Starry Sky Professional

Three fingers extended, only to be blocked by a resilient barrier of light.

A Foundation Establishment cultivator harnesses liquid mana, while a Core Formation cultivator wields true core essence!

Even if Elder Zong's core was a false one, it still possessed core essence that could transform into a protective mana shield, making it hard for ordinary spiritual weapons to penetrate.

But now, under the powerful Diamond Prajna Force of Fang Xing, this layer of solid defense crumbled with a thunderous crash!

Elder Zong's mind sea was shaken by Fang Xing's martial consciousness, rendering him unable to make an effective response.

By the time he regained his senses, he saw his true essence shield shatter like an eggshell under Fang Xing's three fingers, leaving him utterly astonished and horrified.

Unfortunately, it was already too late!

Fang Xing's three fingers slid across Elder Zong's neck, and the great head of the false core cultivator soared skyward.

He struck swiftly, his palm following up to destroy most of Elder Zong's body.

After all, the higher ranked a cultivator is, the tougher they are to kill, so finishing them off is essential to avoid unexpected occurrences.

As Elder Zong's body plummeted from the heights, Fang Xing shifted his gaze to Master Ziyuan.

Though she appeared gravely wounded, the tricks of a cultivator are full of deceit; caution is necessary!

“Fellow Daoist...how should I address you?”

Master Ziyuan, though once quite beautiful, was now engulfed in a dark aura, looking quite ghastly as if her end was near.

She looked at Fang Xing, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

Yet seeing Fang Xing's impassive face, her heart sank.

“Ordinarily, I would have to kill you,”

Fang Xing floated in mid-air, his presence commanding: “Therefore...it's up to you to persuade me to spare your life.”

Her eyes flickered with urgency.

No one wants to die if life is an option.

Moreover, this nearly third-tier body cultivator's prowess was astonishing, and even at her peak, she might not have prevailed against him.

Master Ziyuan, truly a pioneer in the creation of Immortal Cities, quickly grasped the situation and spoke three sentences:

"Rest assured, fellow Taoist, I am willing to swear an oath on my Dao heart, never to disclose today's events!"

"If you remain unconvinced, I still have a tier-three spirit contract in my storage pouch!"

"I am willing to pay for my life; within my storage pouch, I have twenty-seven superior spirit stones... Besides that, I can share the information about a spiritual item highly beneficial to body cultivators with you!"

"Is the spiritual item you're referring to tier-three?"

Fang Xing's eyes lit up with interest.

"Of course, if it weren't a tier-three item, how could it be effectively used by a tier-three body cultivator?" Master Ziyuan felt a bit relieved, though her face was still shrouded in dark energy. She hastily ingested some medicinal pills and therapeutically channeled her internal energy to heal.

"Retrieve the tier-three spirit contract, ensure you won't reveal today's matters. Additionally, you must tell me all the details regarding the spiritual item."

Fang Xing demanded plainly.

"Certainly."

Master Ziyuan drew out a spirit contract, which radiated a strong magical fluctuation, enveloped perpetually by a luminous glow, noticeably different from a tier-two spirit contract.

Using her blood as ink and her finger as a pen, she meticulously inscribed the agreed terms.

Shortly thereafter, she handed the tier-three spirit contract and the twenty-seven superior spirit stones to Fang Xing.

Fang Xing received them, nodding upon reading the conditions written on the spirit contract.

'So these are superior spirit stones?'

He scrutinized the superior spirit stones in his hand.

These stones, though only dice-sized, were entirely translucent, containing exceedingly pure spiritual energy.

When buried collectively in one location over an extended period, they could even foster the formation of a small spiritual vein.

'A single superior spirit stone is worth a hundred medium spirit stones, equaling ten thousand low-grade ones... And truly, no one in the cultivation world would ever exchange them at such rates, not without adding a premium of at least ten to twenty percent...'

'Master Ziyuan indeed possesses considerable wealth, parting so generously with what equates to two hundred seventy thousand low-grade spirit stones... Yet, for buying one's life, it's worth it!'

Fang Xing deliberated over the spiritual contract agreement and concluded that this accounted for most of Master Ziyuan's possessions.

It would be wise not to demand further, like her magical artifacts.

If he did, Master Ziyuan would fight desperately, perhaps even destroy her storage bags before dying, leaving Fang Xing empty-handed.

In the world of Daoist cultivation, lone cultivators knew well how to tread this fine line.

“Now then, what is this tier-three spiritual item?”

Fang Xing asked inquisitively.

“It's a 'Vajra Fruit,'” Master Ziyuan replied with a bitter smile as she explained. “I recently returned from the Northern Celestial City and saw it with one of my acquaintances there.

I would've acquired it myself if I had any interest in body cultivation, but alas…”

‘A Vajra Fruit!’ Fang Xing thought, his mind quietly rejoicing.

‘For body cultivators, this is indeed a precious treasure, perfect for breaking through certain barriers…’

Despite the calm exterior, his heart was alight with joy: 'Just as expected… Visiting the Celestial City proved fruitful even before arriving. It's true what they say, good deeds do yield blessings, is this my reward?'

With this thought, Fang Xing cupped his hands to bid farewell, “Travel far and wide, Master Ziyuan, I won’t be seeing you out.”

Relieved, Master Ziyuan exhaled deeply, realizing that this near-tier three body cultivator had no intentions of silencing her.

She swiftly transformed into a purple light, vanishing into the distance.

