It had to be said that when Nan Zhengya had taken Xu Ziqing to the barter gathering, the experience had made Xu Ziqing all the more aware of his own limitations.
Certainly, as a personal disciple of a great sect, he was guaranteed many resources. Provided he earned sufficient merit points, he could even exchange them for certain exceedingly precious items at the Ten Directions Pavilion. This was far more convenient than what rogue cultivators enjoyed. But true treasures still had to be found by other means.
A barter gathering was one such means. Yet if he had nothing of equivalent value on hand, all he could do was watch helplessly as a treasure slipped through his fingers.
Ever since then, Xu Ziqing had been making plans of his own. Once inside this secret trove, he paid even closer attention to everything around him.
That was precisely why he now intended to pick the demonic plant’s fruits first.
Anything imbued with spiritual fire was best stored in a jade box made of Flame Jade. But as a Wood-attribute cultivator, Xu Ziqing had not prepared many Flame Jade boxes. Furthermore, this Li-Fire was exceptionally fierce. Ordinary Flame Jade would probably be useless.
After a moment’s thought, Xu Ziqing looked around him.
A place where fire energy flourished ought to produce Flame Jade.
His spiritual sense pierced the mistlike heat. Soon, at the edge of the volcanic crater, he discovered several vivid red objects. Their surfaces were lustrous, and the fiery energy within them was a hundred times denser than that of ordinary Flame Jade.
Ten-Thousand-Year Flame Jade!
Of course. Since this Li-Fire Demonic Plant could grow here, the crater itself must have existed for no short span of time, likely ten thousand years or more. Naturally, it could produce Flame Jade of that age.
But the jade was embedded in the crater’s interior and would be difficult to retrieve.
Xu Ziqing’s gaze shifted. He decided to try nonetheless.
The next moment, a green vine rustled out from his palm and reached forward.
Unexpectedly, it had advanced only two or three zhang before its tip was scorched black. Pushing any farther would drain it of every trace of vitality, leaving nothing but a withered vine.
And how could a dead vine retain the toughness needed to pry Flame Jade loose?
Seeing that his attempt had failed, Xu Ziqing frowned slightly.
If Rongjin were at hand, things would be different. Fire and water could not harm it. But Rongjin was presently standing guard outside the entrance. Under ordinary circumstances, once it took root out there, it could not return to his body unless he personally went to retrieve it.
However…
An idea occurred to Xu Ziqing. He circulated the Great Art of Myriad Woods Heart-Planting to its utmost and called out across the distance with his mind, awakening the thin bond that connected him to Rongjin.
It worked. Although Rongjin was outside, it was not terribly far away. After Xu Ziqing called several times, a hazy response finally reached him.
“Mom… Mommy… eat… tasty…”
Xu Ziqing could not help smiling. Rongjin’s temperament had always been that of a child, and there was something endearing about the way it wheedled for food.
By now, Xu Ziqing had long since stopped guarding against Rongjin’s bloodthirsty nature. After spending so much time together, Rongjin had become part of his cultivation art. He understood that its innate nature was not what mattered. Even if it was violent, it could be restrained. Rongjin might be an ancient ferocious being, but so long as Xu Ziqing himself did not descend into the demonic path, it would not unleash a hell of carnage. Whether his actions were good or evil ultimately depended upon his own heart. He need not be misled by outward appearances.
He sent Rongjin a soothing thought, then asked it to send one of its branches back to him.
Almost immediately, he sensed a slight stirring of warmth deep within his dantian. The Bloodthirsty Demon Vine’s seed had responded. When Xu Ziqing extended his palm again, a blood vine quietly emerged and rubbed affectionately against his cheek.
He also knew that the thirty-two vines guarding the entrance had now been reduced to thirty-one.
With a blood vine at hand, Xu Ziqing gently sent another thought. “Rongjin, can you withstand the heat of that volcano?”
He suspected it would be unharmed, but Rongjin had not yet matured. Better to ask first than risk injuring it.
Rongjin swayed its body, and a distinctly proud feeling came through their mental link. “N-not scared…”
Relieved, Xu Ziqing raised his hand and allowed Rongjin to act on its own.
Rongjin understood him perfectly well. Their thoughts were practically connected.
Soon the thick blood vine abruptly narrowed to the width of a thumb midway through its advance. It extended several zhang and darted straight into the crater. Moving with extraordinary agility, it needed only a few breaths to prise the Flame Jade away from the rim and hurry back.
Xu Ziqing gathered his true essence, preparing to catch it somehow. But Rongjin twisted aside and set the jade on the ground instead.
White smoke rose with a sharp sizzling hiss. The Flame Jade was truly scorching hot, and the volcanic fire still clinging to it was so intense that it burned the ground beneath it.
Xu Ziqing stroked Rongjin’s leaf bud. “Thank you, Rongjin.”
Rongjin rubbed against him again, seeming more affectionate than ever.
After a while, the Flame Jade cooled and the fiery mist surrounding it dispersed, revealing its true appearance.
It was a brilliantly red slab of jade about one chi thick and three chi square, with a remarkably even surface. It looked almost like a finished jade panel. Heaven and earth had produced something so readily shaped without any carving at all.
