"Three pieces of the bone flute.
"One came from the Xiaohan Realm, originally belonging to a demon leopard.
"One was in the hands of a human cultivator in the Canglang Ocean, though it was bought by chance in the Demon Sea.
"And the last piece originally belonged to the Demon Sea beast Bi Jiu, yet through a twist of fate, I obtained it in the Canglang Ocean."
Fiddling with the bone flute, Qin Sang recalled the identity of the hook-nosed man and how he had come by the Heavenly Demon Transformation, feeling both amused and helpless.
A single bone flute broken into three pieces, yet turning up in three cultivation worlds separated by an unknown distance—it was enough to set one's imagination running.
At this moment, the spirit beast bag rustled again.
When it had sensed King Nine Phoenix's aura earlier, the fat silkworm had behaved itself completely, not daring to breathe loudly.
Now that Qin Sang had safely escaped, the fat silkworm grew bold again, squawking and clamoring for food.
Qin Sang lifted the fat silkworm out.
It had been a full hundred-odd years since he had caught this fellow. Its cultivation was not what it used to be, but as for its appearance—well, to say it had not changed at all would be wrong; one could only say it looked exactly the same.
All day long, it did nothing but eat and sleep.
Fortunately, the fellow could forage for its own food and had played a vital role on numerous occasions. The investment made in it long ago had already paid off.
Seeing the poisonous algae fruit Qin Sang held between his fingers in the other hand, the fat silkworm's eyes lit up, and it squirmed with all its might.
"Looks like there's no need to refine it into pills after all..."
Qin Sang said with relief, tossing it over to the fat silkworm.
Without standing on ceremony, the fat silkworm swallowed the fruit whole in a single gulp. Its mouth instantly bulged a circle wider before it struggled to gulp it down into its belly. Finally, with a round, bloated tummy, it lay contentedly in Qin Sang's palm, closed its eyes, and fell asleep.
Qin Sang truly envied such a carefree life.
He prodded the fat silkworm with a jolt of true essence. Jolted awake, the fat silkworm grew furious, squeaking loudly at Qin Sang to protest his atrocious behavior, and then promptly fell asleep again.
"It seems these fruits also have to be digested slowly. But it's a good thing it didn't fall into as deep a slumber as before."
Qin Sang nodded, putting away the remaining poisonous algae fruits properly.
Because he did not understand their medicinal properties, Qin Sang could only apply every restriction he knew to prevent any loss of potency.
The poisonous algae fruit was by no means his greatest harvest.
With a flash from the Qianjun Ring, several items appeared before Qin Sang—namely, the Eighteen Demon Banners and the Soul-Nurturing Wood.
Looking at the Soul-Nurturing Wood, a flicker of fervor crossed Qin Sang's eyes.
He picked it up, pondered for a moment, and channeled his true essence according to the method Bai had taught him, first carving out several wooden plaques from the Soul-Nurturing Wood. He hung one on Yagu's person and kept the rest for a rainy day.
To shake off King Nine Phoenix, Qin Sang had been forced to swallow a drop of Three Lights Jade Liquid. He had not anticipated breaking away so smoothly, leaving unrefined energy still lingering within his body. Since this energy could not increase his cultivation and had no noticeable effect on improving his physique, he channeled a portion of its vital essence into Yagu's body.
Yagu remained unconscious. Wearing the Soul-Nurturing Wood, no visible change could be seen for now.
Such a large piece of Soul-Nurturing Wood was more than enough to elevate the ebony sword into a top-grade magic treasure.
As for whether it could transform into a spirit treasure, Qin Sang was uncertain.
Qin Sang had never touched upon the realm of spirit treasures, nor had he even heard of any Nascent Soul Patriarch possessing one. In the past, Patriarch Kuiyin had commanded ten demon banners, wielding power comparable to a top-grade magic treasure, and that alone was enough to summon wind and rain in the Xiaohan Realm.
He had previously seen some vague records in ancient texts saying that elevating a magic treasure into a spirit treasure could not be accomplished merely by piling up spiritual materials; there were other considerations.
Shaohua Mountain would naturally never keep ancient tomes detailing secrets of spirit treasures on Pagoda Peak, and unfortunately, he had had no opportunity to consult them.
If he wanted to find out, he would have to find a way to make contact with sects of profound heritage.
