Chapter 449: The Demeanor of the Righteous Path
A corner of White Jade Camp.
The junior commander rushed to the scene: “What on earth happened?!”
He was confused. There were no casualties among their soldiers. But a strange feeling coiled in his heart—it was very strange!
“Commander sir, something terrible has happened!”
“Our Mana Reservoir, our Mana Reservoir is gone!”
“A dull gray stone sphere suddenly appeared—it swallowed our Mana Reservoir!!”
The soldiers reported in a panic.
The junior commander’s eyes widened: ?!
He looked at the now-empty spot where the Mana Reservoir used to be.
“No wonder something felt off…” the junior commander swore under his breath. “The Mana Reservoir got stolen? Someone from Thousand Peaks Forest snuck in.”
“But it’s fine. All these armaments have already been refined. I’ll activate the spell formula and locate it!”
“Protect me!”
With that, the junior commander began to act.
He was anxious too.
After all, this was the Mana Reservoir.
It was one of the trump cards White Jade Camp relied on to resist Grandfather Long. If they couldn’t recover it and return it to its place, the camp’s sustained combat capability would take a major hit.
Cold sweat beaded on the junior commander’s forehead.
“Damn it, why can’t I trace its location?!”
The Mana Reservoir had been moved into the cabin of the Puppet Dragon!
This Mana Reservoir was nearly perfectly round, measuring three zhang and five chi in diameter, and two zhang and three chi deep—about the size of a typical pond.
Sun Lingtong stood in a horse stance, one hand forming a seal, the other gripping his own wrist to stabilize the spell. He was fully focused on maintaining a treasure-theft technique.
Theft Art—Direct Copy Hand!
This was the very art that had shrunk the Mana Reservoir down to the size of a round table and temporarily concealed it from the owner’s tracking.
“Zhuo, hurry up!” Sun Lingtong urged.
His spiritual sense and mana were being rapidly drained.
He was only at Foundation Establishment stage and hadn’t joined either of the Liangzhu Kingdoms, so he wasn’t blessed with national power.
Yet the Mana Reservoir was a treasure-grade artifact, typically reserved for Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators!
Ning Zhuo raced against time, using his techniques to quickly analyze the Mana Reservoir.
“The pool walls are made of Azure Profound Jade. This jade is tough and absorbs earth energy from the land, converting it into Earth-attributed spiritual energy.”
“The pool water is century-old stalactite milk, milky-white in color, capable of storing vast amounts of Earth-attributed spiritual power.”
“The entire Mana Reservoir contains three formation layers: the Soil Cultivation Formation, the Earth Sinking Reversion Formation, and the Pure Spirit Formation.”
The Soil Cultivation Formation allowed the reservoir to connect to the earth vein just by touching the ground. If the land lacked a vein, it would absorb earth energy to the maximum extent.
The Earth Sinking Reversion Formation enabled large-scale conversion of Earth-attributed spiritual energy into usable Earth-type mana.
It was worth noting that this formation had once been wildly popular in history—used by nearly all cultivation sects and families to supply massive Earth-type mana to their territories.
Eventually, so much Earth energy was drawn out that the continent itself began to sink.
This forced the imperial court at the time to issue an emergency ban, strictly forbidding the use of the Earth Sinking Reversion Formation by any power, large or small.
As for the Pure Spirit Formation, it refined spiritual energy to make it uniform in nature.
Purified spiritual energy was far more efficient in usage. Otherwise, the “impurities” would cause massive loss and poor performance.
Ning Zhuo formed seals with his fingers, continuously activating techniques to stir the talismans within the Mana Reservoir.
“There are over three thousand talismans embedded in the pool walls, forming a restriction—it’s... the ‘Earth Mother’s Nurturing Key Art’!”
In Ning Zhuo’s upper dantian sea of consciousness, divine thoughts surged. A mirror of thought gleamed, shattering piece by piece as he dove deeper into analysis, consuming his mental energy.
