Li Yan stroked his forehead and thought, 'This fire can melt jade and refine gold. Though it's not on par with the exotic fires of heaven and earth, it is more than sufficient for ordinary artifact and pill refining. This fire could be of great use to a common pill or artifact refiner. If one were to refine this fire and seal it within a magical treasure, it would greatly enhance the power of a fire-attribute treasure. This is likely the main reason Cheng Wenming and the others wanted this Demonic Core. Cheng Wenming himself is a fire-attribute cultivator. If he were to obtain several Snow Sprite Lord demonic cores, even though they are only from level two beasts, multiple cores should have some cumulative effect, making his magical treasure even more powerful. It is difficult for a cultivator to increase the power of their magical treasure by even a fraction. If a suitable method exists, that cultivator would surely spare no expense. As for Ye Xiuwen and Tan Zeshan, even if it's useless to them personally, they could sell or trade it for a large amount of Spirit Stones and other cultivation materials. Why wouldn't they? The blue, ethereal fire I just saw was neutralized by the pure yang fire it had devoured, so its power was greatly reduced. If it were to finish devouring the yang fire, its power could very well increase severalfold. This Snow Sprite is truly a peculiar demonic beast. Its demonic fire is an extreme yin ice flame born from the reversal of extremes. It has a certain dissolving and devouring effect on all five elements. The Spirit Power from the spirit artifacts and magical treasures it devours also becomes nourishment for its demonic fire's growth, just not as obviously as with pure yang fire. That's why once a Snow Sprite gets a cultivator's storage pouch, the medicinal pills and spirit artifacts within are all devoured. But Spirit Stones contain far richer Spirit Qi; why does the Snow Sprite leave them untouched?'
Li Yan quickly figured out some of the reasons, but he still couldn't explain why the Snow Sprite Lord would ignore Spirit Stones , which were rich in Spirit Qi. Logically, devouring Spirit Stones should be much easier than devouring spirit artifacts and magical treasures, which contained less Spirit Power. After pondering for a while without reaching a conclusion, he temporarily set the thought aside.
The number of Spirit Stones in the four storage pouches was truly vast. A quick scan with his Divine Sense revealed a total of two hundred thousand, including six mid-grade Spirit Stones . The cultivators who came here for training were all wealthy, likely disciples from major sects. The pill refining and artifact crafting methods in the jade slips were of little use to the current Li Yan, but these Spirit Stones were a tangible benefit, and Li Yan's heart pounded with excitement.
He sorted the remaining jade slips, planning to sell them later or give them to Gong Chenying and Zhao Min . Besides formations, both women were also skilled in alchemy.
The Spirit Stones were directly moved into his Earth-Spot. He then turned his attention to the two other storage pouches in the corner and the ice throne. Cheng Wenming's storage pouch was there on his corpse. In the three pouches, besides Spirit Stones, there were also several magical treasures that the Snow Sprite Lord hadn't had time to devour. Li Yan's eyes grew brighter.
Soon, Li Yan had acquired another one hundred thirty thousand low-grade Spirit Stones from the three storage pouches. This time, there wasn't a single mid-grade Spirit Stone , but there were twelve bottles of various pills for restoring Qi and Spirit Power, which was a decent haul.
Holding the two Iron Scroll Cinnabar Books , Li Yan examined them for a while before shaking his head. Not a trace of Righteous Qi remained within them. He had hoped to use this opportunity to study it, to get a glimpse of Righteous Qi , Willpower , and Votive Power.
He had secretly witnessed the terrifying power of Righteous Qi before; even a sliver could instantly kill several level two demonic beasts. Now, they were just magical treasures. The jade slips in the three storage pouches contained no cultivation methods, so there was nothing to even reference.
Li Yan had no choice but to store everything in his Earth-Spot. As for Cheng Wenming's iron ruler, Li Yan felt it would be quite useful for the time being. Unlike the Confucian magical treasure, the Iron Scroll Cinnabar Book , which he struggled to control with his Spirit Power and could at best use as two shields, the iron ruler was different. After removing the remnants of Cheng Wenming's essence blood and infusing it with his own fire Spirit Power, waves of heat immediately rolled through the cave, and flames soared to the ceiling. Its power was impressive. For Li Yan, who was currently lacking magical treasures, it was quite good. It was just a shame it wasn't a water-attribute magical treasure, which would have suited him better.
The Crimson Crow artifact spirit within the iron ruler magical treasure had already lost half its soul due to Cheng Wenming's self-damaging attempt to escape. Otherwise, it would have been a supreme-grade item among low-tier magical treasures.
Most of the magical treasures Li Yan obtained from others were half-damaged. Thinking about it, this was only natural. After all, no one who was confident in their escape would resort to damaging their own magical treasure to buy time. But as long as it was usable, it was fine. Li Yan wasn't particularly attached to other people's magical treasures anyway—with the exception of ancient treasures like the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief. After sorting everything, Li Yan's gaze finally rested on the ice throne carved with an ice phoenix.
Li Yan had noted the strangeness of this ice throne earlier. It was definitely not naturally formed but had been deliberately carved by someone. But even if the Snow Sprite Lord here had gained great intelligence, how would it know of the existence of a creature like the phoenix, let alone be able to carve it so vividly?
