Chapter 539: High-Grade Spirit Stone!

This was far beyond Qin Sang's expectations. He had initially thought the Ten Directions Yama Banner was Ancestor Kuiyin's natal magic treasure, but it turned out not to be.

The "Ancient Scroll of Nether Fiend" did not contain the method for refining the Ten Directions Yama Banner. Qin Sang withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip, pondered for a moment, and then suddenly remembered something. His gaze swept over the items before him, and he picked out a transparent, diamond-like fragment.

After studying the "Ancient Scroll of Nether Fiend," Qin Sang realized this fragment was likely from the Yin Thunder Orb, Daoist Jiupao's natal magic treasure, which had been shattered by the sect master's self-detonation at the Yuanzhao Gate.

"How tragic..." Qin Sang shook his head, feeling pity for Daoist Jiupao.

The Yin Thunder Orb, a perfectly good magic treasure, was not only shattered but reduced to a mere fingernail-sized piece, almost completely destroyed. No wonder he had never been able to repair his natal magic treasure; it was essentially equivalent to refining a new one from scratch.

Qin Sang examined it briefly, then tossed the fragment aside. He lacked the means to gather so many precious spiritual materials to repair the Yin Thunder Orb. Even if he could repair it, he wouldn't. It's difficult to truly make someone else's natal magic treasure your own; its power would always be diminished. It would be better to refine a new one himself. Furthermore, the Yin Thunder Orb's maximum power could only be unleashed when used in conjunction with the "Ancient Scroll of Nether Fiend." If used by others, its power would be even weaker.

Setting aside the "Ancient Scroll of Nether Fiend," Qin Sang patiently flipped through each jade slip, but even after going through all of them, he still didn't find the refining method for the Ten Directions Yama Banner. Qin Sang frowned inwardly. Ancestor Kuiyin must have passed down the secret method; otherwise, Daoist Jiupao couldn't have repaired the Ten Directions Yama Banner. The Kuiyin Sect had existed for many years, but after Ancestor Kuiyin's death, they had never been able to complete the Ten Directions Yama Banner with all ten poles. This was likely due to their inability to find new Nine Nether Demonic Flames.

"Oh?" Qin Sang suddenly caught sight of a dark, 'Xuan-iron'-like object. His heart stirred, and he summoned it over, discovering that it was made of the same material as the pole of the Ten Directions Yama Banner! This piece of 'Xuan-iron' was indeed quite large, shaped like a regular cylinder, half a person tall and thick enough to be encircled by both arms. If used to refine banner poles, it could probably make over a dozen of them. In truth, describing it as 'Xuan-iron' wasn't entirely accurate; its material was neither truly iron nor stone, but very peculiar, unlike anything Qin Sang had ever seen before. Moreover, the 'Xuan-iron' pillar's shape was too regular to be naturally formed; it seemed to have been artificially refined. He had been cultivating in the immortal world for many years now, no longer the ignorant young cultivator he once was, yet he had never heard of a similar material.

Qin Sang attempted to activate his true essence and melt the object, but it didn't leave even the slightest mark. When he took out the Ten Directions Yama Banner and used the Nine Nether Demonic Flames to try and refine it, he was surprised to find that the Nine Nether Demonic Flames seemed to be afraid of the 'Xuan-iron' pillar, recoiling timidly. Witnessing this, Qin Sang was certain that the flagpoles of the Ten Directions Yama Banner were indeed refined from similar 'Xuan-iron' pillars!

"What about the banner face?" Qin Sang immediately searched extensively but found nothing similar.

"It seems I'll have to wait until I have ample time to study it slowly," Qin Sang thought to himself. "However, this 'Xuan-iron' pillar is definitely not simple. Once I figure out what material it is, I might be able to refine a magic treasure with unique functions. Daoist Jiupao's annotations on the Yin Profound Pagoda in the 'Ancient Scroll of Nether Fiend' seem to partially relate to this 'Xuan-iron' pillar. Was he planning to use it to refine the Yin Profound Pagoda? Unfortunately, there are only a few lines, with no mention of how to melt the 'Xuan-iron' pillar..." He told himself to be more careful when using the Ten Directions Yama Banner in the future, and not to destroy this pole again.

