128: The Bloodthirsty Bead's wondrous use! Leaving the Moon-Covering Sect Market.

Chapter 128: The Wonders of the blood devouring pearl! Leaving the Yan Yue Sect Market

Lu Qiu did not rush back to the market courtyard. Guided by the information, he headed straight for the "Broken Soul Cliff" in the northern part of the Moonlight Mountain Range.

The Broken Soul Cliff was indeed treacherous. Its sheer cliffs, as if carved by knives and split by axes, towered into the clouds, while the mist below was swirling and bottomless. Ordinary Cultivators without the ability to fly would find it nearly impossible to reach.

Lu Qiu steered the green wind boat, carefully avoiding the sharp astral winds that occasionally swept through the cliffs. He searched the middle section thoroughly according to the information.

Soon, he discovered a rock crevice completely concealed by dark green ancient vines as thick as a child's arm. It would have been impossible to notice anything unusual without prior knowledge.

He broke through the vines to reveal a narrow crack only wide enough for a person to pass through sideways. After extending several yards inward, it suddenly opened up into a natural stone room about three yards square.

At the entrance of the stone room, there were indeed remnants of a protective Formation's spiritual light, nearly dissipated. Occasional sparks flickered, showing it was clearly on the verge of collapse.

Lu Qiu carefully probed with his Divine Sense, found several key nodes, and easily dismantled it completely.

Stepping into the stone room, a stale smell of dust wafted toward him.

In the center of the room, a skeleton wearing a long-faded scarlet robe maintained a cross-legged sitting posture. The bones were crystal clear with a faint jade-like luster, indicating that the person's cultivation was not weak during their lifetime. This was the Loose Cultivator who had passed away while in Core Formation.

Several items were placed in front of the skeleton.

The most eye-catching was a three-foot-long, entirely scarlet Flying Sword with cloud patterns engraved on its blade. Although its spiritual light was restrained, the natural heat and sharp aura it emitted showed it was at least a high-quality fire-attribute Magic Treasure!

Additionally, there was a small Storage Pouch containing about a hundred Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, some auxiliary Materials for refining fire-attribute Magic Treasures, several Jade Slips recording the Immortal Cave master's cultivation insights and unique secret techniques, as well as various miscellaneous Medicinal Pills and Talismans.

"A good harvest." Lu Qiu collected all the items, especially the scarlet Flying Sword and the Jade Slips with insights, which might serve as a reference for his future cultivation of the Crimson Sky Burning Heaven Technique.

He bowed slightly to the skeleton as a gesture of respect for receiving a Senior's legacy, then exited the stone room and covered the entrance again.

Leaving Broken Soul Cliff, Lu Qiu moved without pause toward the "Ghost Mist Valley" in the southeast.

This valley was shrouded in gray-white miasma year-round. The vegetation inside was bizarrely shaped, and it was filled with poisonous insects and strange herbs, making ordinary Cultivators avoid it.

Lu Qiu swallowed a Poison-Warding Pill, propped up his protective spiritual light, and cautiously entered the valley.

Guided by the information, he soon found the pile of rocks under a shady, slippery cliff at the bottom of the valley.

After clearing away the moss and withered vines on the surface, a cold scent with a strange sweetness wafted out.

Deep in the rock crevice, a strange flower with seven long, narrow leaves—dark purple on the front and with eerie face-like silver patterns on the back—was blooming quietly. The stamens in the center were as black as ink. It was exactly the seven-hundred-year-old seven-leaf ghost face flower!

Beside the strange flower sat a Green Phosphorus Snake, about the thickness of a chopstick, emerald green like jade with a fleshy crest on its head. It was a second-tier poisonous insect whose venom could corrode spiritual power, making it quite troublesome.

Sensing Lu Qiu's approach, the Green Phosphorus Snake immediately raised its head and hissed, taking an aggressive stance.

Lu Qiu did not want to cause unnecessary trouble. With a thought, several Illusion Spirit Butterflies quietly flew out, scattering dots of hallucinogenic light dust.

Although the Green Phosphorus Snake was venomous, its intelligence was low. It was quickly confused by the illusion, swaying its head as its aggression significantly decreased.

Lu Qiu took the Opportunity to condense a large hand with his magic power, precisely plucking the seven-leaf ghost face flower along with a bit of soil from its roots, and sealed it in a specially made cold jade box.

As for the Green Phosphorus Snake, Lu Qiu did not kill it. After taking the Spirit Medicine, he quietly withdrew, leaving it to spin around in the illusion.

