaching the mid-stage of Qi-Refining will be no problem at all."

He tucked the Barrier Breaking Pill away and picked up the two booklets.

The first one had the words [Spirit Devouring Art] written on the cover in three large, ancient seal characters.

"A technique specifically for controlling the Soul-Devouring Halberd?"

Shen Yue flipped through it quickly, his shock growing with every page.

The deeper one cultivated this technique, the more formidable the Soul-Devouring Halberd became.

At high levels, the Soul-Devouring Halberd could not only devour the spiritual power of others but also feed it back to the user.

"Good stuff."

The second booklet was a blood-killing technique called [Blood Shadow Soul Chasing Art], capable of locking onto an enemy's aura and hunting them down from a thousand miles away.

Shen Yue opened it, took one look, and frowned.

The entire text was filled with wicked methods like blood sacrifices, curse-killing, tracking, and soul-snatching.

"Demonic cultivators are truly devoid of conscience and intolerable to the heavens!"

Shen Yue cursed righteously.

Then, he picked up the booklet and began to practice with a focused mind.

Three months later.

Hum!

A ripple of spiritual power surged outward from the small courtyard.

"Success!"

Shen Yue opened his eyes, a flash of brilliance flickering through them.

With the Barrier Breaking Pill and three months of bitter cultivation, he had finally succeeded in breaking through to the fourth level of Qi-Refining!

With a thought, the [Nine Heavens Profound Mirror] flashed with golden light, and his fourth-level Qi-Refining mana instantly converted into Qi-Refining spiritual power.

"Ninth level of Qi-Refining!"

With another thought, the spiritual power converted back into mana.

"Ninth level of Qi-Refining!"

Feeling the surging mana within his body, Shen Yue's smile deepened.

However, he only maintained it for a moment before reverting to his normal cultivation level.

There was no helping it; the extra mana at the ninth level of Qi-Refining came from the energy stored in the [Nine Heavens Profound Mirror], and what he had consumed during the trip to Ancient Wei had not yet fully recovered.

Beyond his cultivation, he had also made great progress in his techniques.

On the first golden page of the [Nine Heavens Profound Mirror]:

[Earth Origin Sand Condensing Art (Great Success)]

[Spirit Devouring Art (Minor Success)]

[Blood Shadow Soul Chasing Art (Minor Success)]

[Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand (Perfected)]

"With this level of cultivation, even against Chen Yunxi, I am confident in a fight."

"Even if I encounter a demonic cultivator like Li Wuyou again, I won't need four or five high-grade spirit artifacts to hold the line."

He finally had a bit of self-preservation power.

"But it is still not enough."

The power of that palm strike from the Foundation Establishment expert at Fallen Leaf Valley in Ancient Wei was still fresh in Shen Yue's memory.

"Foundation Establishment..." he whispered, relaxing his mind.

"Time to go recycle some scrap."

Over these three months, aside from cultivation, he had spent all his remaining time on artifact refining.

By now, the number of spirit artifacts in his possession had reached as many as thirty-seven.

Excluding the five high-grade spirit artifacts—the Five-Colored Pearl, Withered Grass Treasure Robe, Feather Cloak, Golden Light Rosy Crown, and Soul-Devouring Halberd—there were another seven mid-grade spirit artifacts, including the Tide Rising Pearl, Mystic Water Spirit Boat, and Green-Patterned Gourd.

"Refine two more batches of spirit artifacts to complete the Kan and Li positions of the Golden Wave Water Dragon Spirit Array..."

Shen Yue's lips curled upward.

"My artifact refining skills are just about ready to be shown to the world."

The small boat parted the water, slowly sailing into Refining Lake.

The surface of the lake was filled with a thin mist, shrouding it like a light veil.

Shen Yue stood at the bow, manipulating the Heaven Origin Golden Light Hand to grasp scraps of waste material.

"Master Shen is personally recovering the waste materials himself."

Amidst the water vapor, a three-leaf skiff broke the surface, carrying eight people, among whom was Changqin Wuming.

These people were the very team responsible for recovering waste qi on Clear-Turbid Island, and because of Changqin Wuming, Shen Yue knew them all.

The team leader, Li Sheng, had just broken through to the seventh level of Qi Refining last month and had now become Chen Tong's right-hand man, not only recovering waste qi but also taking on patrol duties.

"The waste materials on this Refining Lake are about to be finished off by Master Shen," Li Sheng teased.

The news of Shen Yue refining artifacts had long since spread across Refining Lake.

It wasn't that Changqin Wuming had said anything; rather, Chen Tong had mentioned it to Li Sheng once, and then everyone knew.

Shen Yue smiled and said, "Once I become an official Artifact Refiner, everyone can come to me for refining, and I'll give you a discount."

The group laughed, and the atmosphere remained relaxed.

Li Sheng's expression, however, darkened as he seriously advised:

"Brother Shen, an Artifact Refiner requires heritage and resources."

"If one could become an Artifact Refiner simply by throwing a pile of waste into a furnace to melt it down, we would have become ones long ago."

"You'd better give it up early and come join me instead."

Li Sheng patted his chest.

"I can't promise much else, but your regular cultivation resources will definitely not be lacking."

Because Shen Yue had previously gained an entry-level understanding of formations, and coupled with his connection to Changqin Wuming, Li Sheng looked upon him with favor and had always wanted to pull Shen Yue into his team.

"That's right, Old Shen, come join us," Changqin Wuming also urged.

Shen Yue smiled: "Thanks, I'll consider it."

With that, he continued to lower his head and collect waste materials.

Li Sheng shook his head, not pressing the matter further, and led his men to patrol the lake.

After patrolling a few laps, Li Sheng arrived at Cuiwei Island, the residence of the steward Chen Tong, to report.

"Reporting to the steward, everything on the island is as usual."

"Mm." Chen Tong nodded.

Li Sheng tactfully withdrew.

"Chen Tong, come out!"

At that moment, a cold, sharp voice came from outside.

Chen Tong's expression tightened, and he hurried out.

Outside stood a sword-bearing youth with a face as handsome as jade.

"Cousin, why have you come?"

"I've told you many times, use titles while on duty." The youth's gaze was indifferent.

"Yes... Inspector Yuliang." Chen Tong hurriedly offered a fawning smile.

Chen Yuliang stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze like a blade: "Why has the quantity of recovered waste materials decreased recently?"

Chen Tong was startled and hurriedly explained: "There is a minor cultivator on the lake named Shen Yue who wishes to learn artifact refining. Seeing his diligence and drive, I allowed him to take some for himself..."