Dazzling and diverse!
When Luo Chen poured out the contents of Duan Qiankun’s storage pouch, they spilled across the floor, forming a small mountain.
He swallowed hard and muttered to himself, "Now this is the kind of inheritance a three-hundred-year-old family should have."
Enchanted artifacts, enchanted artifacts, and more enchanted artifacts!
From what Luo Chen could see at a glance, there were at least ten top-grade ones, and they weren’t just ordinary flying swords. With his discerning eye, it only took a moment to roughly identify their functions. These weren’t ordinary top-grade enchanted artifacts, they were refined and exquisite. A few even reached the level of mystical enchanted artifacts, each possessing unique abilities.
"Duan Qiankun most likely kept these to reward distinguished members of his family," muttered Luo Chen.
Aside from the enchanted artifacts, there were two items wrapped in dense clusters of silver material. It wasn’t solid silver but a fluid-like substance, glistening and constantly shifting. Whatever was sealed inside, it was completely enveloped by this shimmering barrier.
"This stuff... looks like a refined mithril[1]?"
Luo Chen had encountered a similar material once before, which was hidden deep within the Duan family’s vault. Back then, it had only been a single, unrefined chunk, raw and untouched by any forging process. This was different; it was two full bundles, and each was made entirely of purified essence.
Luo Chen thought, No idea what’s inside for now,I’ll ask Duan Feng when there’s time.
In addition to those, there were spirit stones, and not just any kind but mid-grade spirit stones. There were a full two hundred of them. That alone was equivalent to twenty thousand low-grade spirit stones!
And yet, the surprises didn’t end there.
"Is this... a top-grade spirit stone?" Luo Chen picked up a crystal-clear, diamond-shaped stone, its spirit energy radiating in dense waves. It was twice the size of normal spirit stones, about the length of a man’s middle finger in diameter, and the spirit energy inside wasn’t misty or diffuse. It was like flowing silk, almost liquid, almost viscous.
What purity...
Something crossed his mind, and he gripped the crystal tightly. A stream of the purest spirit energy flowed out steadily, pouring into his meridians.
"It can actually be directly absorbed!" Luo Chen was stunned.
In the cultivation world, spirit stones were valued less as cultivation resources and more as currency. They served as the standard medium of exchange, a universal unit by which goods were measured and traded across the realms.
Normally, the spirit energy sealed within these stones couldn’t be directly absorbed! The reason was that the energy was violent. Once it entered the body, it rampaged like a wild horse, and it could cause serious damage to a cultivator’s meridians and dantian. Aside from desperate situations, no one ever chose to absorb spirit stone spirit energy directly.
But this stone was different. Luo Chen had researched this matter before. According to his findings, the violent nature within the spirit stone energy wasn’t natural. It was the result of a special substance introduced during the forging process. This substance corrupted the originally pure and gentle spirit energy, turning it violent.
Only disciples of major sects possessed secret arts to purge this substance, allowing them to safely absorb the spirit energy directly. That was one of the reasons major sect disciples often outclassed rogue cultivators of the same realms.
When cultivation realms were equal and techniques comparable, it was one’s spirit power capacity that determined victory or death. Major sect disciples could temporarily draw upon the spirit energy within spirit stones, bolstering their spirit power reserves mid-fight and suppressing their opponents with ease.
Luo Chen had once scoured black market auctions in search of such secret arts, but time and again, he came up empty-handed. It is as if Tian Xingzi himself had deliberately kept it hidden from the public. Eventually, Luo Chen gave up on the fruitless pursuit.
What he didn’t expect was to stumble upon a top-grade spirit stone now.
"Based on the one-to-one-hundred conversion ratio," Luo Chen murmured, "this single top-grade spirit stone is worth more than ten thousand low-grade ones. Not just equal to ten thousand, but greater than. Its premium value could even exceed a thousandfold markup. "
That was Luo Chen’s judgment. After all, the spirit energy within the stone could be directly absorbed without refinement. In battle, it could completely turn the tide. Especially in the hands of a Foundation Establishment Initiate, it could serve as a trump card!
