Chapter 1975: 仇池

Unfortunately, he didn't have enough information to investigate further, so he could only put the Soul-Shattering Banner away for now.

Finally, he released the drop of Oblivion Water. A murky, blood-yellow droplet floated in mid-air.

The other two weapons were easy to deal with, but this one was a bit troublesome.

It seemed the War Priest knew the value of the Oblivion Water, as he had imprinted his core spiritual mark upon it.

Unlike the spiritual mark on the Soul-Shattering Banner, which had been damaged by the Violet-Gold Alms Bowl, Zu An currently lacked the power to erase the War Priest's spiritual mark on his own.

Ultimately, he wasn't particularly skilled in mental-type techniques.

He had tried using attacks like "Hundred Cries" on the mark, but unfortunately, they were useless.

Gradually, he realized that what remained on the Oblivion Water wasn't merely a spiritual imprint, but a mysterious contract that he couldn't yet comprehend.

The Oblivion Water was incredibly powerful, and he was reluctant to keep it hidden away. Especially with the current demon invasion, every opportunity to increase his strength had to be seized.

Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he summoned Mo Xi.

Mo Xi's "Farewell to Nanchao" had the ability to sever contracts, but its successful activation required specific conditions. If both parties were willing, Mo Xi's level needed to be at least one major realm higher than the lower-ranked party in the contract.

If either party was unwilling, her level needed to be at least equal to one of their realms.

He still wondered how she had severed the connection between the Violet-Gold Alms Bowl and the monk last time. It seemed the Alms Bowl itself had cooperated fully.

The Violet-Gold Alms Bowl was indeed mysterious. This time, it had even damaged the War Priest's Soul-Shattering Banner, and after its successful repair, he was well aware of how formidable the banner truly was.

Zu An dismissed his wandering thoughts and continued to ponder the "Farewell to Nanchao" ability.

Unfortunately, the Oblivion Water clearly had no sentience, so it couldn't actively cooperate like the Violet-Gold Alms Bowl.

He also wondered whether the act of erasing the spiritual mark on the Oblivion Water would be considered voluntary or involuntary.

Normally, it would definitely be involuntary, but since the War Priest was dead and couldn't object, the spiritual mark would surely be affected to some extent.

Yet, even in a voluntary scenario, the gap between Mo Xi and the War Priest was far more than one major realm.

"Wait," he thought, "increasing the level of 'Farewell to Nanchao' can also influence the outcome. Each level up adds 0.2 major realms to Mo Xi's effective level for the calculation."

If maxed out, it could add 2 major realms to the calculation.

Over this period, he had almost exhausted all his money and resources, but it had paid off: Daji and Mo Xi had both reached the pinnacle of the ninth rank.

If he could add another 3 major realms, a successful outcome might be possible.

He closed his eyes and explored the keyboard system, quickly learning what materials Mo Xi needed to upgrade her skill.

Like Daji, basic Spirit Gathering Pills and silver as a medium were certainly required.

Additionally, two special materials were needed: Crystalline Dew and fragments of Bronze Wine Goblets.

At first glance, Zu An was delighted. "Dew? Wine goblets? These sound like common, easily obtainable items, don't they?"

However, a closer look at the material descriptions showed him he had been too optimistic.

Crystalline Dew wasn't just clean rainwater collected during a rainfall. It referred to the precious, shimmering dew used to brew the exquisite wine in the enormous wine pool that King Jie of Xia had built to please Mo Xi.

The fine wine in the pool was brewed from a rare Crystalline Dew of that era.

Even during the Xia Dynasty, Crystalline Dew was an extremely rare treasure. Where could he possibly find it now?

As for the fragments of Bronze Wine Goblets, these were special wine vessels used by King Jie of Xia and Mo Xi when feasting with their officials. Only these goblets could hold the unique wine from the wine pool.

Zu An couldn't help but inwardly grumble. Both materials were related to alcohol. "This woman truly is a drunkard," he thought.

He immediately got a headache. Even if he returned to the Xia Dynasty secret realm, he might not find either item.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him. He brought up a long-dormant sub-system within the keyboard system: the Shop System.

In the early days, he had rarely used it because the items were too expensive and less cost-effective than what he could obtain through other channels, and some peculiar goods had unknown uses.

He scrolled through the various items and, sure enough, found "Crystalline Dew" and "Bronze Wine Goblet fragments."

The Bronze Wine Goblet fragments were relatively cheap at 1,000 Rage points per piece, though a significant quantity was needed to upgrade the skill.

Crystalline Dew was expensive, costing 50,000 points per drop, but fortunately, only a small amount was required.

Zu An checked his current Rage points, which totaled 201,360. He decided to first buy 62 Bronze Wine Goblet fragments, as Crystalline Dew was only needed for upgrades after the skill reached level 6.

Feeling the unique texture of the Bronze Wine Goblet fragments in his hand, Zu An felt a sense of bewilderment. Who had created this keyboard system, capable of containing such physical objects?

Recalling Mi Li's vague statements, he realized that even the awakening of this so-called keyboard system within him was probably no coincidence.

Someone seemed to want to manipulate his destiny. The only thing he could do now was strive to become stronger!

He quickly invested various resources into Mo Xi to upgrade her "Farewell to Nanchao" skill. Fortunately, he had received two sums of money from Bi Linglong and Liu Ning earlier.

Otherwise, he wouldn't even have had enough silver to upgrade the skill now.

Mo Xi's "Farewell to Nanchao" skill quickly rose to level 6, consuming a total of 48 Spirit Gathering Pills, 62 Bronze Wine Goblet fragments, and 107,500 taels of silver.

It stopped at level 6 because Zu An discovered that further upgrades required Mo Xi herself to break through to the Grandmaster realm.

He took a chance and had Mo Xi try to sever the mark on the Oblivion Water right then, but as expected, it failed the assessment.

It seemed he would have to first raise Mo Xi to the Grandmaster realm.

The reason he had been stuck at this point before, besides having nearly exhausted his resources, was the lack of a special material: the Profound Light Golden Silkworm!

Normal elemental cultivators in the world required different materials when breaking through to the Grandmaster realm. For instance, fire-element cultivators needed Fiery Glazed Glass, and metal-element cultivators needed Cat's Eye Golden Pearls.

Daji was likely fire-element, and Mo Xi metal-element, yet the materials they needed to break through to Grandmaster were completely different from what others required.

For Mo Xi, in addition to materials like Iridescent Cloud Secret Stones and Rainbow Thunder Jade Badger Cores needed for levels one through nine, the special material required was the Profound Light Golden Silkworm.

The silk produced by these silkworms resembled golden threads. When woven into silk, it shimmered with profound light and was incredibly beautiful.

Moreover, tearing it produced a clanging sound like metal striking metal. Back then, Mo Xi's favorite pastime was tearing silk, and this particular sound pleased her even more than ordinary silk.

"What a spendthrift woman!"

He had previously tasked the Embroidered Envoy with investigating, and they had indeed found clues about this item.

According to legend, a type of golden silkworm, very similar to his description, had been seen near Mount Chou a few decades ago.

No further information was available because Mount Chou was beyond the reach of imperial power—it was the headquarters of the Demonic Cult!