Longevity by Grinding Skills

Chapter 445: Chapter 445: There Are Always Shortcuts to Wealth

Xu Yunfan stood suspended in mid-air, his robes whipping loudly in the Gang Wind.

The black lightning still clinging to the blade of his True Martial Sword slithered like a living creature, illuminating the hundred-zhang radius in flickering light.

His Divine Sense spread out like a net, clearly capturing more than a dozen hidden auras on the outskirts of True Martial Peak.

Those Foundation Establishment Daoist Masters hiding in the clouds didn’t even have time to conceal their astonishment, their Divine Sense fluctuations creating faint ripples in the air.

’Three strikes...’

A hundred li away, on a cliff to the east of a suspended peak, a white-bearded old man winced as a fissure appeared on the small Grotto Profound Mirror in his hand with a sharp CRACK. The sight pained him deeply. While the mirror wasn’t a defensive Magical Treasure, it could peer ten thousand li into the distance. However, Xu Yunfan had detected his prying and shattered the mirror with the Sword Intent condensed from his Wansheng Sword Transformation.

He had just been using the Grotto Profound Mirror secret technique to observe the battle, and the searing pain from that Slaying Karma sword light still lingered in his Sea of Consciousness.

The old man’s expression was grave. He asked himself, if he were to face that strike from Xu Yunfan head-on, he feared he would have fared no better than Li Baichuan.

Li Baichuan hadn’t even had the chance to fully unleash his Blood Evil Dao Foundation before being cut down in three strikes.

It was simply astonishing.

’Is he really just a novice at the Foundation Establishment stage?’

’His combat prowess is nearly on par with that "Extreme Sword" cultivator from the Wansheng Sword Sect... No, perhaps he even surpasses him slightly.’

In the western clouds, two Cultivators standing on a White Bone Flying Boat exchanged a glance. The Daoist on the left silently put away the Mirage Bead he had been using to record the fight. His right hand unconsciously crushed the Jade Token at his waist—a token he had been about to use to message their accomplices about taking something from Xu Yunfan—into fine powder.

They had seen it clearly. When Li Baichuan brought out his Hundred Souls Banner, Xu Yunfan’s Sword Momentum had shifted at will, suddenly surging by thirty percent. It was obvious he had anticipated his opponent’s desperate final struggle.

His True Martial Demon-Slaying Sword Technique had reached a state of effortless perfection. Every strike was in harmony with the rhythm of heaven and earth, his Sword Momentum inciting the Spiritual Qi from all directions to resonate, faintly revealing the profound phenomenon of Daoist Natural Law.

Such mastery of Swordsmanship had clearly touched the threshold of the ’True Meaning of Sword Dao’.

This was the Sword Dao that the fanatical Sword Cultivators of the Wansheng Sword Sect pursued their entire lives.

The true essence of the Sword Dao, which those extremist ’Sword Madmen’ might not grasp even after a century of effort, was now being displayed with nonchalant ease in Xu Yunfan’s every move.

’What a Divine Martial Dao Foundation, and what a True Martial Demon Suppressing Scripture.’

In the southern pine forest, the Seven Emotions Threads at the fingertips of a purple-robed Female Cultivator snapped one by one.

She had originally planned to take advantage of the situation when both parties were grievously injured, but now she completely concealed her delicate form within a lakeside pavilion. The surrounding Array activated silently, erasing her aura and concealing her karmic ties.

The most shocked of all was the gray-robed Array Master hidden within the Earth Vein.

The Array Disc in his hand showed that when Xu Yunfan’s third strike descended, the Earth Qi of the entire True Martial Peak had been mobilized.

Those seemingly random steps had each landed precisely on the eyes of the Nine Nether Evil Attraction Formation he had painstakingly arranged.

Right now, the three Main Array Banners tucked in his robes were spontaneously combusting, and though they sizzled against the flesh of his chest, he didn’t dare move an inch.

If his aura fluctuated even slightly, Xu Yunfan would instantly detect him, and a sword strike would likely follow in the next moment.

A cold snort suddenly echoed from deep within the clouds, and the dozen or so prying Divine Senses receded like a tide.

A few who were slow to retreat had their Divine Sense swept by the Arctic Demon Vibration Qi that Xu Yunfan deliberately released, and they felt as if they’d been struck by lightning.

Only then did everyone realize that the Black Tortoise Illusion around the young man wasn’t for defense. Instead, it had transformed all the Water Spirit Qi within a ten-li radius into an extension of his senses. They had thought their snooping was secret, but they had long since become live targets for his display of power.

The mountain wind, carrying the scent of scorched earth, swept past as Xu Yunfan finally, slowly, lowered his sword’s glow.

