As Blood Mustache finished devouring Cheng Yu’s Divine Soul, the original peak Qi Cultivation Realm showed signs of loosening, faintly hinting at a breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Stage.
However, in order to cast the Curse Killing Technique, Cheng Yu ultimately exhausted too much Power of the Divine Soul, preventing Blood Mustache from achieving the breakthrough in one go.
Lu Yan didn’t pay much attention to this; at worst, he would just find another opportunity to kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
In Lu Yan’s current three-headed Main Soul, the Warrior’s main strength lies in defense, the Giant Spirit excels in individual strength, while only Blood Mustache can use the Soul Fusion Technique to merge all fierce ghosts, maximizing the power of the Soul Banner to achieve the capability of killing enemies across realms.
Once Blood Mustache’s Cultivation Realm reaches a certain level and aggregates hundreds of fierce ghosts into one, it may not be impossible to contend with a Golden Core True Person.
Compared to the diverse abilities of the three-headed Main Soul, Cheng Yu, a Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator with hidden troubles, was nothing exceptional. Even if truly placed into the Soul Banner, the effect wouldn’t necessarily be better than the three-headed Main Soul.
"Previously, I hadn’t noticed, but after facing Cheng Yu this time, I realized, are these innate spells transformed from the extraordinary abilities of the Main Souls a bit too powerful?
What exactly are the essences of these extraordinary abilities? Could it have something to do with the characteristics of the Apocalypse Version?"
With a fleeting thought in his mind, Lu Yan retracted the majority of the fierce ghosts, leaving only a hundred outside.
His gaze swept over these fierce ghosts as Lu Yan ordered:
"Search the surrounding area and bring over everything that has Spiritual Qi."
With the words spoken, over a hundred fierce ghosts instantly melded into the night, starting to search the surroundings for items.
Meanwhile, Lu Yan walked to Cheng Yu’s crushed corpse, rummaging through the pile of bloody mangled flesh to find two storage pouches.
One was a red storage pouch embroidered with a Red Lotus insignia, evidently from the Red Lotus Demon Sect.
The other blue storage pouch appeared rather ordinary and could be bought in shops.
However, compared to Lu Yan’s low-level storage pouch, this blue storage pouch had reached the level of a low-grade Magical Artifact, priced ten times higher, with a space several times larger, and the stability of the Spatial Array allowing the storage pouch to last over a hundred years.
Lu Yan was about to bend down to pick up the storage pouch, but his keen Spiritual Sense suddenly sensed something amiss.
With a slight pause in his movement, he waved his hand, making the Profound Yellow Merit Fire drop into his palm, and, shielded by the Light of Merit, Lu Yan reached again for the two storage pouches.
The next second, a hideous and twisted face suddenly appeared on the red storage pouch, wailing souls lunged at Lu Yan, but couldn’t even breach the Light of Merit, dissipating quickly under the illumination of the Profound Yellow Merit Fire.
"It has no real attacking capability, likely some sort of mark-leaving curse technique.
Once the mark is imprinted on me, the people of the Red Lotus Demon Sect could track me, and I would face endless pursuit."
Feeling the hidden and complex techniques of the demon path, Lu Yan was not overly worried in his heart.
The Profound Yellow Merit Fire was the best restraint for these demonic methods, even if a mark was left, it could be easily removed.
He extended his hand to open the red storage pouch; the spacious space had no other miscellaneous items, only a half-person tall, entirely translucent blue Crystal Stone.
Ordinary Spirit Stones tend to leak Spiritual Qi outward, but the Spiritual Qi from this blue Crystal Stone was restrained; if Lu Yan didn’t actively contact it, he might not even perceive the presence of Spiritual Qi.
"Is this... the legendary Spirit Marrow Ore?"
Lu Yan’s expression showed a dazed moment, then revealed a look of shock.
The Spirit Stones used by Loose Cultivators are generally produced from Spirit Stone Ores, but Spirit Stone Ores don’t just contain Spirit Stones; in the core parts of some veins, a special ore—Spirit Marrow Ore—can be produced.
Simply based on Spiritual Qi content, Spirit Marrow Ore is only slightly superior to Spirit Stone, but its value far surpasses the same volume of Spirit Stone.
This is all because Spirit Marrow Ore can absorb Spiritual Qi from the surrounding air, infusing surrounding objects with its contact, assimilating them into Spiritual Objects.
These Spiritual Objects need Spirit Marrow Ore as a medium; once it disappears, they cannot be preserved for long. Yet, it is this characteristic, coupled with some special arrays, that allows Spirit Marrow Ore to evolve into a Spirit Vein!
Many major sects build branch sects or Independent Practitioner Marketplaces using Spirit Marrow Ore coupled with arrays to cultivate a Spirit Vein.
Depending on the quality of the Spirit Marrow Ore, the Spirit Veins cultivated naturally vary, but at most won’t exceed the second level Spirit Vein, only sufficient to establish a branch sect at the Foundation Establishment Level.
For major sects, this may be somewhat useless, but for Cultivation families or minor forces, it is a treasure of strategic significance.
The specific quality and price of Spirit Marrow Ore were beyond Lu Yan’s knowledge.
But even the lowest grade Spirit Marrow Ore would require at least tens of thousands of Spirit Stones, enough to buy several Foundation Establishment Pills.
But to Lu Yan, the price of this Spirit Marrow Ore far exceeded that of so-called Foundation Establishment Pills.
Because Lu Yan realized that if used properly, this Spirit Marrow Ore might have the potential to overthrow the entire urban version!
"Such a precious treasure, even a Golden Core True Person might not have it, how did Cheng Yu, a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, acquire this Spirit Marrow Ore?"
After a little thought, Lu Yan came to an answer.
A branch of the Red Lotus Demon Sect infiltrated Wushan for over a decade, precisely for a certain ruin.
Enduring for so long suggests that the Red Lotus Demon Sect may have made some progress in cracking the ruin, and this Spirit Marrow Ore most likely came from that ruin.
The Spirit Marrow Ore was stored alone in the storage pouch of the Red Lotus Demon Sect, a special curse imprint evident on the pouch, clearly intended for transporting treasures.
Cheng Yu himself might not have even known what was inside this storage pouch.
"Regardless of the truth, this Spirit Marrow Ore is now mine."
Though the Profound Yellow Merit Fire had already cleaned the storage pouch, Lu Yan still took out the Spirit Marrow Ore and placed it in his close storage pouch.
After doing that, Lu Yan then looked at the other blue storage pouch.
Upon opening it, what first caught Lu Yan’s eye was a book titled "Red Lotus Karma Fire Scripture."
However, compared to the one Lu Yan had before, the "Red Lotus Karma Fire Scripture" in Cheng Yu’s storage pouch clearly had different content, and it clearly recorded the cultivation methods from nurturing the Divine Soul to breaking through to the Foundation Establishment and continuing in the Foundation Establishment Stage, enough for Lu Yan to cultivate all the way to the Peak of Foundation Establishment.
Seeing this book, Lu Yan finally let out a sigh of relief.
He came to the Xianxia version largely for the continuation of the Cultivation Techniques in the "Red Lotus Karma Fire Scripture."
Being able to cultivate all the way to the Peak of Foundation Establishment is sufficient for Lu Yan to use for a long period.
The methods for condensing a Golden Core are still too distant for Lu Yan, planning after Foundation Establishment is not too late either.