9: Chapter 9: Jade Talisman Treasure

"One must always be on guard against others," Xiao Yuan muttered to himself.

Although he had said those words and given her the Medicinal Pills, seemingly to encourage her, it was actually a test and a way to bind her to him.

By stirring Luo Ziyan's desire to become stronger and making her realize that only he, the "resource provider," could help her, she would keep the secret—and perhaps even become a relatively reliable "long-term power bank."

In truth, he was taking a gamble as well!

But if she immediately went back to the Sect to report him or made any suspicious moves...

Xiao Yuan's eyes turned slightly cold as his fingertips clamped onto a First-Grade Top-Quality Fireball Talisman.

"Then I can only... ruthlessly destroy the flower."

Fortunately, his worries were temporarily unfounded.

After returning to the Sect, Luo Ziyan went straight to her remote Spirit Herb Garden, plunged into her small wooden cabin, and did not come out again.

Xiao Yuan patiently squatted in the nearby bushes for nearly half a day. Only after confirming that Luo Ziyan showed no abnormal behavior and didn't contact anyone did he truly breathe a sigh of relief.

"Looks like things are temporarily stabilized."

He quietly left and returned to the Scrap Yard.

On the way back, he recalled the deeply hidden desolation, despair, and hatred in Luo Ziyan's eyes, feeling a mix of complex emotions in his heart!

"This girl... probably carries quite a story behind her," Xiao Yuan shook his head.

However, none of that was his concern.

Right now, he needed to go back and properly digest his gains from this outing.

Xiao Yuan returned to the Scrap Recycling Station and used the Great Turtle Breathing Technique to sense the situation inside.

Cultivators in the Qi Condensation Stage cannot manifest Divine Sense; sensing danger relies solely on intuition. Fortunately, the Great Turtle Breathing Technique he Cultivated possessed powerful perception capabilities.

After confirming that no one was waiting in ambush, he slipped inside and quickly closed the door.

"Safe! Time to get to work!"

Rubbing his hands together, he summoned the small tripod and poured in all one hundred and thirty Low Grade marrow cleansing pills he had just traded for.

The body of the tripod shimmered with light, spinning relentlessly like a small top. Before long, one hundred and thirty Perfect marrow cleansing pills were freshly produced, their medicinal fragrance overflowing.

Xiao Yuan happily put away the Medicinal Pills and looked at the small tripod again—nearly half of its energy had been consumed.

Smacking his lips, he felt a bit pained; he couldn't bear to use the remaining energy to upgrade his sword technique Spells.

The 'long-term cooperation' with Luo Ziyan hadn't been finalized yet, so he had to conserve the energy.

He calculated that in two and a half days, a new batch of scrap would be delivered. By then, he would rely on the small tripod to turn waste into treasure again and accumulate another batch of Medicinal Pills.

After all, raising his cultivation level was the only absolute truth.

With his plan set, he went into a wild pill-popping mode.

One, two, three... Perfect pills were truly different; the medicinal power was pure, and absorbing it was remarkably smooth.

When he took the hundred and twentieth pill, his entire body shuddered, and his Meridians let out a soft buzzing sound.

Cultivation Breakthrough—Qi Condensation 4th Layer Peak!

Feeling the noticeably strengthened spiritual energy within his body, Xiao Yuan felt delighted.

As for the remaining ten Perfect pills, he didn't eat them.

"You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a child... and you can't hook a 'power bank' without sacrificing pills." He carefully stowed the pills away, planning to use them as "bait" when Luo Ziyan came to visit.

Just as he was thinking, noise came from outside—the new batch of scrap had arrived right on time.

Xiao Yuan quickly received it, and as soon as the person left, he immediately pounced on the pile of "new Treasure Troves."

After rummaging through it, his haul was as follows:

Low-quality Medicinal Pills: 123 in total, including 93 marrow cleansing pills, 17 Qi-replenishing Pills, and 13 Blood-burst Pills.

