Chapter 291 (1): Inside the Mountains and Outside the Mountains

"Did you already perform a divination before and obtain an answer regarding today's incident?" Chen Ping'an asked.

Lu Tai raised his hand and faltered for a moment before continuing to smooth out the hair by his sideburns. There was a soft expression in his eyes, and his hands also moved in a seductive manner as he chuckled, "I'm performing divinations every single day. This is a daily task that Naturalist disciples are required to complete. Otherwise, I would have told you to flee right from the very beginning. However, I can't reveal these kinds of secrets to you. Revealing them will render them ineffective."

Chen Ping'an looked at Lu Tai for a moment before saying, "Don't let this happen again."

Lu Tai pursed his lips in disapproval and replied, "What's wrong with going with the flow? Refusing to seize such good opportunities will invite divine punishment from the heavens."

After saying this, Lu Tai flicked his wrist and caused a green ritual baton to appear in his palm. "This is Ma Wanfa's pocket treasure that holds all of his belongings and treasures. He's accumulated quite some wealth compared to that sword practitioner, Dou Zizhi. He was only a Dragon Gate Tier cultivator, yet he was already able to possess a pocket treasure. However, this isn't the most impressive thing about him. Do you know what the most impressive thing about him is?"

Chen Ping'an shook his head.

Lu Tai chuckled and replied, "Ma Wanfa was a so-called silkworm farmer, a very rare type of cultivator who's skilled at reeling silk from cocoons. It was because of this that he coveted our treasures so much, going as far as to gather all those cultivators to hunt us. Ma Wanfa was confident that he could extract our pocket treasures after killing us.

"However, he most likely didn't imagine that both of us were so-called sword immortals in the beginning. Trying to obtain my two bonded flying swords is nothing more than a foolish dream. However, it's a different story for you, so if your Sword Nurturing Gourd was stolen..."

Chen Ping'an remained silent.

He was roughly aware of the concept of bonded items and immortal treasures being refined into the void because he had obtained Golden Sweet Wine and refined the demon-binding chain in Stalactite Mountain. Bonded items such as the bonded flying swords of sword cultivators would vanish into nothingness once their owner was killed. Even immortals would find it extremely difficult to prevent this from happening.

However, it was a different matter for items that were refined in a normal manner and secretly hidden inside one's acupoints. After a cultivator was killed, there was a certain chance that these items would remain in their lingering soul instead of dispersing straight away.

If an item were extremely high-grade, however, there was even a chance that it might jump back into the world even if the soul of its owner were completely destroyed. There were many mystical realms formed from shattered blessed lands in the world, and after the immortal clans were forced to open them, it was because of this exact reason that people would frequently find high-grade immortal treasures near the tombs and corpses of deceased immortals.

When it came to Qi refiners, it was destined that they would only possess a very small number of bonded items, if they possessed any at all. They would possess slightly more refined items, but still few enough to count on two hands.

After all, the higher the grade of a spirit tool or immortal treasure, the more difficult it would be to refine. The amount of time, effort, and extremely rare treasures required was enough to dissuade the large majority of cultivators under the rank of earth immortal.

There was also the example of that immortal sword from Mount Longhu's Heavenly Master Residence. Even though its owner was a profoundly powerful Great Heavenly Master, they were still unable to refine the immortal sword and transform it into their bonded immortal sword.

It was the same situation with the Daoist second disciple and his immortal sword.

There were many sword immortals in the nine continents, and there were naturally many immortal swords as well. In terms of genuine immortal swords, however, there were only four in all of the worlds.

Only four...

This had already been the case for tens of thousands of years.

It was because of this that Wind Snow Temple's Ruan Qiong had vowed to forge a brand new immortal sword, one without precedent and without rival in the future.

Otherwise, just how pathetic and boring would it be if the current generation was inferior to previous generations in every facet?

Moreover, why were powerful Militarian cultivators widely regarded as walking arsenals?

This was due to the fact that they were capable of refining more immortal treasures.

Just imagine this. After using some secret technique to transform themself into a being with three heads and six arms, a Militarian cultivator then held a divine weapon in each hand and protected themself with a high-grade Divine Dewbearing Armor. Add to that their innately powerful physique, who would still dare to rival them?

Militarian cultivators were famous for being unkillable, yet they were even more renowned for being able to kill others with ease.

Lu Tai was in a delightful mood, so he gave Chen Ping'an a detailed explanation about so-called silkworm farmers. "Pocket treasures are relatively unique and slightly different from bonded items and refined items. Unlike immortal tools and flying swords, pocket treasures are more similar to small worlds that can't be destroyed immediately.

