txolops Chapter 15 Harvest
Chapter 15 Harvest
Still shaken, Han Yunzhi put away the increasingly dim brocade handkerchief magic artifact and looked palely at Luo Ming, who was walking slowly towards her. She only breathed a sigh of relief when she realized it was Luo Ming.
Looking at Han Yunzhi's appearance, Luo Ming couldn't help but find it amusing. He spread his hands and said, "I told you not to come here. Look how dangerous it is."
His tone was somewhat teasing, which eased the tense atmosphere a little.
Han Yunzhi took a deep breath, smiled at Luo Ming, and solemnly curtsied: "Yunzhi thanks Brother Luo for saving my life." Her voice sounded more mature than before.
Seeing this, Luo Ming waved his hand, and with a flick of his finger, he collected the two storage bags on the ground that were emitting a faint spiritual light. Then, he flicked his fingers repeatedly, and two orange-red fireballs shot out, landing precisely on the two corpses of the Hidden Moon Sect cultivators. A raging fire instantly ignited, accompanied by the pungent smell of burning flesh, and in moments the corpses were completely incinerated, leaving only a small pile of ashes.
"Yunzhi, there's no need for such formalities. We're all disciples of the same sect." His tone was indifferent, without the slightest hint of seeking credit. "This place is not suitable for lingering. Junior Sister is injured, so it would be best to find a secluded place to heal first."
After saying that, he stopped talking, lightly touched the ground with his toes, and his figure turned into a blur as he gracefully swept away towards the distant mountains and forests, leaving only a receding silhouette.
Han Yunzhi stared blankly in the direction Luo Ming had left until his figure completely disappeared into the dense forest before slowly withdrawing her gaze. The taut string in her heart suddenly relaxed, and a wave of weakness washed over her. She raised her hand to her chest, her face slightly pale.
The previous attack had severely depleted her spiritual energy and caused some internal injuries, so she urgently needed to heal. Without delay, she quickly pulled out a yellowed animal hide map from her bosom, her fingertips slid rapidly across the map, her gaze fixed on the several safe zones and danger markers marked on it.
A few breaths later, a resolute glint flashed in her eyes. She carefully put away the map and then took out a light blue talisman from her storage bag.
She infused a wisp of spiritual power into her fingertip, and the talisman instantly ignited, transforming into a wisp of green smoke that merged into her body. Her figure then became blurred; it was a common concealment talisman in the cultivation world.
After doing all this, she cautiously scanned her surroundings, and after confirming that there was nothing unusual, she quietly darted off in the opposite direction from Luo Ming, her figure quickly blending into the dense miasma and forest.
Luo Ming's figure flashed past on the treetops in the distance, taking in the entire process of Han Yunzhi's departure. Seeing that she acted cautiously and even knew how to use a concealment talisman to protect herself, he nodded slightly, then turned around and returned to the stone cave where he had been resting.
He instructed several spirit beasts to stand guard outside, then sat cross-legged and took out the two storage bags he had just confiscated from his robes. Both storage bags were of the style commonly used by Qi Refining stage cultivators, with simple spirit patterns engraved on the body and a faint spiritual restriction covering the surface. However, since the original owner was dead, only a few remnants of the restriction remained.
Luo Ming gathered a wisp of spiritual energy at his fingertips and slowly probed into the storage bags, carefully erasing the restrictions on them. The process was not complicated, and in about half an hour, the restrictions on the two storage bags were completely broken.
He flicked his finger, and both storage bags opened simultaneously. With a flash of light, a pile of items appeared in the stone cave, spread out on the ground in a dazzling array. Luo Ming's gaze swept over them, and he began to count them one by one: First were the spirit stones. The two storage bags contained more than three hundred low-grade spirit stones in total, including three mid-grade spirit stones. For a Qi Refining stage cultivator, this was already a considerable windfall.
Next came the pills: thirty Spirit Gathering Pills, two bottles of Spirit Cleansing Pills for healing, and a bottle of Yellow Dragon Pills commonly used by cultivators. These pills were just enough to replenish his subsequent consumption. In addition, there were several high-grade magic artifacts. Although the quality was decent, they were of little help to Luo Ming in his current state, so Luo Ming casually pushed them aside.
As he finished counting, Luo Ming's gaze sharpened slightly, landing on several spiritual herbs held in jade boxes. He reached out and picked up one of the jade boxes. Upon opening it, a rich spiritual energy rushed out. Inside, nestled quietly, lay a pale blue flower with curled petals that shimmered with starlight. It was none other than the Azure Star Grass, one of the auxiliary ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Pill.
Next, he found several Thousand Knot Flowers in another jade box. Both of these were materials for refining Foundation Establishment Pills, but they were auxiliary ingredients. The three main ingredients of the Foundation Establishment Pill were only distributed in the central area. In addition, there were some monster materials, such as the pincers of a poisonous spider, the fur of a black wind wolf, and several common refining ores.
Luo Ming carefully put away the spiritual herbs, a barely perceptible glint of joy flashing in his eyes. He was now in the late stage of Qi Refining and was preparing to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage. Foundation Establishment Pill materials were rare, and he hadn't expected to have such a harvest from killing two demonic spies, saving him a lot of trouble in searching.
"What a pleasant surprise! The materials I have now are enough to exchange for half a Foundation Establishment Pill." Luo Ming murmured to himself, his fingertips tracing the edge of his storage bag. A glint of light flashed in his eyes, and then he sighed softly, marveling at how "a man cannot get rich without unexpected wealth, and a horse cannot get fat without night grass."
The only thing that left him with regret was that he ultimately failed to find the Wind Shadow Talisman that the other party used to escape.
This talisman grants the user wind-like speed, so swift and unpredictable that ordinary methods cannot intercept it. If it weren't for the wind-elemental beast he raised, which possessed wind-attribute blood and could accurately lock onto its target, that person would likely have escaped today, leaving him with a hidden danger.
Luo Ming composed himself and began to categorize the spoils one by one. Useful spiritual materials and talismans were placed in his own storage bag, while the useless miscellaneous items were put into a separate spare storage bag to be exchanged for spirit stones at the market later. Once everything was in order, he sat cross-legged again in the center of the stone cave, swallowed a pill, and began to circulate his energy through hand seals, slowly refining the medicinal power to replenish the mana he had lost in the fight.
Recalling the exchange just now, he couldn't help but marvel: the power of that silver sword talisman was indeed domineering, but its consumption was also terrifyingly high. Just activating the talisman to manifest had consumed a third of his mana. Fortunately, he didn't consume any more mana afterward, or he would have been completely drained.
Of course, this battle also made him fully realize his own strength.
Although he had gained a lot this time, he was still far from his goal. His spiritual root aptitude was mediocre to begin with, and relying on only one Foundation Establishment Pill to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm was far too risky. He didn't have a heaven-defying little green bottle like Old Demon Han, which could continuously generate spiritual herbs to refine pills. Only by accumulating more Foundation Establishment Pills could he be on the safe side.
"Han Yunzhi..."
The name appeared in his mind without warning. He knew that this woman's future was promising, after all, she would have a Nascent Soul Ancestor as her backer, and she would also have some entanglements with Old Demon Han later on.