Ren Xingzhou sat on the meditation cushion, his back drenched in a cold sweat. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and composed himself.

Because he and Yang Jing addressed each other as martial brothers, he should have called Iron Head "Martial Nephew." But given Iron Head’s understanding of the Five Talisman Scripture, he truly couldn’t bring himself to say the words.

He bowed to Iron Head, but his thoughts turned to Yang Jing.

’To be able to train a disciple to such a level... it seems Yang Jing’s talent lies not only in cultivation, but even more so in guiding his disciples.’

He bowed to Iron Head once more, thanking him for his guidance.

"Junior Martial Uncle Ren, there’s no need for that."

Iron Head hurriedly stepped aside to avoid the bow.

Ren Xingzhou was even more impressed. ’Judging from Iron Head, all of Yang Jing’s disciples are people of excellent character. It’s a testament to Yang Jing’s teaching by both word and example.’

Thanks to the diligent Alchemy, Artifact Refining, and Talisman Making of Yang Jing’s three disciples, the True Spirit Lineage quickly established a foothold in the Celestial Square Marketplace. It began to provide Yang Jing with a stable supply of Spirit Stones.

Yang Jing calculated that there were still three years until the next Outer Sect Grand Competition. By then, his disciples could all be promoted to Inner Sect Disciples together.

According to Sect rules, Inner Sect Disciples must first gain five years of experience in administrative duties before they are eligible to be promoted to True Disciples. However, back when they were in the Northern Domain, Yang Jing had already used his influence as their master to have Iron Head and the others take on such administrative roles.

It might be difficult for the other three, but with Iron Head and Yinjiao’s records and Merit Points from the Northern Army Governor’s Mansion, they could completely bypass the five-year administrative requirement and directly challenge a True Disciple within the Sect to compete for the position.

「One month later.」

Yang Jing held a gourd in his hand. With a surge of his Magical Power, a dazzling cyan arc of lightning shot out from it.

The lightning arc shot out, striking a man-high slab of bluestone and instantly blasting it to smithereens.

Even amidst the shattered rock, the arc of light continued to dance, only slowly dissipating after several breaths.

Watching from the side, Ren Xingzhou gasped, stunned by the lightning arc’s astonishing power. If Yang Jing had personally cast a Thunder Technique, he wouldn’t have been so shocked, no matter how powerful it was.

But this bolt of lightning had been unleashed from a gourd that was merely a Tier One Magical Artifact.

In Ren Xingzhou’s experience, anything capable of unleashing True Thunder had to be at least a Tier Two Spiritual Artifact, and the cultivator themself needed to have at least a rudimentary grasp of Thunder Techniques.

The spiritual material used for this gourd was just an ordinary Profound Cyan Gourd, which grows on two-hundred-year-old Profound Cyan Vines. It was difficult to even refine them into Tier One Middle Grade Magical Artifacts. Yet this bolt of Jia Wood True Thunder would be extremely difficult to block, even for a Qi Cultivation Perfection cultivator using their full power to activate a Defensive Spiritual Artifact.

To think that in Yang Jing’s hands, such simple spiritual materials could be transformed from the mundane into the miraculous.

Ren Xingzhou was left breathless with admiration.

"Unfortunately, the texture of a Profound Cyan Gourd from a two-hundred-year-old Cyan Light Vine still can’t withstand the power of Jia Wood True Thunder. This gourd will be useless after unleashing three bolts of lightning."

Yang Jing shook his head regretfully. Although nothing looked wrong to the naked eye, a scan with his Divine Sense revealed that the Profound Cyan Gourd’s internal structure was already damaged.

"If a cultivator uses Wood Element Magical Power to activate this gourd, it can fire three bolts in succession. If the cultivator doesn’t have Wood Element Magical Power and relies purely on the gourd to absorb Wood Element Spiritual Qi, it will need at least three days between each use to store up enough spiritual qi to unleash the Jia Wood True Thunder. What do you think would be a suitable price?"

This Jia Wood Gourd was just a byproduct of Yang Jing’s research on the Five Fire Divine Thunder.

While researching the prohibitions for the Five Fire Divine Thunder, he had spent a considerable amount of Spirit Stones just purchasing various gourds. It was a good time to recoup some of his investment with this Jia Wood Gourd.

