Face Turned Green

Zhang Zhengyi had been so thoroughly hoodwinked that he couldn't tell east from west. He truly believed the identity Qin Yang had fabricated, and the moment he left, he vanished in a puff of smoke, charged up as if he'd been injected with chicken blood, off to gather intelligence...

Qin Yang stroked his chin. He was rather puzzled himself—what exactly was this Little Fatty thinking? Could he be trying to play him?

After thinking it over and over, even if he was being played, it would still benefit him at this stage. Little Fatty definitely didn't know that he had a more detailed and complete map.

Then just getting news of Purple Firmament Dao Lord and the Purple Firmament Dao Scripture had already made the price worthwhile.

Working with Little Fatty to fish in muddy waters was not entirely unacceptable either.

Holed up in Wang's residence, Qin Yang shut himself away without eating, taking Yellow Sprout Pills every day to raise his cultivation.

Among the pills usable during the Qi Cultivation Stage, the only ones that could truly be called pills were Qi Nurturing Pills. Anything worse could not even count as pills, merely medicinal pellets.

And the finest Qi Nourishing medicine was the Yellow Sprout Pill, which could greatly shorten the process of Qi Nourishing.

For truly major sects, or those with deep pockets, the journey from Qi Nourishing to Foundation Establishment was called Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment. In other words, from the first level of Qi Nourishing to forging a Dao Foundation, it took only one hundred days.

There had always been a debate in the cultivation world over whether the Qi Cultivation Stage before forging a Dao Foundation should count as a realm at all. In ancient times, the first realm of cultivators was forging a Dao Foundation; only after forging one did they truly begin cultivating immortality.

Yet for some unknown reason, people's constitutions later declined. Until now, the vast majority had become ordinary mortals like those of the present day, and only then was the Qi Cultivation Stage added as a realm.

Unfortunately, most Rogue Cultivators had to spend a very long time in the Qi Cultivation Stage. Without a decent cultivation method, forging a Dao Foundation was incomparably difficult and required pills for assistance.

There were thirty Yellow Sprout Pills in this bottle. Used sparingly at one per day, one bottle would last a month. A bottle cost forty Third Grade Spirit Stones—converted to First Grade Spirit Stones, that was four thousand.

Qin Yang's exclusive Worry-Free Business had high technical value and no competitors, yet even a single worry-free service earned only two or three hundred First Grade Spirit Stones.

But now that Qin Yang was freely consuming Yellow Sprout Pills, one bottle lasted at most three days. Every three or four days cost four thousand Spirit Stones; that came to tens of thousands a month. What Rogue Cultivator would dare eat them like this?

That was why everyone sharpened their heads trying to squeeze into sects. Even the worst sects provided at least some free pills...

Having finally earned money, Qin Yang could no longer spare the heart to mourn the expense. He began consuming Yellow Sprout Pills without restraint.

The effect was naturally outstanding. In just one day, he finally advanced to the seventh level of Qi Cultivation...

"The gap between having resources and not having them really isn't ordinary..."

In the blink of an eye, ten days passed. Qin Yang looked at the empty bottles before him, his face full of mixed feelings.

Over those ten days, Little Fatty had vanished who knew where. Ten Thousand Eternity Commerce's movements had shifted from open to covert, yet word had spread these past few days that Boundless Dao Academy disciples had suddenly become more numerous.

And in those ten days, he had finally advanced to the ninth level of Qi Cultivation. The next step was forging a Dao Foundation.

There was no turning back after Foundation Establishment. The cultivation method one chose for Foundation Establishment was equivalent to choosing one's future direction. Even if one changed cultivation methods later, if they were incompatible, cultivation would not only bring no benefit—it would instead cause harm. In serious cases, one might even suffer qi deviation.

More importantly, the quality of the Dao Foundation forged directly affected how far one could travel on the road ahead, and that was directly tied to the Foundation Establishment cultivation method.

Why were major sects always brimming with talent? Because major sects possessed many cultivation methods of sufficiently high grade. The Dao Foundations forged overall were far stronger than those of Rogue Cultivators outside, not merely by a little. The stronger the sect, the greater the chance that heaven's favored prodigies would emerge within it.

It would have been one thing if he had not known before, but now that he knew a Dao Scripture existed, if he did not fight for it, he would definitely regret it until his intestines turned green...