“I’ve got it! Boss, hang in there!” Ning Zhuo cried out in excitement.
Sun Lingtong’s face lit up—Ning Zhuo’s decoding speed had far exceeded his expectations.
Ning Zhuo pulled out over a dozen rod tips, then took out a wooden mallet and hammered the rods deep into the pool walls.
Next, he used mechanical techniques to manipulate the rods, successfully disrupting the reservoir’s function and gradually halting the three formations.
The restriction formed by the Earth Mother’s Nurturing Key Art was also forced open, revealing many gaps and openings, allowing Ning Zhuo to peer into its core.
He poured all his mana into it.
The mana traveled through the rods, precisely targeting the core of the Mana Reservoir, flooding it like water to purify the internal links.
After a few breaths, Ning Zhuo had already severed more than half of the connection between the Mana Reservoir and its original owner. The rest would require a slow grind—it would take a lot of time.
Reaching this point, Ning Zhuo had achieved his goal.
He immediately stopped injecting mana and withdrew his spiritual sense.
Huff, huff...
Ning Zhuo was panting heavily, his face pale. His spiritual sense had been heavily depleted, and he was in urgent need of recovery.
Sun Lingtong was in even worse shape.
Sensing that the Mana Reservoir had stopped violently trembling, he immediately canceled the Direct Copy Hand theft art, collapsing to the ground in exhaustion.
But he was extremely excited, eyes shining as he stared intently at the Mana Reservoir.
Ning Zhuo was handling the finishing touches—gathering materials to set up a sealing formation around the now-table-sized Mana Reservoir.
Watching Ning Zhuo’s technique, Sun Lingtong nodded in satisfaction and praised, “Zhuo, I didn’t raise you for nothing. This set of treasure-suppressing methods—though you haven’t used it in a long time, you practiced it so many times in the past that it’s already etched into your bones! You did great!”
Although Ning Zhuo was exhausted in both body and mind, his face lit up with a happy flush as he gazed at the Mana Reservoir.
“I’ve refined most of it and learned that this Mana Reservoir is called the Earth Milk Pure Spirit Pool.”
“Estimated market value: 4.55 million mid-grade spirit stones!”
“We hit the jackpot! We’re rich!”
The Earth Milk Pure Spirit Pool was treasure-grade.
And treasure-grade items spanned a wide price range.
A Mana Reservoir at this level was a high-grade treasure—its crafting cost alone was massive, usually only within reach of medium to large-scale powers.
Hence, treasure-grade Mana Reservoirs were incredibly expensive.
Typically, a Golden Core–level sect would have an annual output of about 1.5 million mid-grade spirit stones.
Mind you, that’s output, not net profit.
So to purchase such a Earth Milk Pure Spirit Pool, such a sect would need to forgo all expenses and consumption for three consecutive years.
For an individual Golden Core cultivator—even if extremely capable, making money without spending a single coin—it would still take at least forty-seven years!
Upon hearing Ning Zhuo’s valuation, Sun Lingtong miraculously squeezed out a bit of energy from his exhausted body.
He stood up: “Quick, Zhuo! This is a rare chance!”
“There should be at least two more Mana Reservoirs in White Jade Camp!”
But Ning Zhuo waved his hand: “Don’t rush, Boss.”
“We’re in poor condition and urgently need to rest and recover.”
“Let’s not take any more Mana Reservoirs for now.”
“If we weaken White Jade Camp too much and they can’t hold off Grandfather Long, how would we have any chance to keep moving?”
Sun Lingtong gave Ning Zhuo a thumbs-up and praised him with a click of the tongue, “Zhuo, I told you—you’ve got real talent for our line of work!”
Ning Zhuo immediately coughed: “Were it not for divine orders, desperate necessity, and Zhu Xuanji’s earlier instructions to weaken the Liangzhu Kingdoms... I, a man of the righteous path, would never resort to such deeds!”
Sun Lingtong raised his other hand to give another thumbs-up: “Zhuo, your words—that’s the true demeanor of the righteous path!”