12dz Chapter 120 Secret Messages
Chapter 120 Secret Messages
They then began to tally the spoils.
Li Xiao's storage bag was the first to be opened.
The seal on the White Bone Demon Sect's storage bag is extremely difficult to deal with. It is not an ordinary spiritual energy restriction, but a "White Bone Seal" enhanced by the White Bone Demon Sect's unique technique, which uses death energy as a guide.
If one tries to break the seal without knowing the solution, the death energy within will instantly surge into the storage bag, activating the space's self-destruction restriction.
However, Zhang Lin did not need to break the restrictions; he only needed to activate the system once.
[Storage Bag (Low-grade Spatial Artifact) Capacity: 50 zhang square; Artifact Characteristics: Can hold living things, can be collected by thought, prevents spying, self-destructing restriction; Can be enhanced; Consumes 3,000 low-grade spirit stones; Enhanced effect: Mid-grade Spatial Artifact, adds one random characteristic.]
Zhang Lin chose to strengthen his team without hesitation.
Storage bag (medium-grade spatial artifact)
Capacity: 100 zhang square
Spatial stability: stable.
Features: Can survive, can be collected by thought, prevents spying, and has a self-destruct restriction.
New Feature: Space Stacking (can store items from other spaces)
Zhang Lin performed the blood oath ceremony, and as soon as he opened the bag, a chilling aura wafted out.
Zhang Lin took the items out of the bag one by one and laid them out on the stone steps.
The first thing that catches the eye is a jade slip.
The jade slip was entirely black, with four unique bone characters of the White Bone Demon Sect engraved on its surface, the characters twisted like the crawling marks of maggots.
Zhang Lin probed the jade slip with his spiritual sense, and a line of ancient and profound cultivation techniques appeared before his eyes: "The White Bone Scripture, the way of refining corpses, takes bones as its foundation and death energy as its guide."
He skimmed through the first few sentences before withdrawing his spiritual sense, his expression slightly grim. This cultivation technique required the initial practice of refining corpses from living people.
The first chapter contains the phrase "take the three Yin organs, peel off their skin alive, and pull out their tendons and bones," which exudes a nauseatingly evil aura between the lines.
He is a disciple of the righteous Danxia Sect. If he were to cultivate this technique, the sect would be the first to reject him. Moreover, the jade slip also has restrictions up to the Foundation Establishment chapter, making it impossible to view the subsequent chapters.
However, this does not mean that the jade slips were worthless.
If he could break through the restrictions, the demonic arts and death energy techniques recorded in the White Bone Scripture would greatly benefit his future defense against demonic cultivators.
Moreover, a jade slip containing the true teachings of a demonic sect of this caliber could be exchanged for at least a hundred-year-old spiritual item on the black market.
He put the jade slip into an empty jade box and affixed a sealing talisman.
Next, a jade box was taken out.
The moment Zhang Lin opened the jade box, a refreshing aura of water-based spiritual energy rushed towards him, creating a stark contrast with the deathly aura surrounding him.
A lotus flower lay quietly in the box, its petals a vibrant green, translucent like jade, with fine, flowing water-like patterns along the edges.
A drop of crystal-clear elixir condensed at the flower's stamen, refracting a seven-colored halo under the moonlight.
The flower stem is tied with a jade belt, on which is engraved a line of small characters: Azure Lotus, four hundred years old, a water-based spiritual creature, produced in the Azure Yellow Springs Pool of the Western Continent.
Zhang Lin's heart skipped a beat.
A water-based spiritual object, four hundred years old. Among the nine hundred-year-old spiritual objects required for the foundation building of the Heavenly Dao, the water-based spiritual object is one of them.
This Azure Lotus is not only four hundred years old, but it is also in perfect condition and full of spiritual energy.
This one lotus flower alone saved him countless spirit stones and effort, which was a completely unexpected delight.
Next came two spirit beast eggs.
The egg is oval-shaped, slightly larger than a fist, with a grayish-white shell covered with fine dark lines, giving it a lifeless appearance.
The patterns on it are not fixed, but slowly wriggle, like a living thing.
Using the system, it shows that the living creature has not recognized an owner and its specific information cannot be viewed.
Seeing this, Zhang Lin probed the eggs with his spiritual sense and only sensed a chaotic barrier. However, there was a faint heartbeat inside the eggs. The life in both eggs had not been extinguished, but had fallen into a deep sleep due to being stored for too long.
