Chen Ganliu left Suiyang Immortal Market and headed straight south for Shuangyun Mountain.
That had been where he cultivated in secret in his previous life. He was intimately familiar with every blade of grass and every tree there, and if he wanted to live in seclusion for a while, there was no better choice than Shuangyun Mountain.
He had heard his senior apprentice-sister mention that after discovering this place, she had not returned for several decades. Thus, he was not worried about running into his former-life wife.
This time, he had something weighing on his mind and did not waste any time. He kept Light Talismans on himself throughout the journey and raced onward at full speed. After only seven or eight days, he passed by Shuangyun Immortal Market at the foot of Shuangyun Mountain.
With something on his mind—and having visited Shuangyun Immortal Market countless times in his previous life, leaving nothing new to see—Chen Ganliu passed straight through without entering.
After passing Shuangyun Immortal Market, it took less than half a day for Chen Ganliu to climb Shuangyun Mountain. He hacked through the brambles and thorns all the way to Blazing Light Cave, deep within the mountain.
This place was a hidden refuge his senior apprentice-sister had discovered in her early years of roaming the cultivation world. Dozens of ancient trees encircled it, while a narrow stone path wound through a cramped ravine. Unless one knew the secret and searched carefully after landing, anyone gliding overhead would see only lush greenery and emerald carpets of grass.
Thus, even though Blazing Light Cave lay near Shuangyun Immortal Market, no one had ever managed to discover it. Its seclusion was plain to see.
Chen Ganliu had lived here for over forty years in his previous life. Returning to this old haunt inevitably stirred his emotions.
The place was exactly as it had been in his previous life. When he had accompanied his senior apprentice-sister here, the cave chambers had been spotlessly clean, with stone tables and stools. According to her, those furnishings had already been there; she had not arranged them herself.
No one knew what sort of person had originally owned Blazing Light Cave, nor how many years ago they had left. The two of them had searched through some ancient texts and questioned fellow disciples, and his senior apprentice-sister had even investigated with spells, but they had found no clues.
Blazing Light Cave had eighteen chambers, and, unusually, every one had an aperture admitting light. It was therefore not gloomy. Chen Ganliu chose the chamber where he had lived and cultivated alone in his previous life, then first piled all his gains on the floor.
This time, he had acquired seventeen Storage Magic Treasures in Suiyang Immortal Market. Most had sealing spells on them, making them impossible to open for the time being. Of the Storage Magic Treasures without restrictions, only five could be opened.
Setting aside the Storage Magic Treasures he could not open, among the five that he could, along with the more than a hundred magic treasures he had picked from corpses, most still bore the original owners' imprints of power. Only eleven magic treasures could be refined for his use.
He had more than a hundred Spirit Stones. High-grade Spirit Stones were exceedingly rare, but none of the Spirit Stones Chen Ganliu had obtained were such treasures. Two were mid-grade, both taken from the same Storage Ring. Spirit Stones of this quality held enough true qi for a great cultivator in the Golden Core Realm to recover all their true qi once, making them extraordinarily precious.
The rest were all Low-grade Spirit Stones, suitable only for cultivators at the Qi Condensation level.
There were countless miscellaneous items.
Chen Ganliu paid no attention to the Storage Bags, Storage Gourds, Storage Bracelets, various magic treasures, or Spirit Stones of different grades. Instead, he piled all the Green Jade Stones he had rummaged out—fully two or three hundred of them—in the cave chamber, nearly filling the entire place.
Chen Ganliu drew a deep breath, found a magic treasure shaped like an axe, selected a Green Jade Stone, and began carefully cutting it open.
This Green Jade Stone yielded only a piece of inferior material. He put the inferior material into an emptied Storage Bracelet, tossed the broken stone into a vacant chamber nearby, and went to select a second Green Jade Stone.
Chen Ganliu had purchased enough food and dry rations along the way and prepared an ample supply of fresh water. For the next two or three full months, he did not take a single step outside Blazing Light Cave.
What depressed him was that after cutting open every Green Jade Stone, he obtained fifty-six pieces of superior jade material, seventy or eighty pieces of medium-grade material, several hundred pieces of low-grade material, and countless pieces of inferior material—yet he found no trace of White Emperor's Legacy.
