Chapter 452: Frozen meteorite

Jie Yuan told his story to Cao Yun. Twelve years he had discovered a cave just outside on the Wang Province. As he was hunting with a party, he got left behind. Honestly, Cao Yun could understand the reason why. The more Jie Yuan tried to explain how they had all been so horrible to him, the more he understood them in fact. After all, if they had been so horrible with him, they would have killed him. They had been in the wild and no one would have cared for a 1st-grade Mortal.

"I tell you, they were just ruffians with no manner. A great alchemist, a powerful and magnanimous expert like you would never had done such foul actions. If only I could have met a man of your stature back then, a man who would always uphold his word. But which man could compare to your greatness?"

Anyway, Cao Yun had to interrupt Jie Yuan several times as he was always trying to flatter him. No matter how many times he told him to stop doing that, he kept on and on. If Cao Yun didn't have good morals, he would have probably tried to extract the information from his soul directly. That man was just infuriating, but Cao Yun could tell that he wasn't a bad man either, which made dealing with him a bit more difficult.

"I only want to know what you found in this cave and where it is."

"Of course, please, pardon my zeal. Rarely a man of my low stature can meet such a great hero of mankind. The cave... Yes, the cave! After those miserable men left me to fend for myself for no reason at all, I was only trying to survive. Suddenly, I fell into a deep hole in the ground. For sure, I thought I was going to die down there. But even the Heavens are not cruel enough to torture a man who already suffered so much pain. Down there, I found great ores that could be sold for quite a lot. Hell, I even found high spirit stones. And since the energy there was powerful, I felt like cultivating. Suddenly, I was full of vigor and ready to travel far and fast. Thanks to that, I valiantly joined Xiaowu City.

"On the road, I met the group who had forsaken me. Seeing my greatness, they fell to their knees and apologized for their disgusting manners. Humph! As if I could forgive such traitors?! Only a holy man or a saint like you, great venerable master, could have had the heart big enough to accept their apology. A man like you could forgive anyone as long as they are truly repentant. But this lowly one couldn't. Thus, I didn't tell them anything about my great discovery and was able to sell most of what I had found to the Myriad Cherry Blossom Hall. Honestly, their reputation is deserved. They didn't try to steal from me or even cheat me in any ways."

Strangely, Cao Yun was convinced that the hunters had left him on the side of the road to have some peace. Then, they had come back to get him back to the city. After all, a 1st-grade Mortal would have died alone in the wild. Around the Imperial City, the demonic beasts were killed regularly to protect the cities. But outside of the Wang Province, there could be 6 or even 7-cores demonic beasts. As such, Mortals who went hunting were very careful. Even Mortal Warriors wouldn't be too daring either. They had certainly deemed that Jie Yuan was a nuisance and thus a threat. But they hadn't had the heart to let him die.

No matter what the truth was, Cao Yun asked in details what had been in the cave. According to the description of Jie Yuan, that cave was clearly the past crater of a meteorite. And from the frost in his meridians, everything was now crystal clear. In that cave, there had been Universe Spanning Frost, probably buried deeper underground where the meteorite had struck the ground. Jie Yuan had absorbed most of the medicinal essence that had made its way to the surface and had then thought it was spent. But it couldn't be. Indeed, if a 1st-grade Mortal had absorbed all the medicinal essence of a 5-star Heaven ingredient, he would have simply burst. Jie Yuan seemed to have some luck. The energy had been strong enough to help him cultivate faster but not enough to kill him. However, his cultivation had then stagnated for more than a decade.

"And you never went back?"

"Unfortunately, men are not as magnanimous and virtuous as you are, great lord. This lowly one couldn't just ask any random cultivator to take me back there. Besides, no hunter party seemed to want me with them. Most likely, those evil hunters who had left me to die had spread many rumors about me. Incidentally, great generous lord, if you hear anything about me, know that all of those are lies spread by jealous and lesser men. Such a powerful alchemist like you probably don't know how low men can fall..."