Soon, a figure in silver robes arrived, an avatar of Fang Xing's cultivation, holding several storage bags that he had just gathered from the battlefield.

“Let's depart... but wait, dismantle this formation first… It’s worth far more than any Earthly Riches Formation.”

Fang Xing nodded, agreeing to the prudent decision.

Moments later, the cultivation avatar maneuvered the Wind and Snow Sword, with Fang Xing seated on the now longer blade, to begin cataloging the spoils.

Truth be told, the sword was quite cold and hard, uncomfortable to sit on.

Yet Fang Xing minded not, as the avatar thoughtfully cast a protective barrier of True Essence, shielding him from the biting winds.

“These storage bags are from the Qi Condensation cultivators, not containing much of value…”

“As for those three Foundation Establishment cultivators, they even had spirit pets… But upon their owners' deaths, backlash from their restrictions killed them too.

We'll have to sell them off for materials…”

“Among the Qi Refinement cultivators, we acquired a total of five storage pouches, nineteen superior magical artifacts, several miscellaneous items like the Mystic Water Turtle Egg, and seventy-eight thousand spirit stones... It's hard to believe some Qi Refinement cultivators don't even have a storage bag. Are they not sect disciples or just incredibly poor?”

“The three Foundation Establishment cultivators contributed one hundred and twenty thousand spirit stones... Seven magical weapons, including a white jade shield, which we can use straight away...”

“And then there are these standardized robes... all embroidered with the Myriad Beasts Sect insignia. It seems like we’ll have to fence them, otherwise keeping them could invite trouble.”

After organizing these miscellaneous items, Fang Xing adjusted his mindset, eagerly beginning to unlock the storage pouch of the Pseudo Core master. At the same time, he picked up the black longblade magical artifact for appraisal.

This blade-level black sword was six feet long with a slender blade and a handle decorated with ghostly motifs. Holding it felt quite heavy, likely weighing several hundred pounds.

“Indeed, a treasure forged with third-tier materials; the craftsmanship is robust...”

Fang Xing grasped the hilt, swung it a few times, finding it surprisingly handy.

“However, considering the Myriad Beasts Sect's Pseudo Core cultivator, it seems a purple pearl from Master Ziyuan is also a magical artifact... Could it be that having a magical artifact is standard for every Pseudo Core cultivator?”

Fang Xing was merely overthinking.

Many Pseudo Core cultivators often settled for sub-magical items or even top-tier spiritual artifacts as a façade!

The sect elders, like him who owned a black longblade magical artifact, were exceptional because he was an elder of the Dan Condensation sect!

Master Ziyuan possessed a purple hair pearl only because she owned the prosperous Ziyuan Immortal City—a wealthy businesswoman indeed!

In contrast, other rogue Pseudo Core cultivators might not have any magical artifacts at all.

And owning a magical artifact placed those Pseudo Core cultivators among the elite.

“For that Myriad Beasts Sect Pseudo Core, the most valuable possession was likely this ghost-head blade... Unfortunately, if I wish to use it in the future, eliminating witnesses is necessary, or else the sect might seek revenge...”

After all, this ghost-head blade was too distinctive.

But Fang Xing thought it over; whenever he used his own identity, it was usually with the intent to eliminate witnesses anyway, so it didn’t matter.

Moreover... it could even be taken to the main universe!

“I wonder how effective this inferior-grade magical artifact will be against subordinate-level minions...”

‘Magical artifacts are inherently subjective... Would the laws of the secret realm reject them?’

‘Hmm? Am I onto something unexpected?’

Fang Xing rubbed his chin and mused, “It seems if a cultivator enters the secret realm, they might find it quite beneficial... After all, those life-bound magical instruments and artifacts... will surely be seen as part of the cultivator themselves, allowing them to be brought into the secret realm freely!”

Half an hour later.

The spiritual imprint on the storage bag belonging to the Pseudo Core cultivator of the Myriad Beasts Sect finally faded away.

Impatiently, Fang Xing probed it with his divine sense, only to be thoroughly disappointed.

“Only five superior spirit stones? What a pauper!”

“The rest of the magical artifacts are gone too... What a miser!”

He pulled out a few bottles and jars, which appeared to contain spiritual pet feed, leaving him quite speechless.

Other than that, there were just a few bottles of pills, some jade slips, and various odds and ends.

“These seem to be standard types of healing pills, along with Fasting Pills...”

As a barely first-grade superior alchemist, Fang Xing could now identify the types of pills.

After examining several bottles, he opened a jade bottle, his expression changing as he did so.

Inside the jade bottle was a single crimson pill, exuding a strong scent of blood.

“This pill... is quite unusual and of high grade...”

“Related to bloodlines, with potent properties... It doesn’t seem meant for ordinary cultivators.”

Fang Xing set this bottle of pills aside, identified the rest one by one, and then proceeded to examine the jade slips.

To his disappointment, none contained any significant cultivation methods.

Most were simply about local customs, with only one being "Great Desolation Beast Illustrated Record," featuring many beasts of the great desolation, illustrated and textually detailed, at least somewhat valuable.

Upon reaching the final jade slip, Fang Xing’s eyes brightened: “Technique of Spirit Attachment? A secret art comparable in power to divine abilities?”

“It needs a second-tier spirit pet with a rich dragon bloodline... or an ordinary dragon-type spirit pet, combined with a counterfeit Dragon Transformation Pill! This must be the pill from just now...”

“This is a secret method of beast tamers, it's useless to me. I follow the way of the sword, where purity and precision are what matter...”

(End of Chapter)