A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

After hearing the plan, Lü Zhong felt it had a decent chance of success.

”So what’s in it for me?” he asked.

”Naturally, I won’t have you make this trip for nothing, Fellow Daoist.” Yun Tao conjured a Water Mirror Technique, which displayed the floor plan of a building. Pointing to a spot, she explained, ”Near this tree is a secret Lingyue Sect vault. It holds many treasures, including a precious Spiritual Object that can aid Fellow Daoist Lü in achieving Nascent Soul Formation.”

”What is it?”

”Purifying Spirit Liquid!” As Yun Tao’s hand seals shifted, the Water Mirror’s contents changed, displaying an inventory list from the vault. One line was highlighted in a striking color, showing the three words, ”Purifying Spirit Liquid.”

”I assume you know its use in Nascent Soul Formation, Fellow Daoist?”

Lü Zhong nodded. He was indeed aware of it.

A cultivator’s Golden Core might be described as ”flawless,” but in reality, it’s inevitably affected by ”Dense Qi.” Dense Qi is just a general term for anything—material or immaterial—that pollutes the Golden Core, such as negative emotions or corrupted Spiritual Qi. Its presence interferes with the process of condensing a Nascent Soul after Breaking the Core. The more Dense Qi one has, the harder it is to form a Nascent Soul.

To raise the chance of Nascent Soul Formation, the best method was to start with a Flawless Golden Core.

And Purifying Spirit Liquid was created specifically to solve this problem.

Lü Zhong knew full well that with his Four Spirit Roots, his chances of reaching Nascent Soul Formation were incredibly slim. He had to seize every opportunity to increase his odds.

Only then would he have a chance to glimpse the Nascent Soul Dao.

With this in mind, he decided to agree for now.

They reached a tentative agreement and signed a Spirit Contract to ensure confidentiality.

The plan wouldn’t be implemented for quite some time. According to their agreement, Yun Tao would only reveal the full details right before they were to act. Her intentions were obviously defensive; she clearly didn’t fully trust Lü Zhong and was keeping an ace up her sleeve.

Her caution was understandable.

But it was still a bit galling.

However, this suited Lü Zhong just fine, so he had no reason to refuse.

Signing a full cooperation Spirit Contract from the very beginning would have been less ideal.

...

「A year passed in the blink of an eye.」

「Inside Tide Cave.」

Lü Zhong slowly exhaled a breath of impure qi.

After a month of secluded cultivation, his cultivation had improved slightly. It was a minuscule advancement, but still better than the stagnation most of his peers were experiencing.

’This noticeable progress is all thanks to the Bone Jade’s assistance.’

The Bone Jade truly lived up to its name as a treasure of heaven and earth. It granted Lü Zhong a Spiritual Qi refinement speed comparable to a Celestial Spirit Root, drastically increasing his cultivation efficiency.

Recently, his Great Honey Insect Queen had finally broken through to Tier Three after consuming the Water Flood Dragon Demon Pill. Thanks to this, the Insect Nest had begun to produce Tier Three Spirit Ascending Honey. The only problem was that the yield was low, while the resources it consumed were terrifyingly high.

It was no different from directly burning Spirit Stones.

’If it burns through my funds, so be it!’

Lü Zhong knew that every drop of Tier Three Spirit Ascending Honey he consumed was essentially a Tier Three Demon Pill processed by the Great Honey Insect. Tier Three Demon Pills had always been expensive, and most had to be imported from the East Sea, as the Southern Barbarian lands offered a very limited supply.

There was a risk of the Demon Pill supply being cut off.

But regardless, it was a stable way to obtain Tier Three Spiritual Objects, a reliable and effective method for cultivating a Core Formation Cultivator to the Fake Infant Realm.

This had an extremely important implication.

Bihai Sect now had what it took to become a Nascent Soul Sect.

In other words, it had established a true foundation.

’I bet Changchun Valley has a deep foundation like this; otherwise, they couldn’t have remained at the head of the Seven Southern Barbarian Sects for so long. At this rate, their next Nascent Soul True Monarch is probably about to complete their breakthrough.’

’Could it be Qingding?’

At this thought, Lü Zhong’s expression clouded over.

The man had always been a thorn in his side.

’Heh. Am I just judging a gentleman by my own petty standards? I hope so. Otherwise, I’m in for big trouble... After all, he has already entered seclusion for his Nascent Soul Formation.’

...

Lü Zhong didn’t stay idle in the time that followed.

