Chapter 232: Gift From Loot

Yang felt a wide smile spread across his face, knowing exactly what he would spend the rest of the day doing.

“I am almost scared, seeing that look on your face.” Senior Brother Qing An teased as he leaned back in his seat and took a sip of his wine. 

Yang quickly reined in the unnaturally wide smile on his face. “Don’t make fun of me, Senior Brother. I am just excited to finally start learning alchemy. I was interested in it even before I ever saw a talisman.”

“It is commendable that you intend to broaden your skills,” Senior Brother Lu Feng said. “Every cultivator should at least know the basics of the three main cultivation crafts.”

“Talisman, Alchemy, and Tool Refining?” Yang asked.

“Formations, actually,” Senior Brother Lu Feng corrected smoothly. “Tool refining has too high an entry threshold for anyone to pursue it casually. Though most high-level cultivators are able to further refine their own tools and artifacts.”

This reminded Yang of something he had often wondered, and he voiced the question, seeing it as good an opportunity as any. “What is the difference anyway? I’ve seen cultivators and books both using the words tools and treasures interchangeably?”

“You are interested in tool refining as well?” Senior Brother Fan Xiao asked, amused.

“Chen Yang is interested in everything apart from combat,” Senior Brother Zhen Hao smirked.

Yang gave a reluctant nod as he admitted, “I do have a dislike for unnecessary conflict, though I am not so naive as to think I could live my whole life peacefully as a cultivator, free of combat.”

“I wouldn’t call you naive, Junior Brother.” Senior Brother Qing An looked at Yang with a proud smile. “I was there when you used your needle arts to kill those cultivators. The way you killed and retreated was remarkable, especially since it was your first confrontation with cultivators. Junior Brother He Su Ye will be happy to see your progress with the needles.”

Senior Brother Lu Feng looked at Yang approvingly. “It is good that you have the determination to survive. Ultimately, the world isn’t a kind place, and we often have to be unkind to survive.”

“As for the question you asked,” Senior Brother Lu Feng began explaining. “It's nothing as simple as a standardized grading system for tools. The correct term would be artifact refining for the field itself. As for the distinction between a tool and a treasure, the boundary is completely relative. What may merely be a tool for a Golden Core Cultivator would no doubt be a treasure for a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.”

Senior Brother Lu Feng took out a purple tulip bell, like the one he had given him. “Looks familiar?” he asked with a smile. 

“I commissioned a few of these from a tool refiner friend back when we were both in the Foundation Establishment Realm. I’ve given you one in its base form, enough to restrain a beginner, maybe even an average mid Foundation Establishment cultivator. But I am in the Soul Formation Realm, and an artifact like that is of no use to me. I would hardly call it a treasure, but for you it can mean the difference between life and death.”

“I see,” Yang said. “So the distinction is simply a matter of how one perceives or classifies the artifact.”

“Exactly.”

“What did you mean by its base form, Senior Brother?” Yang asked, picking up on the phrase used.

“Oh, it's an incredibly useful artifact when you are against a stronger opponent.” Senior Brother Lu Feng looked at him with a smile. “I always ensure I refine one of these tulip bells to the highest level possible whenever I advance my cultivation to a higher realm. I’ve used two of these so far,” he said, placing it back inside his storage ring.

“Can I also refine mine further?” Yang couldn’t help but ask.

“I applaud your initiative, but there's no chance of it with your current cultivation.” Senior Brother Lu Feng replied with a chuckle.

“Chen Yang, do not think I am being stingy by gifting you a tool in its basic iteration.” Senior Brother explained. “We’ve seen enough young cultivators getting arrogant with artifacts far above their realm, trying to go against greater powers. Ultimately, the greatest contribution they ever manage to make is by acting as a lesson to others and giving others an opportunity to attain their treasures.”

Yang nodded in understanding. 

“Speaking of giving others the opportunity to attain their treasure, what about our loot—” 

Thump

Senior Brother Zhen Hao flinched as Senior Brother Yuan Shen kicked him underneath the table. 

Senior Brother Zhen Hao glared at Senior Brother Yuan Shen as he continued. “What about the things we liberated in Qiarnan?”

Senior Brother Qing An let out a snort at the generous term, and Yang almost followed suit.

“Yes. Let's look through them since we are all finally gathered here,” Senior Brother Weilong agreed. “I’ve been rather curious to examine techniques from another world.”

He waved his hand, and the table was filled with dozens of storage rings and a few pouches.

Yang, also not willing to be ungenerous, took out his own rather modest ‘loot’ and placed it on the table. “I was not sure if it was safe to probe into these rings and pouches after killing those cultivators, so I just kept it on me until I could ask one of you.”

“You did well to be so careful,” Senior Brother Weilong said, looking at him approvingly.

“You just need to brush against it with your spiritual sense. Not much; barely a wisp is more than enough. Even Qi Condensation cultivators are able to do it. If you are not repelled, then it's good enough to use.” Senior Brother Weilong tossed him a storage ring from the table.

“Take out everything from this one.”

Yang immediately used his spiritual sense to graze against the ring and, not feeling any repulsion, pushed further in to look inside.

Inside were a handful of spirit stones and a thin manual. He emptied out the ring and added the spirit stones to the growing pile, as his Senior Brothers kept adding to it from the rings. He placed the manual in front of him and grabbed another ring, going through the same process. This one had even fewer spirit stones, but there were several manuals and a bottle of pills.

The next few minutes passed in silence, with only the clatter of things being placed on the table as they all systematically emptied the storage rings to sort through their ‘loot,’ as Senior Brother Zhen Hao had so appropriately put it.

Once all the storage rings and pouches were emptied out, Yang looked over at the completely covered surface of the table. 

One side was full of swords of various lengths and styles, with the occasional dagger or knife. It was evident that the sword remained the weapon of choice for most cultivators, even in other worlds.

Next to the weapons was a pile of spirit stones, mostly low-grade ones with the sporadic mid-grade ones mixed in.

Directly in front of Yang was a large stack of manuals, both paper and jade slips. None of them had a chance to examine them yet, but everyone seemed to be most interested in this pile.

Next to it were all the tools they had found, along with pills, plants, herbs, and various other items that were too few to get their own section on the table.

The useless things like clothes, tokens, and other personal use items were swept back into one of the storage rings to be disposed of later.

“Let's put these weapons in one of the storage rings as well,” Senior Brother Yuan Shen suggested. “They are just taking up space and are of no use to us. We all already have better weapons.”

As Senior Brother Zhen Hao raised his hand to sweep off those weapons in one of the storage rings, Yang blurted out a question that had been swirling in his mind since he saw the large pile of swords. “What would happen to these swords?”

All his Senior Brothers looked at him, wondering where he was going with this. “Are you thinking of claiming another sword, Junior Brother?” Senior Brother Qing An asked. “Your Cherry Blossom Sword is vastly superior than anything in here.”

“No, my sword is good enough. I already lack affinity with the sword path. I wouldn’t know what to do with another sword.” Yang shook his head. “I was just wondering if I am allowed to give one of these to someone else?”

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