novelraw Chapter 225 : Ji Yuan’s First Magic Treasure
Chapter 225 : Ji Yuan’s First Magic Treasure
Chapter 225: Ji Yuan’s First Magic Treasure
“Qiu Qianhai?”
Blood Lady instinctively recalled the true forms of those Nascent Soul old monsters from Eastern Shang, but none of them bore the surname Qiu. That made it unlikely he was one of their offspring.
Moreover, unlike her youthful and beautiful self, they were all well past their prime. Even if they wanted children, they probably couldn’t manage it.
“Yes.”
Jiang Hong nodded firmly.
“You can make up any name you like—it’s probably a fake one. Among the Six Immortal Sects of Eastern Shang, which sect’s techniques did he use?”
Blood Lady continued to ask.
“Uh…”
“Hm?”
Seeing Jiang Hong hesitating again, Blood Lady frowned. “Don’t tell me you couldn’t even figure that out?”
Seeing that she was about to revert to her earlier, more fearsome demeanor, Jiang Hong hurriedly spoke:
“I figured it out. He… he’s a demonic cultivator.”
“What?!”
Blood Lady, who had been embracing Jiang Hong, instantly stood up, causing him to fall hard to the ground once more.
“A demonic cultivator? Since when does Eastern Shang have Nascent Soul-level demonic cultivators? It couldn’t possibly be someone from our Western Shang, right? If it really was one of ours, who would dare lay a hand on you?”
She stared at Jiang Hong on the ground, her gaze tinged with suspicion.
Jiang Hong quickly propped himself up with both hands, leaned against the stone wall behind him, and began counting on his fingers.
“First, he has a Thousand Souls Banner. You know how sinister that thing is, Mother. Not to mention the demonic cultivators in Eastern Shang—even quite a few of ours in Western Shang can’t manage to refine such a thing.”
“He could’ve killed another demonic cultivator and stolen it.”
Jiang Hong extended another finger and said, “Second, he has an evil-attribute formation flag, and the formation it set up was also a demonic formation.”
At that, Blood Lady fell silent.
It was still plausible that the Thousand Souls Banner had been stolen, but for someone to cast a demonic formation… they had to be a demonic cultivator. Without a foundation in demonic cultivation, how could one use such techniques?
“Third, he’s extremely devious—always launching sneak attacks. Most of the magical items he used were flying swords, silver needles, and such. He never fights head-on. If I hadn’t forced him to use a talisman treasure with my own, I probably wouldn’t have seen any of his other methods. A person as insidious as that couldn’t possibly be a righteous cultivator.”
“Mother, you know this best. Those righteous cultivators pride themselves on integrity, and when facing us, what they despise most are ambushes.”
“Fourth, he even raises Corpse Servants—one at the mid Foundation Establishment Stage. That Corpse Servant, in life… was also a demonic cultivator.”
Jiang Hong poured it all out in one breath.
Blood Lady had already made up her mind halfway through his recounting—this Qiu Qianhai he spoke of was a demonic cultivator.
If he truly were a righteous cultivator from the Six Immortal Sects… it might be excusable to possess one or two demonic techniques. But for all his methods to be demonic? Impossible.
Especially the Corpse Servant and the demonic formation.
If that were really the case, the Nascent Soul old monsters of the Six Immortal Sects would never tolerate him.
As for the demonic cultivators of Western Shang… impossible.
No one with half a brain would dare lay a hand on Jiang Hong. If anyone tried, even without her intervention, that useless father of his would’ve stormed over already.
But Eastern Shang… she had never heard of any Nascent Soul demonic cultivator from there.
Jiang Hong noticed what his mother was thinking and cautiously offered his own guess:
“Mother, isn’t it said that people from the Extreme Abyss Continent are coming to assist with the Immortal-Extermination Grand Assembly this time? Could he be from there?”
“Impossible.”
Blood Lady cut him off without hesitation.
“If they wanted to come here, it wouldn’t be that easy. At the very least, they’d need a Nascent Soul cultivator to form a bridge. Without that, how could a Foundation Establishment cultivator cross over?”
“And this matter is top-level classified. If you dare leak it, forget ever leaving home again in this lifetime!”
Jiang Hong hurriedly lowered his head and responded, “Your son knows the severity of it—I’ve never spoken a word of it to outsiders.”
“Good.”
Blood Lady nodded slightly. But just then, a figure flashed through her mind—she thought of someone. “Could it be… him?!”
“Could that old freak have come out from under the sea?”
