The Haul

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Wang Yan sat cross-legged on a large rock inside a Mountain Cave. Wisps of red light rippled throughout it, emanating from countless tiny red stones, each the size of a grain of rice, embedded in the surrounding walls...

As Wang Yan meditated, countless exceedingly fine threads of red spiritual light streamed into his body. The entire Mountain Cave was filled with somewhat scorching Fire Spirit Qi.

This Mountain Cave was no ordinary place.

It was the Fang Bear Beast's lair.

As it turned out...

After Wang Yan had successfully killed the Fang Bear Beast that day, he had dissected it and unexpectedly found quite a few tiny fragments of these red spirit stones in its fur. He had discussed the matter with Card Fairy.

They had concluded that there had to be spirit stones in its lair or somewhere it frequented, and fire-element spirit stones at that. Otherwise, the Fang Bear Beast could not possibly have advanced in this area.

After all, the Back Mountain of the Azure Spirit Mountain Range was the Wang Household's territory. How could they tolerate a Core Condensation Realm Demon Beast there? If such a beast had truly been around, it would have been discovered and killed long ago...

What was more, the Azure Spirit Mountain Range was not a mountain range with particularly abundant spiritual energy. Advancing to the Core Condensation Realm on Azure Spirit Mountain's Back Mountain was extremely difficult. The cultivators of the Wang Household and the other two families who had reached that realm had either gone elsewhere in search of opportunities or relied on pills.

Yet this Fang Bear Beast had advanced to the Core Condensation Realm, so it must have stumbled upon some opportunity. After searching around, Wang Yan had indeed found its lair.

Sure enough...

Inside the lair, he had discovered a cave containing quite a few Fire Spirit Stones, which had delighted Wang Yan immensely. Unfortunately, his joy had been short-lived. Judging by the spiritual energy emanating from the Spirit Stones, little remained in them. They were as small as grains of rice and almost completely depleted...

Naturally, his excitement had come to nothing. Wang Yan had dug around everywhere, but even digging deeper had yielded no more spirit stones.

Still...

Even so, this was a treasure spot for cultivation, far better than most places in the Azure Spirit Mountain Range. If he could cultivate here for several months, he might well reach Major Completion of the Cultivation Realm.

However, according to Card Fairy's observations, the spiritual energy in the Spirit Stones here would probably run dry in less than half a month. That had left Wang Yan thoroughly depressed, but even half a month here would speed up his cultivation considerably. Thus, Wang Yan hadn't bothered sorting through the spoils from the slain Ma Family cultivator and the female cultivator. He had merely used some of their healing medicine to treat his injuries and taken pills while cultivating. In just seven or eight days...

The injuries Wang Yan had suffered while fighting the Fang Bear Beast and the burly cultivator had completely healed. Moreover, after cultivating day and night all this time, his magical power had increased by twenty to thirty percent. His progress was truly astonishing.

That day...

"Phew!" Wang Yan stopped circulating his cultivation technique. Meditating continuously had left his meridians a little stiff, so naturally, he needed to rest and stretch his limbs. He stood up, looked at the spirit stones brimming with spiritual energy overhead, and murmured, "Ah, how I wish I could cultivate here a little longer...!" Still, he knew sighing over it would do no good.

"Right! Let's see what I got from those fellows!" With that, Wang Yan took out two Storage Bags, each only the size of two fingers and actually looking more like a scented sachet.

This one holds materials. Nothing much to look at! With that thought, Wang Yan reached for the other Storage Bag. Red light flickered around his fingers as he pointed at it.

Then...

Whoosh! A brilliant flash of spiritual light flared, and bottles, jars, books, miscellaneous objects, jade slips, Magic Artifacts, and the like flew out, landing all over the ground...

"Ah! These Ma Family cultivators must have been Inner Clan disciples. Otherwise, how could they have so many good things?" Wang Yan muttered as he rummaged through and examined the items...

"Although this saber is an intermediate-grade Magic Artifact, it's an earth-element one that doesn't suit me. Looks like I'll have to sell it...!"

"This leather armor is actually an advanced-grade Magic Artifact! That fellow really was wealthy! Unfortunately, it's earth-element too. What a pity. Still, it's a defensive treasure, so it should fetch a good price!"

"Ah! There are quite a few spirit stones! More than a dozen! They were much richer than me!"

"...!"

Wang Yan muttered as he sorted through everything. This certainly counted as a bountiful haul.

Wang Yan's knowledge was limited, however, and there were some things he couldn't identify.

After spending a long while sorting...

"...!" Wang Yan was rather puzzled by the three items before him. The first was the Thousand Spirit Arrow, the second a sheet of beast hide as thin as a cicada's wing, and the last a jade slip.

Wang Yan had examined everything he had obtained from the burly Ma Family cultivator and the female cultivator. Only the pills and elixirs were useful. The cultivation techniques and spells in the other jade slips and manuals were all ordinary ones, of no use to him, since neither of them practiced the same cultivation technique as he did. The Magic Artifacts were much the same; he could only take them out and dispose of them later.

Only these three items remained.