Having harvested two silver Opportunities in a row, Lu Qiu was in a good mood. He then used his Escape Light to quietly return to his rented courtyard in the Yan Yue Sect Market.

Just as he returned to the courtyard, Zhao Wen came to meet him: "Master, you're back. These are some Materials I collected from various places in the market over the past few days as you instructed."

He handed over two Storage Pouches.

Lu Qiu took them and inspected them.

One bag contained several "Illusion Stones" that had shifting colors and emitted faint hallucinatory fluctuations, along with several "Illusion Heart Grasses" of varying ages. These were exactly the illusion-attribute spiritual Materials suitable for the Illusion Spirit Butterflies to consume.

In the other bag were several hard Ores of different sizes with a faint purple luster, belonging to the purple spirit crystal category. Although their quality was not as good as those obtained at the Tianxing Sect, they were still beneficial for the growth of the Purple Crystal Sable.

"Well done." Lu Qiu nodded approvingly and put away the spiritual Materials.

The Illusion Spirit Butterfly Swarm and the Purple Crystal Sable were important auxiliary forces for him, and it was necessary to continuously invest resources into their cultivation... Time flew by, and several more days passed in the blink of an eye.

During these days, Lu Qiu used the daily reorganized Opportunity information to find several more silver Opportunities in the Moonlight Mountain Range and the surrounding areas.

There was the "Essence Condensing Grass" which was several hundred years old and helped condense magic power, several pieces of "Mystic Heavy Iron" that could be used to refine earth-attribute defensive Magic Treasures, and he even found a small bottle of well-preserved "Earth Spirit Milk" in an abandoned Cultivator's Immortal Cave, which had miraculous effects on washing away magic power Impurities and improving the purity of magic power.

Although these harvests were not as shocking as golden Opportunities, they truly enriched his assets and accumulated many high-quality Materials for his future Cultivation and Artifact Refining.

One day, in the courtyard.

Lu Qiu was trying to verify the mysteries of the blood devouring pearl.

He had Zhao Wen buy a lively "Fire Spitting Rabbit," a Tier 1 Mid-Grade Yao Beast with relatively vigorous blood and Qi, from the market.

Lu Qiu flicked his finger, and a condensed scarlet gold energy hit the Fire Spitting Rabbit's hind leg, leaving a wound that was neither deep nor shallow. Blood immediately gushed out, and the Fire Spitting Rabbit let out a painful squeak, collapsing weakly on the ground.

Then, Lu Qiu took out the dark red, rice-sized blood bead that had condensed after feeding the blood devouring pearl with the blood of the iron-skinned wild boar.

He pried open the Fire Spitting Rabbit's mouth and stuffed the blood bead inside.

The change that happened next surprised both Lu Qiu and Zhao Wen, who was standing nearby.

The Fire Spitting Rabbit, which had been listless with a bleeding hind leg, stopped bleeding on its own less than dozens of breaths after swallowing the blood bead!

The rabbit's spirit also recovered at a visible speed. It no longer let out mournful cries but instead struggled to stand up.

The Qi inside its body, which had been disordered due to the injury, also quickly became stable and was even more active than before the injury.

Lu Qiu did not intervene, just quietly observed.

A day later, when he inspected the Fire Spitting Rabbit again, he found that the wound on its hind leg had scabbed over, its movements were unimpeded, its eyes were agile, and its fur was glossy. Its state was actually several points more vigorous than before the injury!

"This blood bead... actually has such remarkable healing and nourishing effects?" Lu Qiu was even more amazed.

He had originally thought the blood bead was just a pure crystallization of blood Qi that might supplement blood and Qi, but he didn't expect it to have such an immediate effect on a Yao Beast's recovery from injury, and it even seemed to improve its overall state.

A bolder hypothesis emerged in his mind.

He again had Zhao Wen buy a sturdy Tier 1 Mid-Grade Yao Beast, an "Iron-Horned Sheep," and used most of its blood to feed the blood devouring pearl.

The blood devouring pearl followed the same process and soon condensed a new, slightly smaller dark red blood bead.

Lu Qiu fed this newly condensed blood bead to the Fire Spitting Rabbit, which had already recovered.

Over the next few days, Lu Qiu fed the blood devouring pearl with new Yao Beast blood every day, and all the condensed blood beads were fed to this Fire Spitting Rabbit.

The change occurred quietly on the fifth day.

On this day, after the Fire Spitting Rabbit swallowed another blood bead, its aura suddenly fluctuated violently. Its original Tier 1 Mid-Grade demonic power surged, its body seemed to expand slightly, and the red light in its eyes grew even more intense!

After lasting for about half an hour, the fluctuations gradually subsided.

