Qin Yun scanned the surrounding mountain range as his sword intent domain penetrated area after area.
“I’ll tell you only after you make that vow. If not, I’ll take it to my grave and that treasure will remain something you’ll never be able to find.” Qin Yun remembered the words Azure Wing Demon King said before he was killed.
“Something I will never be able to find? From the looks of it, this treasure is very difficult to find.”
Qin Yun pondered over the matter. He had searched all the mountains around Azure Wing Demon King’s residence but found nothing. “Strange, why didn’t he carry such a powerful treasure on him?”
Most cultivators or great demons would carry their most important treasures on them!
They ran the risk of having them stolen by placing them anywhere else.
“Furthermore, he was unable to tell the treasure’s grade.” Qin Yun was perplexed. If it were an ordinary Dharma treasure, one could easily determine if it was a first-grade or transcendent-grade Dharma treasure.
“Either the treasure is too special, such as the Other Realm Fiendcelestial’s corpse, or it is fraught with danger. He did not dare bring it around with him and hid it instead. If not that, then he only knows a little about the treasure but it is not in his possession.” Qin Yun shook his head. “And there’s another possibility… He deliberately fabricated the story in order to survive.”
He failed to find it after another round of searching.
And from afar, the cultivators from Black Turtle Palace were flying over on a cloud.
“Forget it, so what if I can’t find it. What’s most important now is to quickly deal with Nine Mountain Island Lord,” thought Qin Yun.
“Sword Immortal Qin.”
The group of cultivators from the Black Turtle Palace flew over. All of them looked at Qin Yun with reverential fear.
“Thank you, Sword Immortal Qin, for ridding our Cloud Prefecture of this great fiendish demon.” The cultivators bowed and said politely. Some of the cultivators were filled with excitement and gratefulness. They had vendettas with Azure Wing Demon King.
“Sorry for leaving the cleaning up to all of you fellow Daoists from the Black Turtle Palace,” said Qin Yun with a smile.
“It’s nothing at all. Now that Azure Wing Demon King is dead, the remaining demons are not even worth mentioning.” The goateed man waved his hand and said, “All of you, hurry and vanquish the lesser demons. These lesser demons were the Azure Wing Demon King’s minions and they have tormented humans. There is no need to spare them.”
“Yes.”
The Connate realm disciples of the Black Turtle Palace echoed in unison.
Apart from the goateed man who was at the Connate Golden Core realm, the remaining disciples were at the Connate True Core or False Core. Raiding a demon lair and exterminating the lesser demons was naturally easy. After all, the more powerful demons had been killed by Qin Yun.
“I have something to tend to. I’ll be making a move first,” said Qin Yun. With that, he transformed into a beam of light that flew towards the distant boat.
The goateed man watched from afar as he sighed secretly. “For him to easily kill the Azure Wing Demon King, it probably means Sword Immortal Qin has stepped into the Dao! Out of all the beings, the humans, demons, Water race… Sword Immortal Qin is one of the three strongest people in the world. But from the looks of it, the Dao he gained insight in isn’t considered strong.”
Qin Yun was considered very ordinary among those who had stepped into the Dao.
…
Sou!
Qin Yun landed on the boat.
“Brother Yun, what were you investigating when you circled the mountains?” Yi Xiao asked curiously.
“Before Azure Wing Demon King died, he said he had a powerful treasure. He said he would only tell me about it if I spared his life,” replied Qin Yun with a smile. “I was using my sword intent domain to search the main areas he stayed and cultivated in but found nothing. From the looks of it, he might have been fabricating the treasure in order to survive.”
Yi Xiao nodded. “Powerful treasures are usually carried on one’s person. How many people would leave them elsewhere? It was probably a lie.”
Ao Xue was more and more satisfied with Qin Yun as she looked at him.
Her son-in-law’s strength made him one of the top three in the world! Although immortals and fiendcelestials were more powerful, they did not dare violate the heavenly rules. She was very pleased and relieved that her daughter had found such a husband.
“Xiaoxiao, Mother, I’ll be returning to Jiang Prefecture,” said Qin Yun immediately. “My strength has been exposed and the Inspector Heavenly Alliance likely knows of it already. It will also spread among the fiendish demons but that will take time. Furthermore, some fiendish demons might not abandon their lairs just yet. I want to rush to Jiang Prefecture’s Nine Mountain Island as soon as possible and attempt to slay Nine Mountain Island Lord.”
Although he was aware that he only had a ten or twenty percent chance of killing Nine Mountain Island Lord, he still wanted to try.
He hoped that Nine Mountain Island Lord had yet to flee!
“Leave quickly. Dealing with Nine Mountain Island Lord is of utmost importance,” said Yi Xiao.
“Qin Yun, with your flying arts, you should reach Nine Mountain Island in an hour. Perhaps, Nine Mountain Island Lord is still in his lair.” Ao Xue nodded.
“Alright.”
Qin Yun nodded and immediately streaked through the sky in the form of a beam. He headed east, straight for Jiang Prefecture.
Ao Xue and Yi Xiao looked up to watch him depart.
“I hope Brother Yun can kill that Nine Mountain Island Lord,” muttered Yi Xiao. “The death of Brother Yun’s sister has always left a mental scar on him! And it was all because of Nine Mountain Island Lord.”
