Deep at the bottom of the river, the water was still.

A translucent, crystalline Water Avoidance Array held open a pocket of dry space.

Qi Yun sat cross-legged within it, his aura calm and condensed.

His hands formed a seal before his chest as the True Essence in his body slowly circulated according to the Innate Qi Heart Method.

A moment later, a tangible wisp of black qi slithered and spread across his cheek like a small snake.

It was the pure Yin Evil Qi left in his body by Wu Yushan.

He was now forcibly expelling it.

After a long while, Qi Yun suddenly opened his mouth and exhaled a long breath.

This was no ordinary Muddy Qi, but a visible, grayish-black stream of extremely yin and cold evil qi.

The moment it left his mouth, the barrier of light from the surrounding Water Avoidance Array flickered slightly.

The nearby river water even began to form tiny ice crystals.

"HUUUU—"

As this evil qi was completely expelled, the last trace of the unnatural, bluish-black color on Qi Yun’s face finally faded, and his healthy, ruddy complexion returned.

He slowly opened his eyes. The sharp glint within them was restrained, and his aura was now harmonious and clear.

"It took half a month, but I’ve finally purged all of this Yin Evil Qi." Qi Yun sighed, a note of profound relief in his voice.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, this battle had given him a much deeper appreciation for the might of a Great Perfection Qi Refining Cultivator.

Back then, Wu Yushan had been a spent force, his Dao Foundation on the verge of shattering. Moreover, Qi Yun had repeatedly schemed against and besieged him, leaving him with less than one percent of his peak strength.

And yet, even so, the mere aftershocks of his True Essence and the tremors from his aura had been enough to injure his internal organs, forcing him to spend half a month meditating just to clear the evil qi from his body.

’If it were Wu Yushan at his peak...’ Qi Yun shook his head. ’An existence like that... even a hundred of me working together probably couldn’t withstand a single thunderous blow. I wouldn’t last a single exchange.’

The further one progressed in cultivation, the more the gap between Realms resembled an insurmountable chasm.

With his injuries fully healed and his condition returned to its peak, Qi Yun’s mood lightened considerably.

’Hmm... time to take stock of my haul.’

With a Heart Thought, Wu Yushan’s shriveled corpse, still faintly exuding a cold, yin aura, appeared before him.

His gaze swept over the body, and Qi Yun quickly found a ring on its left index finger. It had an antiquated design, was dark silver in color, and its surface was engraved with fine, cloud-like patterns.

A Storage Ring!

This type of Dharma Ring was far superior to ordinary Storage Pouches and Storage Bracelets; it was already considered a graded Magical Artifact.

Besides the basic storage function, they often came with other miraculous effects, such as concealing one’s aura, defense, or offense.

They were difficult to refine and worth a fortune.

Only a Great Perfection Qi Refining Cultivator like Wu Yushan, who also held the important post of Steward in the Yellow Springs Netherworld, would have the status and wealth to use one.

’There’s a Restriction sealing it?’ Qi Yun picked up the ice-cold Silver Ring and tried to probe it with his Divine Sense, but he was immediately blocked by a tough, obscure power that prevented him from going any deeper.

The fine, cloud-like patterns on the ring’s surface seemed to come alive, faintly flowing to form an invisible barrier.

This was clearly a unique Restriction Wu Yushan had placed on it before his death to prevent his life’s collection from easily falling into someone else’s hands.

An ordinary cultivator, even if they obtained this Dharma Ring, could only stare at it helplessly if they didn’t know how to break the seal.

"Fortunately, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." Qi Yun chuckled, not the least bit discouraged.

His Heart Thought stirred, and with a "POOF," a raging, purplish-black flame erupted in the palm of his right hand—it was the Nanming Demon Fire!

This fire was both Supreme Yang and supremely evil, specializing in burning away illusory things.

It was also exceptionally effective against constructs like True Essence Restrictions and Divine Soul Brandings.

