Chapter 551

"This strange bird... such powerful concealment—it completely escaped my notice."

Lu Qing’s heart skipped a beat.

But his reaction was lightning-fast.

He pressed two fingers together into a sword sign, and a streak of Sword Qi shot into the sky.

Sensing the deadly intent within the Sword Qi, the strange bird's eyes filled with panic.

It had never expected that this unremarkable human youth—merely at the Golden Core Third Transformation—could unleash such terrifying Sword Qi.

It flapped its wings frantically, trying to dodge with all its might.

But Lu Qing’s Sword Qi was unbelievably fast, and the strange bird had been diving toward him at full speed.

There was simply no time to evade. The Sword Qi sliced it clean in two. Blood rained down from the sky, and a Demon Core dropped from its remains.

Lu Qing darted past, sweeping both halves of the strange bird's corpse and its Demon Core into the Li Huo Cauldron.

Then his figure twisted mid-air and descended toward a nearby mountain range, where he quickly found a cave and slipped inside.

After knocking out a nest of leopard-like spirit beasts, he temporarily claimed their den as his own. Then he took out a Formation Disk and concealed the cave entrance.

Only then did he sit cross-legged with a sigh of relief and retrieve the strange bird's corpse.

The moment the powerful aura of the bird’s body filled the cave, the largest of the leopards froze—and then fainted outright.

Lu Qing chuckled softly and began examining the strange bird's corpse.

Truth be told, the encounter had given him quite a scare.

The strange bird had appeared without warning, seemingly hidden within the clouds, its aura seamlessly merged with the mist.

Even someone like him hadn’t sensed anything amiss right away.

Fortunately, the bird wasn't too powerful—only at the mid-stage of the Golden Core Realm.

Had it been a late-stage Golden Core demonic beast, he might have suffered some real harm.

“It seems I’ll have to be even more cautious from now on in the Tianyuan Great World,” Lu Qing reminded himself.

Even flying through the sky wasn’t safe—there were beasts out here capable of masking their presence entirely.

This time, his strength had seen him through.

But who knew if he’d be so lucky the next time?

“Master.”

While Lu Qing was deep in reflection, Wuxing brushed against his sleeve with its tail.

“What is it?” Lu Qing turned his head.

“Can I eat that strange bird’s body?” Wuxing flicked its tail toward the bisected corpse.

“You want to eat this?” Lu Qing was surprised.

“Mhm. I can sense that eating it will help me.”

Lu Qing fell silent, deep in thought. He was well aware that demonic beasts and spirit beasts could evolve through consuming blood and flesh.

In fact, in his home world, the line between the two was defined precisely by this behavior.

Those that trained by devouring flesh and blood were influenced by Fiendish Energy, grew more violent, and were called demonic beasts.

Those that cultivated by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and comprehending laws were far gentler—these were spirit beasts.

Truthfully, there was no fundamental difference between the two. The divergence lay only in the path of cultivation.

This strange bird was a Golden Core Realm demonic beast, and its flesh was packed with potent essence.

It made perfect sense that Wuxing would crave it.

Lu Qing was now considering whether he should allow Wuxing to walk the path of flesh consumption.

Then he recalled that during its tribulation, Wuxing had only faced eight bolts of tribulation lightning.

Its potential, at least outwardly, didn’t quite match up to Xiaoli’s.

Perhaps a dual path—one that included blood and flesh—might compensate for its weaker foundation.

As for the concern that such a path would make it more violent, that was of no concern to Lu Qing.

Wuxing had long since been bound to his soul and would obey him absolutely.

The little bit of Fiendish Energy generated from eating blood couldn’t possibly sway it.

“Xiaoli, do you want any of this?” he asked, though his mind was already made up.

“Nope! Let that stinky snake eat it,” Xiaoli replied with obvious disdain, wrinkling its nose at the corpse.

It only liked fish. Anything else bizarre or exotic held no appeal.

“Alright then, Wuxing, the corpse is yours—but I’m keeping the Demon Core. I still need it.”

“Yes, Master!”

Wuxing was overjoyed. Its body expanded, and with a gulp, it swallowed the strange bird whole.

Then it shrank back down, curled up to the side, and began refining the bird's essence.

Lu Qing watched, a thoughtful glint in his eyes.

Back in his home world, Wuxing had never shown this kind of desire for other beasts' flesh.

