Demoness, Stop! - Chapter 37 - Chapter 37 – Five Element Spiritual Veins

Danding Peak.

Inside the small courtyard, Li Yu was still unaware that all of Kunlun had been stirred into a frenzy because of him. Just moments ago, he had taken the Meridian Clearing Pill and was now checking the condition of his spiritual veins.

Originally, he only had three spiritual veins. He was tricked by that old guy into taking a Qi Gathering Pill, which opened a new Earth spiritual vein. Now he had four veins. This newly opened vein had not yet improved in cultivation—naturally, the Meridian Clearing Pill chose the Earth vein.

Currently, his Wood spiritual vein had five acupoints, the Fire and Water veins each had four, the Earth vein had two, and he was still missing the Metal spiritual vein.

This situation was making Li Yu, who was a bit obsessive-compulsive, feel uncomfortable all over.

Three veins would have been tolerable, but now, missing just one to complete the Five Elements made him want to have a “whole set.” However, the thought of one more vein meaning the difficulty of Foundation Establishment cultivation doubling made him forcefully suppress the idea.

After Elder Sun entrusted all his wealth to him, Li Yu now had a little over 36,000 spirit coins, enough to exchange for 36 Meridian Clearing Pills. Unfortunately, all the pills had been intercepted by Jiang Li’s master. If he wanted to buy any, he would have to wait at least until next month.

Originally, Li Yu was quite resentful of this overbearing act, but since it was for Jiang Li, he let it go.

Li Yu returned to the underground alchemy room and took out the items Jiang Li had just given him.

In his hand were two items: a ring and a talisman.

Li Yu pulled out the Complete Compendium of Talismans and carefully compared the patterns one by one. Finally, among the third-rank talismans, he found the Zixiao Thunder Talisman.

Third-rank talismans correspond to the Golden Core stage. Even though they were consumables, the price was at least 10,000 spirit coins each. The Zixiao Thunder Talisman was a high-level third-rank talisman, costing no less than 20,000 spirit coins and was usually priceless on the market.

This talisman sealed a Zixiao Divine Thunder, comparable to a full-power strike from an early Golden Core cultivator.

Of course, third-rank talismans were not easy for just anyone to use. The spiritual power required to activate this talisman alone could drain Li Yu’s entire energy pool more than ten times over. To safely activate the Zixiao Thunder Talisman, one needed at least early Foundation Establishment level strength.

If a Qi Refining stage cultivator tried to force it, they would have to take a whole bottle of Qi Recovery Pills beforehand, and even then, they would injure themselves.

As for fourth-rank talismans, Qi Refining stage cultivators could not activate them at all. The speed at which Qi Recovery Pills restored energy could not keep up with the talisman’s absorption speed, and it would drain them dry in an instant.

This talisman was even higher in rank than the one Elder Sun had given him. Li Yu kept it close—it was his greatest life-saving trump card.

Then Li Yu’s eyes turned to the ring.

Judging by the quality of the talisman, the ring’s value should not be low either. Li Yu scanned it with his divine sense and already had a good idea.

This was a spatial artifact he had dreamed of.

An unclaimed spatial artifact.

Though the space inside was small—about two meters in length, width, and height—it was more than enough for Li Yu. His pills, talismans, and spirit coins could all be stored inside with plenty of room to spare.

Li Yu could not estimate the value of this spatial ring because the sect market did not sell them. Even with spirit coins, it was impossible to buy. Most Foundation Establishment stage officials did not own one; only the sect’s Golden Core elders could barely afford one per person.

Li Yu bit his fingertip and let a drop of blood fall onto the ring. As the runes on the ring’s surface shimmered, the blood was quickly absorbed and disappeared.

At the same time, a faint connection was established between Li Yu and the spatial ring.

An unclaimed spatial ring could be opened by anyone.

Once blood was used to claim ownership, only Li Yu’s spiritual sense could open it. Even if the ring was lost or stolen, no one else could easily access the items inside.

When Li Yu had scanned it just now with his spiritual sense, he discovered there were things inside the spatial ring.

In one corner of the ring’s space, there were a dozen or so boxes—some jade, some wooden. Li Yu focused his spiritual sense and willed the ring to release them. A faint glow flashed on the ring’s surface, and all the items inside the space appeared on the stone table before him.

Li Yu counted the boxes—there were twelve in total.

He opened them one by one and found that inside were various spirit herbs and medicines whose names he couldn’t call out. Judging by the fluctuations of spiritual energy, each plant contained spiritual energy no weaker than the Zhu fruit and lotus flower he had absorbed before.

Spirit herbs of this level, if sold to the sect, would fetch around 500 to 1,000 spirit coins each; rarer ones could sell for even more.

