Chapter 135: Huge Gains

Out of the many corpses in the hidden chamber, Shang Xia carefully placed Guan Shanyue’s body before tossing Yuwen Changtian, Murong Danran, and Murong Yuntian to the side.

After dealing with the bodies, Shang Xia also tossed Yuwen Changtian’s silver staff on the ground. When he saw Yuwen Changtian using it earlier, Shang Xia felt that it was a low-grade weapon at the very least! Upon closer inspection, he discovered that it was an ordinary staff that had some special material mixed into it. It couldn’t be considered a graded weapon!

He had to admit that Yuwen Changtian really approached weapons creation with a new approach. Other than coating the outside with some better materials, the actual staff itself was crafted out of steel. From the outside, it looks pretty impressive. It could also withstand Shang Xia’s energy when he transmitted some of it into the weapon. As such, it wasn’t completely useless.

However, he suddenly recalled the scene he saw underwater when Yuwen Changtian first brought it out. When he fiddled with it earlier, he discovered the mechanism to separate it into three short sticks. He couldn’t help but laugh when he thought about Yuwen Changtian, a man who always maintained a calm and stern expression, playing with his short sticks.

He chose to deal with the weapon after looking through the spoils.

Shang Xia took out a set of staff techniques he obtained from Yuwen Changtian’s body. It was called the Combined Staff Art, and it was a technique meant for cultivators at the Martial Extremity Realm. Skimming through its contents, Shang Xia realized that it was too different from the technique Yuwen Changtian used. The manual should be something he obtained in passing and he barely used it for reference.

A frown formed on Shang Xia’s face.

Was that it?! Excuse me? You’re a cultivator at the grand completion stage of the Martial Extremity Realm! Why are you so poor?

From Murong Danran and Yuwen Changtian’s conversation earlier, Shang Xia could tell that Yuwen Changtian was on the verge of advancing! He was already starting to collect herbs for his advancement medicine!

Shang Xia’s thoughts turned to Yuwen Changtian’s advancement recipe. For him to start collecting ingredients for his advancement medicine, he definitely had a complete recipe! Of course, no clan would be dumb enough to let anyone bring the recipe around. All they had to do was to memorize the herbs and ingredients required. There was no point in letting their disciples bring a copy of the recipe everywhere they went! After their disciples memorized the ingredients they needed, their clan would definitely make them swear an oath never to leak it to outsiders.

Whatever the case, Yuwen Changtian seemed like an extremely unlucky fool in Shang Xia’s eyes. Not only was his death caused by his teammate, as a cultivator who was about to step into the Martial Extremity Realm, he was as poor as a pauper! Even disciples like Dongfang Mingrui and Ouyang Fengxuan carried around items that caught his eye! Shang Xia didn’t know whether he should pity himself for only obtaining a rank two technique or Yuwen Changtian for possessing it.

Disregarding all the treasures he should have, at the very least, he had a huge wallet. Estimating the amount contained in Yuwen Changtian’s money pouch, Shang Xia felt that he would have a little more than a hundred pieces of silver essence. Now, he didn’t need to worry about paying Sun Haiwei back!

Wait a second… Why on earth would a member of the Rose Party need so much money? Was he planning on going shopping on the Tongyou Peak for his juniors or something?! Where the hell was he going to spend it? My man! A little more than a hundred silver essence is a boatload of money for cultivators at the Martial Extremity Realm, but you won’t be able to buy rank three herbs required for your advancement!

Shang Xia sighed before looking at the items he obtained from Murong Danran. He expected much more from this slippery cockroach.

Out of the five disciples of the Rose Party he killed, Murong Danran’s cultivation wasn’t the highest. However, he was the hardest to deal with!

The man had too many life-saving tactics and he was extremely cunning! Not only was he well versed in the art of formations, but he also seemed to be pretty familiar with Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World!

That raised a few red flags in Shang Xia’s heart. There seemed to be something off about how much he knew!

Anyway, it was a pity most of his treasures were used up when Shang Xia chased him earlier. The bronze mirror that saved his life when Shang Xia ambushed him from behind was the thing Shang Xia wanted the most! After all, it could save his life at a crucial moment!

It was a pity the bronze mirror shattered. From the shards, Shang Xia could tell that it wasn’t made from some precious treasure. In that case, there could only be one other explanation. It was crafted from some sort of secret art!

Tossing away several other items that didn’t catch his eye, Shang Xia locked onto a flying knife that was three inches long.

Playing with it, Shang Xia recalled what happened when he came out to snatch the pearl. Murong Danran threw the knife into the water, it caused a layer of frost to form on the surface!

