## AST 804 – Black Ember Flower, 10,000 Year Cold Ice

Qing Shui went back into the dining room with Di Chen after the conversation ended. He decided to spend the next few days with her after knowing that she would be leaving in another two or three days. In the late afternoon, Qing Shui returned to his room and entered the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal.

The matters with the Baima Aristocrat Clan had already been settled. Qing Shui clearly knew that the remaining members of the Baima Aristocrat Clan would flee to other continents after the defeat of their Old Ancestor. He did not plan on completely annihilating their entire clan, because they wouldn’t be able to regain their prior level of power for another 500 years, if at all.

For the rest of the week, he planned on making the preparations to refine batches of medicinal pills, stabilizing his own cultivation realm and guiding the members of the Qing Clan to further develop their powers. He excitedly looked at the score of Interspatial Silk Sachets he had salvaged from the battle with the Baima Aristocrat Clan. At this rate, almost everyone in the Qing Clan would have an Interspatial Silk Sachet of his own.

The Interspatial Silk Sachet was almost exclusively a privilege of Martial Saints. Almost every Martial Saint in the would possess the incredibly resourceful item after breaking through to that level. When Qing Shui saw the numerous sachets in front of him, he had a feeling that every sachet would contain at least one item of value. At that point, he was overjoyed, as if he had unexpectedly struck a goldmine.

A Interspatial Silk Sachet could actually be used by any Xiantian martial warrior because the sachet didn’t have any spiritual sense-based security methods to prevent others from utilizing it – it was solely made for the purpose of storing items. Qing Shui then picked up one of the Interspatial Silk Sachets at random.

As he opened the sachet, he could see mostly items of silver and gold, as well as a large amount of money. This was normal, he thought. Human beings would bring money with them wherever they went, regardless of whether they were martial warriors or commoners.

There was also a fresh set of clothings and a bunch of bottled medicines that could heal wounds and aid in cultivation. In addition to that, there was also a collection of ores, and an uncountable number of miniscule items that seemed worthless in Qing Shui’s eyes.

The next few Interspatial Silk Sachets were similar to the first one, but Qing Shui did find a set of interesting medicinal ingredients that were pre-arranged to form some sort of alchemical recipe.

Qing Shui noted the set of ingredients inside his mind quietly with his eyes closed. He tried to analyze a variety of combinations with these ingredients and the end result that each combination would yield. If he theorized one combination would be a failure, then he would move on to the next combination. Luckily, there weren’t many ingredients to begin with, so he was able to quickly pin down a set of probable combinations. After an hour, Qing Shui slowly opened his eyes.

He ended up with a combination leading to an invigorative medicinal pill……..

Qing Shui took another glance into the silk sachet that contained dozens of valuable ingredients, all around 5,000 years old. After an hour of combining the ingredients together in his head, he had ended up with a medicinal pill with an invigorative ability, most likely in terms of temporarily boosting one’s spiritual sense or energy.

Despite the high possibility of said combination, it might be a different story once he actually began refining the pill. The chances of failure might be high too, even if he had already deduced that it was most probable combination of the ingredients. Moreover, he only had one set of ingredients, which meant that there wouldn’t be another chance to refine the pill again if the first attempt failed.

He kept the ingredients aside for now and continued to search the rest of the sachets. The remaining ones contained a bunch of useful items as well, like the cores, bones, muscles and skins of various demonic beasts……

These items were considered some of the most valuable items found in the World of the Nine Continents. The cores and bones of the demonic beasts could be used to both refine medicines and forge equipment.

The meat of demonic beasts was known to be savory, and the skin of demonic beasts could be used to refine a type of battle armor, but for Qing Shui, he had been using it instead to draw talismans. Unfortunately, the skins were not from demonic beasts of the Martial Saint level, so he discarded them immediately. He probably could have sold them for money, but money was of no concern to him for now.

And then, in the corner of his eyes, he saw two Black Ember Flowers inside one of the sachets!

Qing Shui exclaimed in surprise when he saw the two black flowers. He actually didn’t expect the old men from the Baima Aristocrat Clan to possess the Black Ember Flowers that he had been searching everywhere for a long time. Finally, he had obtained another ingredient for the Ren Meridian Strengthening Pellet. All he needed next were a few strange ingredients that, nonetheless, would still be nearly impossible to find on his own.

If he could find the remaining four ingredients – 5,000 Years Five Qi Sun Grass, 5,000 Years Sky Penetrating Grass, Eight Immortals Grass, and Ice Water of 5,000 Years, he would be able to proceed with the refinement of the Ren Meridian Strengthening Pellet.

