Starry Sky Professional

Deep within the dense forest, an eerie stillness pervaded the surroundings.

The aura and final cries of a second-tier demon beast had cleared the area of any other creatures.

Such disturbances, though, were insufficient to lure a third-tier beast.

Fang Xing stood atop the carcass of the Four-Armed Golden Ape, wiping the blood from his sword blade with the creature’s brilliant, fiery golden fur.

Then, he began to dissect the beast.

“I hope my guess is right… But even if it’s wrong, I still gain materials from a second-tier beast and practical experience in a life-and-death battle. It’s not a loss…”

With practiced skill, he sliced open the demon ape’s belly, exposing a massive stomach sac.

A stench of acid assaulted his senses, but Fang Xing had long since manipulated his nano protective suit to form a gas mask.

He inspected the stomach’s contents, discovering several undigested minerals.

These stones emitted a spiritual light, some as large as a palm and others as small as a longan, all extraordinary in appearance.

“These must be second-tier minerals… They’ll fetch a good number of spirit stones. This demon ape must have had a penchant for consuming stones to refine its body—no wonder its defenses were so formidable!”

Continuing his search, he found some undigested demon beast meat, causing him to ponder:

“The demise of a Core Formation Expert is akin to a whale fall… Their flesh brims with spiritual energy; even a single drop of blood would spark a frenzy among nearby beasts.”

“These beasts either advance in tier or get consumed by even stronger creatures…”

“This second-tier ape is the last one around; it must be the ‘Gu King’ of this area and likely holds any treasures.”

As he rummaged further, something caught his eye.

A strangely shaped golden phoenix hairpin fell into Fang Xing’s hand.

Despite its small size, it was unusually heavy; its phoenix’s eyes gleamed blood-red and lifelike, as if ready to take flight.

“The sensation from this surpasses any spiritual item… No wonder it belongs to a Core Formation cultivator! Despite being nestled within a beast capable of digesting second-tier minerals, it remains as pristine as ever…”

Fang Xing speculated that perhaps in several decades, this phoenix hairpin artifact might be fully digested by the ape, enhancing its defenses even more.

By then, breaking its defense might be beyond him.

‘But no, martial arts differ from the immortal path; progress is astonishingly swift… Would I worry about a mere beast in a hundred years, even if it were near-third-tier or third-tier in body refinement?’

He toyed with the hairpin, probing it with his mental powers.

How unfortunate... it was just like a clay ox entering the sea.

In the end, he had no choice but to admit that while this object was indeed valuable, it only had the worth of its materials. He prepared to store it in his bag and continued dissecting the second-tier demon beast.

As for the storage bag of that Core Formation cultivator? It was clearly not here.

There was a high possibility it had been swallowed by the third-tier flood dragon.

Third-tier demon beast, comparable to a Core Formation expert!

More terrifying was that a third-tier flood dragon undoubtedly had extraordinary bloodlines, at least equivalent to Nascent Soul or even Golden Core cultivators!

Absolutely not something Fang Xing could provoke at the moment.

"Hmm?"

He was just channeling his mental energy into the storage bag when his expression suddenly changed!

Inside the storage bag, the 'Myriad Laws Token' began to emit a faint glow once more, and even... it kept growing stronger!

"Impossible!"

Fang Xing's face slightly shifted, "The distance from last time's limit... there's still quite a gap! Could it be... the sensing distance of this thing is constantly changing?"

"Or... the item it's sensing is nearby? Did those three Core Formation experts bring it out from the secret realm?"

His face now serious, he immediately began to review the situation:

'If the Myriad Laws Token is indeed sensing something from within the secret realm, being brought out is the most plausible scenario... but why would it be around here?'

'Unless... the female Core Formation cultivator, knowing she was doomed, threw it out using some secret method before her death, unwilling to let the flood dragon and the attacker have it? How impressive... she even evaded the surveillance with her small actions...'

'Of course, it's also possible that the Myriad Laws Token is broken, or its sensing range has changed... this is easy to test, just move towards Five Scorpions Valley and observe its response.'

Setting variables and experiments is something every Blue Star student learns.

Without further thought, he acted!

Fang Xing tapped his foot, making his way towards Five Scorpions Valley while monitoring the Myriad Laws Token's changes inside the storage bag.

Soon, the glow on the token faded away...

He stopped in his tracks: "Very well... it seems those three Core Formation experts indeed managed to bring out a significant treasure..."

"However... is this treasure really fated to be mine? Can I really play the fisherman?"

“Even if I find it, would a cultivator's treasure be of any use to me?”

“To what extent am I willing to take risks for this unknown treasure?”

Fang Xing continued to question himself deeply, then proceeded to make a plan.

...

A moment later.

A small drone, with the Myriad Laws Token tied to its claw, flew out of the jungle.

Fang Xing, holding a briefcase, watched the monitor screen intently, barely blinking.

“To the left... it's veering off... its glow is becoming stronger... the direction is correct...”

