It was a dim cavern, high enough, given that the Asura's height far surpassed that of a normal human.

Entering the cave, Lu Yuan began his investigation.

The first time he had slain a demon, his mind was entirely absorbed in swordsmanship, serene and without emotion, so he hadn't felt much of anything.

But now, this was the first time searching for spoils after vanquishing a demon, and somehow, his spirit surged, growing excited.

The cave appeared bare on all sides, as if holding nothing.

Yet, he refused to believe this single Asura possessed no valuable loot.

There were certain tricks to scavenging spoils; he had learned some back on North Peak, and now they were truly coming into use. Subterranean demons favored hiding things underground. As for digging, he certainly wouldn't risk his precious flying sword, Nourish My Sword, to excavate.

He casually found a sharp stone, channeled spiritual power into it, and began to dig into the earth.

Yi—

Spirit Stones. Lu Yuan immediately identified the square stone, slightly blackish and only the size of a finger’s circumference, as a spirit stone.

Judging by the density of spiritual energy, it should be a low-grade spirit stone. As for the faint black tint, rumor had it that spirit stones produced in the underworld always possessed a slight blackness, completely unlike the near-white stones from the surface world.

He unearthed one spirit stone after another, finding a full twenty-two in total.

He had struck it rich!

Lu Yuan instantly realized his gain.

North Peak only allotted him ten low-grade spirit stones annually, yet here he had earned more than twenty at once. Slaying demons and collecting their spoils naturally yielded spirit stones rapidly, but it was equally fraught with immense risk; if one failed to defeat the demon, the situation reversed—slain by the demon, eliminated by the demon—a true tragedy.

He carefully tucked the twenty-two low-grade spirit stones into his satchel.

Then, he continued digging.

After some effort, he unearthed a single iron fork.

This was no ordinary iron fork; it was profoundly dark, likely forged from subterranean black iron, resembling an Asura’s weapon. It was a pity he favored the sword and not a fork, rendering it useless, so he tossed it aside and kept digging.

Digging further yielded more strange items: unknown claws, unknown strands of hair, unknown talons. It seemed the Asura he had slain was quite the collector. He swiftly discarded all this junk.

Yi, what is this iron plate?

This plate felt warm to the touch, entirely different from the coldness of common iron. It was about the size of a palm, engraved all over with minuscule, bizarre monsters, most of which he had never seen before. The front side bore a single character: Feng (Seal).

This is... a Spirit Sealing Tablet?

Between heaven and earth exists an entity called Spirit Beasts.

Spirit Beasts are the collective term for creatures naturally nurtured by the environment and the laws of nature. For example, clouds gathering in the sky for a long time might gestate a Cloud-type Spirit Beast. Similarly, a river flowing ceaselessly for a thousand years, undergoing countless transformations, could birth a Water-type Spirit Beast. If a flame burned for millennia without extinguishing, it could foster a Fire-type Spirit Beast.

In the earliest era, when heaven and earth were first cleaved, Spirit Beasts were abundant, practically omnipresent, and often immensely powerful. Most of these beasts originated from the innate primordial chaos. Later, while the acquired environment could still nurture many Spirit Beasts, as time wore on, they became increasingly scarce.

It is said that during the age of creation, the spiritual energy in the world was so dense that a Spirit Beast could be nurtured in mere years.

However, as time progressed to the present day, the difficulty in gestating a Spirit Beast became immense; it often took a thousand years to birth just one.

Thus, Spirit Beasts grew ever rarer, and their value soared accordingly.

Ah, he almost forgot to mention the utility of Spirit Beasts. They are profoundly useful to cultivators.

For instance, a Water-type Spirit Beast is the very essence of water condensed. By merely consuming a small amount of spirit stones, they can continuously excrete refined Water-element vital energy over a considerable period. If a cultivator practices a Water-element technique, they can absorb this pure vital energy directly into their body to augment their magic power, bypassing the need to refine the ambient heaven-and-earth Qi.

In essence, a Water-type Spirit Beast offers substantial benefits for the magical power growth of a Water-element cultivator. Since the two fundamental pillars of cultivation are magic power and techniques, the growth of the former is critically, supremely important. Therefore, Water-type Spirit Beasts are indispensable to Water cultivators.

By extension, other elemental Spirit Beasts are equally vital to cultivators of their respective elements.

Their importance is exceedingly high.

Spirit Beasts are increasingly scarce in this era, yet critically necessary, causing their market price to climb ceaselessly.

Even figures like the Six Sword Immortals of North Peak in Mount Hua Sect do not possess many Spirit Beasts on hand. As for the other Ninth Generation Elders, many likely possess none at all. This was the situation even for the Mount Hua Immortal Sect, one of the five great immortal sects of the Great Jin Kingdom.

Now that the introduction to Spirit Beasts is complete, let us discuss the Spirit Sealing Tablet. Cultivators need Spirit Beasts, but constantly keeping them nearby is inconvenient—fearing escape, damage during battle, and other concerns. Thus, many years ago, a great sage created the Spirit Sealing Tablet, capable of storing Spirit Beasts within it.

Would the Spirit Sealing Tablet among his spoils contain a Spirit Beast? Lu Yuan’s mood couldn't help but grow tense.

