The Complete Book of Treasures

If he had only slapped Gu Hongyi in the face before, those words delivered a resounding slap to the entire Cloud Cauldron Sect.

Quick-tempered as Gu Hongyi was, she naturally grew even angrier at that. She wanted nothing more than to teach the person before her a lesson on the spot!

Her senior brother Zhao Yunhe's expression was grim as well, but he at least had a better sense of the situation than his junior sister. He knew whom he could not afford to offend.

"This junior knows he has caused offense and is willing to apologize, Senior. But my honored master had nothing to do with this, so please spare him your words!" Zhao Yunhe adopted a thoroughly deferential attitude. Anyone listening would have thought him courteous and proper, sincerely devoted to his master.

But the cloaked stall owner was having none of it. "Hmph, you little brat, trying to put on an act in front of me? Even if your master came, he wouldn't dare make trouble before me! I was in a good mood and came here to set up a stall today, but this junior sister of yours came over and picked on my customer for no reason, then ordered her to hand over what she bought..."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Your Cloud Cauldron Sect may not have much strength to show for itself, but you've certainly got thick skins!"

Zhao Yunhe turned to glance at Gu Hongyi, a trace of meaning in his eyes.

Su Fuyun also widened her limpid eyes and looked gently at Sang Ying. "So that's what happened," she said in surprise. "Junior Sister, why didn't you explain? You made me misunderstand you."

"You didn't give me a chance to explain, Senior Sister," Sang Ying replied coldly.

Su Fuyun was left speechless and meekly fell silent.

"I see." Zhao Yunhe cupped his hands and bowed to Sang Ying. "My junior sister was at fault. She's been spoiled since childhood, so I hope you won't hold today's offense against her, fellow cultivator. Once we return, I'll be sure to tell Master and have her properly punished."

In other words, he meant to smooth the matter over for now. As for whether Gu Hongyi would actually be punished after the two returned, Sang Ying would have no way of knowing.

Sang Ying would not accept such an insincere apology.

"Oh? You say a few words and that's it? Not even a bit of compensation? Are you apologizing or putting on a show?" The stall owner was exceptionally good at cutting people down. With just a few words, he made the Cloud Cauldron Sect's favored son flush red, then turn pale.

Zhao Yunhe clenched his jaw. "You're right, Senior. My junior sister offended this fellow cultivator, so of course compensation is only proper."

"Senior Brother!" Gu Hongyi grabbed Zhao Yunhe's hand as he reached to untie his Storage Bag, her voice full of displeasure. She did not forget to shoot Sang Ying a furious glare.

Zhao Yunhe pulled her hand away and sighed helplessly. "Stop making a fuss. You were in the wrong to begin with."

Perhaps she had not expected Zhao Yunhe to say that. Gu Hongyi's eyes instantly reddened, and she stamped her foot in anger before turning and running off.

"Junior Sister!" Zhao Yunhe called after her, but she did not stop. He could only hurriedly toss his Storage Bag to Sang Ying. "Please accept this as an apology, fellow cultivator!"

With that, he bowed to the three of them and hurried after his junior sister.

Sang Ying had gone out to buy something, only to inexplicably receive a Storage Bag. Clutching it, she was at a loss for a moment.

She instinctively wanted to give it to the stall owner who had stood up for her, but when she turned around, she found no one behind her.

The stall owner and his stall had vanished from everyone's sight in the blink of an eye.

Sang Ying thought, Tsk, now this is troublesome.

In the end, Sang Ying took the Storage Bag back to their quarters. Along the way, Su Fuyun showed her curiosity about the bag, repeatedly hinting that Sang Ying should open it and have a look.

Zhao Yunhe had already erased his mark from the Storage Bag, so any cultivator with Spiritual Qi could open it.

But Sang Ying did not want the apology gift, so she naturally ignored Su Fuyun's hints.

Su Fuyun, who had never been ignored like that before, parted ways with Sang Ying in a huff.