"Eight hundred Spirit Stones!"

Ren Xingzhou blurted out an astonishing price without the slightest hesitation.

"That price could almost buy a Tier One Flying Sword. Will anyone actually buy it?"

Yang Jing said doubtfully.

"Brother Yang, you’re a genius in the Sword Dao. With a Flying Sword in hand, you naturally have no fear of Jia Wood True Thunder, but others absolutely do not possess such astonishing talent. Even if they had a Flying Sword, they would be nowhere near the realm of Refining Sword into Gang."

Ren Xingzhou explained to Yang Jing.

"A cultivator who has mastered Thunder Techniques is in no way inferior to a Sword Cultivator in terms of combat power. This Jia Wood Gourd allows a Qi Cultivator to directly cast a Thunder Technique. Even with only three uses, it’s absolutely worth it. In a magical combat between Qi Refining Cultivators, it can be the deciding factor."

Yang Jing nodded.

"I’ll have Ji Feng put some cosmetic touches on this Jia Wood Gourd to prevent anyone from seeing through the spiritual materials and prohibitions used."

The core of the Jia Wood Gourd was the Qi of Jia Wood and Qi of Yi Wood hidden within it. Activated by the prohibition designed by Yang Jing, the two Qis would clash and generate True Thunder.

Although the principle was simple, it required a profound understanding of the Five Elements True Thunder and an exceptionally high level of Artifact Refining Skill to turn the idea into a reality.

Even with Yang Jing’s Artifact Refining Skill, it was still somewhat beyond his reach. It was only after gaining a completely new understanding of the True Register while studying the Ghost Book that he was able to create this Jia Wood Gourd.

He could even use this as a template to refine a Yi Wood Gourd.

However, Yi Wood belongs to the yin attribute. Its advantages are that it’s easier to control than Jia Wood and possesses a pervasive, corrosive power. But when unleashed through a magical artifact, these two advantages are almost negligible. It couldn’t compare to the sheer ferocity of Jia Wood True Thunder.

「Seven days later.」

The Jia Wood Gourd was put on sale at the True Spirit Lineage.

Compared to the first gourd Yang Jing had refined, the Jia Wood Gourd in the True Spirit Lineage was far more ornate. Its cyan jade-like body was covered in complex prohibitions formed by golden thread patterns. At a glance, it was clearly an extraordinary magical artifact.

After an attendant with a Qi Refining cultivation activated the Jia Wood Gourd to fire two consecutive bolts of lightning, shattering the Defensive Spirit Light of an Upper Grade Defensive Spiritual Artifact, the entire stock of Jia Wood Gourds at the True Spirit Lineage was immediately sold out.

With Yang Jing’s current cultivation, he could naturally protect the astonishing profits from the Jia Wood Gourd.

After the Sect’s General Affairs Hall learned that the refining technique for the Jia Wood Gourd came from Yang Jing, they simply placed regular orders with the True Spirit Lineage for batches of them to be used as military supplies. They didn’t try to take over the Jia Wood Gourd business, unlike what had happened with the Insect Extermination Bell.

Yang Jing was making rapid progress on the Five Fire Divine Thunder Prohibition, but he had run into a significant setback with Chi Yu’s new cultivation technique.

With the new cultivation technique he had created, it would be incredibly difficult to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, even with Chi Yu’s talent. Its only advantage was that this fledgling technique seemed to have a powerful suppressive effect on demons and Body Cultivators who practiced Body Refining Techniques.

Yang Jing had never forgotten the impending demon catastrophe.

In another forty years, the demons would launch a brazen invasion of the Human Race on the Western Continent. At that time, the Western Domain would fall, and even the Central Domain would be threatened by the demons’ vanguard.

The war between demons and the Human Race would be relentless, plunging the world into misery. Even a Golden Core Cultivator like Yang Jing would find it difficult to stay out of the conflict.

The war dragged on for decades. Even before Yang Jing had transmigrated to the Nine Heavens World, there had been no sign of it ending.

Yang Jing took a deep breath. If the cultivation technique he created could truly be spread throughout the Five Elements True Spirit Sect and the other five major sects, it might be able to slightly turn the tide against the disadvantage they would face in the future.