Hunting Soul Shards, Square-Inch Artifact Refinement Art

As if to confirm Zhou Yao's guess, at the very moment he explained the essence of the Great Sage Thief Fate, the Fate progress on the Yellow Wind Little Sage's panel changed once more.

A faint glimmer of golden light seemed to flash across that line of text, and the number quietly ticked upward.

[Fate: Great Sage Thief (0.12%)]

Perhaps Yin Ghosts were far weaker than Ghost Soldiers, or perhaps the value of the stolen materials differed. This time, the Yellow Wind Little Sage's Fate progress hadn't increased much.

Vaguely, an indescribably profound aura began to grow within the Yellow Wind Little Sage's body. It was simply too weak to produce any tangible effect yet.

But for Zhou Yao, having his suspicion confirmed was already enough.

The panel didn't display the Fate's effects. But since this Fate came from a mythic existence like the Yellow Wind Great Sage—and may even be related to the insights he gained at the moment of his fall—its value is absolutely incalculable. It might not even be inferior to the Inner Threefold Meditation Talent.

It simply needs to be continually practiced. Only once the Fate progress reaches a certain point will it provide any feedback.

With the doubts in his heart successfully answered, Zhou Yao once again loaded his consciousness into the Yellow Wind Little Sage avatar.

His mind sank deep into his consciousness. When he opened his eyes again, his vision had shifted to that tiny rat demon body.

The Yellow Wind Little Sage, who had been fleeing at high speed with the steel trident on his shoulder, suddenly stiffened. He then skillfully found a crack in the ground by the roadside and drilled inside, calming the fluctuations of his mana.

With the Wind Arts enhancement gone, the heavy steel trident immediately crashed to the ground with a dull thud.

This time, the Yellow Wind Little Sage had been prepared. He nimbly rolled away at once, then lowered his head to look at the material he had casually picked up from the Yin Ghost with his claws.

It was a moon-white fragment the size of a fingernail, emitting a faint cold glow. As his gaze fell upon it, the panel popped up again.

[Soul Shard

Type: Miscellaneous

Quality: None

Mythic Trait: None

Description: A fragment of a soul body. Can be refined into Mythic Factors.]

Zhou Yao had seen Soul Shards many times in Yin Mountain City. They could be called the most common Mythic Material in the city, and they didn't even have a quality rating.

Yet even a Soul Shard this small could fetch at least three hundred thousand Federation Coins if sold.

This is a good thing. Compared to the enormous Ghost Soldier's Steel Trident, Soul Shards can provide Mythic Factors and are easy to carry. They can be brought back to the real world through a Yin Mountain Metro node.

The Yellow Wind Little Sage looked over his body. His smooth golden fur had nowhere to store anything, so he simply stuffed the Soul Shard into his mouth.

As long as he didn't actively circulate his mana to refine the Mythic Factors, the Soul Shard wouldn't be refined. It could therefore be carried conveniently in his mouth.

With the Soul Shard in his mouth, one of the Yellow Wind Little Sage's cheeks visibly bulged out. Combined with his round little body, he looked rather like a greedy hamster.

After resting briefly, he found that he still had more than half his mana remaining. He hadn't used the Inner Threefold Samadhi just now, only Flying Sand and Rolling Stones, so the consumption hadn't been great.

The Yellow Wind Little Sage crawled out through the crack and warily looked around.

The ground was still a boundless stretch of Blackstone Mountain hills, desolate beyond measure. There wasn't even a ghost in sight.

Only from time to time did dense yin energy erupt from cracks in the collapsed earth, transforming into Mythic Factors that spread in all directions.

The Yellow Wind Little Sage climbed to the top of a Blackstone Mountain hill and tried to look into the distance, but he couldn't help frowning afterward.

The Yin Mountain Realm was far more barren than Zhou Yao had expected. Other than black rocks, there was nothing else. The Yellow Wind Little Sage had entered the Yin Mountain Realm to collect Mythic Factors and Mythic Materials to raise his rank.

Yet aside from the Ghost Soldier and Yin Ghost he had encountered at the start, there were no other living creatures anywhere in the entire Yin Mountain Realm. No matter how he looked at it, this didn't seem like a place that could produce Mythic Materials.

