Chapter 937: Future Plans P8

Aksai nodded.

"Alright. Let’s not touch them yet just to be safe."

He had never come across such an artifact nurturing space in real life by himself. As such, he didn’t want to accidentally damage such valuable artifacts because of his lack of experience and knowledge.

For now, they could remain exactly where they were.

He would study the entire sword system later.

Aksai withdrew his Spirit Sense from the third section.

His gaze fell upon a seemingly ordinary-looking ring in his hand.

"Void Mustard Seed Ring..."

He shook his head.

"No wonder something like this is usually used by Nascent Soul Kings."

Aksai looked at the Void Mustard Seed Ring in his hand for a while before glancing at his own storage ring.

"Looks like it’s time for a change."

Although the Void Mustard Seed Ring had astonished him with its enormous capacity and unusual functions, it didn’t mean much to him personally.

He already had something far superior.

Enchanted Everwood Farm.

As impressive as Varesh’s ring was, the Farm surpassed it in practically every aspect.

Aksai had no intention of making the Void Mustard Seed Ring his primary spatial artifact.

Instead, he planned to use it as a cover.

His battle with Kalina had taught him an important lesson.

She had correctly guessed that he possessed a 4th Order or beyond spatial artifact after witnessing him summon his army of Sentient Fiends against the royal faction. She had also noticed other peculiarities surrounding his inheritance artifact’s spatial abilities.

Most importantly, when Aksai had stored her Natal Sword inside the isolated dimension of Enchanted Everwood Farm, even Kalina couldn’t sense it, much less summon it.

Unlike the native cultivators of the subcontinent, Kalina wasn’t inexperienced enough to overlook such abnormalities. She had quickly concluded that Aksai possessed an extraordinary spatial artifact.

And that knowledge had influenced her actions.

Her greed for that artifact had made her more aggressive and complicated the battle considerably.

Aksai had thought about it afterward.

It would be difficult to openly use the Farm’s abilities in front of powerful cultivators without eventually attracting their attention. And considering the abilities of the imperial cultivators he had faced so far, it was near impossible NOT to use it.

The moment they realized how extraordinary his spatial artifact was, greed could easily influence their decisions.

The Void Mustard Seed Ring provided him with a convenient explanation.

Its spatial fluctuations could mask those produced by the Farm, making it far harder for others to determine the true source of his spatial abilities.

Of course, possessing such a valuable spatial artifact would bring its own troubles.

But Aksai considered those troubles manageable.

At least the Void Mustard Seed Ring could be explained.

Enchanted Everwood Farm couldn’t.

"Besides..."

Aksai smiled faintly.

"If someone really powerful forces me to let go of the ring, I can always give it to them. Or I can just throw the ring before escaping to buy me some time."

He had no attachment to this ring. It was merely a cover.

Apart from the sword array formation section, the other sections of the ring were pretty much useless for Aksai. And even the sword array formations could be arranged inside the Enchanted Everwood Farm eventually, if Aksai gets enough time and experience.

Protecting the core secret was far more important.

Thinking this, Aksai didn’t waste time. He removed his old storage ring and sent it into the isolated dimension of Enchanted Everwood Farm.

He then looked down at the Void Mustard Seed Ring.

By now, he had completely refined it.

Varesh’s remaining Spirit Soul Mark had been erased, and the ring now belonged entirely to him.

Aksai slipped it onto his finger and the ring immediately adjusted its size to his finger. He then examined the ring one last time.

It looked rather ordinary.

Aksai smiled.

The ring alone was already an astonishing gain.

Aksai then finally turned his attention toward the main possessions stored in the first section of the Void Mustard Seed Ring.

He had expected a mountain of wealth.

After all, Varesh was a late-stage Lord-level true sword cultivator and had been recognized by his faction as a Nascent Soul seed.

Yet...

Aksai’s expression gradually became strange.

"That’s it?"

There were several thousand low-grade Spirit Stones and around two hundred mid-grade ones.

It wasn’t a small fortune by ordinary standards.

But for someone of Varesh’s status, it was practically chump change.

Aksai frowned.

"This doesn’t make sense."

He remembered something Kalina had written in her journal.

According to her, true sword cultivators were practically poor robbers. They were constantly short on wealth because most of their resources were poured into refining and nurturing their Natal Swords.