Wang Yan naturally knew that the Thousand Spirit Arrow was useful. The female cultivator had used it to repeatedly force the Fang Bear Beast back. But as for how to wield it, he had found no cultivation technique, incantation, or anything of the sort among her belongings that explained its use.

Without a technique or instructions for using it, wasn't it as good as useless to Wang Yan?

As for the beast hide as thin as a cicada's wing, it was covered with countless routes and terrain features, clearly making it a map. However, there seemed to be no labels on it, so he had no idea what it was for.

Lastly, there was the jade slip. It contained a very strange script that Wang Yan could not read.

In short, these last three items were all things Wang Yan either did not understand or could not use.

He did not think he could figure them out anytime soon, but he could ask Card Fairy. Didn't she claim to be a True Immortal? Surely she would know what these things were...

"Card Fairy! Are you there?" Wang Yan asked softly, but Card Fairy showed no intention of answering...

"Card Fairy!" Wang Yan called again.

"Hmph! Of course I'm here! Where could I possibly go?" Only after Wang Yan had called seven or eight times did Card Fairy give a cold snort and reply. Ever since he had complained about her nagging and quarreled with her last time, she had ignored him for several days.

"Ah! Are you still angry?" Wang Yan asked with a wry smile. "Haven't I already apologized?"

"Hmph! If apologies were any use, what would anyone need to cultivate for?" Card Fairy snorted and spoke coldly, offering Wang Yan no pleasant tone. After a pause, she continued, "What do you want from me this time? Slacking off on your cultivation again?"

"I just finished cultivating!" Wang Yan replied with a wry smile. Angry as Card Fairy was, she never relaxed her supervision of his cultivation for even a moment, as though he were cultivating for her. That was what he thought, but since he needed her help, he naturally would not pick another quarrel with her. He hurriedly said, "Card Fairy! Could you take a look for me? What are these things used for?"

"I can help you, but you're not allowed to get angry with me again!" Card Fairy said.

"All right! I promise!" Wang Yan replied solemnly. He first picked up the Thousand Spirit Arrow and hurriedly asked, "Look, what sort of Magic Artifact is this bow and arrow? Why can't I tell?"

"Oh?" Card Fairy seemed to have seen it, and she sounded a little surprised. "This is actually a Spirit Artifact!"

"What? This is a Spirit Artifact? One of those Spirit Artifacts that only Core Condensation Realm cultivators can use?" Wang Yan exclaimed in delighted surprise. Although he had known that the Thousand Spirit Arrow was a good treasure, he had never realized it was actually a Spirit Artifact.

The weapons cultivators used were different from those wielded by ordinary worldly martial artists. They were treasures capable of holding magical power and possessed astonishing might. Their classification depended on the materials used to forge them, the amount of magical power they could hold, the magical power required to activate them, and so on...

Treasures could be divided into Magic Artifacts, Spirit Artifacts, Spirit Treasures, and other categories. Each category was further divided into five grades: low, intermediate, high, supreme, and peerless. The classifications were quite complicated.

The best Wang Yan had ever seen was only an Upper-Grade Magic Artifact. He had truly never seen a Spirit Artifact before, since rumor had it that only Core Condensation Realm cultivators could activate them.

"What grade of Spirit Artifact is this?" Wang Yan hurriedly asked. He had never expected to seize a Spirit Artifact from these Ma Family cultivators. No wonder the female cultivator had been able to force the Fang Bear Beast back with the Thousand Spirit Arrow. As he thought of this, another matter suddenly occurred to him, and he hastily asked, "Right! Card Fairy! Aren't Spirit Artifacts only usable by Core Condensation Realm cultivators? How was that female cultivator able to use it?"

Exactly! Wang Yan had seen clearly at the time that the female Ma Family cultivator was definitely only in the Cultivation Realm, yet she could activate the Thousand Spirit Arrow. That seemed to contradict the rumors...

"Who said only cultivators at the Core Condensation Realm or above can activate Spirit Artifacts?" Card Fairy asked in return, leaving Wang Yan at a loss. It was only a rumor, after all. How would he know? Seeing that she had stumped Wang Yan, Card Fairy continued, "A cultivator who reaches Major Completion of the Cultivation Realm can barely activate a Spirit Artifact, but can bring out only about a tenth of its power. At Full Completion of the Cultivation Realm, they might be able to unleash a third of its power! The Core Condensation Realm merely lets them unleash its full power!"

"Oh! So that's how it works!" Wang Yan said in realization. After a pause, he hurriedly asked, "Then, Card Fairy, do you know how to use this Thousand Spirit Arrow?"

"That's quite simple...!" Card Fairy replied mildly. "But you'll need to reach at least Major Completion of the Cultivation Realm, won't you?"

"Well... that's true!" Wang Yan replied. After a pause, he hurriedly added, "Then what about these other two things?"

"This is obviously a map! No need to look at it!" Card Fairy replied casually, then seemed to examine the jade slip.

"Oh? Now this is something good!" Card Fairy exclaimed in surprise, seemingly having discovered something worthwhile in the jade slip.