Chapter 52: Dividing the Spiritual Treasures

After finishing his words, Old Ghost Feng nodded to the two men and walked toward the cluttered, rocky den of the Flame Rat.

The dens built by these rodent-type demonic beasts were always quite small and low; Old Ghost Feng had to exert considerable effort to squeeze through the entrance.

After Old Ghost Feng left, Jia Sixing and Song Qingming exchanged a glance. Seeing that Song Qingming had no objections, Jia Sixing drew a short knife and began working on the Flame Rat carcass on the ground, carefully peeling off its hide.

Song Qingming picked up the Blazing Sun Sword from the ground. Upon inspection, he found a very conspicuous crack along the blade. The heavy strike from the Flame Rat's iron claws just now had nearly snapped this flying sword, which had accompanied him for many years, in two.

Even if the Blazing Sun Sword could still be used for now, it likely wouldn't last much longer. He would have to find a weapon refiner to repair it the next time he returned to Guiyun Workshop.

Looking at the somewhat severely damaged Blazing Sun Sword, Song Qingming shook his head with a hint of heartache before stowing it away in his storage bag.

Fortunately, this operation had gone relatively smoothly. Although the Blazing Sun Sword was nearly ruined, they had at least slain a high-grade demonic beast. Even if he only received half of the materials, Song Qingming would still come out ahead overall.

During the battle just now, Song Qingming had also seen Old Ghost Feng's divine abilities. On the surface, the gap in their cultivation levels might not seem vast, but if he were to truly fight Old Ghost Feng, he would currently have very little chance of winning.

Old Ghost Feng had roamed the Floating Cloud Mountains for many years. Although he was a rogue cultivator, he had likely encountered various opportunities in his early years. The cultivation technique he practiced was much stronger than the common, run-of-the-mill Kunyuan Art that Song Qingming had first practiced; it was estimated to be comparable to the Crimson Flame Art, a two-hundred-year heritage of the Song family.

The lightning-attribute White Tiger puppet he possessed alone was quite formidable, equivalent to an ordinary fifth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator. Combined with his use of high-grade magical tools, his strength was already among the top tier of mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators.

Among all the mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators Song Qingming knew, few possessed combat divine abilities that could rival this man. In the entire Song family, aside from a few elders in the late Qi Refinement stage, only his third brother, Song Ze, could contend with him.

Whether in terms of cultivation mana or magical tools and divine abilities, Song Qingming was still somewhat distant from both of them.

Even against Jia Sixing, who possessed an eerie movement technique, Song Qingming did not have much of a winning chance. Song Qingming estimated that even if he hadn't come, the Flame Rat would likely have met its end based solely on the actions of these two.

This trip had allowed him to witness the various divine abilities of outside cultivators. Looking at Old Ghost Feng's puppet beast, he felt quite tempted, but unfortunately, such things were rarely sold; even in a large market like Guiyun Workshop, they were hard to come by.

Old Ghost Feng had also spent a significant amount of spirit stones to auction that puppet beast at the White Dragon Mountain black market. Puppet beasts, which could rapidly increase a cultivator's strength, were rare even within the Xiaoyao Sect and seldom flowed into the markets.

As expected, those who could join the Flying Cloud Guards were no ordinary cultivators; he had gradually come to realize this since joining.

The reason he had been recruited into the Flying Cloud Guards by Lu Yunfei was due to the recent instability near Guiyun Workshop. The Xiaoyao Sect cultivators stationed at the workshop were facing a tight situation, compounded by the approaching unrest of the Northern Border demonic beasts and the appearance of demonic cultivators near Guiyun Workshop.

Because of this, the Golden Core Elder of the Xiaoyao Sect stationed at Guiyun Workshop had issued a special decree to increase recruitment to bolster the strength of the Flying Cloud Guards and intensify reconnaissance around the Floating Cloud Mountains.

The reason Song Qingming paid such close attention to Old Ghost Feng's mana and divine abilities was, naturally, to be prepared for any future dealings with him.

When traveling abroad, Song Qingming was always cautious, especially when facing these old and cunning cultivators; he always maintained a sense of vigilance toward such people.

