Chapter 14: Inventorying

Li Zhen then took out his talisman case. Using the same method, he downloaded the user manual from the manufacturer’s website and re-bound it with his identity bracelet.

Unlike the binding process for the Nine Heavens C045 mid-grade flying sword, when the talisman case was bound to a new identity bracelet, any previous bindings would automatically be revoked.

With a light tap on his identity bracelet, Li Zhen accessed a directory of talismans within the talisman case, which appeared in his retinal display.

The talisman case could hold up to fifty talismans, with twelve currently stored inside: two Lightness Talismans, two Golden Armor Talismans, three Fireball Talismans, three Ice Talismans, and two Storage Talismans. All were of first-rank mid-grade quality.

He operated the talisman case to select a Fireball Talisman, causing one such talisman to pop out from its slot.

Picking up the Fireball Talisman, he noted that it was drawn on pale yellow talisman paper using red ink, forming peculiar runes. A faint aura of spiritual energy rippled across its surface.

Once he learned how to use these talismans, they would become powerful offensive tools at his disposal. It was worth noting that the potency unleashed by even a first-rank mid-grade talisman equaled that of magical spells cast by cultivators at the intermediate stage of Qi Refinement.

Although manipulating the talisman case to retrieve a Fireball Talisman seemed complex to Li Zhen now, this perception stemmed from his current lack of skill.

Once he reached the middle stage of Qi Refining and could utilize spiritual sense, he would be able to control his identity bracelet with mere thought. At that point, the identity bracelet would become an invaluable assistant; currently, he couldn’t harness its true potential.

The fact that all cultivators in the Xian Kingdom were equipped with identity bracelets highlighted their extraordinary nature.

Back then, he could extract any desired talisman from the talisman case simply by thinking about it.

He stored the Fireball Talisman back into the talisman case, then retrieved two Storage Talismans from it.

Storage Talismans were an extremely special type of talisman used to temporarily seal items within a designated volume into the talisman itself.

Unlike genuine spatial items, Storage Talismans were single-use devices.

Even as disposable spatial tools, they remained incredibly precious, being exceedingly rare among all talismans.

Their usage also differed from normal talismans: if the physical form of a Storage Talisman was destroyed, the sealed contents would reappear.

Li Zhen hesitated briefly, remembering that he possessed Dragon Heart Space. Even if the contents of these two Storage Talismans proved troublesome, he could always store them within his own space ability.

He tore open the first storage talisman. As soon as it was ripped, a small leather pouch materialized out of thin air.

He repeated the process with the second storage talisman, yielding another identical leather pouch.

Holding both pouches before him, he noted they were exactly the same size—likely custom-made to fit these storage talismans perfectly.

With great care, Li Zhen opened one of the leather pouches, revealing its contents: two jade bottles, a square piece of metal, and within the second pouch, a jade box.

Using his innate sense for spiritual objects, Li Zhen could immediately tell that everything before him was imbued with spiritual energy.

The square metal object was a mid-grade, first-rank spirit material. The two jade bottles bore inscriptions on their sides—one read “Boundary Breakthrough Pill,” while the other said “Qi Nourishing Pill.” Inside the jade box lay six blood-red beads, each also of mid-grade, first-rank quality.

One bottle contained only a single Boundary Breakthrough Pill—a unsurprising find, given that such pills were used to break through to the next level in the cultivation realm.

It was common practice to use Boundary Breakthrough Pills specifically when advancing from the initial stage of Qi Refining to the middle stage; few cultivators would waste them on minor breakthroughs between smaller realms. After all, acquiring these pills was an arduous task.

In Yunxi County, even ordinary medicinal pills were a rare sight, let alone special ones like the Boundary Breakthrough Pill.

As for the other bottle containing ten Qi Nourishing Pills—the full quantity—it was primarily used to aid cultivation at the intermediate stage of Qi Refinement.

Currently, Li Zhen was only at the first layer of Qi Refinement; the potency of the Qi Nourishing Pills would be too overwhelming for him.

Lastly, there were six blood-red beads. He spent considerable time searching through cultivator networks but couldn’t find any information about their origin.

However, he could tell that these blood-red beads likely weren’t something meant to be openly displayed. From sensing their aura, he detected faint traces of demonic energy.

His school teachings explained demonic energy as a form of pollution exerted by the Yao Kingdom against the Xian Nation.

Demonic energy was easily distinguishable, carrying a scent that humans instinctively found repulsive, much like the aura emanating from those transformed into demonic beings.

