A Bountiful Haul

Chen Lingxi picked up a jade box.

The jade box was only the size of a palm, pure white, with a tiny silver clasp set in the very center.

He unfastened the silver clasp, opened the box, and saw what was inside: a small, azure-blue stone the size of a fingernail.

The surface of the small stone is as smooth as a mirror, but inside it lies a wisp of flowing spiritual energy...

Chen Lingxi's expression shifted, and her eyes revealed a look of joy.

"The spiritual energy within this stone is so abundant."

The Spiritual Qi within this tiny stone is like a clear, gentle spring in the mountains; it can be refined with spiritual energy and used for cultivation.

"And it is extremely gentle... as if it were born for spiritual practice."

Chen Lingxi put the Spirit Stone back into the jade box, and then picked up the second and third jade boxes.

In fact, the item was exactly the same as the first one; when opened, it was also a Spirit Stone the size of a fingernail, and it was also full of spiritual energy.

"Three Spirit Stone." Chen Lingxi closed the three jade boxes one by one and put them into the Hongdong Bag.

"The spiritual energy in these three Spirit Stone is even greater than that in the Gathering Qi Pill. With these Spirit Stone, plus the Six-Qi True Method, even if the Clear-Mystery Pivot-Qi Formation cannot be set up immediately, Qi Circulation Fifth Floor is still within reach."

Seeing the road ahead filled Chen Lingxi with joy, and she turned her gaze to the two stone boxes.

The stone box was considerably larger than the jade box, about a foot square, and was dark gray throughout.

He opened the lid of the first stone box, which was lined with a layer of dark red velvet cloth, on which a talisman was neatly placed.

The talisman was only about three inches long and two fingers wide. The paper was pale gold with a faint jade-like luster, and countless intricate patterns were drawn on it with some kind of dark silver ink.

Several characters were written vertically in the center of the talisman; the characters were slender and powerful, with strokes as sharp as knives, penetrating the paper three inches deep.

He suddenly narrowed his eyes, and some fragments of text flashed through his Consciousness Sea.

The complete text of the Six-Qi True Formula includes an appendix titled "Talisman Texts," which records over four hundred types of talisman texts and their names commonly used by cultivators, for disciples to identify when traveling.

He carefully recalled the inscriptions and compared them one by one with the patterns on the talisman in front of him.

Ultimately, consulting a dictionary usually reveals the name most solemnly drawn on the talisman.

"[Heavenlight Treasure-Aspect Talisman]."

"What are its clever uses?"

Chen Lingxi infused a wisp of spiritual energy.

The talisman was mysterious, and a real message suddenly flooded into his mind.

[Heavenlight Treasure-Aspect Talisman: Using heavenly light as a guide, one can bless oneself and form Precious Appearance on the body. The Precious Appearance remains intact, and the physical body is unharmed.]

"There's absolutely no need to consult a dictionary."

A hint of surprise flashed in Chen Lingxi's eyes.

They opened the second stone box, which also contained a talisman.

"This second talisman is much simpler."

The lines on the second talisman are extremely simple and unadorned; with just a few strokes, a dragon with its head held high and coiled is outlined.

Although the dragon's form was simple, it was full of spirit. Its head was raised high, its eyes were wide open, and its body was coiled like clouds. A faint blue spiritual light flowed around its body, as if it might take off from the talisman at any moment.

Chen Lingxi infused spiritual energy into the water.

"[Dragon-Qi Treasure Talisman]."

"[It gathers cloud energy and takes the form of a dragon, obeying commands like a divine beast under your command.]"

Chen Lingxi couldn't help but take a deep breath.

Although these two talismans are powerful, they require abundant spiritual energy as a foundation to activate.

When Xi Mu Total Perception Divine Chamber, he preferred to leave rather than use the two runes. This was probably because his Qi Sea was almost depleted due to his severe injuries, and he was simply unable to activate them.

To be precise, not only is Xi Mu powerless to activate it, but even Chen Lingxi is currently unable to do so.

"I must first enter the Qi Circulation Fifth Floor," he murmured to himself.