Of course, Li Yu would not sell them. Rather than selling to the sect, he’d absorb them himself. For one, the month’s supply of Meridian Clearing Pills had been intercepted by Jiang Li’s master, so the spirit coins he earned couldn’t be spent. For another, exchanging for spirit coins would only boost his cultivation, but absorbing directly through the Qiankun furnace also helped repair it.

Even such a damaged pill furnace had brought Li Yu so many benefits; if it were fully repaired, the results would be unimaginable…

Being so close to these spirit herbs, Li Yu could vaguely feel a deep yearning in his chest.

After a brief hesitation, he picked up a fire-attributed unknown spirit herb. As expected, the moment his fingers touched it, all the medicinal power was absorbed into his body, and the herb turned to ash.

With a surge of warmth flooding in, the fifth acupoint on his Fire spiritual vein was opened.

One advantage of using the Qiankun furnace to absorb herbs was that he could specify which spiritual vein to strengthen. Absorbing fire-attributed herbs opened acupoints on the Fire spiritual vein, wood-attributed herbs opened the Wood spiritual vein’s acupoints, and so on for the others.

Logically, absorbing spirit herbs was better than taking the Meridian Clearing Pill.

However, in Kunlun, spirit herbs were not sold separately. All rare herbs were handed to high-level alchemists for pill refining, so Li Yu could hardly get his hands on any.

Among the twelve spirit herbs, four were fire-attributed, three water, two wood, one earth. These ten herbs corresponded to the four spiritual veins Li Yu had and responded to them, so it was easy for him to identify.

The remaining two herbs did not respond to any of Li Yu’s veins. By elimination, he guessed they were two metal-attributed spirit herbs.

Looking at the last two herbs, Li Yu hesitated.

Touching either of these would open the Metal spiritual vein inside his body. The difficulty of Foundation Establishment cultivation would increase by 20%. Rationally, he knew he shouldn’t do it.

But if he didn’t, he felt something was missing.

He was a perfectionist—he already had four of the five elements spiritual veins; just one was missing. Thinking about it made him uncomfortable.

After a moment, a flicker of resolve flashed in Li Yu’s eyes. The decision was made in his heart.

After all, he already had four spiritual veins; one more wouldn’t make much difference—at worst, it would delay his Foundation Establishment by a year or two.

With a warm flow entering his body, he shivered and let out a long sigh of relief.

“Much better…”

With all five spiritual veins opened, Li Yu didn’t feel anything particularly special. Although none of his veins had yet reached the second level of Qi Refining, the depth of his spiritual energy was comparable to a fourth-level Qi Refining cultivator.

Compared to ordinary fourth-level Qi Refining cultivators, he wasn’t unbalanced in any one area. He was, in every sense, a well-rounded fighter.

Once he established his foundation, he would unlock the wind, thunder, and ice elements—three more elemental spells—making him a rare opponent among cultivators of the same rank.

Even in a large sect like Kunlun, a pentagonal warrior like this was extremely rare.

Li Yu sank his awareness into the mysterious space. The broken pill furnace showed no major changes, but the fine cracks on the two characters “Qiankun” had completely disappeared.

This basically confirmed Li Yu’s suspicion: the pill furnace could absorb the five elements’ spiritual energy, soul energy, and other forces to repair itself.

After a moment, Li Yu left the pill refining room and walked to the courtyard, just as there was a knock at the door.

He opened the door and saw Wu Tong standing outside, with some others watching from the outskirts. When they saw Li Yu, they all started talking.

“So this is Junior Brother Li?”
“He’s indeed quite handsome.”
“Really lucky, that guy…”

Wu Tong slipped inside, closed the door, and handed Li Yu a jingling bag. Li Yu opened it and saw it was full—probably a thousand spirit coins.

Li Yu asked, “What is this for?”

Wu Tong replied, “Liu Dong earned them telling your story. According to the rules in our line of work, since you’re the one it happened to, you get sixty percent. The two of us split the other twenty percent…”

As he spoke, he looked enviously at the ring on Li Yu’s hand and muttered, “That’s a spatial treasure… the kind that money can’t even buy. Plenty of Foundation Establishment elders don’t even have one. Junior Sister Jiang sure is generous with you…”

Li Yu didn’t explain much. The things between him and Jiang Li were unknown to the disciples of Baiyun Sect.

Back when they first arrived at Baiyun Sect and went up the mountain to search for herbs, Jiang Li was bitten by a poisonous snake. If Li Yu hadn’t risked his life to suck the venom out, she would have died two years ago.

The venom was strong. Jiang Li was saved, but the poison had entered Li Yu’s body. Luckily, Elder Sun intervened and saved his life.

They were bonded by life and death…

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