"No wonder the Duan family’s treasury had so few spirit stones left," Luo Chen muttered, understanding dawning in his eyes. "I had assumed Duan Qiankun had converted his stockpile into cultivation resources to prepare for his eventual death. Turns out, he had nearly thirty thousand stashed in his storage pouch."
Beaming with delight, Luo Chen swept the spirit stones into his pouch. Whether mid-grade or top-grade, their true value far exceeded their role as currency. They were strategic assets! Only with such spirit stones could one power massive puppets, large formations, or absorb spirit energy directly, none of which low-grade spirit stones could accomplish.
When he advanced to Foundation Establishment, he had used up all of his mid-grade stones.
In desperation, he had even struck a deal with Kang Dongyue at the Golden Stone Pavilion, scraping together an extra two hundred stones just to get by. Now, another windfall has come his way. For the time being, he could finally breathe easy. There was no need to worry about running short of spirit stones.
With the spirit stones sorted, Luo Chen turned his attention to the enchanted artifacts.
There are two enchanted artifacts that had been placed separately from the ten top-grade ones, and their spirit glow was entirely distinct.
One was the Rattle Drum, and the other was the Sword Sheath.
Luo Chen recognized the Rattle Drum instantly. It was a supreme-grade water-element enchanted artifact that Duan Qiankun had wielded before. Back at Xiao Huan Mountain, Duan Qiankun had used it along with a weapon technique to strike Wang Yuan deep into the earth.
Had Luo Chen not intervened with a direct strike from Solar Flare? Duan Qiankun could’ve easily finished off the severely wounded Wang Yuan. At that time, the might of a Foundation Establishment Initiate was not something Wang Yuan could have withstood.
"This enchanted artifact doesn’t suit me, but I can give it to Duan Feng," Luo Chen mused.
It wasn’t that Luo Chen favoured Duan Feng. It was simply because Duan Qiankun’s storage pouch didn’t belong to him alone. Its contents were meant to be shared, one portion for himself, another for Wang Yuan, and the last for Duan Feng, who had led the charge in breaking through the defensive formation at Xiao Huan Mountain.
Even that supreme-grade Heluo Sword had been awarded to Duan Feng based on merit. Now with the Rattle Drum added, Duan Feng would possess nearly the entire arsenal once held by the Duan family’s patriarch. A sword and a drum, just missing the diagram.
Shaking his head, Luo Chen turned his attention to the Sword Sheath. "This must be the item Xu Ji from the Luoyun Sect came for, huh?"
Back then, Xu Ji had come to Dahe Market under Tian Xingzi’s direct orders to retrieve Mi Shuhua’s human puppet, fulfill the Foundation Establishment pill agreement with Luo Chen, and collect a custom-made enchanted artifact from Duan Qiankun.
The enchanted artifact was none other than the Sword Sheath!
"Why a Sword Sheath and not a flying sword?" Luo Chen murmured as he turned the item over in his hand. It was a soft gray in color, about six chi long, with a fairly standard design. But when it came to its grade...
"Strange. It gives off an energy flow not weaker than the Rattle Drum... so why is it only low-grade?" Luo Chen’s eyes landed on seven colored slots embedded in the Sword Sheath. "These slot sizes..."
Suddenly, an idea struck him. He opened his mouth and spat out a golden sword orb.
Wummmm!
A low hum resonated through the air as a layer of gray light flared across the surface of the Sword Sheath.
Still somewhat skeptical, Luo Chen carefully placed the sword orb into the golden slot. The orb clicked into place, and in the next instant, the Sword Sheath burst forth with a brilliant beam of sword light!
Whoosh!
Luo Chen’s eyes widened. He reflexively tilted his head, just in time. A blazing Sword Ray grazed past his temple, slicing off a wisp of hair. The strand drifted gently to the ground.
With lingering dread, he turned his head. A searing streak of sword light had already torn through the meditation chamber and blasted into the sky. The shot of pressure had stirred the quiet beyond the meditation chamber.
Outside, Min Longyu, who had been laying down formation nodes, paused and looked up, his expression puzzled."A Sword Ray? Why would a burst of sword energy, something only a Foundation Establishment sword cultivator could exert, come from the president’s room?"