He controlled the Demon Fire, carefully enveloping the Silver Ring within it.

The scorching, malevolent flames licked at the ring’s body but did not damage the ring itself. Instead, they concentrated their power on burning and corrupting the invisible Restriction.

Under the continuous immolation of the Nanming Demon Fire, the once-faint cloud patterns on the Silver Ring’s surface gradually grew clear and bright, as if activated, outlining a complex and profound restrictive pattern.

However, no sooner did this pattern appear than it began to twist and fade under the scorching, tyrannical Demon Fire, like ice and snow meeting a blazing sun.

Finally, with a SIZZLE, it turned into wisps of green smoke and was burned into nothingness.

The entire process took about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

When Qi Yun retracted the Nanming Demon Fire, the cloud patterns on the Silver Ring’s surface had already returned to their calm, antiquated appearance.

The tough power that had previously blocked his Divine Sense was also completely gone.

Qi Yun once again sent out his Divine Sense, and this time, it entered the Storage Ring that had once belonged to a Great Perfection Qi Refining Cultivator without any resistance.

’So that’s how it is. Besides storage, this ring can also block others’ Divination Calculation and Deduction.’ Discovering this other miraculous property of the Storage Ring, Qi Yun nodded to himself in understanding.

’As expected of a Magical Artifact belonging to a Great Perfection Qi Refining Cultivator. It really is a high-class item!’

Inside the vast, empty space of the ring, there were not the mountains of Spirit Stones and glittering treasures he had imagined.

Instead, there was a vast and neatly stacked collection of various Jade Talismans, Beast Hide Scrolls, and thread-bound ancient books.

Qi Yun’s Heart and Spirit stirred, and he roughly scanned the contents of these texts.

Most of them were records of secret histories, anecdotes, and local customs from the Northwest and even broader regions. There were also some that were clearly internal ledgers, supply lists, and personnel records for the Ghost Wail Collection.

In addition, there were three antiquated Jade Scrolls that emanated a dense Yin Qi.

The *Profound Yin Heart Method*, the *Netherworld Knowledge Record*, and the *Little Reincarnation Nine Nether Heart Method*.

They were, surprisingly, the orthodox Qi Refining Realm Heart Method legacy of the Yellow Springs Netherworld.

Naturally, he had no intention of practicing them, but they would be helpful for understanding the cultivation system of Yellow Springs Netherworld cultivators.

However, they were of little use for immediately increasing his combat strength.

His Divine Sense continued to search among the texts.

Finally, next to a pile of Jade Scrolls recording miscellaneous matters, he found what he was most interested in.

Information regarding that wild Foundation Establishment Object.

The contents recorded in this Jade Scroll were far more detailed than what Situ Huaji had verbally relayed.

The Jade Scroll even had annotations and speculations at the end, added by Wu Yushan based on his own knowledge.

It was clear that after receiving the initial information from Situ Huaji, he had used the channels of the Yellow Springs Netherworld to conduct further verification and add to it.

This had raised the reliability and detail of the intelligence by a whole level.

After carefully reading the contents, Qi Yun couldn’t help but let out a rueful laugh.

"This Wu Yushan... was quite a talented man, in his own right."

He could almost see the figure of a cultivator who had painstakingly striven for a hundred years, all for the sake of Foundation Establishment.

’He cultivated for over a hundred years, went through countless hardships, and finally managed to forge the prototype of his Dao Foundation and reach Qi Refining Great Perfection. All he lacked was this one last compatible Foundation Establishment Object to gather the [Keystones] and attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

And yet... he met with this calamity, his body and Dao obliterated.’

Shaking his head, Qi Yun’s voice held a trace of fatalistic mockery.

’But perhaps it was his fate... he most likely didn’t have the luck for Foundation Establishment.

Even without me, even if he had luckily gathered the Keystones, with his disposition and foundation, he probably would have met with disaster during his breakthrough to Foundation Establishment and been unable to escape death anyway.’

