"Give this basin a name. I don't see any inscription on it."

Luo Chen pondered briefly and said, "Let's call it the Dragon-Nurturing Basin."

Han Zhan considered it, then nodded. "That's a good name. It carries a nice meaning."

Luo Chen smiled, bit his finger, and a drop of blood essence emerged. His divine consciousness followed and formed a Darkness restriction that settled onto the basin. Using the blood as a guide, he inscribed the characters "Dragon-Nurturing" at the bottom of the basin. After completing the blood-binding, he swallowed both the basin and the cauldron into his sea of qi.

Obviously, nurturing treasures with the Dragon-Nurturing Basin came at a cost. A cultivator's mana served as the primary fuel. However, compared to normal nurturing methods, the basin reduced mana consumption by a noticeable margin. This reduction was not very substantial in the short term, but over time it would save Luo Chen a vast amount of mana. In effect, the refinement of his treasures would impact his cultivation speed much less.

Seeing this, Han Zhan said helplessly, "You're already in poor condition, and you're still spending blood essence?"

Luo Chen shrugged. "What can I do? With a treasure like this, I won't feel at ease unless I bind it properly."

He then pointed forward and sent the nine storage items before the Myriad Soul Banner. Seeing seven storage pouches, a wine cup, and a storage belt hovering in front of him, Han Zhan raised an eyebrow. "What is this supposed to mean?"

"I'm planning to focus fully on refining the energy in the Hidden Dust Sand and restore my condition to the peak. Removing the cultivators' imprints on these items takes too much effort," Luo Chen said with drooping eyelids and a weary tone. "Senior, you wouldn't want me stuck in this weakened state and unable to remove the dark energy from your Soul-Nurturing Wood... right?"

For the who-knew-how-manyeth time, Han Zhan found himself speechless.

***

Even as a remnant soul, Han Zhan was still fundamentally a Sage. With his methods, he removed the residual imprints left by the original owners on the nine storage items in just over ten days. This saved Luo Chen a great deal of time.

Over a century of cultivation, Luo Chen had obtained countless storage pouches from battles. The most troublesome part had always been removing the imprints. This time, all nine storage items belonged to Adepts. By all rights, it should have been extremely difficult, yet the process turned out swift and clean.

Luo Chen took time each day to sort through them. Every day, a smile lingered on his lips. After spending half a month completing the inventory, he could not help but laugh out loud. The gains were simply ridiculous. These nine storage items came from cultivators of the Qian and Wu families, the Tempered Edge Workshop, and Hundred Craft Mountain. Though they did not carry all their wealth with them like rogue cultivators, their possessions were still abundant. Moreover, they had come to Jadecold City for an auction and had prepared significant funds.

Even though most of their spirit stones had been exchanged for various resources, what was left filled Luo Chen's purse to an unprecedented level, a staggering eighteen million spirit stones! Years of struggle in the Profound Rock Sea Region could not compare to a single day at Coldlight Island! Truly, wealth came fastest through windfalls. And this was only the money; the other spoils were just as impressive. There were over a hundred talismans of various tiers. There were thousands of medicinal ingredients, all of excellent age and quality. Luo Chen even found a Divine Iris in Qian Ting's storage pouch! That was one of the three main ingredients for refining the Nascent Soul Pill! It was also widely recognized in the cultivation world as a valuable resource that aided in forming a Nascent Soul. Although there was only one, it marked a solid step forward.

Besides this, there were many pills. Most were third-tier, and some second-tier. Of course, any second-tier pill worth being kept by an Adept had to be something special. In this case, most of them were Foundation Establishment Pills, probably purchased for their juniors. There were also several others that Luo Chen identified one by one. As for the third-tier pills, most were for cultivation. Unfortunately, most of them were low-grade, hardly anything worth using, but even so, they carried a distinct Northern Sea alchemy style. Luo Chen kept them for future reference.

Another pleasant surprise was a number of pill formulas, and again, they mainly came from Qian Ting. As the head of his family, Qian Ting had many treasures in his storage belt. He alone possessed a third-tier cultivation pill formula and a fourth-tier antidote formula. The others also had a number of useful items.

