Chapter 196: The Fourth Function of the Spirit Beast Pavilion, Underground Ancient City Meeting

“Sect Leader, what kind of spiritual artifact is this?” Jia Yulan stepped forward, curiously examining the metal leaf blade, half a meter wide and two meters long.

Upon closer inspection, one could see that the entire metal leaf was composed of many smaller leaf blades, ingeniously assembled into a complete set of spiritual artifacts.

As for the death of the Black Bear Demon, Jia Yulan did not inquire.

After the demi-transformed demon beast entered Yunxiao Ancient City, it slaughtered numerous cultivators, truly deserving death. Initially, seeing Ye Feng agree to let the Black Bear Demon escape, Jia Yulan struggled to accept it.

It wasn’t until the next moment, when Ye Feng detached a leaf-shaped blade from the metal leaf and threw it with force, easily piercing the Black Bear Demon, that Jia Yulan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

“This is an exclusive spiritual artifact of mine. Aside from its hardness and sharpness, it has no other features,” Ye Feng said.

The metal leaf was inscribed with special array patterns and could not be controlled with spiritual power.

But, it was definitely hard enough!

For other cultivators, the metal leaf blade might be of little value, but for Ye Feng, it was the perfect spiritual artifact.

“Exclusive spiritual artifact?” Jia Yulan muttered to himself before changing the subject, “Sect Leader, how much truth do you think there was in what the Black Bear Demon said?”

“First, let’s see where Shuiyang City is,” Ye Feng said.

Ji Ziling, standing nearby, took out a map and pointed to a location, saying,

“Northwest of Yunxiao Ancient City, a thousand li away, there indeed is a one-star level city called Shuiyang City. Its overall strength is much stronger than Whitefloat City, possessing up to fifteen cultivators in the Element Gathering Realm, with the city lord having reached the sixth layer of the Element Gathering Realm.”

“That far?” Ye Feng took out the Heaven-Asking Mirror.

The three disciples immediately gathered around.

“This is a mirror that can probe within a thousand li radius, known as the Heaven-Asking Mirror,” Ye Feng briefly explained, his thoughts moving, and a flat map appeared on the mirror’s surface. Ye Feng tapped towards the northwest direction, expanding the image.

The mirror’s surface rippled like water waves.

The next moment, the gates of a huge ancient city appeared in the mirror.

But due to the distance, they could only see the eastern gate of the ancient city and a small part inside, shrouded in mist, unclear.

Suddenly, dozens of figures appeared in the image.

They were demonic beasts!

These demonic beasts formed a team, exiting from the east gate and running wildly toward the northeast, their faces filled with excitement, with no indication of what they were planning to do.

“Shuiyang City really has been occupied by demonic beasts,” Ye Feng frowned.

“Sect Leader, why is the image so blurry, and why are only chaotic noises heard?” Ouyang Yu asked, puzzled.

“Because the Heaven-Asking Mirror is only a middle-grade spiritual artifact, its probing ability is limited, and besides, there must be a formation in Shuiyang City that can obstruct vision,” Ye Feng explained.

He didn’t continue moving towards the northwest direction.

Doing so, he could see the whole of Shuiyang City, but due to the formation obstruction, it would also appear as a mist, meaningless.

“What should we do now?” Jia Yulan was very worried.

If what the Black Bear Demon said was true, a Spirit Sea Realm Demon King was a terrifying existence, and only the strong from two-star forces would be able to suppress it.

“Let’s take it one step at a time!” Ye Feng said.

Within this region spanning over a thousand li, there are many one-star forces like Whitefloat City, Sanyuan City, Qingyun Sect, Liuyun Sect, Hundred Artifacts Sect, Spirit Beast Sect, and others that Shuiyang City’s demon race would find challenging to sweep through.

“Let’s go, back to Misty Sect first.”

Ye Feng put away the Heaven-Asking Mirror, stepped onto the metal leaf blade, and flew with the disciples toward Misty Peak, over a hundred li away.

Under the cover of night.

Ye Feng sat on the roof of the Sect Leader’s Great Hall.

“Senior Sister Mo Ying, come here.”

“Sect Leader, do you need me for something?”

“This middle-grade spirit sword is yours, consider it a reward for breaking through to the Element Gathering Realm.”

Senior Sister Mo Ying’s heart leapt with joy as she observed the hovering Three-Foot Green Peak in front of her, its design elegant and beautiful, immediately becoming her cherished possession, but the next moment, she shook her head.

