Chapter 82: Chapter 82: A Grand Gift at the Door

After leaving the Blood Demon Master’s tranquil Daoist temple, Qi Yun had yet to make it back to his private residence in the Seventh Outer Mansion when the Taixu Jade Order in his robes vibrated slightly, delivering a clear message via Magical Power.

In this [Nine Mansions Conquest], his contributions were monumental, and he had been designated the Champion Scholar of the assessment.

Dual Champion Scholar!

Compared to the Human Champion Scholar, which was merely an honorary title.

This time, the Dual Champion Scholar came with tangible rewards, and these rewards had already been delivered to his private residence.

A double blessing!

A smile flashed in Qi Yun’s eyes as he read the message on the Taixu Jade Order.

’Looks like my luck isn’t half bad.’

’I just gained a veteran Master as a backer, and now a grand gift has arrived at my door.’

’With this, my chances of seizing the title of Champion Scholar in the third assessment and achieving the status of Triple Champion Scholar have increased yet again.’

’As long as I can become the Triple Champion Scholar, I’ll be able to enter the Inner Mansion without issue.’

’Who knows, maybe another Master will take a liking to me and accept me as a personal disciple. With two Foundation Establishment Masters as my backers, won’t I be able to do as I please in the Inner Mansion?’

At this thought, Qi Yun felt his spirits soar and his mind clear. Even the True Qi in his body seemed to flow a bit more lightly and freely.

He continued on his way and returned to the Seventh Outer Mansion.

The moment he pushed open the gate, Qi Yun saw three wooden boxes—two large and one small—placed in the center of his courtyard.

THUMP-THUMP—

As his gaze fell upon them, a throbbing sensation welled up in his heart. Qi Yun closed the courtyard gate behind him, flicked his sleeves, and walked into the courtyard with light steps.

’This aura... is it a Metal Element Spiritual Object?’

As his Cultivation gradually deepened, Qi Yun’s perception of Celestial and Earthly Spiritual Objects seemed to have grown much stronger.

Before, he had to physically see a Spiritual Object to identify its type.

But now, even through the wooden box, he could vaguely sense the category of the Spiritual Object inside.

’Does this make me a... Humanoid Treasure Detector?’

Shaking his head with a light chuckle, Qi Yun flicked his finger. A bolt of Qi Force shot out, popping open the wooden box containing the Metal Element Spiritual Object.

A silvery luster, like rippling water, met his eyes.

Inside the box, laid on a layer of deep purple, soft velvet, rested a fist-sized, irregularly shaped piece of metal.

Its entire body was a lustrous, flowing silver. The surface was perfectly smooth, yet it seemed as if countless, infinitesimal starlike points swirled and vanished within, emitting an extremely pure and condensed aura of sharp metal.

"The quality is very high." After the box was opened, the throbbing in Qi Yun’s heart grew stronger; clearly, the quality of this Metal Element Spiritual Object was quite remarkable.

He reached out, grasped it in his palm, and began to refine it into his body.

The text on the Magic Technique Panel immediately changed.

[Magic Technique auto-update complete. This is a minor version update. The magic technique effects have been adjusted as follows:]

[Sand Iron Skill 5.0: Improves the quality of the Iron Sand when the skill is cast.]

[Sand Iron Skill 6.0: Increases Iron Sand response speed, increases magic power, and increases casting range.]

A double level-up!

As a Metal Element Spiritual Object awarded for being the Dual Champion Scholar, its quality was clearly higher than the ordinary Spiritual Objects Qi Yun had scraped together from the [Holy Sect Treasure Market].

Although it still couldn’t compare to the Demon Fire left by that mysterious Demon Child.

It had still allowed the [Sand Iron Skill] to update two versions in a row, reaching version 6.0.

Qi Yun’s Heart Thought stirred, and a few fine grains of Iron Sand flew silently from his sleeve to hover above his palm.

Compared to the distinct metallic sheen of the previous Hundred-refined Steel Sand, the current Iron Sand was dark and simple, completely unremarkable, as if it were just the most ordinary of iron filings.

Qi Yun pinched one of the grains and observed it closely for a moment, his eyes suddenly narrowing.

"This is... Abyssal Iron?"

