Holding the bronze long ge, Zhang Ling vaguely felt that this ancient treasure was somewhat special, as if it wasn't an ordinary ancient treasure. He had several ancient treasures in his hand, but none felt as spiritually potent as this one.
The fact that this treasure instantly transformed into a two-headed giant snake proved this point. This transformation wasn't achieved through his Spirit Condensation Art; it was an inherent divine power of the ancient treasure itself.
High-level cultivators could use the Spirit Condensation Art to transform their treasures into various spiritual lights and spiritual beast forms, enhancing their power and spirituality.
Treasures that could autonomously change their form were characteristic of spirit treasures, which were above magical treasures. Naturally, Zhang Ling didn't believe this was a spirit treasure.
That left another possibility: this long ge might have fused with a weapon spirit, hence its spirituality.
He chuckled, and with a backhand, he put away the ancient treasure. Now wasn't the time to dwell on this matter; it wouldn't be too late to study it after getting out.
Then, he looked at the dozen or so boxes placed behind the shelf and gently waved his hand, opening all the boxes. Seven or eight boxes were filled with glittering spirit stones, all of them mid-grade spirit stones, amounting to over ten thousand.
Another smaller box emitted even more intense spiritual energy fluctuations, containing pieces of high-grade spirit stones. There weren't many, only fifty or sixty pieces, but their value was no less than the ten thousand mid-grade spirit stones.
High-grade spirit stones were rare; even Nascent Soul cultivators couldn't collect many.
The remaining boxes contained spirit talismans, spirit ore, and some well-sealed spiritual medicines and demon cores. Scanning them with his divine sense, Zhang Ling roughly identified the value of these materials.
There were over thirty demon cores, mostly fifth and sixth-order demon cores, with only three or four seventh-order ones.
The sealed spiritual medicines were all rare third and fourth-order spiritual medicines, quite valuable. There were also fifty or sixty pieces of rare spirit ore, all primary materials for refining magical treasures.
There was also an entire box of spirit talismans of various attributes. Although most were mid-grade spirit talismans, there was a stack of high-grade spirit talismans, numbering over a hundred.
High-grade spirit talismans were difficult to refine and collect, each worth at least ten thousand spirit stones, making them a scarce resource.
Faced with so many items, Zhang Ling couldn't help but lick his lips, feeling like he had struck it rich overnight. With a thought, a yellow light swept over, and he collected all these treasures into his storage bag.
Next, he looked at the jade slips, intending to find the method for refining Ice Soul Poison. This kind of cold poison was helpful for the Black Tortoise's cultivation, and using it for attack seemed like a viable strategy.
He separated a portion of his divine sense and instantly checked thirty or forty jade slips, but they mostly contained ordinary cultivation methods. Then he looked at most of the jade slips, and they were all ordinary cultivation methods, with very few secret techniques.
Zhang Ling felt somewhat disappointed, thinking that perhaps the Ye family's ancestor hadn't left behind any inheritance related to Ice Soul Poison. He was about to separate another portion of his divine sense to check all the remaining jade slips and books when he suddenly frowned and glanced at the entrance of the stone cave.
Ye Chenming was standing at the cave entrance, watching Zhang Ling examine the treasures left by the ancestor with a complicated expression, but he wisely didn't speak or enter.
Suddenly seeing Zhang Ling's gaze turn over, his face stiffened, and he asked, "Senior... what's wrong?" Ye Chenming broke out in a cold sweat, thinking that this senior was going to kill him to silence him after obtaining the treasure, and he became uneasy.
Zhang Ling's gaze didn't fall on him but swept over the teleportation array outside the cave. His face gloomy, he said, "There's trouble."
As he spoke, he waved his hand, collecting all the treasures in the cave into his storage bag. With a flash, he arrived in front of Ye Chenming.
Ye Chenming was startled and was about to say something, but Zhang Ling didn't give him a chance to speak. He directly grabbed his shoulder, transforming into a yellow light and rushing towards the teleportation array he had just come through.
After standing on the teleportation array, he released Ye Chenming and said coldly, "Quickly activate the formation."
"Uh, yes... I'll activate the formation." Seeing Zhang Ling's serious expression, Ye Chenming didn't dare to neglect. He quickly opened his mouth again and spat out a ball of essence blood, turning it into a cloud of blood mist that enveloped the two, activating the teleportation array again.
…
At this time, by the water pool outside, the Black Tortoise, with a gloomy face, hid behind a large rock, watching a black light cluster flying quickly from the horizon.
He had just discovered this black light cluster flying towards this side, sensing that there seemed to be a Nascent Soul cultivator inside.
The Black Tortoise immediately felt that something was wrong. He quickly retracted his divine sense, held his breath, and focused to prevent being discovered by the cultivator in the light cluster, hoping that the cultivator was just passing by.
But now, the cultivator in the black light also released his divine sense, constantly scanning the water pool in front of him, seemingly with the treasure vault below the water pool as his target.
Could it be that the Ye family's cultivators have also come here to seek treasure, but there is clearly a Nascent Soul cultivator inside. But besides the already deceased Wind and Fire Ancestor, who was a Nascent Soul cultivator, the Ye family doesn't have another Nascent Soul monster.
The Black Tortoise's second Nascent Soul pondered, and under the induction of his mind, he immediately transmitted the news here to the main Nascent Soul.
Zhang Ling received the news and knew that things were bad. At this time, he had also returned to the bottom of the water through the teleportation array. The suddenly arriving Nascent Soul cultivator seemed to be targeting the Ye family's treasure vault as well. It wouldn't be easy to escape now, and he was troubled.
If he had the Shapeshifting Mud in his hand now, he would have some confidence in being able to hide from the Nascent Soul cultivator's divine sense and quietly escape. But unfortunately, the Shapeshifting Mud was currently on the complete tortoise.
Although he was also a Nascent Soul cultivator, having only entered the Nascent Soul stage for a little over a year, and his Nascent Soul had just stabilized, he didn't have the confidence to escape under the nose of another Nascent Soul cultivator.
Zhang Ling thought to himself, and a cyan light flickered in his hand as he offered the Two-Realm Gourd. Spiritual power struck it, and the gourd instantly enlarged.
Ye Chenming, looking at the suddenly appearing gourd, obviously didn't know what he was going to do.
Zhang Ling lightly patted the person's shoulder with one hand. Ye Chenming only felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, and his eyes rolled back as he fainted.
"Senior... what are you doing?" The pearl on Ye Chenming's chest flashed, and the spirit of Seventh Uncle Ye Zhen emerged, crying out in panic.
"Don't worry, I'm just letting him take a nap. Other Nascent Soul cultivators have arrived outside, so you should sleep for a while too." Zhang Ling explained expressionlessly and directly activated the restriction he had placed in the person's spirit.
Ye Zhen's spirit screamed and lost consciousness. The Two-Realm Gourd simultaneously released a cloud of cyan and white gas, instantly collecting them inside.
Although the Two-Realm Gourd wasn't a true spatial treasure, its internal space could temporarily accommodate them without any problem.
The gourd spun smoothly and shrank again, being collected into his sleeve. At the same time, he flipped his hand and took out the Spirit Concealing Gauze, draping it over his body. Zhang Ling hid his aura and sneaked away.
Since the Shapeshifting Mud wasn't in his hand, he could only use the Spirit Concealing Gauze to hide his figure for now.