He then thought of Consort Chun.

"Several cultivators surrounded and killed Consort Chun... It seems that Xi Mu's accumulated power was originally much deeper, but it has all been used up, leaving only these few talismans that he is too weak to activate after being seriously injured."

As he pondered this, he put the two stone boxes into his Hongdong Bag, his gaze finally settling on the wooden box.

He opened the wooden box.

The box was lined with a layer of dark velvet, and a ring lay quietly on the velvet.

The ring was extremely small and thin, with a dark silver color throughout. There were no patterns on the ring, except for a black bead smaller than a grain of rice embedded in the very center.

Chen Lingxi picked up the ring, her expression shifting slightly.

The progress of my mental Total Perception suddenly increased from 2% to 34%!

It's a much greater improvement than that mysterious stone!

"This is actually a treasure!" Overjoyed, Chen Lingxi channeled a wisp of spiritual energy into it.

Then his expression changed drastically!

The spiritual energy sensed the magic array within the ring treasure.

Layer upon layer, the intricate patterns were enough to make one's scalp tingle. Each pattern was interconnected with dozens of other patterns, like a maze woven from spider silk, making it difficult for his spiritual energy to move forward.

Chen Lingxi withdrew his spiritual energy and exhaled a long breath of turbid air.

"This is an extraordinary treasure. With my current Fourth Floor of Qi Circulation, I simply cannot refine it."

"I'm afraid Xi Mu hasn't refined it either," he muttered to himself.

Even with his cultivation at the Qi Circulation Sixth Floor, Xi Mu was unable to refine this ring, indicating that to completely control it, one would need at least the perfect Qi Circulation Sixth Floor, or even the Upper Three Floors.

There's no rush.

Chen Lingxi placed the ring back into the wooden box, closed the lid, and put it into his Universe Bag.

If one has the fortuitous opportunity to reach the Qi Circulation Sixth Floor or even higher in the future, it is not too late to refine this item.

Then he took out a talisman.

"This talisman was a treasure that Xi Mu held in his hand, intending to fight me, but he didn't have time to activate it."

The talisman was only about an inch square, with only a few drops of bright red on its surface, whether blood or crimson ink, it was impossible to tell; there were no other inscriptions.

"This talisman is rather strange."

Chen Lingxi released a wisp of spiritual energy from her fingertip and touched the surface of the talisman.

The instant the spiritual energy touched the talisman's surface, a sudden change occurred!

The few drops of blood on the talisman suddenly lit up, and the blood light did not spread outward, but went straight into his brow!

Chen Lingxi felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, and then a scene exploded in his mind.

He saw a person standing on the clouds. The person was beautiful, but her face was blurred in the clouds and could not be seen clearly. He could only see that her long dress was swaying, like a fairy in the clouds.

His body was filled with spiritual energy, and his aura was so powerful that it made one's heart tremble.

Then, in the scene, the person pressed down from the sky, and the entire sea of clouds suddenly separated from it, as if an invisible giant hand reached down from the sky, its five fingers joined together like a knife, cleaving the boundless sea of clouds in two!

Where the sea of clouds parted, a tornado shot into the sky, engulfing everything around it—clouds, rocks, trees—and pulverizing it!

The tornado plunged the sky into darkness, swallowing up all the light of the sun and moon, leaving only that figure standing high in the clouds!

"Xi Yu..."

The scene shattered, Chen Lingxi abruptly opened her eyes.

He looked down at the dark red talisman in his left palm, the blood still slowly flowing from it.

"This talisman contains the power of Xi Yu's palm strike."

Chen Lingxi realized. "It should have been given to Xi Mu by Xi Yu, but its power seems to have been slightly diminished."

Such a palm strike, even when sealed into a talisman, had its power largely dissipated, and the remaining strength was far beyond what an ordinary cultivator at the Qi Circulation Sixth Floor could withstand.

Xi Mu probably intended to use this talisman as his last trump card to save his life in a life-or-death situation, but unexpectedly, he didn't even have the chance to use the talisman before it fell into his hands.

Chen Lingxi a deep breath and carefully put the talisman into her bosom.

