I'm in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have one equipment slot!

Zhou Yuan raised his hand and made a gesture.

A large, azure hand, formed from a primordial spirit, reached into the pool and grabbed a miniature turtle that flew out of the corpse—the essence of a turtle demon.

Simultaneously.

He also extracted a fist-sized, earth-yellow demon core from the shattered skull.

The whole process took no more than three breaths.

Zhou Yuan carefully stored the demon core and essence, then flew back to Han Li's side.

"Give."

He tossed the earthen-yellow demon core to Han Li.

Han Li caught the demon core and was completely stunned.

A powerful demon that has taken human form.

He was killed just like that?

He hadn't even seen how Senior Brother Zhou made his move!

Those eight emerald green sword lights were as fast as lightning and so sharp as to make one's heart tremble.

The turtle demon had no chance to resist!

Is this the strength of a Nascent Soul cultivator?

No—even a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn't be this terrifying, right?

Han Li took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart, and solemnly clasped his hands in a fist salute:

"Thank you, senior brother!"

Zhou Yuan waved his hand and smiled, "It was nothing. Junior brother, until we meet again."

Until we meet again.

The two transformed into streaks of light and went their separate ways.

……

Zhou Yuan flew directly to Qiyuan Island and used the teleportation array to return to Tianxing City.

After leaving the Starry Sky Palace, he concealed his cultivation aura to the late Core Formation stage and found Xue Ye again.

The Six-Hall Palace has now been completely merged into the Star Palace, and Xue Ye, as an elder of the Star Palace, has his own cave dwelling.

Zhou Yuan found her place by following the address she left.

"Master Zhou, it's been a long time."

She saw him on a snowy night, and a look of surprise flashed in her eyes.

Today she wore a light blue palace dress, her black hair was tied up high, revealing her slender neck, and her temperament was as gentle as ever, but there was a hint of composure in her eyes as someone who had long held a high position.

"I've come on a snowy night to ask you about something," Zhou Yuan said bluntly. "Could you help me get some Geng Essence?"

"Geng Jing?"

Xueye paused slightly, then nodded. "Gengjing is indeed rare... I'll go ask around for you. How much does Master Zhou need?"

"The more the better."

Zhou Yuan said, "As long as we have a clue, I can afford to pay any amount of spirit stones required."

Without asking any further questions, Xueye nodded in agreement.

……

Three days later.

Xueye reappeared before Zhou Yuan, accompanied by another person.

The man was dressed in white, with jet-black hair like a waterfall, and a jade-inlaid headband in emerald green around his forehead. His face was as white as jade, and his eyebrows were so dark they reached his temples. He was androgynous and breathtakingly beautiful.

It was Ling Yuling.

"Master Zhou, the Geng Essence you asked me to find, Yu Ling has a small piece here," Xue Ye said with a smile. "That should be enough, right?"

Zhou Yuan looked at Ling Yuling expectantly.

Ling Yuling took out a piece of golden ore from her storage bag and held it in her palm.

The ore was about the size of a thumb, golden in color, with fine lines on its surface, and emitted a faint golden glow.

Zhou Yuan glanced at it, feeling slightly disappointed.

The portion is too small.

"What's wrong? Isn't that enough?"

Ling Yuling noticed the change in his expression and asked with some confusion:

"Generally speaking, half of these Geng essences is enough for a magic weapon. Adding too much won't significantly improve the magic weapon."

"That's true."

Zhou Yuan didn't hide anything: "However, my magic weapon is a set of seventy-two flying swords. This quantity seems a bit small."

"Seventy-two?!" Ling Yuling and Xue Ye exclaimed in surprise at the same time.

They exchanged a glance, both seeing shock in each other's eyes.

An ordinary cultivator can forge only three to five natal flying swords, at most nine or twelve.

Seventy-two weapons—what does that even mean?

Ling Yuling looked at Zhou Yuan with increasingly complicated eyes.

This person is indeed unfathomable.

"I'll offer 60,000 spirit stones to buy this piece of Geng Essence." Zhou Yuan took out the spirit stones and handed them over.

Ling Yuling did not refuse and handed over the Geng Essence to him.

"Thank you for continuing the search."

Zhou Yuan said, "If we can find more, the price is negotiable."

The two nodded in agreement.

……

After leaving Tianxing City, Zhou Yuan flew south.

He already has a new goal in mind.

In the original story, the bearded man had a secret cave where a large piece of Geng essence was hidden!

If he could obtain that portion of Geng Essence, he could mix the thirty-six flying swords into the Geng Essence and unleash half of the Great Geng Sword Formation!

At that time, with his mid-Nascent Soul cultivation, he will be able to fight against a late-Nascent Soul cultivator!

……

A month later.

Chaotic Star Sea, Demon Lake Island.

This is an obscure little island; only a few independent cultivators living on other nearby islands know of its location.

The reason this island was remembered by these cultivators and given such a strange name is because a material called "emerald copper" is produced in several lakes on the island.

Although this material is not particularly rare, it is an essential item for refining several unique magical artifacts. Therefore, some low-level cultivators occasionally come to this island to salvage this material.

Perhaps due to the abundance of copper, all these lakes are emerald green, far surpassing the emerald green of ordinary lakes.

Furthermore, mortals who fall into the lake can float on their own and never sink.

As a result, the reputation of "Magic Lake" gradually spread among the nearby islands.

However, this island has few trees and no spiritual veins, so it is rarely visited by people.

However, this island has few trees and no spiritual veins, so it is rarely visited by people.

Zhou Yuan landed on the island, his gaze sweeping over the emerald lakes, and his divine sense quietly probed out.

Sure enough, the lake water could block divine sense from detecting it.

Ordinary cultivators' divine sense cannot penetrate the surface of the lake, let alone discover the secrets at the bottom.

No wonder the Bearded Man chose this place as his cave dwelling.

However, with Zhou Yuan's current spiritual strength far exceeding that of the late Nascent Soul stage, this bit of isolation power is not a problem for him.

He arrived at the largest lake, and with a swift movement, he submerged into its depths.

The lake water was emerald green, and visibility was extremely low, but his spiritual sense was better than his eyesight.

He followed the terrain at the bottom of the lake downwards and soon discovered a cave hidden by a barrier on a rock wall.

Zhou Yuan stood in front of the cave, carefully examining the restrictions.

The method wasn't particularly sophisticated, but it was well-concealed. If he hadn't come prepared, he might not have been able to find it.

Half an hour later, with a "crack", the restriction shattered.

The cave is not large; inside is a stone chamber about ten feet square.

In the center of the stone chamber, there were several storage bags and some miscellaneous items, all covered in dust.

Zhou Yuan raised his hand and took all those items into his possession.

Spirit stones, materials, pills, and a few antique treasures in good condition... these were all part of Barbarian Beard's collection before his death, and there were quite a few of them, but for Zhou Yuan, they weren't exactly a pleasant surprise.

However, when his gaze fell on the last item, a glint of light finally flashed in his eyes.

It was a fist-sized piece of golden ore, entirely golden, with fine lines on its surface, radiating a rich golden light.

Geng Jing!

And it's such a big piece!

Zhou Yuan held it in his palm, feeling its heavy weight, and was overjoyed.

With this piece of Geng Essence, plus the small piece I bought from Ling Yuling, it's enough to mix the Geng Essence into the thirty-six flying swords!