Was this craving a result of its bloodline transformation after refining the Ancient Dragon Tortoise’s True Blood?

Or was it simply that the spirit beasts back then had all been too weak to interest it?

After a moment’s contemplation, Lu Qing let the question go and turned his attention to something else.

He took out a few items.

Two Storage Pouches, and a simple storage ring.

These were the ones Mo Hongyun and Nangong Yuanwu had given him.

“A shame I didn’t dare take the ones from Gongshu Yu and those two Nascent Soul cultivators…”

Looking at the storage treasures before him, Lu Qing felt a twinge of regret.

Back when he defeated Gongshu Yu and brought those two unconscious Gongshu Clan Nascent Soul cultivators back into town, he had every opportunity to strip them of their treasures.

But in the end, he chose not to.

He had no idea whether the Gongshu Clan had placed tracking spells or other tricks on those pouches or on the items within.

If they had left behind any secret tracking methods, and he didn’t know about it, he might get hunted down without even realizing it.

So, for safety’s sake, he refrained from touching their belongings.

Tempting as treasure might be, he would be living in the Tianyuan Great World for quite some time.

A single greedy move wasn't worth exposing himself to massive danger.

He picked up one of the Storage Pouches and sent his divine sense into it.

If he remembered right, this one had belonged to Master Qiu.

Master Qiu had been slain by Mo Hongyun, making this pouch a treasure without a master.

So Lu Qing’s divine sense slipped in easily.

What he saw inside made his expression shift.

“Master Qiu was pretty well-off. Either the Treasure Pavilion pays really well, or he was skimming off the top…”

Inside the pouch were numerous talismans, artifacts, pills, spiritual herbs, and refining materials.

Add to that the jade slips and other miscellaneous items—it was a full spread.

Lu Qing didn’t pay much attention to the talismans and artifacts crafted by Master Qiu.

What caught his eye more were the jade slips, spiritual herbs, and refining materials.

Suddenly, something caught his attention.

He pulled out a one-foot-square brocade box.

"This is heavy," Lu Qing muttered, raising an eyebrow.

He had assumed it would contain some rare spiritual herb or treasure.

But it seemed he was mistaken…

The next moment, a dazzling light like that of jewels spilled from the box.

When Lu Qing got a good look at the contents, he couldn’t help but draw in a quiet breath.

Inside was a full box of neatly stacked

spirit stones

—and not just any spirit stones, but all

mid-grade

ones.

A quick estimate told him there were at least a thousand pieces in this box alone.

“So this… was the price that lured Master Qiu into betraying everything and stirring up demonic energy within the

Treasure Pavilion

.”

Lu Qing immediately understood.

Master Qiu may have held a respectable position in the Treasure Pavilion, but there was no way he could’ve amassed this many spirit stones on his own.

And with a personality as stingy and greedy as his, he wouldn’t have lifted a finger without a lucrative reward.

Without such a price, he’d never have risked everything to incite

demonic energy

within the Pavilion.

Now, it was clear—this box of spirit stones had been that price.

“Still, the

Tianji Workshop

really knows how to throw money around. Over a thousand mid-grade spirit stones, just like that.”

Lu Qing was amazed, then gradually grew delighted.

Tianji Workshop's generous hand had ended up profiting him in the end.

With these spirit stones from Master Qiu, plus what he’d earned recently, Lu Qing reckoned that even among all the Golden Core Realm cultivators in the Tianyuan Great World, he was now fairly well-off.

Grinning to himself, he thought,

I’ve finally made a bit of a fortune.

“Right, there’s still the storage treasures from the

Pavilion Master

and the

City Lord

.”

Lu Qing picked up the other

Storage Pouch

and the

storage ring

.

He remembered clearly—

Mo Hongyun

and

Nangong Yuanwu

had both gifted him spirit stones.

Once his

divine sense

swept through the remaining pouch and ring, Lu Qing froze.

He stayed still for over ten breaths before finally recovering.

Softly, he muttered, “This… is far more than just ‘a little fortune’…”

The

Storage Pouch

from Mo Hongyun held at least

five thousand

mid-grade spirit stones.

As for the

storage ring

from Nangong Yuanwu, it had fewer, but still

three thousand

.

Apparently, although this Nascent Soul expert was the

City Lord

, his cultivation expenses must’ve been massive, so he hadn’t accumulated as much as the business-savvy Mo Hongyun.