Recalling that person, Blood Lady actually felt a twinge of fear.
“Mother, who are you talking about?”
Jiang Hong scooted closer, asking.
“Why are you so nosy? What other techniques does that Qiu Qianhai have? Speak quickly,” Blood Lady’s tone grew more urgent.
Jiang Hong dared not delay. As he recalled, he spoke: “He’s good with flying swords, and he even raised an Ice Flood Dragon as a spiritual pet. He has many magical artifacts on him…”
“Ice Flood Dragon?”
Before Jiang Hong could finish, Blood Lady had already interrupted.
“Yes, wha… what’s wrong?”
“You stay here and focus on your recovery. Until I return, you’re not to leave this valley. I’m going to have a chat with your useless father.”
Blood Lady’s voice still lingered in the air, but she had already vanished.
She was gone. The once obedient-looking Jiang Hong… his expression gradually turned cold. He touched his burning cheek with one hand.
Then, he took out a jade mirror from his storage pouch and examined his reflection carefully—a clearly visible handprint swelled on his face.
His expression grew increasingly grim. His left hand, resting on the ground, clenched into a fist—then loosened, then clenched again.
No one knew what he was thinking.
…
“Magic Treasure—Heavenly Net!”
As Ji Yuan took this magic treasure out of his storage pouch, his entire attention was drawn to it.
Strictly speaking, this was the very first magic treasure he had ever obtained.
Those talisman treasures he had gotten before only carried a fraction of a magic treasure’s power, and even those were incredibly formidable. Now, what about a real magic treasure?
After a brief thought, Ji Yuan first activated the Stellar Whirl Cloud Barrier Formation of his Cave Dwelling, then began injecting spiritual energy into the treasure, attempting to activate the Heavenly Net.
But Ji Yuan immediately discovered that the moment his spiritual energy entered the Heavenly Net, it vanished like a rock sinking into the sea.
‘Damn it—even with my mid Foundation Establishment stage, I can’t activate it at all!’
Ji Yuan refused to accept this. After all, his spiritual energy reserves far surpassed most at his level.
After a while, a pale-faced Ji Yuan looked at the barely-floating Heavenly Net in his hands and finally gave up.
Mid Foundation Establishment, late stage, peak, early Golden Core, mid Golden Core… the gap was simply too vast. Even if he had acquired the other party’s magic treasure, he couldn’t use it.
Just the difference in spiritual energy alone was staggering.
In the Qi Refining stage, spiritual energy was gaseous. In the Foundation Establishment stage, it became liquid. But in the Golden Core stage—it was already solid.
There was no comparison.
‘I’m heading north to Mirror Lake precisely to break through to late Foundation Establishment. Once I succeed, my spiritual energy reserves should increase significantly—then I might barely be able to activate the Heavenly Net.’
‘A Foundation Establishment cultivator wielding a Golden Core-level magic treasure—that’s a powerful trump card.’
As for the Heavenly Net’s abilities, Ji Yuan had already understood them clearly during the refinement process.
To put it simply:
【Once ensnared, instantly refined!】
It could both trap and kill.
In a critical moment, he could even use it to trap himself—as a form of defense.
And once the enemy was trapped, the net would gradually corrode their body and seal their Dantian’s spiritual energy.
In other words, if the enemy didn’t break out of the Heavenly Net immediately, they were basically finished. If they didn’t escape in that first moment, once their body was injured and their Dantian sealed, they could forget about running.
Good stuff!
Now this was a treasure worthy of being used until the Golden Core stage.
Ji Yuan quickly put it back into his storage pouch.
Next were the spirit stones—after all, that cannon blast he fired at Real Person Heaven Silkworm had cost him no less than 3,000 middle-grade spirit stones.
He had spent those stones for Real Person Heaven Silkworm’s sake—surely the man would repay the favor?
Luckily, he really could repay it.
Inside his storage pouch, Ji Yuan found box after box of spirit stones. Two of them were even full of upper-grade spirit stones.
…6,450 middle-grade spirit stones, and 100 upper-grade ones.
Damn, just those upper-grade stones alone were worth 10,000 middle-grade stones. Looks like killing is still the way to go!
This was way faster than collecting welfare handouts.
After the brief excitement passed, Ji Yuan took out 100 middle-grade spirit stones to begin restoring his spiritual energy, all while mulling things over.
A typical mid-stage Golden Core cultivator might have this kind of wealth—but they usually wouldn’t carry so many stones on them.
Even if they had them, most would’ve already been converted into power.