Sang Ying disliked trouble, and the incident that day made her realize that if she wanted to avoid it, she would do better to stay in her room and cultivate.

So for the next few days, she turned down the others' invitations to go out and quietly remained in her room to cultivate.

She had not forgotten the booklet she had bought from that stall, though. Since its owner was a person of extraordinary cultivation, perhaps the things he sold were extraordinary as well.

With that thought, Sang Ying pulled the booklet from her robes.

The battered black booklet was no bigger than her palm, its corners curled up. It looked like an utterly ordinary mortal object.

Sang Ying ran her fingers over the strange pattern on the booklet, its uneven texture beneath her fingertips making her even more curious. How could such an ordinary booklet have such an intricate pattern?

But when she opened it, the yellowed pages contained only a few ordinary poems and nothing else of note.

Sang Ying closed the booklet again and looked at the pattern, then instinctively traced it once with her finger.

She recalled that in the original book, Su Fuyun had found many treasures whose true forms were revealed only through blood. After some thought, Sang Ying bit her finger and drew out a drop of Essence Blood, letting it fall onto the booklet.

Fortunately, it did not disappoint her.

The moment the blood landed on it, the unremarkable booklet began to change bit by bit, as though shedding a concealing outer garment.

When Sang Ying picked it up again, what she held was a small jade-white book adorned with carvings and gold.

On the thick book were several large characters: The Complete Book of Spirit Plants and Spirit Beasts of the Cultivation World.

Sang Ying's brow twitched sharply. She suddenly realized what an enormous fortuitous opportunity this was.

She had heard of this book long ago. When she was a child, her father had told her that an eccentric Rogue Cultivator had traveled throughout the cultivation world and written a book documenting Spirit Plants and Spirit Beasts.

The book did not sound particularly useful at first; it seemed it could only help people identify spiritual things. But Sang Ying's father had friends far and wide and knew a great deal. He had told her that the book recorded not only the appearance and uses of every spiritual thing, but also marked out where each one could be found!

That meant even treasures people had only heard of but never seen could be found with the help of this book!

Sang Ying had entered the Qishan Secret Realm this time to search for the thousand-year-old ice lotus. The book had come at just the right time!

Thinking of the cultivator who had sold her the book and spoken up for her, Sang Ying quietly committed his voice and build to memory. She secretly vowed that if she ever met him again, she would repay him properly.

Meanwhile, in the Moon-Embracing Tower in Yunzhou City, two men sat facing each other. One of them, dressed in black, revealed a peerlessly handsome face beneath the moonlight. Before he could exchange a couple of words with his companion, he let out an enormous sneeze.

The man sitting opposite him frowned, seemingly looking at the man in black with disdain.

"What, now that you've suppressed your cultivation, has your body become as fragile as a mortal's too?" The speaker wore a demon mask. Though his face could not be seen, the eyes visible through the mask suggested that his appearance was probably no less striking.

The man in black was not angry at being mocked. Instead, he replied with a chuckle, "I'd say someone must be thinking about me."

"Heh!" The masked man sneered. "You'd better keep a lower profile. Didn't you offend the Cloud Cauldron Sect's young lady just today? I hear her senior brother formed his Golden Core at thirty. Everyone calls him a genius."

The words were clearly praise, but coming from the masked man, they took on a sarcastic edge.

"Some genius. As I see it, he's just a kid who doesn't live up to his reputation," said the man in black with a smile. He was none other than the black-cloaked stall owner from earlier that day. "That young girl who bought the complete book, though, was rather good. She had a keen eye."

He had set up the stall on a whim that day, and the booklet was the only thing on it that was at all extraordinary. He had even tampered with it to see whether anyone would have the discerning eye to recognize a pearl. To his surprise, someone really had taken a fancy to it.

The masked man frowned. "You can fool around all you like, but don't neglect the important matter. Otherwise, if you can't save them, I won't help you again!"

Only then did the man in black put away his smile. "Don't worry about that," he said seriously. "There's nothing I've wanted that I couldn't get!"

His voice was full of certainty.