Zhang Fangzhou glanced towards the distant, charred corpse of Li Sha and clicked his tongue. "Big Brother, what exactly happened with Li Sha at the end? Why did I feel such a terrifying aura erupting from him? That was definitely way stronger than just the ninth layer of Foundation Building..."
Lin Feng nodded. "Mn. He swallowed an 'Exploding Yuan Pill' at the end. I never expected him to possess such a pill. I almost suffered a major loss because of it."
"Exploding Yuan Pill?!" Everyone gasped in shock. Zhang Fangzhou's eyes widened. "He actually took an Exploding Yuan Pill?! His state at that moment must have been equivalent to the Golden Core realm, right? No wonder it was so terrifying... Then, Big Brother, you used a top-grade third-grade talisman back then? To obliterate him instantly like that..."
Lin Feng clarified, "It was a top-grade Grade Three Purple Lightning Talisman. I acquired it by chance. Fortunately, I had it. Otherwise... I might be the dead one."
"Top-grade Grade Three Purple Lightning Talisman?!" Zhang Fangzhou was genuinely startled. A flicker of sympathy even crossed his mind for the ill-fated Li Sha. Using such a talisman against a Foundation Building cultivator was sheer overkill. Simultaneously, an immense wave of relief washed over him. He realized just how incredibly light the 'punishment' he and his brothers had received after their failed attempt to rob Lin Feng truly had been. Compared to Li Sha... we got off beyond easy...
Lin Feng looked towards the sky. "Alright. It will be dark soon. Everyone must be tired after the battle. Let's clean up the battlefield, then get some rest."
Zhang Fangzhou immediately responded, "Such a minor task shouldn't trouble you, Boss! Leave it to us brothers!"
Lin Feng chuckled. "Heh, fine. Handle this man's body then. You can divide whatever he carried amongst yourselves. I'll go check if Li Sha's corpse is still 'recognizable'. If it's truly obliterated beyond recognition, that fifty thousand low-grade spirit stone bounty would be wasted."
Zhang Fangzhou protested hastily, "Big Brother, you misunderstand! We wouldn't dare take this man's belongings! You killed him; the spoils naturally belong to you. We can't accept them!"
Long Chengkong added firmly, "Indeed. If not for Brother Lin's intervention, we would never have been able to stop this man. We claim no right to the spoils..."
"Don't stand on ceremony. I only need Li Sha's things. All of you contributed against this one," Lin Feng waved his hand dismissively. Before they could protest further, he turned and walked towards Li Sha's remains.
Reaching the face-down, scorched corpse, Lin Feng nudged it gently with his toe, flipping it over. A flicker of relief crossed his face. "Hmm. Fortunately, it's not completely unrecognizable. The original features are still somewhat discernible. Claiming the bounty shouldn't be a problem."
His flying sword flashed. Swish! Li Sha's head was cleanly severed. Lin Feng wrapped it in a cloth and stored it in his storage ring. He then pulled out a Fireball Talisman and ignited the remaining torso, reducing it swiftly to ash. From the embers, he retrieved several damaged protective artifacts and a single storage ring.
Task complete, Lin Feng headed back. He saw Long Chengkong and the others had similarly cremated the yellow-robed man's body. Zhang Fangzhou and his brothers now held several artifacts each. As Lin Feng approached, he overheard Zhang Fangzhou insisting on sharing half the spoils with Long Chengkong, who politely but firmly declined.
The yellow-robed man was Foundation Building, fourth layer. He had a storage ring too; likely carried decent items. Long Chengkong's apparent lack of interest subtly confirmed Lin Feng's earlier suspicion: this man's background was probably quite affluent. Long Chengkong's forfeiture naturally thrilled Zhang Fangzhou's trio. Zhang Fangzhou rubbed the newly acquired storage ring with palpable glee, radiating the joy of unexpected treasure. Yang Ge also approached, exchanging a few words with the group. Soon after, everyone retreated to their respective tents to rest.
Inside Lin Feng's tent. Crunch. Crunch… Xiao Qiu perched contentedly on Lin Feng's shoulder, happily gnawing on a spirit stone. Its beady eyes watched intently as Lin Feng meticulously examined the spoils looted from Li Sha.
Li Sha's top-grade treasure greatsword had been shattered into two pieces by the flying sword, its surface webbed with deep cracks. Lin Feng assessed it: "Equipment Degradation: 98%". A hair's breadth from complete destruction. Utterly worthless to anyone else – likely irreparable even by its original maker. For Lin Feng, however, it was different; finding the right materials could restore it to perfection.
Next was a small plaque-shaped, earth-elemental, light-based defensive artifact. Inferior to Lin Feng's golden jade talisman, merely a low-grade treasure artifact. Suitable as a backup. A few other protective artifacts – bracers, bits of armor – were insignificant. Miscellaneous items were quickly dismissed. Besides the over ten thousand low-grade spirit stones, a few items genuinely surprised Lin Feng.
— Three jade slips. And half an iron token.
Of the jade slips, one recorded a Human-rank, high-grade cultivation technique titled Gold Movement Art, presumably Li Sha's primary method. Useless to Lin Feng personally, but potentially valuable for sale.
The other two slips contained recorded arts. Gold Blade Art was a common Metal-element, Human-rank, mid-grade offensive art, similar to Wind Blade Art. Li Sha had used it during the fight. While Lin Feng cultivated a Fire-element technique, he wasn't barred from learning arts of other elements. He could learn the Gold Blade Art, though it wouldn't come as naturally as to a Metal-element specialist. He planned to acquire higher-grade arts in Biquan City anyway, so this mid-grade technique held little allure.
Yuan Observation Art, however, was Human-rank, high-grade, and crucially, not an offensive or defensive art. It was a support technique designed to sense the intensity of another's true essence, thereby discerning their cultivation level. This explained how Li Sha instantly saw through our levels. Arts specifically for peering into cultivation bases were rare, seldom found on the open market. This was Lin Feng's most significant find.
The final item, the half iron token, baffled Lin Feng. His repair skill assessed it: "Degradation: 75%. Unrepairable." A fragment of a spirit artifact. This explained how Li Sha had blocked the flying sword's thrust – he'd clutched this fragment in his palm. As a broken piece, it retained only the inherent hardness of spirit artifact material, possessing no active power. Essentially useless now. Lin Feng studied it for a while without enlightenment, then stored it away. Perhaps when my repair skill advances...
Finishing his inventory, Lin Feng put everything else aside and focused intently on comprehending the Yuan Observation Art.
Night passed swiftly. The next morning, Lin Feng and the group resumed their journey towards Biquan City. No further incidents occurred. By evening, a city far more grandiose and expansive, easily several times larger than Qingyun City, appeared on the horizon within Lin Feng's sight...