87: Chapter 87 Heavenly Blade, Heart Furnace Forging Technique

Jiang Hanzhou walked quickly to the place where the two died.

Ghost Ink Venerable had already been destroyed in body and Soul, leaving only some black dust, but a brocade pouch embroidered with twisted insect patterns tied to his belt remained intact, lying quietly in the gravel.

On the other side, Sandro's headless corpse floated in the shallow water, with a leather pouch of a different style, inlaid with small silver edges, hanging from his waist.

"sumeru pouch!"

A flash of brilliance appeared in Jiang Hanzhou's eyes, and a wave of pleasant surprise surged in his heart.

Such treasures for storage were not easy to refine and were expensive. In a place like Donghai Prefecture, even many Loose Cultivators and heads of small Families in the Early Stage of the Dragon Elephant Realm might not possess one.

But upon second thought, whether it was a Venerable with a high status in the Ten Thousand Gu Sect or a Guest Elder of the Silver Wing Family in the Storm Kingdom, it was reasonable for them to possess such items.

He moved deftly, first picking up Ghost Ink Venerable's dark purple brocade pouch, then wading into the water to take down Sandro's deep blue leather pouch.

With the two sumeru pouches in hand, the materials were vastly different. One felt cold and slippery to the touch, with the vague illusion of insects crawling. The other was delicate and tough, carrying the light and agile fluctuations unique to wind-attribute Protective Aura.

Both pouch openings had strong imprints of the original owners' Protective Aura, like sturdy locks, difficult for anyone else to open.

Jiang Hanzhou did not immediately try to crack them.

Although this place was remote, the commotion just now was too great, and it was hard to guarantee it wouldn't attract other attention.

The top priority was to leave as soon as possible.

He carefully tucked the two sumeru pouches into his clothes to hide them, turned around, and walked quickly toward his small boat hidden behind the reef.

Untying the cable, he jumped onto the gunwale, rowed hard with both oars, and the small boat darted out like an arrow, quickly moving away from the sea area filled with the aura of blood and destruction.

Three days later.

Near the outer perimeter of the Seven Star Reef sea area, deep inside a barren island with rugged rocks and sparse vegetation.

Inside a naturally formed cave, the light was dim, with only a little daylight penetrating from the entrance and the faint fluorescence emitted by certain phosphorus-containing minerals on the cave walls.

Within a hundred yards outside the cave, birds and beasts were extinct, and it was deathly silent. An invisible sense of oppression permeated, causing all living things to instinctively stay away.

Inside the cave, Jiang Hanzhou sat cross-legged on a relatively flat bluestone.

In front of him were the two sumeru pouches.

After three days of sailing and careful investigation, he finally chose this barren island cave as a temporary foothold, preparing to handle the biggest spoils of this battle.

"Start with Ghost Ink's."

Jiang Hanzhou picked up the dark purple insect-patterned brocade pouch and focused his perception.

At the opening of the pouch, a cold and viscous Protective Aura imprint, like countless tiny insects entrenched and entangled, firmly locked the space.

This was a Restriction left by Ghost Ink Venerable combining his own Protective Aura with the secret techniques of the Ten Thousand Gu Sect; it was vicious and eerie. If one forcibly attacked it with brute force, it would likely trigger a backlash or directly destroy the items inside the pouch.

Jiang Hanzhou's expression was calm as he mobilized the strand of pure Heavenly Dipper Precious Qi in his Dantian.

Although the amount of this Qi was small, its quality was extremely high, supremely Yang and pure, containing the most original refining and Restriction-breaking power in the world, which was the nemesis of such evil Protective Aura.

A faint golden light appeared on his fingertips, and he gently touched the imprint at the pouch opening.

"Chi..."

A subtle sound rang out in the silent cave, like cold water dripping into boiling oil.

The dark purple Protective Aura imprint squirmed like a living thing, trying to resist and erode the strand of faint golden light.

However, the Heavenly Dipper Precious Qi was extremely condensed and unstoppable. Wherever it passed, the cold Protective Aura melted like spring snow, quickly disintegrating and dissipating.

After only half a cup of tea, the stubborn imprint completely dimmed, shattered, and turned into nothingness.

A smile appeared on the corner of Jiang Hanzhou's mouth, and his Divine Sense probed into the pouch without obstruction.

He did not pause and immediately picked up Sandro's deep blue leather pouch.

The style of this pouch's imprint was completely different; it was composed of pure wind-attribute Protective Aura combined with some kind of Western magic runes. It was light, swift, and cleverly structured, like a micro-storm cage constantly rotating.

Cracking this imprint required more precise control.

