Chapter 534: Chapter 534

Beigong Bai Feng is dead!

Her death portrays the brutal truth of the Cultivation Realm to its fullest.

Facing the temptation of treasures, unless one shares a life-or-death bond like Zhouyang and Jiang Fengxian, few cultivators can withstand the trial.

What Beigong Bai Feng did to them was certainly excessive from their perspective, but such actions are commonplace in the Cultivation Realm.

Examples of companions searching for treasure, then clashing over the uneven distribution of said treasure, are omnipresent; even more so when it’s temporary teams formed to seize treasures from Demon Beasts.

Beigong Bai Feng’s mistake was underestimating Zhouyang and Jiang Fengxian’s abilities and overestimating her own. Thus, her death wasn’t undeserved.

After Jiang Fengxian eliminated Beigong Bai Feng, Zhouyang proactively stepped forward to search and dispose of the corpse. He was quite experienced and methodical, doing only what was appropriate in Jiang Fengxian’s presence.

Then, they began to harvest the "Ice Crystal Snow Lotus."

The "Ice Crystal Snow Lotus" is quite precious; its lotus seeds can be refined into medicine or consumed as Spirit Fruits to significantly boost the cultivation of Ice Element Cultivators.

The petals, crystalline like jade, can be fused with certain ice attribute materials to refine magical artifacts or serve as alchemy materials.

Moreover, the lotus roots buried deep in the mud at the bottom of the Ice Lake are an excellent and delicious ingredient.

As a considerate man, Zhouyang took the responsibility to dig out the lotus roots from the mud at the lake bottom, leaving the task of collecting the lotus seeds to Jiang Fengxian.

While excavating the lotus roots, Zhouyang made an unexpected discovery.

The lotus roots were deeply embedded in the lake’s muddy bottom, hiding the nest of the "Moon Shadow Ice Toad." Inside its nest, Zhouyang found not only the shed skin of the toad but also a large piece of Ten Thousand Years Cold Jade and several precious droplets of Cold Jade Essence.

The Ten Thousand Years Cold Jade, while rare, is but an upgraded version of Thousand-year Cold Jade, not uncommon in major sects.

However, the Cold Jade Essence is different; it’s an ice attribute holy object even more precious than the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Water, with diverse uses.

If it falls into the hands of an Ice Element Cultivator below the Golden Core Stage, a single drop can increase Core Formation success rate by one or two tenths. For Golden Core Stage Ice Element Cultivators, refining one drop equates to twenty to thirty years of arduous cultivation, and it can be used repeatedly.

Even non-Ice Element Cultivators like Zhouyang and Jiang Fengxian can use the Cold Jade Essence to temper their magical power and physique.

As Zhouyang knows, the Cold Jade Essence is effective even for some Nascent Soul Stage Ice Element Cultivators.

Thus, if a few drops occasionally appear on the market, they’re quickly bought up by high-tier cultivators for astronomical sums of Spirit Stones.

According to Spirit Stone valuation, a drop of Cold Jade Essence equals the worth of ten top-grade Spirit Stones!

Zhouyang found five drops of Cold Jade Essence in the "Moon Shadow Ice Toad’s" nest, presumably left unused by the Demon Beast.

The Cold Jade Essence typically only nurtures within ore veins of Spiritual Objects like Ten Thousand Years Cold Jade, Ice Jade, and Profound Jade, remaining obscure and hard to discover, even when matured.

Only Demon Beasts like the "Moon Shadow Ice Toad," gifted with Lunar Moon Toad True Blood, can easily locate and transport such items from ore veins.

He retrieved an Ice Jade Bottle and carefully stored the five silver-white drops of Cold Jade Essence that were casually placed on Ten Thousand Years Cold Jade, then collected all items, including the "Ice Crystal Snow Lotus" roots, cleansed the mud from himself, and resurfaced to rejoin Jiang Fengxian.

Once reunited with Jiang Fengxian, who had finished harvesting the lotus seeds and petals on the lake surface, Zhouyang left the Ice Lake with him, found a relatively low snow-covered mountain, and established a cave dwelling to allocate their loot.

The harvest was undeniably vast; not only the Cold Jade Essence and Moon Toad True Blood, but also the Ice Crystal Snow Lotus and numerous treasures from Beigong Bai Feng’s possession.

"Fengxian, I saw you previously insisting on the Moon Toad True Blood; seems you have a way to utilize it?"

In the cave dwelling, Zhouyang laid out the assorted treasures obtained from this venture before him and pointed to the Moon Toad True Blood stored in an Ice Jade Bottle, curiously probing Jiang Fengxian for details.

Jiang Fengxian, upon hearing his inquiry, did not conceal anything and promptly explained the reason behind the interest.

"The Lunar Moon Toad is a naturally nurtured True Spirit, its strength ranks top-tier among Tier Seven True Spirits. Its True Blood, for cultivators, not only serves as an alternative for various Cold Ice Divine Techniques cultivation materials, but also allows some Ice Spirit Root cultivators to develop True Spirit Dharma Body type divine techniques—an apex divine technique capable of indirectly manifesting the True Spirit’s innate divine techniques!"

"At the same time, the true blood of the Taiyin Moon Toad has a remarkably potent detoxifying effect. It can neutralize most strange poisons in the Cultivation Realm, with extraordinary efficacy against fire and cold poisons."

