Chu Liang had been back at Shu Mountain for two days, spending his time familiarizing himself with the mysterious properties of the Azure Dragon Pearl.

He had anticipated the failure of the siege on the Bone Palace. After all, with the Bone Palace’s eight hundred halls and a hundred thousand demons, even the strictest defenses would inevitably leak information when the numbers increased.

When faced with external enemies, they would certainly have countermeasures.

The massive Bone Mountain appeared to be a refined magical artifact, possessing the power to shatter the void. It seemed to have the strength to rank within the top hundred of the Treasure Record.

It seemed that the Bone Palace had been hiding this trump card all along.

The siege by the three Immortal Sects couldn’t be considered a complete failure, as they had forced the Bone Palace to reveal this life-saving measure. Next time they dealt with the Bone Palace, they could prepare specifically for it.

In these large-scale power struggles, it was rare to have a battle that could be won with a single decisive strike. It was a process of constant tug-of-war, revealing each other’s cards and forcing out each other’s tactics, back and forth until the victor emerged.

The ongoing conflict between the righteous and demonic factions had lasted for so many years that it was no longer surprising.

Moreover, the Bone Palace didn’t escape unscathed. The Sky-Piercing Sword strike from Master Yan had definitely inflicted heavy damage on Bone Mountain.

Thanks to the camaraderie among the three spies, Shu Mountain, Yun Que Temple, and San Jue Valley had formed a peculiar bond. Originally, the three had little connection, but after this joint operation, they had developed a tacit understanding like allies.

Of course, there was no formal alliance, but they were all showing goodwill towards each other. For example, both Yun Que Temple and San Jue Valley kept silent about the Azure Dragon Secret Realm.

And under the disclosure of some “anonymous informants”, the news that the Azure Dragon Secret Realm was taken away by Liu Mojie and Master Mu had spread.

The captive General Hei Yu suddenly died a day later.

Perhaps his claim about the Bone Heart Demon was true. After the Bone Mountain Elder found out which subordinate had leaked the secret, he used some unknown method.

General Hei Yu suddenly died, his flesh eroded away, leaving only a skeleton.

This made Chu Liang somewhat worried. If the Bone Mountain Elder was so terrifying, could he find out about them?

Di Nvfeng simply waved her hand dismissively, telling him not to worry. For people at the level of hall masters like General Hei Yu, the Bone Mountain Elder must have planted something on them, so they could be punished no matter how far away they were after discovering their betrayal.

It was impossible to do this to everyone.

Chu Liang thought about it and decided not to worry too much.

As he gradually became familiar with the mysteries of the Dragon Pearl, he looked forward to what he would be like when he reached a higher realm. The Azure Dragon Pearl was like a key, allowing him to open the door to the Dragon Clan’s divine power, but he also needed the strength to push open this door.

If he could unlock all of the Dragon Clan’s mysteries, it would be as if he had fully inherited the authority of the Azure Dragon. At that time, controlling the wind and rain and moving mountains and seas would not be a dream.

While studying the Azure Dragon Pearl, he didn’t forget to reward the great contributor who helped him get the Azure Dragon Pearl.

“Want to eat something? The Dragon Pearl is round, and this fruit is round, aren’t they the same?” He teased the Golden Butterfly baby with a golden-veined fruit.

The Golden Butterfly baby just covered its head with its shiny wings and ignored him.

It was very angry.

“Still holding a grudge, after all these days?” Chu Liang gently poked it with his finger.

It chirped and turned its back on him, showing him its butt.

It was holding a grudge.

“Hehe.” Chu Liang could only chuckle awkwardly.

The little creature had quite a temper.

The Golden Butterfly baby was very hard to please. Although the golden-veined fruit was delicious, it didn’t have much spiritual essence, which it looked down upon. Its taste was simple, it loved to eat things with strong spiritual essence.

It didn’t care whether the thing was edible or not.

In its world, if it could bite it, it could eat it.

