Chu Xuan's spiritual sense entered the universe bag, and a foreign object immediately caught his eye. Piles of spiritual stones and healing pills were stacked up, but none of them caught his interest.
Spiritual stones were good, but he wasn't lacking them at the moment. After all, many things couldn't be bought with just spiritual stones. Take the Mysterious Heavenly Ice Soul Scroll from the Reincarnation Sect, for example.
He picked up a jade slip, his spiritual sense scanning its surface. Upon recognizing the familiar characters, a smile crept onto his face. It was the Deity Transformation volume of the Mysterious Heavenly Ice Soul Scroll.
This was the core technique of the Reincarnation Sect, a sect-defining cultivation method that could carry a cultivator all the way from the Nascent Soul stage to Deity Transformation, and even up to the Astral Projection stage. Most of the Reincarnation Sect's other Golden Core techniques were designed as stepping stones to the Mysterious Heavenly Ice Soul Scroll.
After he killed the Reincarnation Sect's Holy Son, Leng Hanshuang, he had acquired the Nascent Soul volume of this technique. During his time in the Starshatter Sea, he had not forgotten to search for the Deity Transformation volume. However, the Reincarnation Sect, once a sixth-grade sect ruling multiple cultivation planets, had strictly controlled the dissemination of its techniques.
Now that the sect had fallen, although it hadn't collapsed entirely, the Deity Transformation volume was still nowhere to be found in the southern third ring of the Starshatter Sea.
Chu Xuan had put it aside for a while. He had even thought that if he couldn't find the Deity Transformation volume, he would have to settle for a slightly lesser method for Deity Transformation. As long as its attributes were similar to the Mysterious Heavenly Ice Soul Scroll, there wouldn't be too much of a rejection reaction.
Now, by killing True Master Tiancang, he had indeed obtained the Deity Transformation volume of the Mysterious Heavenly Ice Soul Scroll. With this, once he ascended to the Deity Transformation stage, he wouldn't need to worry about cultivation methods. He could cultivate according to plan.
Aside from the crucial Mysterious Heavenly Ice Soul Scroll Deity Transformation volume, Chu Xuan also found several damaged low-grade spiritual tools. Some were severely damaged and could probably only be melted down to extract useful materials. Others could still be used, albeit imperfectly.
For instance, there was a white jade bottle, inside which a dark green liquid swirled.
Chu Xuan immediately recalled the battle between True Master Tiancang and White Bone True Master. White Bone True Master's spiritual tool had been covered by this dark green liquid, which caused the connection to the tool to be severed, allowing True Master Tiancang to seize it.
The dark green liquid was clearly unusual and had the ability to sever the bond between a cultivator and their spiritual tool. Chu Xuan wracked his brain trying to figure out what this liquid could be, but it was beyond his knowledge.
Clearly, this substance exceeded his current understanding. He would need to acquire more ancient books and texts to understand its true nature. But there was no doubt: it could weaken the connection between a cultivator and their spiritual tool.
Upon a closer inspection, Chu Xuan discovered that the object was not a jade bottle, but rather a vessel crafted from pure white, translucent bones. On its surface, three characters were engraved.
Dragon Bone Bottle.
In addition to the Dragon Bone Bottle, there was also a white object—the White Dragon Seize.
This item, a low-grade spiritual tool forged from the claws of a Jiaolong (flood dragon), was not only powerful but could unleash layers of jade-like radiance, slowing the speed of enemies. Once the White Dragon Seize was grasped by its wielder, it would bind its target as though they were tied with an unbreakable rope, impossible to escape. It could be considered a supreme control tool.
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Additionally, there was a black cloak known as the Dark Ghost Robe. This artifact, when worn, provided an astonishing level of defense. If wielded offensively, it also had the power to trap enemies. Just earlier, True Master Tiancang had used it to ensnare two Nascent Soul cultivators at once.
With these three low-grade spiritual tools, Chu Xuan was quite pleased. By now, he had accumulated four spiritual tools: the Qingming Lamp, the Dragon Bone Bottle, the White Dragon Seize, and the Dark Ghost Robe. All of them were valuable.
