A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

With a thought, Lü Zhong pulled the Small Seal into his hand. After a careful inspection, a look of surprise appeared on his face. The Small Seal was actually a Magical Treasure.

’It’s probably because the maggot King Beast was slain.’

The treasure appeared perfectly intact on the surface, but in reality, its internal Spirit Patterns were a chaotic mess and were even fractured in multiple spots.

A Magical Treasure like this could only be considered scrap.

But even so, this method of nurturing a Magical Treasure with flesh and blood was an eye-opener for Lü Zhong. He felt that the ultimate potential of such a treasure-nurturing technique likely went beyond just creating Magical Treasures.

’It could probably be mentioned in the same breath as the legendary Acquired Spiritual Treasure Refining Technique.’

He recalled that the King Beast had once been a subject of the Snow Saint.

It wasn’t hard to guess the origin of this treasure-nurturing method.

’If I get the chance, I must explore the depths of the wastelands in the future!’ Lü Zhong decided. He glanced at the Small Seal in his hand, wondering what to do with it.

To avoid missing out on a potential treasure, he decided to refine it anyway and uncover the Small Seal’s secrets.

After running a simulation in the Gray Mist Space to confirm there was no danger, Lü Zhong refined the Small Seal. A stream of information instantly flooded his mind, revealing the Magical Treasure’s name.

White Beast Seal.

”A One-layered Restriction Magical Treasure, and a damaged one at that,” Lü Zhong scoffed.

Due to its damaged internal Spirit Patterns, the treasure hadn’t manifested any Divine Power Techniques. Fortunately, when infused with Magical Power, it could freely change size to crush enemies, so it still possessed some degree of might.

He had originally planned to just destroy it, but seeing that the White Beast Seal still had some use, he changed his mind. ’It is a Magical Treasure, after all. I’ll just keep it and put it in the Bihai Sect’s Treasure Vault. Even if no one wants to exchange for it in the future, it would be nice to keep as a collector’s item.’

...

Late one night, Lü Zhong was expelling the parasites for Shuini.

After a full year of treatment, the Spirit Silks connecting the parasites to her Primordial Spirit had mostly withered away.

He expected Shuini would awaken soon.

Just then, Lü Zhong’s expression shifted. A look of surprise appeared on his face as he ended Shuini’s treatment early. He then turned, went to the Quiet Chamber, and opened his mouth to release a wisp of flame.

His eyes were now filled with anticipation as he murmured to himself:

”Is it finally going to undergo its metamorphosis?”

The Purple Nether Extreme Fire left his body and instantly swelled into a ball of flame about ten feet high.

But unlike before, its color was no longer pure purple. The original purple had faded slightly, and a nearly invisible hint of gold had appeared within it, turning the flame a shade of purple-gold.

’Since it’s undergone a metamorphosis, its old name isn’t quite fitting anymore... Purple-gold. From now on, I’ll call it Purple Gold Extreme Fire!’ Lü Zhong thought to himself as he watched the Spirit Fire’s metamorphosis.

The Spirit Fire’s metamorphosis was remarkably swift.

After a few breaths, Lü Zhong took the Purple Gold Spirit Fire back into his body.

Upon careful examination, he found that after the metamorphosis, the Spirit Fire’s firepower had risen to a new level. As a result, its Spirit Forging effect had also improved dramatically.

’Looks like I won’t have to worry about purifying my True Essence for a while,’ Lü Zhong thought happily.

But before he could enjoy the feeling for long, the giant ship, which had been sailing at high speed, suddenly began to slow down and soon came to a complete stop.

”What happened?”

Lü Zhong emerged from his cabin and asked the ship’s Steward.

”In response to your question, Sir, it’s the cultivators from the Celestial Origin Immortal Palace. They’re conducting a routine inspection.” The Steward, seeing it was the wealthy patron who had chartered the entire giant vessel, explained with a broad smile.

”An inspection... Will there be any trouble?” Lü Zhong asked.

”You have nothing to worry about on that account, sir. The Celestial Origin Immortal Palace is always reasonable. As long as our fleet has no cultivators on their wanted list, they’ll let us pass after we show them our papers and tokens,” the Steward said in a clear voice, seeming extremely confident.

Lü Zhong nodded slightly at his words.

Things unfolded just as the Steward had said. The Celestial Origin Immortal Palace was merely conducting a routine inspection. After activating a Magical Artifact to scan all the ships, they promptly let the fleet pass.

After another half a month of sailing, the fleet finally docked.

