Tu Fei's eyes flashed with a sharp light as he stared at Zhang Ling for a few moments, then revealed a simple and honest smile.
Zhang Ling, having just dealt with Elder Chen's remnant soul, immediately sensed a powerful divine sense sweeping over him. This was why he quickly put away the ancient lamp and looked towards Huang Ying and the others.
Instantly, Zhang Ling's gaze met Tu Fei's strange pupils, causing him to feel a sense of apprehension. He was still somewhat wary of this person.
"Fellow Daoist, to be able to instantly annihilate Elder Chen's Nascent Soul is truly astonishing to Tu. May I ask which sect you hail from?"
After they exchanged glances, Tu Fei spoke, breaking the silence with a wide grin as he asked.
Tu Fei's seemingly carefree expression made Zhang Ling inwardly curse the man's cunning. Had he not witnessed the man's methods during the fight against Elder Chen, he might have thought this person was just an ordinary cultivator.
"Fellow Daoist Tu is too kind. I am merely a rogue cultivator. Besides, Elder Chen was already heavily injured, and his soul power was less than a tenth of what it used to be, not much stronger than us. On the contrary, Fellow Daoist Tu's methods are astonishing, able to directly confront the attacks of a Golden Core cultivator, which is truly admirable."
"Oh, so Fellow Daoist is interested in my Sword Control Technique?" Tu Fei chuckled upon hearing Zhang Ling's words, then suddenly changed the subject.
"I happen to have a Sword Nurturing Manual here. If Fellow Daoist is truly interested, I might as well sell it to you."
Zhang Ling didn't know how to respond for a moment. He was wary of this person's methods, but he wasn't really interested in any Sword Control Technique.
His previous words were meant to prevent the man from excessively investigating his means of instantly killing Elder Chen, to prevent him from seeing through his facade. But why was this person steering the topic towards Sword Control Techniques?
It seemed he even wanted to sell some kind of incantation. Zhang Ling wondered if this person was feigning ignorance or had some other scheme in mind. As thoughts raced through his mind, he was about to refuse when he heard Tu Fei speak again.
"Fellow Daoist can take a look first, then decide." Tu Fei, without him noticing, produced a cyan jade slip in his hand, and with a flick, it flew towards him.
Zhang Ling's expression darkened, and a stream of spiritual power shot from his hand, intercepting the cyan jade slip in mid-air.
Facing Tu Fei, Zhang Ling was on high alert.
The spiritual power struck the cyan jade slip, causing it to hover in the air about thirty to forty feet away from him.
Tu Fei didn't seem surprised by his actions, still wearing a smile.
With a thought, Zhang Ling released a wisp of divine sense to examine the information within the jade slip.
A Foundation Establishment cultivator like him could already hold a jade slip to his forehead to examine it. As long as his divine sense was strong enough, he could examine the information within the jade slip even from a hundred feet away.
Of course, this was on the premise that there were no restrictions on the jade slip. If there were restrictions, even if his divine sense could invade the jade slip, he wouldn't be able to see any other information.
While Zhang Ling examined the information on the cyan jade slip, most of his divine sense remained focused on Tu Fei, without the slightest relaxation.
His goal this time was the Cold Jade Pill. First, he fought the demonic beast, then he fought Elder Chen, all for this pill.
Although Elder Chen was now dead, he hadn't expected that Tu Fei, a Foundation Establishment cultivator of similar cultivation level, would still make him wary. Zhang Ling believed that with his current cultivation, he was already invincible among Foundation Establishment cultivators.
But he hadn't expected that a mission to hunt demonic beasts would bring out a character like Tu Fei, who seemed vaguely stronger than him.
Zhang Ling couldn't help but sigh, 'There is always someone better, and there is no limit to the sky.' At this moment, he had already put away his somewhat contemptuous attitude towards others.
But to say he was afraid of this person, Zhang Ling wasn't afraid. He just didn't have complete confidence.
The information on the jade slip was indeed a Sword Control Technique called "Sword Nurturing Manual."
"The Sword Nurturing Manual is an ancient cultivation technique that I accidentally acquired from a street stall outside the city. Although it's not a powerful Sword Control Technique, it does have some mystique. I wonder if Fellow Daoist finds it to your liking."
"Brother Tu is too kind. Although this Sword Nurturing Manual has its mystique, this kind of technique is not the direction I'm pursuing. Please take it back, Fellow Daoist."
With a wave of his hand, the cyan jade slip shook and flew back towards Tu Fei, seemingly genuinely uninterested in the information within.
"Ah, that's a bit of a pity. Tu observed that Fellow Daoist previously used two jade talismans, which seemed to be a type of sword talisman. I'm quite interested in them."
"Oh, so Fellow Daoist knows about sword talismans?" Zhang Ling raised an eyebrow and asked back, wondering if this was the man's true purpose. He couldn't help but speculate.
"Sword talismans, strictly speaking, are not sword cultivator techniques but rather special talismans condensed by ancient cultivators who were proficient in the art of talismans, combined with sword cultivator techniques. There are not many techniques for refining jade talismans that have been passed down to this day, let alone the methods for condensing sword talismans within them."
Tu Fei said with some regret, then suddenly smiled again. "Does Fellow Daoist happen to have this method? Could you sell it to Tu?"
"So Fellow Daoist has taken a fancy to the art of sword talismans." Zhang Ling frowned, then looked at the cyan jade slip in his hand and smiled.
"I do indeed have a secret technique for sword talismans, which I also obtained by chance."
After Zhang Ling said this, Tu Fei's eyes immediately lit up. Then, Zhang Ling took out a white jade slip and threw it towards Tu Fei as well. Afterwards, the two exchanged a few more words.
Before long, the two reached a deal. Zhang Ling used the sword talisman refining method from the golden leaf he obtained when he first entered the world of cultivation in exchange for Tu Fei's Sword Nurturing Manual.
When he examined the cyan jade slip earlier, the Sword Nurturing Manual had naturally stirred Zhang Ling's interest. In his opinion, the sword talisman method in his hand wasn't a very profound condensing method.
Zhang Ling actually found it a bit useless. If it weren't for the mysterious pearl that could cultivate spiritual plants and refine sword talismans with special spiritual wood, others wouldn't have this method.
Even if they had spiritual wood, they wouldn't waste it like this, only refining it into a sword talisman that could cause some damage to Golden Core cultivators. It was truly a waste of resources.
Of course, other things could be used to condense the talisman, such as rare spiritual ores, which were the best choice. However, Zhang Ling chose spiritual wood because it consumed the least amount of his resources.
Just as the two completed their transaction, Huang Ying stood up. Although her face was still a bit pale, she seemed to be fine.
The woman first gave Tu Fei a very respectful bow.
"Thank you, Brother Tu."
"Hehe, Tu is only acting on my master's orders. If you had died, I wouldn't have been able to explain it."
Huang Ying didn't show any unusual expression upon hearing this and still said softly, "No matter what, it's true that Brother Tu saved my life..."
The conversation between the two naturally reached Zhang Ling's ears. Judging from the man's words, they seemed to know each other before.
Zhang Ling wasn't surprised by this. After the two exchanged a few words, they both looked at the yellow bag that Huang Ying was constantly holding in her hand.
Zhang Ling's divine sense swept over it but was repelled. It seemed that the bag was a storage bag, but it was somewhat different.