The fact that Real Person Heaven Silkworm had so many spirit stones on him likely meant… they were placed there by Jiang Hong.
What a pity—still lacking in methods. He couldn’t manage to keep him… the son of a Nascent Soul cultivator—he was a walking gold mine!
After checking the spirit stones, Ji Yuan moved on to the rest of the magical artifacts.
Here, the difference between Golden Core and Foundation Establishment cultivators became clear.
Foundation Establishment cultivators—like Ji Yuan—often carried over a dozen magical artifacts.
But high-grade or mid-grade magical artifacts were nearly useless to Golden Core Real Persons.
Their main combat power came from their life-bound magic treasures.
For offense or defense.
It was all about specialization—not quantity.
For example, Ji Yuan cultivated the Canglan Nine Tribulations Sword Manual, and he had heard from Liu Yuan that after breaking through to the Golden Core stage, one could gather materials to refine nine sword embryos into nine flying swords.
Those nine flying swords could then form a sword formation.
A complete system of offense and defense.
As for escape—or rather, pursuit—there was Escape Light.
So, Golden Core cultivators typically didn’t carry many magical artifacts. Most had only one magic treasure.
But not always. When Ji Yuan had chatted with Feng Zhi Tao and the others, he had heard that above magical artifacts, there were spiritual treasures.
These spiritual treasures were also extremely powerful, and unlike life-bound magic treasures, one could own multiple of them.
As long as your cultivation was sufficient, you could own as many as you liked.
However, spiritual treasures were extremely rare. Most early or mid-stage Golden Core cultivators didn’t have even one.
Ji Yuan originally intended to see if Real Person Heaven Silkworm had any more, but found there were none.
As for magical artifacts, there was one supreme-grade magical artifact—the robe he had been wearing.
But it had been cleaved in two by the Spirit Energy Cannon.
What a pity.
No magical artifacts or spiritual treasures. That left only talisman treasures.
This, at least, he had—three of them!
When Ji Yuan took them out from three jade boxes, he was once again delighted.
Compared to the Giant Deer Sword he had expended in the fight against Jiang Hong, that now seemed insignificant.
And these three talisman treasures before him…
The first one, right off the top, was none other than the “Heavenly Net.”
A talisman treasure refined from his own magic treasure by Real Person Heaven Silkworm. Though the effect was slightly weaker, it suited Ji Yuan’s current use perfectly.
And it was brand new—usable three times.
The other two: one was “Black Dragon Armor”, and the other was “Nether Sting.”
Just right—one offensive, one defensive.
Black Dragon Armor was for defense, of course, but while it protected, it also had offensive capabilities. It could summon a black dragon to guard the user, and the black dragon could attack as well.
Very practical—especially in life-preservation.
It also had three uses.
The final one, Nether Sting, had already been used once and could still be used two more times.
A quick sensing revealed to Ji Yuan that this talisman treasure consumed very little energy.
Compared to Black Dragon Armor and Heavenly Net, each use of those could power Nether Sting twice.
Low consumption meant it could condense faster.
So what was this talisman treasure good for?
Of course—it was perfect for sneak attacks!
Ji Yuan’s favorite.
Next time he fought someone, both sides might pull out offensive talismans. Ji Yuan would use Nether Sting.
While the opponent’s talisman was still condensing, Nether Sting would already be at their throat.
At that time… Jie jie jie! (evil laughter)
Great stuff—stash it all away!
Ji Yuan stored all three talisman treasures into his storage pouch, leaving only some “ordinary” third-tier pills.
Healing ones, spiritual energy restoration, ones to enhance cultivation effects… Ji Yuan took out a Recovery Spirit Pill, swallowed it in one go, and immediately felt spiritual energy flow ceaselessly into his Dantian.
As for talismans, once Golden Core cultivators started fighting, the effectiveness of basic talismans dropped off sharply. Even if they used them, most would just go for talisman treasures.
What remained were some immortal cultivation materials, and Ji Yuan carefully checked through them. Soon enough, he found two great items!
Two third-tier demon cores!
These were exactly what Ji Yuan needed to upgrade many buildings. Even if not used for that, selling them would fetch a hefty price.
Good stuff—store it!
As for other things, Ji Yuan focused on checking for any building upgrade materials.
Unfortunately, nothing there—but plenty of valuable items.
For instance, Foundation Establishment Pills—Real Person Heaven Silkworm had five, four of which were Two-Pattern Foundation Establishment Pills, and only one One-Pattern.
Ji Yuan took them out, sniffed them, and examined the medicinal properties.