"I have an ancient formula here. If we follow this formula and concoct the Taiyin Spirit Liquid using the Moon Toad True Blood and Cold Jade Essence among other rare materials, not only can we extend our lifespan by a hundred years, but we will also become immune to all poisons, and there might even be a chance to master one of the Taiyin Moon Toad’s divine techniques!"

Zhouyang looked at Jiang Fengxian with shock, genuinely astonished by her words.

His lips trembled slightly, holding back the excitement in his heart as he asked, "May I see that ancient formula?"

"Here, you can take a look yourself."

Jiang Fengxian was not surprised by his reaction at all. With a wave of her jade-like hand, she took out a jade scroll and handed it to him.

Zhouyang reached out to receive the jade scroll and focused his divine sense into it, quickly reading through all the information within.

The jade scroll’s contents did not only record the Taiyin Spirit Liquid that Jiang Fengxian mentioned; it also documented several other spirit liquids that could be formulated using true spirit true blood like that of the Taiyin Moon Toad as the main ingredient.

The effects of each spirit liquid recorded inside were enough to make anyone yearn for them. Naturally, the spiritual objects needed to concoct these spirit liquids were also incredibly rare, with many being no less precious than the likes of Nine Heavens Profound Gold or True Sun Gold.

After finishing reading the information recorded in the jade scroll, Zhouyang handed it back to Jiang Fengxian, exhaling with a face full of admiration as he said, "Who would have thought that such miraculous things exist in the world? Truly eye-opening! The wisdom and divine techniques of ancient cultivators make us descendants feel ashamed!"

Jiang Fengxian, upon hearing his words of admiration, raised an eyebrow with a bit of disapproval:

"In ancient times, spiritual resources were abundant, and it was close to the time when the Celestial Immortals descended to impart their teachings. Those ancient cultivators, as long as they had decent aptitude, could easily cultivate to the Golden Core Stage and even the Nascent Soul Stage. Tribulation Crossing True Immortals would appear from time to time as well, so naturally, they could experiment and research these things using various spiritual materials at will!"

"But now, not only has the number of cultivators increased exponentially compared to ancient times, but the difficulty of acquiring cultivation resources has increased by several times too. The countless rare spiritual objects that have rapidly decreased or vanished due to continuous consumption over generations are unimaginable. Even if someone occasionally obtains rare spiritual objects like the Moon Toad True Blood, no one would dare to use them for experimental research on new methods of utilization. The current times being less abundant than the past should come as no surprise!"

Zhouyang hadn’t expected her to take it so seriously and was momentarily embarrassed by her words.

He certainly knew these situations and his earlier admiration was just a spontaneous remark.

In reality, with the growing number of cultivators in the Cultivation Realm and the development of cultivation civilization, various secret techniques and divine techniques have been continually created and developed by generations of cultivators.

If an ancient cultivator were placed in the present, whether in magical combat with peers or comparing artifact refining and alchemy skills, they would more often than not be outmatched by current-day cultivators. The most update n0vels are published on novel⁂fire.net

Of course, now was not the time to discuss these things. Having served as the clan leader of the Zhou Family for many years, Zhouyang had long developed a thick skin. After a moment of embarrassment, he forced a sheepish smile and proactively changed the topic by saying, "Since Fengxian, you have a way to utilize the Moon Toad True Blood, please keep it with you. Once you’ve concocted it, save a portion for me, no, save two portions!"

He wanted two portions to also set aside one for his Dao Companion, Xiao Ying.

Though he knew saying this would undoubtedly make Jiang Fengxian feel uncomfortable, he was even prepared to be scolded.

Indeed, hearing these words, Jiang Fengxian’s charming face turned cold, about to start scolding.

But before she could speak, seeing Zhouyang lowering his head with an obedient look, she was amused.

In the end, the words of scolding didn’t leave her mouth. She merely gave Zhouyang a fierce glare and coldly snorted while putting away the Moon Toad True Blood, tacitly agreeing to Zhouyang’s request.

Zhouyang was, of course, overjoyed at this, but fearing it might provoke her, he didn’t dare to show too much excitement, only managing a fawning look as he said, "If there’s anything you need help with in concocting the spirit liquid, Fengxian, just let me know. If it’s within my power, I’ll definitely do my utmost to assist."

Jiang Fengxian, hearing this, narrowed her phoenix-like eyes and responded with a full smile: "Alright, once I’ve finished concocting the spirit liquid, just bring your Dao Companion along to collect it!"

Hearing her words, Zhouyang felt a chill in his heart, and a scene couldn’t help but flash through his mind.

The mistress, upon realizing her status, prepared a fine banquet without showing any clues, invited the lover and his wife to enjoy the meal together, then drugged the food and wine to knock out the lover, and then...

Zhouyang couldn’t help but shiver, quickly dispelling the thoughts from his mind, silently chanting to himself, "It can’t be, it can’t be. Fengxian isn’t that kind of woman, and I’m not a negligent axe-wielding man... I must be overthinking it, yes, that’s it!"

Even though he was saying and thinking it in his heart, Zhouyang’s gaze towards Jiang Fengxian inevitably began to change.

At this very moment, Jiang Fengxian’s radiant smile suddenly seemed somewhat terrifying in his heart!