Chapter 104: Bag Opens, Treasure Appears, Mountain Piercing Seal
Fang Shu sat cross-legged, feeling a joy that permeated his body and mind from within.
His tendons and bones seemed to hum with a pleasant, exhilarating song, and something within his skull trembled incessantly.
This natural breakthrough filled him with contentment, and he remained immersed in it for a long time.
Coming back to himself, Fang Shu rose and moved slowly in the well of his quiet room, performing a set of boxing moves to regulate his qi and blood, preventing it from excessively gathering in his skull and turning a good thing into a bad one.
For a moment, he felt as if all his qi and blood had coalesced into a single stream, capable of flowing up or down freely. With each inhale, it could rise to his head; with each exhale, it could descend to his heels.
This state was even more miraculous than the unified muscles of a Second Calamity Immortal, for it was not just the muscles, but also the tendons and bones, organs, and blood that, empowered by the qi and blood, all acted as one.
Fang Shu contemplated silently, thinking:
“The ancients said, ‘The true man breathes through his heels; the common man breathes through his throat.’ Could this refer to such a state?”
Without needing to fight anyone, he knew in his heart that he was now at least three times stronger than he was before his breakthrough.
Looking at the strength of his qi and blood, it rose three feet around him. Although its height hadn’t changed, its density had undergone a drastic transformation compared to before.
The streams of qi and blood released outward were no longer like mist, but like purple, substantial mercury, coiling around him and swirling ceaselessly.
For Third Calamity Immortals, cultivation no longer focused on qi and blood, but on developing the spiritual light in their minds, accumulating brainpower, striving to condense their souls, and awakening their true qi.
Therefore, after passing through the third tribulation, the total amount of qi and blood in an immortal cultivator’s body generally did not increase, and might even decrease.
According to the instructions of the Dojo Master, some people took potent secret medicines or employed secret techniques during their breakthrough, performing acts of “essence refinement and brain nourishment.” This came at the cost of depleting their bodies to gain more spiritual light in their minds, thus resulting in thinner or lower qi and blood after the breakthrough.
However, for someone like Fang Shu, his qi and blood became even more robust after breaking through the third tribulation, which was quite rare.
This also proved the solidity of his foundation and the astonishing medicinal power within him, which allowed his qi and blood not only to avoid depletion during the third tribulation but to be thoroughly refined and elevated in quality.
With a body of this caliber, the possibility of condensing his soul and awakening true qi was undoubtedly higher!
Fang Shu exhaled a long breath, and in front of him, a small, silver-purple snake seemed to writhe:
“In less than two years, I have achieved the success of the Third Calamity.”
He whispered this, then patted his chest, which resounded like thunder, and coughed heavily.
A pool of thick, black blood phlegm was expelled from his mouth, striking the wall like a piece of iron and leaving a pit.
This was the impurities Fang Shu had inhaled during his medicinal tribulation, along with the withered flesh and blood in his lungs.
In previous tribulations, these impurities would have to be slowly ground away through subsequent refinement, but now, he could actively use the power of his organs to expel them.
After spitting out the blood phlegm, Fang Shu felt even more refreshed.
Next, he performed several more boxing routines in the quiet room to invigorate his body before collecting his thoughts.
The seclusion for tribulation had now completely ended.
Afterward, Fang Shu did not continue to take medicine and cultivate, nor did he immediately exit seclusion.
He turned his sharp gaze to a blood-red leather pouch beside him.
This pouch was obtained from the mine owner surnamed Cao.
During his seclusion, Fang Shu had also made every effort to find information related to storage bags.
He learned that while storage bags were most effective when held by Qi Refining Spiritual Immortals, Essence Refining Immortals were not entirely unable to use them.
It was just that Essence Refining Immortals lacked spiritual sense and true qi, making their use inconvenient. Furthermore, the only storage bags they could use were those that were damaged or had their quality deliberately lowered.
These types of storage bags not only had narrow spaces, making them highly uneconomical, but also offered very low defensive capabilities. Some that were too damaged would gradually lose their storage function over time, requiring constant maintenance with spirit stones, which was quite costly.
Fortunately, the storage bag Fang Shu held had all three of its restrictions intact. Despite not being nurtured for a long time, the spiritual light on the bag had not dissipated, indicating it was modified from a genuine spiritual energy storage bag.
Examining this item, Fang Shu couldn’t help but marvel, “Such items are often given to disciples in the Essence Refining stage within immortal noble families. I didn’t expect such a magic tool to appear in a mine.”
However, when he thought of the Cao family who had occupied the mine for many years, not only mining but also frequently cultivating with humans to sell their flesh, their earnings must have been substantial.