“Sect Leader, I haven’t yet broken through to the Element Gathering Realm.”

“You are of upper-grade talent, breaking through to the Element Gathering Realm is only a matter of time,” Ye Feng said instinctively, patting Senior Sister Mo Ying’s soft shoulder, then suddenly realizing something, he retracted his hand like lightning.

“Thank you, Sect Leader, I will rest now.”

Mo Ying took the Spirit Sword.

After Mo Ying left, Ye Feng took out the newly refined Disciple Identity Tokens. After some thought, he decided to distribute them uniformly after Ji Ziling completed her task and became an Outer Sect Disciple.

Then, he opened the system panel.

[Spirit Beast Pavilion: Fourth Order]

[Mountain Guardian Spirit Beasts: 11/25]

[Spirit Beast Pavilion Promotion Description: Prestige points break through one million, unlocking the fifth stage of the Spirit Beast Pavilion, adding new functions]

[Function One: Strength Accumulation; the Spirit Beasts of the Spirit Beast Pavilion can provide the Sect Leader with additional cultivation enhancement]

[Function Two: Scouting (Enhanced once); obtain names, species, uses, talents, weaknesses, etc., of various Demonic Beasts]

[Function Three: Bloodline Purifying Pill; this pill can purify the bloodlines of Spiritual Beasts without limit, maximally enhancing their potential, includes a “Virtual Pill Refining Furnace”, with the necessary materials collected, pills can be self-formed, with two creations possible every day]

[Function Four: Spirit Blood Transference; harvesting the bloodlines from perished Demon Beasts and refining them into “Spirit Blood”, which can be transferred to Mountain Guardian Spirit Beasts]

After the Spirit Beast Pavilion became Fourth Order, the limit for Mountain Guardian Spirit Beasts also increased.

The usage of the Virtual Pill Refining Furnace became twice a day.

As for the Scouting function, the suffix “enhanced” was added.

But the most important was the addition of the “Spirit Blood Transference” function.

“System, after I refine some Demonic Beasts’ bloodlines into Spirit Blood, I can directly transfer it to Mountain Guardian Spirit Beasts like the Little White Fox to make them stronger, right?” Ye Feng asked within his heart.

“That’s right,” the system answered.

“Great!” Ye Feng was relieved.

Next, he opened the data panel for the newly unlocked Artifact-refining Pavilion.

[Artifact-refining Pavilion: First Order]

[Basic Construction: Refining Furnace (Middle Grade Spiritual Artifact)]

[Artifact-refining Pavilion Promotion Description: Upgrade the Refining Furnace to Upper Grade Spiritual Artifacts, and the Artifact-refining Pavilion can be promoted to Second Order, obtaining “Refinement Compendium – Upper Volume”]

After reading the introduction of the Artifact-refining Pavilion, Ye Feng felt it was much simpler than the Spirit Beast Pavilion.

However, once the Artifact-refining Pavilion reached Second Order, he could obtain the crucial “Refinement Compendium”, which would allow him to create Spiritual Artifacts without a Refining Furnace after studying it.

“Let’s try out the fourth function of the Spirit Beast Pavilion first.”

Ye Feng closed the data panel, took out the remains of Qinghun Zhenren, as well as the green Core Nucleus that had been sliced in half.

This item was only the size of a thumb, covered in special patterns, and under the Scouting function of the Spirit Beast Pavilion, it hid no secrets.

[Demon Beast Core Nucleus: Middle Rank Demon General Level, contains abundant Wood Elemental energy, can be used in Alchemy, and as the core part of a Formation]

“Not useful for now.”

Ye Feng stored the Core Nucleus away.

He looked at the remains of Qinghun Zhenren, and as prompted, placed his hands on the top and back of the remains, invoking the “Spirit Blood Transference” function.

Sssss!

A sound of wind arose.

Ye Feng noticed a large amount of pale green radiance emerging from within the remains of Qinghun Zhenren. It gradually converged in mid-air into an egg-sized Spirit Blood Cluster.

“To whom should I give this clump of Spirit Blood?” Ye Feng surveyed the summit of Misty Peak, ultimately fixing his gaze on the Thousand-Year Ancient Pine Tree. “Qinghun Zhenren was a Thousand-Year Tree Demon, so his Spirit Blood is naturally most suitable for the same kind of Thousand-Year Ancient Pine.”

