Ji Yuan had not expected that an object, suspected to be from a sage, could cleanse the hidden ailments within his body, even smoothing out many inconspicuous injuries.
At this moment, he felt a sense of complete comfort and purity throughout his body. Even the residual impurities within him were expelled from his flesh under the baptism of this immense righteousness.
He was certain that this had to do with the sage's Dao principles contained within the sheathed small knife. Normally, the Confucian's vast and righteous energy alone could not achieve such an effect.
Even under the refinement of this Dao rhyme, a surge of righteousness seemed to rise within his chest, giving him a feeling of invincibility against all evils and spirits.
"Take this!"
Ji Yuan's expression shifted, and he turned, tossing the sheathed small knife.
A few steps away, Lin Yubai reached out and caught this sage artifact. Instantly, he felt a surge of righteous energy flow into his body.
In the next moment, he experienced what Ji Yuan had just undergone. The various impurities accumulated in his body over the years were expelled, and the subtle injuries, along with malevolent energies, dissipated through his pores into the heavens and earth.
Even the injuries sustained recently in his duels with demonic cultivators were rapidly healing, as if he had consumed some immortal elixir or spiritual medicine.
As the righteous energy returned to the sheathed small knife, Lin Yubai felt an unprecedented lightness in his body, as if he had thoroughly cleansed himself after wading through mud, followed by a relaxing soak in hot water.
He also felt a surge of vast righteousness in his chest, rendering him fearless of ghosts, spirits, and demons. All forms of strangeness could not approach him within ten feet.
"I am now increasingly convinced that this is indeed an artifact of a sage."
Lin Yubai could not help but exclaim.
Besides an artifact of a sage, he could think of nothing else that could possess such miraculous power.
With their discerning eyes, both of them could see that the material of this sheathed small knife was merely ordinary mortal stuff, readily available for a few coins by the roadside.
If it were some precious spiritual treasure, its divine efficacy would not have shocked them so. But to be a mere mortal artifact, akin to a secular long sword, yet possessing such power, was truly astounding.
"Moreover, this artifact differs from what Ji Changlin described; it also seems to possess formidable destructive power."
Lin Yubai sensed something. With a gentle stroke of the knife's hilt, countless complex and profound array patterns before them were silently cleaved in two.
Yet, the severed array patterns continued to function as if they had transformed from a single entity into two independent parts.
Such divine power naturally filled them with awe and wonder. While marveling at its magic, they also became curious about its other potential capabilities.
"In terms of sharpness alone, it is no less inferior to the natal flying swords of a second-realm sword cultivator."
Ji Yuan's gaze flickered, and he immediately thought of Song He's wife, Zhou Yuyan.
She was a second-realm sword cultivator, and before her demise over three hundred years ago, she had even reached the pinnacle of the second realm, her sword's might capable of shaking a third-realm cultivator.
However, the sharpness of her flying sword during the second realm was far inferior to a casual swing of this sheathed small knife.
Furthermore, Lin Yubai had not infused any magical power into it earlier; its capability was purely due to its inherent sharpness.
"I am now considering whether to keep this artifact for myself, rather than handing it over to those people."
Lin Yubai sighed, his original intention having shifted.
Ji Yuan felt the same. He considered whether to hand it over to Ji Changlin and the others. Firstly, the artifact was too extraordinary. Secondly, the latter had been secretive with them, potentially harboring ulterior motives.
"Let's head to the treasury first."
Ji Yuan pondered, deciding to postpone the matter until after they had left the inner city.
Upon hearing this, Lin Yubai naturally had no objections. However, before they set off, he handed the sheathed small knife to Ji Yuan.
"Take it. Although you possess many magical treasures, your cultivation and your ability to refine them are still somewhat lacking."
He said with a serious expression, "With this item for defense, I won't have to be as distracted during battles."
Ji Yuan gave him a deep look. Without any pretense, he accepted the sheathed small knife and stored it within his sleeve.
When he first embarked on his cultivation journey, he had obtained the Dao principles of Qiankun from the Grandmaster's Great Dao Charter of the Xuan Tian Temple. After much contemplation, he had managed to deduce a simplified technique for "Sleeve Qiankun."
Although this technique had limited space, it was more than sufficient to store a small knife the length of a palm.
The two of them spent a short while and soon arrived at the location of the treasury, situated within an ancestral shrine.
Following the opening method provided by Ji Changlin, Ji Yuan successfully opened the underground treasury and descended along a spiraling staircase.
Much like the merchant guild's treasury that Zhu Wudang had led them to previously, as soon as the sealed door was opened, a dense spiritual energy billowed out.
While replenishing the spiritual energy consumed by the Xuan Tian Spirit Devouring Pagoda, they also took out specially crafted vessels to absorb the surrounding spiritual energy. After a long while, they each obtained seven or eight spirit crystals.
This harvest was already considerable. Even the lowest-purity spirit crystal was worth a hundred low-grade spirit stones, and often, one had to pay a premium to exchange spirit stones for them.
Upon entering the treasury, their vision was filled with a resplendent spiritual light. With the previous experience, Ji Yuan immediately commanded the Xuan Tian Spirit Devouring Pagoda to fly out, its countless rays of light contacting every spiritual light.
