251 Blueglow Butterfly

[Important Spiritual Material]

[You have received this year's nomination for the 'Immortal Sect Materials and Exploration Award'.]

[251 Blueglow Butterfly: Class Insecta, Superorder Neuropteroidea, Order Lepidoptera, Superfamily Papilionoidea, Family Blueglow Butterfly, Genus Blueglow Butterfly. Origin: Unknown private plane No. 251. Wingspan: 13–17 centimeters. Its wings possess a dazzling metallic blue sheen, as well as green, purple, and other colors. At night, they emit blue fluorescence...]

[Effect: Butterfly wings harvested within three days can yield a substance that promotes the formation of a 'Dao-Body prototype,' accelerating its formation. Temporarily named 'Bluegold 2413.' No side effects have yet been discovered.

A high-level metal-element great demon may have fallen at its place of origin. After thousands or tens of thousands of years, this unknown species naturally formed. Its reserves are unknown.

There is an extremely small chance that 'Bluegold 2413' can be artificially synthesized. If so, this will be the greatest discovery of the millennium, certain to vastly increase the number of Immortal Sect cultivators and create an enormous impact...]

"I... I'm going to be rich."

Jiang Ding's lips trembled slightly as he quickly logged into the Immortal Gate Library to look up the relevant literature.

<Research on the Firebird Heavenly Phoenix Bloodline Dao-Body Potion>

<Greenwater Whale Bloodline Dao-Body Potion Hypothesis>

After an hour of reading article after article, Jiang Ding's surging emotions finally calmed, and he gained some understanding of what it meant to "promote the formation of a Dao-Body prototype."

This was not a new discovery.

More than four thousand years ago, scientists had discovered that the Myriad Beasts Immortal Sect, one of the Nine Great Immortal Sects beyond the realm, possessed similar methods. They could bathe themselves in the blood essence of Heaven-grade bloodline demon beasts and slightly improve their spiritual root aptitude.

This technique bore the hallmarks of cultivators beyond the realm. Its cost-effectiveness was extremely low, and it could at most be applied to a handful of people, making even limited widespread use impossible.

A demon beast with a Heaven-grade bloodline, no matter how thin its bloodline, had the potential to reach the Nascent Soul realm. If its bloodline was rich, it could even aspire to the Spirit Transformation realm.

An adult was immensely powerful. Even high-level cultivators faced near-certain death when trying to obtain its blood essence.

Furthermore, Heaven-grade bloodline demon beasts were exceedingly rare. Encountering one required tremendous fortune; often, one did not even have the chance to risk near-certain death.

As for juveniles, it was better to tame them as exotic beasts. Once successful, they could become a family's foundation for at least a thousand years. Wasn't that far better than a slight improvement in spiritual root aptitude?

It could only become a luxury for top-tier cultivators.

The cultivation world beyond the realm had always been like this. A tiny number of high-level cultivators controlled everything in the cultivation world, including the development of cultivation technology, and had no motivation whatsoever to make it available to the middle and lower classes.

After the Immortal Sect acquired this technology, it researched it for three thousand years. Through the efforts of more than a dozen generations of cultivators and hundreds of generations of mortals, it achieved a major breakthrough a thousand years ago.

Blood essence containing Earth-grade demon beast bloodlines could be used as a substitute, while other supplementary materials were greatly reduced, lowering the cost—it became a luxury for a small number of Golden Core cultivators and above.

Earth-grade demon beasts had the potential to reach the Golden Core realm. Those with rich bloodlines could even glimpse the Nascent Soul realm.

The Blueglow Butterfly had been nominated because it appeared in large numbers and seemed capable of mass reproduction. As for whether it would still contain "Bluegold 2413" after mass breeding or harvesting, that remained unknown.

"The endless treasures of another world..."

Jiang Ding murmured, "If someone learned that such treasure belonged to a mortal, then even with the Immortal Sect's strict laws, I'm afraid many cultivators would still be unable to resist taking the risk, wouldn't they?"

Unable to sleep, he got fully dressed and returned to the backyard.

It was noon, when the blazing sun was at its fiercest and the cicadas shrieked harshly.