"I finally understand why more than half the goods in Yin Mountain City's shops are inferior materials like Soul Shards, which don't even qualify as Spiritual Dust.

The Yin Mountain Realm is poor as a church mouse. Even the local Mythic Walkers probably can only shear wool from Yin Ghosts." The Yellow Wind Little Sage couldn't help muttering as he changed locations to search for targets.

Suddenly, a transparent ghostly figure flashed past from a crack in the ground several kilometers away.

The Yellow Wind Little Sage's eyes immediately lit up. Wind and sand surged around him, turning him into a streak of yellow light as he shot toward the ghostly figure.

Ten minutes later, a burst of yellow sand erupted from the crack. The Yellow Wind Little Sage skillfully clutched a Soul Shard and fled outside, while behind him a Yin Ghost with a terrified face and a tattered soul body gave chase.

Half an hour later, another Yin Ghost suffered a vicious attack.

Over the course of the entire night, the Yellow Wind Little Sage's practiced crimes had netted him a total of six Soul Shards.

The Yellow Wind Little Sage stuffed these Soul Shards into his mouth one by one. His cheeks had long since swollen into round balls, while his Fate progress had reached 0.22%. The results could be said to be remarkable.

After hunting the sixth Yin Ghost, the Yellow Wind Little Sage could clearly sense that Yin Ghosts had become scarce in the surrounding area.

Even when he occasionally encountered one, it was usually some unlucky fellow the Yellow Wind Little Sage had already robbed once. Their soul bodies were riddled with holes, as though a single claw swipe would shatter them.

Having reaped a bountiful harvest, the Yellow Wind Little Sage returned to the ground crack where he had previously left the Ghost Soldier's Steel Trident, his mouth full of Soul Shards.

Looking at the Ghost Soldier's Steel Trident, which was several times larger than his own body, the Yellow Wind Little Sage couldn't help scratching his head.

In terms of gains alone, today's exploration had undoubtedly been richly rewarding.

One precious Spiritual Dust-quality artifact and six whole Soul Shards. The former possessed a Mythic Trait and was worth a fortune, while the latter could be used to refine Mythic Factors.

But the problem was that the Ghost Soldier's Steel Trident was simply too large. The Yellow Wind Little Sage could only transport it with Wind Arts.

The Yellow Wind Little Sage had been able to enter and leave the Yin Mountain Metro smoothly by relying on Wind Arts to conceal himself. Bringing along something this large might cause trouble.

Realizing this, even Zhou Yao himself felt rather troubled. He couldn't possibly put the Yellow Wind Little Sage in danger for the sake of a single Mythic Material.

Is there any spatial Mythic Material that can hold objects, or perhaps some method for shrinking artifacts? A flash of inspiration crossed his mind, and Zhou Yao, sitting at home, immediately searched online.

Mythic Walkers had existed in the world for centuries, and related knowledge was no longer much of a secret. There were quite a few online forums about Mythic Walkers, filled with information.

However, this information was half true and half false. Only genuine Mythic Walkers could distinguish the real from the fake. Zhou Yao quickly found a great deal of information through one forum.

Storage pouches, Void Stomachs, Cosmic Storage Techniques... There were many Mythic Materials and methods capable of storing artifacts, but these things were either exceedingly precious or unavailable within Yin Mountain City.

After filtering through a great amount of information, Zhou Yao's gaze was drawn to a post title on a local Yin Mountain City forum.

Square-Inch Artifact Refinement Art!

He quickly opened it and carefully read its contents, his eyes gradually lighting up.

This post introduced a special method that could consume Mythic Factors to refine artifacts, allowing them to change size to suit their refiner. Some precious artifacts could even be stored inside the body.

If he mastered this method and successfully refined the Ghost Soldier's Steel Trident, it would not only make it convenient for the Yellow Wind Little Sage to use, but also allow it to be easily taken out of the Celestial Circuit Realm.

However, a precious method concerning Mythic Walkers naturally wouldn't be casually posted online. The original poster had only left an address at the end of the post.

Yinshan Black Market, Fortune Shop.