A lost passage from the *Cloud Cave Heaven Record: Exotic Object Chronicles* reads: "In the Northwest, there is a metal, sunk in an abyss where the Yin malevolence of the Earth Veins converges. It forms over a thousand years. Its color is a deep black, its weight immovable. Divine Thought cannot perceive it. It is named ’Abyssal’."

"To retrieve it, one must use a Secret Skill to guide the Yang Qi of the earth’s apertures and force it to reveal itself. If one tries to excavate it by force, the metal will sink deeper into the earth’s apertures, and be lost forever."

’This is genuine Divine Iron. Not only is this iron incredibly hard—impervious to swords, leaving not a scratch; unmelting in the Fierce Fire of a forge—’

’—it’s also incomparably heavy. A single grain the size of a sesame seed weighs over ten jin.’

’But the most crucial part is...’

Qi Yun gazed at the unremarkable, matte black surface of the [Abyssal Iron] and rubbed it gently.

’Abyssal Iron naturally blocks and absorbs the probing of Divine Sense.’

’When Divine Thought touches it, it’s like a clay ox sinking into the sea, vanishing without a trace. It is also like standing before a ten-thousand-zhang-deep abyss, its bottom impossible to fathom.’

’If I use the [Clear Wind Technique] for Illusory Concealment and then cover my body with this Iron Sand, I’m afraid that within the Qi Refining Realm, the only ones who could find me would be those prodigies who specialize in Pupil Techniques or the arts of Divination Calculation and Deduction!’

Having grown accustomed to using the [Sand Iron Skill] as his primary method, Qi Yun was extremely satisfied with this update.

The appearance of [Abyssal Iron] in particular not only raised the baseline power of the [Sand Iron Skill] but also indirectly enhanced his Invisibility ability.

It was truly killing two birds with one stone!

"With a Spiritual Object like this, the Da Wu Mountain assessment wasn’t a waste of effort after all," Qi Yun muttered, but he still eagerly lifted the lid of the second box.

This box did not contain a Spiritual Object, but a small, exquisitely carved, and crystal-clear jade gourd.

The gourd was clear as ice, and through it, he could plainly see that it was more than half-full with a light blue Spiritual Liquid that shimmered with a faint, starlike glow.

When gently shaken, countless fine points of light seemed to swirl within the liquid.

Beside the jade gourd was a slip of paper, densely covered with writing that described the Spiritual Liquid within.

[Jade Containing Juice: A Secret Medicine of the Holy Sect, created by decocting great medicines with the vital qi of the five elements. Consuming it can strengthen the five primordial qis, nourish the five viscera, and allow one to directly reach the Realm of Qi Refining Fifth Layer Perfection.]

"Hm?!"

Reading the description on the note, Qi Yun’s eyes widened in shock as he stared at the light blue Spiritual Liquid in the jade gourd.

’To think there was something this good!’

The Qi Refining Fifth Layer was a critical stage for tempering the five viscera, connecting the Inner Breath, and forming the body’s Minor Circulation.

There were no shortcuts for cultivating this layer; it was purely a matter of patient, time-consuming work. One had to spend a great deal of time guiding qi to temper the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, and to nurture the Qi of the Five Viscera.

Under normal circumstances, it would take a fast cultivator three to five years, and a slow one perhaps seven to eight, to successfully nurture the five viscera.

But this gourd of [Jade Containing Juice] could bypass that lengthy process entirely.

It was a one-step solution, completing the nurturing of the five viscera instantly.

In a sense, the value of this Secret Medicine was even greater than that of the Metal Element Spiritual Object from before.

After all, for the Outer Mansion Disciples, the ten-year limit was the greatest shackle.

If they couldn’t break through to the Qi Refining Sixth Layer within ten years, they would be stuck wandering the Outer Mansion for the rest of their lives.

And this [Jade Containing Juice], which could shorten the cultivation time for the Qi Refining Fifth Layer, was enough to drive countless Outer Mansion Disciples into a frenzy.

Gazing at the [Jade Containing Juice] shimmering with iridescent light inside the box, Qi Yun’s eyes flickered, and the image of a certain figure he had just recently seen couldn’t help but appear in his mind.

’Was this the old Master’s doing?’

’Is... this what it feels like to have a backer?!’

...