Departure "Contract signing message received. If you want to invest, hurry up."

In fact, Lu Zhou's initial limit when taking Hundred Herbs Liquid each time was about the same as Pang Bo's in the original story.

At most, he could take seven bottles at a time before he started having trouble enduring the medicinal power.

However, after using Great Emperor-level comprehension once, he had thoroughly comprehended the first three volumes of the Dao Sutra and was cultivating the complete Wheel Sea Scroll of the Dao Sutra.

As a result, his speed of refining Hundred Herbs Liquid was far beyond Pang Bo's.

As his cultivation deepened, his speed of refining Hundred Herbs Liquid also grew faster and faster.

This meant that Lu Zhou needed more cultivation resources each month.

Empress's Sacred Spring was far too precious, and Lu Zhou would have important uses for it in the future. He saved as much of it as he possibly could.

Even with his monthly allocation of thirty bottles of Hundred Herbs Liquid, it was still somewhat insufficient for Lu Zhou.

Over these past days, after using up his Hundred Herbs Liquid, he had also cultivated with the sacred spring.

Fortunately, the consumption of these resources had brought Lu Zhou extremely good returns.

Just over a month after Ye Fan and Pang Bo went to cultivate at Lingxu Cliff, Lu Zhou had relied on pouring resources into his cultivation and practicing diligently every day without fail to enter the Life Spring Realm.

It had been exactly eight months since he arrived in the Big Dipper!

If he remembered correctly, Ye Fan had only broken through to the Life Spring Realm two years after arriving in the Big Dipper!

Inside the quiet room, Lu Zhou sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion. Vital Energy surged through his body, while at the very center of his Bitter Sea, a spring eye gushed continuously. It connected to his Wheel of Life, spraying out streams of rosy light wrapped in hazy, multicolored mist.

A moment later, he opened his eyes. Divine light shone brilliantly within them, like two bolts of lightning shooting forth, especially dazzling in the quiet room.

After entering the Life Spring Realm, Lu Zhou's physique was flawless, free of dust and impurity. His entire body was crystalline and radiant, like a magnificent work of art.

He rose to his full height. Though his face still looked like that of an eleven- or twelve-year-old boy, he was already over five and a half feet tall.

His aura became even more imposing. As he stepped outside, a divine rainbow surged from his Life Spring, enveloping him and slowly lifting him into the air.

This was an entirely new experience. It was the first time he had flown into the sky using his own power.

Gale winds made his robes flutter loudly. Mountains and earth lay beneath his feet, and when he gazed into the distance, his field of vision broadened. Every blade of grass and tree entered his sight.

Looking down upon the mountains and land from this new perspective gave him the feeling that heaven and earth were his to roam.

Half an hour later, he returned to his quiet room. In his mind echoed the lofty words recorded in the Dao Sutra: one vessel to break ten thousand techniques; when my flower blooms, all other flowers perish.

As a transmigrator with a golden finger, Lu Zhou naturally had one common flaw shared by most transmigrators.

He wanted to compete with the protagonist in every way.

It was not that he was jealous of Ye Fan. He simply possessed a competitive spirit.

Even though he knew what accomplishments Ye Fan would achieve in the future.

He still wanted to compete.

Just like whenever he said he would take Ye Fan and Pang Bo as his lackeys, Ye Fan would always retort with one sentence.

"You've only taken one step ahead. Who knows what the future holds?"

Who knew what the future held?

Lu Zhou refused to believe that he, a cheat-user who knew the general course of Covering the Heavens and understood some of its important opportunities, would be inferior to Ye Fan in the future.

He shook his head and stopped dwelling on it.

He summoned the Qiankun Pearl and continued imprinting within it the nine Emperor characters from the Dao Sutra, as well as the several hundred characters of scripture he had obtained from the Bronze Coffin.

Ever since he had successfully opened his Bitter Sea several months ago and Divine Patterns had condensed within it, he had been doing this in his spare time while cultivating.

He, too, wanted to walk the path of one vessel breaking ten thousand techniques.

