"Before that, there is still one thing to do. Given the phenomena triggered by the bone flute, it's best to stay far away from other immortal cultivators and find a deserted island..."
Qin Sang flew out from Leichen Island, chose a direction, and flew a great distance until he found an uninhabited islet.
There were no traces of cultivator activity nearby. Qin Sang landed soundlessly on the island, laid down an isolation restriction, and only then took out the items.
The mustard seed bag, the star conch, the arm guard...
Qin Sang was actually quite interested in the aquiline-nosed man's wings as well, but when the man died, the wings had vanished along with him.
He picked up the mustard seed bag, swept his spiritual sense across it, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.
Given the aquiline-nosed man's strength, he should have possessed considerable wealth.
In truth, there was only a sum of spirit stones inside the mustard seed bag, followed by various odds and ends. The most plentiful items were demon bones of all sorts; while quite valuable, they hardly matched his prowess.
What Qin Sang sought most was the aquiline-nosed man's body refinement cultivation method. That the man could temper his physical body to such a formidable degree spoke volumes of its value.
As long as the method suited him, practicing body refinement on the side was a viable path.
Yet Qin Sang searched thoroughly, finding neither a body refinement cultivation method nor the secret art for cultivating the wings.
Qin Sang's frown deepened. Suddenly, he glanced toward the star conch and took hold of it.
He noticed a common trait: the items in the mustard seed bag were similar to the star conch, all being raw spiritual materials untouched by human refinement.
"This man relied on no magic treasures at all. Could he have followed the ancient body refinement practitioners, treading the pure path of a body cultivator, relying on no external objects and concentrating supreme might entirely in the physical body?"
Qin Sang was thoroughly astonished.
In ancient times, a hundred schools of thought contended, and countless Great Daos vied for supremacy, each yielding astonishing achievements.
Back when he saw that colossal palm print in Ziwei Palace that had annihilated an immortal city, Yunyouzi suspected it was the work of a supreme body cultivator who had mastered the divine ability Manifestation of Heaven and Earth.
Human cultivators were unlike demon beasts; they lacked the inheritance of formidable bloodline power.
In ancient times, secret arts were boundless, and immortal herbs could be found with ease. Nowadays, finding even slightly more valuable spiritual herbs was exceptionally difficult, making the pure path of a body cultivator far more than twice as arduous.
Qin Sang turned the star conch over in his hands, examining it until he grasped its nature. He silently noted that his earlier guess was correct: the star conch truly was a rare treasure that required building up power before use.
The star conch had not been forged by human hands; it seemed to be the shell of some peculiar conch demon.
By keeping the star conch within one's body, continuously refining it and channeling true essence into it, one could unleash astonishing power upon hurling it at an opponent.
The star conch's might was closely tied to the cultivator's cultivation level and the length of refinement. It was not as simple as pouring true essence into it; it required a complex process and immense effort to condense and temper.
Qin Sang drew the star conch into his sea of qi, sensed its state, and was immediately gripped by lingering fear.
The aquiline-nosed man must have used it once beforehand, so the duration of this recent refinement had not been long. Otherwise, it would not have been as simple as merely destroying the Jinyao Lock.
Of course, the star conch's power had its limits. Even if Qin Sang refined it with all his might to the maximum extent he could control, it could never match the fire bead. Even so, it was astonishing; catching an opponent off guard, it could directly slay a late-stage cultivator.
Because the star conch was a natural object, measuring it by conventional grades was difficult, but its value certainly far exceeded a medium-grade magic treasure.
The only drawback was that it could only be used once per battle. If it missed, it would be practically useless for a short period.
Precisely because the star conch was naturally formed, Qin Sang faced no resistance in taking control of the treasure, leaving it in his sea of qi to slowly condense true essence.
Besides the star conch, a tortoiseshell plaque also caught Qin Sang's attention.
The tortoiseshell plaque was the size of a palm. Its front bore natural markings, while its back was engraved with several strange runes, clearly added by someone later on.
These runes were peculiar and beyond Qin Sang's ability to decipher. Sensing the aura of the tortoiseshell plaque, he felt it did not resemble an item of human origin. Furthermore, as it bore no evident formidable power, he put it away.
Apart from those, the spiritual materials were also quite valuable, including several rare items. As an artifact crafter, these materials would find their best use in his hands.
Storing away the useful items, Qin Sang took a deep breath and took up the arm guard.
The arm guard was woven from demon bones and was extremely tough. Qin Sang summoned the ebony sword, channeled sword qi, and slashed straight toward the thickest part of the arm guard.
*Crack!*
The arm guard shattered, and a round section of bone flute dropped out.
Qin Sang smiled silently, took out his original two sections of bone flute, and brought the pieces toward each other.
*Snap!*
The bone flute automatically merged together. A flash of flowing light swept across it, then faded into silence.
A look of suspicion crossed Qin Sang's face. He wondered if he still hadn't gathered all the fragments. After a moment's thought, he tried channeling his spiritual sense and true essence into it.
The next moment, an astonishing scene unfolded.
The bone flute trembled violently, followed by radiant bursts of light as bright as stars and piercingly brilliant, nearly bursting through the Severing Spirit Formation.
Qin Sang was both startled and overjoyed.
Before he could make a move, the starlight abruptly converged.
A text composed of starlight appeared before Qin Sang.
"This is..."
Qin Sang moved the bone flute, and the text rippled like water, shifting along with it, yet the bone flute itself still exhibited no great power. He realized that the bone flute was not some supreme treasure; rather, it was something akin to a jade slip, sealing this text within it.
For a single jade slip to be broken into three fragments and separated by tens of thousands of miles was strange enough.
Realizing it was not a supreme treasure, Qin Sang could not help feeling somewhat disappointed. Fixing his gaze upon the script, he was soon startled to find that this text was written in the demon script!
After the Canglang Sea connected with the Demon Sea, human cultivators had uncovered demon secret realms and ancient treasures within the Demon Sea. They were no strangers to the demon script, having studied it deeply in conjunction with ancient records.
For convenience, Qin Sang had also learned a bit of it. Though his knowledge was superficial and fully comprehending the entire text was difficult, he could barely decipher part of it.
"Named Heavenly Demon Form Refining... borrows the astral energy of the heavenly circuit to temper the self... bloodline power refines the astral fiend aura, also possessing a purifying effect... This is a cultivation method meant for demons!"
After reading the entire piece and understanding its content, Qin Sang could not help but feel immensely disappointed.
No wonder the bone flute contained astral energy; the cultivation method was related to the stars of the heavenly circuit. The bone flute could serve as a primer to help a practitioner get started, guiding the astral energy of the heavenly circuit into the body.
A demon cultivation method, and one that required bloodline power to match—humans naturally could not practice it.
Never in his wildest dreams did he expect that the treasure obtained after so many twists and turns would turn out to be a cultivation method he could not cultivate.
*Heavenly Demon Form Refining*—the name alone sounded immensely grand.
In ancient times, Heavenly Demons were supreme beings spoken of in the same breath as Mahayana stage cultivators!
Though Qin Sang had only skimmed it, he was certain that this method was a supreme demon cultivation method handed down from ancient times, once a closely guarded secret!
No matter how exceptional a technique was, if it could not be practiced, it was no different from waste paper.
"Huh? Wait..."
Qin Sang seemed to have noticed something. His gaze suddenly sharpened, fixing intently upon the text.
Chapter 799