He didn't recognize what kind of spirit beast's egg it was, but since it was treasured and kept in a storage bag by a Foundation Establishment demon cultivator, its grade must be quite high.
He carefully put the two spirit beast eggs into his storage bag, deciding to check them out at the Scripture Pavilion after returning to the sect.
Besides these three most important gains, Li Xiao's storage bag also contained approximately two thousand low-grade spirit stones, over one thousand mid-grade spirit stones, several bottles of demonic pills, and a few mid-to-high-grade magic artifacts.
He dared not touch the pills for the time being, as most demonic pills contained insidious poisons. He would use the system to identify them one by one when he returned.
The magical artifacts are not of high quality; they are mostly mid-to-high-grade bone knives, bone shields, and bone talismans, which can be sold in the market for independent cultivators.
Zhang Lin sorted and put away the items one by one, and then opened Zhou Huaili's storage bag.
Zhou Huaili's storage bag was of a much lower grade, a top-grade magic artifact, and had no restrictions.
The "Zhou" character embroidered on the bag's opening is made of gold thread with fine stitches, clearly indicating that it was a custom-made item from a prominent family.
The contents of the bag were not as abundant as Li Xiao's. In terms of spirit stones, there were about five thousand low-grade spirit stones and one hundred mid-grade spirit stones.
This alone shows the difference in wealth between demonic cultivators and righteous cultivators.
The storage bag also contained various magical artifacts and pills, mostly standard equipment for Zhou family cultivators: three bottles of top-grade first-class Rejuvenation Pills, a communication jade talisman engraved with the Zhou family's logo, and a high-grade magical artifact-level alchemy furnace.
The alchemy furnace has an ancient and simple design, with a bluish-black body, three legs and two handles. Several lines of alchemy incantations are engraved on the furnace wall. Although its quality is not as good as his hundred-refined bronze furnace, it is still a high-grade magic artifact.
After enhancement, it will at least be a top-tier item. If the material is good, it might even be a spirit weapon. Whether you use it yourself or take it back to Thousand-Foot Rock to sell, it will have good value.
Among Zhou Huaili's belongings, besides these miscellaneous items, there was also a communication jade slip.
It was a dark red communication jade talisman.
The jade talisman was only two fingers wide, with a ring of extremely fine blood-red runes engraved around its edge. This was a secret communication talisman used exclusively by the Zhou family.
Zhang Lin probed the jade talisman with his spiritual sense and found several undeleted secret messages inside.
Each secret message was written in the Zhou family's unique cipher, but the keywords in the cipher used runes commonly used in the cultivation world. Obviously, the Zhou family did not expect all members of the clan to master the complete cipher system, and important information was still encoded in common runes.
Zhang Lin read through the list one by one.
The first secret message was sent two months ago: "Zhang Lin has joined the Danxia Sect. The outer disciples of Cuiping Peak should not be touched for the time being."
The end was engraved with cipher text, and the spiritual fluctuations were consistent with the residual aura of Zhou Mingxuan's jade slip.
The second secret message was sent twenty days ago: "Third Uncle, this boy won the outer sect competition and was exceptionally accepted as a personal disciple by Lu Yuanshan. His cultivation has reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, and he possesses several third-tier techniques. Preliminary judgment indicates that he has the ability to fight beyond his level. Also, he possesses at least one spiritual weapon, which must be suppressed by someone above the Foundation Establishment stage. Do not underestimate him."
The cipher text was still engraved by Zhou Mingxuan.
The third secret message was sent ten days ago: "The mission in Baishi Town has been arranged. Uncle San can lay in ambush first. Remember not to take action on the outskirts of Baishi Town. Force Zhang Lin to go deep into the town before taking action. The town is filled with a deathly aura, making it difficult for Lu Yuanshan to track him down."
The fourth secret message was sent two days ago: "Third Uncle, there's a variable. Zhou Mingyuan ignored all advice and has secretly set off with the heirs of the Chen and Du families and three collateral disciples, traveling to Liangjie Mountain on the family's immortal boat."
"He claims he's just observing, but given his personality, he'll most likely get involved."
"If he shows up in Baishi Town, Uncle must stop him. Zhang Lin is extremely good at taking advantage of others' strengths. Zhou Mingyuan has been defeated by him several times and has lost his mind. If he ruins Uncle's hunt, the clan will lose all face."
The last inscription was Zhou Mingxuan's, his tone clearly showing annoyance.
Zhang Lin put down the jade talisman, his gaze slightly narrowed.