Volume 1 Volume 7 Chapter 93

Volume 7 Chapter 93: The Eerie Treasure Hunt (24)

"Kid Xu, you finally returned! What happened to make you take so long?"

Mr. Liu was the first to greet Xu Qingfan, asking with a smile.

Xu Qingfan gave a wry smile and shook his head. With a wave of his sleeve, several small pieces of jade, similar in size to black and white chess pieces, appeared in his hand. Each piece of jade had a talisman attached to it, which was Xu Qingfan’s "Spirit Sealing Talisman"!

"’Imperishable Jade’! This is ‘Imperishable Jade’ with natural sealing power! The cultivation world hasn’t seen ‘Imperishable Jade’ for thousands of years!"

Seeing the jade stones in Xu Qingfan’s hand, Mr. Liu’s face showed wild joy, and suddenly remembering something, he quickly asked, "Are there only these few? Are they all this size? Do you have any larger ones?"

Xu Qingfan shook his head and said, "There are a total of one hundred and nine pieces, but they are all this size; there are no larger ones."

Hearing Xu Qingfan’s words, disappointment flashed across Mr. Liu’s face. "Imperishable Jade" is the best material for making array disks and sealing treasures known among countless materials, incredibly precious, but also, although "Imperishable Jade" is precious, jade the size of a game piece cannot be used to create anything too valuable or top-tier.

But anyway, these "Imperishable Jades" are the biggest gain for Xu Qingfan and the others on this trip to the "Azure Crystal Treasure House."

Looking at the Imperishable Jade in Xu Qingfan’s hand, Mr. Liu murmured, "So, there are actually more than a hundred ‘Imperishable Jades.’ Their binding power overlaps in one place; no wonder it took you so long."

Saying this, Mr. Liu looked up and asked, "How did you break their outer binding?"

"It was difficult," Xu Qingfan explained. "When I found the location of these ‘Imperishable Jades,’ they were wrapped in a thick layer of ‘Chaos Qi.’ After I finally managed to break through that outer layer of ‘Chaos Qi,’ my own Spirit Qi was almost drained, and even the Spirit Ghost from miles away was half destroyed. I tried to break the outer bindings, but I found that those bindings had a strong ability to restore themselves. I just tore a crack in the binding, but before I could do anything, it quickly healed."

Mr. Liu nodded and said, "Indeed, that’s a problem."

"Later, I remembered I had a pouch of Chou’s blood in my hand. This blood not only inherently had a powerful corrosive acidity but also contained a strong mutated death energy. Using it to break these bindings, although it still couldn’t stop their self-repair, it at least gave me a little time to shoot a ‘Spirit Sealing Talisman’ into them."

After a pause, Xu Qingfan continued, "One ‘Spirit Sealing Talisman’ can seal the binding power of one ‘Imperishable Jade.’ After a hundred uses, all the binding powers of the ‘Imperishable Jades’ were sealed, and there were no more obstacles between me and the ‘Imperishable Jades.’ Unfortunately, after collecting these ‘Imperishable Jades’ with the ‘Trapped Spirit Net,’ my Spirit Qi was nearly gone, and my speed while flying decreased significantly. During those twenty days, a lot of time was wasted on the way back."

After hearing Xu Qingfan’s words, Mr. Liu shook his head and sighed, "I see. What a pity. The cultivation world still hasn’t found a method to refine ‘Imperishable Jades.’ If we could refine these more than a hundred pieces into one, I would be completely confident in creating a treasure on par with the ‘Heaven and Earth Fan,’ ‘Heaven and Earth Sword,’ or ‘Five Elements Sacred Tool.’"

"Yes, these ‘Imperishable Jades’ are too small. Although they are extremely precious, they are like a chicken rib, wasting all this effort for little return."

"You can’t say that. If we can add an ‘Imperishable Jade’ to a binding treasure, its power will increase greatly. Although it can’t compare to a treasure made entirely of ‘Imperishable Jade’, it is still quite impressive."

Hearing Mr. Liu say this, Xu Qingfan forced a smile and shook his head. He had originally wanted Mr. Liu to think that the ‘Imperishable Jade’ was useless and give up on it, but Mr. Liu still valued it. It seemed that to get these ‘Imperishable Jade’, Xu Qingfan would have to give up a lot again.

"Senior, how about we make a trade?"

Xu Qingfan asked with a smile.

"What trade?"

Mr. Liu seemed to have already anticipated Xu Qingfan’s question and asked back with a smile.

"This time, the treasures we collected in the ‘Azure Crystal Treasure House’ were originally agreed to be split 60-40. Now that you are giving me these ‘Imperishable Jade’, which are very useful to me, how about we split all the treasures from the ‘Azure Crystal Treasure House’ 70-30, with me giving you an extra 10%?"

"I knew you weren’t up to any good. Alright, 70-30, the ‘Imperishable Jade’ is yours, but you must give me all the remaining ‘Spirit Sealing Talismans’."

Mr. Liu bargained.

After thinking for a moment, Xu Qingfan finally nodded, and with a wave of his hand, about a hundred "Spirit Sealing Talismans" appeared in his palm, which he handed to Mr. Liu.

"Is this all that’s left?" Mr. Liu asked, not pleased.

Xu Qingfan explained, "’Spirit Sealing Talismans’ are precious, but they can only be used three times at most. Over the years, we have used them many times, and before coming to the ‘Azure Crystal Treasure House,’ I gave most of them to the Tian family brothers, so this is all that remains."