He did not have the Source Root of Myriad Mother Qi that the Empress had prepared for Ye Fan, nor did he possess the immortal gold used by Great Emperors to forge their exclusive Emperor weapons.

But he felt that the Qiankun Pearl he had received by signing in within the Nine Dragon Coffin was also extraordinary.

Not only did the Qiankun Pearl contain a world of its own, but like the Source Root of Myriad Mother Qi, it also possessed the ability to grow.

He had long discovered that after he stored Empress's Sacred Spring within the Qiankun Pearl, the Vital Energy evaporating from the sacred spring caused the Qiankun Pearl's space, which had originally only spanned one li, to expand slightly.

Though that "slightly" was minuscule, Lu Zhou had still noticed it.

Furthermore, because of the system, the Qiankun Pearl had completely bound itself to him and fit him perfectly. It was like a part of his body, like his own hands.

Under such circumstances, it was even more suitable for him to refine into his sole supreme weapon!

Lu Zhou believed that his Qiankun Pearl possessed growth potential no weaker than the Cauldron of Myriad Mother Qi.

"Now that I've entered the Life Spring Realm, I can not only fly, but I also have some fighting strength in Yan Kingdom. I've also thoroughly comprehended the Xingzi Secret using my final dose of Great Emperor-level comprehension."

"Lingxu Grotto-Heaven is still too small. It cannot provide the resources needed to satisfy my next stage of rapid cultivation!"

"If I remain in Lingxu Grotto-Heaven, it will not only limit my cultivation speed, but it will also be inconvenient for me to test the power of the Qiankun Pearl and the Xingzi Secret!"

"It's time to leave."

This was not a whim that had suddenly struck Lu Zhou.

He had planned it long ago.

Whether because he knew the general course of Covering the Heavens or because he possessed a Sign-in System, once he had acquired a certain degree of strength, he was destined to leave this beginner village!

Moreover, just a few days ago, the headmaster of Lingxu Grotto-Heaven had mentioned Yaoguang Holy Land before Lu Zhou, explaining that Lingxu Grotto-Heaven was actually one of the many sects affiliated with Yaoguang Holy Land.

Lu Zhou, who had read the original novel of Covering the Heavens, naturally knew this long ago. He also knew that Yaoguang had been infiltrated by the Ruthless Emperor lineage.

Yet the headmaster of Lingxu Grotto-Heaven believed that Lu Zhou knew nothing of this.

He mentioned Yaoguang Holy Land to Lu Zhou because he intended to recommend Lu Zhou to cultivate there once he broke through to the Life Spring Realm or the Divine Bridge Realm.

Lu Zhou would have to be an idiot to listen to him and go to Yaoguang.

If he were to go, it would have to be after he was confident that he could suppress the Ruthless Emperor lineage.

This was also one of the reasons that pushed Lu Zhou to decide to leave Lingxu Grotto-Heaven as soon as possible.

After making his decision, Lu Zhou did not delay any longer.

That evening, after Pang Bo and Ye Fan returned from cultivating at Lingxu Cliff, Lu Zhou directly told them that he was preparing to leave Lingxu Grotto-Heaven.

Both of them were shocked by Lu Zhou's sudden decision. They could not understand why he wanted to leave when he had been doing perfectly well in Lingxu Grotto-Heaven.

They asked Lu Zhou why.

Lu Zhou merely smiled and told them.

"This world is vast and magnificent. I want to see it. Lingxu Grotto-Heaven is too small. My future lies among the stars and the sea."

This time, Pang Bo and Ye Fan did not retort to Lu Zhou. They fell silent.

That night, the three of them lay on the roof and drank heavily beneath the moonlight, sharing the spirit wine Lu Zhou had brought out as a farewell.

Pang Bo and Ye Fan both got drunk and said many drunken things.

When they woke the next day, Lu Zhou had already left Lingxu Grotto-Heaven under cover of night.

This departure would not be a final farewell. Lu Zhou would return and repay some of the karmic debts he owed Lingxu Grotto-Heaven.