”So this is Yongchun Immortal Harbor?”

Lü Zhong walked down the gangplank, gazing at the magnificent Port City before him. He took in the sprawling pavilions and towers, the bustling, clamorous shopping streets, and the pedestrians thronging the avenues.

He was inwardly astonished. ’This place is far more prosperous than the Southern Barbarian lands.’

As far as he knew, even a harbor as prosperous as Yongchun Immortal Harbor was considered a remote backwater in Central Earth.

Lü Zhong recalled the prosperous scenes of Central Earth he had witnessed through his Eye of Incarnation. He couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. ’I suppose only a land so rich in natural treasures could consistently produce Divinity Transformation cultivators.’

An entrance fee was required to enter the Port City.

It wasn’t cheap—a full one hundred Spirit Stones.

Lü Zhong paid the fee and entered the Port City, but he was in no hurry to find a ship to take him out to sea.

While still on the ship, he had heard that an auction would soon be held in the Port City. The items on offer were supposedly of a high grade, and the event was organized for High-level cultivators, so he planned to attend.

’Maybe I’ll actually get my hands on something good.’

After asking around the city for a bit, Lü Zhong confirmed the auction would be held in half a month.

Next, he chose a good location and rented a cultivator’s abode.

Since he was willing to spend lavishly—a full one hundred Spirit Stones per day in rent—the abode he rented was not low-grade. This was reflected in its extremely high concentration of Spiritual Qi, which reached the level of a Tier Four Spiritual Vein.

Although for a Nascent Soul Cultivator, it was an amount that would be depleted with a single casual breath, living in such a spiritually rich environment was always better than staying in a place with impoverished Spiritual Qi.

...

「Late at night.」

Lü Zhong slowly withdrew from his cultivation.

With a flip of his hand, two Storage Rings appeared.

These two Storage Rings had belonged to Qingding and Wanmu.

Gazing at them, Lü Zhong felt a wave of emotion.

Before his trip to the Ten Thousand Witches Hall, his only thought had been to gather more Spiritual Objects to build up his strength. He never imagined that after a series of grueling battles, he would actually end up slaying two Nascent Soul cultivators.

’Life is truly unpredictable!’

Shaking his head, he banished the stray thoughts from his mind and began to refine the Storage Rings.

He opened them both in short order.

Judging by the inlaid Void Netherstones, the two Storage Rings had different capacities. Wanmu’s had a space of over ten thousand cubic meters, while Qingding’s was much smaller, at just under eight thousand.

They contained a great many items, and it took Lü Zhong a considerable amount of time just to take inventory.

The Spirit Stones totaled a little over three million.

To a Nascent Soul True Monarch, this many Spirit Stones was merely pocket change.

There were various Magical Artifacts, Talismans, and Pills... a motley assortment of varying types and grades.

Among these items were many Spirit Medicines gathered from the Ten Thousand Witches Hall, some of which were a thousand years old. He planned to save these Spirit Medicines to refine into Tier Four Pills later, which would help advance his cultivation.

Going through the items one by one, Lü Zhong picked out a few things that interested him.

First was a golden Jade Scroll from Wanmu’s Storage Ring. It recorded the first half of the refining method for the Spirit Treasure, the Eight Extremes Cauldron.

With the refining method, he could follow the instructions to create a Spirit Treasure. Unfortunately, the information was incomplete, containing only the first half of the method.

’If I had mastered the Acquired Spiritual Treasure Refining Technique, I could complete the refining method myself...’ Lü Zhong thought regretfully.

However, he was also keenly aware that it was an unspoken secret of the various Immortal Sects. His chances of obtaining the Acquired Spiritual Treasure Refining Technique were even lower than finding the other Jade Scroll to complete the Eight Extremes Cauldron’s refining method.

At this thought, Lü Zhong carefully put away the Eight Extremes Cauldron Jade Scroll.

He continued taking inventory.

Next was a tattered old Yellow Talisman.

It had no Spiritual Qi on its surface, nor any trace of being Divine Wondrous. To an outsider, it would seem like a useless piece of scrap. But in Lü Zhong’s eyes, this Talisman Paper held a hidden mystery.

Only when he activated his Celestial Net Secret Eye to observe it did he finally understand the hidden secret.

It turned out that cleverly hidden inside the Yellow Talisman was another Talisman, one as thin as a cicada’s wing and shimmering with silver light.

Judging from its restrained Spiritual Light, it was very likely a Tier Four Talisman.