A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

Half a month later, on Ganquan Island.

Located 2,980 li east of Changchun Immortal City.

To create the Creation Spirit Liquid as soon as possible, Lü Zhong had brought all the materials needed to build an Alchemy Room and rushed here on his Flying Ship right after winning the bid for the island.

Looking down from the Flying Ship.

Ganquan Island was crescent-shaped, stretching over three hundred li from north to south and over a hundred li from east to west. A mountain range stood in its center, its main peak named ”Ganquan Peak” after the Spiritual Spring on its summit. Towering a thousand zhang into the clouds, Ganquan Peak was the focal point of Ganquan Island’s Spirit Vein.

Directly facing Ganquan Peak was a natural deep-water harbor.

Such terrain was perfect for building a commercial port.

Landing directly on the platform atop Ganquan Peak, Lü Zhong saw signs of life left behind by the prospecting cultivators. There were all sorts of pots, bowls, and pans, covered in caked droppings. Evidently, leftover food had attracted foraging birds and beasts, and among their tracks, he suspected he saw those of a Demon Beast.

Following the signs of life, he found a rock cave that sloped downward, leading directly into the heart of the mountain.

The cave had been carved out with a Magical Artifact, presumably in search of potential mineral deposits on Ganquan Island. However, judging from the Changchun Valley Steward’s introduction at the Spiritual Land auction, Ganquan Island clearly had no valuable resources other than a Tier Two Spiritual Vein.

”BEELLLOOOW!!!”

A long, drawn-out bellow came from the eastern sea.

Hearing it, Lü Zhong thought, ’The Outer Sea Area really lives up to its name. A Sea Beast, a rare sight in the Inner Sea, and I run into one on my very first day here.’

”Sea Beast” was simply short for a Demon Beast of the sea.

Unlike terrestrial Demon Beasts, Sea Beasts were not only numerous in variety but also generally quite powerful. This was especially true for those famous enough to be on the Sea Emperor List. When a cultivator’s strength was diminished by their lack of skill in aquatic combat, the beasts on that list could often kill opponents of a higher tier. This was why so many ships were lost on the East Sea Route each year.

However, none of this had anything to do with Lü Zhong. He just wanted to find a place to perform Alchemy.

When the ”Sea Tide Stage”—the latter half of the year when the Sea Beasts grew restless—arrived, he would simply seal the Spirit Vein and return to Changchun Immortal City to take refuge.

Soon, a rock wall appeared ahead.

A few Sealing Talismans were stuck to the wall, left by the previous prospecting cultivators. They served to temporarily seal the Spirit Vein’s Spiritual Qi. Lü Zhong planned to replace them with the Little Sumeru Array he had brought.

The Little Sumeru Array came from the Central Earth Array Dao Major Sumeru Sect. It was a Tier Three miniature auxiliary array with an extremely powerful effect for sealing a Spirit Vein’s Spiritual Qi, capable of containing ninety-nine percent of it within the array. It was typically used in conjunction with a Tier Two Locking Spirit Formation to maximize the amount of Spiritual Qi retained from the vein.

Lü Zhong had spent a full 50,000 Spirit Stones to buy it.

That was nearly the price of half a Spiritual Artifact.

After setting up a few simple sealing Prohibitions, Lü Zhong used Zhuanghong to break open the rock wall blocking the passage. A dense wave of Spiritual Qi instantly rushed out to greet him, and a massive cave appeared before his eyes.

The cavern spanned nearly a thousand zhang and appeared to be naturally formed.

In the center of the cavern was a brilliant, glittering, five-colored crystal. It jutted out from the ground, having broken through the rock strata, and was constantly leaking incomparably pure Spiritual Qi.

And this was the Ganquan Island Spirit Vein.

There were many types of Spirit Veins. Some were mineral-based, like the one before Lü Zhong, while others grew around a core object known as a Spiritual Eye. It was said that the central node of Changchun Valley’s colossal Tier Three Spirit Vein was a Tree of Spiritual Eye that had been growing for ages.

Centering it on the Spirit Vein’s node, Lü Zhong set up the Little Sumeru Formation.

Instantly, the vast majority of Spiritual Qi leaking from the Spirit Vein was locked inside the Little Sumeru Formation. He then used the Locking Spirit Formation to envelop the entire cavern.

The Little Sumeru Formation still needed to be configured. After all, the concentration of Spiritual Qi within the formation had a limit. If that limit was exceeded, the Spirit Vein would stop leaking Spiritual Qi. Therefore, before the limit was reached, the formation had to be set to vent the excess Spiritual Qi into the greater Locking Spirit Formation. Lü Zhong planned to create a Spirit Field in the cavern later to absorb this excess qi.

With a series of Technique Mantras, the setup of the Little Sumeru Formation was complete.

With that, the work of sealing Ganquan Island’s Spirit Vein was more or less complete.

”SCRAPE... SCRAPE...”

The sound of scales scraping against the rock wall came from outside.

Lü Zhong extended his Divine Sense, and his brow furrowed.

’I only let a little Spiritual Qi leak out, and it’s already attracted a Tier Two Sea Beast. It seems the number of Sea Beasts in this Outer Sea Area is far greater than I anticipated.’

’Perfect timing. I can use this for practice.’

Lü Zhong had just started to get the hang of the Star Pulling Skill and was itching for a chance to practice it.

But practice was one thing; he couldn’t let the Spirit Vein be destroyed in the process.

He raised his hand and cast several Technique Mantras, activating the Little Sumeru Formation. Internally, it could seal the flow of Spiritual Qi, but its external defenses were also quite strong, no worse than a Tier Two Defense Array.

As for the Spirit Lock Array, it was purely a Locking Spirit Array; its defensive capabilities were negligible.

A moment later, a ferocious python head poked into the cave.

It was about a zhang wide and nine chi tall. Its head was long and narrow like a shuttle, covered in arrow-shaped, blue-gray scales to which many old barnacles clung, emitting a pungent, salty, and fishy stench.

As it saw the crystalline mineral vein, an unusual light gleamed in its cold, serpentine pupils.

At almost the same instant, a flash of red light arrived.

Having just obtained Zhuanghong, Lü Zhong hadn’t had time to ”nurture” the blade yet. This was purely a normal strike from the Spiritual Artifact, but with the repulsive force boost from the Star Pulling Skill, Zhuanghong’s flight speed was astonishingly fast.

Before the python’s head could react, Zhuanghong sank deep into its skull with a sickening squelch.

Splattering blood painted the rock wall red.