On the path of cultivation, luck was sometimes a part of one’s strength.

Or even the most crucial part.

Setting aside the texts, Qi Yun began to search for other things in the Storage Ring.

The result, however, was somewhat disappointing.

Wu Yushan had been severely injured and on the brink of death before. To stay alive and recover, he had seemingly used up all the various Treasure Medicines and Spirit Pills he carried with him.

Only five or six Jade Bottles were scattered in a corner of the Storage Ring.

The bottles were wreathed in a dense Yin Qi, and he could feel the malevolent aura contained within even through the jade.

Clearly, they didn’t contain any proper Elixirs.

They were more like poisons specially concocted by the Yellow Springs Netherworld to harm people.

Other than that, the only things left in the Storage Ring were a few scattered Artifact Refining and Talisman Making materials of decent, but not top-tier, quality.

Most were of the yin attribute, making them of limited use to him.

Still, if he took them back and sold them at the Holy Sect Treasure Market, he could probably exchange them for some Holy Essence.

There was practically nothing that could be immediately liquidated or that would significantly boost his current combat strength.

’Oh well, this is to be expected.’ Seeing this, Qi Yun wasn’t too bothered.

’Wu Yushan was a Steward of the Ghost Wail Collection, a position of high authority.

But the Ghost Wail Collection is ultimately the property of the Yellow Springs Netherworld, not his personal treasury.

As a Great Perfection Qi Refining Cultivator, he must have invested most of his savings from the past hundred years into his own cultivation and preparations for Foundation Establishment.

Purchasing a Foundation Establishment Object, gathering supplementary resources—which of these doesn’t cost an astronomical sum?

It’s impossible that he would have had much liquid wealth left over.’

Although there was no hard currency that could be quickly liquidated,

as Qi Yun’s gaze fell once more upon the vast collection of Jade Talismans and books, he felt that he hadn’t lost out.

’These notes, these insights—especially Wu Yushan’s experiences from breaking through to Qi Refining Great Perfection and forging his Dao Foundation prototype, as well as all his speculations and preparations regarding Foundation Establishment—these are the true priceless treasures.’

The experience and lessons from the cultivation path of a Great Perfection Qi Refining Cultivator who was only a single step away from Foundation Establishment were like a guiding beacon.

Even if not everything was correct, it was of immeasurable value for planning his own future path and breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, allowing him to avoid many detours and pitfalls.

With a Heart Thought, Qi Yun transferred all the valuable Jade Talismans, texts, Heart Method Jade Scrolls, and the few bottles of unidentified Yin Qi Elixirs from the Storage Ring into his own Storage Magic Bracelet, sorting and storing them by category.

After doing all this, he flipped his hand and took out a stack of Talismans specially designed for sealing and isolating auras.

He carefully wrapped the Storage Ring from the Yellow Springs Netherworld in layer after layer, like wrapping a zongzi, ensuring not a single gap was left.

Although he had broken the obvious Restriction Wu Yushan had placed on the ring,

the Magical Artifact itself was from the Yellow Springs Netherworld. Its internal structure and refining methods all originated from that sect.

Who knew if the Yellow Springs Netherworld had left some extremely secret, unknown tracking mark or backup measure within it?

It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Until he could either fully understand it or was capable of completely cleansing it of all potential hidden dangers, sealing it tightly was the safest course of action.

Having done all this, Qi Yun waved his hand and dispelled the Water Avoidance Array at the bottom of the river.

The surrounding river water surged in, but it parted naturally as his True Essence circulated.

After carefully getting his bearings, his figure transformed into an imperceptible trace in the water and sped toward the Earth Fiend Acupoint marked in the *Secret Manual of the Northwest Celestial Spirits and Earthly Fiends*.

Now that the miscellaneous tasks were settled, it was time for him to return his focus to the main business at hand.

...