Jiang Hanzhou condensed the Heavenly Dipper Precious Qi to be even finer, like the most skillful carving knife, cutting in, differentiating, and wearing down along the weak nodes of the storm rune structure.

This time it took a little longer. After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, with a very slight "pfft" sound, the imprint on the deep blue leather pouch was also declared broken.

"Done!"

The joy in Jiang Hanzhou's eyes deepened.

He first picked up Ghost Ink Venerable's dark purple brocade pouch, turned the opening downward, and gave it a gentle shake.

"Clatter—"

A pile of items fell onto the bluestone.

Immediately after, he followed the same method and poured out the things in Sandro's deep blue leather pouch.

The two piles of items were lined up side by side. Although not a mountain, they were of various types, with faint spiritual light, making the originally dim cave seem a bit brighter.

Jiang Hanzhou took a deep breath, suppressed the agitation in his heart, and began to carefully count and organize.

The first thing that caught his eye was several thick stacks of silver banknotes!

The denominations were huge, some from large local businesses in Donghai Prefecture, some convertible in other prefectures within the Great Qi Dynasty, and even several bills of exchange from the Storm Kingdom's Gold Shield Bank.

Jiang Hanzhou counted quickly, his fingers trembling slightly.

"One million eight hundred thousand... one million nine hundred thousand... two million five thousand... two million one hundred thousand!"

The final number settled at around two million one hundred thousand!

This was simply an astronomical figure!

Even the three great aristocratic Families of Donghai Prefecture would probably feel pain if they took out so much cash at once.

"Good! Good! Good!" Jiang Hanzhou said "good" three times, his face filled with unconcealable joy.

After joining the Dragon Abyss Palace, whether it was buying Cultivation resources, exchanging for Cultivation Technique secret arts, or managing interpersonal relationships, money was needed everywhere.

With this huge sum as a cushion, at least for a considerable period of time, he would no longer need to worry about money and could focus more on martial arts Cultivation.

He carefully collected the silver banknotes and put them away separately.

Jiang Hanzhou looked at the other items.

Among the two people's items, apart from the silver banknotes, the remaining things were unexpectedly "few but refined."

There were only three jade bottles, one cyan Jade Slip, and a scroll of dark brown sheepskin tanned from some special animal hide.

Jiang Hanzhou first picked up the three jade bottles.

One bottle was pitch black, cold to the touch, with twisted insect-shaped runes carved on the bottle body. It contained more than half a bottle of dark red viscous liquid, emitting a faint bloody smell and a strange sweet-fishy odor, and one could vaguely feel a weak life fluctuation.

"This... seems to be some kind of blood essence medicine bait specifically for feeding high-level Gu insects." Jiang Hanzhou judged.

This item was useless to him, but perhaps it could be used in the future when studying Gu Dao or trading with others.

He carefully put it away.

The other two jade bottles came from Sandro.

One was a milky white translucent glazed bottle, containing a few jade-green pills that emitted a fresh herbal fragrance.

The other was a small metal bottle, containing three dark golden pills the size of dragon eyes with natural cloud patterns on the surface.

Jiang Hanzhou pulled out the cork, sniffed carefully, sensed with his Divine Sense, and even scraped off a trace of powder with his fingernail to taste.

However, with his current eyesight, which far exceeded that of ordinary pharmacists, and the drug identification techniques he learned from the "secret record of blood gu", he could not determine the specific name and efficacy of these two Medicinal Pills for a while.

He only knew that the green pills were full of vitality and seemed to have the effect of healing injuries and supplementing essence, but the medicinal structure was extremely complex and exquisite.

The dark golden pills contained a condensed and heavy strange energy, which was not blood energy or Protective Aura, but vaguely resembled the Western battle qi he had perceived.

"It seems to be a Western-specific Medicinal Pill, or a secret heirloom of the Silver Wing Family." Jiang Hanzhou did not try it rashly and carefully put away the two bottles of Medicinal Pills, leaving them for later study.

His gaze fell on the cyan Jade Slip.

The Jade Slip was ancient in style, similar to the one Shen Hongxiu gave him, and was a rare carrier for recording Cultivation Technique information.

Jiang Hanzhou placed it on his forehead, and his Divine Sense sank into it.

A moment later, he opened his eyes, and a light of incomparable surprise burst out from his pupils!

"Heaven Rank Martial Skill! 'Heavenly Saber'!"

What was recorded in the Jade Slip was actually a saber Martial Skill, and it was a broken Heaven Rank level!

According to the brief description at the beginning of the Jade Slip, this saber technique was named "Heavenly Saber" and was not a complete Legacy, but only the first three forms of the remnant scroll.

