He picked up the flying swords lodged in the ground.
Xiao Chen immediately recognized that both flying swords were among the finest of Upper-Grade Magical Artifacts.
A single sword like this was worth nearly five to six thousand Spirit Stones.
"So, was it really necessary?"
Xiao Chen shook his head, took out his gourd to clean up the scene with Profound Fire, and turned back toward the Li Huo Sect.
’Huh? She was this poor?’
It took him an hour to open her Storage Bag. When he did, he discovered that if he discounted the six thousand Spirit Stones that were his, Wen Shishi had only possessed one hundred and twenty-one Spirit Stones.
’She was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, after all. How could she be this destitute...’
In truth, this was the norm in the cultivation world.
For Loose Cultivators, any spare Spirit Stones would have long since been exchanged for Elixirs and Magical Artifacts to improve their strength.
Only the scions of great families, or special cases like Xiao Chen, didn’t have to constantly worry over a few Spirit Stones.
Besides the Spirit Stones, the only items with Spiritual Qi in the Storage Bag were six ribbons that were lower-grade magical artifacts, and one middle-grade magical artifact: a Wide-Sleeved Lotus Leaf Skirt.
There was also a storage box and a small, round wooden box inlaid with agate.
Xiao Chen curiously opened the wooden box. The fragrance of Sudan Purple Golden Flower immediately wafted out. To his surprise, inside was a bright purple rouge.
’Huh? Do cultivators need to wear makeup?’
As one’s Cultivation improved, a cultivator’s complexion would naturally get better.
Xiao Chen couldn’t understand it. She clearly had so few Spirit Stones, so what was the use of carrying so many different styles of ribbons, not to mention this rouge?
He then picked up the storage box and opened it to find twelve Cyan Lotus Seeds inside.
’Are these... seeds from a Twin Cyan Lotus?’
Xiao Chen quickly took out his own Cyan Lotus to compare. He found that although they weren’t from the same Twin Cyan Lotus, these were indeed genuine Cyan Lotus Seeds.
This was truly a first-rate treasure.
Consuming a Cyan Lotus Seed could greatly increase a cultivator’s comprehension of Magic in a short amount of time.
With these, practicing Magic would be twice as effective with half the effort.
Of course, its effect wasn’t as pronounced for Magic like the Eye of Truth, which relied more on gradual accumulation.
To achieve the greatest effect, it was best used on Magic that depended more on comprehension, such as Sky-Filling Flame Radiance.
Wen Shishi had also been carrying a Cultivation Technique—the Earth Level Sword Dao inheritance.
Her Splitting Sword Technique, Sword Control Technique, and other sword arts were all Magic that came included with the inheritance.
In fact, a complete inheritance would naturally account for the various situations its successor might face.
The higher its grade, the more thorough the preparations.
A cultivator possessing an Earth Level inheritance basically didn’t need to bother searching for other Magic.
Tucked inside the inheritance was a separate scroll.
Xiao Chen picked up the scroll and slowly unfurled it.
Written vertically upon it were five large words: *Small Three Talents Sword Formation Map*.
"Use a Wind Sword, a Thunder Sword, and an Ice Sword as the Array Base. Supplemented by this Array Map, a Killing Array can be deployed."
"Once the formation is established, it can engage enemies on its own without needing a cultivator to control it."
"Its power increases with the grade of the magical artifacts used. If three Top-Grade magical artifacts can be gathered, it will possess the power to slay a late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator."
Regardless of its actual power, the description alone was formidable.
As far as Xiao Chen knew, the vast majority of arrays required an Array Arranger to actively control them.
But according to the Array Map, as long as one performed Refinement on the flying swords and the map together, one could deploy the Sword Array even without any foundational knowledge of arrays.
’In other words, I’m just one Ice Sword away from being able to deploy the standard version of the Sword Array.’
The pair of swords Wen Shishi had wielded before happened to be a Wind Sword and a Thunder Sword.
In other words, she had also been intentionally collecting them, but hadn’t managed to complete the set.
’Can you even find something like that in Li State?’
Xiao Chen thought back carefully. In this region, forget Ice Attribute flying swords; even Water Attribute ones were uncommon.
His first thought was the sect’s Merit Hall.
But after asking, he learned that the sect only had middle-grade magical artifact Ice Swords.
Then, he remembered the newly opened Flying Sword Shop in Li Huo Market.
So he went to take a look, but they only had lower-grade magical artifact Ice Swords.
But that was to be expected. If it were that easy to obtain, Wen Shishi wouldn’t have been lacking one.
’Should I go check out Qianzhu Market?’