Chapter 98

Inside the Fairy Peak guest room.

Ye Zhen played with the cracked ring he had extracted from the stone in the sect's forbidden area, his face filled with anticipation. What kind of treasure could this be?

A special kind of magical artifact?

Or perhaps a legendary storage ring with immense space?

No matter what, the treasure found in the sect's forbidden area shouldn't be ordinary.

With great anticipation, Ye Zhen carefully channeled a thread of true essence into the ancient green cracked ring. No matter what it was, the true essence would reveal its nature once it entered.

The moment the true essence entered, a vast space instantly appeared in Ye Zhen's mind.

A storage ring?

In the next instant, Ye Zhen was stunned by the treasures stored within the space.

The first thing he saw was stacks of gold notes.

Each note was worth one hundred taels of gold. Ye Zhen roughly counted and there were at least several thousand notes. If he counted four thousand, that would be over four hundred thousand taels of gold.

A fortune, this would definitely make Ye Zhen rich overnight.

Next to the gold notes was a large box nearly a meter tall. Inside the box, neatly arranged were palm-sized light green crystals, emitting a faint spiritual aura.

"Spiritual Crystals!"

If not for Ye Zhen's strong self-control, he would have exclaimed in surprise at the sight of the spiritual crystals.

Even if he hadn't eaten pork, he had seen pigs run.

The extremely precious spiritual crystals were something Ye Zhen had often heard his fellow disciples mention. They were essential for enhancing cultivation after the Spirit Induction Realm, and each one was extremely valuable.

When he was young, Ye Zhen had heard a legend about a cowherd boy who found three luminous stones in the mountains and sold them for tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Those luminous stones were spiritual crystals.

In every county city, many shops bought spiritual crystals, with a purchase price of a thousand taels of gold per piece. However, you could sell a thousand taels of gold for a piece of low-grade spiritual crystal, but if you took a thousand taels of gold, you might not be able to buy a piece of low-grade spiritual crystal.

That was the market.

This large box of low-grade spiritual crystals, Ye Zhen estimated, contained at least two hundred pieces, which was another few hundred thousand taels of gold. However, the value of these spiritual crystals could not be compared to gold.

In addition, there were eleven bottles of pills that made Ye Zhen extremely excited. The most numerous were the clothes for changing, but what caught Ye Zhen's attention the most were the two books quietly lying in the corner.

The dark brown pages looked like they had been specially treated to last a long time, typical of secret manuals.

"Secret manuals? Two of them!"

In his excitement, Ye Zhen had the urge to take out the two secret manuals to see what they were.

Just as Ye Zhen channeled his true essence to envelop the two secret manuals, the entire storage space began to crack and collapse like a tofu wall that had been poked.

Boom!

The space in front of Ye Zhen seemed to split open, and a mountain of items poured out from the space crack, almost burying him.

Cough, cough, cough!

Dust filled the air, and Ye Zhen coughed violently.

As he watched the items fall from the collapsing storage space and turn to dust upon contact with the air, Ye Zhen's heart sank.

Would the two secret manuals turn to dust as well?

Ye Zhen quickly figured out the reason.

Perhaps after a fierce battle, this storage ring had been split, and the faint spiritual aura sensed by the fierce beasts in the sect's forbidden area had leaked out from the crack.

The crack had not completely destroyed the storage ring, but it had left it in a delicate balance. Now, Ye Zhen's true essence had become the last straw that broke the camel's back.

As the dust gradually settled, Ye Zhen anxiously searched.

Fortunately, the two secret manuals did not turn to dust like many of the gold notes, probably due to the special materials used.

What made Ye Zhen regretful was that out of the thousands of gold notes, only a small portion in the middle was preserved, about fifty to sixty thousand taels of gold. The bottles of pills turned to dust as soon as their lids were opened, probably due to their long storage time.

The large box of low-grade spiritual crystals, however, was completely preserved.

"Wind and Cloud Sword Technique?"

The name of the first secret manual made Ye Zhen suddenly joyful, and he quickly flipped through it.

