A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

Hearing this, the three clan leaders were all stunned. They had never expected such a reward.

It was incredibly generous!

Due to the barren spiritual environment and the harsh, cold climate of the Northern Border, the price of a Foundation Establishment Pill in the Xiyang Country’s Cultivation Realm had always remained high. A single pill sold for at least fifty thousand Spirit Stones.

For Qi Refining Clans like theirs, the annual surplus was at most a thousand or so Spirit Stones.

Now, just by serving as Dharma Protectors for ten years, they could earn a Foundation Establishment Pill.

To think they would actually stumble upon such good fortune!

”Thank you, Senior, but... is ten years really enough? How about we extend it to fifty?” the Gao Family Patriarch said cautiously. He felt uneasy accepting a Foundation Establishment Pill so easily.

After all, even if they truly stood guard for fifty years, the labor involved would equate to a thousand Spirit Stones annually, which was the yearly income of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

He was merely a Qi Refining Seventh Level Cultivator who normally earned only three to five hundred Spirit Stones a year. This task would effectively double his income.

Moreover, the task was simply to stand guard by the shores of Molin Lake.

For their three families, this was already part of their daily routine.

Hearing this, Lü Zhong just chuckled softly. A Foundation Establishment Pill was an extremely rare and precious item to these low-level cultivators, something they might even risk their lives for. But to a cultivator like him, who spent money like dirt and casually consumed tens of millions of Spirit Stones on alchemy each year, it was a trivial sum not even worth a second thought.

He didn’t respond to the three of them.

”I don’t want anyone approaching this place for the next ten years!”

With those words, Lü Zhong abruptly transformed into a streak of starlight. After a few flickers, he plunged into the lake and vanished.

Seeing the senior depart, the three clan leaders looked at the crater, then at each other, and finally gave wry smiles in unison. They had no choice but to swallow the words of gratitude they had prepared.

”This senior is truly generous.” The Zhao Family Patriarch stared at the crater, then turned to his two old friends, his gaze burning. ”I imagine none of us can refuse the reward of a Foundation Establishment Pill, can we? Let me be blunt: I, Zhao Li, do not want to see anyone reporting this to the Little Yuan Palace.”

The Little Yuan Palace was the Nascent Soul Sect that ruled over Xiyang Country and eight other nations.

When a strange, high-level cultivator appeared within their territory, the subordinate clans and sects had an obligation to report it, usually receiving some kind of reward for doing so.

”Brother Zhao, I can guarantee that the Wang Family will do no such thing!” the Wang Family Patriarch declared, thumping his chest.

”Brother Wang, Brother Zhao, do you really think my Gao family would stoop so low?” the Gao Family Patriarch laughed heartily.

A single Foundation Establishment Pill was worth fifty thousand Spirit Stones. The Gao family might not be able to save that much even in fifty years. Who would throw away their family’s future hope for such a paltry gain?

The three of them immediately decided to block any news from getting out and began discussing the finer details.

...

「At the bottom of Molin Lake.」

Lü Zhong had carved out an underwater abode here.

Using the Gray Mist Space to eavesdrop on the three men’s transmissions from the shore, he revealed a satisfied smile. ’He who understands the times is a wise man. The patriarchs of the Zhao, Wang, and Gao families seem to be quite sensible.’

’This will save me a lot of trouble.’

Next, Lü Zhong shifted his gaze to his left, looking at Shuini, who remained with her eyes tightly shut. A puzzled expression appeared on his face. Her condition seemed completely normal, yet for some reason, she just couldn’t wake up.

’Hmm, I’ll have to use True Retrospection to find the cause.’

Before that, however, he had to grind away the black qi in his Sea of Consciousness and Dantian that was sealing his Divine Sense and cultivation. Only then would he have enough Spiritual Power to sustain the consumption of True Retrospection.

Incidentally, he also needed to heal the hidden injuries in his body.

In this regard, because he had consumed a bottle of Panacea, the healing process wouldn’t be difficult. It would just take some patient, methodical work, slowly nourishing his body with Spiritual Qi.

The days passed one by one.

Besides his daily meditation to grind away the black qi, Lü Zhong also used his Incarnation, which he had left behind in the Southern Barbarian lands, to monitor the situation there.

In retrospect, the opening of the Ten Thousand Witches Hall had been a complete trap.

After swallowing a large number of Nascent Soul Cultivators, the vast Ten Thousand Witches Hall was enveloped in a Barrier. This Barrier was connected to the Spiritual Energy Great Wall, and its defenses were so formidable that even a Divinity Transformation Grand Venerable in person would have to expend great effort to break it.

The only piece of good news was that the leaks and holes that had appeared all over the Spiritual Energy Great Wall—which had been part of the trap’s bait—were repaired at the same time the Ten Thousand Witches Hall’s Barrier activated.

The problem of Evil Spirits, which had plagued the Southern Barbarian Immortal Cultivation World for decades and caused tens of millions of deaths, was finally resolved.

From this perspective, the Nascent Soul cultivators had, in a way, made a contribution to the Southern Barbarian lands this time.

It was a rare and commendable outcome.

Furthermore, as far as Lü Zhong knew,

aside from himself, there was still no news from anyone else—be it those from the Daoist Sects, people like Zhuyuan and Huoyaozi, or the Nascent Soul Cultivators from Central Earth who had come seeking treasure.

’They must still be inside that ”darkness.”’

The disappearance of the Nascent Soul True Monarchs who had kept the regions in check was undoubtedly an earth-shattering event for the vast Southern Barbarian Immortal Cultivation World. Many clans and sects saw this as a once-in-a-millennium opportunity to rise. On top of that, some external forces had intervened, secretly stirring up trouble in the Southern Barbarian lands.

Betrayal, usurpation, declarations of orthodoxy...

In a short time, the flames of war raged across the entire Southern Barbarian territory.

The turmoil stretched from True Spirit Sect in the west to Changchun Valley in the east.

Even the Bihai Sect, in its corner across the sea, experienced significant internal strife.

The Bihai Sect was a sect with an insufficient foundation. Even though Lü Zhong had forcibly elevated it to the status of a Nascent Soul Sect, it still lacked enough Core Formation Cultivators. As a result, a sect controlling the Bihai trade with an annual income in the tens of millions of Spirit Stones was inevitably seen as a juicy prize by outsiders.