Chapter 76 Shameless Cultivator!

Shen Yan traveled straight to Mount Tianzhu and entered the Feng family’s cave residence.

When Feng Shuke saw Shen Yan, he was greatly startled and hurried forward to pay his respects.

“Senior, I did not expect you to grace us today. Is there anything you would like to instruct?” Feng Shuke asked respectfully.

Shen Yan shook his head and replied, “I have no further business in Qian Country. However, you must pay close attention to the Yang family matter. I do not want any of them escaping, is that clear?”

Upon hearing this, Feng Shuke smiled confidently. “Senior need not worry. I have already shattered the dantian and spiritual seas of all the Yang family women, and I have placed people to watch them closely. There will be no mishaps.”

Satisfied, Shen Yan nodded and took his leave.

Wasting no time, he returned directly to Jade Immortal Sect.

Now, his strength was vastly different from before. Breaking through the restrictions on Jingyun Island would not be detected by Yu Qing, so he did not use the token Sun Mingshuo had once left him. Instead, he directly used the power of the blessed land to bypass the island’s wards.

After seeking out an outer sect disciple to inquire about recent events, he discovered that the conflict between Yang Yun and Yu Qing within the Jade Immortal Sect was on the verge of erupting.

It was said that Yang Yun was even about to challenge Yu Qing on the dueling platform. However, at the critical moment, Yang Yun’s master, Immortal Jade Xin, intervened forcefully and stopped them from fighting.

“To think that Yang Yun’s master would intervene so decisively—does she believe Yang Yun stands no chance against Yu Qing, or does she want her to reach a breakthrough in qi refining before taking any risks?” Shen Yan pondered for a moment and soon obtained the information he sought.

Jingyun Island was, after all, merely a subsidiary of the Jade Immortal Sect, with only one qi refining cultivator present. Its overall strength was even inferior to that of the Xiaolan Mountain market.

Having spent half a year blending in at Xiaolan Mountain market and lingering in the secret realm of the Azure Lotus Sword Sect at Azure Lotus Lake, Shen Yan now looked down upon Jingyun Island with a sense of detachment.

Still, he was not so arrogant as to underestimate them. Jingyun Island was a branch of a sect with an established tradition, and its members were surely more powerful than those of the Xiaolan Mountain market, which did not even possess a single late-stage qi refining cultivator.

After all, as far as he knew, among the three great families of the Xiaolan Mountain market, there were only two cultivators who had reached the peak of qi refining—one was Zhao Wenxian, who had died by Shen Yan’s hand, and the other was the head of the Xu family.

For the three great families, who controlled the vast resources of the market, to have only three qi refining cultivators, it was clear their ability to nurture talent was far inferior to that of the Jade Immortal Sect.

Back in his quarters at the Quiet Heart Abode, Shen Yan rested for a full day, returning himself to his peak condition before examining his spoils.

During his venture to Azure Lotus Lake, he had first slain Zhou Qian and obtained the Soul-Summoning Banner. Then, within the secret realm of the Azure Lotus Sword Sect, he had taken a great quantity of spirit stones and materials from the dead artifact refiners.

Among these, what Shen Yan valued most was Zhao Wenxian’s storage pouch.

As the patriarch of the Zhao family, one of the three great families at Xiaolan Mountain market, Zhao Wenxian’s wealth was surely considerable.

He took out Zhao Wenxian’s storage pouch and opened it, only to see a small mountain of spirit stones, half a meter high, piled inside.

Seeing this, Shen Yan’s eyes sparkled. After counting, he found over five hundred mid-grade spirit stones and more than ten thousand low-grade ones.

Such an enormous harvest left him both delighted and astonished.

In terms of sheer quantity, he had never seen this many spirit stones since he had begun cultivating.

“No wonder the patriarch of a market family is so extravagant,” Shen Yan thought with satisfaction as he transferred the spirit stones into his own storage pouch. From now on, these stones would be the source of innate purple energy for his Heavenly Emperor’s Divine Seal.

Once all the spirit stones were transferred, Zhao Wenxian’s storage pouch looked much emptier.

There was a pile of low-grade artifacts previously repaired in the artifact chamber at Xiaolan Mountain, a stack of mid- and high-grade talismans, several bottles of pills, a jade slip, and a heap of spirit materials—nothing else.

A quick inspection revealed that the talismans were mostly five-elemental spell talismans.

As for the pills, they were mainly for healing wounds. After all, Zhao Wenxian, being at the peak of qi refining, no longer had use for Qi Recovery or Yellow Sprout Pills, which restored or increased spiritual power.

The jade slip mostly recorded the accounts of the Xiaolan Mountain market, which were of no value to Shen Yan.

Setting aside the jade slip, Shen Yan turned his attention to his most important spoils.

First was the Soul-Summoning Banner. Shen Yan had experienced its power firsthand—the decades of painstaking practice Zhou Qian had poured into it had all been fused into this one artifact, so its might was only natural.

Before, even without proper refinement, Shen Yan had used the banner to directly shatter a beast formed of baleful yin energy. The Soul-Summoning Banner’s contribution was undeniable.

Next was a talisman treasure handed over by Ling Qian in a bid to save her life.

This talisman looked like an ordinary spell talisman but was covered in crisscrossed cracks, clearly severely damaged.

“No wonder the three great families sought an artifact refiner to repair it. In this state, it’s utterly unusable,” Shen Yan mused as he played with the talisman, then put it away.

He did not know whether the talisman treasure had truly gone missing before being acquired by Ling Qian, as the three families claimed, or if Ling Qian had secretly taken it and was only discovered later.

But whatever the reason, now that the talisman was in his hands, Shen Yan’s aim was to repair it and keep it as an ace up his sleeve.

A treasure of this level was rare even for qi refining cultivators, let alone someone at his stage—it was truly a stroke of fortune.

After stowing away all his gains, Shen Yan reflected for a moment. Though this venture had been perilous, the rewards were abundant.

“There’s truth to the old saying: ‘Those who kill and plunder wear gold belts,’” he thought.

Shaking his head to dispel the greed clouding his mind, he sat cross-legged on his meditation mat, took out a pile of spirit stones, and connected to the Heavenly Emperor’s Divine Seal, beginning to absorb innate purple energy.

At present, the innate purple energy within the Divine Seal was depleted. If he did not replenish it quickly, his combat strength would greatly diminish.

By early the next day, having consumed nearly half the spirit stones in his pouch, Shen Yan finally restored the innate purple energy within the seal to ten units.

“Now the Divine Seal can only store ten units—this severely limits my potential,” Shen Yan thought, his expression clouded as he sat on the mat, lost in thought.

“Fire and wood elemental innate spiritual items are still nowhere to be found…”

After a long reflection and having shaken off his sense of frustration, Shen Yan took out the “Divine Refinement Technique” and began cultivating.

He had not practiced this technique before because he had not yet broken through his seventh meridian. Now, after the Azure Lotus Lake venture, he had already broken through the seventh meridian and reached the peak of late-stage qi refining. Only by breaking through the eighth meridian would he reach the consummate level of qi refining.