Chapter 100

(Wishing everyone a happy New Year)

After unexpectedly obtaining two fragments at the auction, Chu He spent most of his time in the past few days wandering around the market, aside from his cultivation time. Besides the auction at the Qingling Market, he also went to the Qinghe Market.

Not only did he attend auctions, but he also visited various shops selling magical artifacts, even posting information at the Qiu Ying Tower, offering the previous mirage images to purchase this type of fragment, with a price higher than the general market by fifty to sixty percent.

With Lu You's help, these tasks were much easier, and the new fused fragment had a much larger sensing range, significantly improving efficiency.

Although he went to great lengths, the harvest was not significant, only obtaining a small piece. However, Chu He was quite satisfied. After all, the sect's major examination was still about a year away, and as long as he could stay in Qingling Town, he had plenty of time to collect these fragments.

For a time, most of his energy was focused on this. After all, a spirit treasure is something no cultivator can resist. Moreover, the cost to obtain this spirit treasure seemed not too high, so Chu He was highly motivated.

To better understand these spirit treasure fragments, Chu He also asked Lu You for a lot of information.

The frequent appearance of spirit treasure fragments around Qingling Town indicated that this spirit treasure had shattered within the territory of Qingzhou.

A jade slip he bought, containing a summary of knowledge about artifacts, revealed that to control a spirit treasure-level artifact, one must be at the Great Perfection stage of the Core Formation realm or higher; otherwise, it would be impossible to control it.

This suggested that a True Monarch of the Core Formation realm or a True One of the Spirit Core realm had engaged in a fierce battle in Qingzhou, likely within Qingling City. According to the last owner of the fragment, it was highly possible that the battle took place in the Yaoyun Mountains, as he obtained the fragment from the inner region of the Yaoyun Mountains.

Moreover, the battle must have been extremely intense, causing even the life-bound spirit treasure to shatter.

However, when Chu He reviewed the historical records of Qingling City, tracing back hundreds or even thousands of years, he found that except for the time when a beast tide erupted and a True Monarch-level expert fell, the other conflicts were merely face-saving disputes, not reaching the point of mutual destruction.

Chu He also learned that when the founding ancestor of Qingling established the sect, he had a fierce battle with the leader of the Hundred Toxins Sect, who came to cause trouble. This explained why the two sects had constant friction and frequent killings. In recent years, the conflicts between the two sects had escalated, and with the Blue Crystal Mountain as a trigger, Chu He believed that the two sects would eventually engage in a major battle, until one side was severely weakened or even destroyed.

Chu He always had a long-term perspective and could see the connections in these events: if the sect was not currently taking major actions against the Hundred Toxins Sect, it was likely waiting for the upcoming sect's major examination.

Generally, generals emerge from the fires of war. The fierce struggle between two major forces, though cruel, is the best way to train junior disciples. The elites selected after the examination, if they can be tempered in the conflict, have a high chance of becoming the pillars of the sect. Although this method is somewhat aggressive and risky, with significant losses, it is highly efficient.

Chu He took a deep breath: this speculation was too extreme. If it were true, the disciples who excel in the examination would certainly be the main force heading to Zezhou.

If two sects of equal strength engaged in a fierce battle, it would certainly result in a bloodbath, and the survival rate... Chu He shook his head, dispelling his thoughts, and continued to focus on tracing the source of the fragments.

Combining all the information, Chu He believed that the spirit treasure had likely shattered within the Yaoyun Mountains. He immediately thought of the sect that had been destroyed by the demon race.

According to historical records, the Yaoyun Mountains were the site of a famous cultivation sect in the Southern Continent in ancient times, but the sect was almost completely annihilated by the demon race.

Due to the long time that had passed and the almost complete annihilation of the sect, there was very little information available. Only from some ancient texts could the name of the sect be found: Tianxing Sect.

Seeing this name, Chu He had a sudden realization and made impressions of some of the symbols that appeared on the fragments, sending them to Wen Youfei for identification.

Wen Youfei was one of the few people in Qingling Mountain with the highest expertise in symbols. He had not given up on Chu He after he entered the Earth Fire Department to study under Bai Li, and often communicated with Chu He through the Spirit Jade, trying to persuade him. Therefore, Chu He was somewhat familiar with him and did not mind troubling him.

Wen Youfei quickly replied: although he could not be completely certain, there was at least a seventy to eighty percent chance that the symbols were star system symbols.

Receiving this reply, Chu He was enlightened: the weak power he sensed when holding the fragment was star power! No wonder the attribute was so strange, not fitting into the five elements.

Chu He patted his head: previously, in the Earth Fire Department, he had used star transformation and star network arrays when refining pills, but he did not recognize them here.

After some reflection, he found the reason: the star power generated by the fragment was much purer but extremely weak. The star power produced by the star transformation and star network arrays, on the other hand, carried the attributes of the input driving spirit energy and some other impurities. The quality and quantity were vastly different, which is why Chu He could not recognize it.

Having determined the origin of the spirit treasure, it was not difficult for Chu He to take the next step: besides waiting in Qingling Town, there was a shortcut, which was to venture deep into the Yaoyun Mountains. With the expanded sensing range of the fragments in his possession, if he worked hard, there might be results.

However, with his current cultivation level, he could only choose to wait, or wait until his cultivation made a significant breakthrough before attempting the latter method.

Fortunately, this waiting was not difficult.

He did not have to return to the Earth Fire Palace, and he no longer had the task of refining pills. With a generous supply of spirit stones and pills, Chu He had been living a very happy and free life these days.

Especially in cultivation, he was pleasantly surprised: without the spirit body competing for the life-bound spirit energy, the efficiency was much higher.

In just a few days, Chu He felt that his life-bound spirit energy had increased significantly. At this rate, in just over a month, he would reach the peak of the Qi Condensation realm's eighth level and attempt to break through to the ninth level.

The small barrier of the ninth level of the Qi Condensation realm might not be a problem, and the Great Perfection stage was not feared either, as he had the Cleansing Fire and could use good pills to push through.

What Chu He was worried about was the major leap: converting his life-bound spirit energy to innate true energy was much more difficult for a dual-attribute spirit body than a single-attribute one.

However, no matter how difficult, Chu He had to reach the innate realm before the sect's major examination. Otherwise, he would not have an easy time in battle. If his speculation was correct, and the sect intended to use the conflict with the Hundred Toxins Sect to train elite disciples, in a battle among many experts, a mere Qi Condensation realm cultivator would certainly be cannon fodder.

Although he had Xiao Bai as a powerful ally, it was ultimately better to be strong himself.

Thinking this, Chu He felt a sense of urgency.

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