He deliberately used the tip of his True Martial Sword to pick up Li Baichuan’s tattered Storage Bag.

The Primordial Sect naturally forbade disciples from killing each other, but Li Baichuan had come seeking his own death. There was no arguing that point anywhere.

This action caused the few auras that hadn’t yet retreated far to freeze abruptly. One of them even lost control and crashed into a snow pine on a distant mountain peak.

’Looks like I’ll have some peace and quiet for a while.’

Xu Yunfan let out a light breath, gathering a wisp of Magical Power at his fingertip and gently tapping the charred Storage Bag.

With a HISS of scorching sound, the residual Blood Evil Restriction on the bag’s opening melted away like snow under a blazing sun.

The Heart and Soul Mark on the Sumeru Bag had long since dissipated with Li Baichuan’s death.

The moment his Divine Sense probed inside, his brow twitched. This seemingly ordinary Storage Bag secretly contained a Sumeru Space three zhang square.

Within a Demon Dao behemoth like the Primordial Sect, disciples had always followed the custom: "When one dies, their Dao vanishes, and their wealth is buried with them."

Every Cultivator carried their life’s accumulation with them. This was partly due to the law of survival among Demon Cultivators, which was rife with deception and backstabbing. No matter how secure the restrictions on one’s dwelling, they couldn’t fend off the covetous thoughts of their own sect brothers.

Furthermore, it was a paranoia deeply ingrained in the bones of the Demon Dao: they would rather perish with all their possessions than let their opportunities fall into the hands of others.

Death was the end of everything. But if their stash were to be dug up by someone else while they were still alive, that would be a fate worse than death.

Xu Yunfan’s fingertips rubbed the wet bloodstains on the Storage Bag as he suddenly recalled a dark joke Daoist Master Hundred Peaks once told him: "In our Primordial Sect, the most dangerous thing is never the mission, but the Storage Bags of our fellow disciples."

That seemingly playful jest, now reflected in the light of the Blood Evil Crystals scattered across the ground, felt chillingly real.

The first things to roll out were seven Blood Marrow Crystals, each glowing with an eerie, dark red luster.

Xu Yunfan picked one up with the tip of his sword. In the sunlight, he could see the liquid Blood Evil flowing inside the crystal. ’Good material for refining Thunder Beads...’

He recalled reading in the Celestial Art Thunder Register, which he had found in the Primordial Sect’s library, that such crystals tainted with Blood Evil could, paradoxically, be forged into powerful tools for suppressing malevolent entities after being tempered with Heavenly Spirit and Earthly Evil Qi and refined with Magical Power.

Next, a Jade Box that floated out caught his attention.

The moment he lifted the lid, he saw three entirely black Nine Nether Orchids lying quietly on a bed of Cold Jade Marrow. The dewdrops condensed on their pistils were actually the rare Profound Yin True Water.

Xu Yunfan’s breath caught in his throat. This was the main ingredient for refining the Profound Nether Pill, a Realm-Breaking Elixir Pill for the Foundation Establishment Stage. Even at the Sect Merit Hall, a single stalk cost five thousand Contribution Points.

What surprised him most was a scroll of dark gold beast hide.

When he unrolled it, the words that appeared—Profound Capital Eight Sceneries Celestial Refining Creation Cloud Scripture—made his heart tremble. After a careful look, Xu Yunfan couldn’t help but feel ecstatic.

This was an extremely superior Artifact Refining Technique!

The "Eight Sceneries Refining Heaven" technique it described was of the highest order, but the methods for "Spiritual Material Essence" and "Artifact Pattern Engraving" in the latter half were particularly exquisite.

This technique was based on the "Eight Sceneries and Twenty-four Truths" from the True Decree, which stated that an artifact refiner should visualize the sacred realms of the Eight Sceneries of Profound Capital—such as the Taixu’s bright moon and the Jade Mountain’s jasper terrace—and draw the true forms of the Eight Sceneries into the artifact.

An artifact is not a mere shape of metal and iron, but an "aperture of creation." To refine an artifact is to refine the very pivot of heaven, earth, Yin and Yang... An artifact is the dregs of the Dao; yet when refined to the extreme, even dregs can turn into sweet dew.

The Artifact Refining Dao described in the scroll truly broadened Xu Yunfan’s horizons.

He carefully read the passages detailing nesting techniques, pondering whether he should use this method to re-forge his old Shaking Mountain Sea-Suppressing Hammer and Cloud-Piercing Bow. If he gathered some more materials, they might not become full-fledged Magical Treasures, but they would absolutely be Superior Magical Artifacts.

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