Stealing Heavenly Secrets from Shading the Heavens Chapter 50

He immediately took the Hundred Herbs Diagram out of the Bitter Sea and unrolled the scroll, only to reveal a flicker of disappointment on Li Zhi's face.

Although the Small World in the painting had recovered a trace of spiritual energy, not a single herb in those medicine fields had reached the level of a spiritual medicine.

At the same time, Nangong Wentian finally managed to temporarily stabilize the injury on his Wheel of Life and reappeared.

Now, Nangong Wentian looked like a young man in his mid-twenties.

It was clear how much the previous injury had affected him.

Damage to the Wheel of Life, unless treated with a Saint Medicine-level Precious Medicine, would cling to him forever.

It would continuously drain his Lifespan.

For now, he had only managed to stop the injury from worsening before urgently setting out to find Li Zhi.

He wanted to extract Li Zhi's Life Origin to repair the cracks on his Wheel of Life.

If he succeeded, not only would his injury heal, but his physique would also grow stronger.

Following the traces Li Zhi had left behind, he tracked him all the way to the small town outside the Ancient Deep Forest.

Arriving at the Lingxu Inn, Nangong Wentian directly condensed an image of Li Zhi with his magic power and asked, "Tell This Seat, where is this child?"

"Esteemed guest, our Lingxu Inn operates with integrity and will never betray a guest's information," the innkeeper said, looking at Nangong Wentian's Sha Qi-filled face, neither servile nor arrogant.

Having stayed at the inn for over ten days, Li Zhi was not only digesting and absorbing various cultivation basics. Even his progress in the "Longevity Locking Body Art" had greatly improved, allowing him to lock in his own blood energy and various auras, preventing them from leaking out.

This was also why Nangong Wentian, after tracking Li Zhi's aura to the inn, suddenly lost his trail.

"Hmph!"

Nangong Wentian seemed dissatisfied with the innkeeper's answer and let out a cold snort. The innkeeper, as if struck in the chest by a heavy hammer, flew backward with a "thud" and slammed heavily into the wall behind him.

Blood gushed from his mouth, with more exhaled than inhaled—it seemed he wouldn't survive.

Nangong Wentian turned his gaze to the waiter beside him.

Intimidated by Nangong Wentian's presence, the waiter stammered, "E-Esteemed guest, t-that child checked out and left early yesterday morning."

"Where did he go?" Nangong Wentian asked.

"I don't know where he went," the waiter said fearfully.

"Is 'I don't know' that easy to say?" Nangong Wentian stared at the waiter, as if warning him whether he wanted to end up like the innkeeper.

The waiter turned pale with fear, cold sweat pouring down, and then said, "Senior, I am but an Ordinary person. I truly don't know where that child went. If Senior truly wishes to know his whereabouts, perhaps you could ask the Cultivators who have been staying in this town these past few days."

Nangong Wentian said nothing, as if waiting for the waiter's response.

The waiter seemed to recall something and scrambled to the counter, pulling out two sharp beast fangs from a box beneath it, saying, "These two beast fangs were what that child used to pay for his stay."

Nangong Wentian reached out, and the two beast fangs flew from the waiter's hand into his own.

Then, with a flash of green light, Nangong Wentian extracted a wisp of Li Zhi's aura from the fangs.

Earlier, the fangs had been stored in Li Zhi's Bitter Sea, and over time, they had inevitably absorbed some of his aura.

The two beast fangs then turned to powder, and Nangong Wentian's figure vanished from the Lingxu Inn.

Meanwhile, walking on the road to the Primordial Ruins, Li Zhi looked down at the beast-hide clothes he was wearing and felt they clashed with the dressing style of Yan State Cultivators.

So, Li Zhi changed course and headed for a nearby mortal city.

He planned to sell all the beast materials he had collected earlier in exchange for some cultivation resources—even the most basic Hundred Herbs Liquid would do.

Just as Li Zhi entered the mortal city, Nangong Wentian, who had been tracking his aura, suddenly lost his trail.

In the mortal world, all kinds of auras were the most mixed, easily masking a person's scent.

Especially for someone just starting on the Path of Cultivation, lingering too long in the mortal world could have their heart for the Dao worn away by the Red Dust Qi.

"Baozi, delicious baozi!"

"Come and take a look, don't miss out! Brocade Workshop's new styles—step inside, esteemed guests!"

"Earth Dragon Roast, delicious and nutritious!"

"Golden Preserved Fruit, made from carefully selected top-tier spirit fruits—everyone who tries it says it's great!"

Walking down the street, a vibrant and bustling picture of mortal life unfolded before him, leaving Li Zhi's mind slightly dazed.