'Could it be that the image of the phoenix is also part of its inherited memories?' Li Yan wondered.
If the ice throne had been carved by a cultivator, its chilling aura was perfectly integrated with the surrounding space, suggesting it wasn't brought from the outside world. For a moment, Li Yan was stumped.
The eerie phenomenon the ice throne had displayed earlier made his skin crawl. It seemed to possess a devouring power similar to the Snow Sprite Lord's, except the Snow Sprite Lord primarily devoured fire-attribute power, while the ice throne seemed to consume things like blood. Not a single trace remained of the bloodstains and brain matter left from Cheng Wenming's agonizing struggle before his death.
This massive ice throne looked like just a large block of ice, not particularly out of place in this icy, snowy Melting Cave. Only the carving of an ice phoenix on its back, poised for flight, made it stand out. But when Li Yan repeatedly swept his Divine Sense over the entire throne and its backrest, he found nothing but waves of bone-chilling cold.
Standing before the ice throne, Li Yan swept his sleeve, flicking Cheng Wenming's desiccated corpse to a corner of the cave. Then, he shot out a stream of Spirit Power. A small patch of dark clouds appeared above the throne, and countless raindrops began to fall. The bizarre scene repeated itself. The raindrops falling on the throne did not freeze instantly despite the extreme cold. Instead, as they rolled down, they simply vanished into thin air. The throne remained unchanged, not swelling in the slightest from consuming the water. Under Li Yan's control, the clouds continued to produce a light rain for the time it takes to burn an incense stick. The raindrops left no trace, and the throne remained as it was.
Li Yan slowly withdrew his art and walked forward. He first pressed his fingers where the raindrops had fallen. It was icy cold and hard as iron. His Divine Sense once again penetrated the throne and passed through into the ground below.
This was just an ordinary, massive block of ice. Its internal structure was nothing special. When the rain had fallen, Li Yan's Divine Sense had followed the water into the ice, but he had been unable to sense how the raindrops disappeared. This sent a chill down his spine.
At such a close distance, the bone-chilling cold from his touch, and the thought that this ice block had mingled with Cheng Wenming's brain and blood yet was now as pristine as jade and completely spotless, made Li Yan's back grow cold. This fear stemmed from the unknown. A cultivator's most powerful and trusted tool was not immortal arts, but their Divine Sense. Yet, his Divine Sense, observing at such close range, couldn't find a single clue. Li Yan began to wonder if this ice throne, like the fake "Melting Bamboo Shoot," was the disguised form of some unknown, ferocious beast.
At this thought, his eyes shifted to the carved ice phoenix on the backrest. But in his Divine Sense, it was just a shaped block of ice. Li Yan couldn't help but take two steps back. He drew a circle with his hands in front of his chest, and a five-colored light burst from his body. Then, the Spirit Power of gold, wood, fire, and earth transformed into weapons and struck the ice throne.
This was, of course, under his deliberate control; he had no intention of shattering the ice throne directly. If this strange throne was indeed sealing an unknown beast like the fake "Melting Bamboo Shoot," Li Yan would have no one to blame but himself. He was just testing it with different elemental Spirit Powers.
When the four elemental powers struck the ice throne, there was a faint crackling sound, but the throne remained unchanged. However, it was no longer devouring. The flames, sand, golden spear, and vines all remained. Seeing this, Li Yan finally mixed all five elemental powers together and struck the throne again. But the result was that even the water-attribute power within the five elements was no longer being consumed by the throne.
Now, Li Yan was a bit frustrated. He had no idea what purpose this throne served. His Divine Sense couldn't observe any anomalies, and he didn't dare to actually shatter it to investigate further. He stroked his chin and pondered for a while, then gave a bitter laugh. His cultivation was just too low. There were some things he didn't dare to do, and he lacked the necessary experience. After thinking it over, Li Yan decided to just leave. He felt that the throne before him was likely similar to the fake "Melting Bamboo Shoot."
But as he turned to leave, he hesitated again. After all, this ice throne was different from the fake "Melting Bamboo Shoot." The throne had been sitting here, unprotected, in the cave. The fact that the Snow Sprite Lord cultivated directly on it showed that it was a routine behavior. This was unlike the fake "Melting Bamboo Shoot," which was not only encased in unknown ice but also sealed by the Snow Sprite Lord with a formation.
Ice, it was always ice. Different kinds of ice. Many things he encountered today were related to ice. For a moment, Li Yan began to hate ice. After thinking things through, he felt that he could still take the ice throne. Although it was strange, why could the Snow Sprite Lord cultivate on it for years? The formation of a Snow Sprite Lord took at least a century, perhaps even over a thousand years. This was enough to prove that the item had been used for a long time without issue.
Li Yan was a cautious man, truly cautious, even to the point of being paranoid. This was related to his past experiences. The shadow Strategist Ji had cast over him was too large, making him distrustful of everything. He wasn't even very decisive in his actions, a point evident in his feelings for Gong Chenying and Zhao Min . But it was precisely this meticulous caution that had indeed provided him with some measure of security when he ventured out alone. He considered every potential threat to his life, planning his moves carefully. At the slightest anomaly, his face would remain impassive, but his mind might be churning like boiling water.