Xu Ziqing wasted no time. He took out a sharply edged, blade-shaped spiritual artifact, infused it with true essence, and directed the resulting blade light against the jade slab, gradually cutting into it.
Guided by his spiritual sense, he fashioned three jade boxes in less than half a ke. He put the remaining larger portion of the slab, along with the blade-shaped artifact, into his storage ring.
Next came the fruits.
The crater was distant and far too hot for Xu Ziqing to approach. He once again relied on Rongjin, which swiftly plucked all three fruits.
Xu Ziqing was even quicker. He tossed the three jade boxes into the air, caught a fruit in each one, and drew them back with his true essence.
The heat inside the Flame Jade boxes was fierce. Xu Ziqing sealed them with talismans before placing them in his storage ring.
Only after finishing did he breathe a sigh of relief.
A patch of heated mud and the mature Li-Fire Demonic Plant still remained in the crater. Transplanting the plant would require taking the mud along with it, and the safest approach would be to collect the crater’s magma as well.
At his present cultivation, Xu Ziqing had no suitable container for such a task. Even an ordinary storage ring would not do.
After considering it, he set the problem aside until his senior brother finished regulating his breath. Perhaps Yun Lie would have an appropriate artifact.
Strangely enough, once the three fruits were plucked, the cavern’s heat dropped by almost half. This allowed Xu Ziqing’s spiritual sense to probe farther than before.
And with that extended search, he discovered another hidden place.
A concealed door stood in the southwestern corner. The fiery mist had previously blocked his spiritual sense, so he had not detected it until now.
Xu Ziqing did not hesitate. He asked Rongjin to protect him and walked toward the door.
There were no restrictions or barriers along the way. At the concealed entrance, a single push of his true essence was enough to swing the heavy stone door wide open.
Then he drew a sharp breath.
Xu Ziqing had seen many treasures and entered several cave residences, but never had he encountered a treasure store so… chaotic and astonishing.
This was indeed a secret chamber, and it held the bat demon’s lifetime collection. The sheer quantity was impressive.
The artifacts all shone with spiritual radiance and appeared to be of decent quality. Yet they had been heaped together without the slightest order. Swords, sabers, spears, halberds, talismans, enchanted robes, and countless other artifacts were mixed indiscriminately into piles. There was another heap of jade slips on one side, their contents unknown, and several hundred books across from them. Their pages looked ancient, but whether they contained cultivation arts or miscellaneous writings was anyone’s guess.
There were also pelts, beast horns, ores, and all manner of other materials.
Most of these possessions had belonged to human cultivators. Worse, spirit artifacts had not even been separated from demonic artifacts. Their spiritual and demonic energies had mingled, damaging the radiance of both sorts of treasure.
What an appalling waste.
Xu Ziqing sighed deeply at the sight.
His senior brother was healing his injuries outside, and Xu Ziqing intended to take all these things away in any case. He might as well organize them first.
The work occupied him for three or four shichen.
Among the piled-up artifacts, objects of the immortal path had to be placed together, and those of the demonic path in another group. He inspected each jade slip with his spiritual sense to determine its contents. He read the titles of the books and sorted them accordingly. If a book’s cover or title was missing, he carefully opened it to identify what lay within.
The task was troublesome. Although the treasures had long since lost their owners, some might still hold restrictions or curses, so he had to be exceedingly cautious whenever he touched one. There were also artifacts whose radiance had dimmed. He could do nothing for the demonic ones, but he could nourish those of the immortal path with Wood energy.
He used his spiritual sense constantly, scarcely pausing for a moment.
Only when a voice suddenly called “Ziqing” from behind him did he stop.
He turned around.
A white-robed sword cultivator stood quietly behind him. His expression was stern, but his aura was deep and tranquil. He seemed to have recovered.
Xu Ziqing smiled slightly. “Senior Brother, have your injuries healed?”
Yun Lie nodded. “I’m fine now.”
Xu Ziqing relaxed. Gesturing toward the items he had mostly finished arranging, he said, “When I woke earlier, I found the bat demon’s secret chamber and discovered all these treasures. It had collected a great many things, but left them in terrible disorder, so I started sorting them. As for what to do with everything afterward, I would like Senior Brother’s guidance.”
Yun Lie swept his gaze across the treasures, raised his hand, and sent several streaks of white light toward him.
Xu Ziqing caught them. As expected, they were four storage rings. He smiled. “Books and jade slips in one, immortal-path artifacts in another, demonic artifacts in a third, and the remaining artifact-refining materials in the fourth… Is that what Senior Brother intends?”
Yun Lie inclined his head. “Once you’ve collected them, keep them.”
Though numerous, these objects were mostly useful only to cultivators below Nascent Soul. In the end, they were of little use to Yun Lie. To Xu Ziqing, however, who was only at Core Transformation, they constituted considerable wealth. Whether he used them to smooth his path later or traded them for cultivation resources, they would be invaluable.
Xu Ziqing naturally understood his senior brother’s loving consideration. Since his own feelings were no less profound, he did not make a show of refusing. He collected everything.
In an instant, the chamber stood empty.
Xu Ziqing then brought out the three Flame Jade boxes. “Senior Brother, I obtained something else as well. There’s something I should tell you about it.”