Gateway of Immortality

This was far beyond Qin Sang's expectations.

He had originally assumed that the Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions was Founder Kuiyin's life-bound astra but it turned out it wasn't.

There was no refining method for the Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions in theAncient Tome of Yin Malevolence.

Withdrawing his spiritual consciousness from the jade slip, Qin Sang pondered for a moment. Suddenly recalling something, he swept his gaze across the items before him and picked out a transparent shard that looked like a diamond.

After studying theAncient Tome of Yin Malevolence, Qin Sang recognized this shard. It was a remnant of the Yin Thunderbolt Pearl, the life-bound astra of Daoist Jiupao. It had been shattered when the sect leader of the Yuanzhao Sect self-detonated during the battle at the sect.

"How tragic..."

Qin Sang shook his head, feeling sorry for Daoist Jiupao.

The Yin Thunderbolt Pearl had not only been destroyed, but only a fragment the size of a fingernail remained; it had practically been annihilated. No wonder Daoist Jiupao had never been able to restore his life-bound astra; rebuilding it would be no different from forging a new one.

After examining it for a while, Qin Sang simply tossed the shard aside. He lacked the rare and precious materials needed to repair the Yin Thunderbolt Pearl.

Even if he could repair it, he wouldn't.

A life-bound astra forged by someone else was extremely difficult to fully make one's own as its power would always fall short. It would be better to refine a new one from scratch. Besides, the Yin Thunderbolt Pearl only truly reached its full potential when used in tandem with theAncient Tome of Yin Malevolence.

In someone else's hands, its power would inevitably be diminished.

Setting theAncient Tome of Yin Malevolenceaside, Qin Sang went through the jade slips one by one, tirelessly searching, but even after checking the last one, he still hadn't found any method to refine the Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions.

He frowned inwardly.

There was no doubt Founder Kuiyin had passed on the secret art, otherwise, Daoist Jiupao couldn't have repaired the Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions.

And yet, the Kuiyin Sect had been established for many years. Since Founder Kuiyin's death, they had never managed to complete all ten banners, which must have been due to the inability to find more Demonic Flames of Nine Hells.

"Huh?"

Qin Sang suddenly caught sight of a black, iron-like object. His eyes lit up as he drew it toward him and discovered that it was made of the same material as the banner poles of the Yan Luo Banners of Ten Directions.

The black iron column was quite large. It was a perfectly cylindrical rod, about half a man tall and as thick as an arm's span. If used to forge banner poles, it could likely yield more than a dozen.

In truth, calling it "black iron" wasn't accurate. Its material was neither iron nor stone, but something in between, strange and unfamiliar, something Qin Sang had never seen before.

Moreover, the column's form was so uniform that it clearly wasn't naturally formed. It appeared manmade, perhaps deliberately refined.

Having spent so many years struggling through the immortal cultivation world, Qin Sang was no longer the inexperienced novice he once was. And yet, even he had never heard of a material like this.

He tried to melt it down using his true essence but it didn't even leave a mark.

When he brought out the Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions and summoned the Demonic Flames of Nine Hells to refine it, he was shocked to find that the flames seemed unwilling to touch the darksteel column—as if afraid.

Seeing this, Qin Sang was certain—the poles of the Yan Luo Banners of Ten Directions had been forged from this exact material!

But what about the banner fabric?

Qin Sang began searching vigorously but found nothing similar.

"Looks like I'll have to take my time with this and study it further when I have the leisure. Still, this black iron column is clearly no ordinary item. If I can figure out what it is, I might be able to forge a unique astra with special abilities. In theAncient Tome of Yin Malevolence, Daoist Jiupao made some annotations about the Yin Profound Pagoda, and some of them seem to relate to this black iron column. Was he planning to use it to forge the Yin Profound Pagoda? Unfortunately, the notes were sparse and said nothing about how to melt it down..."

Qin Sang made a mental note.

He reminded himself to be extra cautious when using the Yan Luo Banner of Ten Directions. He couldn't afford to lose another pole.