Mr. Liu sighed, muttering about being wasteful, then said to Xu Qingfan, "You have worked hard these days. Now, I will search for treasures with Taoist Friend Liu. You and Taoist Friend Wang should take a rest."

As he spoke, Mr. Liu handed two bottles of elixirs to Xu Qingfan and Wang Zegang, saying, "There is no Spirit Qi inside the ‘Azure Crystal Treasure House.’ To restore our Spirit Qi, we can only rely on the power of these elixirs. Take this time to recover well, as I have a feeling we will face challenges ahead."

Xu Qingfan took the elixirs and handed the "Trapped Spirit Net" to Mr. Liu, while nodding in acknowledgment.

Mr. Liu did not waste any time and, guided by the Spirit Ghost he had been waiting for, flew towards the next hidden treasure location. Meanwhile, Liu Ziqing took over for Wang Zegang to control the "Spirit Ghost Banner."

It was only after Mr. Liu had left that Xu Qingfan, who had been pulled away by Mr. Liu, finally had a chance to talk to Wang Zegang and Liu Ziqing.

"I’m sorry for causing both of you Taoist friends worry these days."

Xu Qingfan nodded to the two people.

Wang Zegang, who had been worried for over twenty days, showed excitement in his eyes and for a moment did not know how to respond; unknowingly, Xu Qingfan had become his pillar of support.

Liu Ziqing’s expression had already returned to calm as he slowly said, "It’s good that you are back; otherwise, I truly wouldn’t know how to settle things with Zhang Xusheng in the future."

Xu Qingfan smiled and said, "Of course, I won’t let my Taoist friend down."

Liu Ziqing nodded, slowly closed his eyes, and began to focus on controlling the "Spirit Ghost Banner" in his hands.

At that moment, Wang Zegang finally calmed down and came to Xu Qingfan’s side, carefully explaining Mr. Liu and Liu Ziqing’s reactions before Xu Qingfan returned.

After listening to Wang Zegang’s story, a complex look flashed in Xu Qingfan’s eyes; after a long time, he slowly nodded and forced a smile at Wang Zegang, saying, "I understand now; Senior Liu’s choice was the right one."

Although he said this, deep down, Xu Qingfan still felt some strange unease about being abandoned by a respected and trusted elder.

Hearing Xu Qingfan say this, Wang Zegang hesitated for a moment and suddenly asked, "Island Master, since you believe Mr. Liu’s actions are correct, if you were in Mr. Liu’s position, would you make the same decision?"

Xu Qingfan was slightly taken aback, then he smiled and shook his head, his eyes gazing into the deep starry river around him, his gaze even deeper than the stars. He softly said, "Many times, with many things, we know the right way to act, yet we still can’t help but go down the wrong path. This can be summed up in one word: ‘feelings’. If it were me, I might choose the right way, or I might disregard everything to find Senior Liu. Without having experienced such moments, I also do not know what I would truly choose."

Upon hearing Xu Qingfan’s words, Wang Zegang’s eyes flashed with satisfaction. Although Xu Qingfan didn’t give him a definite answer, at least from what Xu Qingfan said, it was clear that he still valued friendship with others.

However, while Xu Qingfan was speaking, he did not look at Wang Zegang at all.

Xu Qingfan was not lying, but Wang Zegang did not know that when Xu Qingfan thought about certain important matters and decisions, he would fall into a state of "being absorbed." When in this "absorbed" state, Xu Qingfan absolutely would not consider any sacrifices or friendships; his mind would be focused only on gains and losses.

In other words, if Xu Qingfan and Mr. Liu’s positions were switched, Xu Qingfan might not even wait twenty days; perhaps by the tenth day, he would stop thinking about Mr. Liu’s safety and let things take their own course.

"Alright, let’s not talk too much. Let’s quickly restore our Spirit Qi."

As he spoke, Xu Qingfan poured all the pills from the bottle into his mouth, then sat cross-legged beneath the deep starry sky, starting to restore the Spirit Qi within him.

Wang Zegang, who intended to say something, was slightly taken aback by Xu Qingfan’s actions. He then poured the pills from his bottle into his mouth as well and sat next to Xu Qingfan, restoring his Spirit Qi while protecting Xu Qingfan.

In the following days, Mr. Liu traveled back and forth between the treasure site and the gathering place many times, moving much faster than Xu Qingfan. This was not only because Mr. Liu had far more experience than Xu Qingfan, but also because when collecting the treasures, Mr. Liu used not only his "Trapped Spirit Net" but also the ‘Spirit Sealing Talisman’ that Xu Qingfan gave him.

The "Spirit Sealing Talisman" is essentially used to suppress the energy fluctuations within an object, cutting off the connection between that object and the outside world. With these "Spirit Sealing Talismans," Mr. Liu can easily collect treasures.

Xu Qingfan naturally knows this, but he thinks it is a huge waste to use these precious "Spirit Sealing Talismans" only to collect treasures. At crucial moments, the power of the "Spirit Sealing Talismans" could very well save his life.

However, for Mr. Liu, it is clear that nothing is more important than collecting various treasures.

It can be predicted that the more than a hundred "Spirit Sealing Talismans" that Xu Qingfan has left will all be used by Mr. Liu in this "Azure Crystal Treasure House."

While Xu Qingfan and Wang Zegang recover their Spirit Qi, and Liu Ziqing and Mr. Liu search for treasures together, the battle between Zhang Xusheng and the ancestor of the Zhong family at the entrance of the "Azure Crystal Treasure House" is finally coming to an end.