His cultivation could not be raised for the time being, so Qin Yang continued studying talismans.

He had bought quite a lot of materials. This time, he produced all thirty-six kinds of talismans he had learned in one go, making as many as he could. Without Magical Artifacts, good cultivation methods, or powerful secret arts, he could only follow the path of overwhelming his enemies with talismans—crushing them to death with money.

After making the talismans, Qin Yang continued studying Ink Talismans.

Ink Talismans were a more advanced method within the path of talismans. Ordinary talismans mostly possessed the power of only a single strike. Even talismans like Wind Travel Talismans could only be used once, and their effects lasted only a limited time.

Ink Talismans were more powerful and lasted longer. Some could even transform into restrictions and remain indefinitely. Though the power of restrictions could not compare to formations, their advantage was that they required no formation materials or the like. Some powerful experts could set down restrictions empty-handed.

Making Ink Talismans was more than a hundred times harder than making ordinary talismans. Every Ink Talisman was dozens of times larger than an ordinary talisman, while its structure was even more complex and intricate.

Qin Yang worked continuously for an entire day and only succeeded in making a single scroll of Ink Talismans.

Before he had time to test the power of this scroll of Ink Talismans, a knock sounded outside the door...

That Little Fatty, Zhang Zhengyi, had finally returned.

"Senior Brother, I finally overheard it!" Little Fatty was extremely excited. The moment he returned, he hurriedly brought the good news.

"What overheard? You gathered it." Qin Yang rebuked him before asking, "What intelligence did you gather?"

"Senior Brother was right!" Little Fatty gave him a thumbs-up, his eyebrows dancing with excitement. "I found out where Purple Firmament Dao Lord's Seated Transcendence Land is!"

"Tell me..."

"It's deep within the Nether Acacia Ghost Tomb west of Green Forest City!"

"The Nether Acacia Ghost Tomb?" Qin Yang's voice abruptly rose...

"Yes. Thinking it over, this is the only place it could be. I was wondering before why there seemed to be no mountain from the map near Green Forest City. Turns out it was inside there. I had heard before that the Nether Acacia Ghost Tomb formed in a very peculiar way. Other than entering from the front, if you entered from anywhere else, then after entering, it was no longer the Nether Acacia Ghost Tomb. So it was because Purple Firmament Dao Lord had undergone seated transcendence there..."

"Heh heh..." Qin Yang's smile was extremely forced...

"These past few days, people from Ten Thousand Eternity Commerce and Boundless Dao Academy have already gone in to probe the place. But somehow, they provoked the ghosts inside. I heard that one true disciple who came from Boundless Dao Academy had already reached the Three Yuan Stage. Unfortunately, not long after entering the Nether Acacia Ghost Tomb, he fled out badly injured. They say one of Dole Ghost King's generals made a move..."

"What happened? How did they clash with Dole Ghost King?"

"Who knows? But I overheard some things before. Apparently, Dole Ghost King had an agreement with Boundless Dao Academy: experts from Boundless Dao Academy could not casually step into the range of the Nether Acacia Ghost Tomb. As for those junior disciples, he could turn a blind eye. This time, they say Dole Ghost King's daughter was abandoned by someone, and she's been pestering Dole Ghost King until he's furious. They just happened to run into that..."

"Explain it clearly..."

"Uh, Senior Brother, don't be in such a hurry. What I heard was that they seem to have reached an agreement. If they find the person who abandoned the Ghost King's daughter, the Ghost King will let people pass. Otherwise, any cultivator above Foundation Establishment who enters will be crushed to death, one after another. But if you ask me, even if the Ghost King doesn't act, Foundation Establishment cultivators trying to cross all the way into the depths of the Nether Acacia Ghost Tomb will still have a hard time of it..."

"Do you know what the Ghost King's daughter is called?" Qin Yang's expression grew increasingly stiff as he cautiously asked...

"How would I know what she's called? But I heard her title is Imperial Concubine De..."

"Shouldn't Imperial Concubine De be the Ghost King's consort?" Qin Yang's face was beginning to turn green...

"What consort? Concubine is a title, something like an official rank, I suppose. It represents noble status. Senior Brother, if we find that Heartless Man and deliver him to Dole Ghost King, then wouldn't we... Huh, Senior Brother? What's wrong? Your complexion looks awful?"

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