Qin Sang recalled that refining a sliver of Boundless Blood Mulberry had taken him a full twenty years back then. Although his cultivation was vastly different now, refining the Soul-Nurturing Wood would still require time, during which the ebony sword would be fragile and unusable against enemies.
His present circumstances were hardly settled; he would begin reforging the ebony sword once things were secure.
He planned to first take a portion of the Soul-Nurturing Wood to temporarily elevate the ebony sword to a high-grade magic treasure. That way, his cultivation of the Origin Soul Sword Nurturing Chapter would not be delayed, and once he broke through to the late Core Formation stage, he could continue refining the rest of the Soul-Nurturing Wood.
Calculating silently, Qin Sang split the Soul-Nurturing Wood into two.
Putting away the Soul-Nurturing Wood, Qin Sang shifted his gaze to the Eighteen Demon Banners.
"I wonder if deploying all eighteen demon banners at once could rival a spirit treasure?"
Qin Sang murmured, feeling there was great hope. Demonic banners could not be judged by ordinary logic; the power of the demon banner array depended on the might of the Nine Nether Demonic Fire.
Controlling six demon banners simultaneously was already quite strenuous for him.
Qin Sang decided to spend this period familiarizing himself with the demon banners, striving to master them as soon as possible.
Finally, Qin Sang picked up Old Zou's relic and let out a soft sigh.
"A sword cultivator surnamed Ning, Tiandao Sect..."
Grasping a demon banner in his hand, Qin Sang did not enter meditation. His gaze drifted into empty space as he planned what he needed to do after leaving the storm belt.
Entering closed-door cultivation to seek a breakthrough was certain. Though his cultivation had stagnated previously, he had never ceased comprehending the Killing Talisman. After refining the Soul-Nurturing Wood, his cultivation would advance rapidly, and breaking through to the late Core Formation stage would be well within sight.
Before that, he needed to meet the sword cultivator surnamed Ning.
Senior Qingzhu had told him to seek out this person, indicating that this individual was someone close to Senior Qingzhu—perhaps even his direct disciple—and definitely knew something.
Asking the sword cultivator surnamed Ning about the ancient teleportation formation was probably also an indirect way of delivering a message for Senior Qingzhu. Unfortunately, Senior Qingzhu had been bound by the avatar demonic soul, failing to condense the crystal bead and unable to leave behind any clues; otherwise, Qin Sang might have devised a way to rescue him.
In the Canglang Ocean, Senior Qingzhu was already second only to the great cultivators. The Xiaohan Realm was even less impressive, where the Sect Master of the Chunyang Sect was merely at the mid Nascent Soul stage.
"To think Granny Jing is actually Senior Qingzhu's daughter, and her real name is Qingjun..."
A thought flashed through Qin Sang's mind, and he recalled Granny Jing.
Having not seen each other for over a century, he wondered whether Granny Jing had eliminated Leng Yuntian and what realm she had attained.
Looking back, Granny Jing was very peculiar.
She was Senior Qingzhu's daughter, and killing Leng Yuntian had seemed to be an act of revenge on Senior Qingzhu's behalf, yet whenever she brought up Senior Qingzhu, her attitude had been exceptionally cold.
When entering Ziwei Palace, she had instructed Qin Sang to bring back Senior Qingzhu's corpse.
She showed two different faces to the world: her true appearance was peerless, yet she disguised herself as a low-level cultivator and walked the mortal world as an aged crone.
Her cultivation seemed to fluctuate wildly—she had slipped into Shaohua Mountain and wandered before Dongyang Bo's cave dwelling, yet when ambushing Leng Yuntian, she had needed Qin Sang's assistance.
"She must excel in escape techniques. Her strength is likely somewhere between Leng Yuntian and Dongyang Bo, most probably in the early Nascent Soul stage! But after so much time, Granny Jing's cultivation surely cannot be compared to what it was back then..." Qin Sang mused.
Upon returning to the Xiaohan Realm, he would certainly seek out Granny Jing to meet her once more.
For one, delivering news of Senior Qingzhu might gain him a powerful ally against Dongyang Bo. For another, he wanted to ask Granny Jing where she had seen the lingering phantom of the Qingluan, so that he might observe the true demeanor of a Qingluan in person if possible.
By visualizing Granny Jing's Qingluan puppet to practice the Heavenly Demon Transformation, Qin Sang had always felt unconfident. After all, the spirit and charm of a Qingluan puppet fell far short of the genuine creature.
Chapter 976