A hoarse voice came from the Foundation Establishment corpse's throat. The White Bone Artifact lifted high, then swept lightly downward.
A scattered edge, barely deserving to be called Sword Qi, slowly slashed toward Bai Yi.
Yet beneath this seemingly crude Sword Beam, as though wielded by a novice swordsman, sweat seeped from Bai Yi's forehead. His limbs seemed nailed firmly in midair, and no matter how he tried to control them, he could not move.
The Five Elements Qi Vortex in his Qi Sea and Dantian revolved at breakneck speed, Spiritual Power surging like the tides.
The twin swords rang in unison. The Dao Resonance of Clearwind and Rainbow Light, the two streams of Sword Qi, trembled wildly under the immense pressure. In an instant, they shattered the restraints, and the intertwined Dao Resonance of the two streams of Sword Light, one green and one white, roared like flood dragons as they met the crumbling Sword Beam.
The edges collided, and an invisible shockwave in midair swept outward in furious waves.
Caught in the shockwave, Bai Yi was flung away like a sandbag and slammed heavily into the rock wall, sending countless cracks spiderwebbing through the stone around him. He abruptly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Under that one sword strike, the Foundation Establishment corpse's remaining white-bone body could no longer hold together and dissolved into dust.
In his daze, an ethereal voice drifted faintly into Bai Yi's ear.
"Good..."
A dozen or so breaths later, aching all over, Bai Yi slowly rose to his feet with the support of his sword. Where the Foundation Establishment corpse had vanished, a dull, dim ring lay quietly in the dust.
Bai Yi's gaze paused. He circulated the Minor Five Elements Art, forced himself through the pain, and hurried over, reaching out to draw the ring into his palm.
His Divine Sense swept over it, and intense excitement surged within him.
"A Storage Ring! This is actually a Storage Ring!"
Bai Yi clenched the Storage Ring tightly in his hand, as though afraid it would disappear the next moment.
In the many xianxia novels of his previous life, Storage Rings were already considered rare treasures, and that was even more true in the Immortal Alliance of this life.
Among those at the Qi Refining Stage, only direct descendants of major clans might obtain one. Even among Foundation Establishment cultivators, some of the less successful Foundation Establishment cultivators probably didn't have a Storage Ring of their own.
After all, Kongming Stone, which was used to forge Storage Rings, and the technology of overlapping space within them were both rare in the Immortal Alliance.
Once he had calmed himself, Bai Yi carefully tucked the Storage Ring into an inner pocket. With a sidelong glance, he sent Sword Light to retrieve the White Bone Artifact.
After searching without result, Bai Yi went to the Yinshan Sect old man. From beneath his clothes, he took out another bronze coffin artifact and a bone-bead artifact. Then he retrieved the Blood Demon Sect old man's White Bone Mirror and a set of long, ink-black nail artifacts.
"Four First-Tier Middle-Grade artifacts and one First-Tier Inferior-Grade artifact."
After inspecting the quality of the artifacts, Bai Yi understood things a little better.
Given the Immortal Alliance's overall circumstances, these demonic cultivators had probably spent many years accumulating resources before they could forge a Demonic Artifact for themselves. Even the two Old Devils, who had already reached the Qi Refining Eighth Layer, had only two First-Tier Middle-Grade artifacts each.
After carefully confirming that nothing else remained, Bai Yi conjured Dao Flame and burned the two corpses. Then he hurried deeper into the estate.
Countless sword marks densely covered the rock walls around the collapsed Seclusion chamber.
The formation was destroyed, and the pills and artifacts were all ruined. Only a pool of crimson blood remained in the center, its bottom barely covered, filling the air with a thick stench of blood.
"What a heavy blood Qi Vibration."
"Those two Old Devils must have wanted this pool of blood."
Bai Yi wrinkled his nose. Even with only a shallow layer left in the ten-square-meter blood pool, the concentration of its blood stench rivaled the Essence Blood of several thousand Qi Refining cultivators.
Faint Dao Resonance from a formation shimmered beneath the blood pool. If the two Old Devils had obtained it, they might truly have been able to use it as a foundation to break through to Foundation Establishment.
He roused the Dao-Deriving Mirror, sending out a Qi Vibration from his fingertip. When the mirror showed no response, Bai Yi let out a soft sigh. Sword Light cut through the formation pillars, and Spiritual Power condensed into a ball of Dao Flame, setting the blood pool ablaze.
As flames soared into the sky, Bai Yi mounted his sword and flew out of the estate, heading toward a distant stretch of ravines.
Squeak, squeak~
In a forest of jagged rocks, an Earth Mushroom Rat followed a scent and burrowed into a cave hidden beneath a boulder.
As soon as it squeezed inside, a Sword Beam pierced its head. A gust of force then swept it hundreds of meters away.
In the dim cave, Bai Yi slowly opened his eyes. A flush rose across his cheeks.
A week had passed. Without pills to aid him, that sword strike's impact had taken a full week to heal him only just enough.
That was with the Minor Five Elements Art already cultivated to perfection.
"I've finally managed to heal about eighty percent of my injuries."
Bai Yi smiled wryly. He had to admit that the power of the Foundation Establishment corpse's sword strike had far exceeded his expectations.
After countless years of death, it had delivered a single strike using only the ruined Sword of Intent Resonance left by a Sword Cultivator's long-held instincts. Even though his twin swords had rung together and he had used Dao Resonance and the Swordlight Transforms into a Rainbow technique to their limits, he had still been wounded by its Sword Beam.
If he hadn't been a Sword Cultivator himself, that Sword Beam would probably have severely damaged his Meridians.