Aside from the black iron column, Daoist Jiupao had nothing else of value that surprised Qin Sang. The rest of the treasures he had once taken were now reduced to a mere pile of jade slips.

It seemed all his resources had been drained away either in gathering healing herbs or establishing the Demonic Flame Sect.

Inside the thumb ring, there were still many assorted healing pills. Qin Sang sorted them into categories and stored them carefully. He also found two talisman astras.

But to him now, talisman astras had lost their appeal. His two current astras, along with the Yan Luo Array of Ten Directions, far outclassed them in power. Still, he stored them away neatly.

Finally, he opened his own Mustard Seed Pouch and transferred everything into the thumb ring.

All that remained on the ground now was a pile of spirit stones.

Qin Sang swept his spiritual consciousness across the area, and suddenly, his expression shifted. A look of astonishment flashed across his face as he waved his hand, summoning four spirit stones from within the pile. One golden-black, one verdant green, and two fiery red.

All four spirit stones were sealed with barriers.

With a hint of urgency, Qin Sang picked out one of the red spirit stones and carefully pried open a small gap in its barrier. Instantly, a surge of incredibly pure and potent spiritual qi surged out toward him.

He inhaled deeply, his face suffused with bliss, and couldn't help but exclaim in awe, "So this is a high-grade spirit stone!"

Despite having been in the immortal cultivation world for many years, it was Qin Sang's first time seeing a high-grade spirit stone with his own eyes.

According to common exchange rates in the cultivation world, a single high-grade spirit stone was worth a hundred middle-grade ones. But to actually use a hundred middle-grade stones to trade for a high-grade one? That was nothing short of a fantasy.

As for top-grade spirit stones, they existed only in legend, considered rare treasures even during the ancient era of immortal cultivation.

In the current Small Cold Domain, all spirit stone mines that once contained high-grade stones had long since been exhausted. It was said that the spiritual qi within these stones was so pure that it was easily detectable. Without protective barriers, they couldn't be hidden underground for long at all.

If not for the occasional discovery of hidden realms in the Ancient Immortal Battlefield, where a few high-grade spirit stones might be unearthed through sheer luck, they would be even rarer today.

Even so, such finds were far from enough to satisfy demand and were usually monopolized by the major sects, rarely leaking into the wider world.

That was because many powerful arrays and barriers, especially the ancient ones unearthed from hidden realms, required high-grade spirit stones to activate. Without high-grade or top-grade spirit stones, even the most formidable arrays and barriers would be left to gather dust.

Moreover, in combat, one could use high-grade spirit stones to recover spiritual power at a much faster rate. That edge alone could potentially turn the tide and allow one to kill an opponent in a reversal.

"I knew it! There's no way that old ghost Jiupao could've plundered Kuiyin Sect's treasury and ended up with nothing to show for it!"

Qin Sang's face lit up with excitement. He fondly played with the four high-grade spirit stones, reluctant to let them go.

Considering the Kuiyin Sect had only been founded a few centuries ago and that Founder Kuiyin's legacy had not yet been depleted, it wasn't surprising they still had high-grade spirit stones in their stores.

"No wonder that old ghost managed to keep fighting even with his astra damaged and his body severely wounded. He nearly destroyed the flying yaksha with him. He had high-grade spirit stones! That final explosion was probably fueled by them as well. But..."

Qin Sang frowned slightly and muttered to himself, "Why didn't he use these four high-grade spirit stones to buy healing pills? Was he afraid of exposing his identity or revealing his treasures?"

He shook his head. He couldn't figure out what Daoist Jiupao had been thinking. It was also possible there had been more than four stones originally, and the rest had already been exchanged for pills.

After admiring them for a while, Qin Sang finally put the stones away with great care.

Using high-grade spirit stones for cultivation would certainly speed up the process, but it felt like a waste.

For now, he couldn't think of any use for them aside from helping him recover faster in the midst of battle but treasures like these, the more the better.