My Artifacts Can Upgrade Infinitely

Chapter 51: Chapter 51: A Sudden Windfall

The pair chose a direction and immediately left the battlefield.

Shortly after they were gone, the Loose Cultivators who had been hiding in the shadows finally crept out. They began a second round of looting, searching for any valuables that might have been overlooked, but most of them would come away empty-handed.

On the way back, Shen Yunjiao and Zhao Zuo were even more cautious, changing direction several times. They were mainly worried about being followed by someone she couldn’t detect, wanting to avoid getting tripped up by a careless mistake.

After a series of stops and starts, the two arrived at Clear Water Lane in the Spring District, which was about three lanes away from Qingni Lane. Just as Zhao Zuo was feeling confused, Shen Yunjiao had already gotten her bearings.

"Inside, now."

Shen Yunjiao quickly scrambled onto the roof and slipped inside through a hole in the tiles. Zhao Zuo immediately followed.

They landed in a hallway. The bedroom contained only a simple wooden bed with no bedding. Zhao Zuo carefully checked the kitchen but found no bowls, chopsticks, or even an iron pot. The house was completely devoid of any signs of life.

When Zhao Zuo returned to the bedroom, he saw Shen Yunjiao standing on the bed, observing the situation outside through a crack between the eaves.

It was only then that he suddenly remembered he hadn’t smelled any fragrance on her tonight. ’She must have deliberately gotten rid of that familiar scent to hide her identity,’ he thought.

"We shouldn’t have a tail." Shen Yunjiao hopped off the bed and pulled off her face covering. Zhao Zuo could see that her face was a little pale, with the faint trace of blood at the corner of her mouth.

"You’re injured?" Zhao Zuo asked, a little uncertain. ’Is she still testing me?’

"It’s an injury from my fight with Lei Ming this afternoon. The battle just now aggravated it, but it’s not a big deal." Shen Yunjiao skillfully took a porcelain vial from her Storage Bag, poured out a Pill Medicine, and tossed it into her mouth. Before long, much of the healthy color returned to her face.

"This is a safe house I rent. I usually use it as a layover spot. First, use a Cleaning Talisman to get rid of any foreign auras you might have on you."

"Alright." Zhao Zuo took out two Cleaning Talismans and slapped them onto himself. In an instant, the bloodstains on his clothes melted away like snow under a scorching sun, leaving his attire clean and tidy once more.

"Let’s take stock of our haul first. We’ll take what’s useful and destroy anything here that could cause trouble later," Shen Yunjiao said. A sincere, immense smile then spread across her face. Tonight had been dangerous, and she’d had to use a trump card she’d been saving for a long time, but the rewards were just as plentiful. She was one step closer to her goal.

Zhao Zuo found a clean spot to sit. He didn’t really need to take stock; from the four bodies, he had only gotten four Magical Artifacts and fifteen Spirit Stones. His haul for the night was worth about sixty Spirit Stones.

His haul from yesterday had been one hundred Spirit Stones.

"Lei Zhen was really rich. Over a dozen Purifying Spirit Pills."

"Tsk, tsk. Your fellow workers really had it rough. They were planning to enter seclusion this winter to advance their Cultivation, but they never expected to meet such an end. But it’s good for you, in a way."

Shen Yunjiao put on a pair of silver-thread gloves that protected against potent toxins and emptied the contents of Lei Zhen’s Storage Bag onto the bed to sort through them.

Zhao Zuo nodded. The benefit was that for next year’s Outer Sect disciple assessment, he now had a dozen or so fewer potential competitors, increasing his chances of joining the Moyun Sect.

"The usual deal. Four Spirit Stones for one Purifying Spirit Pill," Shen Yunjiao said as she inspected the Pill Medicines with her unique method, speaking to Zhao Zuo.

"I’ll take one, then." Zhao Zuo handed sixteen Spirit Stones to Shen Yunjiao, twelve of which were payment for the Spirit Revitalizing Pill.

After deducting the cost of the Spirit Revitalizing Pill from his sixty-Spirit-Stone income, he was left with only forty-eight Spirit Stones.

Although it was still a good profit, it wasn’t really worth risking his life for as a way to make a living.

