Chapter 377 - 244: The Jade Spirit Race’s Red Talent, an Aid to My Cultivation

Chapter 377: Chapter 244: The Jade Spirit Race’s Red Talent, an Aid to My Cultivation

After consulting his map for a moment, Yu Fei continued on his way. He didn’t arrive at the outskirts of the Huan Cui Mountain Range until the early hours of the next day.

Along the way, he encountered two more members of a Gang-Iron race. Both were beast-like, one a fourth-rank and the other a fifth-rank. He harvested two pieces of refined, otherworldly metal from them. This haul was already more than he had earned from a full week of bloody battles in the Abyss.

From a distance, the Huan Cui Mountain Range resembled a mottled canvas, vast swathes of verdant green dotted with shades of gray, white, yellow, and red.

It was a natural treasure trove of ore.

Reaching the foot of the mountains, Yu Fei drew his Name-Cutting Sword and casually split a nearby boulder. Beneath its rocky exterior was a light green hue reminiscent of lake water. It was quite beautiful, but to his disappointment, it held no otherworldly aura—it was merely common stone.

Such natural jade would be priceless in the mortal world, but it was useless to a Martial Artist.

He ventured deeper, extending his senses to carefully scan for any otherworldly auras.

However, the jade was encased in a rocky shell that masked its otherworldly properties, making his search highly inefficient.

After a moment of thought, Yu Fei summoned several hundred streams of Sword Qi, using them to pierce a shallow hole in every rock, large and small, within his line of sight. Instantly, seven otherworldly auras flared to life.

He immediately went over, using his Name-Cutting Sword to chip away the outer layers of the stones. The process felt like opening mystery boxes.

For instance, after whittling down a gray boulder that weighed over fifty kilograms, Yu Fei was left with only five fist-sized, purple-glowing pieces of jade that possessed an otherworldly aura. Their quality was merely low-grade; the rest was just useless rock.

In contrast, after gently stripping the rocky shell from another stone the size of a pomelo, a crystal-clear piece of ice jade appeared before him. Its otherworldly aura was dense, marking it as a mid-grade jade.

He hadn’t learned any relevant Cultivation Techniques or Secret Techniques, so he could only judge the jade’s grade by its exposed otherworldly aura. With their outer shells intact, the stones’ inner auras were completely hidden, forcing Yu Fei to check them one by one using this brute-force method.

According to Zhang Wenji, the Bright Jade Alliance had a specialized Cultivation Technique that, once mastered, allowed one to detect otherworldly mineral deposits up to a hundred meters underground with centimeter-level precision, making the search for ore effortless.

Although Yu Fei had purchased plenty of jade resources for his cultivation, he didn’t actually understand the properties of the various types. So now, he simply cut any unfamiliar-looking jade that possessed an otherworldly aura into cubes and tossed them into his personal space.

The process was inevitably wasteful, but with limited space, he had no other choice.

After stopping and starting his way through the mountains for less than four hours, he was surprised to find that his personal space was already full.

Even with his Soul Devourer and other supplies occupying thirty percent of the space, this was a testament to the richness of the Huan Cui Mountain Range’s jade deposits. The sheer abundance of what was exposed on the surface alone was staggering; its total value was difficult to estimate.

Yu Fei stood up. Most of the jade he’d stored in his personal space was low-grade, which was perfect for his current cultivation needs, so he didn’t plan on swapping it out.

’The most important thing now is to upgrade my Lesser Spatial Affinity. This talent has enormous potential. Just upgrading it from White to Green expanded my personal space from one foot across to ten. A few more upgrades, and it’ll be more than enough for my current needs.’

’Besides, upgrading from Blue to Purple only costs 100 Stardust. The cost to go from Green to Blue must be even lower.’

Yu Fei calculated in his head. He currently had 38 Stardust. ’Based on past experience, breaking down a Red-rank talent yields 200 Stardust.’

’I can upgrade the spatial talent twice.’

His mind made up, Yu Fei immediately headed for the main peak of the Huan Cui Mountain Range. He needed a high vantage point to scout for any nearby otherworldly beings with high-grade talents.

The Huan Cui Mountain Range spanned over a hundred kilometers, its seven main peaks arranged in a semicircle.

Although Yu Fei’s vision had an incredible range, it was of limited use with all the surrounding obstructions. He needed to get to the very top of the peak, to a place with an open field of view.

His Celestial Star Travel Body was much better suited for climbing. With just a light push-off, a single leap could carry him over a hundred feet. In a matter of minutes, he had scaled the highest peak.

Surveying the landscape from the summit, Yu Fei spotted the tell-tale glow of three talents: two orange and one purple. After estimating their locations, he quickly rushed over.