This is different from the Moonlight Treasure-Aspect Talisman and the Dragon-Qi Treasure Talisman. Although those two talismans are powerful, they require a Qi Circulation Fifth Floor or even higher to activate.

This blood talisman, which sealed the power of Xi Yu's palm strike, didn't require much spiritual energy to activate; Fourth Floor of Qi Circulation should be sufficient.

"The income is very generous."

Chen Lingxi carefully put away all the treasures.

Three Spirit Stone, two talismans, a mysterious ring, a blood talisman that sealed the power of Xi Yu, plus Xi Mu's Hongdong Bag...

"After painstakingly seeking fortuitous opportunity through the methods of Sight-Roaming and Total Perception for about a year, what I gained was less than what I gained from killing a single cultivator."

Chen Lingxi sighed inwardly.

He stood up, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

There is also a mysterious Treasure Qi hidden deep within the Golden Body of the Baosu Marquis Residence, a Qi that even Crown Prince Ying Chi had not noticed, Yunhe Commandery Princess had not touched despite her daily Qi cultivation, and Lin Longyue herself was completely unaware of...

Treasure Qi.

--

On the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Imperial Concubine had not yet entered Yuan River Prefecture.

The long street had been cleared, and armored soldiers stood ready with their spears.

Even before the imperial concubine arrived, Yuan River Prefecture had already made thorough preparations.

Chen Lingxi was hiding in the shadows of a rooftop, about to enter the Baosu Marquis Residence to see Lin Longyue.

Just then, he saw a blue-curtained carriage drive up from the Marquis's residence, pulled by the chestnut-colored horse of the Baosu Marquis Residence, waiting patiently on the street.

"This is Lin Longyue's carriage."

Chen Lingxi an eyebrow.

Before long, a person came out from the side gate. Today, the person was dressed in finery, with a slender figure and her black hair was tied back with a silver hairpin, which made her look quite charming.

It was Lin Longyue.

She boarded the carriage alone, the curtain was lowered, and the carriage rumbled along, heading towards the outskirts of the city.

Chen Lingxi trailed far behind the car.

The carriage left the city gate and headed west along the main road, then turned onto a side road.

The willows lining the side road had lost all their leaves, their bare branches trembling in the wind.

At the end of the fork in the road is the Yuan River. This area is flat, backed by mountains and facing the water, with beautiful scenery, so many noble residences have been built here.

The courtyard with its white walls and black tiles is partially hidden among the bare trees in winter, like a watercolor painting with too little ink.

The carriage stopped in front of a villa.

Lin Longyue got out of the car and was greeted by a manager-like figure.

Chen Lingxi hid in an old locust tree outside the courtyard, using the lush locust branches for cover as she peered into the courtyard.

This villa wasn't large, with three courtyards, but it was exquisitely built.

The artificial mountain made of Taihu stones is exquisite and translucent, a thin layer of ice has formed on the winding pond, and several wintersweet trees on the pond are in full bloom.

The doors to the main hall were wide open, and many people were already seated inside.

Chen Lingxi silently scaled the courtyard wall and arrived at the narrow corridor on the side. However, with the Concealed Edge Method activated to its maximum, his figure became like an invisible shadow, pressed against the outside of the window paper.

He peered through the crack in the window and could see everyone in the hall clearly.

A young woman, around twenty years old, sat to the side.

She was extremely tall, with shoulders and back as straight as a spear. She wore a black, close-fitting outfit, and her hair was adorned with only a silver hairpin, with no other ornaments.

A long, undecorated sword hung at her waist. She was not particularly beautiful, yet possessed an inexplicable and imposing air of heroism.

The daughter of the patriarch, Chu Linzi.

Yunhe Commandery Princess sat in the main seat to Chu Linzi's right, still with that languid demeanor.

Today she wore a pale yellow jacket and held a bronze hand warmer in her hands. The lid of the warmer was carved into the head of a lion, and wisps of sandalwood incense smoke wafted from its mouth and nose.

She tilted her head slightly, a faint smile playing on her lips, listening to the person beside her.