Chapter 468: Spirit Artifact! Five Magnetic Element Mountains

Everyone present was stunned by Ouyang Jun's words.

Fu Chaojun was startled, "Junior Brother Ouyang, are you sure you're not mistaken? A demon beast at the peak of the Ninth Core Formation stage—that's one of the Four Demon Kings under the Demon Emperor!"

An existence at the level of a Demon King has a status comparable to that of Elder Xu Qingyang from the Nine Sects. It's hard to believe anyone could wound a Demon King, let alone how its claw ended up in the hands of a mere junior disciple!

Ouyang Jun carefully took the claw from Jiang Fan's hand. He held it in his palm, examining it repeatedly, his brows etched with excitement.

"There's no mistake! Absolutely no mistake!" he exclaimed. "This concentrated, unyielding demonic energy could only come from a demon beast at the peak of the Ninth Core Formation stage. Junior Brother Jiang, are you truly willing to sell it?"

Jiang Fan replied, "It depends on what Senior Brother Ouyang intends to offer in exchange." He had no real use for the Sky-Devouring Tiger's claw anyway. He might as well exchange it for something useful from Ouyang Jun.

Ouyang Jun immediately unslung his satchel and opened it. "Choose whatever you want!"

The dazzling array of hidden weapons made Xie Liushu and Fu Chaojun's eyes gleam with envy. All of them were highly suitable for the current beast tide, especially the thermobaric iron pellets. They had a wide killing range and required minimal spiritual energy to activate. With enough of them, no matter how many beast kings appeared, they would surely meet their demise.

Jiang Fan glanced over the items and said, "Senior Brother Ouyang, are you planning to trade just these for my Demon King's claw?" The items were good, but clearly not equivalent to a beast claw of that caliber.

Ouyang Jun gave an awkward smile. After a moment of hesitation, he said, "Junior Brother Jiang, come over here for a moment." He walked behind an ice stalagmite and spoke mysteriously.

Jiang Fan casually walked over, only to see Ouyang Jun, with his back to the others, carefully take out a necklace from around his neck. Then, he softly chanted a spell. With a flash of white light, a palm-sized, five-colored stone appeared in his palm. It was unusually heavy. The moment it was taken out, Ouyang Jun's hand couldn't hold it, and it fell to the ground with a thud. The ground trembled, drawing expressions of surprise and suspicion from Fu Chaojun and the others.

Jiang Fan was astonished. He bent down to pick it up. The moment he grasped it, he was slightly surprised. Even with his physical strength, he had to embrace it with both arms to lift it. Moreover, holding it was extremely strenuous. Before long, he couldn't sustain the effort and reluctantly placed it back on the ground.

"What kind of stone is this? How can it be so heavy?" Jiang Fan asked, his face full of wonder. This fist-sized stone felt no less heavy than a small hill.

Ouyang Jun's eyes showed a strange glint, and he clucked in admiration as he observed Jiang Fan: "Junior Brother Jiang truly possesses divine strength! To be able to lift it so easily. This isn't a stone. It's a mountain, originally named Five Magnetic Elemental Mountain."

Jiang Fan looked at the palm-sized stone, his face full of confusion.

Ouyang Jun explained, "Don't let its small size deceive you. Once, it was a small mountain ten zhang tall. A mysterious Nascent Soul powerful expert refined it into a fist-sized artifact."

Jiang Fan was slightly startled. An artifact personally refined by a Nascent Soul expert? His eyes lit up: "Then, what is its grade?"

Ouyang Jun's gaze flickered slightly. He cleared his throat. "As for its grade... when intimidating enemies, you can treat it as a spiritual artifact to scare them. When using it, just treat it as a high-grade artifact."

"Uh..." Jiang Fan muttered, "What kind of talk is that?"