The result? Identical to the Foundation Establishment Pills of Eastern Shang—same recipe, same ingredients, no difference.
Which meant—they could only be sold.
‘When I head north, I’ll see if I can stumble across an auction. If I do, might as well sell off a few of these.’
After finishing with the storage pouch, Ji Yuan felt exceptionally good.
No matter what, gaining loot was always something to be happy about.
Especially this much loot.
And when in a good mood—what should one do?
Ji Yuan took out a pot of Wishful Wine from his storage pouch and took a large swig.
His already cheerful mood grew even brighter.
Combined with being inside the Meditation Room, the building’s effects were constantly nourishing his divine soul.
He felt as if he were floating into immortality.
This mysterious sensation—Ji Yuan had never experienced anything like it in his life.
He remained immersed for the time it took to finish a cup of tea. Only after the effects of the Wishful Wine wore off did Ji Yuan slowly return to clarity.
It had only been a short while.
All his exhaustion from traveling, infiltrating the demonic sect, battling Jiang Hong, and the three-hundred-round war with Dong Qian—all of it vanished.
Especially that last bit—if Dong Qian weren’t absent right now…
Cough cough.
Thinking of Dong Qian, Ji Yuan couldn’t help but reflect deeply on her.
First, of course, was when the incident began. Back in the tomb, even after Dong Qian had disrobed, Ji Yuan believed that with his willpower, he could resist.
The problem was—Dong Qian blew a breath at him… one that could arouse desire, or more accurately, was poisoned. After that, Ji Yuan could no longer resist.
During their pleasure, Ji Yuan had questioned her.
She admitted to poisoning him—saying that breath had no other effect besides arousal.
So Ji Yuan ravaged her thoroughly.
That matter… was already done. Nothing could be done about it now.
Second was Dong Qian’s identity—Heavenly Fox Clan… Ji Yuan was eighty percent sure they came from another continent.
He’d ask Hua Yaoyue when he returned and probably find out.
And there was another thing—Dong Qian didn’t seem to mention any intention to become Dao companions?
This confused Ji Yuan. During their time together, he could clearly feel Dong Qian’s affection toward him.
So did Ji Yuan feel anything for her?
Truthfully, if he were to ask himself—yes, he did. At least he liked her.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have lost control so easily.
If that was the case, why didn’t she mention anything?
Ji Yuan pondered for a long time and began to form a vague guess. But since Dong Qian hadn’t brought it up, he couldn’t tell if it was true or not. For now, he could only assume their relationship was exceptionally close.
At the very least, he now had someone he could trust deeply.
And Dong Qian… to be honest, she knew her boundaries well.
Ji Yuan had thought she’d take the opportunity to probe into his secrets. To outsiders, Ji Yuan appeared unremarkable—at most, a bit lucky, having a Golden Core Real Person as a master.
But those familiar with him—especially Dong Qian and Du Wanyi—could mostly guess that Ji Yuan had a significant fortuitous encounter.
Yet Dong Qian?
She never mentioned it—not once.
Just that alone earned Ji Yuan tremendous goodwill.
He had even imagined: what would he do if she asked?
He couldn’t possibly tell her. The Building Upgrade Panel—he’d never reveal it. But he didn’t want to lie to Dong Qian either.
So if she had asked, he would’ve simply refused to answer.
And that would’ve introduced some distance between them.
But Dong Qian handled it perfectly. She never said a word… That was great. Now he had someone he could trust, someone he could dual cultivate with, and seemingly with no responsibility involved.
What could be better?
Yet Ji Yuan also knew—just like he was hiding something from Dong Qian, she surely had secrets of her own.
He just didn’t know when they’d surface.
Unable to figure it out, Ji Yuan let the thought go.
As a person, one shouldn’t force oneself too much. Learn to make peace with yourself.
…
At the same time.
Water Dragon Sect, in Red Leaf City, south of Yunyu Marshlands, within a certain courtyard.
Han Feiyu saw the woman entering and quickly stood up to greet her. “Disciple greets Master.”
“Mm.”
The woman, her face covered in a white veil, sat down opposite him.
Han Feiyu looked at his former senior sister, now his master… and the fact that his master was actually a man—this left him feeling perpetually awkward.
“I had you expelled from the Water Dragon Sect. You don’t resent me for it, do you?”
Island Lord Yun Miao lifted the teacup on the table, lifted her veil, and downed the tea in one bold gulp. Then she smiled faintly:
“Of course, if you do resent me, that’s fine too. I’ll just send you to join your senior sister.”