In this current location, Song Qingming naturally wouldn't fear the two of them attacking him, but it would be a different story once they reached White Dragon Mountain.

If they, as Flying Cloud Guards, encountered an accident while performing a mission, Guiyun Workshop would certainly send people to investigate. Even if they were killed by demonic beasts, Guiyun Workshop would try their best to find their kin and descendants to provide certain compensation.

In this regard, Guiyun Workshop was quite benevolent, which was why they were able to mobilize these elite cultivators to risk their lives in these dangerous lands for them.

Attacking Song Qingming here, if it drew the investigation of a Foundation Establishment expert from the Xiaoyao Sect, Old Ghost Feng and his companion would certainly not escape questioning. Once discovered, a fate worse than death would await them.

After all, the Flying Cloud Guards were ostensibly a guarding force belonging to Guiyun Workshop. Attacking them during a mission was, in severe terms, a challenge to the authority of Guiyun Workshop, and behind Guiyun Workshop stood the Xiaoyao Sect, which dominated the entire kingdom.

Unless Old Ghost Feng and his companion suddenly went mad or were controlled by demonic cultivators, they would absolutely not choose to act against Song Qingming here.

Song Qingming's willingness to come to the peril-filled Floating Cloud Mountains for experience was not without its safeguards; he carried several high-grade spirit talismans as trump cards. As long as he didn't encounter a Level 2 demonic beast, he had some confidence in escaping.

After stowing the Blazing Sun Sword, a while passed. Seeing that Jia Sixing had already collected the portion of the Flame Rat hide that had been agreed upon, Song Qingming also began to collect the remaining materials from the beast.

After spending about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Song Qingming roughly cut the Flame Rat into several pieces and hastily packed them into his storage bag.

The Flame Rat was not a large beast, making it relatively easy to collect; even a whole one could be placed directly into a storage bag. Song Qingming planned to wait until he returned to the camp and had free time to slowly sort through these materials.

Among the materials he was allocated this time, the most useful were the iron claws on the Flame Rat's limbs. The flesh, essence blood, whiskers, and teeth of other demonic beasts could also be sold for spirit stones.

The most precious part of the Flame Rat, its pelt, could likely be used to refine a high-grade magical tool, but unfortunately, that material had already been claimed by Jia Sixing.

The hardness of the iron claws on its limbs was not particularly high, so they likely couldn't be used to refine a high-grade magical tool, but with the addition of other materials, refining them into a mid-grade magical tool would not be a problem.

Upon returning to the camp, Song Qingming intended to ask old man Shi Mofeng for help in refining these claws into a magical tool. Given the old man's level as a high-grade refiner, as long as Song Qingming was willing to spend some spirit stones, the old man likely wouldn't refuse such a small matter.

Since his Blazing Sun Sword was currently damaged, he was in urgent need of a suitable magical tool to replace it. As long as Shi Mofeng's price wasn't excessive, Song Qingming wanted to prioritize asking him for help.

As for other items like the essence blood of demonic beasts, Song Qingming planned to deal with them slowly after returning to Guiyun Workshop. If he truly had no time, he could simply sell the materials directly to the material shops in Guiyun Workshop in exchange for spirit stones.

Shortly after Song Qingming finished stowing the materials, Old Ghost Feng, who had entered the cave, finally emerged. Seeing the look of joy on his face, the two men immediately guessed that Old Ghost Feng had surely obtained the spiritual herb he had been longing for.

"It seems Brother Feng has obtained the White Jade Flower. Let us leave this place quickly; otherwise, if we stay too long and accidentally alert other demonic beasts, it will cause more trouble," Jia Sixing said hurriedly upon seeing Old Ghost Feng emerge.

Old Ghost Feng nodded with a face full of smiles and said, "It is thanks to the assistance of my two virtuous brothers that I was able to obtain this spiritual herb. After you two return, please help keep this secret. Do not let Captain Lu know of our cooperation in hunting demons today."

Song Qingming and Jia Sixing nodded slightly, and the three of them subsequently left the area.

(End of Chapter)