At a glance, Zhang Ling saw that it was a stone sculpture, generally grayish-white in color. It was carved in the likeness of a tiger-like demon beast, this tiger having two wings on its back, an image of a two-winged tiger.
His divine sense swept over it slightly, discovering that the statue faintly flickered with spiritual light, appearing as if it were alive, but there were many small cracks on it, suggesting it was quite old.
"Could it be… a puppet."
Senior Brother Qi stroked the statue expressionlessly and said in a deep voice, "Junior Brother may not know, this is a Rune Beast, which can also be considered a type of puppet. However, it is not an ordinary puppet, but a special Rune Puppet refined using the ancient Jade Rune technique. Only a few of these remain in the sect."
Jade Rune Technique, Rune Puppet.
Zhang Ling naturally knew about the Jade Rune Technique; he had a Jade Rune Technique for refining Sword Runes, but since he entered the Golden Core stage, it had been of little use to him.
Jade Runes were troublesome to refine, consumed rare materials, and required a lot of energy. But he had never heard of this Rune Puppet. Could it be a special treasure refined using the secret Jade Rune technique as well?
Zhang Ling examined the statue of the Supreme Two-Winged Tiger with great interest.
Rune Puppets were treasures refined by cultivators proficient in Rune Dao during ancient times. The Cloud Tiger in Senior Brother's hands can unleash the power of a peak Rank 7 demon beast. It was discovered by a sect elder in an ancient secret realm, but it is already dilapidated. To unleash its power again, it needs to be combined with some special items. The feathers of high-rank demon birds are perfect for complementing this Cloud Tiger Rune Puppet."
Sect Leader Sun also explained to him.
After listening to their introductions, Zhang Ling simply nodded without saying much.
High-rank feathers were already uncommon, and it would have been difficult to collect them were it not for the beast tide. Moreover, the fact that he had feathers from the same type of demon beast made them even rarer. They were sufficient to refine a decent flying magical treasure.
This was also a very precious material for him.
However, on second thought, now that Flying Cloud Sect needed these materials, it might be good to use this to ask for some benefits. Perhaps even obtain the qualification to enter the seventh floor of the Scripture Pavilion, and maybe even succeed.
Zhang Ling calculated in his heart.
"The beast tide is attacking fiercely, as Junior Brother has probably seen. Several fellow cultivators have also fallen this time, and there are now some gaps in the defense on the city walls," Sect Leader Sun said, watching his silent expression.
He seemed to want to move him with righteousness, but Zhang Ling just nodded woodenly, without saying a word. The Sect Leader sighed in his heart and changed the subject. "Of course, if Junior Brother provides these high-rank feathers, the sect will naturally not let Junior Brother suffer a loss."
Hearing this, Zhang Ling chuckled inwardly, and a smile appeared on his face.
Seeing this, the Sect Leader also chuckled, feeling quite helpless. Although this Junior Brother Hu had joined Flying Cloud Sect, it had been a short time. If they wanted such high-rank cultivators to offer something, talking about benefits was the most reliable approach.
Next, the three of them discussed matters in Zhang Ling's cave dwelling. After half an hour, Sect Leader Sun and the other person left on their escape lights.
Zhang Ling stood at the entrance of the cave, watching them leave before returning to the cave dwelling. At this time, three items were placed on the table.
These were the items that the Sect Leader had brought out to exchange after he had taken out a full eight sets of Giant Eagle feathers.
The first item was a square token. This was a warrant, with which one could enter the first six floors of the Scripture Pavilion and exchange for the treasures they needed at several treasure pavilions of the sect.
Although he could not enter the seventh floor of the Scripture Pavilion, there were 100,000 sect contribution points inside, which was also a considerable value.
Although sect contribution points were only useful in the sect, they were more useful to sect disciples than spirit stones. These 100,000 Flying Cloud Sect contribution points were roughly equivalent to 300,000 to 400,000 spirit stones.
The second item was also a token, but this token was not of much use to him. Instead, it was of great use to the Hu family where White Cloud Hermit was located.
This was a Flying Cloud Token, a reward from Flying Cloud Sect for cultivators who had made great contributions. With this Flying Cloud Token, the Hu family could obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill every ten years, lasting for three hundred years. Moreover, they could also exchange for two types of spiritual objects for condensing Golden Cores.
In fact, these two tokens were not very useful to Zhang Ling. If he could choose, he would definitely not choose these two types of tokens.
Only the last item was the treasure he chose.
This was a black spiritual talisman. This talisman was two fingers wide and engraved with dense silver spiritual patterns. It emitted a faint spiritual light, but the strange thing was that the spiritual light was quite mixed, and Zhang Ling could not tell what kind of spiritual power it was.
The Sect Leader had taken out several treasures for him to choose from. Among them was an ancient treasure of the attack type, but in the end, he chose this spiritual talisman.
If Sect Leader Sun had not explained it to him just now, he would not have known that this was a "Thousand Mile Escape Talisman."
This was a type of escape talisman. After use, it could allow a person to fly a thousand miles in a quarter of an hour. This speed was comparable to the speed of a Nascent Soul cultivator. Even ordinary early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators could not catch up.
This was an excellent means of escape, although it was only for one-time use. But Zhang Ling still chose this Thousand Mile Escape Talisman without hesitation.
In total, the overall value of the eight sets of Giant Eagle feathers he took out was roughly around one million spirit stones. This spiritual talisman alone basically offset these values.
Zhang Ling waved his hand and put away the spiritual talisman and the Flying Cloud Token. Taking the Sect Leader's warrant, he went directly to the Scripture Pavilion. Although this warrant could only enter the sixth floor at most, he might be able to find something useful to him.
After arriving at the Scripture Pavilion, he easily went to the sixth floor with the token.
Zhang Ling had been to the Scripture Pavilion once before, but he had only reached the fifth floor at most. This was the first time he had entered the sixth floor. There was an Elder Jiang guarding it, a fat middle-aged man with a smiling face, but his cultivation had already reached the late stage of Golden Core.
His arrival made this Elder Jiang quite excited, and he chatted with him for a while.
Zhang Ling learned that Elder Jiang guarded this place all year round and rarely left the sixth floor. Even now that the beast tide had broken out, he had not participated in the battle.
Besides this person, there was no one else on the sixth floor. Most of those who could come here were the Golden Core elders of the sect, and they did not come often.
He had not seen one for even a year or two. This person also complained to him and asked a lot about the beast tide.
Zhang Ling chatted with Elder Jiang for a while and then directly checked the books inside.
The space here was not large. Many precious sect books were placed on a dozen shelves, wrapped in various spiritual lights.
Shuttling between these bookshelves, Zhang Ling saw many top-level cultivation methods, as well as some formations, alchemy, and weapon refining books. They were all rare and precious versions that were difficult to find outside, and there were even some ancient secret techniques.
These were the accumulation of a sect for thousands of years and were the foundation of the sect.
