Chapter 126 - 88 : The Pursuit (2)

Chapter 126: Chapter 88 : The Pursuit (2)

He searched the bodies that had been left behind and collected whatever blood remained within them before going through their belongings.

The cultivators had carried quite a few things.

There were coins, spirit stones, medicinal pills, talismans, weapons, and various cultivation materials. Most of the weaker cultivators had kept their possessions inside storage pouches, but among the bodies Ethan found two storage rings.

One had belonged to the older Mid Qi Refining cultivator who had stepped forward during the battle. Ethan had expected that storage ring to contain something worthwhile. A cultivator at Mid Qi Refining who had lived long enough to reach that stage should have accumulated a decent amount of wealth, or at least enough resources to show for his years of cultivation.

What Ethan found inside, however, left him slightly surprised.

There was barely anything of value.

The man’s storage pouch had contained more than the ring, but even then, the contents were pitiful. A few spirit stones, some ordinary pills, a couple of talismans, and little else. Compared to the belongings of some of the Body Tempering cultivators he had searched, the Mid Qi Refining cultivator was practically poor.

Ethan had even felt a little sorry for him.

It was almost as if the man had spent everything he had just to keep himself cultivating, leaving barely anything behind even after reaching Mid Qi Refining. Whatever resources he had managed to gather over the years seemed to have gone straight back into his cultivation, perhaps in the hope of finding a way to extend his life.

Then Ethan discovered the second cultivator’s belongings.

If the old Mid Qi Refining cultivator had been poor, the other one was worse.

The other mid Qi Refining cultivator did not even have a storage ring. Everything he carried had been kept inside a simple storage pouch, and there was barely anything inside it. A few good coins, some dried meat and travel rations, along with a handful of ordinary items. The only thing of real value was the low-grade magical weapon he had used during the battle.

That was all. ℴ

Ethan had stared at the contents for a moment before feeling a strange sense of disbelief. Among all the cultivators he had searched, even some of the Body Tempering cultivators had carried more wealth than this man.

The discovery had changed his expectations completely.

The old Mid Qi Refining cultivator had at least possessed a storage ring, even if there was almost nothing inside it. The other cultivator had barely been able to afford the basic necessities of cultivation and travel.

When he found the second storage ring among the bodies, he had assumed it would be another pleasant surprise. Instead, it turned out to belong to an Early Qi Refining cultivator.

That surprised him even more.

Ethan had expected a cultivator at Mid Qi Refining to possess a storage ring, but an Early Qi Refining cultivator carrying one was less common. In the end, it was another reminder that a cultivator’s wealth could not always be judged by their realm.

Ethan had taken his time going through everything afterward.

The combined contents had added a respectable amount to what he already possessed. There were more coins to add to the ones he had gathered from previous battles, along with enough spirit stones to make the spoils worthwhile. The weapons were even more numerous. Between what he had collected from the battlefield and what he had taken from the storage pouches, Ethan could now say that he possessed a small arsenal.

Most were ordinary weapons, nothing particularly valuable to a cultivator at his level, but they could still be useful or sold later.

There were also several talismans and a variety of medicinal pills. Some were meant for healing or recovery, while others were commonly used by Qi Refining cultivators during cultivation. Among them were Qi Refining pills, resources that ordinary cultivators could use to supplement their cultivation and make their progress somewhat smoother.

Ethan had actually tried a few of them during the past week.

The result had been underwhelming.

The pills did help. There was a slight improvement when he cultivated after consuming one, and the spiritual energy he absorbed seemed to settle more easily within his body. But compared to cultivating with blood, the difference was almost negligible.

For ordinary cultivators, those pills could make a meaningful difference.

For him, they were barely worth noticing. Ethan had eventually stopped using them and simply stored the remaining pills away. There was no reason to waste them when someone else might be willing to pay for them later.

The same applied to many of the talismans, ordinary weapons, spare robes, and other miscellaneous items he had found among the spoils. Some might be useful, while others had no value to him at all. Once he had a better opportunity, he could sort through everything properly and sell whatever he had no use for.

For now, there was no need to rush.

Ethan turned the meat over the fire again and watched the flames lick across its surface.

Nearly two weeks had passed since Wailing Mountain, and the gains from that battle were still sitting inside his storage rings.

Not just the blood.

He had gained resources as well.

Ethan’s free hand moved across the two rings, his fingers grazing the surface of the larger one as his attention settled on the space within it.

Its storage space was roughly fifty cubic meters, large enough to hold everything he had gathered without needing to divide his belongings between multiple pouches. He had already transferred the blood from his old storage pouches into it, along with the other items that needed more space. The blood occupied only a small portion of the ring’s storage space.

Much of what he had gathered from the battlefield had already been refined or consumed, but the amount that remained was enough to give him something he had been lacking during the battle at Wailing Mountain.

A reserve.

Ethan had learned from what had happened there. He could not assume that every battle would allow him to keep killing and refining blood at the same pace. Against smarter opponents, coordinated groups, formations, or techniques designed to restrict his movements, there was no guarantee that he would always control the flow of a battle.

If he encountered another situation where his Living Blood was being consumed faster than he could replenish it, having a reserve could make the difference between maintaining control and being pushed into another dangerous situation.

He had come too close to that edge at Wailing Mountain.

Ethan had no intention of letting it happen again.

The second ring held the rest of the resources he had collected, its storage space covering roughly thirty cubic meters. For now, that was more than enough. Weapons, pills, talismans, spirit stones, spare robes, and the various materials he had no immediate use for could all be kept inside without taking up any meaningful space.

Ethan’s fingers grazed the surface of the two rings as he looked down at them.

He had spent a long time surviving with whatever he could carry, often having to consider whether something was worth the space it took in a storage pouch. Now, after a single battle, he had more room than he knew what to do with. He could take what he needed, keep what might become useful later, and leave the rest stored away until he found a chance to sort through it.

A faint smile touched his lips.

This was simply how the cultivation world worked.

Those with strength took what they could from those who were weaker, and those who survived walked away with the resources left behind. Those resources could then be turned into pills, weapons, cultivation materials, or anything else that helped them grow stronger, which only made it easier to take from others the next time.

Ethan had benefited from it this time.

But he did not allow himself to dwell on that thought for too long.

The cultivators he had defeated might have been weaker than him, but that did not mean he had become strong. There were still countless cultivators above him, many of whom could kill him without giving him a chance to fight back. Wailing Mountain had already taught him how quickly a situation could turn dangerous.

His gaze settled on the two rings again.

These resources were useful, but they were only another step forward. They were not something he could afford to mistake for security.

Ethan quietly reminded himself of that before turning his attention shifted toward the sword lying beside him.

It was a low-grade magic weapon.

Ethan had found it among the weapons left behind by the cultivators. The sword was long and slightly curved, its dark steel blade extending from a simple guard with a clean, unbroken edge. There were no elaborate patterns carved across the metal, only a faint line of silver running near the spine, a subtle trace of the spiritual energy sealed within the weapon. The blade was narrow enough to move quickly but long enough to give him considerably more reach than his short dao had.

Its hilt was wrapped in dark material, tightly bound around a black handle that ended in a small metal pommel. The design was simple and restrained, with nothing unnecessary to interfere with the grip. It looked like a weapon meant to be drawn, used, and put back into its sheath without wasting a single movement.

Ethan ran his fingers lightly along the flat of the blade. There was something else about it that had caught his attention.

It looked cool.