The moment he appeared, Jiang Ding immediately turned his attention to the drone display in his contact lenses and rapidly reviewed the surveillance footage from after he had left.

Based on past experience, the broken sword would place him in an unseen corner, never exposing him before others.

Scene after scene flashed by. Pedestrians came and went on the street. While everyone else was on holiday, Han Lin, temporarily homeless, stayed in the front courtyard, cooking and practicing his fist technique. Jiang Ding also spotted a man several hundred meters away, furtively shifting about, apparently someone from the Wild Wolf Gang...

There were no large groups, nor were there any experts lying in ambush.

For the time being, unless there was a cultivator capable of optical invisibility techniques, it should be safe.

Gripping the sword hilt, sunlight falling over his body, Jiang Ding closed his eyes to sense the internal force flowing through him before walking out of his backyard.

"Hey! Ha!"

At the half-open shop entrance, beneath a sign that read "Closed for Two Days," a sturdily built, dark red-faced, ordinary-looking youth was practicing his fist technique. Sweat poured from him as he put all his strength into every punch, his sleeves snapping through the air.

Jiang Ding watched for a while.

His practice was... very poor.

It was a simple fist technique with five routines, yet every move he performed was distorted. Not only would this fail to train him, it would also injure his limbs.

Fortunately, the technique was simple enough that as long as he did not practice with all his might day after day, he would not end up crippled or anything.

Forget it. He could not let there be a workplace injury.

Whoosh!

The sword sheath swept up a distinct rush of wind.

A chill ran through Han Lin's heart. His fist instinctively smashed toward the sheath, but it moved with the agility of a spirit snake, easily evading him and striking toward his heart.

His soul nearly fled his body. He swiftly stepped back, but the sword sheath pursued him again.

It even tore through the air with a piercing shriek. If it struck him, it would undoubtedly leave a hole as wide as a bowl in his body.

Forward, backward.

Just like that, the sword sheath was like a puppeteer's baton, producing invisible threads that forced Han Lin to move. Before he knew it, his fist technique became increasingly fluid. His bones, joints, and muscles seemed to fuse into a single whole, crackling and popping.

"Ha!"

Han Lin roared. His fist, more than twice as fast as before, shot out and finally struck the sword sheath, knocking it back a step.

He panted heavily, drenched in cold sweat, finally freed from that feeling of being constantly watched by a ferocious beast.

Only then did he realize that a young man in green robes had appeared before him at some point. His long hair fell to his waist, his bearing as refined as jade, a sword held in his arms.

"Boss!"

Han Lin bowed in salute, filled with gratitude.

In just a few exchanges, his Rolling Stone Fist had already entered the beginner stage. He was no longer twisting about wildly like a complete amateur.

"Mm."

Jiang Ding nodded.

"Practice like this from now on. Once you become proficient, then consider making adjustments that suit you."

"Also, do me a favor."

Jiang Ding took out a piece of broken silver. "Give this to the short man in gray at the Li Family Tea Stall. Tell him I'm treating him to tea."

They were both miserable working people, and he did not want to take his anger out on anyone.

But if they insisted on continuing to watch him, then he could not be blamed.

"Yes, Boss."

Han Lin did not ask any questions. He took the silver and left.

He jogged over to the vicinity of the Li Family Tea Stall and indeed saw a sharp-faced man in gray, around thirty years old. He was simply drinking as usual, with only a plate of fennel beans on his table—nothing out of the ordinary.

"Uncle, our boss says he's treating you to tea." Han Lin handed him the silver.

The man in gray looked doubtfully at the youth before him. He had an ordinary face and dark skin, just an unremarkable child one could see anywhere.

Then he suddenly shuddered.

"Your boss is?"

Han Lin said somewhat proudly, "I'm a clerk at the general store."

A job with only four hours of work each day, two days off every seven days, and generous wages was not something one could find just anywhere. Matchmakers had already come by the shop to inquire about the clerks one after another.

"The general store?"

Cold sweat immediately streamed down the gray-clothed man's face. This was the ruthless figure who had crippled one arm of Long Shi, Wild Wolf Blade.

Daring not to ask further, he picked up the piece of broken silver and hurried away.