7: No one gets rich without unexpected wealth.

"No matter how poor the white bone bow is, it's still a Magical Artifact!"

The power of the Ice Thorn Technique lies mainly in its penetration and freezing.

But Zhong Er himself lacked spiritual power, and coupled with his unsettled mind, the ice thorns he condensed were a notch weaker.

Su Ling still had at least half of his spiritual power left, allowing him to fully exert the power of the white bone bow.

It was only natural that the arrow could pierce through the ice thorn.

Moreover, according to Su Ling's judgment, the ice thorn released by Zhong Er in his haste was off by at least a few inches.

Even if he stood still, he wouldn't necessarily be wounded.

As the dust settled, he quickly collected the Storage Pouches of the two men.

Su Ling took a deep breath and, while the Flowing Wind Technique was still active, dashed back the way he came.

He hadn't forgotten that there was still an immobile Zhao Yan waiting for him... On the other side, Zhao Yan, who had received some basic treatment, also heard the screams from afar and saw the flames soaring into the sky.

His heart pounded wildly!

He knew their side's methods too well.

Li Weifeng had exchanged for the Phantom Shadow Technique movement art, and his Magical Artifact was the protective dark light mirror.

Zhong Er had exchanged for the Ice Thorn Technique and didn't even have a Magical Artifact.

Including himself, no one had any fire-based means.

This was definitely Su Ling's doing.

Thinking about their previous encounter, Li Weifeng had been ambushed, and he himself had stepped on a trap and was injured.

Those screams were most likely from Li Weifeng or Zhong Er.

Su Ling was definitely not as harmless as he appeared on the surface.

"Run, I have to run now!"

At this thought, Zhao Yan ignored the sharp pain in his calf, propped himself up with the blazing iron shield, and hobbled in another direction.

After walking no more than dozens of steps in the forest, an arrow whistled toward him.

*Clang!*

Zhao Yan hurriedly raised the blazing iron shield in front of him, and the arrow forged from black iron instantly shattered into pieces.

Yet, sharp arrows continued to shoot toward him one after another.

"Su Ling!"

"I still have thirty Low-Grade Spirit Stones; I'll give them all to you!"

"Spare me!"

Zhao Yan huddled behind the blazing iron shield and shouted at the top of his lungs.

At this point, he knew that with his injuries, it was impossible to escape Su Ling's pursuit.

If he didn't beg for mercy, he would truly be waiting for death.

But the response he received was a spiritual arrow filled with spiritual power.

*Boom!*

The spiritual arrow slammed into the blazing iron shield, and the spiritual light on the surface of this Low Grade Magical Artifact instantly dimmed.

"You forced my hand!"

Zhao Yan growled, activating several Talismans at once and firing them all toward the direction from which the spiritual arrow had come.

Thunder, flames, and ice spikes swept across the area, causing bursts of rumbling.

A total of six offensive Talismans—these were his life-saving treasures.

If Su Ling had accepted his plea for mercy and approached recklessly earlier, perhaps one or two Talismans would have been enough to kill him.

Unfortunately, Su Ling ignored him completely.

This caused all of Zhao Yan's plans to fall through.

Looking at the jungle filled with rising smoke and spreading flames, a sense of gratification rose in Zhao Yan's heart.

*Whoosh!*

A flash of cold light streaked past, and Zhao Yan's smile instantly froze.

A few breaths later, his body slowly collapsed, a bloody hole clearly visible between his eyebrows.

"If I kill you, the Spirit Stones will still be mine."

Su Ling, holding the white bone bow, walked out slowly from the other side. "It's just a pity about those Talismans..."

Six Talismans, with a total value exceeding twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

If he hadn't used the Ghost Soul Arrow to heavily injure Li Weifeng earlier, causing Su Ling's Divine Soul power to be greatly reduced...

At this moment, he would have only needed one Ghost Soul Arrow to deal with Zhao Yan.

Those Talismans would have all been his to take.

However, Su Ling didn't dwell on it too much.

Killing the three of them had yielded two Low Grade Magical Artifacts and several Spirit Stones.

In the Storage Pouches, there were also the manuals for the Spells they practiced.

Compared to these, twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones were nothing.

Besides, there were also the corpses of three Lava Beasts—those were all Spirit Stones!

"No windfall, no wealth; no night grass, no fat horse... I really am suited for ill-gotten gains."

Finding the Storage Pouch on Zhao Yan and stowing the damaged blazing iron shield away, Su Ling dragged his body back... A tea-time later, Su Ling returned to the edge of the lava pool and threw the corpses of Li Weifeng and the others into the boiling magma.