“I heard that Nine Mountain Island Lord is a massive mountain and his body’s strength matches that of the Paramount realm. The outcome of Qin Yun attempting to kill Nine Mountain Island Lord while he is in his lair could go either way,” said Ao Xue.
…
The goateed man flew into a depression in the mountains. The massive mantis corpse was there.
“Here lies the great Azure Wing Demon King, dead. Awesome!” The goateed man laughed as he looked at the corpse, especially the mantis demon’s sharp gigantic saber arms. “Sword Immortal Qin sure doesn’t bother with a lot of things. He abandoned such a huge fiendish demon corpse. This is a demon that cultivated in a Fiendbody. Its body makes for very rare materials. If these saber arms are harvested, they can be easily refined into a fourth or fifth-grade Dharma treasure. Even the body itself makes for good materials for the refinement of pills and weapons.”
The ordinary demon corpses could be ignored.
But with more powerful demons, especially those that cultivated a Fiendbody, meaning that they had spent immense resources to cultivate their bodies, their bodies were extremely precious.
“Kill! Kill!”
“Quickly run!”
Countless demons were fleeing the mountains. The Black Turtle Palace disciples showed no mercy as they slaughtered them.
The Black Turtle Palace called this prefecture their home, after all. They had seen too many incidents of these demons wreaking havoc. Many humans had died under their hands. Now, they naturally showed no mercy when killing them. However, demons had all sorts of tricks and means at their disposal. Some could burrow into the ground, fly into the sky, or swim. Ten minutes later, about ten percent of the lesser demons finally escaped while the rest were completely annihilated.
After the wipeout, the Black Turtle Palace disciples began to carefully probe the demon lair in search of treasures.
They received large amounts of treasures if they succeeded in ridding a place of evil. And according to the rules, the treasures they obtained in the demon lair were theirs for the keeping.
“Junior Brother Jiao, you go that side while I search this area,” said a middle-aged Daoist.
“Alright.” Another young Connate False Core Daoist nodded with a smile.
They naturally needed to search the entire demon lair. After all, cultivation required treasures and resources.
The middle-aged Daoist followed a path on the mountainside and quickly entered a somewhat hidden cave.
“Oh?” The middle-aged Daoist looked at the cave and carefully searched the area. “There’s nothing at all?”
He immediately turned to leave.
“In here…”
“In here…”
A sharp voice rang in his mind.
The middle-aged Daoist was alarmed. “Who’s there?”
“Thirty feet in front of you, dig about ten feet deep and you will be able to see me,” said the sharp voice.
“Oh?” The middle-aged Daoist frowned. He looked to be middle-aged but he was at the Connate True Core realm and had cultivated for more than two centuries. He had survived long enough to not be dumb.
“Let me take a look.”
Although he cultivated in the Physical Establishing Sage, he sent his Dharmic powers surging out to condense a gigantic palm in midair. Boom! The Dharmic powered palm dug up the rocky ground and soon excavated a dry pool at the bottom where there sat a green jade bottle.
The green jade bottle flickered with a halo.
“You are this bottle?” The middle-aged Daoist was puzzled.
“I’m this treasure bottle’s Item Spirit. I was severely damaged in ancient times,” said the jade bottle with a voice transmission.
“Item Spirit?” The middle-aged Daoist was shocked. Treasures that could produce an Item Spirit were Numinous treasures.
He immediately trickled some of his Dharmic powers into the bottle but found it to be empty. He found it difficult to probe.
The jade bottle continued, “You are still too weak. There’s no way you can control me. However, I can aid your cultivation. You are currently at the Connate True Core realm. I can guarantee you that you can attain the Golden Core realm in three years. In the future, there is even some chance of you condensing an Essence Soul to become immortal.”
“What? Attain the Golden Core in three years?” The middle-aged Daoist was immediately moved.
He could only live for three hundred years and he was already two hundred years old, an age considered ordinary among the Connate True Core realm disciples in the Black Turtle Palace. He did not even become an Azure-token Inspector Heavenly Ambassador. He had no hopes of reaching the Golden Core realm with his current potential.
At that moment, the middle-aged Daoist made the decision. “This treasure bottle is solely the opportunity of me, Yu Shiqi. I cannot let anyone else know about it!”
Inside the bottle, the spirit thought to itself.
“Hehehe, humans. As long as they have desires, they will ultimately be obediently used by me.” The existence inside the bottle was secretly delighted. “That sword immortal from before was truly powerful. Even the array formation’s impediment could not prevent him from killing that mantis demon. If the mantis demon had aided me for another ten years, I’d have definitely been able to escape this bottle and regain my freedom.”
“I have to be a little patient and properly nurture this human cultivator. I’ll give him some benefits first before I slowly manipulate him into doing my bidding.”
…
Moments later.
The middle-aged Daoist held a jade bottle the size of a finger under his clothes. He walked out of the cave with a smile.
“Senior Brother Yu, you look like you are in a good mood. Did you find some treasure?” A Black Turtle Palace disciple walked over and said with a smile.
“Only an eighth-grade Dharma treasure,” replied the middle-aged Daoist with a smile. “Junior Brother Jiao, how was it for you?”
“I’m not that lucky. I returned empty-handed. There weren’t any treasures,” said the Black Turtle Palace disciple with a shake of the head.
“Let’s go. Let’s see if there’s anything else elsewhere,” suggested the middle-aged Daoist.
The duo walked out alongside each other. Like many other Black Turtle Palace disciples, they continued wiping clean the demon lair.