Even so, combined with what Lu Qing had already earned, he now possessed over

eleven thousand five hundred

mid-grade spirit stones.

That was a veritable treasure hoard!

Just a short while ago, he’d been worried about affording lodging at an inn.

Now he held over ten thousand mid-grade spirit stones in his hand—and his heart couldn’t help but surge with excitement.

It took him quite a while to calm back down.

At the same time, he quietly warned himself not to let success go to his head.

With his current wealth, not only would he be considered wealthy among Golden Core cultivators—he might even be better off than many

Nascent Soul powerhouses

.

If word got out, even a Nascent Soul expert might be tempted to rob him.

So he had to be extremely careful moving forward—never flaunting his wealth.

This wasn’t his home world anymore; he didn’t have the strength to sweep through everything unchallenged.

If he attracted the wrong attention, even one Nascent Soul powerhouse would be more than he could handle.

If that happened, all his joy would turn to disaster.

“Ah Qing, what’s got you grinning like that? You look like you’ve just struck gold,” came

Xiaoli’s

curious voice.

“Xiaoli, we’ve hit the jackpot this time!”

Lu Qing scooped up Xiaoli and enthusiastically ruffled her head, overflowing with joy.

The little thing rolled her eyes at him several times, but was clearly curious now.

“We hit the jackpot? That woman and the City Lord gave you that many spirit stones?”

“Mm. Between the Pavilion Master and the City Lord, plus what we earned before—guess how many spirit stones we have now?”

Lu Qing teased, playing coy.

“How many? Don’t tell me it’s… four or five thousand?” Xiaoli’s eyes lit up.

“No, no, no.” Lu Qing wagged a finger smugly. “We’ve got over

eleven thousand five hundred mid-grade spirit stones

!”

“Eleven thousand five hundred…”

Xiaoli stared in shock, eyes glazed.

Even though she rarely ventured out after entering the

Xiao Cang Realm

, she knew full well how outrageous that number was.

“Ah Qing, we really did strike it rich…” she murmured.

“Yeah. Most of that came from the Pavilion Master—she gave over six thousand mid-grade spirit stones,” Lu Qing added, mentally lumping Master Qiu’s stash in with

Mo Hongyun’s

gift.

After all, it was Mo Hongyun who had handed him Master Qiu’s storage pouch.

“That woman really is filthy rich,” Xiaoli muttered in awe.

“Oh right, Xiaoli—this is for you.”

Lu Qing suddenly picked up the storage ring and a chunk of

refined iron

.

He melted the metal with

True Fire

, forging a gleaming silver chain.

Then he slipped the ring onto it and hung it around Xiaoli’s neck.

“This storage ring has quite a large space inside. You can use it to store your own things—better than a Storage Pouch, which you’re not fond of anyway.

“I’ve already put

a hundred mid-grade spirit stones

inside.

“Use them freely for cultivation.”

Xiaoli stared blankly at the ring dangling in front of her chest.

When Lu Qing’s words sank in, she quickly protested, “Ah Qing, using spirit stones like that for cultivation—it’s way too extravagant!”

“Why worry? We’ve got plenty of spirit stones now.” Lu Qing laughed. “They’re valuable, yes—but only when converted into our own strength. Otherwise, they’re just things.

“The

Tianyuan Great World

is rich in

spiritual energy

, and it carries unique insights as well.

“For ordinary cultivation, that’s usually enough.

“But the

spiritual essence

within mid-grade spirit stones is far superior.

“So if you hit a bottleneck while cultivating, just use the spirit stones.

“We’re probably going to stay here for a while anyway.”

“Wait—Ah Qing, I thought you said you wanted to travel a bit? Why the sudden retreat?” Xiaoli asked, puzzled.

“That’s just what I tell outsiders. I didn’t expect the Pavilion Master and City Lord to gift us so many resources.

“Now that we’re well-stocked, our top priority is strengthening ourselves.

“Besides, Wuxing will need time to finish refining the bird.

“And didn’t you say you’re about to break through?

“Then let’s shut ourselves away and focus.”

After all, Lu Qing’s main reason for coming to the Tianyuan Great World was to improve his cultivation.

Widening his horizons was secondary.

Now that Mo Hongyun had unexpectedly gifted him such a vast trove of resources, he naturally intended to convert every bit of it into power.