Daoist Jiupao was surprisingly poor; apart from this 'Xuan-iron' pillar, there were no other treasures that could surprise Qin Sang. All that remained of what he had taken back then was that pile of jade slips. It seemed that gathering healing spiritual medicines and establishing the Demonic Flame Sect had completely drained his fortune.

Inside the iron wrench-ring, there were still many various healing pills. Qin Sang categorized and stored them carefully, then found two talisman treasures. Qin Sang no longer thought much of talisman treasures; the two magic treasures and the Ten Directions Yama Formation he possessed were far more powerful, but he still carefully put them away. He then opened his mustard seed bag and transferred all its contents into the iron wrench-ring.

Finally, a pile of spirit stones remained on the ground. Qin Sang's spiritual sense swept over them, and his expression suddenly changed, revealing extreme surprise. With a wave of his hand, he drew four spirit stones from the pile: one dark yellow, one light green, and two crimson! Each of these four spirit stones had a spiritual sealing restriction on it.

Qin Sang eagerly picked out one of the crimson spirit stones and carefully opened a small crack in its restriction. Immediately, an astonishingly pure and potent spiritual energy surged forth. Qin Sang took a deep breath, his face filled with enchantment, and he couldn't help but exclaim, "This is a top-grade spirit stone!"

After so many years in the cultivation world, this was the first time Qin Sang had ever personally seen a top-grade spirit stone. In the cultivation world, the common rule stated that one top-grade spirit stone could be exchanged for a hundred mid-grade spirit stones, but actually trying to make such an exchange with a hundred mid-grade spirit stones was wishful thinking! Peak-grade spirit stones were only legendary; even in the ancient cultivation world, they were rare treasures.

In the current cultivation world of the Small Cold Region, any spirit stone mines containing top-grade spirit stones had long been exhausted. It was said that such pure spiritual energy was easily detected, and without restrictive seals, it couldn't hide underground. If not for the occasional newly discovered secret realms in the Ancient Immortal Battlefield, which might yield a few top-grade spirit stones with luck, top-grade spirit stones would likely be even rarer now. Even these few weren't enough to go around; they were mostly divided among the major sects, with very few circulating outside. This was because many powerful spirit formations and restrictions, especially ancient ones discovered in those secret realms, absolutely required top-grade spirit stones. Without top-grade or peak-grade spirit stones, even the most powerful spirit formations and restrictions could only be shelved. Additionally, when engaging in combat, using top-grade spirit stones would allow for faster recovery, potentially enabling one to rely on this advantage to counter-kill an opponent.

"I knew that old ghost Jiupao couldn't have absconded with the Kuiyin Sect's treasures and ended up so poor!" Qin Sang was visibly excited, caressing the four top-grade spirit stones with great fondness. The Kuiyin Sect was only a few hundred years old, and Ancestor Kuiyin's legacy hadn't been fully depleted, so it wasn't surprising to find top-grade spirit stones.

"No wonder that old ghost, even after his magic treasure was damaged and he was severely injured, was still so formidable, almost destroying the Flying Yaksha. So he had top-grade spirit stones! His final explosion was probably also powered by top-grade spirit stones. However..." Qin Sang murmured to himself, somewhat perplexed, "This old ghost carried four top-grade spirit stones. Why didn't he use them to buy healing pills? Was he afraid of exposing his identity and treasures?"

Qin Sang shook his head, unable to understand Daoist Jiupao's reasoning. It was also possible there were originally more than four, and Daoist Jiupao had already used some to buy pills. After admiring them for a while, Qin Sang carefully put them away. Cultivating with top-grade spirit stones would certainly be faster, but it would be too wasteful. He couldn't think of any other use for these top-grade spirit stones for now, besides rapid recovery during combat, but such treasures were definitely something to have more of.