"If you think this book is good, add it to your bookshelf so you can find it again next time."
"In my current condition, I should be able to just barely refine away the restriction on that Storage Ring."
Bai Yi took the Storage Ring from his clothes. Divine Sense and Spiritual Power clung to it, and a damaged restriction pattern appeared.
He suspended the Storage Ring before him and formed a Sword Seal with his fingers. His Divine Sense and Spiritual Power became two long swords, repeatedly striking and wearing down the restriction. Dao Flame rose from his Dantian and Qi Sea, assisting the Sword Light as it continuously refined and roasted the ring.
Day and night alternated once.
As the last glimmer of light in the restriction faded, Bai Yi's Divine Sense entered the ring.
Within the misty Chaos-like haze, a space of roughly fifty cubic meters appeared within the range of his Divine Sense.
"I broke it!"
Bai Yi's brows lifted slightly. Too excited to pause, he hurriedly probed inside with his Divine Sense.
In the Chaos space, a pile of crystalline ores faintly radiating Spiritual Power sat in the center. Beside them were more than ten bottles of pills and three Dao-Teaching Jade Talismans.
On the other side, a token lay carelessly to one side, and beside it sat a large yellow-jade seal radiating a heavy aura of Dao Resonance.
Bai Yi moved his thoughts, and his Divine Sense scooped up the pile of crystalline stones, which numbered several hundred.
With a turn of his palm, the stones appeared in his hand. The Minor Five Elements Art began circulating instinctively, and threads of unfamiliar, exceptionally pure Spiritual Power flowed straight along his Meridians into his Dantian and Qi Sea.
"Are these Spirit Stones?!"
Bai Yi's face lit up with excitement. He couldn't help pinching his thigh.
Spirit Stones! These were Spirit Stones!
In the Immortal Alliance, where everyone cultivated immortality, Spirit Stones could be considered strategic resources.
Across the Immortal Alliance's vast, boundless territory, the spirit veins weren't even enough to supply the cities' cultivation needs, let alone leave anything to be mined.
The few spirit veins that were mined were strictly overseen by the Immortal Alliance. Every mine even had a Nascent Soul True Lord stationed there. They were treated as matters of the utmost importance.
Thus, in all his more than ten years, he had never seen a Spirit Stone in person. He had learned they even existed only from textbook video projections.
The stone in his hand radiated pure Spiritual Power and was as smooth as jade. Both its characteristic pure Spiritual Power and its outward appearance left no doubt that it was a Spirit Stone.
Judging by its texture and Spiritual Power, it was only a Low-Grade Spirit Stone.
But there were still at least three or four hundred more in the pile inside the Storage Ring. Those Low-Grade Spirit Stones alone were enough to make this perilous venture worthwhile.
"With these Spirit Stones and the perfected Minor Five Elements Art, I'll be able to push my cultivation to the Qi Refining Sixth Layer in less than two months!"
Bai Yi thought excitedly. For ordinary cultivators, who lacked resources, could only rely on inferior cultivation pills and absorb the Spiritual Power of the cities, and had mediocre cultivation techniques, breaking through from the Qi Refining Fifth Layer to the Qi Refining Sixth Layer would take at least five or six years.
But for him, with the Minor Five Elements Art cultivated to perfection and a sufficient store of Spirit Stones, he would need less than two months to break through and reach the Qi Refining Sixth Layer, so long as he didn't worry about his Spiritual Power becoming unstable.
Even the direct descendants of those born into major clans probably couldn't match that speed.
Suppressing his excitement, Bai Yi shifted his gaze from the pile of Spirit Stones to the pills beside them.
"Blood-Coagulating Pill: First-Tier Superior-Grade. Can be used to heal injuries and slowly repair damaged Meridians..."
"Poison-Removing Pill: First-Tier Superior-Grade. Can eliminate a hundred poisons and purify blood and Qi..."
"Qi-Gathering Pill: First-Tier Superior-Grade. Concentrates the mind and gathers Qi. Taking it can accelerate the refinement of Spiritual Power and can also replenish Spiritual Power..."
"Blood-Burning Pill: First-Tier Superior-Grade. Taking it can ignite Essence Blood and increase Spiritual Power strength by more than thirty percent..."
Looking at the more than ten bottles of pills in the Storage Ring, all of them First-Tier Superior-Grade, Bai Yi couldn't help pinching his thigh with his other hand, forcibly suppressing the corners of his mouth, which were harder to restrain than an AK.
First-Tier Superior-Grade! The Qi-Boosting Pills he had taken earlier had only barely qualified as First-Tier Superior-Grade, judging by the standards for pills.
But there were more than ten bottles here. Their value alone was enough to buy two houses like the one his family lived in.
Not to mention that the Blood-Coagulating Pill and Qi-Gathering Pill were both among the finest formulas for First-Tier Superior-Grade pills.
"I've struck it rich. I've really struck it rich!"
Bai Yi grinned without realizing it. He had only intended to take advantage of the chaos and get a few more Demonic Artifacts to nurture the Dao-Deriving Mirror.
He hadn't expected to dig up such a treasure trove. What kind of Foundation Establishment tycoon was this in a world of cultivation?!
As Bai Yi pondered, his gaze fell on the three Dao-Teaching Jade Talismans beside them. If what he had seen and experienced before had only been a guess, then this trip to the Demonic Mansion, together with these three Dao-Teaching Jade Talismans, had completely confirmed what he had suspected.
Beyond the Immortal Alliance, a traditional cultivation world like the ones described in the novels of his previous life definitely existed.
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