With that, Ye Feng pressed the Spirit Blood against the trunk of the Thousand-Year Ancient Pine.

Hum!

The entire tree suddenly shook, and the Spirit Blood immediately permeated through the conduits of the Thousand-Year Ancient Pine into its entirety, perfectly integrating with it.

The Thousand-Year Ancient Pine quickly grew larger, its branches and leaves became even more lush, radiating an extremely robust life force, giving the impression of facing an ancient titan tree.

“What miraculous power!”

The Thousand-Year Ancient Pine suddenly spoke in human language.

A human face slowly protruded from the trunk, full of furrows, looking very old, yet appearing very benevolent.

The Thousand-Year Ancient Pine blinked at Ye Feng, expressing gratitude. “Thank you, Sect Leader, for bestowing your Spirit Blood upon me, aiding my transformation. It won’t be long before I can advance to a Middle Rank Demon General.”

Hearing this, Ye Feng was very satisfied.

Although the Thousand-Year Ancient Pine had not yet broken through to the Middle Rank Demon General level, its cultivation had increased significantly. Ye Feng could feel the enhancement in his own strength.

If he were to face Qinghun Zhenren once again, even without using the Sword Drawing Technique and the Wind Element Spirit Energy, Ye Feng believed he would be able to chase after and attack the adversary.

“My current strength should be comparable to the peak of the Sixth Layer of the Element Gathering Realm.”

Ye Feng mused to himself, “Moreover, just the power of the Heroic Spirits has already reached the level of the Third Layer of the Element Gathering Realm. If I were to use the Sword Drawing Technique, could I possibly defeat even a Seventh Layer cultivator with a single strike?”

Thinking of this, Ye Feng turned to the Thousand-Year Ancient Pine and asked, “You’ve acquired the Wood Elemental Spirit Blood; have you gained any new abilities… er, I mean talents?”

“Yes,” the Thousand-Year Ancient Pine blinked.

Bang!

A pinecone struck the ground and transformed into a two-meter tall warrior clad in green armor, wielding a shield and a short dagger.

“This is my talent, Armored Guardian. It can be summoned by consuming my own energy, and each one possesses the strength of the Peak Qi Refinement stage. Up to nine can exist at the same time,” the Thousand-Year Ancient Pine explained.

“That’s quite a decent talent,” Ye Feng praised.

Nine guardians at the Peak of the Qi Refining Realm were certainly not bad.

In ordinary times, the disciples from Misty Sect could spar against the Armored Guardians of the Ancient Pine to enhance their combat capabilities.

Thus, Ye Feng shared his idea of sparring with the Ancient Pine.

“Rest assured, Sect Leader, I will have the Armored Guardians train the disciples tomorrow,” the Thousand-Year Ancient Pine said.

“Mm, let’s leave it at that for now.”

Ye Feng returned to his room and began to rest.

The next morning.

“My goodness, Grandfather Pine can actually talk now!”

“Grandfather Pine, I want to eat pinecones.”

No sooner had Ye Feng stepped out of his room than he heard the voices of the disciples from the front courtyard.

In addition to the disciples, the Whitefloat Five Immortals and other Spiritual Beasts were also gathered under the tree, chatting with the Thousand-Year Ancient Pine, while munching on pinecones.

In the clearing.

An Armored Guardian was sparring with Mo Ying.

The guardian, devoid of emotions and thoughts, possessed only the instinct to fight. With its shield in the left hand for ramming and its dagger in the right for continuous slashes, it was ranked among the stronger fighters when compared to all at the Peak of the Ninth Layer of Qi Refinement.

“Sword Combat Technique!”

Mo Ying suddenly retreated more than ten meters, formed a sword with her fingers, and with a swift motion, her Breeze-riding Sword traced a large arc in midair, stabbing through the Armored Guardian from behind.

However, the Armored Guardian was not a living being.

Despite being impaled by this strike, it still maintained formidable combat strength.

“The survivability of the Armored Guardian is very strong. Unless dismembered, they can continue fighting until their strength is exhausted,” the Thousand-Year Ancient Pine reminded.

“I see!”

Mo Ying tapped the ground lightly, using Wind Spirit Step to dodge the Armored Guardian’s charge. She drew her Breeze-riding Sword and immediately deployed Streaming Light Sword Qi.

Rip!

The longsword slashed down from above, cleaving the Armored Guardian and its shield in two halves.

Although it still struggled, the Armored Guardian couldn’t rise anymore, defeated by Mo Ying.