After a quarter of an hour, Ye Zhen felt a bit depressed.

The Wind and Cloud Sword Technique recorded seven special true essence circulation methods, with extremely complex circulation routes in the body, looking very advanced.

Ye Zhen's depression came from a note on the last page of the Wind and Cloud Sword Technique—this technique was a special cultivation method to activate the mid-grade Earth Rank Wind and Cloud Sword Art, and only the Wind and Cloud Sword Art could unleash its power.

The mid-grade Earth Rank Wind and Cloud Sword Art, Ye Zhen had to fight hard to enter the top ten of the Heavenly Rank to enter the fourth floor of the Scripture Hall and obtain high-grade Human Rank cultivation techniques.

The mid-grade Earth Rank Wind and Cloud Sword Art, he didn't know if the Qi Yun Sect had it, and even if they did, it would likely be the sect's treasure, and Ye Zhen wouldn't be able to obtain it in the short term.

Putting away the Wind and Cloud Sword Technique, Ye Zhen's gaze turned to the second secret manual.

"Control Spirit Technique?"

The Control Spirit Technique was an auxiliary secret manual, mainly used to train a martial artist's ability to control spiritual energy.

The same amount of spiritual energy could be divided into a dozen threads by some, while others could divide it into dozens or even hundreds of threads.

The same amount of spiritual energy could be used by some to attack enemies, while others could manipulate it in various ways, shaping it as they wished.

Cultivating the Control Spirit Technique could make a martial artist's control over spiritual energy extremely powerful, allowing the spiritual energy to unleash even more astonishing power.

Note: This Control Spirit Technique is only effective for those below the Soul Sea Realm, and it is also effective for those who have just entered the True Essence Realm!

The note on the last page of the secret manual suddenly made Ye Zhen feel a surge of joy after his disappointment.

Ye Zhen originally thought that the Control Spirit Technique could only be cultivated after generating spiritual energy, but he didn't expect that it could also be cultivated at the True Essence Realm.

However, Ye Zhen's attention was drawn to a small line of text after the note, which he found familiar.

Control Spirit Tip: Send spiritual energy or true essence out of the body, stretch it to the limit, and flatten it. Depending on the cultivation level, place weights of tens, hundreds, or thousands of pounds on it.

Then, use the third method of the Control Spirit Technique to stimulate the spiritual energy, which can quickly enhance the control ability in a short time.

"Why does this writing seem familiar?"

The slightly flamboyant handwriting gave Ye Zhen a strong sense of déjà vu.

"Right, Tu Fangye!"

Taking out the notes Tu Fangye had left in the Thunder Leopard Collapse Fist from his storage bracelet and comparing them, Ye Zhen immediately confirmed the owner of the handwriting.

The sect's forbidden area was precisely where Tu Fangye had fallen, and Ye Zhen had ample reason to believe that this storage ring belonged to the fallen true disciple of the Qi Yun Sect, Tu Fangye.

But why would a true disciple like Tu Fangye fall not too far from the sect?

After his fall, his place of death was designated as the sect's forbidden area?

Why?

Ye Zhen was full of questions.

Since the Wind and Cloud Sword Technique could not be cultivated without the Wind and Cloud Sword Art, Ye Zhen was not in a hurry to cultivate the Control Spirit Technique. Instead, he began to cultivate the Hundred Layers True Essence Technique he had just selected.

At present, cultivating the high-grade Human Rank Cold Plum Sword Art and the Hundred Layers True Essence Technique was the fastest way to enhance Ye Zhen's combat power, especially the Hundred Layers True Essence Technique. If he could successfully cultivate it, it would give him the ability to survive even in the presence of Spirit Induction Realm beings.

The cultivation method and principle of the Hundred Layers True Essence Technique were very simple, similar to the principle of chopsticks.

A single chopstick can be broken by a child around eight or nine years old.

Ten chopsticks bundled together would require a lot of effort to break.

If a hundred chopsticks were bundled together, even a strongman would not be able to break them.