Perhaps because the area was rich with jade veins, all three of the otherworldly beings he had discovered were from the Jade Spirit Race.

The Jade Spirit Race came in various colors, depending on the core jade within their bodies. This peculiar race had no feet, but possessed four arms that ended in long, sharp claws.

They floated about three feet off the ground and were extremely fast.

The Jade Spirit Race excelled at elemental attacks, condensing the natural energy of the world to form Qi Blades or Qi Arrows. They attacked at an extremely high frequency, like a machine gun.

However, Yu Fei used his Illusory Sword Intent to sneak up on them, and with a single flourish, he unleashed a torrent of Sword Qi that cut them down with casual ease.

After slaying them, Yu Fei harvested three mid-grade refined jade stones, but he didn’t find the Red-rank talent he was looking for.

Left with no other choice, Yu Fei spent half a day scouring the entire Huan Cui Mountain Range. He slew more than ten members of the Jade Spirit Race before he finally found one that possessed a Red-rank talent.

This particular Jade Spirit was an orange-red color and radiated a scorching aura, clearly indicating a fire affinity.

When Yu Fei got within two hundred meters, the orange-red Jade Spirit suddenly grew alert and restless.

Yu Fei immediately and silently retreated.

This was a sixth-rank Jade Spirit, its power on par with a Gang Qi Martial Artist—in fact, it was even stronger than an ordinary one, and its senses were incredibly keen.

An ordinary Gang Qi Martial Artist would never have been able to detect a stealthed Yu Fei.

Seeing the pale sun beginning to set, Yu Fei decided not to rush. He would wait for nightfall, when his Silent Hunter talent would activate, and then try again.

He circled around to the other side of the peak and took out a simple meal from his personal space to eat his fill.

Martial Artists could go for long periods without eating, but there was no need to. Yu Fei had a well-stocked personal space and had brought plenty of food.

His personal space could keep food fresh for a long time, but heat would gradually dissipate. Yu Fei could regulate the temperature inside, even controlling different zones, within a range of about twenty degrees above or below 0°C.

Yu Fei had long designated one section to be kept at around -6°C, which he used as a freezer.

’This space was created by my talent, making it an extension of my own body. As miraculous as it is, it still seems to obey certain laws.’

’Once my personal space gets bigger, I’ll stock it with tons of high-energy food after I return to the Geometric Pyramid Realm.’

As night fell, Yu Fei, having eaten and drunk his fill, once again stealthed his way toward the sixth-rank, red-hued member of the Jade Spirit Race.

With the boost from his Silent Hunter talent, Yu Fei’s stealth was far more effective. The creature remained oblivious even when he closed to within ten meters.

He studied the otherworldly being for a moment. Its body was naturally covered in patterns that pulsed with a faint, flickering light, like runes. He was instantly reminded of the markings on the Spider Demon; the two seemed to share some kind of similarity.

’One is a being from the Abyss, the other is here in the Golden Stone Gang Realm. They exist in completely different physical dimensions and have entirely different behaviors, yet they share this common trait.’ The implications sent his mind racing.

’The Border Realms... the otherworldly races...’

’What is the connection between them all? My intuition tells me that the various crises humanity is facing with the Border Realms must have some kind of artificial origin; they can’t possibly be a natural phenomenon.’

’Perhaps it’s a quarantine imposed by a higher civilization, or maybe some prehistoric creation that has spiraled out of control.’

’In any case, following this line of thought, the so-called Martial Saint is definitely not the apex of human potential. And with my many talents, I might just be able to break through these barriers and uncover the secrets hidden within.’

’But for now, I’m just a lowly Inner Qi Realm Martial Artist. I still need to keep growing stronger.’

For now, his gaze was fixed on the Jade Spirit as it stretched its body.

"Alright! You’re going to help me cultivate!"

He activated the mark. The red gem above the creature’s head flared brightly. In that same instant, Yu Fei appeared before the Jade Spirit. A dense, azure Qi Jin erupted from his Name-Cutting Sword, imbued with immense force and the concept of shifting weight. With a thunderous BOOM, the Jade Spirit was sent flying into the sky.

Countless cracks spiderwebbed across its body.

Even after taking such a powerful sneak attack, the creature wasn’t dead.

The sword-shaped seal on Yu Fei’s forehead suddenly flared to life. Countless streams of Sword Qi erupted, homing in on the cracks and piercing the creature’s body relentlessly.

BOOM!

The sixth-rank otherworldly being exploded like a firework, instantly killed.

Reaching out, he snatched a fiery-red, head-sized piece of otherworldly jade from the air. Its quality was definitely high-grade, on par with the Cyan Immortal Jade that Zhang Wenji had offered him as a reward.

Yu Fei focused his consciousness on the Fate-Defying Bead, and a brand new, Red-rank talent was his.