The Confucian and Taoist Sages of Mortal Cultivation

Halfway up the mountain in the ring-shaped mountain range, in front of a simple stone house, Han Li stared at the decapitated corpse of a Giant Sword Sect disciple on the ground ahead, panting heavily.

"If it weren't for this white silk thread, the outcome of this match would have been very uncertain."

Han Li wrapped the transparent thread around his right index finger and quickly stepped forward to take stock of the relics of the Giant Sword Sect cultivator.

First was a silver giant sword, about four feet four inches long, its entire body gleaming silver, its blade radiating spiritual light, and it was exceptionally sharp; it was at least a top-grade flying sword.

"What's the origin of this silver greatsword? It actually cut through the inner blade of my Golden Fuchian Mother-Child Blade."

Han Li took the sword in his hand and tried to infuse it with magic power, but the silver flying sword did not change at all.

"It's really strange. Why is this sword so incredibly sharp in the hands of the Giant Sword Sect disciples, but in my hands it's like an ordinary piece of iron?" Han Li wondered.

But the next moment, his expression suddenly changed. He sensed an anomaly in the traction technique within his body, and his heart tightened. He turned around hastily, summoning a black iron shield to protect himself, and coldly demanded, "Which senior brother has arrived?!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a small yellow umbrella appeared out of thin air on the grass twenty feet away.

Under the umbrella stood a young man in yellow robes carrying a sword case on his back.

The person who came was Yang Qingyuan. After parting ways with Han Yunzhi, he followed the route recorded on the map and headed towards the underground palace, harvesting the spiritual herbs along the way.

Currently, he has as many as forty-one spiritual herbs in his possession. He can not only exchange them for a lightning-attribute cultivation technique and a Confucian cultivation technique from Lei Wanhe, but also choose two treasures from Li Huayuan.

"So it's Senior Brother Yang!" Han Li breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the person's face, but he did not put away the black iron shield. He was still on guard and was secretly shocked that Yang Qingyuan could sneak up to such a close distance without making a sound.

If it weren't for the sect's traction technique causing an anomaly, he wouldn't have been able to sense Yang Qingyuan's location at all.

Han Li composed himself and greeted them warmly, "It's been three days since we last met. Senior Brother Yang has also climbed the crater."

"That's true. After all, with the power of your lightning magic, ordinary cultivators are no match for you."

"But why is Senior Brother Yang here?"

Yang Qingyuan stood under the umbrella, pointed to the stone house, and explained, "I happened to be passing by this place and saw this stone house on the map, so I came here to take the jade marrow fungus inside."

Upon hearing this, Han Li's expression turned solemn, fearing that Yang Qingyuan might have the idea of ​​killing him to seize the treasure. He thought to himself, "This Yang Qingyuan has a lightning spiritual root, and his strength is probably even above that of the Giant Sword Sect cultivator."

"My transparent threads may not be able to break through the protective aura of this little umbrella."

Yang Qingyuan noticed the change in Han Li's expression and chuckled, "Junior Brother Han, don't be nervous."

"Since you arrived at this stone house first, the medicinal herbs inside are yours."

Upon hearing this, Han Li breathed a sigh of relief, clasped his hands in a salute to Yang Qingyuan, and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Senior Brother Yang."

Yang Qingyuan coughed twice and explained, "However, I would like to make a deal with Junior Brother Han and buy the silver greatsword he has."

Han Li was taken aback when he heard Yang Qingyuan want to buy the flying sword, and explained, "You want to buy this flying sword?"

"Senior Brother Yang, to be honest, although this flying sword looks radiant and of excellent quality, it is actually impossible to control."

"I'm afraid Senior Brother Yang will be disappointed if he buys this sword."

Yang Qingyuan, however, had anticipated this and replied, "The flying swords of the Giant Sword Sect are all refined using special methods, so cultivators from other sects cannot wield them."

"However, Yang was confident that he could break these methods."

After saying this, Yang Qingyuan reached into his storage bag at his waist and took out two red curved swords and a yellowed folding fan. He introduced them, saying, "Senior brother, I have two top-grade magic weapons here. One is a set of flying knives called 'Crimson Serpent Twin Blades.' When activated, they can transform into a wheel of flames, with an attack power far exceeding that of a single top-grade magic weapon."

"This folding fan is called the 'Bone-Melting Treasure Fan,' which can blow out extremely poisonous purple smoke. Even a Qi Refining stage disciple who touches even a tiny bit of the smoke will immediately die from the poison."

"I'll trade two top-grade magical artifacts for the flying sword in your hand."

"how?"

