"Holy shit, this is truly striking it rich!"
Meng Hao's hands trembled as he clutched the storage bag. It took him a while to regain his composure before he tremblingly took out a spirit stone.
This spirit stone was unlike the ones he already possessed. It was about the size of a thumb, and its spiritual energy wasn't particularly dense. What was most peculiar was the wisp of mist swirling within it. And in that storage bag... he counted roughly over two thousand such stones.
This was a massive fortune Meng Hao had never seen in his entire life. It made it difficult for him to breathe; his body trembled, and his eyes widened. Besides the pile of spirit stones, the storage bag also contained a few sets of clothes and various miscellaneous items.
Sweat beaded on Meng Hao's forehead. The place wasn't hot, but he felt a burning heat in his heart. After a moment, he burst out laughing, his laughter carrying profound joy.
"These spirit stones are a bit strange," he mused. "Though large, their spiritual energy is ordinary. But the quantity... haha..."
After suppressing his excitement for a good while, Meng Hao finally averted his gaze. He licked his lips and took out another item he had acquired that day: the shriveled demon core. Looking at it, Meng Hao's eyes grew even brighter as he took a deep breath.
"That gigantic demon beast has been dead for many years," he murmured, "yet its tail could transform into a python demon. Perhaps when it was alive, this demon beast was incredibly powerful... Its demon core..."
Meng Hao breathed heavily, looking at the shriveled demon core in his hand. He immediately took out the copper mirror, preparing to replicate it.
But just as he took out the copper mirror, before Meng Hao could even place the demon core onto its surface, the mirror became scorching hot. The intense heat almost burned Meng Hao's arm. In that instant, an invisible force seemed to erupt from the mirror's surface, shooting straight towards the demon core in Meng Hao's left hand.
With a thud, the demon core was directly knocked out of Meng Hao's hand. The copper mirror, still in mid-air, unleashed another invisible force, continuously striking the demon core. At this moment, the demon core seemed like a prime piece of demon beast material, exciting the copper mirror to its limits and causing it to strike with frenzied intensity.
Meng Hao was stunned. Heart aching, he quickly grabbed the copper mirror. It was incredibly difficult to put the copper mirror back into his storage bag. The demon core then fell to the ground with a thud, its shriveled outer shell already quite shattered.
"Damn it," Meng Hao exclaimed. "This is a demon core, not demon beast fur! Why is the copper mirror acting so crazy?"
Meng Hao hurriedly rushed over to pick up the demon core. He was truly heartbroken.
Fortunately, the demon core was already shriveled and its outer shell was very hard. Although it had been struck several times by the copper mirror, the hard shell had flaked off, revealing a rice-grain-sized cluster of light within, carrying dense spiritual energy. This spiritual energy instantly filled the cave dwelling. Meng Hao's eyes lit up, but fearing the copper mirror would get agitated again, he didn't dare take it out to replicate it. After hesitating for a moment, he carefully put it away as if it were a priceless treasure.
Then, he took a deep breath and took out the third treasure he had acquired: the ancient small sword. Holding it in his hand, Meng Hao revealed a smug smile.
"This sword is incredibly sharp," he said. "It can even tear open the skin of a python demon and cleave open that demon beast's skull. That's enough to show it's extraordinary!"
Meng Hao happily gazed at the small sword in his hand. This sword wasn't made of iron or steel, but seemed to be made of wood. On its surface were several faint golden patterns, as if they could captivate one's mind. Although it looked ancient, the thought of its formidable material made Meng Hao even more excited.
"This treasure has a profound origin," he declared.
Meng Hao plunged the wooden sword into the ground, as easily as if it were tofu. A silly grin spread across his face as he watched, and he quickly picked up the sword, clearly delighted.
While in high spirits, Meng Hao suddenly startled and looked up. He vaguely sensed the spiritual energy filling the cave, but for some reason, it was very faint, even dissipating completely within a short period.
Although there wasn't much spiritual energy in the cave, this situation was highly unusual. Spiritual energy, the essence that exists between heaven and earth, typically condenses most densely in high mountain ranges, and the Kaoshan Sect was precisely one such place. It shouldn't just dissipate completely for no reason.
Meng Hao hesitated, then calmly collected his thoughts, carefully examining his surroundings. He bent down to look at the wooden sword, his expression one of disbelief. He had just realized that the spiritual energy that had filled the cave had, in a short time, been completely absorbed by this wooden sword.
"Hey… can this sword absorb spiritual energy?"
Meng Hao was stunned. After a long moment, he opened his storage pouch, and a few spirit stones immediately appeared in his hand. After being near the wooden sword for several dozen breaths, the spirit stones actually dimmed.
Meng Hao quickly put away the spirit stones. Though it pained him, his expression immediately became intensely excited.
"This sword… it must be a supreme treasure!"
Meng Hao looked at the sword in his hand, hesitated for a moment, then made a decisive move. He used the sword to draw across his finger, immediately creating a small wound. At the same time, Meng Hao sensed his own cultivation, discovering that the spiritual power in his body was uncontrollably dissipating through the wound on his finger.
Meng Hao quickly put his finger in his mouth, his eyes growing even more excited. It took a long time for the wound to heal. Meng Hao then looked at the wooden sword with a silly grin, his breathing ragged.
"This sword is a supreme treasure! Slash an opponent a few times, and I probably won't even need to make a move. Their spiritual energy will dissipate, leaving them open to be slaughtered. What a pity there's only one. If I had two, ten, or even a hundred of them, the more wounds, the faster their spiritual energy would vanish. That would be truly astonishing…"
Meng Hao's mind drifted, imagining himself with over a hundred wooden swords, all plunged into Wang Tengfei.
He decided that the trip to Black Mountain and the few spirit stones he'd spent were well worth it.
Thinking of this, Meng Hao took a deep breath and pulled out the copper mirror.
"I wonder how many spirit stones it will take…"
Meng Hao hesitated for a moment, but then reasoned that the more swords he had, the better. He immediately placed the sword onto the copper mirror. However, the instant the sword made contact, the mirror's surface flashed, and the sword was sucked inside. Meng Hao had never witnessed such a thing and was left utterly dumbfounded. He gripped the copper mirror tightly as if trying to stop it, but the wooden sword had already vanished.
"How can this be? You damned mirror! I went through countless hardships to obtain this precious sword, and you, you, you… Calm down, calm down."
Meng Hao breathed heavily, forcing himself to calm down. Restless, he paced back and forth. After a moment of deliberation, he took out a spirit stone and placed it on the copper mirror. The spirit stone vanished in an instant.
"Hmm? Could it be starting to replicate?"
Meng Hao pondered, then nervously threw in more spirit stones: one, two, three… His expression changed, his blood boiling. This copper mirror was like a bottomless pit. In an instant, Meng Hao had thrown in over two hundred spirit stones.
"Damn it, damn it…"
Meng Hao wanted to give up, but he was unwilling to lose his precious treasure just like that. Moreover, he understood that if he gave up halfway, the copper mirror wouldn't be able to complete the replication, which would be tantamount to losing its ability to duplicate items.