Ye Wuji still sat cross-legged in the treasure vault and before him lay the two storage rings, now completely under his control, and his own storage bag. He calmly began sorting through the resources, dividing them into three parts.
One ring, imbued with his fresh spiritual imprint—was filled with the majority of his valuables: all the spirit crystals, blood essence crystals, pills, the jade slips, and everything he couldn't afford to lose.
The other ring was empty for now and was carefully placed in his first storage ring.
As for his storage bag...
He smiled slightly and placed only a few small spirit crystals and some healing pills inside. Just enough to make it look like he was broke, if he should ever be forced to surrender his belongings.
"Let others think I have nothing," he muttered, tightening the bag at his waist. "This might one day save my life."
With that done, he closed his eyes and reached into his dantian.
The refined Corpse Pagoda, now his Life-Bound Artifact, responded instantly. A pulse of deep red light echoed in his core, and the pagoda emerged from his body, floating silently in front of him.
With a thought, the pagoda creaked. And a dark mist spilled out, and from within emerged a tall, figure clad in black rags—his Rank 1 Corpse Soldier, Si Wei, face ashen and hollow-eyed.
A moment later, the pagoda creaked once again.
A wave of oppressive aura surged outward, and Xue Sha, the Rank 2 Corpse Soldier, stepped out. His eyes glowed with a demonic crimson light.
Ye Wuji gave both a brief nod, and then rose to his feet.
"Let's go."
|>>======|✦|======<<|
The altar, which served as a seal above the treasure vault, suddenly creaked and moved to the side, making a way.
Suddenly someone ascended into the main hall.
It was no other than Ye Wuji and his two corpse soldiers.
Ye Wuji ascended first, followed silently by his two corpse soldiers.
The main hall above was deathly silent, its blood-soaked floor, walls, and everything else, even the bones of the long-dead Foundation Establishment cultivator in front of the altar remained exactly same as before.
Without turning, Ye Wuji gave his orders.
"Si Wei. Xue Sha." His voice was calm and cold. "Sweep the surroundings. Kill all nearby zombie cultivators."
The two corpse soldiers stiffened, their bodies trembling faintly with excitement.
"Once they're dead, extract their blood essence crystals and then devour their corpses to feed and strengthen yourselves. Also if you find any storage rings on them bring them to me."
Si Wei hissed softly in response. Xue Sha growled like a starving beast.
"Once the area around this hall is cleared, return to the main hall and wait here for me."
In the next instant, the two shot out through the slightly ajar main gate—one like a shadow, the other like a crimson blur.
Ye Wuji didn't watch them go.
Instead, he turned toward the inner parts of the sect, walking deeper into the building's side halls. There were many doors, each with faded signs above them, barely visible through the dust.
He began exploring them, one by one.
First of all, he went to the side hall marked as Alchemy Hall above the door.
Despite the cobwebs and shattered jars, this hall still contained a few usable treasures. On one of the intact stone platforms, Ye Wuji found a Superior-Grade Alchemy Cauldron, its surface etched with coiling black dragons. The inscription near the base read:
"Black Dragon Furnace."
He tested it with a thread of Qi and it responded smoothly, the furnace walls emanating a quiet heat.
"Superior Grade… excellent," he muttered. "This alone would make this trip inside this fallen sect's hall worth it even without finding the treasure vault."
He placed the cauldron in his storage ring and moved on.
Next, he went to another side hall, marked as Talisman Hall above the door.
Most of the hall was empty, but after rummaging for a while, he managed to retrieve a small stack of talismans—mostly defensive and a few offensive types. Some were even blood-based, designed to boost the power of demonic cultivators.
Not amazing, but useful.
The next place he went to was Artifact Refining Hall.
Here, almost everything was destroyed or taken. But at the back, protected by an old formation that had barely held on through the years, he found a thick jade slip.
He brushed the dust from the title:
"Introduction to Spirit Artifact Refinement."
His eyes brightened.
"This will help me enormously if I'll ever decide to begin forging my own artifacts."
The fourth place he went to was Corpse Refining Hall.
Everything here was ruined—rotted bodies, decayed resources, dried blood. Everything was already unusable after all of that time.
Nothing of use remained.
He clicked his tongue in slight frustration, but still moved on.
The next was Gu Hall.
Ye Wuji stopped as he stepped into this one. Unlike the rest, the air here was strangely preserved. And in a locked obsidian case, sealed with layered formations, he found something special.
A living Gu worm—faintly pulsing.
Ye Wuji looked on the Gu and to his shock he actually recognized it. "It's Wings Gu."
It was Rank 2, far beyond what most Qi Refining cultivators' Qi reserves in dantian could handle.
When activated, it would grow a pair of temporary wings on the cultivator's back, allowing relatively slow, but functional flight. But it could only be used for maximally three minutes until his Qi was completely drained as it was Rank 2 Gu and he was only a Qi Refining cultivator at the moment which corresponds to Rank 1 Gu.
And those three minutes were only true if he used it with his full amount of Qi which was simply unrealistic in battle, so it was an even shorter time in reality.
Still...
Ye Wuji's lips curled into a smile.
"Even if it can be used only for such a short time it will be an enormous boost to mine battle prowess as no one under Golden Core Cultivation Realm can fly without artifact or other special means."
"And once I'll breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment realm, the consumption will be much more manageable and lower." Ye Wuji deviously smiled. "From this moment on this will be my trump card."
He carefully took it and placed it inside his storage ring.
One day, if he got lucky, he might even refine it into Rank 3 Blood Wings Gu or other alternatives that he didn't know right now.