A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

Inside the Quiet Chamber, Lü Zhong sat cross-legged and cultivated.

He had just absorbed a large amount of Yin Yuan, which had considerably stabilized his injuries.

’It’s a shame it came from mortal women. If I had gotten it from a Female Cultivator, my injuries would have started healing right away...’ he thought, a little dissatisfied. But he quickly turned his attention to his Cultivation Technique.

Unlike the Four Spirits Technique, the Heling Feixing Scripture did not produce Magical Power with purifying properties. This meant he could no longer refine Pills as recklessly as before, unafraid of Pill Poison accumulating in his body. So, if he wanted to rapidly advance his cultivation, Lü Zhong had to find another way.

There was another reason for this as well.

Pills suitable for the Foundation Establishment Stage were exceedingly rare. Such Pills required, at a minimum, hundred-year-old Spirit Medicines as their main ingredient, which were far more difficult to obtain than those less than a century old. Therefore, buying Pills in bulk to advance his cultivation was essentially unrealistic.

It might be manageable in the Early-stage Foundation Establishment, but once he reached the Middle Stage, or even later...

Pushing the distracting thoughts from his mind, Lü Zhong slowly concluded his cultivation and exhaled a long stream of Dense Qi.

After placing another Magic Ban on the door of the Quiet Chamber, he could no longer suppress a look of delight. With a flip of his hand, he retrieved a Storage Bag inlaid with gold and silver threads.

A casual probe with his Divine Sense easily shattered the Prohibition on the masterless bag.

As he looked inside, Lü Zhong’s eyes lit up.

’What a huge Storage Bag! It’s much larger than the one I’m currently using—its internal space must be twenty cubic meters! This bag alone has to be worth at least ten thousand Spirit Stones...’

He hadn’t expected such a haul.

Unfortunately, the Storage Bag looked like an heirloom. It seemed to have passed through many hands, as the bag itself showed significant signs of wear. If it wasn’t maintained and repaired, it would likely break soon.

’I’ll have to find an Artifact Refiner to repair this later, so the internal Prohibitions don’t collapse and ruin this amazing bag!’ Lü Zhong thought. With a turn of his will, he dumped all the bag’s contents out.

A multicolored glow surged forth, and soon a small mountain of items was piled before him.

Lü Zhong gazed at the pile with great anticipation, his already good mood soaring.

The haul was truly impressive. The most eye-catching item was the Qingyang Mirror. As a former Spiritual Artifact of a Daoist Sect, it was shaped like an Eight Trigrams Mirror. Having only recently been unearthed, its surface was still covered in mottled bronze rust, which had significantly weakened its power.

The back was adorned with magical patterns of cloud-dragons, with the two words ”Qingyang Mirror” inscribed in the center. Judging from the remaining flecks of gold foil, it must have once been a magnificent Spiritual Artifact. With the death of Ancestor Qingyang, it was buried in his tomb as a funerary object, only recently seeing the light of day once more.

Ignoring the other items for now, Lü Zhong took out his Golden Devourer Sword, sliced open his fingertip, and squeezed out a drop of Essence Blood.

Until he could find a superior Sacrificial Refining Technique, he had no choice but to use the most primitive method—the Essence Blood Sacrifice Refining Skill—to claim the Qingyang Mirror.

Unlike Magical Artifacts, Spiritual Artifacts had to be personally refined before they could be used.

Since the Qingyang Mirror had at least two previous owners, its internal Spiritual Veins were already well-developed, making the refining process much simpler for Lü Zhong. He only needed to infuse the Spiritual Veins with his Essence Blood, then use his Divine Sense to reshape them into his own, so to speak.

The process was faster than he expected, likely because the Qingyang Mirror had been severely corroded by Yin Qi. Many of its internal Spiritual Veins had degenerated, meaning there was less for him to refine.

This was a mixed blessing.

The good part was the easy refinement; the bad part was that he would have to nurture the Qingyang Mirror for a very long time to restore it to its full power.

’No wonder that man couldn’t defeat two opponents of the same rank, even though he wielded a Spiritual Artifact and they only had Magical Artifacts. He even had to resort to using a Talisman Treasure. The Qingyang Mirror’s greatly diminished power must have been one of the reasons.’

Lü Zhong mused to himself as he placed the newly refined Qingyang Mirror into his Storage Bag.

His gaze returned to the pile before him, and a flash of intense desire flickered in his eyes.

With a flick of his wrist, a cyan Talisman flew out from the pile and into his hand.

”Little Cyan Yuan Sword?” he murmured.

This must be the true name of the Magical Treasure sealed within the Talisman Treasure. Combined with the Talisman’s color, it wasn’t hard to guess that it was a Wood Attribute Flying Sword Treasure.

Looking closely at the Talisman’s surface, he could see four sword-shaped imprints.

’So this Little Cyan Yuan Sword Talisman can be used a total of four times,’ Lü Zhong realized. He suspected that the power of this Sword Talisman Treasure was likely greater than that of an ordinary one.

He stored it away carefully. This might one day save his life; he couldn’t afford to lose it.

His gaze fell on the other items before him, his expression much calmer now.

There were quite a few items. A neat stack of over ten thousand Spirit Stones, which included a dozen or so Mid-grade Spirit Stones. Then there was a Sword of a type commonly used by cultivators; it was a High-grade Magical Artifact and wasn’t heavily worn. Even if he had no use for it, he could sell it for a good price.

There was also a suit of shimmering, lightweight silver mail—a rare, close-fitting Defensive Magical Artifact. However, it had a finger-sized hole in the chest and was still stained with blood. It was half-ruined, but not completely useless.

Lü Zhong reckoned that if he found an Artifact Refiner to repair it, it might still be useful.

The rest was just an assortment of miscellaneous items.

There was a used Dao Transmission Bead. These items were destroyed after a single use, so keeping it was purely for sentimental reasons, much like the one Lü Zhong himself had used and still carried with him.

Finally, there were two celadon porcelain bottles that exuded a fragrant medicinal aroma. He cautiously sniffed the air and felt no adverse effects. On the contrary, his True Essence stirred restlessly. He guessed they were Pills for advancing one’s cultivation. Lü Zhong didn’t dare to take them directly; he planned to find an Appraiser to identify the Pills and check if they had been tampered with before making a decision.