After swallowing two more Water Dew Pills to let his body slowly recuperate, Qin Sang could not wait to open the mustard seed bag and dump its contents onto the ground.
On the way here, he had already refined the Soul-Bewildering Mirror and made it his own.
The Soul-Bewildering Mirror turned out not to be a single mirror, but a set of eight bronze mirrors nested together—one primary and seven auxiliary.
The eight bronze mirrors could be laid out into a mirror array to trap enemies. It was exceptionally sturdy, and the mist it emitted possessed a soul-bewildering effect.
However, setting up the mirror array was by no means easy. It required a fair amount of preparation time, making it even more cumbersome to use than the ebony sword. The mirror array was immobile; once placed in a spot, one could only wait for an opponent to leap in willingly, or it would serve no purpose at all.
Moreover, the mist's bewildering effect was short-lived. It was only truly potent if one struck at the exact moment the array opened, before the opponent could shake off the confusion.
While inside the mirror array, Qin Sang had felt no hallucination or confusion whatsoever. Thinking it over, it could only be attributed to the jade Buddha.
The formidable power of the Soul-Bewildering Mirror was beyond doubt, but unfortunately, unleashing its full potential inside the Eight Trigrams Forbidden Ground was difficult. One could hardly tell whether Shen Jing's luck had been good or bad.
Compared to the Soul-Bewildering Mirror, what delighted Qin Sang the most were the Chilong Sword and the Void-Traversing Wind.
With these two magic tools alone, if Yang Yuanzang had not fallen into his and Shen Jing's hands, securing a spot would have been practically guaranteed.
The might of the Chilong Sword went without saying; it could be called top-tier among spirit swords, far superior to the blood saber and the Azure Wave Sword.
While Qin Sang's ebony sword was certainly sharp, its consumption was enormous, and it required advance preparation to use. The Chilong Sword, on the other hand, could be brought out directly to face enemies, and its power was hardly inferior.
The Void-Traversing Wind was a high-grade magic tool. It took the form of a wisp of grayish-white wind and smoke, feeling as soft and smooth as satin in the palm.
This was the first time Qin Sang had ever seen such a magic tool, and he could not help marveling at it.
One only had to refine the Void-Traversing Wind to ride the gale and fly above the ground at great speed, all with very little drain on spiritual power. Although it could only rise ten to twenty feet off the ground, that was more than enough to cross mountains, traverse ridges, and escape danger.
For a cultivator at the Qi Refinement stage, it was an absolute treasure.
Qin Sang immediately sent his spiritual sense into the Void-Traversing Wind and easily refined it. Inhaling deeply, he sucked it into his stomach, housing it within his sea of qi. With just a thought, wind would stir beneath his feet.
Now fully armed, Qin Sang felt thoroughly pleased with himself. His only regret was the lack of a handy defensive magic tool; unfortunately, the Gold-Casting Ring had been destroyed in its clash with the ebony sword.
Yang Yuanzang had quite a substantial fortune. Aside from the Void-Traversing Wind, he carried several inferior magic tools and some spirit stones. Shen Jing's mustard seed bag, by contrast, held mostly worthless trinkets—silks and satins, rouge and powders, jewelry and jade ornaments of every kind.
The only thing that surprised Qin Sang was that Yang Yuanzang's mustard seed bag actually contained a middle-grade spirit stone!
In terms of pure value, a single middle-grade spirit stone was worth a hundred low-grade spirit stones, but in actual transactions, the exchange rate fluctuated depending on how the parties bargained.
The spiritual power stored within a middle-grade spirit stone was not only far more abundant than that of a low-grade spirit stone, but also much purer. When absorbed, the speed of refinement would be significantly faster.
To Qin Sang, however, the middle-grade spirit stone held an even greater significance.
According to the explanation of swordsmanship realms in the Song Family Sword Art, Qin Sang could now basically manipulate a sword with spiritual sense and move the blade at will, which could be considered scratching the surface. Due to his low cultivation, however, the flying sword could not travel too far from his body.
Once he made further progress in swordsmanship, he would reach the stage of generating sword qi, and eventually the realm where his sword qi arched like a rainbow.