Counting the year he had been trapped in the Mount Tai Secret Realm, Li Zhi had gone nearly two years without experiencing such a densely populated city life.

Although the cities of the Big Dipper were different from Earth's.

The people, however, were the same. The passage of time and space didn't erase that thick human warmth.

Though the pedestrians on the street were all Ordinary people, their complexions were far better than those of ordinary people on Earth.

Their physiques also far surpassed those of Earth's average humans.

There were plenty of elderly people over a hundred years old whose Footsteps were still nimble.

A land of outstanding people and abundant resources—there was truth to that.

Even if they couldn't step into the world of cultivation, living in a world so rich in spiritual energy gave ordinary people a far stronger mental state than those in the Age of Dharma Decline.

Li Zhi also noticed that the number of handsome men and beautiful women on the streets far exceeded that of Earth.

It seemed that under the nourishment of spiritual energy, everyone's features were quite well-proportioned.

No matter their height or build, very few people were truly ugly.

Walking down the street, Li Zhi, clad in a set of beast-hide clothes, had a bright, bald head atop his delicate little face, drawing quite a bit of attention.

Some bold older sisters and aunties, as they passed by Li Zhi, couldn't resist reaching out to touch his smooth, bald head.

They kept laughing and saying things like, "He's so adorable," "Whose little one is this?" and "Why is his little head so shiny? I want to take him home and pet him," which made Li Zhi's face flush red.

Faced with such enthusiastic aunties, Li Zhi could only make a quick "escape."

After all, he was just a seven-year-old kid who looked so cute that he barely aroused any wariness.

It seemed he couldn't keep the bald head anymore.

Those women's hands were really quite "meddlesome."

As if they didn't understand the taboo that a man's head shouldn't be touched.

Over the past year, it wasn't that his hair hadn't grown; he just found a bald head easier to manage, so he controlled his blood and qi to prevent hair growth.

After weaving through the overly enthusiastic crowd, Li Zhi began to wander around the city.

Finally, on an antique street, he spotted a shop that bought all kinds of fierce beast materials.

Soon, Li Zhi sold off the beast materials that weren't suitable for refining into magical tools, exchanging them for over a hundred gold coins.

Then, clutching his "fortune," he headed to the most famous Brocade Workshop in the city and directly bought thirty sets of clothes in various sizes.

Enough to last him until he grew up.

He changed into the popular clothing style of Yan State and put on a hat that could block the sun.

After lowering the hat's curtain, he finally stopped people from staring at his little bald head.

At just over a meter tall, he still seemed a bit short, making everything inconvenient.

After leaving the Brocade Workshop, Li Zhi suddenly sensed two people secretly following him from behind.

He quickened his pace and pricked up his ears to listen to their reactions.

"Brother Shun, that little one is walking fast."

"Follow him. That's a fat sheep. Don't lose him. Sell him off, and we'll live a good life for at least three years."

So they were human traffickers.

Li Zhi mused to himself that on this Ancient Beidou Star, kids really couldn't run around alone outside.

Human trafficking—truly an ancient trade.

Then, using a pace that was too fast for them to catch up on foot but too slow to make running too noisy, he kept them dangling far behind.

He led them a full two streets, leaving the two panting and gasping, hands on their hips and leaning against a wall as they cursed, before Li Zhi finally stopped.

Then he spotted a Bun Shop by the street.

He wondered what the difference was between buns on Beidou and those on Earth.

So, Li Zhi walked over to the Bun Shop and ordered four baskets of buns with different fillings, both meat and vegetable.

Seeing Li Zhi order so many buns, the shop owner spoke up to remind him, "Little brother, my buns are made with real ingredients. Can you really finish four baskets all at once? My buns taste best hot; once they cool, the flavor's only half as good."

"I can finish them. My appetite's huge—four baskets might not even be enough."

Each basket held eight buns, all about two inches in size. Li Zhi wolfed them down, two bites per bun, and soon finished one basket.

The flavor was indeed delicious, far better than the buns on Earth.

"Boss, are any of your bun fillings made with spirit beast meat?" After eating two baskets, Li Zhi suddenly asked.

"Little brother, you're joking. I'm just a small street-side shop. How could I afford spirit beast meat? If you want buns with spirit beast filling, you'll have to go to Taifeng Restaurant in the city. That's where they serve spirit meals, and even then, it's not available every day—you need to book ahead," the Bun Shop owner explained to Li Zhi.

Li Zhi nodded and said, "Boss, give me one more basket each of the beef filling, the braised meat filling, and the earth dragon meat filling."