The Hundred Layers True Essence Technique worked similarly. A single layer of protective true essence was very easy to tear, but what about two layers, three layers, five layers, or even ten layers?

The Hundred Layers True Essence Technique involved stacking protective true essence to increase its defensive power. The secret manual recorded that if the protective true essence could be stacked to ten layers, its power would increase by several dozen or even a hundred times.

The cultivation method was simple, but only when actually cultivating could one understand the difficulty of the Hundred Layers True Essence Technique.

Cultivating the Hundred Layers True Essence Technique required hammering the original protective true essence like forging iron, compressing its thickness to the extreme. If the thickness was compressed to half, two layers could be stacked; if compressed to a third, three layers could be stacked.

However, when Ye Zhen truly began to compress his true essence, he understood the old steward's concern in the Scripture Hall.

The hammering of true essence was extremely intangible.

Forging iron, one could see the results of each hammer strike, and with effort and sweat, it could be done.

But the hammering of true essence, even with the cultivation method in the Hundred Layers True Essence Technique, progressed extremely slowly. After an hour, the thickness of Ye Zhen's protective true essence showed almost no change.

At this moment, Ye Zhen suddenly understood why so many inner disciples had given up on the Hundred Layers True Essence Technique. The effort put in yielded very little return.

After half an hour, Ye Zhen, feeling somewhat discouraged, suddenly thought, "Why not try the Control Spirit Technique?"

The method described in the Control Spirit Technique was quite complex, but according to Tu Fangye, the method he left behind was the simplest and most effective.

In a few breaths, Ye Zhen shot out a nearly seven-foot-long flat true essence sword finger, and a chair weighing several dozen pounds was steadily lifted on it.

"A bit light?"

With a kick, Ye Zhen placed a fifty-pound stone block on it.

The moment the fifty-pound stone block was placed, Ye Zhen immediately felt an unprecedented pressure.

The stone block pressing on the true essence made Ye Zhen's entire body, from inside to outside, tense up. He circulated the cultivation method, stimulating the true essence within his body, and all his attention was focused on the seven-foot-long true essence sword finger outside his body.

After just a hundred breaths, an unprecedented fatigue suddenly overwhelmed Ye Zhen.

After a hundred and thirty breaths, when Ye Zhen's vision began to blur, he stopped this round of cultivation.

After resting in a cross-legged position for an hour, Ye Zhen released his true essence again and continued to practice with the stone block.

At the beginning, Ye Zhen was surprised to find that the length of the true essence sword finger he shot out from his body had increased by an inch, from six feet nine inches to seven feet.

Such a noticeable improvement made Ye Zhen extremely happy.

This time, Ye Zhen persisted for a hundred and thirty-five breaths.

After resting for another hour, Ye Zhen began to cultivate again. After a hundred and forty breaths, Ye Zhen's body trembled, and he was drenched in sweat.

However, the length of Ye Zhen's true essence sword finger successfully increased to seven feet two inches!

Such a noticeable cultivation effect made Ye Zhen unable to contain his excitement and continue to practice diligently.

On the fifth round of cultivation, when Ye Zhen persisted for a hundred and thirty breaths, an indescribable fatigue suddenly overwhelmed him, and he fainted.

......

When Ye Zhen woke up again, his head was splitting, and the morning sunlight shone into the guest room, illuminating Cai Yi, who was doing something.

In the morning sunlight, she looked like a fairy.

"I... I..."

"You're awake?"

"Wait a moment, this bowl of medicinal juice will be ready soon." Cai Yi, who looked like a fairy in the morning sunlight, was busy with something.

After a few breaths, Cai Yi handed a bowl of dark green medicinal juice to Ye Zhen, "Drink it, and you'll be almost fully recovered."

"By the way, Ye Zhen, where did you get the method to cultivate divine sense? Do you know that if it weren't for me being here on Fairy Peak, you would have become a fool by now!"

"What? Cultivate divine sense? Become a fool?"

Hearing this, Ye Zhen was greatly alarmed!

PS: Third update, the fourth will be out in ten minutes!

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