“Impressive!”

“In our Misty Sect, only Senior Sister Mo Ying can defeat an Armored Guardian now.”

“Second Senior Brother should also be able to,” one disciple chimed in.

The other disciples began to discuss among themselves.

“It seems you’ve already discovered one of the purposes of the Armored Guardians. Good, whenever you have spare time, spar with them to improve your combat skills,” Ye Feng, standing on the rooftop, said.

“Yes.”

The disciples nodded.

At this time, Ji Ziling, holding a small wooden box, saluted Ye Feng and said, “Sect Leader, I am going to continue my training down the mountain and strive to complete the Outer Sect Disciple assessment task as soon as possible.”

Ye Feng opened the system panel.

[Registered Disciple Ji Ziling: Task Progress 70%, has cultivated three First Grade Spells to Perfection, Prestige Points 260/500]

The prestige points had passed the halfway mark, but the task was still incomplete, demanding more effort.

Ye Feng thought for a moment, pointed to the distance, and said, “Ziling, you can go to the southeastern direction to the Five-Colors City to train, but be careful about safety.”

The northwestern direction towards Shuiyang City was unsafe.

Compared to that, the Five-Colors City to the southeast was relatively safer and suitable for newbies like Ji Ziling to carry out their tasks.

“I’ll go too!” Mo Ying put away her Breeze-riding Sword. “I feel I need a hearty battle to break through to the Element Gathering Realm.”

“That works too,” agreed Ye Feng.

“In that case, I will be in Senior Sister Mo’s care along the way,” Ji Ziling said to Mo Ying with a gentle smile.

Then, the two women rode their swords toward Five-Colors City.

On a scorching afternoon.

Ye Feng had just woken up when he heard a pleasant bell ringing from halfway up the mountain.

“Who has come?”

Ye Feng was surprised and quickly got up.

Half a stick of incense later, in the Sect Leader’s Great Hall.

The Deputy City Lord stated his purpose with a solemn expression.

“A thousand miles away, Shuiyang City has been breached by the Demon Race and is now called ‘Demon City’. We need to organize a secret meeting in a mysterious Underground Ancient City to discuss strategies. The most crucial point is, even I have to go?”

Ye Feng paused, “But our Misty Sect is only a High Ranked Sect!”

The Deputy City Lord hurriedly said, “Sect Master Ye, please don’t be modest. You are the one who slew Souhun Zhenren with a single stroke; who would dare to disregard your presence? Not just us, Yunhua Zhenren from Yunhua Sect will also be there. In total, there will be more than a dozen Sect Leaders.”

“Alright, then. Let’s set off,” Ye Feng nodded.

He hadn’t expected the news to spread so quickly.

He had just extracted information from the Black Bear Demon of Demon City the previous night, and today an emergency meeting was already called. It seemed other forces had definitely been attacked by the beasts of Demon City and even sent spies into it, knowing many secrets.

Ye Feng wanted to know the specifics about Demon City so he agreed to the Deputy City Lord’s request.

Mid-air.

Ye Feng and the Deputy City Lord flew at high speed.

They crossed the Yunxiao Great Forest and landed in front of ruins enveloped in mist.

“Sect Master Ye, please follow me,” the Deputy City Lord led the way.

They bypassed the mist and stood before a huge crater hundreds of miles in diameter.

Ye Feng looked down and saw that about three hundred meters from the ground, there indeed was a black-themed ancient city.

“This city was discovered together by Leaders of the major Star-Level Sects and was once the stronghold of Souhun Zhenren. However, it is said that originally, this place was an isolated Underground Ancient City, which just happened to be taken over by Souhun Zhenren,” explained the Deputy City Lord.

“After the combined Sects besieged Souhun Zhenren, he was forced to abandon this Underground Ancient City. Over the years, with planning and development, the city has become the place where Sect Leaders discuss important matters.”

“In the event of an emergency, the Sect Leaders will gather here.”

The Deputy City Lord provided a detailed introduction.

Ye Feng nodded slightly, looking down at the ancient city below, finding that tens of thousands of people resided there, wondering how they managed to survive.

Half a stick of incense later.

The two arrived at the center of the Underground Ancient City and entered the majestic Black Mysterious Iron Hall, where several Element Gathering Realm masters were already seated.

One of the elders glanced at Ye Feng, his eyes immediately showing displeasure.

Ye Feng met the elder’s gaze but revealed an amused smile.