But its Origin was astonishing; it was one of the sect-suppressing supreme skills of the Lingxiao Sect, the leader of the saber Dao in the Great Qi Dynasty!

It could not be easily taught to anyone other than core True Disciples!

"The Lingxiao Sect's sect-suppressing saber technique... how did it fall into the hands of Ghost Ink Venerable?" Jiang Hanzhou thought for a moment, then sneered, "It must have been obtained by this old demon through murder and robbery from somewhere!"

His heart was surging.

Since obtaining the tiger soul saber with hidden ferocity at the Hundred Refinements Workshop, he had been suffering from not having a high-level saber technique to match it.

The "Wave Splitting Saber Art" he was practicing was only a Profound Rank Martial Skill, which had long been unable to keep up with his current Realm and needs for fighting enemies.

This "Heavenly Saber" remnant scroll was simply a timely help!

Although there were only three forms, the concept, force-exerting methods, and Saber Intent essence of a Heaven Rank Martial Skill were far from comparable to Martial Skills below Earth Rank.

If he could master it, his combat power would definitely rise to another level, and the tiger soul saber would be able to truly show its sharpness!

Suppressing the urge to comprehend it immediately, Jiang Hanzhou carefully put away the Jade Slip.

Finally, he picked up the dark brown sheepskin scroll.

The scroll was heavy in his hand, the leather was ancient, and the edges were sealed with silver thread.

He untied the silver thread and slowly unfolded it.

On the sheepskin scroll, the content was densely recorded in an elegant and ancient Western floral script.

It was also accompanied by detailed patterns, depicting the human body, energy flow paths, and some abstract mental imagery.

Fortunately, Jiang Hanzhou was already proficient in "Western Common Language", so reading was barrier-free.

He read word by word, and the expression on his face gradually changed from curiosity to solemnity, and finally turned into deep astonishment and surprise.

"Heart Furnace Artifact Forging Art... using the heart as a furnace, will as fire, and blood energy and spirit as materials... forging an invisible 'Heart Artifact'..."

This was actually a very special Western secret technique!

Its core was not to directly improve cultivation or attack power, but to teach the practitioner how to visualize, construct, and finally forge a "Heart Artifact" in the depths of the Soul that was closely connected to one's own Soul, will, and power Origin.

This "Heart Artifact" was formless and qualityless, existing between the layers of spirit and energy, and could manifest and change according to one's will, possessing various mysterious functions.

It could amplify the power of certain specific attributes, grant special effects to attacks, guard the heart and spirit against external evils, and it was even said that when cultivated to a profound level, the Heart Artifact could interfere with reality, transform between virtual and real, and had infinite wonderful uses.

However, the beginning of the scroll clearly stated that there was a crucial prerequisite for practicing this technique.

One must initially master the power of "Law"!

"Law..." Jiang Hanzhou muttered to himself.

In the Eastern martial arts system, this roughly corresponded to the Realm of "True Intent".

Only by condensing one's own martial arts True Intent and touching the fur of some kind of rule in the world could one be qualified to try practicing this technique.

"This 'Heart Furnace Artifact Forging Art' is actually a secret technique prepared for Dragon Elephant Realm, and at least a Dragon Elephant Realm powerhouse who has realized True Intent!" Jiang Hanzhou's heart was surging.

As a Dragon Elephant Realm powerhouse and a Guest Elder of the Silver Wing Family, it was not surprising that Sandro possessed such a secret technique.

Perhaps this was one of the preparations he made for his future impact on a higher Realm and for tempering his heart and power.

For the current Jiang Hanzhou, this technique was like a flower in a mirror or the moon in the water; he could see it but could not touch it for the time being.

But he was not discouraged; instead, he regarded it as a clear and lofty goal.

"True Intent... Dragon Elephant Realm... 'Heart Furnace Artifact Forging Art'..." He kept these terms deeply in his heart, his eyes burning with a desire for a higher Realm.

He carefully rolled up the sheepskin scroll again and tied it tightly with silver thread.

At this point, the items in the two sumeru pouches had been counted.

Jiang Hanzhou classified the silver banknotes, Medicinal Pills, Jade Slips, sheepskin scrolls, and other items and properly stored them in his own sumeru pouch.

Next, he just needed to wait for the arrival of the full moon night next month.

Jiang Hanzhou stood up and walked to the entrance of the cave.

The sea breeze blew on his face with a salty and damp breath, and in the distance, the sea and the sky were the same color, magnificent and vast.

His heart was surging, and he jumped directly into the water, starting to practice the "Heavenly Saber"!