Nine Astra Skies

The armguard looked like it belonged to an extremely ancient time.

Ye Chen tried to pull it apart. Interestingly, the armguard was soft yet sturdy. He had an idea - he took out the Hell Rupture Sword from Heaven-Earth Pouch and swung at the armguard. Ding. The armguard remained in its spot but Ye Chen's right hand, which held the sword trembled a little.

Good stuff! The armguard may be a higher tiered item than the Hell Rupture Sword and the Black Pearl!

Ye Chen was overjoyed. The armguard was a decent spirit artifact with great defense!

Apart from its defense, Ye Chen was sure it contained other special properties.

Ye Chen wondered if he could put it on.

Just as Ye Chen tried to slip it on his left arm, the armguard emitted a blood-red glow. Bong. It felt like a needle was inserted into Ye Chen's mind. It was like the armguard had a life of its own and it was desperately trying to detach itself from his arm.

It was the Spirit Gem in the armguard!

Most Tier One to Tier three Spirit Gems did not possess a consciousness of their own. After Tier Three, however, they began developing one though they were not that intense. It was only after Tier Five that they tend to be overbearing.

Was this armguard a Tier Five spirit artifact?

spirit artifacts were rare in this world. One spirit artifact alone could easily be bartered for millions of Chi-amassing Pills. A little clan like the House of Ye could never possibly get their hands on such spirit artifacts. Only those important members of bigger clans would ever possess a spirit artifact and even then, they were Tier One or Two at best.

Ye Chen had managed to scavenge a Tier One spirit artifact military armor but that armor was on a different level compared to the armguard.

The armguard would not stop struggling. Ye Chen sensed sharp pain in his head. His face was almost pale. He just wanted to toss it away at that point.

Ye Chen finally realized the reason many were fighting over it. It was an extraordinary item! It was a rare and Spirit Gem. If it were not for the strength of Ye Chen's Astral Body, he would have accidentally damaged his soul and turned into a mentally impaired person.

Squeak, squeak. Little Tanuki anxiously called out a couple of times when it saw Ye Chen in pain. It tried to attack the armguard with its Psyche. Ping. Little Tanuki's attacks were reflected and it nearly fainted from the recoil.

"I'm going to make you mine, one way or the other!" Ye Chen was furious. He fired The Flying Dagger in the head. Woosh the dagger went. The Spirit Gem in the armguard curled up in terror when it sensed a terrifying presence. Slowly, Ye Chen's pain seemed to have greatly reduced too.

Ye Chen could sense the armguard on his arm trembling greatly like it was afraid of something. He realized the armguard's level was far inferior compared to The Flying Dagger. Only, he wondered why the Flying Dagger never had a thing like a Spirit Gem in it too.

Ye Chen would figure that out later. He capitalized on the moment and wrapped the armguard with his Astral Body. Seeping into the armguard, Ye Chen saw a dazzling red light like a fire wisp that was burning brightly. The light seemed to have a mind of its own. Could it be the Spirit Gem of the armguard?

The Astral Body held the red light down. Sensing the pressure from Ye Chen's Astral Body, the light continued to struggle, trying to break free of the reins. Bang, bang, bang. The Spirit Gem clashed with his Astral Body. Once again, Ye Chen turned pale.

The fight between the soul and spirit was far more terrifying than an actual battle. If Ye Chen made one wrong move, his Astral Body would be injured and that could mean a load of bad things.

Ye Chen still struggled to contain the armguard's Spirit Gem with his Astral Body!

Ye Chen was frustrated. The Spirit Gem in the armguard was extremely powerful. It looked like only the Flying Dagger could suppress it!

Ye Chen placed a portion of The Flying Dagger's mind into the armguard. The red light curled up when it sensed the similar presence that brought it fear.

Just as that happened, Ye Chen quickly suppressed it with his Astral Body. After what seemed like a long time, Ye Chen almost felt his Astral Body collapse. Under the pressure from the Flying Dagger, the red light struggled less and eventually stopped moving at all.

Ye Chen moved his arm. It was light now with no resistance whatsoever. If one did not look closely, they could not tell there was an armguard on his left arm. Even the Hell Rupture Sword did not leave a dent on it. It deflected the impact of the swing like it was nothing more than a tickle.

Ye Chen was familiar with the sword's power. Perhaps the tier of the Hell Rupture Sword was lower than the armguard.

Great stuff! A great design to boot too!

A glow flashed across the armguard. Like blood that coursed through human veins, it established a link to Ye Chen, attaching itself to his left arm. With the armguard on him, Ye Chen could not wait to put it to use in battles to see what it was capable of!

Ye Chen was a little curious and inserted his mind into the armguard. There was a large space in it, about a few hundred feet wide and there were ten, intricately carved metal shelves. He scanned the metal shelves with his mind. There were various medicinal herbs placed on the shelves, some rare and some common. There were at least a million types, some that he could not even recognize. Just the scent of the herbs alone made him excited. There was a large refining furnace in the center, about the height of two people combined. It looked like it was made from a certain type of metal. It was black and images of various fire elemental Mystical Beasts were painted on it. It was as if the furnace was created right in the armguard and could not be moved.

There was also a bookshelf at the corner with ten types of books arranged together. Ye Chen flipped through one of them casually. The book was detailing the art of producing medicinal pills. Some were about the use of different types of herbs, the growing requirements, and methods to care for it. Then, there were others that detailed the lifelong journey of the armguard's owner. Ye Chen could not understand some of the books as they were much more difficult to comprehend compared to the Grand Supreme Way of Alchemy. The thing about Alchemy was that apart from reading books about it, one had to experiment with it. As such, Ye Chen could not understand the contents in the book given he had never produced medicinal pills before.

The armguard's owner must have been an apothecary!

Even if Ye Chen did not pursue the art of Alchemy, just the herbs in the armguard granted him a large amount of wealth. Selling it would garner him massive amounts of Chi-amassing Pill and Chi-deposition Pills. If the possession in the armguard could not allow Ye Chen to conquer other countries, it would still make him ridiculously rich. Of course, the herbs were too valuable for Ye Chen to even consider selling it. Once he had learned the art of Alchemy, he would use it for himself.

Words could not describe Ye Chen's joy. No one would have expected the Sunken Jade Tower to contain such an item. Just imagine what the reactions of the Three Major Sect members would be if they knew about this!