Storage Ring!

Deep in the riverbed, the water flows tranquilly.

A crystal-clear water-repelling array created a waterless space.

Qi Yun sat cross-legged within, his aura deep and concentrated.

He formed a mudra with his hands in front of his chest, and his internal True Essence circulated slowly according to the route of the "Innate One-Heart Art".

A moment later, a tangible black aura, like a small snake, began to wriggle and spread across his cheek.

That was the pure, Evil Qi Wu Yushan had left in his body.

They are being forced out at this moment.

After a long while, Qi Yun suddenly opened his mouth and exhaled a long breath.

This breath was not foul air, but a visible, extremely yin and cold, grayish-black Evil Qi.

The moment the words were spoken, the light barrier of the surrounding water-repelling array rippled slightly.

Tiny ice crystals even formed in the nearby river.

"Phew, as this Evil Qi was completely expelled, the last trace of abnormal bluish-black color on Qi Yun's face finally faded, and his original rosy complexion returned."

He slowly opened his eyes, his gaze sharp and restrained, his aura serene and clear.

"After half a month, we've finally completely eradicated this evil energy." Qi Yun breathed a sigh of relief, his tone carrying a hint of a heavy burden.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he gained a deeper understanding of the formidable strength of Qi Refining Great Perfection cultivator after this battle.

Wu Yushan was already at his limit, facing the danger of his Dao Foundation collapsing, and was also repeatedly outmaneuvered and besieged by his own schemes. His strength was less than one percent of his peak.

Even so, the mere aftershocks of his True Essence and the vibrations of his aura caused damage to his internal organs, and it took him half a month of internal energy cultivation to clear the Evil Qi from his body.

"If it were Wu Yushan at his peak—" Qi Yun shook his head slightly. Such a being, even if a hundred of him joined forces, would probably be unable to withstand his thunderous attack. He was definitely not a match for him.

The gap between different levels of understanding widens as one progresses.

With his injuries fully healed and his form back to its peak, Qi Yun felt much more relaxed.

Hmm—it's time to take stock of what we've gained this time.

With a thought, Wu Yushan's withered corpse, which still faintly exuded a chilling aura, appeared before him.

With a quick glance, Qi Yun found a simple, dark silver ring on the index finger of Qi Yun's left hand, with fine cloud patterns engraved on its surface.

Storage Ring!

These kinds of magical rings are far more advanced than ordinary Storage Bag and storage bracelets; they are already considered high-grade Law Artifact.

In addition to the most basic storage function, they often come with other supernatural effects such as concealment of presence, defense, and attack.

It is difficult to refine and its value is immeasurable.

Only cultivators like Wu Yushan, who Qi Refining Great Perfection and hold important positions in the Yellow Springs Netherworld, have the qualifications and resources to use it.

"Is there a restriction or blockade?" Qi Yun picked up the cold-to-the-touch silver ring and tried to probe it with his Divine Sense, but was immediately blocked by a tough and obscure force, unable to penetrate it.

The fine cloud patterns on the surface of the ring seemed to come alive, subtly flowing and forming an invisible barrier.

This was clearly a unique restriction set up by Wu Yushan before his death to prevent his lifelong treasures from easily falling into the hands of others after his passing.

Even if an ordinary cultivator obtains this magic ring, they can only stare helplessly at it if they don't know how to break it, unable to use it.

"Fortunately, I, Qi, still have some tricks up my sleeve." Qi Yun chuckled, showing no sign of frustration.

With a slight thought, a blazing purplish-black flame erupted from his right palm—the [Southern Brightness Devil Fire]!

This fire is both extremely yang and extremely evil, and it specifically burns illusory things.

It also has remarkable effects on structures such as True Essence restrictions and Divine Soul imprints.

Manipulating the demonic fire, she carefully wrapped the silver ring.

The scorching and malevolent flames licked at the ring, but did not damage the ring itself. Instead, they concentrated their power to burn and contaminate the invisible restriction.

Under the continuous burning of the Southern Brightness Devil Fire, the originally obscure cloud patterns on the surface of the silver ring gradually became clear and bright, as if they had been activated, outlining a complex and mysterious restriction pattern.

However, the moment the pattern appeared, it began to distort under the scorching heat of the domineering demonic fire, like ice and snow exposed to the blazing sun.

Diminish.

Finally, with a hissing sound, it turned into wisps of smoke and was completely burned into nothingness.

The entire process lasted about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

When Qi Yun put away the Southern Brightness Devil Fire, the cloud patterns on the surface of the silver ring had returned to their calm and ancient appearance.

The previously strong force that blocked Divine Sense has completely disappeared.

Qi Yun once again activated his Divine Sense, probing into the Storage Ring that once belonged to Qi Refining Great Perfection of Qi Refining without any hindrance.

"So that's how it is. Besides Storage Ring also has the effect of preventing others from performing divination and prophecy." Having discovered another of the Storage Ring's mystical properties, Qi Yun nodded secretly.

As expected of Law Artifact belonging to a cultivator at the Qi Refining Great Perfection, it is indeed a high-grade item!

The vast, empty space inside the ring was not filled with the dazzling jewels and mountains of Spirit Stone one might have imagined.

Instead, it contained a large quantity of various jade talismans, animal skin scrolls, and thread-bound ancient books, all neatly stacked.

Qi Yun's mind stirred slightly as he scanned the contents of these classic texts.

Most of them record secrets, anecdotes, and strange tales of the Northwest and even a wider region, while some are clearly internal ledgers, material lists, and personnel records of the Ghost-Crying Market.

In addition, there are three Jade Slip with an ancient and Yin Qi appearance.