They were all for low-rank Disciples; as for those above the Foundation Establishment Stage? Not a single one!

Waste pills of that level would be recycled by the Sect to extract medicinal power; they wouldn't end up at the Scrap Yard.

Damaged Talismans: 27, ten fewer than last time.

Damaged Spiritual Artifacts: 6.

The rest was just a pile of actual trash.

"Not bad, even mosquito legs are meat." Xiao Yuan was fairly satisfied.

He also understood that once his cultivation reached the Foundation Establishment Stage, this Scrap Yard would be basically useless to him.

Cultivation resources for the Foundation Establishment Stage would never flow here.

But for now, this place was his mountain of gold!

He sorted out the Medicinal Pills, Talismans, and Spiritual Artifacts, preparing to send the rest of the actual garbage to be incinerated.

Just as he was about to start, the corner of his eye suddenly caught sight of something dark red in the dirty shadow of the wall.

He hadn't noticed it before, assuming it was a broken stone or a piece of charred wood.

But when he habitually used the Object Control Spell to poke at the pile of trash, the moment his spiritual energy touched the item—

"Buzz!"

An extremely faint yet pure fluctuation of spiritual energy flashed and vanished!

"Hmm?!" Xiao Yuan paused, instantly becoming alert.

He quickly walked over, cleared away the covering garbage, and picked the item up.

It felt slightly cool to the touch and heavy, its surface covered in black pill ash and unknown stains.

He gave it a casual wipe, revealing a warm blood-red color beneath the grime.

After rubbing it clean thoroughly, an ancient and exquisite blood-red jade pendant lay quietly in his palm.

The jade pendant was beautifully shaped with cloud patterns along its edges; even without injecting spiritual energy, one could feel a restrained pressure emanating from it.

"This thing... isn't simple!" Xiao Yuan's eyes lit up.

He tried injecting a trace of spiritual energy into it to investigate.

The result—

"Bang!"

A powerful repulsive force burst out from inside the jade pendant, directly shattering his spiritual energy; the recoil sent his blood churning, nearly making him spit out blood.

"Holy crap!" Xiao Yuan took two steps back, looking at the jade pendant in his hand in horror.

This reaction... this level of energy...

"jade talisman treasure!" The name instantly popped into his head.

He had read a description in a Sect miscellany book: This was a treasure refined by Golden Core Stage Cultivators who extracted the spirituality of their own Magic Treasures and infused it into special jade Talismans!

Its power was somewhere between a Top Grade Spiritual Artifact and a Magic Treasure!

Put simply: If someone in the Qi Condensation Stage held this thing, they had a chance to ambush and kill someone in the Foundation Establishment Stage! If someone in the Foundation Establishment Stage held it, they could practically walk unchallenged among those of the same realm!

Xiao Yuan's heart thudded like a war drum, his hands trembling slightly.

How could a treasure of this tier show up in a place like the Scrap Yard?!

In an instant, he wanted to claim it for himself.

But as soon as the thought arose, he quickly calmed down.

No... pies don't fall from the sky; only traps do.

He frowned deeply.

With such a valuable treasure lost, the owner must be driven crazy with anxiety, probably searching everywhere for it. If he kept it for himself...

Once someone came knocking on his door, it would be a dead end for him.

Xiao Yuan instantly felt that this was a hot potato!

Wait a bit; someone would likely come looking for it soon.

Depending on the situation when the time came, if it was the rightful owner, returning the item might even help forge a good relationship.

Although he had the small tripod and could probably re-refine this jade talisman treasure by spending some energy to erase the original owner's imprint for his own use, the risk was just too high!

Just as he had made up his mind to "wait for the owner"...

"Bang!"

The shabby wooden door was rudely pushed open.

A male Cultivator wearing elite Disciple robes with an arrogant expression walked in, possessing a cultivation level at the Qi Condensation 9th Layer!

Xiao Yuan's heart tightened as he recognized the visitor—Zhao Mingfang, ranked third among the top ten Disciples of the Outer Sect!