Ouyang Jun awkwardly explained, "To be honest, the Five Magnetic Elemental Mountain is indeed a true spiritual artifact in terms of its grade. However, the conditions to activate it are extremely stringent. It requires the soul power of a Nascent Soul realm cultivator, and even more, a masterful technique for soul manipulation. Even our Thousand Refinement Sect's patriarch, who obtained the Five Magnetic Elemental Mountain, and the current Heavenly Secret Pavilion Master, who came specifically to try and activate this spiritual artifact, both failed. The Heavenly Secret Pavilion Master's soul power was sufficient, but his soul manipulation technique didn't meet the requirements."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Fan's heart began to pound. Even if his soul power hadn't reached the Nascent Soul level, it likely wasn't far off. As for soul manipulation techniques, Jiang Fan, having cultivated the 'Taiyi Soul Art', would most likely meet the requirements. Of course, he couldn't show it. Instead, he showed a hint of dissatisfaction: "Are you saying this is a useless spiritual artifact?"

Ouyang Jun said awkwardly, "It's not entirely useless. Although its full power cannot be activated, you've witnessed its immense weight. If used properly, it can easily crush opponents at the Fifth Core Formation stage to death. Of course, it requires someone with natural divine strength, like Junior Brother Jiang. For anyone else, even if they wanted it, I'd first have to consider if they could even lift this mountain."

Jiang Fan's heart was already pounding wildly. What did it mean for a windfall to drop from the sky? This was it! A spiritual artifact, practically given away for free!

He furrowed his brows, appearing very hesitant, and muttered, "A Demon King's material for just a stone to smash people with? No matter how I look at it, it's a loss."

Ouyang Jun urgently said, "Junior Brother Jiang, consider this a favor I owe you. I traveled a thousand miles to kill demon beasts this time, and to prevent any accidental death, the sect kept all my important treasures within its grounds. They only provided me with some offensive and defensive artifacts. This Five Magnetic Elemental Mountain, the sect actually asked me to deliver it to the Giant Sect, saying an elder there wanted to buy it. That's why I'm carrying it. I truly have nothing else valuable to trade."

The Five Magnetic Elemental Mountain had been kept in the Thousand Refinement Sect for centuries, completely useless. The sect had long intended to dispose of it. They had tried to sell it many times but found no buyers. It was a rare opportunity that Elder Fan Xingkong of the Giant Sect wanted to trade for it. The sect immediately agreed and entrusted the mountain to Ouyang Jun to carry; he was supposed to negotiate a price with Fan Xingkong when he had time. Now, with Jiang Fan presenting an incredibly valuable piece of Demon King material, Ouyang Jun was immediately tempted. This type of material was more than enough to refine top-grade artifacts. It was a treasure rarely found across the Nine Sect territories. The price Fan Xingkong could offer would definitely be far less than this beast claw.

Jiang Fan pondered for a moment before relenting, "Alright. Considering your Mourning Frost Sword has helped me quite a bit, this trade is temporarily settled. I hope that afterward, you can compensate me with one or two high-grade artifacts."

Hearing this, Ouyang Jun was overjoyed and immediately said, "Junior Brother Jiang, since you're so generous, how could I be stingy? There's no need to talk about 'one or two items'. When I return to Sunset City, I will personally forge four high-grade artifacts for you!"

Jiang Fan nodded. He handed the beast claw to Ouyang Jun and then picked up the Five Magnetic Elemental Mountain himself.

Seeing this, Ouyang Jun kindly offered, "Junior Brother Jiang, this item is too heavy; carrying it by hand will be a burden. If you trust me, how about I hold onto it for you temporarily? When I left the sect this time, they gave me a miniature storage artifact specifically to carry the Five Magnetic Elemental Mountain."

Jiang Fan showed an envious expression: "I already guessed that necklace was a spatial storage artifact."

Ouyang Jun said with a hint of pride, "Our Thousand Refinement Sect's patriarch discovered this along with the Five Magnetic Elemental Mountain. Although its internal space is only fist-sized, among the Nine Sects, only our Thousand Refinement Sect possesses a spatial storage artifact." He paused. He then said, "Come, put it into my necklace."

Jiang Fan replied, "No need to be polite, I have my own way." With that, he strenuously lifted it into his embrace. Then, he released his hands and exhaled, withdrawing them.

Ouyang Jun stared at Jiang Fan's empty hands. Then he looked at Jiang Fan's chest. Ouyang Jun blinked. It took him a while to realize what had happened, and he exclaimed in shock: "You have spatial..."