Both the black ruler and the small bell were clearly good things.
Since such good things had fallen into his hands, he would not return them to Gu Xuantong.
Gu Xuantong had tried to take his life; wouldn't returning these items be asking for trouble?
Qin Xuan pondered as he retrieved the items from his qiankun ring.
The first item he picked up was the azure small bell.
Gu Xuantong had used this small bell against Qin Xuan and the guard captain at the Xuanlong City gate.
He was naturally most familiar with the power of this small bell.
“Still not giving up?”
Qin Xuan chuckled, looking at the azure small bell still trying to fly away in his palm.
Clearly, this small bell was attempting to break free from Qin Xuan's restraint.
“As expected of a Spiritual Artifact, it truly possesses more sentience than a Magical Artifact, but if I let you escape like this, I might as well smash my head against a block of tofu and die here.”
Tightening his grip on the small bell, Qin Xuan instantly exerted force, holding it firmly.
“Buzz!”
The azure small bell continued to struggle violently, attempting to break free from Qin Xuan's grasp, and from its struggle, it was evident that someone was trying to recall this Spiritual Artifact.
It seemed to be Gu Xuantong.
However, at this point, Qin Xuan would absolutely not let go.
A trace of Taihuang Aura emanated from the Refining God Cauldron, instantly suppressing the small bell.
After only a moment, the small bell, which had been vibrating wildly, immediately stopped resisting.
For the small bell, once the Taihuang Aura descended, it dared not resist at all.
Good opportunity!
Qin Xuan made a decisive move, his Mental Energy immediately infiltrating the small bell to investigate.
“So it's here.”
A moment later, Qin Xuan's Mental Energy discovered the mental imprint Gu Xuantong had left on the small bell.
Qin Xuan immediately used his Mental Energy to swiftly erase Gu Xuantong's mental imprint, then imprinted his own Mental Energy mark upon it.
“Buzz!”
The small bell in his hand vibrated briefly, then obediently settled in Qin Xuan's palm.
“Now, this thing is mine.”
Qin Xuan mused, retracting the Taihuang Aura, and with a slight lift of his hand, the small bell flew up and circled around him.
Meanwhile, within a Secret Realm of the Azure Green Sect, Gu Xuantong cried out, clutching his head.
“Young Lord, what's wrong?”
Several guards ran towards Gu Xuantong with some trepidation.
“Scram, you bunch of good-for-nothings, all of you scram!”
Gu Xuantong cursed furiously, driving all the guards away.
“A bunch of good-for-nothings, you couldn't even guard my Bi Yun Bell; now its mental imprint has been erased!”
Gu Xuantong swore.
Just now, the Mental Energy imprint he had left on the Bi Yun Bell was directly erased.
With the imprint erased, his Mental Energy also suffered damage, which caused him to vomit blood.
“To be able to erase my mental imprint, this person must have at least awakened their Sea of Consciousness; it must be one of those old geezers from the Azure Green Sect who made the move.”
Thinking this, Gu Xuantong clenched his fists.
“A bunch of damned old geezers, if it weren't for the current need to contend with the Vermillion Bird Clan for that Secret Realm, how could I tolerate the Azure Green Sect being so arrogant?”
“Once that matter is resolved, I will definitely make the Azure Green Sect pay the price.”
After speaking, Gu Xuantong clenched his fists.
“And that Qin Xuan, not only does he not submit to me, he even dares to resist!”
“This person, I will torture him to death!”
While Gu Xuantong was enraged, Qin Xuan on the other side was contentedly looking at the small bell in his hand.
Once he had imprinted his Mental Energy mark, he could control this small bell with extreme ease.
“This small bell is quite good, and that Gu Xuantong clearly didn't unleash its true power.”
This small bell could be said to be both offensive and defensive.
On the offensive side, it primarily used sound waves generated by its ringing to attack.
As long as Spiritual Qi was used to strike the small bell, with the small bell's enhancement, the attack would be amplified several times over.
Of course, sound waves also had a distance limit; if they exceeded a certain range, their attack power would rapidly decay.
In addition to striking the small bell with Spiritual Qi, there was also a method of striking it with Mental Energy.
This was the small bell's strongest attack.
The small bell could amplify Mental Energy, significantly strengthening it.
However, the prerequisite was at least the Awakening of the Sea of Consciousness, otherwise the mental attack would be greatly diminished.
Clearly, that Gu Xuantong had not reached that stage, which was why he felt somewhat powerless when using this small bell against Qin Xuan.
Besides these two attack methods, this small bell could also enlarge, trapping targets beneath it.
Attack was only one aspect of the small bell; what Qin Xuan cared about most at this moment was the small bell's defense.
With a thought, the small bell swiftly circled around Qin Xuan.
Qin Xuan controlled his longsword to stab towards himself.
“Clang”
Just as the longsword was about to strike him, the small bell swiftly flew to Qin Xuan's side and blocked the longsword.
“What a good item!”
Qin Xuan rubbed his hands, somewhat excited.
For him, this item was simply too suitable.
His current attack was naturally not an issue, but with the small bell's enhancement, his defense could be significantly boosted.
He only needed to control the small bell, and no nearby attacks would ever be able to land on him.
As a Spiritual Artifact, this small bell was naturally the most suitable.
“Good item, truly a good item!”
A smile appeared on Qin Xuan's face.
“Although this Gu Xuantong is very annoying, his items are quite good.”
Qin Xuan said with a smile, then he rubbed his chin, pondering continuously.
“This person is from the so-called White Tiger Family, and he's merely from a branch of the White Tiger Family.”