A few minutes later.

The lifelike bird drone perched on an unremarkable ancient tree branch, its clawed token almost engulfed by a ball of light.

The layer of radiance was incredibly thick, and countless runes seemed to flow across the surface of the mysterious iron token like a dense swarm.

Knock, knock!

Knock, knock!

The bronze round ring, resembling a ring, was etched with several ancient engravings.

The bird waited for a while, but the bronze ring showed no further anomalies.

Half an hour later, the drone bird grasped the bronze ring and soared skyward.

...

In a desolate wild.

Fang Xing watched the drone descending from the sky, a peculiar expression on his face.

“A ring?”

“Judging by its shape... could it be another magical artifact?”

Something that even a Core Formation Expert took great care to hide clearly wouldn't be ordinary.

There's a high possibility it could be a rare treasure from the secret realm!

"So, there's no danger after all..."

Fang Xing, wearing silver gloves, picked up the bronze ring.

The ancient engravings on the ring remained utterly still.

Beside him, the Myriad Laws Token continued to emit a soft glow, exuding an extraordinary aura.

"It seems the token isn't just a way to navigate secret realms... could it be related to this ring as well? What is this feeling?"

Fang Xing's thoughts stirred as his mental energy spread out, landing on the bronze ring.

A blurred space suddenly appeared before him, at least ten cubic meters in size!

"It's a storage artifact, indeed!"

"And the mental imprint on it is strong... that Core Formation female cultivator had long since perished, yet it's still so formidable?"

"Fortunately, I am no longer who I was before."

Around Fang Xing, shadows of dragons seemed to emerge, accompanied by the roars of tigers and the sounds of dragons and elephants, imbued with a fierce, iron-blooded intent.

The Dragon Intent, Subduing Tiger Intent, Dragon Elephant Intent, and Martial Path Killing Fist all surged forth, fusing with the mental energy, flowing into the bronze ring in an instant.

For several hours, the mental imprint within the ring finally collapsed, revealing its entire space to Fang Xing.

"Such a vast space!"

Fang Xing scanned it with his mental energy, unable to help but gasp.

The storage capacity of this bronze ring was immense. His previous storage bags only held about one cubic meter each.

But this ring held ten cubic meters!

The space was ten times larger, and its value couldn't merely be ten times greater; it was more like a hundred or even a thousandfold!

To his surprise, the inside of the bronze ring contained no spirit stones, elixirs, or magical treasures...

The interior was empty except for two items!

With Fang Xing's thoughts, a thunderous roar echoed!

A white jade coffin appeared out of thin air and landed heavily on the ground. The coffin exuded a chilling aura and seemed exceptionally heavy.

Next to the coffin was a tripod bronze cauldron.

The cauldron had an ancient design, with complex inscriptions upon it, although most of them were blurred beyond recognition. “Just a coffin and a cauldron?” he wondered aloud.

He approached to take a closer look and found that the coffin had no lid, with a person lying inside.

This figure wore a dark ancient robe, and though he might have been considered handsome, his facial features were mostly obscured because a talisman was attached to his forehead, covering most of his face.

The talisman was half a foot long and three inches wide, completely black except for the bright red runes drawn with cinnabar ink, giving off a radiant glow.

The lines of the runes were intricate, even more so than the second-grade 'Fire God Thunder Talisman' that Fang Xing had seen before. The aura it emitted was deep and terrifying, reminiscent of an unfathomable ocean.

“Could it be... a third-grade talisman? Placed on the forehead, it gives off an ominous feeling... Might this be a reanimated corpse?”

“Is this talisman, perhaps, a third-grade 'Corpse-Suppressing Talisman'? Suppressing a third-tier corpse demon?”

Unsure if it was an illusion, but when Fang Xing's spiritual sense scanned the corpse, he got the feeling that it might be not so powerful.

“Hehe...”

He reached out his hand, as if intending to peel the talisman off, but immediately drew back.

“What am I thinking? What kind of judgment am I exercising, if even Core Formation experts approach with caution, affixing a talisman to it? I'd be a fool to peel it off...”

Fang Xing had watched too many horror films in his previous life and found himself baffled by those protagonists who ignored warnings and invited trouble.

He knew the saying, 'heed good advice and you'll be full.' Until he could lord over his own destiny, it was better to avoid reckless actions.

Thus, Fang Xing decided to ignore the white jade coffin and turned his gaze to the bronze cauldron.

The bronze cauldron was half as tall as a person, its legs were solid, the ears were ancient, and it had an air of agelessness despite the blurred inscriptions on its surface.

“In the cultivation world, artifacts like towers, cauldrons, and mirrors are often masterpieces due to the difficulty in creating them, sometimes even possessing bizarre magical abilities...” Fang Xing was no novice in the cultivation world and understood this common knowledge.

At this moment, as he meticulously observed the body of the cauldron, he suddenly discovered something new: "This cauldron... could it be the source of the Myriad Laws' anomaly?"

]

(End of Chapter)