Chapter 23: The Abundant Storage Bag

Five days later, in a forest of deep yellow maple leaves, Song Qingming sat atop a withered tree, his body emitting a faint spiritual glow.

After escaping the pool that day, Song Qingming had found a relatively clean clearing not far away, where he consumed several Blood Replenishing Pills and Recovery Pills to treat his injuries.

He then attempted to track the group's escape route, but before he had traveled more than a few miles, he spotted the Black-Feathered Python returning to the pool in the distance. Terrified, he scrambled into the wild grass and did not dare show his head until nightfall.

In his haste to catch up with the others, Song Qingming had no choice but to continue traveling at night. However, in the pitch darkness, he lost his bearings and accidentally headed in the wrong direction, losing the group's trail entirely.

This was Song Qingming's first time in the Fuyun Mountains, and he was quite unfamiliar with the local geography. Lacking a map, he spent a long time searching for the way back, only to find himself lost amidst the mountain ranges.

Fortunately, he knew that to the north lay the territory of the demon beasts deep within the Fuyun Mountains, while to the south lay human territory. He understood that as long as he headed south, he would eventually emerge from the mountains.

Whether he reached Pingyang County, where he had come from, or the surrounding market towns, he would naturally find a way back to Qinghe County once he arrived.

Song Qingming had been traveling south for several days. He had hoped to find someone to ask for directions, but unfortunately, he hadn't seen a single soul along the way. The Fuyun Mountains were a perilous place teeming with demon beasts; two days ago, while passing through a meadow, he had coincidentally encountered a ferocious high-level giant crocodile. He had been chased for a long time before managing to escape, leaving him feeling somewhat unsettled.

Half an hour later, after a long period of meditation, Song Qingming felt that his spiritual power had recovered to about seventy or eighty percent. He circulated his mana through his hands, and a streak of green light instantly enveloped a small red pouch beside him, slowly wrapping it in his spiritual energy.

Over the past five days, Song Qingming had attempted to open the red storage bag he had picked up from the bottom of the pool to see if there were any treasures. Unfortunately, the restrictions set upon this high-grade storage bag were quite troublesome. It had taken several days of continuous spellcasting for him to erase most of the restrictions.

A normal cultivator's storage bag is protected by secret restriction methods known only to the owner. For an outsider to force it open, they must use mana to erase the restrictions.

Generally speaking, the higher a cultivator's cultivation level, the more profound their restrictions. For a low-level cultivator to erase the mana restrictions of a high-level cultivator, they must rely on time to slowly wear them down; the duration depends entirely on the gap in their mana levels and a bit of luck.

Between cultivators of the same rank, the difference in mana is not significant, and the restrictions can usually be erased within ten to fifteen days. However, if a Qi Refinement stage cultivator attempts to break the restrictions of a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator, it is unpredictable and could take several years.

Three hours later, a soft sound suddenly rang out. The red storage bag fluctuated with spiritual energy and lit up with a purple glow. Song Qingming had finally succeeded in opening the bag today. He owed this to the fragment, which had helped accelerate his spiritual recovery; otherwise, it would have taken him several more days.

Song Qingming poured everything out of the storage bag at once. To his surprise, even a cursory glance at the contents left him wide-eyed with shock.

In this storage bag, there were nearly two hundred spirit stones alone, along with a pile of magical tools, talismans, medicinal pills, and other items.

*Whose storage bag is this? To be so wealthy...* Song Qingming's mind raced through the names of the cultivators who had participated in the battle at the pool that day, but he still could not determine the owner. He could only seek answers from the items within.

One high-grade magical tool, two mid-grade magical tools, five high-grade talismans, over a dozen mid- and low-grade talismans, and three bottles of medicinal pills that he couldn't immediately identify.

Additionally, there were several jade slips containing cultivation techniques, a black token, an ancient jade box, and several pieces of clothing.

When Song Qingming picked up the black token and examined it, he finally learned who the owner was.

The words "Clan Leader" were clearly imprinted on the black token. Combined with the fact that the clothing in the bag featured the black-and-white pattern characteristic of the Liu family, Song Qingming could roughly guess that the owner was the Liu family patriarch, Liu Tianlong.

He never expected that the storage bag he picked up from the bottom of the pool would be such a "hot potato." Song Qingming couldn't help but take a heavy breath.