"Jie Yuan, don't you think that I've been quite patient?"

"Without a doubt. You have all the qualities of a prodigious man, a true living saint if I say so myself."

"Then, do not test my patience any longer. Just tell me where the cave is before I lose my composure with you."

"Of course, great alchemist. However... The thing is... I'm not too sure about the exact location. After all, it was twelve years ago... But if you take me there, I might be able to find it back. I swear!"

Once again, Jie Yuan finished his plead with a giant grin on his face that didn't suit him at all. The more he was speaking with that man, the more Cao Yun's Flying Poison was getting active. Unfortunately, Jie Yuan was neither a demonic cultivator nor a criminal, he was just pathetic and groveling all the time.

"Fine, I'll take you there."

As long as he could get close enough, Cao Yun could use his knowledge of array formations to detect the presence of Universe Spanning Frost. However, he didn't want anyone else to know about this. Such an ingredient was extremely valuable and he didn't want the fact that he had found it to be known. Indeed, he didn't want to have to fight for it. Thus, he decided to leave Xiaowu City in secret. In fact, he even left the Wang Province in secret. As long as he came back in without raising any alarm, no one would be the wiser.

Since only Jie Yuan knew the general location of that meteorite, he was forced to take him with him.

-

For three days, they walked through the wilderness. With Cao Yun's 'Ashen Feather Seal', he could conceal both his presence and Jie Yuan's. After all, Jie Yuan was only a weak Mortal, it wasn't hard at all to hide him. However, Cao Yun was in a hurry. Indeed, he had to join the Alchemy Conference soon after. He couldn't spend several weeks looking for Universe Spanning Frost. But he simply couldn't ignore it either. According to Jie Yuan's recollection, they were getting close to it. But it had been several hours now that he had been repeating the same thing over and over again.

Cao Yun had taken out his compass to try and sense any trace of the medicinal essence. Most likely, it was buried deep, otherwise someone else would have found it by now. Jie Yuan's luck seemed to be quite good indeed. Even if he had been thrown out by his master, he had been found out by Cao Yun. As much as the man irritated him, Cao Yun was ready to reward him a lot if he did find the Universe Spanning Frost he needed for his pill.

Finally, Cao Yun detected something with his compass. Thus he became faster and Jie Yuan had a hard time following him. In fact, Cao Yun went almost full speed when he was convinced he had found the place. Jie Yuan was left behind once more. Of course, Cao Yun had made sure that there were no demonic beasts nearby. As long as Jie Yuan didn't wander too far away, he was safe. And Cao Yun didn't intend to be too long either.

Now that he was finally freed from the sycophant, Cao Yun found the entrance of the cave. It had been covered in mud and some vegetation had taken over. But he could clearly sense something beneath it. Without any effort, he dug the ground and entered the cave Jie Yuan had encountered. Within, he even saw the traces of Jie Yuan's presence. Some spirit stones had been badly extracted. There were even traces of precious ore yet. Undoubtedly, Jie Yuan had done a terrible job taking out the resources he had found in here. However, those were of no importance for Cao Yun. Luckily, he was now quite rich and didn't care about such resources.

What attracted Cao Yun's attention was the faint trace of medicinal essence. In twelve years, the Universe Spanning Frost had released more of its essence in the environment and the cave was slowly being filled once again. Now, there was absolutely no doubt in Cao Yun's mind. Down below was the ingredient he had been looking for. As much as Jie Yuan was lucky, Cao Yun felt like he was way luckier than him.

It really didn't take long for Cao Yun to dig the cave even though he was being careful not to damage his prize. In a few minutes, he reached the meteorite. From it, there was an intense cold. A mere mortal would have died in a few breaths down there. For Cao Yun, it was not even painful at all. Even without his Wei Qi, his blood contained enough Fire Qi to protect him from such a cold without any effort at all.

