Chapter 248: Secret Treasury

Upon closer inspection, several ribs of the human skeleton were broken, and its left arm was missing, suggesting it had sustained severe injuries in life. Wang Qingshan flicked his wrist, sending a large swathe of green sword energy sweeping out, which shattered the human skeleton.

He put away the leopard puppet beast, then controlled the ape puppet to retrieve the green jade box and the green incense burner.

Inside the jade box was a green storage bag, which contained a large number of items. What excited Wang Qingshan were several gleaming magical artifacts; clearly, their spiritual essence had been well preserved thanks to proper storage.

There were four artifacts: two high-grade and two low-grade. In addition, there were over five thousand spirit stones and more than a dozen jade slips.

Wang Qingshan examined the contents of each jade slip one by one. To his surprise, one green jade slip recorded a secret history of the Incense Burning Sect.

According to the jade slip, the Incense Burning Sect was originally established by three rogue cultivators who joined forces to support each other and facilitate resource gathering.

Among the three, Yang Lian had the highest cultivation. They typically engaged in murder and treasure appropriation. However, as their group grew, the other two became discontent with the distribution of wealth and frequently complained.

Yang Lian had long been prepared; he set up a secret vault, hiding most of his accumulated wealth there. Only he and his two sons knew its location.

During one operation, two Foundation Establishment cultivators colluded with outsiders, setting up a formation to ambush Yang Lian.

Yang Lian fought hard to break through the formation and escape the encirclement, though he was severely wounded with pursuers close behind.

To cover the escape of his two sons, Yang Lian stayed behind to cover their retreat, ultimately dying at the hands of his pursuers. His two sons were also separated as a result.

The owner of the cave abode was Yang Zhong, Yang Lian's youngest son. At the time, he was at the Qi Condensation stage and knew he was no match for his opponents. He contacted several Incense Burning Sect disciples loyal to Yang Lian, promising them great rewards to attack the Medicine King Valley disciples. Their luck was poor; they ran into trouble. Only Yang Zhong escaped severely wounded, though they did manage to kill two Medicine King Valley disciples. This incident enraged the Medicine King Valley, which then sent forces to eradicate the Incense Burning Sect.

After escaping back to the secret vault, Yang Zhong knew his time was short, so he specifically recorded this event. He was unaware that the Incense Burning Sect had already been wiped out by the Medicine King Valley and hoped that any cultivator who later discovered the secret vault would avenge Yang Lian.

“The Incense Burning Sect! This is quite a windfall for me,” Wang Qingshan muttered to himself, feeling incredibly excited.

With this stash of spirit stones, he would have no problem cultivating to the ninth level of Qi Condensation. As for Foundation Establishment, he would need to rely on his clan's assistance.

Most of the dozen-plus jade slips contained cultivation methods. Among them was an unranked cultivation art, the 'Thousand Sounds Scripture,' a musical cultivation method that could be practiced from the first level of Qi Condensation up to the third level of Core Formation.

Cultivation methods are one of the guarantees for a sect's and clan's legacy. A good cultivation method is worth far more than a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Although the 'Thousand Sounds Scripture' was unranked, being able to cultivate to the third level of Core Formation was already very good. Without a Core Formation stage cultivation method, one would have to search for a suitable one after successfully forming a core.

Whether it was a sect disciple or a cultivation clan member, everyone placed great importance on the transmission of cultivation methods. They would never carry cultivation methods when traveling; they typically memorized them. After all, cultivators had excellent memories, so there was no need to inscribe them on jade slips or books to carry around.

“Ninth Aunt seems to cultivate a musical cultivation method. This 'Thousand Sounds Scripture' should be suitable for her,” Wang Qingshan murmured to himself, then put away all the items. After carefully checking twice to ensure nothing was missed, he walked out.

Deep within the Flying Phoenix Mountain Range, in a patch of green bamboo forest, Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan walked slowly, with the Two-Pupil Mouse perched on Wang Changsheng's shoulder.

It had been over two months. Relying on the Two-Pupil Mouse's keen sense of smell, they had found five hundred-year-old Jade Luo Flowers. As for four-hundred-year-old Jade Luo Flowers, there was no sign of them.

“Husband, the auction will start in seven days. Let's search for a bit longer, and if we still can't find it, we should return to Flying Phoenix Valley first, attend the grand auction, and then resume our search!” Wang Ruyan suggested.

“Mmm, I was thinking the same thing. To be honest, I…” Before Wang Changsheng could finish speaking, a tremendous booming sound echoed from ahead.

Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan exchanged glances, their faces filled with wariness.

Hearing the booming sound, the Two-Pupil Mouse quickly darted back into the spirit beast pouch, poking its head out with its dark, gleaming eyes darting around.

“Such a coward,” Wang Changsheng chuckled softly, patted the Two-Pupil Mouse's head, summoned the Blue Lotus Boat, and boarded it with Wang Ruyan.

After he cast a spell, the Blue Lotus Boat rapidly ascended and flew towards the direction of the booming sound.

Beyond the bamboo forest lay a vast expanse of green grassland.

Dozens of green demon wolves were besieging a middle-aged Daoist priest. Wang Changsheng drew closer and saw that the Daoist priest was none other than Pan Sheng.

Leading them was a high-grade second-tier Twin-Headed Demon Wolf, along with five low-grade second-tier demon wolves and over thirty first-tier demon wolves. They continuously spat green wind blades at Pan Sheng.

Pan Sheng's face was extremely pale, and he appeared to be running low on spiritual power. He held a small green umbrella above his head and controlled four green flying swords, temporarily fending off the green demon wolves. Dozens of first-tier demon wolves lay in pools of blood.

He had run out of escape talismans, and unless something unexpected happened, he probably wouldn't be able to leave.

He seemed to sense something and looked up towards the sky. Seeing Wang Changsheng and Wang Ruyan, he was immediately overjoyed and quickly said, “Fellow Daoist Wang, please lend us your assistance. This humble Daoist will surely repay you handsomely.”

“Fellow Daoist Pan, my wife and I still need to search for Jade Luo Flowers. We don't have time to delay here,” Wang Changsheng stated. He would not save Pan Sheng without tangible benefits.

Hearing this, Pan Sheng inwardly groaned in distress. After a moment of hesitation, he gritted his teeth and said, “Fellow Daoist Wang, I know where there are four-hundred-year-old Jade Luo Flowers. If you are willing to help me, I will tell you their location.”

“You know? Then why haven't you collected them? At a time like this, are you still trying to hide something?”

Pan Sheng gave a bitter smile and said, “I just discovered them myself. There are two Twin-Headed Flame Crows there. I killed one low-grade second-tier one, but there's still a high-grade second-tier one. With your combined strength, you can definitely kill that high-grade second-tier Twin-Headed Flame Crow.”

“Awooo!” The wolf king let out a strange roar, opening its mouth to spew two giant wind blades, each over two zhang (about 6.6 meters) long. The other demon wolves followed suit.

In an instant, hundreds of green wind blades rained down from all directions.

Pan Sheng was instantly terrified out of his wits and hastily cried out, “Fellow Daoist Wang, please help quickly! That place is very secret. If I don't tell you, by the time you find it, someone else might have already gotten there first.”

As he spoke, he summoned a palm-sized green shield. It grew larger as it met the wind, then blocked in front of him.

After a series of dull crackling sounds, the green shield blocked all the wind blades, but dozens of cracks appeared on its surface, and its light dimmed.

For a low-grade defensive artifact, it had performed remarkably well.

“Wife, let's act!” Wang Changsheng formed a hand seal, and a large number of blue light specks appeared in the void, transforming into thousands of white ice needles.