Chapter 935: Future Plans P6

An important lesson Aksai learned from these records was that strength wasn’t everything when it came to Gu insects, whether poisonous or not.

Some Spirit insects were valuable because of their bloodlines.

Others were valuable because of their unique abilities.

Some were valuable because of the materials they produced.

And a few were valuable because of their evolutionary potential.

Aksai continued reading.

The deeper he went, the more possibilities he saw.

He could potentially use some of these insects alongside his Spirit plants.

Others could perhaps be introduced into Enchanted Everwood Farm.

If their environmental requirements could be recreated, he might even be able to establish breeding populations.

Aksai had already developed an interest in Poison Druid techniques.

He also possessed various poisonous Spirit plants and resources.

However, the knowledge he had obtained from the Heavenly Poison Sect and the Gu Poison King was mostly related to poisonous insects. It did not contain comprehensive information on insects that were non-poisonous but equally powerful, useful, or both.

However, this gap in his knowledge was somewhat filled by this jade scroll.

Even if the jade scroll only contained information on the Top 100 insects, the subspecies listed within it were almost all different from one another. This meant that he could apply the theories and principles described in the records to other insects that weren’t on the list but were related to one of the Top 100 insects.

Aksai quickly moved on to the storage rings of the imperial faction’s army.

These were the cultivators Kalina had brought with her to deal with the Purple River Lord and the members of his sect.

Unlike Kalina, however, most of them hadn’t left behind anything particularly interesting. Plus, most of these cultivators were no different from foot soldiers especially trained by the imperial faction to serve as cannon fodders when the native royal faction rebelled against the sects. As such, most of them were native cultivators from the subcontinent.

Aksai swept through their belongings with his Spirit Sense.

"Spirit Stones..."

Another pile of Spirit Stones.

More Spirit Stones.

And then some more Spirit Stones.

Aksai’s expression gradually became dull.

"Hmm. How boring. Not that I mind extra wealth. But still... after going through Kalina’s storage ring, this seems like a letdown."

The storage rings were filled with the usual cultivation resources.

There were some pills.

Some Spirit plants. There were even Spirit seeds in one storage ring, which was rare considering the royal faction was not in charge of tending to Spirit fields in the subcontinent as this aspect was usually taken care of by the various sects active in the region.

It told Aksai that the royal faction also seemed to have recruited talent from the pool of native cultivators. This was natural considering some loose cultivators were known to hide and farm in secret from the eyes of the sects for various reasons in order to relinquish the controls the regional sects had over them.

Obviously, the regional sects didn’t like this kind of rebellion from the loose cultivators. This dislike would usually turn into a conflict that results in loose cultivators suffering in various ways due to the fact of being unorganized compared to the sect members.

If these loose cultivators were aggrieved, cultivators were wronged by the regional sects for enough times that they formed a death feud, joining the royal faction was a natural choice. However doing so only meant that the loose cultivators lost their freedom in the hands of the royal faction. Then what was the use of them standing against the sects in the first place when the conflict began in order for them to retain their freedom? Then again... the loose cultivators didn’t have the liberty to choose their enemies and bosses. They could only act as per the situation.

Aksai sighed and stored the Spirit Seeds away. Some of these seeds seemed rare and useful. Perhaps he could turn them into cash crops when he plants them in the Enchanted Everwood Farm and cultivates them en masse.

Aksai then moved on to sorting the next set of resources he obtained from the royal army.

Apart from loads of Spirit stones were also various artifacts.

But most of the artifacts were only useful to cultivators at the Foundation Establishment realm and below.

The same applied to most of the alchemy resources.

Some of them were relatively rare.

A few could probably fetch a decent price if sold in the subcontinent.

But for Aksai...

They weren’t particularly useful.

He casually sorted through the belongings while making rough calculations.

"These can be sold."

"These can be traded."

"These..."

Aksai paused.

"...can probably be scrapped."

He didn’t bother inspecting every single item in detail. There was no point.

He had already reached the Lord-level cultivation realm. Resources meant for Foundation Establishment cultivators and below couldn’t do much for him.

Even if some of those items were valuable in the eyes of ordinary cultivators, they were little more than clutter in Aksai’s current inventory.

"I’ll deal with them later."

Aksai waved his hand. In his eyes, the number of storage rings he obtained was more useful than the things he found inside them. After all, these storage rings could be used to organize the resources he cultivated inside the Enchanted Everwood Farm.