The recipe for the Du Meridian Strengthening Pellet was almost completed. Qing Shui had a feeling that there was an indescribable relationship between the Ren Meridian Strengthening Pellet and the Du Meridian Strengthening Pellet, but he couldn’t figure out why for now.

He had uncovered a lot of items from the silk sachets, but they were mostly quite uninteresting to look at. After he had rummaged through most of the sachets, he was left with the last three. Qing Shui didn’t have high hopes for the remaining three, as there wasn’t anything different about them.

Even though the Black Ember Flowers were not incredibly valuable, they were enough to worth the effort of salvaging the silk sachets. In addition, he had also received quite an amount of medicinal ingredients that were about 3,000 to 5,000 Years of age. Overall, the rewards were useful and good enough.

Lo and behold, something worthwhile appeared – alchemy recipes!

Qing Shui uncovered two alchemy recipes from the next silk sachet. He was delighted to see new recipes, as he hadn’t found one in quite a long time. Qing Shui was almost jittering in excitement when he saw not only one, but two alchemy recipes stacked on top of each other.

Skin Tempering Pellet alchemy recipe!

Bone Tempering Pellet alchemy recipe!

There wasn’t a huge reaction on Qing Shui’s face when he read the names of the recipes. These two recipes could strengthen his physical body, but he wasn’t quite sure whether or not these medicines would prove to be effective for him.

Skin Tempering Pellet alchemy recipe: Diamond Fruit, Endurance Pellet, Five Elements Earth Fruit, muscles and bones of a Martial Saint demonic beast, the core of a Martial Saint demonic beast, and 3,000 Years Silvermoon Grass.

The Skin Tempering Pellet could strengthen the tenacity of the consumer’s skin by an abnormal amount, to the point that the skin would be impenetrable even with the sharpest sword or blade. The skin would be resistant to the corrosion of most poison as well. The pellet could only be consumed once a month, but no limitations were imposed to how many one could consume in a lifetime.

Qing Shui began to feel a little bit excited. The recipe wasn’t disappointing as it was specifically made to strengthen the tenacity of the skin, not the hardness of the skin.

The Bone Tempering Pellet might be closely related to the Skin Tempering Pellet, so Qing Shui quickly read the next recipe.

Bone Tempering Pellet alchemy recipe: Diamond Fruit, Endurance Pellet, Five Elements Earth Fruit, muscles from a Martial Saint demonic beast, bones from a Peak Martial Saint demonic beast, blood from a Peak Martial Saint demonic beast, the core from a Peak Martial Saint demonic beast, and 5,000 Years Snake Bone Herb.

The Bone Tempering Pellet could strengthen the intensity of the consumer’s bones, allowing the bones to become rigid like metal. The tenacity of the bones would be increased as well, enabling the user to endure powerful external impacting forces. The pellet could be consumed once per month and no limitations were imposed on how many one could consume in a lifetime.

Qing Shui knew that both of the pellets were from the same category by observing the two alchemy recipes. The recipe for the Skin Tempering Pellet required medicinal herbs that were mostly similar to those required for the Bone Tempering Pellet. The Bone Tempering Pellet, however, required ingredients of slightly higher quality, which made the Bone Tempering Pellet a little bit superior to the Skin Tempering Pellet.

Qing Shui put away the alchemy recipes with a gleeful heart. He could refine both the Skin Tempering Pellet and Bone Tempering Pellet right away, because the ingredients required were all available inside the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. Unfortunately, the 3,000 Years Silvermoon Grass and the 5,000 Years Snake Bone Herb were limited, so he might only be able to refine a handful of medicinal pills from one refining session. However, the Bone Tempering Pellet could only be consumed once per month, so they could last Qing Shui for half a year.

Both the Skin Tempering Pellet and the Bone Tempering Pellet seemed quite decent based on the value of the ingredients required. These ingredients were the muscles and bones from Martial Saint and Peak Martial Saint demonic beasts, the Five Elements Earth Fruit, as well as 3,000 Years and 5,000 Years medicinal herbs.

He was able to get his hands on these two alchemy recipes that required ingredients that were already available in the Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal. The chances of this encounter were actually quite slim. The supreme aristocratic clans would probably have no problem concocting these medicinal pills right away. After all, they’d likely have an abundance of ingredients in their storages to make available.

Qing Shui put the sachet down and picked up the last remaining sachet. When he saw the contents of the silk sachet, he knew this sachet had belonged to the late Old Ancestor of the Baima Aristocrat Clan.