"Moreover, it's incredibly difficult to refine pocket treasures into bonded items. As a result, there exists profound knowledge regarding how to extract pocket treasures from the bodies of Qi refiners. Successfully extracting a pocket treasure will bring one explosive wealth that's enough to last them years.

"There's a specific type of person from the mountains called silkworm farmers, and these people possess clan-inherited or force-inherited secret techniques that allow them to extract pocket treasures from the souls of Qi refiners."

Lu Tai clicked his tongue in wonder and continued, "Ma Wanfa would have become filthy rich if he managed to kill us. With your Sword Nurturing Gourd and my pocket treasure, perhaps he could have used this immense wealth to forcefully advance to the level of terrestrial immortal."

Lu Tai suddenly narrowed his eyes and asked with a smile, "You're not going to ask how I killed that Dragon Gate Tier cultivator?"

Chen Ping'an retreated a single step before summoning First and Fifteenth from his Sword Nurturing Gourd. His flying swords hovered to his left and right, guarding him against danger.

"How did you see through me?" Lu Tai asked in curiosity.

Chen Ping'an expressionlessly pointed at his arm.

There was no five-colored rope tied around Lu Tai's arm.

Moreover, Chen Ping'an had a nagging feeling that something was off about Lu Tai even though he was purposely acting in a feminine manner. Things just didn't seem as natural as usual.

Not only that, but why had Lu Tai insisted on explaining Ma Wanfa's identity as a silkworm farmer? It was as if he were purposely trying to conceal something.

However, Lu Tai's reply to Chen Ping'an's initial question about divination had been absolutely flawless. This was what made the situation so strange. Perhaps Ma Wanfa was also a demonic cultivator? Not only was he skilled in illusion techniques, but he was also adept at capturing and interrogating souls?

Lu Tai's expression was initially dark and cold, yet it eventually transformed into one of suppressed laughter. In the end, he couldn't help but clutch his stomach and roar with laughter. He pointed at Chen Ping'an and laughed, "If it were anyone else, my act of purposely putting away the five-colored rope, feigning awkwardness, and revealing a slight hint of killing intent would have been completely useless. I may as well have been making eyes to a blind person.

"However, it was just right for you, Chen Ping'an. Alright, alright, I know you were wounded by Dou Zizhi's strike to your heart, so hurry up and spit out the blood stuck in your throat. Otherwise, you'll end up suffering side effects if you keep it there for too long."

Seeing that Chen Ping'an was still completely unwilling to believe him, Lu Tai laughed so hard that he was almost on the verge of tears. "Needle Tip, Wheat Awn, show yourselves," he said softly.

A gigantic flying sword materialized in the air, and beside it was a slender and golden-yellow flying sword.

Chen Ping'an breathed a huge sigh of relief. After confirming Lu Tai's identity, he hurriedly turned around and spit out a mouthful of blood. He then glowered at Lu Tai and roared, "Lu Tai!"

Lu Tai snapped his fingers, after which Needle Tip and Wheat Awn returned to their respective resting grounds in his acupoints.

Meanwhile, the folding bamboo fan appeared in Lu Tia's hand again, gently rocking back and forth as he smiled happily and said, "Who told you to spare those small fries...?"

Chen Ping'an was so angry that he wanted to kick Lu Tai again.

However, Lu Tai suddenly bent over and cupped his mouth, with blood seeping out from between his fingers.

Pursuing a sly old cultivator at the Dragon Gate Tier who possessed a pocket treasure wasn't too difficult. However, going so far as to kill them would potentially require one to possess combat power that rivaled Golden Core Tier cultivators.

As such, Lu Tai had definitely paid a significant price to kill Ma Wanfa.

Chen Ping'an pinched a corner of Golden Sweet Wine with two fingers before tugging slightly and surprisingly peeling the entire Dao robe from his body. He lightly tossed it toward the trembling Lu Tai and said with a frown, "Try to wear this. I've already removed the restrictions on the robe."

Lu Tai caught the golden Dao robe, and he seemingly didn't do anything before Golden Sweet Wine instantly appeared on his body.

He plonked to the ground and took a deep breath. After crossing his legs, he raised a finger and vigorously wiped the blood from his lips, cursing as he did so. Even in such a state, Lu Tai still didn't appear crude in any way. "I wouldn't have been so disheveled if I didn't swallow those alchemical pills and elixirs like buns and teas in order to stay at the peak of my powers the entire time. If we split Ma Wanfa's belongings in half, then you'll make a killing while I'll suffer a huge loss."

Chen Ping'an squatted down beside Lu Tai and casually stabbed Deep Infatuation into the ground, huffing and replying, "Dou Zizhi's sword belongs to me. However, everything else can belong to you."