Before long, the entire treasury was filled with a massive amount of spiritual energy. Even though the two of them were using three or four specially crafted vessels to absorb it, it still felt overwhelming.
After about half an incense stick's worth of time, they finally transformed the spiritual energy in this place into spirit crystals, and their purity was quite high, only a hair's breadth away from mid-grade.
"Looks like we got lucky this time."
Lin Yubai's gaze swept across the treasury, and he discovered that there were still over twenty strands of spiritual light remaining.
Most of these were spiritual ores, which would not lose their spiritual essence due to the erosion of time.
As for the other spiritual lights, besides two cultivation techniques preserved in specially made jade slips, they were all excellent quality magical artifacts. Each one contained innate restrictions and was made of exceptionally extraordinary materials.
It was precisely because of this that they had been able to preserve themselves over the long years with the aid of formations. Although their spiritual essence and energy had greatly diminished, a period of nurturing would be enough to restore them.
And what the two of them lacked the least of now was an abundance of spiritual energy. It could be said that this trip alone would suffice for at least several years without them worrying about spiritual energy.
"I want to set up a furnace here to refine pills."
After collecting the spiritual items from the treasury, Ji Yuan glanced at the relatively intact array patterns around him and suddenly said this.
Lin Yubai was slightly taken aback. He knew that Ji Yuan was an alchemist but did not understand why he suddenly wanted to refine pills there.
Although the Xuan Tian Spirit Devouring Pagoda was continuously absorbing the heavenly tribulation aura that had gathered within them, staying there for an extended period might still lead to unforeseen variables.
"This treasury is already filled with spiritual energy. If we don't make some space, it will be troublesome to activate it in the future."
Ji Yuan slowly explained, "Moreover, the inner city's dangers are unknown. Once we leave this place, we might clash with those outside. We can use the time spent refining pills to recover our injuries as much as possible."
The injuries within their bodies were not something that could be fully healed overnight. Even if they consumed spiritual pills and elixirs without regard for cost, it would still take at least three to five days to recover about seventy to eighty percent.
However, for every bit of recovery, their strength would also increase, giving them more confidence in battle.
Thus, Lin Yubai could only nod. Seeing Ji Yuan sit cross-legged, he sat down four to five steps away, focusing on refining the medicinal power within his body.
However, he also kept a portion of his consciousness attentive to the surroundings, lest any unforeseen changes occur.
As Ji Yuan sat down cross-legged, he took out a bronze alchemy furnace from his emerald ring.
This alchemy furnace was something he had inadvertently discovered in the kitchen of the Xuan Tian Temple. It was originally used as an incense burner for offering sacrifices to the Kitchen God.
After embarking on his cultivation path and beginning to study the Dao principles of alchemy in the Great Dao Charter, Ji Yuan became certain that this item was left by his Grandmaster.
Now, with his cultivation advanced to the second realm, and as he infused his magical power into it, he discovered that this bronze alchemy furnace was inscribed with nine layers of acquired restrictions, an artifact on the verge of becoming a true magical weapon.
However, this last step, without sufficient fortune, might be difficult to achieve even with countless resources.
Shaking his head, Ji Yuan temporarily suppressed these thoughts. He then infused magical power into the bronze alchemy furnace, causing it to levitate before him.
With a slight shift of his mind, he activated the first layer of restriction on the furnace, and instantly, a reddish-yellow flame erupted, fueled by magical and spiritual energy.
Waves of heat swept outwards, and the temperature inside and outside the furnace rapidly increased. In just two or three breaths, the furnace had finished preheating.
Ji Yuan took a deep breath, flicked his finger to release a wisp of magical power, and opened the furnace lid, causing it to hover above the furnace body.
Then, he pointed at the Xuan Tian Spirit Devouring Pagoda above his head. Pure spiritual energy surged out in torrents, all of it falling into the alchemy furnace.
After a long while, he stopped infusing spiritual energy, then closed the furnace mouth with the lid. As magical power surged in, the flames beneath the furnace immediately intensified by more than double, engulfing the entire furnace body.
Waves of scorching heat emanated outwards, baking a small portion of the treasury, raising its temperature. Even Lin Yubai had to withdraw from his breathing and meditation state, quietly moving several feet away.
This time, the alchemy process was somewhat different from previous ones. Ji Yuan did not use any medicinal herbs or other spiritual items, relying purely on spiritual energy as the required material.
Within the realm of alchemy, there were several detailed classifications. Besides the most common herb pills and life pills, there were also elemental energy pills and metal-stone pills.
What Ji Yuan was currently refining was an elemental energy pill. By using a large amount of pure spiritual energy as the main ingredient, he could refine the most basic and rudimentary Spirit Nurturing Pill.
This pill had no other functions; it merely provided a large amount of initially refined pure spiritual energy. Not only did it save cultivators the complex process of absorbing spiritual energy, but it could also rapidly restore their depletion at crucial moments.
If other medicinal herbs or several types of special elemental energies were added, higher-grade Spirit Nurturing Pills could be obtained, which, in addition to their basic functions, would offer many unimaginable benefits.