The space inside the silk sachet was quite vast, containing bountiful amounts of medicinal herbs, medicinal pills, ores, and other uncommon items. Qing Shui, however, was captivated by one particular object inside the sachet.

A box?

It was strange to see such an item that was commonly found inside a deity shrine, rather than some old man’s Interspatial Silk Sachet.

Qing Shui was stunned. How was the Old Ancestor of the Baima Aristocrat Clan able to possess a box like this? He then laughed at his own inquiry. Not everyone who was able to retrieve such a box would be able to meet a deity of their own accord.

Did he have some kind of rare treasure that could ignore any kind of suppressive forces? Or had he inherited the treasure from his ancestors?

After pondering for awhile, he pulled out the box from the sachet. He wanted to know whether the item inside the box was still there.

The box was moderately sized. Qing Shui opened the box slowly with with a bit of anticipation. The items from the deity should be worth a fortune.

10,000 Years Cold Ice…..

The azure blue ice stupefied Qing Shui. This was one of the magnificent items that he had spent a very long time looking for. The Cold Ice of more than 5,000 Years had finally appeared in his hands.

Despite being called an ice, the heat from sun and ordinary fire could never melt it. Only flames of abnormally high temperature would be able to melt the ice into puddles of water.

The 10,000-Year Cold Ice was approximately a cubic foot in size. On the side of the Cold Ice was a rolled portrait that Qing Shui was able to recognize in one glance.

Another Portrait of Beauty.

To be honest, Qing Shui was quite curious about the Portraits of Beauty. He had seen a lot of exceptionally beautiful women in his lifetime. Those who could be portrayed on the Portraits of Beauty were woman of outstanding quality. He wanted to see who it was, but this time, he was genuinely curious, not because he wanted to gain anything from it.

Qing Shui stopped himself before he delved into his thoughts too much. He took the rolled up portrait and slowly opened it up. What he saw stunned him for a few moments.

The woman in the portrait was wearing an azure blue dress. Her appearance was quite captivating, with firm bosoms that could excite any man protruding from her slender body. She seemed sultry and mature as she stood in the portrait with a posture of elegance and gracefulness.

It was Lady Duanmu…….

Her aura of beauty was incomparable, and she would only have such an aura after experiencing various things in her lifetime. She was, in his opinion, a real woman.

She was the woman in the Portrait of Beauty. Qing Shui didn’t find this surprising as Lady Duanmu possessed both the appearance and demeanor of a true beauty. However, Qing Shui was in still disbelief, because had he already had an intimate interaction with Lady Duanmu after knowing her for quite a while.

There were currently six women Qing Shui personally knew who had appeared in the Portraits of Beauty – his wife Canghai Mingyue, his wife in name Yiye Jiange, his sworn confidants Di Chen and Wenren Wu-shuang, Hai Dongqing, who was currently in Cold Ice City, and Di Qing, who seemed to have feelings for him.

And now the seventh Portrait of Beauty was a woman he clearly knew, Lady Duanmu – Yu Ruyan.

Qing Shui was perplexed by the discovery of this Portrait of Beauty. It seemed as if every woman who had appeared in the Portraits of Beauty would stir up some sort of relationship with Qing Shui. He recalled everything that had happened, and how these women were all connected to him in a way he didn’t expect. Things had happened naturally, as if it had all been fated.

Perhaps he was fated to have these women all for himself…….

Qing Shui was shocked by his own thoughts. But then, he recalled what Di Chen had said to him before, “Qing ‘er likes you very much. I don’t mind if you like Qing ‘er too.”

Hai Dongqing, Lady Duanmu….

Qing Shui remained dumbfounded for a good minute as he stared at the seventh Portrait of Beauty. That familiar appearance had been imprinted into his mind and circulated in his thoughts. She felt so near, yet so far.

Behind the portrait were words that stated there were twelve Portraits of Beauty in total. He had already acquired seven of the portraits, but had the Art Maestro really painted twelve? The World of the Nine Continents was a vast place, but he had already acquired seven, more than half of the total. It was unbelievable, to be honest. Then, another thought ran through his mind – did the portraits have anything to with his Realm of the Violet Jade Immortal?

He cleared his mind quickly and started to cultivate the Heart of Roc quietly. Even though the matters with the Baima Aristocrat Clan were done, he remained steadfast in cultivating his technique without hesitation.

As long as the Roc Spreading Wings and the Heart of Roc could reach the large success stage, then his abilities would definitely reach a terrifying degree.