If Shang Xia moved a little faster, he wouldn’t have to take Yuwen Changtian’s strike! Well, whatever. It was over now and all of his enemies were dead anyway.

Shang Xia dug around more and discovered that the flying knife was called ‘Fleeing Wind’, and it was a low-grade weapon!

Hah! Finally! Something good!

Even if Shang Xia knew nothing about how to use hidden weapons like that, it was a graded weapon nonetheless.

One had to know that even Martial Intent Realm experts might not be able to get their hands on a graded weapon!

A smile formed on Shang Xia’s face. Indeed… Murong Danran didn’t let him down! He had quite a few presents on him! Unfortunately, Shang Xia didn’t find any precious herbs on him.

Next came a book he found on Murong Danran. It was completely handwritten, and it was called the Mountain and Sea Recollection.

Shang Xia initially thought that it would contain some poems or stuff like that, and he laughed at Murong Danran for being a pretentious bastard. However, his expression turned solemn when he discovered that it contained knowledge regarding the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World. From the knowledge contained within, Shang Xia felt that it was written by someone who entered the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World before.

Shang Xia quickly looked through the contents within.

The book was written in a first-person perspective and it wrote about the happenings before the collision between the two worlds.

Shang Xia learned that the person entered the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World after entering the Zhu Family. Many of the things recorded were true life experiences and stuff the author learned from the conversation of other Zhu Family members. Nothing much was recorded about the other special regions though.

There was no way the author wasn’t related to the Zhu Family. Even if they weren’t a direct descendant, they had to be someone of a branch family in order to know so much.

Shang Xia learned that the author of the book had been sent to assist in the reconstruction of the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Grand Formation several years before the Zhu Family’s destruction, and that's how they learned many intricate secrets about it.

When the author of the book left the Zhu Family for whatever reason, they probably swore an oath to keep the secret! However, the Zhu Family was destroyed and the oath naturally lost its effect. After so many years, the author recorded the last of their knowledge before death.

Shang Xia didn’t know how, but the book eventually landed in Murong Danran’s hands.

Even without knowledge of the art of formations, Shang Xia could tell that the book he was holding was of extremely high value to any formation master. Moreover, the Coral Forest was the focus of the Azure Origin World at that moment, and the price of a book that contained the inner workings of the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Grand Formation was priceless!

Everything finally clicked. Shang Xia finally knew why Murong Danran was so familiar with the place even though it was his first time there!

That was why he still tried to convince Shang Xia to work with him even after the death of all his fellow disciples! He wasn’t willing to notify the higher-ups of the Rose Party, and he called upon the heavily injured Murong Yuntian to assist him!

As it turned out, the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Spiritual World hid such a huge secret!

Shang Xia took out the Mountain and Sea Fantasy Diagram and he stared at the Fantasy Spiritual Pearl. The look in his eyes changed several times.

Reluctantly tearing his gaze away, he decided to look at Murong Yuntian’s items.

Now comes the climax. The belongings of an expert at the grand completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm.

Even though he was injured, that wouldn’t affect the wealth he accumulated! Previously, Shang Xia expected his treasures to surpass everyone present!

However, his expectations died a little when he obtained the Mountain and Sea Recollection.

Shang Xia stared at Murong Yuntian’s low-grade weapon, the Waning Moon Halberd, with the expression of a dead fish. If anyone else was here, they would probably beat him to death!

A great portion of Martial Intent Realm cultivators would be more than happy to get their hands on a graded weapon. There were even some Martial Extermination Realm experts who were using low-grade weapons!

Now, this little prick at the Martial Extremity Realm was looking down on one!

Of course, none of them would be able to understand Shang Xia’s thoughts. After all, Murong Yuntian revealed a high-grade weapon when he was sabotaging the Tongyou Peak’s protection formation. Shang Xia expected it to appear among his loot, but reality disappointed him.

The difference between a low-grade weapon and a high-grade weapon was enormous! Naturally, Shang Xia couldn’t be happy with Murong Yuntian’s Waning Moon Halberd!

In reality, Shang Xia guessed as much. There was no way the Rose Party would allow him to hold on to a high-grade weapon now that his mission was over and he was exposed! They probably lent him the treasure to destroy the formation, and they collected it now that their attempt failed.

The Rose Party had thrown all their marbles into their conquest of the Coral Forest. A high-grade weapon would be passed on to a powerful member to fight back against the pressure of the Tongyou Peak’s experts when they came!

Placing the halberd beside Yuwen Changtian’s staff, Shang Xia continued to look through his loot. His eyes widened in shock when a tiny little case that was three inches long fell onto the ground before him.

Embroidered Cloud Case!