Moreover, he still possessed a number of personal magic treasures. Once resources permitted, they could be upgraded to spiritual tools as well.
"Hmm? What's this?"
Chu Xuan's attention was drawn to a dusty, ancient token lying quietly in the corner of the universe bag. The surface of the token was engraved with an image of a black dragon. This dragon had twin horns, four claws, and a long tail resembling a whip.
For some reason, Chu Xuan didn't feel any overwhelming pressure or regal dominance from the token, as one might expect from a high-status item. Instead, he felt a ferocious, bloodthirsty aura emanating from it, like it was a beast eager to devour whoever came too close.
It lacked any divinity, only the raw, savage instincts of a beast.
Chu Xuan didn't know what the Black Dragon Token was for. He recalled True Master Tiancang's memories and realized that the Daoist had come across a Golden Core cultivator's stall by chance, where he found the black dragon token. Thinking it looked quite special, he purchased it.
After acquiring it, True Master Tiancang had used his lifespan to perform a divination, but all he had gleaned were mere fragments—just the dragon's scales and claws. Terrified by what he sensed, he abruptly stopped the divination. It seemed he had encountered something terrifying.
Moreover, even this little bit of information vanished completely from his mind within a hundred breaths, as though it had never existed. In the end, he had lost a hundred years of lifespan for nothing.
"Quite sinister…" Chu Xuan muttered, frowning as he carefully placed the Black Dragon Token into a jade box and stored it in his universe bag.
Whatever it was, it would certainly be of use someday.
Aside from these items, True Master Tiancang had also left behind a number of notes on alchemy. Of course, most of them concerned the creation of evil pills and demonic elixirs. The most notable were his two jade slips detailing the process for refining the Heavenly Longevity Pill.
However, Chu Xuan had no use for them. His lifespan was already extremely long, and with the Life Ghost by his side to steal lifespan, he didn't need to go to such lengths. Furthermore, he could always revisit the small Taotie Tree for a chat. Though it only offered a ten-year lifespan each time, it cost only a few jars of blood honey—a far less troublesome option than what True Master Tiancang had gone through.
"Such a pity, he never made use of the Taotie Tree method..." Chu Xuan sighed and shook his head regretfully.
The Taotie Tree certainly had more functions than just increasing lifespan. It was just that, at present, he couldn't find a way to fully exploit its potential. If he had to say, asking Wen Lingtian would certainly yield the answer.
But whether Wen Lingtian was alive or dead remained uncertain. Even if he was still alive, attempting to take something from an Astral Projection Realm cultivator would be a difficult task, to say the least.
...
A few days later, the news of the four Deity Transformation cultivators' chaotic battle spread like wildfire.
The Moon True Master, White Bone True Master, and Yellow Spring True Master had even joined forces to issue a bounty. Anyone who could provide information about the whereabouts of the mysterious Deity Transformation cultivator would be rewarded with one hundred high-grade spirit stones and a top-tier magic treasure, upon verification of the information.
If someone could capture the nameless Deity Transformation cultivator alive, they would be granted membership in the Moon Society, White Bone Island, or Yellow Spring Island, along with even greater rewards.
This sent shockwaves through the cultivators in the southern third ring. In addition to their treasure hunts on Desolate Island, they now had another task—to search for the whereabouts of True Master Tiancang.
Some cultivators, eager for the reward, resorted to forging false leads to claim the bounty. However, after a few of these fraudsters were killed, the rest of the cultivators quickly learned not to risk it. They began to search the old-fashioned way, looking for actual clues.
Of course, no matter how hard they searched, they would never find True Master Tiancang. After all, True Master Tiancang had already been sent to his grave by Chu Xuan.
...
In the days that followed, Chu Xuan spent his afternoons selling demon soul talismans on Desolate Island. By night, he returned to his Water Curtain Cave to refine his body.
His life had become quite comfortable. The honest and trustworthy Master Liu, along with his shop Demon Talisman Studio, was gradually gaining recognition and spreading its reputation.