You think I have mixed spiritual roots? I became an immortal through a spirit gourd, so what are you

"call out!"

Just as Chen Huai'an was about to check if the guy was dead, he heard a whoosh and a ball of black light shot towards him. He instinctively swung the bone shield in his hand to block it.

To his surprise, the ancient shield did not block the black light, which immediately entered his body.

"Boy, you just wait, I will never let you get away with this." Just as Chen Huai'an was examining the black light that had entered his body, a venomous voice rang out.

Chen Huai'an looked up and saw a black mist shooting towards the horizon.

"What's going on? Didn't I already kill this guy?" Chen Huai'an frowned as he looked at the mangled, gruesome corpse.

"Could this be the other party's soul?" Chen Huai'an thought of the other party's soul, as this was the only explanation.

The black mist was incredibly fast; it vanished into the horizon in the blink of an eye. Chen Huai'an sensed something was wrong, but even if he wanted to chase after it, he couldn't catch up. He could only watch it disappear into the distance.

"Never mind, at least we've dealt with the opponent. We're safe for now, but their soul escaped. Even if they recover, who knows how long it will take." Chen Huai'an could only comfort himself like this. He had used all his methods to kill the opponent this time. He didn't know what kind of good things he would gain from killing this demon.

This guy is no ordinary Qi Refining cultivator; he's a half-step Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The opponent's soul had escaped, but the storage bag at his waist remained. Chen Huai'an picked up the bag, cast a fireball spell, and destroyed the body. He then used earth-遁术 (earth-遁术, a technique that allows one to escape from danger) to escape a considerable distance. Seeing that no one was following him, he then entered the purple gourd space.

"The opponent's soul has escaped. What exactly is that black mist that shot into my body? Will it harm my body?" Upon entering the space, Chen Huai'an did not immediately take stock of the spoils of this battle, but instead sat cross-legged to examine his physical condition.

The black mist entered his body, giving him a bad feeling.

Chen Huai'an didn't find anything unusual in his body, which puzzled him greatly. Then, he lifted his clothes and saw a black mark on the spot where he had been hit.

This is the emblem of the Yin Sha Sect.

Chen Huai'an rubbed the black mark with his hands, but it seemed to be growing inside his skin, and he couldn't rub it off at all.

"Could this be a mark left by that bastard before he died? He can find me by using this mark," Chen Huai'an said, rubbing his temples, somewhat annoyed.

He originally thought he had killed a half-step Foundation Establishment realm expert, but he didn't expect to release the opponent's soul, while the opponent left a mark inside his body. So, when he goes to the Qingyun Mountain mine, will he be targeted by the Yin Sha Sect disciples?

The opponent is a powerful expert at the half-step Foundation Establishment stage. He must have several close fellow disciples in the Yin Sha Sect. What if the opponent comes to seek revenge? This is a powerful expert at the Foundation Establishment stage. How can he possibly resist?

Unconsciously, Chen Huai'an felt a surge of pressure. He originally thought he was going to the Qingyun Mountain mine to pick up some rare spirit stones, but now it seemed that the Qingyun Mountain mine was a den of dragons and tigers for him.

It's not really a dragon's den or a tiger's lair. As long as the disciples of the Yin Sha Sect withdraw from the Qingyun Sect's territory, there will naturally be no danger. However, with this mark on his body, he will definitely have to take a detour when he encounters disciples of the Yin Sha Sect in the cultivation world.

No, it's not about avoiding the Yin Sha Sect disciples; it's about being certain to face their bloody retaliation. We must find a way to remove this mark.

Chen Huai'an racked his brains, but still couldn't figure out how to remove the mark from his body.

"I wonder if Senior Sister Qin has any way to help me remove this mark." Chen Huai'an's only thought right now is Qin Muyao. Only by finding Qin Muyao might she be able to erase this mark from his body with her Foundation Establishment cultivation.

"In short, I'm still too weak. If I were at the Foundation Establishment stage, I would have killed this bastard long ago. I wouldn't be in such a sorry state now." Chen Huai'an finally understood that his cultivation was too weak. He had to seize the time to cultivate and improve his cultivation.

With his increased cultivation level, Chen Huai'an was not afraid of the other party's retaliation at all.

"Haha, I'm rich! I'm really rich! This bastard's storage bag has so many spirit stones! Are all Foundation Establishment stage experts this wealthy?" Chen Huai'an checked Xiao Ran's storage bag and found it was full of low-grade spirit stones. The other party was a half-step Foundation Establishment stage expert. Apart from a flying sword magic weapon, his storage bag was full of spirit stones. There were no pills or talismans. And these spirit stones, he just counted, amounted to 3800 low-grade spirit stones.

If 3800 low-grade spirit stones were placed in the purple gourd's space for tempering, they would become 3800 high-grade spirit stones, which would be an incredibly terrifying fortune.

With these high-grade spirit stones, Chen Huai'an can cultivate again.

Previously, Chen Huai'an had exhausted all his cultivation resources. Now he has nearly 5000 low-grade spirit stones. Chen Huai'an plans to keep 2000 of these low-grade spirit stones in the market to exchange for some mid-grade or even high-grade spirit stones, and then put them into the purple gourd space for tempering.

As for the 3000 low-grade spirit stones, they will be placed in the purple gourd space for tempering, so that they can all be upgraded to high-grade spirit stones. He will use all 3000 spirit stones to improve his cultivation.

After taking stock of his spoils, Chen Huai'an did not leave immediately. Instead, he stayed in the space for two more days, partly to heal his injuries and recover his strength, and partly to cultivate.

Even if Chen Huai'an were to head to the Qingyun Mountain mine, it certainly wouldn't be now. His cultivation should have already broken through to the fourth level of the mid-stage Qi Refining Realm. Similarly, he wanted to see if the black mark on his body would disappear when his cultivation reached the third level of the early-stage Qi Refining Realm.

"Just as I expected, the purple gourd space's tempering of spirit stones isn't as I imagined. It can't temper all 3000 low-grade spirit stones into high-grade spirit stones overnight." Over the past two days, Chen Huai'an discovered a problem: not all of the low-grade spirit stones he put in the space had turned into high-grade spirit stones.

In one day, this space only produced one hundred high-grade spirit stones.

It would take him a month to refine all 3000 low-grade spirit stones in his hand into high-grade spirit stones.

Fortunately, he couldn't absorb all of these spirit stones at once; he could simply place them in his spatial storage and let them slowly refine.

Simply placing spirit stones into the purple gourd's space won't automatically turn them into high-grade spirit stones; it requires time and planning. Similarly, placing mid-grade or even high-grade spirit stones into the gourd's space won't instantly transform them into top-grade or even higher-grade spirit stones; it will definitely take a lot of time. This matter must be arranged as soon as possible and cannot be wasted.