“All laws return to one, spirit seal returns to restriction, Spirit Sealing Tablet, enter.” Any Spirit Sealing Tablet responds to this incantation. Once uttered, the cultivator's spirit enters the world within the tablet. Of course, he had only heard this at North Peak of the Mount Hua Sect; this was his first time truly experimenting.

After reciting the formula, in an instant of mental disorientation, he found himself standing in a lush green meadow. This was the world inside the tablet. Lu Yuan looked around and spotted three snow-white rabbits not far from him. Snow-white rabbits?

Lu Yuan tentatively approached them.

This tentative approach yielded an astonishing discovery.

He realized that these three snow-white rabbits were of the Cloud element—meaning they were Cloud-type Spirit Beasts, Cloud Rabbits.

Cloud-type Spirit Beast, Cloud Rabbit. Cloud-type Spirit Beast, Cloud Rabbit. Cloud-type Spirit Beast, Cloud Rabbit.

Had he misread it?

He practiced the Cloud Dragon Heart Method, which required Cloud-element Spirit Beasts. If he possessed them, these Cloud Rabbits could continuously supply him with Cloud-element vital energy, allowing his magic power to grow at an incredibly rapid pace. It was like dry earth encountering a life-giving rain. With these three Cloud Rabbits, his cultivation speed would accelerate significantly.

He had truly hit the jackpot this time!

He couldn't fathom where this Asura obtained three Cloud-element Spirit Beasts. The Spirit Sealing Tablet itself held considerable value, but the Cloud Rabbits were worth far more than the tablet.

It turned out this Asura, through some fortuitous encounter, had acquired the three beasts. Fearing that news might leak due to their extreme preciousness, he had fled the Underworld. He had assumed that by avoiding conflict with the Five Great Immortal Sects and other cultivation factions after emerging, he would be safe. Who knew he would fall into the hands of Lu Yuan, a novice in slaying demons?

That Asura’s fate was a grand tragedy.

But for Lu Yuan, this was an extraordinary windfall. The Asura’s underground fortune had effectively transferred to him.

——————

Lu Yuan sat cross-legged, having already established a connection with the three Cloud-type Spirit Beasts within the tablet. The moment the link was formed, he felt an unending stream of exquisitely pure Cloud-element vital energy surge from the tablet into his body. He roughly estimated that the sheer volume of Cloud vital energy provided would essentially double his current cultivation speed.

Double—that rate was already staggering, as increasing cultivation speed in the Immortal World was notoriously difficult.

To boost it twofold instantly—was that not astonishing?

He truly had gained immeasurably this time!

Of course, he knew that this massive boost was currently achievable because his foundational power was shallow. Once his magic power reached higher levels, this fixed volume of elemental vital energy would yield a diminishing return on his overall rate of advancement.

The quantity of Cloud vital energy supplied by the three Cloud Rabbits was constant.

At this moment, Lu Yuan felt exhilarated as the pure vital energy flowed incessantly from the Spirit Sealing Tablet into his body, bringing immense comfort. His magic power was constantly pushing against a barrier. Looking at the twenty-two spirit stones recovered, he wondered if he should attempt to break through to the next realm now, as he was already at the peak of the fifth layer of the Qi Condensation stage, ready to attempt the next breakthrough.

He took out all twenty-two spirit stones, used the Spirit Sealing Array to contain their internal energy, and then crushed all twenty-two low-grade stones simultaneously. Twenty-two streams of pure spiritual energy burst forth. Combined with the Cloud vital energy being channeled from the Spirit Sealing Tablet, the dual forces acted upon him, making his magic power restless.

His internal energy had already reached the peak of the Minor Zhou Tian, circulating endlessly through the Twelve Zhou Tians and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

Now, under the pressure of these two combined forces, he vaguely sensed his magic power beginning to transform. The Cloud element remained Cloud; his existing magic power was already robust, but the squeezing action of these two forces, constrained by the fixed size of his meridians, forced the magic power to continuously refine and condense itself.

After a long while.

Pa!

This sound was not external; it originated from within his own body. Lu Yuan felt that at that precise moment, the magic power throughout his being had transformed from a change in quantity to a fundamental change in quality. This qualitative shift was absolute, resulting in magic power far more potent and refined than before.

This was the realization of Qi Solidification into Essence (Lian Qi Cheng Gang).

Oh, reaching Qi Solidification into Essence so casually? Not bad, Lu Yuan thought internally, without much fanfare.

If True Master Bichen and True Master Biyi were to know of this, they would likely weep uncontrollably. No matter how diligently they cultivated, they might never reach the level of Qi Solidification into Essence in their lifetimes, yet Lu Yuan had broken through with such effortless ease. How could this not provoke double floods of tears?

Even the third and fourth ranked among the ten core disciples of North Peak would likely weep. They had been stuck at the fifth layer, the Minor Zhou Tian, for ages, unable to break into the sixth layer of Qi Solidification into Essence. If people knew how easily Lu Yuan achieved this breakthrough, even Ling Yuzhu, the third ranked core disciple, would be rendered speechless and tearful.

Lu Yuan stretched languidly. "All done, time to wrap up."

When he emerged from the cave, the sun was shining brightly.

Lu Yuan’s mood matched the external brilliance, radiant and excellent.

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