But relying on monster overseers and being a solitary force with low cultivation, he lacked the patience for arduous cultivation.
This storage bag was likely something the other party specifically acquired for gathering his wealth when fleeing.
Considering this, Fang Shu’s eyes filled with even greater anticipation.
He then lightly closed his eyes and recited a spell to open a regular storage bag, which he had deciphered from his Dao Talisman over the past period:
“Heaven and Earth store, the bag opens its belly to reveal!”
*Buzz buzz buzz!* He also formed hand seals, channeling his own qi and blood into the bag.
It took a full seven to eight breaths before the small pouch’s opening loosened, and everything inside was unceremoniously expelled.
This was another drawback for Essence Refining Immortals when using storage bags; they had to rummage through everything each time they stored items, which was quite inconvenient.
The pouch expelled a large quantity of items, quickly piling up into a small hill, about the size of a large dining table and half a person’s height.
This small hill was composed of various refined ores and raw spirit ores from the mine.
But as Fang Shu examined these ores, his brow furrowed slightly.
Although there were many ores, when estimated at full value, they were only worth one or two jin of spirit stones.
While their value was not insignificant, it was far less than what he had obtained from the Bei Demon.
In addition to the ores, the items spat out by the storage bag also included several wooden boxes. These contained a considerable amount of talisman money, pills, and talismans of various kinds. There were also several metal magic tools, along with their corresponding magic spells.
Fang Shu glanced at them and his brow relaxed.
Just as he had expected, the contents of the storage bag were prepared by the mine owner surnamed Cao for his escape.
The other party had prepared over a hundred grain-avoiding pills alone, and other items like clean clothes talismans and fire talismans were all complete. There were even talismans for paper houses to set up camp in the wilderness.
Although these items were all ordinary goods, which Fang Shu now disregarded, their combined value was likely worth another jin of spirit stones.
With provisions worth two to three jin of spirit stones, plus the intrinsic value of the storage bag itself, this haul, while slightly disappointing to Fang Shu, was not bad!
However, he then examined the other valuables, picked up a small, light-gold wooden box, and after inspecting it several times, carefully opened it.
A golden-red plate suddenly appeared before his eyes.
This plate seemed to be made of both gold and wood, shaped like a talisman, and engraved with a small beast pattern resembling a pangolin, emanating strong spiritual energy.
After a detailed examination, he found a note at the bottom of the box. It was written by an old steward and bore a red seal with the name “Shan Bao Zhai.”
Upon closer inspection, Fang Shu’s expression changed dramatically, and he exclaimed in his heart, “A Talisman Tool! A Talisman Tool of Quasi Fourth Calamity.”
This golden-red talisman was remarkably similar to the Soul Suppressing Bell he had previously sold.
It was neither a magic tool nor a talisman, but something in between, an excellent item that did not require magic spells for use and could be reused!
Its name was the “Mountain Piercing Seal.” With it, digging holes and piercing mountains became as easy as flipping one’s hand, and mining and breaking rocks was like cutting tofu. If wielded with full power, it could even manifest earth escape for several breaths, with an effect comparable to Qi Refining magic, allowing one to escape through mountains and rocks, vanishing without a trace.
Needless to say, this was undoubtedly a life-saving item prepared by the mine owner surnamed Cao for himself. If he had been able to produce it that day, he might have truly saved his life.
Fang Shu re-examined the “Mountain Piercing Seal” and, following the instructions on the “Shan Bao Zhai” note, nurtured it for a moment before directly hanging it from his waist, serving as a jade pendant, concealed by his clothes.
He had learned from the mine owner surnamed Cao’s lesson.
It was best to keep such life-saving items on one’s person at all times, lest an unexpected event occur and the treasure be in his bag, difficult to access, rendering it no different from having no treasure at all.
After all, he was not a Qi Refining Spiritual Immortal; each time he opened his storage bag, he had to recite spells, form hand seals, and tidy things up.
Having obtained the “Mountain Piercing Seal” Talisman Tool, Fang Shu’s mood lifted. He began to pack away the mountain of miscellaneous items without the slightest impatience.
He used his qi and blood to unfurl the pouch, expand its opening, and stuffed the wooden boxes and ores in one by one. Afterward, he also put some of his own miscellaneous items from the quiet room into the bag.
Once it was mostly filled, he also gauged the size of this storage pouch. Its internal space was like a sphere, capable of wriggling and changing, with a diameter of over half a zhang.
Such a space was not particularly large.
However, for the current Fang Shu, it was more than sufficient to hold his entire fortune, making things convenient and effortless.
