Translator: Cinder Translations
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Song Wen stripped everything from Ying Ni and Wu Sui, consumed their essence blood, and burned their bodies to ashes.
After finishing, Song Wen left the cave.
He chose a random direction and traveled for over a hundred miles before stopping in a valley with sparse spiritual energy.
Song Wen released the eight Black beetles, confirmed that there were no powerful demon beasts or cultivators within a few miles, and then sat down against a rocky mountain wall to begin sorting through his spoils.
First was the green ring from Ying Ni.
At first glance, Song Wen suspected it was a storage ring.
A quick probe confirmed that it was indeed a storage ring.
Unlike storage bags, which are common in the cultivation world, storage rings are much rarer and generally only possessed by cultivators of Foundation Establishment or above.
Even Wu Sui only used a storage bag.
Although the space in Ying Ni's storage ring was not very large, only about ten cubic meters, it was still significantly larger than that of a typical storage bag, which usually ranges from one to ten cubic meters.
Song Wen's current storage bag, obtained from Zi Yi, had a volume of seven cubic meters.
Although Ying Ni's storage ring was among the lowest quality, Song Wen was still quite pleased.
Previously, he had considered using a storage ring to secretly bring the Heavenly Spirit Fruits out of the secret realm without detection by his sect.
However, refining and operating a storage ring requires spiritual sense or extremely powerful mental energy. This means that most Qi Refining cultivators cannot use a storage ring.
Over time, storage rings became exclusive to cultivators of Foundation Establishment and above, with very few Qi Refining cultivators using them.
Ying Ni's possession of a storage ring was likely due to her cultivation of seduction techniques, which often grant cultivators stronger mental energy than their peers.
This made Song Wen's plan to acquire a storage ring particularly challenging.
In a shop run by the Corpse Demon Sect in a market, storage rings were indeed available for sale, but they were only displayed on the floors accessible to Foundation Establishment cultivators, with the cheapest priced at ten thousand spirit stones. Song Wen didn't even qualify to access those floors, let alone make a purchase.
He had also considered buying a storage ring through other channels, but after inquiries, he found that Foundation Establishment cultivators looked down on dealings with unfamiliar Qi Refining cultivators.
As the saying goes, "Not all meat is of the same quality, and not all people are equal."
Song Wen dared not openly seek a storage ring and, in the end, had no choice but to use his heart to hide the jade box to smuggle the Heavenly Spirit Fruits.
His plan was to bring only two Heavenly Spirit Fruits out of the secret realm, while abandoning other spoils that could reveal his strength or raise suspicions.
Since he noticed Ying Ni's green ring, he coveted it.
Like Wu Sui, Song Wen also left a spiritual sense mark on Ying Ni.
Unexpectedly, the intertwining circumstances of Ying Ni and Wu Sui saved Song Wen a lot of time.
With the storage ring now in hand, things became much easier.
The spoils could be stored in the ring and carried out of the secret realm in his heart.
The storage ring from Ying Ni contained many items: spirit stones, pills, talismans, and even some women's clothing, including a set of seduction technique cultivation methods.
Song Wen had little interest in these items. After a cursory glance, he took out Wu Sui's storage bag.
Wu Sui's storage bag contained a vast amount of items, including nearly a thousand spirit stones and a rich assortment of pills and talismans.
Song Wen also found a broken chain artifact, which was unfortunate because it was a rare and valuable item that could be freely manipulated.
Then there was Wu Sui's corpse cultivation bag. Song Wen was interested in the pseudo-second-tier corpse puppet inside. After careful examination, he was sure that this corpse could be refined into a genuine second-tier corpse puppet.
However, the cultivation of this puppet was done to be controllable by Wu Sui, intentionally making it a pseudo-second-tier puppet. Therefore, Wu Sui's corpse cultivation bag was no longer useful.
Coincidentally, Song Wen found a black coffin in Wu Sui's storage bag, a mid-grade corpse nurturing coffin. He planned to place the corpse puppet inside it and then into the storage ring, intending to find an opportunity to re-refine it later. By changing its appearance and aura, no one would recognize it as Wu Sui's.
Next was Qiu Li's storage bag. Inside, Song Wen found a very interesting technique called "Demon Saint Magic Art." This is a body refining technique, including methods for both Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages. It involves condensing the illusion of a demon beast and, as cultivation progresses, allows the cultivator to transform into a demon beast in battle, greatly enhancing their power and defense.
Song Wen skimmed through the "Demon Saint Magic Art" and set it aside since he already had his primary cultivation technique and was not going to switch to another.
Finally, Song Wen examined Gui Xun's storage bag, which contained two jade slips. One recorded a secret technique called "Ghostly Nether Escape," which requires a significant amount of yin and ghost energy. Excessive refinement of ghostly and yin energy poses risks, similar to Song Wen's own corpse transformation.
TL Note: Gui Xun: Ghost Patroller
The other jade slip contained a technique for controlling ghosts and a method for refining a ghost banner, known as the "Yin Soul Banner."
Both Gui Xun and Chen Xiuming used Yin Soul Banners, which they had refined themselves. The Yin Soul Banner is a continuously refinable item that can be strengthened with sufficient materials, souls, and yin and ghost energy. Many cultivators even refine it into a personal magic treasure. It can be used for offense, defense, and assisting in escape, making it an extremely versatile and powerful tool.
After sorting through all the storage bags, Song Wen put the seven Heavenly Spirit Fruits into a jade box and stored it in the storage ring.
He checked every item in the storage bags, including every artifact, pill, and spirit stone, ensuring none had spiritual sense marks before placing them all into the storage ring.
He then piled up the personal items from the storage bags and prepared to burn them.
Just as he was about to act, he remembered the spiritual sense mark that appeared on Wu Sui at the moment of his death. Song Wen retrieved Wu Sui's empty storage bag and put back Wu Sui's personal items, the broken chain artifact, and some spirit stones and items from Wu Sui's storage bag.
Song Wen stored Wu Sui's storage bag.
He dealt with other personal items and storage bags by either burning or burying them.
Song Wen selected a few commonly found spirit herbs from the Withered Blood Secret Realm and put them into his storage bag to report back to his sect.
Although there were still five days before the secret realm closed, Song Wen had already achieved his goal for this trip, and obtaining the Heavenly Spirit Fruits exceeded his expectations. He did not intend to take more risks.
To adapt early, Song Wen decided to place the storage ring in his heart. The intense pain from carrying the ring constantly made him decide to insert it into his heart today.
When the Black beetle broke open his heart, a large amount of blood flowed out, and excruciating pain surged through his entire body, making him feel as if he had lost his source of energy, rendering him weak.
The vast amount of essence blood hidden in his bones began to flow out to replenish the lost blood from his heart.
One of the Black beetles dragged the storage ring and forcibly inserted it into his heart.
This swift and brutal action nearly caused Song Wen to faint from the pain. Veins bulged on his forehead, and his face contorted in agony.
The remaining seven prepared Black beetles quickly used their mandibles to close the wound on his heart as soon as the storage ring was inserted.
Enduring the agonizing pain, Song Wen relied on his strong will to swallow a healing pill and began to circulate his energy to heal.
Although body-refining cultivators have greater physical strength and recovery speed than ordinary cultivators, it still took Song Wen over an hour to barely close the wound in his heart.
(End of the Chapter)
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