He could also arm his Sentient Fiends with these storage rings so that they could store their weapons inside them and surprise their enemies if and when Aksai summoned them to battle.

Thus, Aksai emptied all the storage rings before sending them to the Enchanted Everwood Farm for Yelia to make use of them.

As for the stuff he obtained from the royal army that wasn’t sellable, he planned to scrap or dismantle the useless artifacts once he found a suitable place and enough time.

Perhaps some of the materials could be recycled.

Perhaps some could be fed into the artifact-refining laboratory.

Anyway, there was no need to waste time on them now.

Aksai quickly moved on.

"Damn it. I was wrong to check the storage rings of the cannon fodders right after checking Kalina’s belongings. No wonder I felt disappointed. There’s only one way to top the benefits offered by my kind angel Kalina..."

His attention immediately shifted toward another storage ring. And when he did, his expression became more greedy and excited at the same time.

Varesh’s storage ring.

Aksai’s eyes gleamed.

"As a true sword cultivator..."

He picked up the ring.

"...your goodies shouldn’t be lower than Kalina’s. Don’t disappoint me buddy. Otherwise, I’d turn your corpse into a Sentient Fiend and task it with using the demon beast poop as a fertilizer on my farm. That too using your sword as a farming tool."

Fortunately, Varesh wasn’t alive to hear what Aksai planned to do with his corpse if and when certain expectations he had from Varesh didn’t meet. Otherwise, he would have committed sui*cide for making him use his sword to stir the poop of the demon beasts.

However, Aksai’s expectations of Varesh and his belongings weren’t misplaced. After all, he was a late-stage Lord-level cultivator.

More importantly, he was a true sword cultivator.

Aksai had already witnessed firsthand how terrifying a true sword cultivator could be.

Varesh hadn’t relied on a collection of powerful artifacts.

He hadn’t needed a huge variety of trump cards.

His Natal Sword had practically been his entire arsenal.

And yet...

He had nearly destroyed everything Aksai had thrown at him.

His Natal Sword.

His Sword Intent.

His Sword Essence.

His Sword Body.

His Sword Heart.

His Sword Mind.

His Sword Sense.

All of them had been refined over countless years.

That kind of cultivation couldn’t possibly be achieved without an equally impressive accumulation of resources.

Aksai’s anticipation rose.

He injected Spirit Essence into Varesh’s storage ring.

His Spirit Sense immediately entered.

A moment later...

Aksai’s eyes were filled with confusion and surprise.

"Oh?"

The moment he began refining Varesh’s storage ring, he realized something was wrong.

"Why is this taking so long?"

Aksai frowned.

His Spirit Sense was already inside the ring, repeatedly probing the restriction that protected its ownership.

Under normal circumstances, removing the previous owner’s Spirit Signature and replacing it with his own shouldn’t have taken much effort.

Varesh was dead.

His soul had already dissipated.

Aksai’s soul was also considerably stronger than Varesh’s had been.

On top of that, he had Nuri.

Whenever Aksai encountered an artifact with complicated restrictions, Nuri could systematically analyze its structure and identify the most efficient way to break through its defenses without damaging the artifact itself.

Yet this storage ring was proving unusually troublesome.

[My Liege, the Spirit Signature left behind by Varesh is considerably more complex than those found in ordinary storage rings.]

Nuri’s voice sounded inside his mind.

[The spatial restrictions are also significantly more sophisticated.]

Aksai’s brows furrowed.

"Can you remove it?"

[Yes. But it will require some time.]

"How much?"

[Approximately...]

Nuri gave her estimate.

Aksai’s expression became strange.

"That long?"

Even with his stronger soul and Nuri’s assistance?

This storage ring was already unusual before he had even opened it.

Aksai became more patient.

He slowly erased Varesh’s remaining Spirit Signature while following Nuri’s instructions.

Layer by layer.

Restriction by restriction.

He carefully replaced the old imprint with his own.

Several times, Aksai had to stop because Nuri detected hidden layers within the spatial restriction.

If he had tried to forcefully erase them, the storage ring might have been damaged. In fact, it wasn’t possible for someone other than Varesh to gain access to his stuff without his consent. It was even more seemingly impossible for the stuff inside to see the light of the day.

It was only because Aksai had Nuri that he could still have a chance to claim ownership of Varesh’s belongings.

After considerable effort...

A faint connection was finally established.

Aksai’s eyes lit up.

"Finally."

He immediately extended his Spirit Sense inside.

And then...