"It seems Daozun still escaped."
Although three second-grade Golden Core experts were slain in this battle, Zhang Fan felt a tinge of regret for not being able to eliminate Daozun.
However, he did not dwell on it. With his current strength, even if he had pursued Daozun, he might not have been able to keep him.
Daozun had suffered significant losses at Zhang Fan's hands twice. He would likely become more cautious, and with the opportunity already revealed, the next descent might not be as simple as a few second-grade Golden Core cultivators appearing.
However, the most unfortunate should be the treasure-hunting team from Wenxin Sect. They were lured to Earth by Daozun, and just as the opportunity revealed itself, before they could even ascertain its true form, they were wiped out.
Including the previous seven third-grade Golden Core cultivators, Zhang Fan had killed a total of nine Golden Core realm cultivators. Xue Jing had slain one, bringing the total to ten Golden Cores, which could be considered a substantial haul.
Apart from Liyangzi's Liyang Linghuo Furnace, Zhang Fan meticulously examined the storage artifacts of the ten Golden Core realm cultivators. The items on the seven Golden Core cultivators were rather ordinary, leaving Zhang Fan quite disappointed.
The Wenxin Sect Master's collection, however, held many good items, including various materials for formation arrays and pre-crafted array discs, as well as numerous spiritual pills that aided Qi cultivation.
But for Zhang Fan's current needs, spiritual pills that assisted Qi cultivation were of little use. What he urgently required were spiritual pills and herbs that aided body refinement cultivation.
"Liyangzi, you better not disappoint me."
Zhang Fan took out Liyangzi's storage artifact and began to examine it with some anticipation.
Liyangzi's innate spiritual treasure was a refining furnace, undoubtedly making him an alchemist. His storage artifact indeed contained a vast quantity of spiritual pills, but most were low-grade third-tier Earth Pills, with very few mid-grade ones, greatly disappointing Zhang Fan.
On Earth, due to the extreme scarcity of spiritual pills, their grading system was somewhat ambiguous. However, in the vast expanse of the Ten Thousand Realms, spiritual pills had a strict grading system.
First-tier pills were known as Qi Cultivation Pills, primarily for cultivators in the Qi Cultivation stage.
Second-tier pills were called Treasured Pills, mainly for cultivators in the Foundation Establishment stage.
Second-tier Treasured Pills were equivalent to Earth's Sacred Pills and Divine Pills, which even Divine Realm experts craved.
Third-tier pills were known as Earth Pills, primarily for Golden Core stage cultivators.
The Golden Scale Breaking Origin Pill that Zhang Fan refined using Golden Cores as raw material belonged to the third-tier Earth Pill category, offering significant benefits for Golden Core stage cultivators' advancement.
Just as Zhang Fan felt disappointment, a black jade bottle suddenly caught his attention.
"Is this Black Dragon Cloud Flame Dew?"
Zhang Fan picked up the black jade bottle with some uncertainty and gently pried open the stopper. Instantly, a faint black flame shot out from the bottle.
Although the black flame appeared faint, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, and seemed to possess no killing power, the surrounding temperature rapidly increased the moment it emerged.
Centering on Zhang Fan, the glaciers and snow within a radius of several hundred meters melted rapidly, forming a vast lake.
Zhang Fan and Xue Jing stood silently on the lake's surface. The snowflakes falling from the sky were also affected by the high temperature, transforming into raindrops before reaching the ground, pattering into the lake.
"What is this?"
Xue Jing and Lin Yun stared at the small black jade bottle in Zhang Fan's hand with astonishment and suspicion.
What kind of flame was this, so tiny that it seemed on the verge of extinguishing, yet capable of raising the surrounding temperature by tens of degrees?
"Haha, truly worthy of the name Black Dragon Cloud Flame Dew, it is indeed extraordinary!"
Seeing this, Zhang Fan was not surprised in the slightest. Instead, he burst into laughter.
"Black Dragon Cloud Flame Dew?"
Lin Yun was unfamiliar with this substance, but Xue Jing had heard of it.
Black Dragon Cloud Flame Dew was rumored to be the essence dripped from a black dragon's saliva after prolonged absorption of black dragon flame. It contained a rich essence of true dragon qi and true dragon flame, making it an excellent auxiliary material for refining fire-attribute spiritual pills.
For any fire-attribute third-tier Earth Pill, as long as the alchemist possessed the skill and courage to integrate it into the pill, the resultant Earth Pill would undoubtedly reach the peak grade.
Even for fourth-tier Heaven Pills, Black Dragon Cloud Flame Dew could be considered a superior auxiliary material.
"It seems Liyangzi's alchemy skills were not up to par. He obtained Black Dragon Cloud Flame Dew but did not use a single drop, which has now benefited me."
Zhang Fan was overjoyed. He had searched Liyangzi's storage artifact but found no fire-attribute Earth Pills within.
Such a heavenly treasure, if Liyangzi had the skill to refine it, he would likely have cultivated to the peak of the Golden Core stage and would not have died so easily at Zhang Fan's hands.
"Thirteen drops of Black Dragon Cloud Flame Dew. Each drop is worth nearly a hundred thousand spirit crystals to purchase, and even then, it is priceless. I wonder how many years Liyangzi accumulated to possess such a reserve."
Zhang Fan examined the Black Dragon Cloud Flame Dew, gently re-capped the bottle, and said with a sigh.
As far as he knew, the entire possessions of a typical peak second-grade Golden Core cultivator, including their spiritual treasures, would at most not exceed a million spirit crystals.
Of course, cultivators skilled in alchemy like Liyangzi could earn spirit crystals through their craft, or those like Daozun who had reached the limits of the Golden Core realm and were willing to take risks might have more wealth.
Zhang Fan roughly estimated the combined wealth of the Wenxin Sect Master and Bai Zhen, based on the various treasures in their storage artifacts. Their combined wealth was only close to a million spirit crystals, less than the value of thirteen drops of 'Black Dragon Cloud Flame Dew'.
Zhang Fan calmed his excitement from acquiring treasures, put away his spoils of war, and then shifted his gaze to the opportunity that was currently emerging.
Zhang Fan had known from the start that this opportunity's emergence was very slow, but its pace still left him speechless. After more than half a day, he could only see four sharp corners protruding a few centimeters from the ground.
"It looks like an immortal mansion."
Zhang Fan's knowledge was so vast that even though only a tip of the iceberg of this emerging opportunity was revealed, he could already deduce its general form.
From the distance between the four protruding corners, it could be inferred that the length and width of this immortal mansion exceeded three hundred zhang. As for its height, Zhang Fan could not yet tell.
The multicolored divine light emanating from underground obstructed divine sense detection. To glimpse the true appearance of this immortal mansion, one would have to wait until it was fully revealed.
Due to the emergence of this opportunity, the entire world was filled with multicolored divine light, naturally alerting the countries and many reclusive ancient powerhouses worldwide.
Satellites from various countries had been meticulously observing the Central Siberian Plateau from the very beginning, as it was the source of the multicolored divine light and was thus of great interest.
Initially, many countries, after discovering the source of the multicolored divine light, had intended to dispatch special teams for on-site investigation. However, when their satellites detected Zhang Fan's figure, especially after witnessing his battle with those Golden Core realm cultivators, they immediately changed their minds.
Such a realm was beyond their intervention.
Even the United States, the world's most powerful nation, chose to retreat after witnessing Zhang Fan's power. It was no longer within the realm of human capabilities.
They said the end of science is theology. They didn't believe it before, but now, they were starting to.