Picking Up a Treasure: A Storage Pouch! (Please Read On)

"..."

Time flowed like water. The grass and trees deep in the mountains withered and turned green again several times, and in the blink of an eye, five years had passed.

On the rubble-strewn plaza at the edge of the ruins, a cyan afterimage suddenly came to a halt.

Su Yueli shook both hands. The Shadow Fist Blades on her palms let out a crisp hum, their faint glow retracting inward.

Letting out a long breath, Su Yueli felt the robust blood and qi coursing through her body like a surging river, and her heart settled slightly.

Sixth Realm.

After five years of bitter cultivation, she had finally crossed the threshold of the Fifth Realm and entered the ranks of the Sixth Realm.

Not only that, she had also thoroughly mastered the fourth move of the nameless fist technique her master had left behind.

Su Yueli raised her head toward the sky concealed by the formation and murmured softly, "Master, I have mastered all four forms of the fist technique you created. Your disciple has not walked slowly on this path of Martial Dao."

After calming her surging blood and qi, Su Yueli walked to the edge of the beacon tower. She gazed at the distant outline of that towering bronze gate, then touched the key hanging at her waist.

Five years had passed. The Pang Family outside had most likely already cast a net over heaven and earth across every major route.

A Sixth Realm martial artist might indeed be a formidable figure in the outer city, but before the powers of the Imperial City, she was still not worth mentioning.

With her current combat strength and the fully mastered fourth form of her fist technique, she might stand a slight chance in a head-on fight against a Martial Dao grandmaster at the peak of the Seventh Realm. But what if the Pang Family sent several Seventh Realm experts at once?

Not to mention that Pang Jinbiao, the head of the Pang Family, was a terrifying existence at the Peak Eighth Realm, with lofty cultivators standing behind him.

If she left seclusion now, she would have almost no chance of survival.

After all, she had killed or crippled several direct descendants in succession. She did not believe the Pang Family would simply let the matter rest.

If they truly let it end without consequence, the Pang Family's prestige would rapidly crumble. Forget outsiders—even the Pang Family's own people likely would not tolerate Pang Jinbiao.

At that thought, Su Yueli clenched her fists tightly, her gaze chillingly cold.

Strength. She had to become stronger...

Unless she reached the point where she could completely overturn the Pang Family, she would never leave seclusion.

Drawing back her gaze, Su Yueli turned and looked toward the inner region deep within the ruins, a place she had never set foot in.

She had already explored most of the outer region. There was no danger, but neither were there many opportunities. Cultivating here was merely changing locations, though at least no one would disturb her.

But if she wanted to continue breaking through quickly, she had to try her luck in the inner region.

A moment later, Su Yueli packed her belongings, put on the Shadow Fist Blades, and headed toward the inner region.

The deeper she went, the more magnificent the surrounding ruined structures became.

Su Yueli could sense that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the air was beginning to grow denser.

This energy was exceedingly strange. Even though she was merely a martial artist without the spiritual roots of cultivators, she could feel every pore on her body opening slightly, while even the circulation of her blood and qi accelerated by several degrees.

After passing through a charred, dense forest, she saw ahead a vast cluster of ruined walls built against the mountain.

Judging by the enormous white jade pillars and the endless outlines of palaces, this was clearly where the royal palace of the Azure Cloud Ancient Kingdom had once stood.

Su Yueli slowed her steps and walked in over the rubble, intending to see whether any overlooked treasures remained inside.

Most of the great hall had collapsed, and the ground was scattered with countless skeletons and broken weapons.

Su Yueli stepped forward and kicked aside a chunk of rubble. She found that most of the weapons on the ground were merely Profound Grade or Yellow Grade. Because of their great age, their spiritual energy had completely dissipated, and most had become scrap iron.

Besides the weapons, there were also many mundane jewels and jade stones mixed among the mud and bones, densely scattered everywhere, yet no one had bothered to collect them.

It seemed that when the Great Li Dynasty's army had plundered this place a thousand years ago, they had looked down on these low-grade and mundane items and casually cast them aside.

Su Yueli carefully searched through the piles of rubble.

Suddenly, beside the finger bone of a shattered golden skeleton, she saw an exquisite silk pouch about the size of a palm, its color somewhat dim.

Ancient cloud patterns were embroidered across its surface, making it seem utterly out of place amid the mud and sand.

Su Yueli picked up the pouch, brushed off the dirt, and inspected it closely. Her heart immediately jolted.

A Storage Pouch!

This was actually an exceptionally rare Storage Pouch.

In this world of immortal cultivation and longevity, cultivators mostly used Storage Rings to hold their belongings.

But Storage Rings required spiritual power to open, and rogue cultivator martial artists could not use them at all.

Storage Pouches, however, were different. Although the space inside was far smaller than that of a Storage Ring, they did not require spiritual power. Mortal martial artists only needed to bind them with a drop of blood, after which they could freely store and retrieve items with their thoughts.

Such things were not sold anywhere in the mortal world. They existed only in certain ancient inheritances or ancient kingdom ruins. To martial artists, they were simply priceless treasures.

Without hesitation, Su Yueli immediately bit her fingertip and dripped a drop of blood onto the cloud pattern of the Storage Pouch.

The blood was instantly absorbed by the pouch. Su Yueli felt a thunderous boom in her mind, and a subtle, wondrous connection seemed to form between her and the pouch.

With a thought, a pitch-black space roughly the size of half a room appeared within her perception.

It had worked.

A trace of delight flashed through Su Yueli's eyes. With this thing, carrying her belongings in the future would become far more convenient.

She crouched down and began tossing the jade, jewels, and several Profound Grade weapons that still appeared intact and had not fully weathered away into the Storage Pouch.

These things were useless for her current seclusion, but once she left the ruins in the future, selling a few of them would fetch a great deal of money. She could use it to purchase high-grade Demon Beast Blood Essence and sustain her future blood and qi consumption.

At that thought, Su Yueli's mood improved.

All this time, she had only buried her head in bitter training and had never relied on external resources to accelerate her cultivation.

Thus, even with her talent, she had always been unable to compare with the children of great families. Her advantage lay in her solid foundation, taking every step steadily and firmly.

Su Yueli continued gathering the valuables from the ground. Just then—

"Roar—!"

A savage beast's roar suddenly rang out from deep within the royal palace, shaking the broken walls and ruins of the entire hall violently.