At this moment, the Fire Spitting Rabbit's aura had actually broken through from Tier 1 Mid-Grade to Tier 1 High-Grade.

"What an eerie blood devouring pearl!"

A light of surprise and joy erupted in Lu Qiu's eyes: "The blood beads condensed by this blood devouring pearl can not only quickly heal a Yao Beast's injuries, but long-term consumption can actually promote a Yao Beast's Breakthrough and advancement!"

This discovery was of great significance!

He had many spirit pets under his command: the Bloodline Flood Dragon with great potential but heavily injured and dormant, the Golden-Backed Demonic Mantis urgently needing to break through to the fifth tier, the Illusion Spirit Butterfly Swarm and Purple Crystal Sable that had recently completed their transformation, and the Wind Thunder Falcon chick still in its Early Stage of growth.

Even the Incarnation Black Fiend, who needed a large amount of blood Qi to Cultivate the Blood Refining Divine Light... the effects of this blood devouring pearl could be a huge help to any of them!

"If I can continuously provide these pure blood beads, whether it's accelerating the growth of spirit pets, helping them break through a Bottleneck, or using them as a sacred healing medicine, it will be an extremely important trump card in my hand!" Lu Qiu was excited.

But he was cautious by nature. After the initial joy, he immediately calmed down.

"However, although the effects of this bead are obvious, the principle behind its devouring of blood and its feedback of essence is not yet fully clear. Does condensing the blood beads cause wear and tear to the bead itself? Will long-term consumption lead to unknown hidden dangers or dependence? Especially, is it equally effective for high-tier Yao Beasts like the Bloodline Flood Dragon? All of this still needs further observation and verification."

He decided not to use this bead on his other important spirit pets for the time being.

He would continue to use ordinary Tier 1 Yao Beasts for longer feeding and observation experiments, and at the same time, try feeding it the blood of Tier 2 or even Tier 3 Yao Beasts to see the difference in the quality of the condensed blood beads... Just as Lu Qiu was engrossed in studying the blood devouring pearl, Zhao Wen brought back a message he had been waiting for.

"Master, this is the 'Detailed Record of Spirit Stone Vein Distribution in the State of Yue' that I secretly collected through various channels at the cost of many Spirit Stones." Zhao Wen respectfully presented a Jade Slip that looked quite old.

Lu Qiu immediately took it and sank his Divine Sense into it. The Jade Slip indeed detailed the locations, scales, affiliated Sects, and general mining conditions of dozens of known Spirit Stone veins within the State of Yue.

Among them, the rich mines directly controlled by the Seven Great Sects made up the vast majority.

His gaze was sharp as he quickly scanned through the information on each vein, combining it with the vague memories from the original work—the ancient teleportation array was located deep within a small Spirit Stone mine inside a wasteland canyon.

His finger finally stopped on the southwestern area of the Jade Slip map, pointing at a small Spirit Stone vein labeled as being under the jurisdiction of the Tianque Fortress.

Its geographical description was exactly at the edge of a place called "Withered Wind Wasteland," inside a large canyon called "Ghost's Sorrow"!

"In the territory of the Tianque Fortress... Withered Wind Wasteland, Ghost's Sorrow Canyon... This is it!" Lu Qiu's eyes sparkled. He had finally pinpointed the most likely specific location of the ancient teleportation array!

The goal was now clear!

...Several more days passed, and Lu Qiu found that the daily reorganized Opportunity information was once again occupied by a large amount of trivial white information. The silver information that occasionally appeared pointed to items or locations of very average value.

"It seems that within the vicinity of the Yan Yue Sect Market, the Opportunities worth my effort have been almost 'swept clean' by me." Lu Qiu understood.

The Golden Finger's information reorganization meant that after staying in one area for too long or exploring too deeply, the probability of high-value information appearing would significantly decrease.

Since that was the case, there was no longer much point in staying here.

It was time to move on to the next goal.

He summoned Zhao Wen and also called out the Incarnation Black Fiend, who was still Cultivating in the Quiet Room and whose aura had steadily risen to the seventh layer of Qi Refining.

"Pack up, we are preparing to leave this place," Lu Qiu said calmly.

"Yes, Master!" Zhao Wen replied immediately without asking why.

Black Fiend just nodded silently.

A moment later, three figures with restrained auras quietly left the courtyard they had rented for several days, merged into the flow of people leaving the market, and soon disappeared outside the Yan Yue Sect Market.

The green wind boat took to the air again, carrying the master, servant, and Incarnation toward the southwest of the State of Yue, where the Tianque Fortress was located.