Even a small branch family's prodigal son possesses such good items, so it seems the power behind this White Tiger Family is likely not small.
“This kid definitely has more good stuff on him; if there's an opportunity, I must fleece him again.”
Qin Xuan was currently contemplating how to exploit him.
“Forget it, according to the Sect Master, this person came after the Azure Green Sect and the White Tiger Family reached an agreement, so he probably won't appear in the Sect often.”
From Cang Qingzi's attitude towards Gu Xuantong, Qin Xuan could guess that this Gu Xuantong was likely after something in the Azure Green Sect.
It was just that for certain reasons, they needed the Azure Green Sect to cooperate with them.
Because he didn't have much information, many things couldn't be fully deduced yet.
“Bi Yun?”
Picking up the small bell and looking at the two characters 'Bi Yun' inside it, Qin Xuan nodded.
“It seems this is its name. Bi Yun Bell is good, I'll keep calling it that from now on.”
Qin Xuan nodded at the characters 'Bi Yun', then continued to examine it.
After a while, Qin Xuan stopped.
“This Bi Yun Bell is probably a replica.”
Although Qin Xuan had not yet refined weapons, he had acquired considerable knowledge about Artifact Refining.
After this inspection, Qin Xuan could already confirm that this Bi Yun Bell was a replica of a certain bell.
“Even a replica has the power of a Spiritual Artifact; how powerful would the complete one be!”
Qin Xuan secretly clicked his tongue in amazement.
This small bell was truly not simple.
Its true body was likely terrifyingly powerful.
After pondering for a while, Qin Xuan shook his head slightly, not wasting time, and continued to count his gains.
Besides the Bi Yun Bell, the items obtained from Gu Xuantong also included a High Grade Magical Artifact, a black ruler.
“Here's also the Azure Green Sect's reward for being first.”
After taking out the black ruler, Qin Xuan also took out the Sect's reward.
The Azure Green Sect's High Grade Magical Artifact reward was a Bronze Mirror.
“It seems to have a special function, but…”
Qin Xuan rubbed his chin.
“Although this thing has a special function, it's still just a High Grade Magical Artifact after all.”
Thinking this, Qin Xuan tossed the black ruler and the Bronze Mirror into the Refining God Cauldron, then took out the blood-red longsword.
“For a short period, I'll still have to rely on the Azure Dragon Nine Slashes to deal with enemies, so I still need a suitable weapon.”
Qin Xuan mused, then tossed the blood-red longsword in as well.
These three High Grade Magical Artifacts could be fused into a higher Rank Spiritual Artifact in the Refining God Cauldron.
Even the lowest Rank Low Grade Spiritual Artifact would provide a far greater combat power boost to Qin Xuan than three High Grade Magical Artifacts combined.
“Spiritual Artifacts already possess sentience; in terms of power, they can crush Magical Artifacts. The combined power of three Magical Artifacts is far less than that of one Spiritual Artifact.”
As the three Magical Artifacts were thrown into the Refining God Cauldron, they quickly began to fuse together within the cauldron.
A moment later, a heavy sword with black and red colors intertwined appeared in the Refining God Cauldron.
A red pattern, like a Dragon, coiled around the black sword body.
“Good item!”
Qin Xuan's eyes lit up, and he immediately took the heavy sword out of the Refining God Cauldron.
Unlike the previous blood-colored longsword, perhaps because of the addition of the black ruler, the weapon refined in the Refining God Cauldron this time looked like the previous Wu Feng Sword, with no obvious sharpness.
“Then I'll continue to call you Wu Feng Sword.”
Qin Xuan patted the sword body, then forcefully swung it a few times.
Compared to before, the Wu Feng Sword was noticeably heavier; even though Qin Xuan's physical quality had improved significantly, he still found it quite strenuous to lift now.
“Not bad, it can be used not only to fight enemies but also to strengthen the body.”
Qin Xuan swung the weapon forward with force.
After a while, he poured Spiritual Qi into the Wu Feng Sword.
“Boom!”
A majestic Qi surged from the sword body.
The originally dark red pattern suddenly glowed brightly; even with Qin Xuan controlling this weapon, he could feel the power of this Wu Feng Sword at this moment.
“As expected of a Spiritual Artifact.”
Its power was far greater than that of the previous High Grade Magical Artifact, by more than just a little bit.
After practicing the Azure Dragon Nine Slashes once in the Immortal Cave, Qin Xuan contentedly put away the Wu Feng Sword.
It was indeed a good item.
Then...
Qin Xuan turned his gaze forward and picked up the Jade Box.
“This is a Jade Box that can even stir the Refining God Cauldron; the Martial Skill inside must not be bad.”
Taking a deep breath, Qin Xuan carefully opened the Jade Box.
“Click.”
The Jade Box opened, and a scroll of ancient beast hide appeared before his eyes.
“Heh, it's indeed a good item!”
Qin Xuan rubbed his hands, somewhat excited.
Generally, most Martial Skills were recorded on Jade Slips, but this scroll of Martial Skill was preserved on an ancient beast hide scroll; the contents within must be extraordinary.
Thinking this, Qin Xuan excitedly picked up the ancient beast hide scroll and carefully unrolled it.
As the heavy ancient beast hide scroll unrolled, Qin Xuan eagerly read the Martial Skill on it.
However, as he continued to read, Qin Xuan's initially excited expression began to turn cold, and by the end, he became speechless.
“This is not some peerless Martial Skill at all; it's clearly just an ordinary, utterly ordinary King Rank Martial Skill, and a Low Grade King Rank at that!”