Chen Ganliu broke open the final Green Jade Stone and found nothing. It contained only wispy mineral veins, with no intact jade material. He let out a faint sigh, glanced at the Storage Magic Treasures whose restrictions he could not break, and thought, I wonder whether that Green Jade Stone is inside one of these sealed Storage Magic Treasures, or whether it has yet to make its way to Suiyang Immortal Market?
He suddenly found himself troubled.
Generally speaking, unless it was a major market, Suiyang Immortal Market rarely saw great cultivators above the Golden Core Realm. Only Qi Refining Realm cultivators came and went there.
All the Storage Magic Treasures Chen Ganliu had obtained had belonged to Qi Refining Realm cultivators. Even so, when it came to the restrictions laid down by cultivators above the Second Layer of Qi Condensation, he could only gaze across the sea at them in helpless despair.
In a few years, he might break through to the Second Layer of Qi Condensation and manage to open one or two Storage Magic Treasures. But what would he do about Storage Magic Treasures sealed by cultivators above the third layer, using their magical power?
Not to mention that among the twelve Storage Magic Treasures, several seemed to have been used by cultivators at the seventh or eighth layer. Other than gazing across the sea in helpless despair, Chen Ganliu was practically powerless. He now fervently hoped that the Green Jade Stone had not yet entered Suiyang Immortal Market. Otherwise...
With a sigh, Chen Ganliu first sorted through the gains in hand. He put all the "miscellaneous items" into a Storage Gourd. They included materials for refining magic treasures, Spirit Medicine, refined spirit pills, spirit talismans, three volumes of Daoist texts, everyday clothing, gold and silver, mundane weapons, and all manner of other things.
When he put away the three volumes of Daoist texts, he sighed faintly. In all the immortal-xia novels, fortuitous encounters always placed Daoist texts first. But he had truly cultivated for an entire lifetime and knew all too well that even if he possessed the strongest Daoist art under heaven, he could not even cultivate the Azure Emperor Jia Yi Art. How could he possibly have the time to split his focus?
He was devoting himself wholeheartedly and exerting every ounce of effort to cultivate the Azure Emperor Jia Yi Art. In this life, he might not even reach perfection in Qi Condensation; it was still uncertain whether he could cultivate beyond the Third Layer of Qi Condensation. Even if the Bronze Drum Sect's Chaotic Heavens Five-Element True Formula from back then were placed before him, where would he find the lifespan to cultivate it?
What was more, how could the Daoist arts carried by these wandering cultivators compare with the true inheritance of the Immortal Encounter Sect?
Though reason told him this, his curiosity still compelled Chen Ganliu to flip through the three volumes of Daoist texts in his hands.
One volume contained a heterodox cultivation art. The Qi Refining Technique recorded within was much the same as the Six Harmonies Qi Refining Technique he had cultivated in his previous life. But the Six Harmonies Qi Refining Technique was the Immortal Encounter Sect's entry-level method and could at least be cultivated to perfect Qi Condensation. The Immortal Encounter Sect even had subsequent methods beyond Qi Condensation. This heterodox Qi Refining Technique, however, could only be cultivated to the sixth layer of Qi Condensation, with no method beyond it.
Aside from this wretched Qi Refining Technique, there were more than a dozen heterodox spells. Three talismans among them made Chen Ganliu's eyes brighten slightly.
These three talismans could be separated, but were actually one unified whole. They were named Soul Capture, Soul Bewilderment, and Heart Bewilderment!
They were extremely easy to begin cultivating and could be cultivated into the three spells of Soul Capture, Soul Bewilderment, and Heart Bewilderment.
The three spells had similar effects, all rendering people dazed and foolish, obediently following orders. Soul Capture required some preparation, but its effects lasted a long time. Soul Bewilderment took effect immediately, but if the target possessed a firm will or had magical power protecting them, it was prone to fail, and its duration was short. The victim would remain muddle-headed for a while before waking on their own. Heart Bewilderment was weaker; anyone struck by it also needed words to goad them and disrupt their state of mind.
When the three spells were combined, they could be refined into a small magic treasure—the Soul Stirring Banner.
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