After placing the two jade bottles, the rectangular metal piece, and the six blood-red beads into his Dragon Heart Space, he felt an urgent urge to consume them.

He decided that since the rectangular metal was confirmed to be mid-grade tier-one spirit material, and he had no means to refine it into a magical artifact, it would be better to absorb it and enhance his innate spiritual roots instead.

This was different from winged wood; its value was simply too high, so much so that he genuinely felt reluctant to part with it.

Moreover, he had not yet thoroughly researched the Dragon Heart Space’s assimilation capabilities. He needed to consume more spiritual objects to make judgments, making the relatively lower-value rectangular metal more suitable for the Dragon Heart Space to absorb.

As for the two types of spirit pills in the jade bottle and the six blood-red beads with unknown effects, he planned to keep them.

The Boundary Breakthrough Pill went without saying; its effect was not something one would use regularly.

The Qi Nourishing Pill contained energy too potent; he couldn’t guarantee that after the Dragon Heart Space absorbed it, there wouldn’t be unforeseen consequences.

The blood-red beads’ effects were also unknown; likewise, he dared not risk absorption.

After Li Zhen issued the command, the rectangular metal within the Dragon Heart Space began to emit a golden glow. The golden light continuously detached from the rectangular metal, and after several breaths, the metal lost its luster, no longer emitting any aura of a spiritual object.

Li Zhen opened his identity bracelet to view his personal information:

His spiritual root aptitudes now included ‘Metal 11’, indicating he had acquired a Metal spirit root.

Seeing this Metal spirit root, he couldn’t help but frown and sigh inwardly.

A mid-tier first-rank spirit material had granted him a Metal spirit root. The transformation from nothing to something was indeed miraculous. However, considering the reality of the situation, it was uncertain whether acquiring a mid-tier first-rank spirit material was more valuable than obtaining a low-grade spirit root in the Xian Nation.

If not for his extraordinary luck in killing a much stronger enemy, he wouldn’t have been able to obtain such loot.

For ordinary low-rank cultivators, they might never encounter even a few mid-tier first-rank spirit materials throughout their entire lives, let alone consume them.

What frustrated him most was his speculation about the Dragon Heart Space’s capabilities.

The Dragon Heart Space had consumed a low-tier first-rank magical item to gain the pseudo-spiritual root attribute Water 7. By consuming a mid-tier first-rank metal spirit material, it obtained the low-grade spiritual root attribute Metal 11. From these results, it seemed that to elevate a spiritual root attribute to mid-grade would require either an incredibly high-quality or an astonishing quantity of spirit materials.

His only mid-grade Wood spirit root had been acquired by consuming second-rank Winged Wood.

Therefore, if he wanted to acquire a second mid-grade spiritual root attribute, he’d either need to consume enough first-rank spirit objects to trigger a qualitative change or consume second-rank spirit objects. Both methods were extremely difficult to achieve.

“Why dwell on such thoughts? As long as I continue improving my strength, I’ll have more opportunities to come across various spirit objects!” Li Zhen shook his head, casting aside his musings and speaking to himself.

He carefully stored the talisman case back into his Dragon Heart Space. Though it was undoubtedly useful, it wasn’t something he could utilize at his current level.

Next, he retrieved the formation disk - a mid-grade first-rank artifact, its value even higher than some top-tier first-rank magical items.

After closely examining the formation disk, he found a unique identification code etched on its base.

Li Zhen accessed the cultivator network once more. Using this identification code, he discovered the origin of the formation disk.

It was crafted by the Puyi Group, named the Small Inverted Five Elements Array. Its purpose: to conceal an area and bewitch or entrap enemies.

Upon finding the manual for the Small Inverted Five Elements Array, Li Zhen realized its operation was straightforward. Once his spiritual energy grew stronger and his mental focus improved further, he would be able to claim ownership of the array.

The claimed Small Inverted Five Elements Array could then be activated in two ways: either by using spiritual energy blocks to sustain the array’s function, or by placing it near a spiritual vein, allowing the array to harness that energy source.

What delighted Li Zhen most was discovering a spiritual energy block already attached to the Small Inverted Five Elements Array Disk.

Recalling the secret Demon-Worship Cult base hidden underground, he knew it couldn’t possibly have access to a spiritual vein. Therefore, they must rely solely on spiritual energy blocks to maintain the array’s functionality.

In the Xian Nation, while spiritual energy blocks came in various sizes, all small-sized blocks shared a universal interface standard, ensuring compatibility across different devices.