The Song Family Sword Art stated that if one comprehended sword qi, the ebony sword bolstered by it would not only double in power, but its speed would also surge, becoming fast as lightning. Once unleashed, it would be like a white rainbow piercing the sun.
Yet by the same token, the consumption of spiritual power would also multiply several times over.
For cultivators below the tenth layer of the Qi Refinement stage, low-grade spirit stones alone were not enough to sustain it; only with the aid of a middle-grade spirit stone could one barely muster sword qi.
Qin Sang had not yet reached that realm of swordsmanship, but he still carefully stowed the middle-grade spirit stone away with a solemn expression.
Originally, Qin Sang had no opportunity to acquire a middle-grade spirit stone, so he had planned to focus on raising his cultivation after mastering sword manipulation with spiritual sense. Now, it was time to move sword qi up on his schedule.
Acting as a spy in an immortal sect was fraught with obvious danger. Qin Sang did not know what the Kuiyin Sect's goal was, nor did he care to know. The only thing he could do was bide his time to escape. If he could not flee, his only option was to do everything possible to boost his strength and face any potential threats.
Thinking of this, Qin Sang looked down to search and picked up a jade vial retrieved from Yang Yuanzang's mustard seed bag. Inside the thumb-sized vial, several drops of milky-white liquid could be seen, thick as paste. Uncorking the vial, a wave of refreshing fragrance drifted into his nostrils, instantly alleviating some of the aches in his body.
This was likely the century-old stalactite milk Yang Yuanzang and Shen Jing had spoken of, probably salvaged from the mountain crocodile's lair.
Although the treasures in the Eight Trigrams Forbidden Ground had supposedly been swept clean by the Yuanzhao Sect, it was normal for things to be overlooked, and the Yuanzhao Sect might not have cared for such a meager amount of century-old stalactite milk anyway.
Yang Yuanzang had already been at the peak of the sixth layer, so refining the stalactite milk gave him a very high chance of breaking through to the seventh layer. Qin Sang, however, still had the medicinal potency of the Qi Gathering Pill suppressed inside him and was far from a breakthrough, so the stalactite milk held little immediate value for him. He stowed it away alongside the middle-grade spirit stone.
Ten jade plaques were lined up before him.
Four from Yang Yuanzang, two from Shen Jing, and four of his own.
Inside the forbidden ground, there probably were not many who had gathered all their jade plaques faster than him, Qin Sang thought to himself. All the twists and turns had not been in vain.
When brought together, the ten jade plaques took the form of a jade book. A layer of mist materialized out of thin air over the translucent plaques. Beneath the mist, mountains, rivers, and lakes seemed to faintly appear, but shrouded by the vapor, nothing was visible—save for a gleaming arrow that persistently pointed in one direction, no matter how Qin Sang turned the plaques.
The more jade plaques one obtained, the thinner the mist on the jade book became, and the clearer the guidance. With only ten plaques, just the single arrow could be seen; what kind of terrain lay ahead and whether it was passable remained completely unknown.
Qin Sang had known this beforehand and was not surprised. Once he confirmed the direction, he packed the jade plaques and all useful items from the ground into his mustard seed bag. He checked his internal injuries, decided there was no major harm, and then shouldered the Chilong Sword, summoned the Void-Traversing Wind, and flew out of the cave.
Riding the void upon the wind was indeed exhilarating, though he made for an overly conspicuous target.
The direction indicated by the jade plaques was deep into the Great Plain. Fortunately, he did not have to return to that poisonous swamp.
In the blink of an eye, Qin Sang flew out of the mountain range and entered the plain. Lowering the wind and smoke, he sped through the tall grass.
The Great Plain offered an open field of view. The Void-Traversing Wind was quite fast, and with three top-grade magic tools in his possession, Qin Sang was not particularly afraid of anyone foolish enough to provoke him. Even if he could not win, he could still run away.
He had thought he might harvest a few more jade plaques on the unobstructed plain, but to his surprise, after flying on the wind for a long time, he did not encounter a single opponent. It was quite strange.
In less than two shichen, Qin Sang crossed the Great Plain, and countless rift valleys and rocky cliffs appeared before him.
Chapter 79