And the cost only became more severe as they advanced.

Aksai had initially assumed Varesh would be an exception.

His Sword cultivation was extraordinary, his Natal Sword was clearly powerful, and his faction considered him a Nascent Soul seed.

So where had all his wealth gone?

Aksai carefully searched through the rest of the section.

Pills.

Refined materials.

Spirit resources.

Various odds and ends.

Nothing explained the discrepancy.

Then his Spirit Sense swept over a small jade token.

"Hm?"

Aksai took it out and picked it up.

It was flat and rectangular, somewhat resembling a money card from his previous homeworld.

A peculiar black flower had been etched onto one surface.

He injected Spirit Essence into it.

The jade token immediately responded.

[My Liege, this appears to be an account certificate.]

Aksai pushed his Spirit Sense deeper into the token.

Then he froze.

A floating numerical value appeared inside.

333 High-grade Spirit Stones.

Aksai stared at it.

"Three hundred and thirty-three?"

He checked again.

The number remained unchanged.

Then it clicked.

"So that’s where his wealth went."

The token had been issued by the Black Yin Flower Trading Company and functioned somewhat like a debit card. (Chapter 849)

Instead of carrying hundreds of high-grade Spirit Stones, Varesh had deposited them with the trading company and retained access through this token.

Aksai couldn’t help but nod.

It was considerably safer than carrying such a fortune around.

More importantly, high-grade Spirit Stones weren’t something that could simply be bought whenever one had enough money.

One mid-grade Spirit Stone was roughly worth a thousand low-grade ones, but the exchange rate between mid-grade and high-grade Spirit Stones was far less stable.

High-grade Spirit Stones were extraordinarily rare.

Acquiring even one could require several thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones, and having enough wealth didn’t guarantee finding one.

Most were traded through auctions and were rarely available on the open markets of the Shinayin Empire.

The native Lords of the subcontinent had lived their entire lives without even seeing a single high-grade Spirit Stone.

Varesh, meanwhile, had access to 333 of them.

Aksai slowly exhaled.

"Now that makes sense. That sword fellow was indeed richer than I thought."

His seemingly modest collection of Spirit Stones wasn’t his real wealth.

They were simply his spending money.

The actual fortune was secured through the Black Yin Flower Trading Company.

Aksai carefully stored the jade token away. He would think about how to make use of the jade token in the future when the opportunity presented itself.

Aksai then continued searching through Varesh’s belongings.

After discovering the jade token containing hundreds of high-grade Spirit Stones, he was already beginning to suspect that the true treasures of this storage ring were far more precious and terrifying than his estimations.

Just then, a faint golden glow entered his perception.

Aksai’s Spirit Sense paused.

"Hm?"

He immediately focused on the source.

Buried beneath several layers of miscellaneous resources was a jade scroll.

But it wasn’t like the ordinary jade scrolls he had obtained from Kalina.

This one was ancient.

Its surface carried a brilliant golden hue, as though the jade itself had been forged from condensed sunlight.

Several extremely faint sword-shaped patterns could be seen across its surface.

Aksai’s eyes narrowed.

"This..."

He carefully pulled the jade scroll out.

The moment it appeared in his hand, a faint pressure spread through the cave.

It wasn’t an oppressive aura.

Rather, it carried an extremely sharp sensation.

Aksai felt as though an invisible sword had briefly passed across his skin.

His expression became serious. He immediately inspected the scroll with his Spirit Sense.

Then his expression changed.

There was no encryption.

No complicated restrictions or hidden formation.

He examined it several more times.

Still nothing.

That alone was strange.

The jade scroll contained something important enough for Varesh to personally carry it.

Yet it hadn’t been encrypted.

Aksai couldn’t understand why.

He immediately sent his Spirit Sense deeper.

Information began flowing into his mind.

The opening section described the earliest stages of cultivation.

Spirit Refining.

Foundation Establishment.

Core Formation.

Nascent Soul.

Aksai’s expression remained calm.

Those realms were within his expectations.

Then he continued.

His eyes widened.

"Wait."

There was another Chapter.

And another.

The cultivation technique continued beyond Nascent Soul.

Deity Transformation.

Aksai stared at the information.

For several breaths, he didn’t move.

"Deity Transformation..."