"Thanks for your busin—" Shen Yunjiao’s expression suddenly changed. She brought the Pill Medicine in her hand closer to her eyes and began to inspect it a second time.

Zhao Zuo noticed the strange shift in her expression. He stored the Pill Medicine he had just received separately from the two remaining Purifying Spirit Pills he had on him and waited patiently for the results of her inspection.

About a quarter of an hour later, Shen Yunjiao threw three Purifying Spirit Pills on the ground and crushed them with her Mana, her expression twisting as she clenched her teeth.

"Damn that Lei Zhen! He actually coated the Purifying Spirit Pills with Heart-Eroding Powder."

This was likely the backup plan Lei Zhen had left behind, just in case. Even in death, he wanted revenge on the person who killed his brother.

"He even laced the Spirit Revitalizing Pills with an aphrodisiac. He deserved death by a thousand cuts."

Shen Yunjiao’s face grew uglier and uglier. These Pill Medicines were as good as her own property, but now she had to endure the heartache of throwing them on the ground and destroying them.

"Let’s swap that Purifying Spirit Pill from before. Just in case there’s a trap in it that I can’t detect."

Zhao Zuo handed the Purifying Spirit Pill back to Shen Yunjiao, secretly deciding... ’In the future, it’ll be safer to buy any Pill Medicines I take from the Spirit Treasure Pavilion.’

"I have no use for this. Here, you take it." Shen Yunjiao tossed him a thick book. It detailed the identification methods and characteristics of 450 types of low-tier ores, which was exactly the knowledge Zhao Zuo needed.

"I have no use for this either." Shen Yunjiao then tossed him a Scroll. If Zhao Zuo hadn’t taken on half of the enemies for her, she never would have succeeded in killing Lei Zhen. Therefore, a portion of these spoils rightly belonged to him.

Zhao Zuo took the Scroll and slowly unrolled it. It was a piece of old Beast Hide, but its surface had been treated to be exceptionally smooth. Words had been written on it, seemingly with the blood of some Demon Beast.

Tiger Slaughter Body Refining Technique. It had three layers: Blood Slaughter, Evil Bone, and Evil Hu. Upon reaching Third-Layer Perfection, one could use consumed tiger blood as a catalyst to obtain the Lifebound Talent of a Demon Beast, granting combat power no less than that of a cultivator at Qi Cultivation Perfection.

Cultivation required drinking the blood of a tiger-type Demon Beast in conjunction with thirty unique stances.

Zhao Zuo understood it all after a simple reading. This must be the Body Refining Technique that Lei Ming cultivated. It used the blood of a Demon Beast to strengthen the body, but the side effect was that one’s personality would be influenced by the beast’s blood, making one irritable and impulsive.

’This is more like a Secret Technique than an orthodox Body Refining Technique.’

’An unorthodox Cultivation Technique like this, which can affect a Cultivator’s mind, is ultimately inferior to the balanced and proper Golden Body Technique. It might have some useful aspects, but I have no intention of cultivating it.’

With a flick of his hand, he placed it inside his Storage Bag.

Shen Yunjiao continued to sort through the items from Lei Zhen’s Storage Bag. Only a few porcelain vials remained unchecked. She casually picked up a large vial, sniffed it, and then took the dark gold Pill Medicine in her hand to inspect it before handing it to Zhao Zuo.

"A Vajra Pill from the Spirit Treasure Pavilion. You take it when breaking through a Body Refining bottleneck. Of course, whether you actually take it or not is up to you. In any case, I didn’t detect any problems with it," Shen Yunjiao said.

Zhao Zuo took the vial and poured the Vajra Pill into his hand. Its surface looked like it was coated in gold lacquer. It felt heavy in his palm and was filled with a medicinal fragrance. Just a light sniff made the Qi and blood in his body flow faster, making his entire being instinctively crave it.

"Taoist Friend Shen, you should just sell it. I’m a little worried." Zhao Zuo handed the Pill Medicine back to Shen Yunjiao. ’If the Heart-Eroding Powder on the Purifying Spirit Pills was a trap meant for Shen Yunjiao, then this Vajra Pill is very likely the trap Lei Zhen prepared for a Body Refining Powerhouse like me.’

"I don’t want to lose my life over a moment of carelessness."

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