He invested hundreds of thousands of Spirit Stones, ordering the Bihai Sect and the Chengde Commerce Association to spare no effort in finding the final half-page needed to complete the *Outer Body Incarnation* Divine Power Technique.

This Divine Technique was of immense importance to him.

If he could acquire an Outer Body Incarnation, his future actions would be much safer.

He would no longer have to worry so much about his personal safety. He could freely explore Secret Realms for treasure and acquire the critical resources he desperately needed.

More importantly, the Western Realm trade could also be restarted.

Compared to honestly running the Sect’s Commerce Association, flipping goods in trade was the real path to getting rich quick.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as he’d hoped.

He had spent enough Spirit Stones to form a small mountain, yet there was still no news of the half-page’s whereabouts. The wait was maddening, but he was powerless to do anything about it.

「Three years passed in the blink of an eye.」

Lü Zhong decided he couldn’t wait any longer and resolved to seek outside help.

Deriving celestial secrets wasn’t just for finding people; it could also be used to find objects. However, the effectiveness of this type of Celestial Secret Skill, known as an ”Item-Finding Technique,” was hit-or-miss.

At its best, it could provide a precise location.

But if you were unlucky, the result was more like a cryptic prophecy.

Profound and esoteric, impossible to decipher.

But Lü Zhong had no other choice now. He could only try his luck.

...

In the Southern Barbarian lands, there were many factions capable of deriving celestial secrets, but few were willing to offer their services. Among those who were willing, even fewer had conditions that Lü Zhong could meet.

But there was always an exception. The Celestial Blade Sect had just such an eccentric lineage.

As long as one paid enough Spirit Stones, this ”Celestial Derivation Lineage” would take any job, going so far as to expend their own lifespan to perform their unique ”Celestial Derivation Technique” and divine whatever secrets a client wished to know.

It was said that the Celestial Derivation Lineage acquired cultivation resources this way. As a result, the lineage had an unusually high number of Foundation Establishment True Cultivators, and over time, even their number of Golden Core Masters grew.

If they had ever produced a Nascent Soul True Monarch, they might have usurped the title of ”Number One Lineage” within the Celestial Blade Sect.

’Is this what you’d call cultivating by burning through your own lifespan?’ Lü Zhong wondered as he flew.

At this moment, he was flying above the vast Desert Sea.

The Celestial Blade Domain’s geography was unique, consisting mostly of arid desert terrain that saw no rain year-round. Cultivators and mortals lived together in oases, and the social structure was vastly different from the Six Domains of the South Barbarians.

In the Celestial Blade Domain, Mortal Realms did not exist.

Instead, there were only cities, towns, and villages of various sizes, each belonging to either a Cultivation Clan or a Sect. Moreover, cultivators and mortals lived together in all of them, regardless of the presence of a Spirit Vein.

The reason for this, naturally, was the special geographical environment of the Celestial Blade Domain.

The Celestial Blade Domain was overrun with Great Sand Worms.

Great Sand Worms were known for their tough hides and thick flesh. Combined with their enormous size, a terrifyingly resilient Life Force that made them nearly impossible to kill, and a deep-seated animosity toward water sources, they had earned the infamous moniker ”Oasis Devourers.”

As a result, to protect both the oases and the mortals who were the very foundation of the Cultivation Realm, the cultivators of the Celestial Blade Domain gradually developed this social structure to more efficiently defend against the Great Sand Worms.

And this change proved to be quite effective.

According to the records Lü Zhong had read, this was a great improvement from the era when cultivators and mortals lived apart—a time when countless oases were devoured. Today, the number of oases in the Celestial Blade Domain had not only stabilized but was actually on the rise, thanks to the proliferation of man-made Spirit Vein technology.

As he was thinking, a huge oasis appeared ahead.

This oasis was called Sand Lake, currently governed by the Celestial Derivation Lineage, which commanded numerous clans to defend it. It spanned for hundreds of miles and was home to millions of cultivators and mortals. The perimeter of the oasis was encircled by a hundred-foot-high stone wall to fend off Sand Worm invasions. Its interior was divided into various districts, each with a different function.

From afar, one could see that this was a bustling oasis.

At its sky-port, which rivaled that of Changchun Immortal City in scale, countless Flying Ships of all shapes and sizes were taking off and landing. The streets below bustled with pedestrians, and the shops lining them were all doing a roaring trade.

When he was still several miles from the oasis, Lü Zhong descended from the sky.

He landed on solid ground and began walking toward the oasis entrance.