The sinister-looking middle-aged man was none other than Senior Brother Liu, the man who had met Senior Brother Liu three weeks earlier.
Senior Brother Liu had joined the sect many years ago, yet he was still only at the tenth layer of Qi Refining. He had not distinguished himself at the last Sect Conference, either, so naturally he had not qualified to take a Foundation Establishment Pill. Seeing no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment, he had become a duty disciple at the Kirin Pavilion, just like the other Senior Brother Liu.
Duty disciples occupied the lowest rung in Yellow Maple Valley. Having never taken a Foundation Establishment Pill, they progressed painfully slowly in their cultivation and had no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment in this lifetime. All they could do was toil for Yellow Maple Valley for the rest of their lives.
Senior Brother Liu harbored lofty ambitions and refused to accept this fate, but there was nothing he could do. Now, however, he seemed to glimpse a sliver of hope.
Upon entering the shop, Senior Brother Liu made a show of looking around. Suddenly, something caught his eye: a magical artifact shaped like an eye. He studied it, then hurriedly asked,
"Shopkeeper, this thing looks so unusual. What sort of magical artifact is it?"
Old Xu replied smugly, "This is a top-tier support artifact I recently crafted-the Spirit Pearl. Well? Quite eye-catching, isn't it?"
Senior Brother Liu could not help examining it closely. Wanting to confirm his suspicions, he asked,
"This Spirit Pearl must have been made from some kind of spirit eye, right?"
"You have a discerning eye, sir. It was made from the third spirit eye of a peak first-rank demonic beast-a Three-Eyed Fire Wolf. It took this old man quite a bit of work."
"Peak first rank? Not lower first rank?" Senior Brother Liu exclaimed despite himself.
"Are you joking, sir?" Old Xu asked with some displeasure. "The spirit eye of a lower first-rank Three-Eyed Fire Wolf has barely any effect. How could it possibly be used to craft this Spirit Pearl?"
Senior Brother Liu wanted to keep asking questions, but Old Xu had grown impatient. "If you have no intention of purchasing a magical artifact, please go browse elsewhere."
Left with no choice, Senior Brother Liu departed the shop and found a secluded spot, where he could not help muttering,
"I only came because I heard this shop sold reasonably priced magical artifacts, using up my one chance to leave the sect this year, yet I happened to run into Junior Brother Lin. Why was he so determined to raise a Three-Eyed Fire Wolf back then? Could he really have some secret art for rapidly nurturing spirit beasts?"
Senior Brother Liu had suspected as much back then. Now he had personally seen Lin He coming and going from this shop, and its owner had even crafted a top-tier Spirit Pearl as a result. As these incidents fell into place, understanding gradually dawned on him.
"Good, good, very good! If I can get my hands on a secret art like that, my strength will soar, and I won't have to fear the upcoming forbidden-ground trial. Foundation Establishment won't be impossible then. Once I reach Foundation Establishment and obtain the Golden Origin Wanderer's hidden legacy, I'll be able to restore the prestige of the Liu family of the Yuanwu Kingdom."
While Senior Brother Liu was envisioning his future, Lin He had already emerged from a spirit beast shop. He then visited almost every medicine shop, gathering some pills that would advance his cultivation, and bought a Spirit Beast Bag from a street stall.
After finishing these errands, for some reason Lin He did not leave immediately. Instead, he headed to a deserted corner.
Strange. Earlier, I felt as though someone was watching me, but the feeling soon disappeared. If I hadn't advanced to the eighth layer and sharpened my spiritual sense, I probably wouldn't have noticed at all. Could a cultivator stronger than me have set his sights on me? I'd better make some preparations, just in case.
With that thought, Lin He looked around. Once he confirmed that no one was spying on him, he waved a hand and entered the Mysterious Space. He immediately bound the lower first-rank Three-Eyed Fire Wolf he had just purchased to himself, then spent three spirit stones and exhausted three drops of spirit liquid to nurture it into a peak first-rank demonic beast.
Once that was done, Lin He did not leave the Mysterious Space immediately. Instead, he waved a hand and took several magical artifacts from his storage pouch: a miniature boat, a pair of claw-shaped artifacts, three wolf-fang-shaped artifacts, and a suit of armor shimmering with red light.
Since he knew a fight might lie ahead, he naturally needed to familiarize himself with his magical artifacts first.
Lin He first picked up the high-grade flying artifact shaped like a miniature boat and named it the Flying Spirit Boat. As he channeled magical power into it, the tiny boat immediately grew larger. A brief test revealed that it flew at least three times as fast as that Leaf-Shaped Magical Artifact, which crawled along like a tortoise. It was an essential artifact for making an escape.
The second was the pair of top-tier offensive artifacts shaped like claws, which he named the Blazing Fire Claw. Crafted from the wolf's claws, they were only ordinary-class top-tier artifacts, but together they packed considerable power and could even inflict burns.
The third consisted of three single-use consumables crafted from the wolf's fangs, which he named Toothbreaker. They could even pierce the shields of ordinary-class Top-Tier Defensive Magical Artifacts and injure the person behind them, making them deadly weapons for ambushes.
The fourth was a top-tier defensive artifact crafted from the red fur, which he named the Fire-Repelling Armor. Its defense against fire was formidable, though it was somewhat weaker against other elements. Even so, it was still a top-tier defensive artifact.
Apart from the high-grade flying boat, all of them were ordinary-class top-tier artifacts. After all, the materials had only come from a Peak Level One Demon Beast. Being able to craft four Top-Tier Magical Artifacts from them was already unexpectedly good.
Lin He had exchanged the fourth Top-Tier Magical Artifact—the Spirit Pearl—for three hundred and twenty low-grade spirit stones. After all, however good a magical artifact might be, it still could not match the might of a Three-Eyed Fire Wolf, and Three-Eyed Fire Wolves were what Lin He lacked least. Thus, he had decided to sell that artifact for spirit stones. The other materials, such as the wolf's tail, meat, bones, hair, and the remaining hide and blood, had gone toward paying the artifact-crafting fee.
Of those three hundred and twenty spirit stones, he had spent one hundred on a high-grade flying boat, fifty on five bottles of Yellow Dragon Pills containing ten pills each, twenty on the Spirit Beast Bag, and one hundred and twenty on fifteen Lower Level One Demon Beasts at eight spirit stones apiece. After using another three spirit stones to nurture the Three-Eyed Fire Wolf, he now had twenty-seven left.
Lin He shook his head at the tally. In the blink of an eye, his purse had shriveled considerably. Still, that was only natural. Weren't spirit stones meant to be spent? As long as they increased his strength, it was worth it, especially with danger lurking unseen.
After familiarizing himself with all his magical artifacts, Lin He put them back into his Storage Bag. Only then did he wave a hand and return to the market.
He looked around and, after confirming that no one was nearby, stepped out of the corner and onto the main street. He got his bearings, then used the Wind-Riding Art to leave the market swiftly. Once he was beyond the flight-prohibiting restriction, Lin He boarded the Flying Spirit Boat and sped toward Yellow Maple Valley.
Lin He had certainly moved quickly. Yet when he was several dozen li beyond the market, an enormous fireball suddenly shot out, hurtling straight toward
him.