Lu Tai's eyes widened in astonishment, and he scolded in anger, "This sword is the most valuable treasure, okay? It's a sword that even martial arts grandmasters at the Spirit Refining Tiers can use! Dou Zizhi definitely parted with a significant amount of his wealth in order to obtain this immortal treasure back then. Perhaps he even parted with all of his wealth, and that's why he agreed to help Ma Wanfa rob us this time."

Chen Ping'an grinned and replied, "I don't care about all of this."

Lu Tai's aura stabilized significantly after he put on Golden Sweet Wine, and he said, "Alright, let's review the battle now.

"The formation being set up by the old formation cultivator was called the Mountain-Moving Formation. It can cause the souls of those inside the formation to falter and slow down as if they're trying to move a mountain. This formation is extremely effective against Qi refiners under the Golden Core Tier. The small formation flags that he used aren't very high-grade, but the large number of them means that they're still worth some money.

"When I was returning, I coincidentally came across that unlucky old formation master. He was almost sliced into two by Needle Tip, and he was so terrified that he immediately dropped to his knees and begged for his life. There was snot and tears all over his face.

"I asked him to hand over all of his treasures, but the old man was naturally unwilling to do so. In the end, he put up one final struggle and fought to the death with me. I had no option but to end his life. Afterward, I also examined the old man's soul to determine whether he was hiding any pocket treasure or refined immortal treasure. This caused my injuries to become even more severe.

"However, it's a pity that I only managed to obtain this book,

Silk Fish Talismans

. As it turns out, the talismans used to trap your two flying swords were the essence of this talismanic text, the Dry Well Talisman. This talisman belongs to a lower grade than the Sword Scabbard Talisman and Mountain Sealing Talisman that I mentioned before, but it is quite an interesting talisman in its own right. Bringing this book back to my clan and placing it in the scripture library will also be a meritorious act for me.

"If you had killed the old formation master, then the two of us could have split his treasures in half and I wouldn't have needed to increase the severity of my injuries either. Yet, now that I've risked half my life to kill the old formation master, how can you ask me to split his treasures in half? Just how infuriating would that be?"

"The demonic cultivator sacrificed his clay pot in order to hold me back," Chen Ping'an explained. "If it weren't for my Dao robe, I would have almost failed to block that soaring yin energy and the large cloud of churning black smoke. In that case, the castle in the distance would have been brutally massacred by him. They would have suffered an unexpected and undeserved calamity."

Lu Tai raised the ritual baton in his hand and said, "This green ritual baton is carved from material even rarer than grain rain coins. It's a material that can only be found through fortune rather than intention. As a result, this pocket treasure is worth far more than ordinary pocket treasures.

"However, the contents inside it aren't all that special. There are some mortal treasures such as gold and silver and also a large pile of antique relics and small trinkets. However, Ma Wanfa's appraisal skills were shocking, and countless treasures in his collection are actually low-quality counterfeits. The few bottles of alchemical pills in his pocket treasure are also quite mediocre.

"Ignoring the value of this ritual baton, the contents inside are only worth roughly 10,000 snowflake coins in total. Compared to the wealth of Dragon Gate Tier cultivators in Middle Earth Divine Continent, those in Parasol Leaf Continent are indeed far inferior."

Lu Tai's voice was filled with disappointment.

It was also filled with pride as someone from Middle Earth Divine Continent.

This sense of pride was similar to how some sword cultivators looked down on other Qi refiners.

It was also similar to how people in Complete Reed Continent had looked down on Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.

In fact, even Chen Ping'an wasn't innocent when it came to such kinds of emotion. When he had come across that group of kind-hearted elite cavalrymen and soldiers from the Great Li Empire during that windy and snowy day at the borders, Chen Ping'an had also felt secretly proud upon hearing the little boy in azure and the little girl in pink mention how rotten and weak the soldiers and officials of Yellow Court Nation were.

"

Only

10,000 snowflake coins?!" Chen Ping'an exclaimed in helplessness.

"Or else?" Lu Tai retorted.

Chen Ping'an remembered that for the past few hundred years, the most expensive immortal treasures in Ceremony Mountain's kun ship had also sold for around 10,000 to 20,000 snowflake coins.

This was an exorbitant amount of money to the two sisters on the kun ship. Their feeling toward this was similar to how Chen Ping'an had felt back when he was still an apprentice in the dragon kiln and listening to Liu Xianyang mysteriously talking about the large estates in Fortune Street and how they were worth several thousand taels of silver.

At that time, Chen Ping'an had only seen loose silver a handful of times.

He wondered whether Chun Shui and Qiu Shi had seen grain rain coins many times after he disembarked the kun ship.