Chapter 480 - 275: Blood of the Grade 5 Demon Ape, Wealth of the Noble Family!

"These three may not be considered too powerful among Fifth-Grade Cultivators... The truly strong Fifth-Grade fighters should appear in the upcoming four-clan competition."

Su Mu did not let himself float away with pride and quickly calmed his mind, becoming even more eager for the upcoming four-clan competition.

Liu E had delivered the blood of a Fifth-Grade demon ape to Su Mu, and at this moment, Su Mu eagerly began checking the Sumeru Ring that belonged to Tao Han.

"Only twenty thousand silver notes, it seems this Fifth Young Master Tao is not particularly favored in the Tao Family."

Glancing over the silver notes, Su Mu thought to himself that if Tao Han knew of these thoughts, he might cough up three pints of blood on the spot. At the Deer Resonance Banquet, Hai’an had merely composed a poem and inadvertently overshadowed Tao Han.

Thus targeted by Tao Han, he aimed to use Liu E’s hand to eliminate Hai’an. If Fifth Young Master Tao were to learn of this, he might dispatch three waves of people to intercept and kill.

Beyond the money, there were also quite a few paintings in Tao Han’s Sumeru Ring, and Su Mu casually took out one.

"Such fine calligraphy... It seems to be quite valuable."

From the Sumeru Ring, Su Mu found numerous elixirs, but most were ones used by Daoist Cultivators, currently useless to Su Mu, though there were still five bottles of Calm Spirit Pills.

"Good stuff."

Upon seeing the Calm Spirit Pills, Su Mu’s eyes lit up. He had come across three bottles from Tao Xingzheng’s secret room before. This item is rare, as it can replenish spiritual power and calm the mind and spirit.

In Qi Peak Mountain, Su Mu also relied on these three bottles of Calm Spirit Pills to wipe out most of the Tao Family’s blood seal under the White Tiger Martial Momentum. Upon taking one out for a closer look, he was pleasantly surprised again.

"It’s not Eighth Grade, but Seventh Grade!"

Such spiritual power elixirs cannot be simply appraised by grade alone, a point Su Mu, having consumed them himself, deeply understands.

The Calm Spirit Pills obtained from Tao Xingzheng’s secret room were Eighth Grade, yet those on Tao Han now were one grade higher at Seventh Grade, also increasing in quantity by two bottles.

The Calm Spirit Pills can quickly restore spiritual power, not only aiding the cultivation of the mind but potentially lifesaving in critical moments, prompting Su Mu to satisfyingly place them in his main Sumeru Ring.

Having inspected the elixirs, Su Mu’s gaze quickly focused on a small pile of crystal-clear stones resembling white jade, possibly numbering over a thousand.

Two beams of spiritual light flashed in his hands, revealing a crystalline stone in each palm. The difference was immediately apparent; although similar in size, the glow of the stone in his left hand was dimmer, and its spiritual energy fluctuation was much weaker.

Among the Daoist and Confucian Cultivators in Donglai County, there are quite a few, and upon leaving Cyan Cloud, Su Mu knew quite a bit about Daoist cultivation. Legend speaks of a thing called Spirit Stones, produced from the veins of Heaven and Earth, containing rich spiritual energy.

Middle Three Grades Martial Artists, after refining their Five Viscera, can breathe in Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to convert Martial Arts Power into Attribute Power, with other Dharma Gate cultivators having similar methods.

All Cultivators can absorb the spiritual energy from Spirit Stones to accelerate their cultivation, though the efficiency of absorption and conversion varies; for Confucian Cultivators who cultivate Vast Literary Qi, Spirit Stones’ effect in cultivation is hardly significant.

Among the five major types of cultivators, Daoist Cultivators have the highest absorption and conversion efficiency of Spirit Stones, as Spiritual Qi is foundational to Dao cultivation.

Regardless of their use in aiding cultivation, Spirit Stones containing such spiritual energy are inherently valuable assets.

High-grade elixirs, Dharma Artifacts, or Arrays and Talismans all require Spirit Stones; they may be melted into spiritual liquid for incorporation or used to replace the cultivator as energy crystals to drive Dharma Artifacts and Grand Arrays.

In times of peace, the value of a low-grade Spirit Stone is approximately equivalent to one tael of gold, which equals ten taels of silver, or ten thousand copper coins; the difference lies in acceptance, as gold and silver are widely utilized in the secular world and by low-grade cultivators.

However, to cultivators of higher realms, gold and silver are hard to value, and transactions are often conducted in equivalent Spirit Stones rather than gold or silver.

In times of war and chaos, such Spirit Stones, which can drive killing arrays and powerful weapons, see their value surpassing gold and silver in the eyes of the dynastic noble families and major powers.

"The dozen or so Spirit Stones obtained from Gongsun Li should be low-grade, but it remains uncertain if those from Tao Han are Middle Grade or High Grade?"

Rumor has it that the exchange ratio among Spirit Stones is one to ten; if they are Middle Grade Spirit Stones, this pile of a thousand would equate to ten thousand taels of gold, or a conversion of one hundred thousand taels of silver!

If they are High Grade Spirit Stones, they become even more astonishing, amounting to a full million taels.

"Such is the privilege of being the head of the four families of Donglai... A casual slip through the fingers is enough to amass wealth beyond an ordinary person’s lifetime imagination!"

Su Mu sighed inwardly, realizing that even without accounting for the elixirs, valuable paintings, and medicinal herbs, the Spirit Stones and silver notes alone amounted to no less than twelve thousand taels.

Finally, Su Mu’s gaze fell upon the three ancient texts within the ring, and upon taking out the first one, his eyes suddenly flared with heat.