*The Clan Leader of the Liu family's storage bag... it seems I must act with even more caution from now on. If these techniques, tools, and items are recognized in the future, the Liu family will quickly suspect me.*

Song Qingming threw the token and the clothing into a nearby stream. He didn't dare keep the three magical tools for his own use, so he planned to keep them in the storage bag for now and find a way to dispose of them along with the high-grade bag once he reached a more distant market town.

The jade slips were all ordinary Qi Refinement stage techniques passed down by the Liu family and held little value, so Song Qingming chose to discard them all. He only kept one volume of formation scriptures inherited from the Liu family's Foundation Establishment ancestor, as it was of some use to him.

The manual recorded not only over a dozen first-tier formations but also two second-tier formations, which would be perfect for him to improve his mastery of formations in the future.

The remaining spirit stones and talismans were common market items; he wasn't afraid of being recognized, so he tucked them into his own storage bag. As for the bottles of pills he couldn't identify, he didn't dare consume them and intended to find an alchemist in a market town to appraise them. If they were useful, he would keep them; if not, he would sell them.

Finally, Song Qingming opened the remaining jade box and was once again startled.

"This is... a Water Spirit Fruit? How could Liu Tianlong's storage bag contain such a spiritual item? What is going on?"

As soon as he saw the item in the box, Song Qingming recognized it instantly. "A Water Spirit Fruit, about an inch and a third square, transparent when ripe, emitting a blue shimmer..."

He had not misidentified it. The item in the box was indeed a ripe Water Spirit Fruit. This second-tier spiritual item had been explained to him repeatedly by the Great Elder at the family academy when he had first begun his cultivation journey. The family's spiritual herb manual, which had been distributed to every student, also contained a record of it.

Although this was the first time Song Qingming had seen the actual object, a cultivator's memory is several times better than that of an ordinary mortal, and he was already very familiar with most of the herbs recorded in the manuals. He took out his own spiritual herb manual to cross-reference, finally confirming the item's identity.

A Water Spirit Fruit was a spiritual item whose value was equivalent to a Foundation Establishment Pill. How could the Liu family possess such a thing? Looking at its appearance, the fruit seemed to have been harvested recently. Could it be that Liu Tianlong had just found it in the pool? The Liu family's luck was simply too incredible to find such a priceless treasure in a random pool.

Song Qingming thought it over. Although these were merely his personal guesses, it was the only way to make sense of the origin of the fruit in Liu Tianlong's bag.

If the items found earlier made Song Qingming a wealthy man, then this Water Spirit Fruit gave him the hope of reaching the Foundation Establishment stage in his lifetime. Such a spiritual item could certainly be easily exchanged for a Foundation Establishment Pill if taken to the Xiaoyao Sect.

Song Qingming stared at the Water Spirit Fruit in shock for a long time before regaining his composure. He carefully placed it back in the jade box and stored it in his bag. He had no use for it yet, but fortunately, the jade box could preserve the fruit for about twenty years, so he didn't have to worry about it spoiling for the time being.

Speaking of that day, Liu Tianlong had indeed been unlucky. He had finally managed to harvest the Water Spirit Fruit, only for a second-tier Black-Feathered Python to suddenly appear in the cave. Although they managed to escape precariously under the desperate protection of two Liu family elders, a breath of air from the python had grazed his abdomen as they fled the cave. Not only was his dantian injured, but his waist-mounted storage bag had also accidentally fallen into the pool. He had wanted to return for it, but the python was already chasing him, leaving him no choice but to prioritize his own life.

After leading the Liu family cultivators away from the python's pursuit, Liu Tianlong was unwilling, but he did not dare risk returning to search for his lost storage bag. The second-tier Black-Feathered Python in the pool was not something they currently had the power to face. He could only lead the remaining family members on the journey back.

Upon returning to Qinghe County, not long after arriving home, Liu Tianlong coughed up a mouthful of essence blood due to his severe injuries and was confined to his sickbed.

The old patriarch, who had guarded the Liu family for many years, was pale and listless. Compared to when he left Qinghe County two months ago, he seemed to have aged several years overnight.

The Liu family's trip to the Fuyun Mountains had been a heavy loss. Of the twenty-odd family core members who participated in the mission, only slightly more than half returned, and two elders had been lost. This was a devastating blow to the Liu family, and it would take at least twenty to thirty years for them to recover their strength.

Even Liu Tianlong, a peak Qi Refinement cultivator who had dominated Qinghe County for decades, had his dantian injured. Even if he recovered from his wounds in the future, it would likely be difficult for him to engage in combat easily again.