Han Li was immediately tempted by the offer. Trading an uncontrollable flying sword for a complete set of magical artifacts, plus a poison-attribute magical artifact, was a very good deal.

"Deal." He threw the silver greatsword directly onto the ground between the two of them.

The greatsword was exceptionally sharp, easily piercing the ground with only the hilt remaining outside.

Seeing this, Yang Qingyuan also used his object manipulation technique to send the Crimson Serpent Flying Knife and the Bone-Melting Treasure Fan to Han Li.

Han Li smiled broadly and put the two magical artifacts into his storage bag.

Yang Qingyuan then mobilized the righteous energy within his body and exhaled a stream of silver light.

The silvery glow condensed into the character "sword" before disappearing into the hilt of the silver greatsword.

Immediately afterwards, the silver greatsword hummed and trembled, then rose from the ground, transforming into a silver streak of light, and fell into Yang Qingyuan's hand.

Han Li was also dumbfounded upon seeing this, and said in surprise, "Senior Brother Yang has amazing skills. He can actually refine this flying sword."

Yang Qingyuan smiled slightly, stroked the sword, and was very satisfied with the silver flying sword.

He vaguely remembered that Nangong Wan had introduced this flying sword to Han Li, saying that it was mixed with copper essence.

Copper essence is a material used to refine magical artifacts. Adding just a little bit of it can make the artifact indestructible.

Han Li later used this silver giant sword to cut open the corpse of the black dragon, which shows how powerful the sword was.

In terms of sharpness alone, this silver greatsword far surpasses the other six flying swords. Using it to trade for a set of throwing knives and the Bone-Melting Fan, it can be said that it got a great deal.

Yang Qingyuan stroked the sword and said, "From now on, this flying sword shall be called the Rain Flower Sword."

Immediately afterward, with a thought, he manipulated the Rain Flower Sword into a silver streak of light, which disappeared into the sword case.

Yang Qingyuan vaguely remembered that this disciple of the Giant Sword Sect also had a silver page on his body, which recorded the wood-attribute cultivation technique "Qingyuan Sword Manual".

This cultivation technique was Han Li's natal technique in the mortal realm. It could be cultivated to the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm, making it a top-tier technique. Unfortunately, it was incompatible with Yang Qingyuan's spiritual root attributes.

Furthermore, since Yang Qingyuan had already planned to obtain the cultivation technique from Lei Wanhe, he abandoned the idea of ​​trading the silver pages.

The transaction was complete, but Han Li dared not relax for a moment, and asked, "May I ask what Senior Brother Yang's plans are next?"

Yang Qingyuan pointed northwest and said, "I'm going in this direction to search for treasure. Would Junior Brother Han like to join me?"

"No, no." Han Li waved his hand repeatedly in refusal, thinking to himself, "Yang Qingyuan is willing to trade top-grade magic artifacts, so he must have even more powerful treasures in his possession."

"If I really find a precious medicinal herb, and the other party becomes greedy for it, my life might be in danger."

Yang Qingyuan was not surprised when Han Li refused, and replied, "In that case, I will take my leave. We'll meet again outside the Crimson Forbidden Land."

After saying that, he turned and left, his figure disappearing into the dense forest.

Seeing this, Han Li breathed a sigh of relief and thought to himself, "I can't go in this direction. If I run into Yang Qingyuan again, it will be bad."

Thinking of this, he hurriedly took away the spiritual herbs from the stone house, and headed in the opposite direction from Yang Qingyuan, thus missing the underground cave where the black dragon was located.

Meanwhile, Yang Qingyuan, after two hours of travel, finally arrived at a small basin in the crater.

The small basin is surrounded by tall, oddly shaped rocks, and in the very center stands an ancient and enormous blue stone hall.

Although the stone hall was enormous, its entrance was pitifully small, barely allowing two people to pass side by side.

Yang Qingyuan arrived at the stone hall in a dusty state. Looking down, he saw messy footprints on the ground, indicating that more than a dozen people had already entered the stone hall.

"This is troublesome. I didn't expect the people from the Hidden Moon Sect to be so fast." Yang Qingyuan frowned.

Along the way, he was indeed delayed for a while in order to harvest the spiritual herbs along the way, but unexpectedly, Nangong Wan and others beat him to it.

Fortunately, there were only footprints on the ground indicating that they went in, but not that they came out, which meant that Nangong Wan and her group had not yet succeeded.

Yang Qingyuan released the double-headed geese, letting them fly into the sky to monitor the surroundings. Then, he summoned the Yellow Silk Umbrella to conceal his aura before entering the stone gate...