Xiao Chen retrieved his Magical Artifacts and took the two men’s Storage Bags.

He also picked up the two peculiar Small Swords that had belonged to Elder Wang.

’What strange Upper-Grade Magical Artifacts.’

That was right. This pair of identical Small Swords were both Upper-Grade Magical Artifacts.

What was most important was that even when held up for comparison, the two Small Swords were almost completely identical.

Even the innate patterns on the material of the sword blades matched perfectly.

He tried infusing them with Magical Power, and just as he expected, the Small Swords shrank back to an inch in length.

Feeling the power poised within them, Xiao Chen grew even more puzzled.

’Could it be that they’re meant to harm people with the body of the Magical Artifact itself? If so, why make them look like Flying Swords?’

Xiao Chen had seen four types of Attack-Type Magical Artifacts so far.

The first type, similar to the Cyan Gourd and the Divine Fire Summoning Banner, used Magical Power to manifest different Divine Soldiers, Divine Generals, and even Demon Beasts, specializing in overwhelming enemies with superior numbers.

The second type, like the Flame Mirror and the Fire-Storage Treasure Gourd, was used to cast special Attack-Type Magic.

The third type, such as the Flowing Color Golden Light Pearl and the Lotus Jade Ruyi, directly struck the opponent, using the artifact’s innate ability to overcome a Cultivator’s Protective Spiritual Light.

The final type, exemplified by the Wind and Thunder Dual Swords and the Golden Melon Thunder Hammer, fought enemies by unleashing Sword Light or shadowy hammer strikes.

And this was precisely what was so strange.

The two Small Swords Elder Wang had used were clearly fashioned as swords, yet their method of attack resembled the third type of Magical Artifact.

Xiao Chen recalled that their actual effect was even more bizarre.

After he had blocked them with a Magical Artifact the first time, they had somehow pierced straight through his brocade handkerchief on the second attempt, driving Evil Qi into his Dantian.

’How did they manage that?’

Although Xiao Chen wasn’t afraid of being invaded by Evil Qi, he couldn’t afford to be defenseless against such a technique.

His enemy used Evil Qi this time, but next time, it could be something else entirely.

So, he conducted an extremely thorough search of everything inside the two Storage Bags.

Unfortunately, neither of the two men carried any relevant clues.

However, Xiao Chen’s search wasn’t entirely fruitless. In Qian Yong’s Storage Bag, he found a thicker copy of the *Luotian Three True Wondrous Techniques*.

’Huh? Why is this different from my copy?’

After comparing them, he discovered that Qian Yong’s copy actually contained an additional section after the original three types of Magic: an advanced cultivation method for the Foundation Establishment Stage.

It expanded the original Tier One Magic into Tier Two Magic.

This was also why his opponent had been able to command one thousand Profound Fire Crows against him.

He had to admit, the Cultivation Techniques of the Luotian Sect were actually quite good.

At least they included Advanced Techniques and weren’t just some unorthodox methods cobbled together from scraps.

Xiao Chen expertly flipped to the section on the Profound Fire Crow.

The Tier Two Profound Fire Crow added three new Realms beyond the original Great Success stage: Limit-Breaking, Add Fire, and Zengyu.

These allowed one to increase the number of Profound Fire Crows to one thousand, fuse them with new Spiritual Fire to increase their lethality, and even add offensive Fire Feathers to each individual Profound Fire Crow.

’Hiss... to think of a maneuver like this... genius!’

After reading it through once, Xiao Chen couldn’t help but marvel at the creator’s ingenuity.

From a certain perspective, these three expanded Realms were actually more like three Supporting Magic techniques designed specifically for the Profound Fire Crow.

They shared the same origin as the Profound Fire Crow and were mutually complementary.

The founder of this Magic had managed to brute-force the Profound Fire Crow technique to Tier Two precisely by layering several techniques like this. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

’And it turns out the Magic cast by the Super Fire Crow Array is called Luotian True Fire.’

Previously, Xiao Chen had figured out on his own how to arrange a thousand Fire Crows into an array, even giving the resulting technique the name Profound Yang True Fire.

Now that he had found its real name, he could start calling it that from now on.

But that was a minor detail. More importantly, after the section on Luotian True Fire, there was an appended theoretical Array Map for a "Luotian Sacred Fire."

Below the Array Map, the founder of the Cultivation Technique had left a message.

The gist of it was that the founder knew his time was short and lamented that he hadn’t had the chance to deduce the Limit Breaking Skill for the next Realm.

At the end, he had drawn the Array Map as he envisioned it, hoping that future generations would continue to improve and perfect this Magic.

If, one day in the future, someone could summon ten thousand Profound Fire Crows...

...they could use this diagram for the Array Formation to cast the Luotian Sacred Fire.

’What a coincidence. With the Limit-Breaking Method, I can gather ten thousand Fire Crows right away.’

Xiao Chen’s eyes lit up as he stared at the Array Map in his hand. ’I happen to have eight taels of Flame Light Spiritual Sand. I should be able to achieve Limit-Breaking very quickly.’

He had originally prepared this Flame Light Spiritual Sand for the Fire Storage Treasure Talisman.

But now, of course, his plans had changed. Diverting it to the Profound Fire Crow was clearly more beneficial.

’If I want to master all three Realms—Limit-Breaking, Add Fire, and Zengyu—eight taels of Flame Light Spiritual Sand definitely won’t be enough.’

’I’ll have to find a chance to collect another pound or two.’

Silently making a note of this requirement, he finally began to inspect the rest of his spoils.

First, of course, were 1,223 Spirit Stones.

Then came some Fasting Pills, Fire Spirit Grass, and other miscellaneous items, including a spare Middle-Grade Magic Robe.

’Now *this* is a familiar feeling.’

To many Loose Cultivators, these Spirit Grasses or some peculiar ore were valuable items they couldn’t bear to just throw away.

A situation like Lu Wuqiang’s was actually rare.

Moreover, because the battle had ended so quickly, Xiao Chen also found another Jade Talisman.

He recognized it instantly this time. The Magic sealed within the Jade Talisman was none other than the Luotian Sea-devouring Python.