The Profound Yin Heart Art, The Record of Knowing the Nether, and The Nine Netherworlds Cycle Art

It was clearly the authentic Qi Refining Realm Qi Refining Realm method of the Yellow Springs Netherworld Underworld. He naturally wouldn't practice these things, but they would be somewhat helpful in getting familiar with the cultivation system of the Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivators.

However, it doesn't offer much benefit in terms of immediate combat strength.

His Divine Sense continued to search through these ancient texts.

Finally, among a pile of Jade Slip recording miscellaneous matters, he found what he was most interested in.

Information regarding that wild Foundation Establishment artifact.

The contents recorded on this Jade Slip are far more detailed than what Situ Huaji verbally told him.

Furthermore, the Jade Slip slip also contains annotations and speculations by Wu Yushan based on his own insights.

It is clear that after obtaining the initial information from Situ Huaji, he conducted further verification and supplementation through the channels of the Yellow Springs Netherworld.

This significantly improved the reliability and detail of the intelligence.

After reading these contents carefully, Qi Yun couldn't help but laugh, with a bit of emotion:

"This Wu Yushan —he's quite a talent."

He seemed to see the figure of a cultivator who had painstakingly worked for a hundred years to achieve Foundation Establishment.

"After more than a hundred years of cultivation and many hardships, I have finally forged the rudimentary form of my Dao Foundation and reached the Qi Refining Great Perfection. I only need this last suitable Foundation Establishment item to complete the [foundation stone] and attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm."

As a result, he suffered this calamity, and died.

Qi Yun shook his head, his tone carrying a hint of fatalistic mockery:

"However, perhaps it is his destiny—he is most likely not destined to achieve the Foundation Establishment stage."

Even without my intervention, which allowed him to gather the foundation stones by chance, given his temperament and inherent nature, he would likely have encountered calamity and met with certain death during the Foundation Establishment.

On the path of cultivation, luck is sometimes also a part of strength.

Even a crucial part.

Skipping over these ancient texts, Qi Yun began searching for other items in the Storage Ring.

However, the result left him slightly disappointed.

Wu Yushan was previously critically injured and on the verge of death. In order to save his life and recover, he seemed to have used up all the precious medicines and elixirs he carried with him.

Only five or six jade bottles were scattered in a corner of the Storage Ring.

The bottle was enveloped in a dense Yin Qi of yin energy; one could sense the eerie presence emanating from it even through the bottle.

It's obvious that it doesn't contain any legitimate elixirs.

It's more like a poison specially made by the Yellow Springs Netherworld to harm people.

Besides these, the Storage Ring only contained some scattered, decent-quality but not top-tier refining and talisman-making materials.

Most of them are of the Yin attribute, so their use is limited for him.

However, if you take it back and put it in the Holy Sect Treasure Market, you might be able to exchange it for some Sacred Yuan.

There are almost no treasures that can be immediately converted into cash or significantly enhance his combat power.

"Well, that's normal." Qi Yun didn't pay much attention to this scene.

"Although Wu Yushan is a steward of the Ghost-Crying Market, he holds a high position and wields great power."

But the Ghost-Crying Market was, after all, the property of the Yellow Springs Netherworld, not his personal treasury.

As a cultivator at the Qi Refining Great Perfection, he had likely invested most of his accumulated wealth over the past century into his own cultivation and preparations for Foundation Establishment.

Purchasing Foundation Establishment items and collecting auxiliary resources—aren't those astronomical sums?

It's impossible to have too much disposable income left.

Although there is no hard currency that can be readily converted into cash.

But when Qi Yun's gaze returned to the vast number of jade talismans and scriptures, he felt it was all worthwhile.

"These notes and insights, especially Wu Yushan's experiences during his breakthrough to the Qi Refining Great Perfection and the formation of the rudimentary Dao Foundation, as well as his various contemplations and preparations regarding Foundation Establishment, are truly priceless treasures."

The experiences and lessons learned by a cultivator who is only one step away from Foundation Establishment and who has reached the Qi Refining Great Perfection can be considered a guiding light on his cultivation path.

Even though it wasn't entirely accurate, it had immeasurable reference value for his future planning of his Dao Path and his attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, allowing him to avoid many detours and pitfalls.

With a thought, Qi Yun transferred all the valuable jade talismans, classic texts, and cultivation Jade Slip from his Storage Ring, as well as the few bottles of Yin Qi pills of unknown purpose, into his storage bracelet, and neatly categorized them.

After doing all that, he directly took out a stack of talismans specifically used for sealing and isolating auras.

They carefully wrapped the Storage Ring, which originated from the Yellow Springs Netherworld, layer by layer, like wrapping a rice dumpling, making sure there wasn't a single gap.

Although he broke the obvious restriction that Wu Yushan had set on the ring.

However, this Law Artifact itself originated from the Yellow Springs Netherworld, and its internal structure and crafting techniques all originated from that sect.

Who knows if the Yellow Springs Netherworld has left any extremely secret, unknown tracking marks or backup plans within it?

Better safe than sorry.

Until all potential risks are fully understood or eliminated, sealing them off tightly is the safest approach.

Having done all this, Qi Yun his hand and removed the water-repelling array at the bottom of the river.

The river water surged around him, but naturally separated as he circulated his True Essence.

After carefully discerning the direction, his figure transformed into an imperceptible trail of water, speeding towards the earthly acupoint marked on the "Secret Detailed Explanation of the Northwest Heavenly Gang and Earthly Sha Positions".

Now that the miscellaneous matters are settled, he can finally refocus on his main tasks.