In front of him was the Universe Spanning Frost, still trapped in the meteorite that had brought it here. Using his spatial ring, Cao Yun covered the entire rock with his Qi and sent it inside his storage. Later he would take the time to carefully carve the ice out of the rock. Now he had nothing more to do in Xiaowu City. After rewarding Jie Yuan, he would directly go to the Imperial City before the Alchemy Conference could officially begin.

Xiao Xuefenge would probably be there already. Maybe he could even get her help to refine the Frozen Fire pill. Although he could refine a Heaven pill, that one was a 3-star Heaven pill. As talented as he was right now, he wasn't too confident in his ability to refine such a pill with a good quality. And he certainly didn't want to waste his ingredients. The main three ingredients were so rare that he probably wouldn't find them again before a very long time.

Once he was done, Cao Yun decided to look for Jie Yuan. And he found him in a delicate situation...

That moron had wandered too much, even in the few minutes he had been left alone. Right now, he was surrounded by five middle Mortal Warriors.

"How did you get here?!"

"Hey, I recognize him! He's that Jie... Jie Xuan."

"Jie Yuan!"

"Yes, thanks for confirming it yourself. Didn't I hear that you found some treasure a decade ago?"

"Indeed, that's what I heard brother."

"Great. Then, you'll tell us more about this, right, 'friend'?"

Faced with the oppressive auras of those Mortal Warriors, Jie Yuan was almost tongue-tied. To be honest, Cao Yun hesitated an instant before saving him. It wasn't that he wanted him to be killed or maimed. But he had to admit it was pleasant to see him silent for once. However, it didn't last long. Quickly, he kowtowed to the ground.

"Great hunters, I am but a lowly insect. There is no way for such a vermin to hold a candle to any of you. After being expelled by my master, I tried to prove myself and I hired a group to help me hunt down a powerful demonic beast. However, a Moon Chasing Wolf went after us. Those great hunters sacrificed their lives for a lowly man such as me. And I was fortunate enough to escape with my life..."

Suddenly, the hunters became wary. A Moon Chasing Wolf was a 7-core demonic beast. It was on par with an early Spirit Warrior. Even for five middle Mortal Warriors like them, such a beast could be lethal. Fighting against a 6-core demonic beast was difficult but with battle formations, they could win unscathed. Against a 7-core demonic beast, they would at the very least suffer heavy injuries. Some of them might even die. Thus, they became a bit more fearful. In fact, their vigilance around Jie Yuan lessened quite a lot.

At first, Cao Yun had thought he would give him out. But as annoying as he was, Jie Yuan seemed to have some backbone after all. Anyway, despite his silver tongue, Jie Yuan would never be able to get out of this alone. Thus, Cao Yun stepped in. Despite their vigilance, the hunters didn't feel his arrival. When they noticed Cao Yun, he was literally standing between them and Jie Yuan.

"Great master! Please, save this lowly one's life! Those insignificant peasants are nothing compared to you!"

All the good impression Jie Yuan had made dissipated in an instant.

"Fellow cultivators, there is no need for blood to be shed today. Just let us leave in peace."

Cao Yun used his 5-star Human alchemist emblem to try to pressure them. After all, killing an alchemist was a serious offense. But he didn't stop there, he also used his Wei Qi to intimidate them. The five hunters were not idiot and they could see that Cao Yun was a dangerous man. However, their greed took the better of them. Instead of trying to talk with Cao Yun, they immediately attacked. Alchemists were dangerous targets, but they were often quite rich. The spatial ring on Cao Yun's finger was proof of that.

The five hunters were not stupid though, they had already put themselves into a formation. Their strength was comparable to a half-step Spirit Warrior. Even a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior would be a bit wary of them, but unlike them, he could have flown. On the other hand, Cao Yun was stuck on the ground for this fight.

Without any hesitation, he took out his 'Tainted Heavenly Pillar'. Unlike who he was as a kid, Cao Yun was way more decisive. The moment the hunters had chosen him as a target, they were dead.