The Xuanming Sect did not forbid its Disciples from killing each other outside.

But the prerequisite was not to be discovered by the Sect.

Otherwise, one would still face extremely severe punishment.

Being refined into a human puppet was one of the most common forms.

After finishing all this, Su Ling quickly left the area and found a cave several miles away.

After setting up traps nearby for warning and concealing the cave entrance with vines and branches, Su Ling finally sat cross-legged to carefully count his spoils.

[blazing iron shield, Low Grade Magical Artifact, slightly damaged]

[dark light mirror, Low Grade Magical Artifact, slightly damaged]

[Phantom Shadow Technique, basic dark-attribute movement art.]

[Ice Thorn Technique, basic water-attribute Spell.]

[Fire Cloud Sword, basic fire-attribute sword art.]

[Profound Yin Art x2, basic Qi Refining technique.]

[Fire Spirit Art, basic Qi Refining technique.]

"Fire Cloud Sword?"

Su Ling was slightly stunned; Zhao Yan had actually been practicing sword techniques.

It seemed he intended to take the path of a Sword Cultivator in the future.

Unfortunately, facing a fire-attribute Lava Beast and Su Ling with his long-range attacks...

He simply had no room to perform.

He couldn't even get close before he died to unleash the power of his Fire Cloud Sword.

"I can practice these Spells, but I can't reveal them in front of others in the short term."

Su Ling had Metal, Wood, and Lightning triple-attribute Spiritual Roots, so these three Spells weren't actually very suitable for him.

Even the Nine Nether Secret Record, strictly speaking in terms of attributes, was most suitable for an individual with a Dark Spiritual Root to Cultivate.

After a brief thought, Su Ling chose to Cultivate the Phantom Shadow Technique first.

This movement art, paired with the Flowing Wind Technique, would allow his archery to exert even greater lethality.

[Qi Recovery Pill x5, qi refining pill x10, Low-Grade Spirit Stone x132.]

[explosive flame talisman x3, Freezing Talisman x2, Thunderclap Talisman x2.]

The subsequent inventory couldn't help but make Su Ling feel a wave of lingering fear.

Li Weifeng's Storage Pouch actually contained several hidden Talismans.

Even Zhong Er's Storage Pouch had two Freezing Talismans.

If Li Weifeng hadn't chosen to flee after stepping on the explosive flame talisman trap, but instead activated the Talismans to fight him to the death...

Along with Zhong Er performing the Ice Thorn Technique nearby, it really wasn't certain who would have emerged victorious.

"Luck is also a part of one's strength."

Su Ling satisfactorily stored the various cultivation resources and Talismans into his own Storage Pouch.

But in his heart, he gave himself a reminder.

This was a world of immortal cultivation, and the methods of cultivators were far more numerous than those on Blue Star... Time flew by, and in a flash, seven days had passed.

Su Ling had already reached the introductory level of the Phantom Shadow Technique, and his strength had successfully broken through to the Seventh Level of Qi Refining.

What he didn't expect was that the spiritual power condensed by the Nine Nether Secret Record was actually extremely compatible with the Phantom Shadow Technique.

When Li Weifeng used it, his body was like a ghost, able to manifest two phantom shadows to confuse his opponent.

But when Su Ling used it, he could manifest four phantom shadows.

He even felt that if he went all out, the number of phantom shadows could be even higher.

"No wonder Li Weifeng chose this movement art; it really does have some depth."

Su Ling knew that Li Weifeng came from a martial arts family in the Liyang Imperial Dynasty and had practiced battlefield spear techniques since childhood.

After being abducted to the Xuanming Sect and earning his first Spirit Stone, he went to forge a fine iron spear.

He would also practice his family's spear techniques in his courtyard daily.

It was not surprising that he chose the Phantom Shadow Technique movement art after accumulating enough contribution points.

As for the "Profound Yin Art," it was the Qi Refining technique chosen by many Xuanming Sect Disciples.

Even Su Ling himself had a copy.

Although he couldn't use the "Fire Spirit Art," he still committed its cultivation method to memory.

Spiritual power surged out, shattering the three basic Qi Refining manuals into powder, which he then scattered casually.

Putting away the fine silk and bells and identifying the direction, Su Ling set off to leave the place.

He had already been out for ten days; next, he should head to the area where the ink jade spirit mushrooms were located.

After all, the three missions he had accepted had a one-month time limit.

As of now, he hadn't even completed one!