If it couldn’t bite it, it could swallow it and digest it slowly.

But who could afford things with strong spiritual essence? Although Chu Liang was now financially comfortable, he wasn’t extravagant enough to feed his pet with spiritual materials.

Even some scrapped magical artifacts were not cheap to recycle based on their material value.

It seemed that he had to take it out and let it find its own food with its treasure-finding ability.

Just as he was having trouble with the Golden Butterfly baby, Wen Yulong’s flying letter arrived.

…

Previously, when Chu Liang had killed a pill-refining master who was secretly making evil pills, he had obtained a storage artifact.

After returning to Shu Mountain, he had given this artifact to Wen Yulong to help him open it.

“You’re quick this time?” Chu Liang arrived at the Sword Transmission Pavilion and greeted with a smile.

“Nothing more than familiarity.” Wen Yulong responded with a light laugh.

Indeed, every time Chu Liang returned from an adventure, Wen Yulong had often acted as a little unlocking expert. He had opened even more difficult ones like the Evil Land Hide and the Great Power Skull before, so this storage artifact was a piece of cake in comparison.

The small jade gourd was placed on the table.

“Let’s see what we’ve got.” Chu Liang opened it with anticipation.

This time, he didn’t touch each item one by one, but directly took out everything inside and laid it out here.

The most eye-catching item was a half-human-height bronze furnace, colored in green and gilded. It was engraved with a map of mountains and seas, its luster warm and lively. When one got closer, they could even hear the sound of surging waves from within the furnace.

“This should be an alchemy furnace. It seems to be of high quality, with grand and majestic array patterns engraved on it. It can hold a vast amount of true qi and divine fire for refining,” Wen Yulong explored it a bit, then lifted the lid to look inside, finally confirming, “It’s a good thing. Good alchemy furnaces have always been in high demand. This thing can definitely be sold at a good price.”

“An alchemy furnace,” Chu Liang was not surprised, as the original owner was an alchemist himself.

Next to it was a palm-sized jade figurine. It was hard to tell whether it was male or female, but it was white and smooth, with exquisite craftsmanship.

Wen Yulong picked it up and took a look, then laughed, “It’s a good thing I studied alchemy before, otherwise I wouldn’t recognize it. This is a pill-testing puppet. After refining a pill, you let the puppet touch it. If the pill is harmful to the human body, the puppet will turn black.”

“So that’s how it is,” Chu Liang learned something new.

Next, they looked at a jade slip. Chu Liang picked it up and scanned it with his divine sense. It contained complex pill formulas, densely packed, probably hundreds of them.

Wen Yulong also took a look and said, “Most of these are pill formulas that are circulated in the market, a small part are uncommon, and there are a few evil pills. If you take them to the Law Enforcement Pavilion, you can also exchange them for some rewards.”

The rest were several gourds of finished pills and materials. Wen Yulong checked them one by one, “The Beauty Preserving Pill, this is an evil pill that must be destroyed… The Rejuvenation Pill, this is a healing divine medicine used in battles… The Dragon Raising Pill, this… this is used to treat men’s sexual disharmony…”

“These few heavenly treasures are also alchemy materials. They are worth quite a bit when added up. Congratulations, Brother Chu,” Wen Yulong laughed, “It’s said that alchemists are the richest, and it’s indeed true. If you sell these things, you can definitely make a small fortune.”

The cultivation world had long heard of the wealth of alchemists. There might be poor powerhouses, but there could never be poor alchemists.

Chu Liang had now experienced both.

As for Wen Yulong’s congratulations, he just shook his head slightly, “Sell? Not in a hurry. I might need some of the things inside.”

Good morning.

I didn’t finish writing two chapters last night. I originally wanted to take a leave at the beginning of the month like last month, but seeing everyone else striving for the leaderboard at the beginning of the month, I didn’t feel right slacking off, so I got up and finished it.

Wish everyone a happy August.

(End of the chapter)