In a short time, Luo Chen collected several alchemical formulas. However, they were only formulas. Alchemy texts were extremely scarce. This made sense; at their level and age, those who didn't specialize in alchemy would not keep such resources. Moreover, Qian Ting and the others were members of established forces, and such resources would almost always be handed over rather than kept on hand. On the other hand, Luo Chen gained quite a few artifact creation texts. One was A Hundred Crafts of Heaven, which came from the burly man of Hundred Craft Mountain. Another was The Tempered Edge manual, which came from a man named Wu Er, from the Tempered Edge Workshop.

This was great news. Once Luo Chen settled down, he would definitely begin refining the remains of the Demon Emperor. He had no concerns about the fundamentals; it was just his knowledge for high-level artifact creation was lacking. These two manuals arrived at the perfect time.

There were also substantial amounts of mid- and low-tier minerals in the nine people's storage items. There was so much, in fact, that Luo Chen could easily put together all the auxiliary materials needed to refine the Demon Emperor's remains. There were also many other items like spare enchanted artifacts and treasures, one-time offensive weapons, and even common Sea-Calming Discs. If Luo Chen chose to dispose of these items, he could easily gain another ten million spirit stones.

"I've got no choice but to sell them off. That's too bad. If I were in the Eastern Wilderness, these spoils would've been enough to push the Luo Tian Sect into the ranks of true major sects."

Luo Chen held a third-tier cultivation technique in one hand and a third-tier Core Formation pill in the other. A look of regret appeared on his face. It was truly a pity. He could easily tell that if this windfall was used properly, it could nurture one or two Adepts in his sect. He could even provide matching cultivation techniques and life-bound enchanted treasures for them. But now, he had no sect to command and no need to distribute resources to close associates. In the end, he could only convert everything into suitable resources or spirit stones for his own cultivation.

He let out a sigh, then walked to the window and pushed it open. Outside, waves rolled endlessly as the massive ship pressed forward. A trace of nostalgia appeared in his eyes.

At some point, Heavenjade had come to stand behind him. "Master, in about half a year, we will reach Giant Whale Harbor."

"So soon?"

"Yeah. In fact, they had a clear plan. Out of the nine ships, eight split off along the way to other destinations. The main ship is heading straight for Giant Whale Harbor and it barely stopped at all." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Luo Chen nodded. They had traveled day and night for a full year, so this was only to be expected. Of course, once they reached Giant Whale Harbor, he had no intention of following Wang An's suggestion to stay. He would immediately start looking for an opportunity to head farther north, to the Myriad Immortal Society.

After Fu Chaosheng made it clear that the Heaven Origin Dao Sect would not accept rogue cultivators like him, Luo Chen shelved all thoughts of joining such a colossal force. After all, even on the off chance that he succeeded, he could still get into trouble. If his past deeds were exposed and others discovered that he had once refined pills for the demon races, the consequences would be serious. It was better to leave early. The Myriad Immortal Society was the best for him.

"How are your injuries?"

"I am recovering well thanks to the pill you gave me," said Heavenjade, looking at Luo Chen with gratitude in her eyes.

Luo Chen felt somewhat relieved. He had obtained many pills from the nine storage items. One was a healing pill that perfectly matched Heavenjade's injuries, so he had simply given it to her. Even if it could not fully heal her, it would allow her to move normally.

"Once we settle down, I will refine some proper pills for you and clear whatever lingering injuries you have."

"Thank you, Master!"

"How is your practice with the Heavenspan Wing Codex?"

"I've gotten the basics. It's just that the spirit energy on the ship is scarce, so my progress has been slow."

"Good. Getting started is what matters. As for the lack of spirit energy... We'll deal with that once we're settled."

As he spoke, he could not help but laugh, though the smile was bitter. He longed for stability, yet his whole life had been spent drifting from place to place. The irony was not lost on him.

"Alright, you can go. I'll be going into seclusion for the next half year. Don't let anyone disturb me."

Luo Chen waved his hand, and Heavenjade obediently left the room. After she left, he sat quietly for a long time. Only when his mind had calmed completely did he slowly open his mouth, and a flawless white pearl floated out.

In the quiet room, an aged voice sounded. "Are you going to start working on the mana circulation diagram for the Nascent Core now?"

"I'll give it a try first. If it fails, there are still ways to fix it. But if it works, I can start nurturing a second Golden Core sooner."

"And my Soul-Nurturing Wood..."

"Don't worry. I won't go back on my word."

The conversation gradually faded away. Only Luo Chen's long and steady breathing remained.