The Roads of Their Respective Futures

Several days later, in an inn at Yellow Maple Valley's market district, several Qi Refining Late-stage elders serving as the Li Family's current stewards were sweating profusely as they apologized to Liu Jing.

Li Huayuan had yet to produce any direct descendants, and those in the Li Family with close blood ties to him had long since been buried. Compared with those distantly related, weakly cultivated Li Family members, he was closer to his own disciples, who were also far more useful.

These Li Family stewards did not dare imagine how furious their Ancestor would be upon learning that Li Family members had colluded with an Evil Cultivator to harm his disciple. That was why they stubbornly begged Liu Jing to plead for them before their Ancestor.

"His family affairs are not mine to interfere with. All I can do is report the matter truthfully, without favoring either side. The rest will be for my master to decide. Junior Disciple Li still needs to recuperate, so take her back and care for her properly. I will remain in the market district for several more days. Nephew-disciple Luo must stay behind to attend to me. As for Li Mingjing's death, you can ask him."

Liu Jing pointed at Yu Ying, who clung to Li Xiaowan like a plaster, making it clear that he intended to shield Luo Hong.

It was already good enough that he had agreed to remain impartial. Afraid of angering Liu Jing, the Li Family stewards did not dare voice any objections.

They had never been displeased that Luo Hong had killed Li Mingjing. If anything, they were the ones who had most wanted Li Mingjing dead.

"Uncle-master Liu, if there are any spiritual items you wish to purchase, this junior can handle it for you."

Watching the Li Family Sisters and Yu Ying leave, Luo Hong thought of the Yellow Dragon Pill in his Storage Bag and knew that this rescue operation had come to an end.

Once he returned, he would inevitably need to cultivate bitterly for a long while. Taking the chance to properly explore the market district and broaden his horizons was undoubtedly a good choice.

"Tomorrow, I will attend a private Trade Fair for Foundation Establishment Cultivators. You can come along and gain some experience. If you are able, Find a way to prepare some Spirit Stones. Some rare spirit pills and Spiritual Herbs will appear there. Trade Fairs at the Foundation Establishment level are not common, so do not miss this chance."

After giving his instructions, Liu Jing left the inn alone. The places he was headed were not ones Qi Refining Stage Cultivators could afford, and he did not want Luo Hong to Waste Time following him around.

However, Liu Jing did not know that, given Luo Hong's wealth, even Foundation Establishment-level expenditures in Spirit Stones would at most make him feel a slight sting.

Generally speaking, a Qi Refining Stage Cultivator carrying more than a hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones would inspire immense envy among cultivators of the same rank and might even invite a deadly disaster.

Foundation Establishment stage Cultivators who kept six or seven hundred Spirit Stones in their Storage Bags would dare attend auctions. If they possessed one or two thousand Spirit Stones, then hardly anyone could compete with them for Foundation Establishment-level spiritual items.

Those who could produce more than ten thousand Spirit Stones at once were either medium-sized factions or wealthy Core Formation Stage great cultivators!

If Li Huayuan carried twenty thousand Spirit Stones on him, he would be able to speak a little more forcefully before cultivators of the same rank.

Of course, that was only in terms of Spirit Stones. The owners of many truly rare spiritual items would only accept barter.

Spirit Stones could not define the entirety of a Cultivator's wealth, and the higher one's cultivation, the truer that became.

In Yellow Maple Valley's market district, a spiritual item at the level of a top-grade Magic Artifact could serve as the prized treasure of a large shop.

However, purchasing such prized treasures would draw tremendous attention from others. Luo Hong's Spirit Stones had not come from an entirely proper source, so he would not take that risk.

Even so, after spending a day browsing the market district, Luo Hong still gained a great deal.

Everything he purchased was an inconspicuous low-grade spiritual item. He did not buy much of any one kind, but he had acquired nearly every type available in the market district.

"These low-grade spiritual items probably cost me nearly a thousand Spirit Stones altogether. Even Foundation Establishment stage Cultivators cannot easily bear Such A price, but studying their respective material properties will allow my cultivation physics to take the crucial First Step."

Before joining Yellow Maple Valley, Luo Hong had conducted several sets of control experiments using ordinary iron and spirit iron.

After taking measurements, he found that ordinary iron and spirit iron were completely identical in appearance, density, and specific heat capacity. Yet they differed enormously in acid resistance, hardness, melting point, and cold resistance.

Taking acid resistance as an example, when ordinary iron and spirit iron were immersed in the same acidic solution, both showed signs of corrosion, but spirit iron corroded more than ten times slower than ordinary iron.

Similar differences also appeared in subsequent melting, cold-resistance, and other experiments.

Ancient records often described ordinary iron mines transforming into spirit iron mines after a Spirit Vein shifted course and subjected them to prolonged infiltration by Spiritual Qi. Luo Hong had no choice but to admit that Spiritual Qi, as a form of energy, could affect matter on the atomic level—or perhaps at an even more microscopic and fundamental particle level—allowing it to greatly alter a material's properties.

Thus, Luo Hong formed a hypothesis: in the microscopic world, Spiritual Qi existed in a Spirit Particle state and possessed the property of being able to attach itself to nearly all atoms.

Researching Spirit Particles would be extraordinarily difficult. Whether in time or Spirit Stones, the cost would be a staggering figure that would make anyone shrink back.

Yet the potential gains beyond those difficulties were so immense that Luo Hong would persist no matter what, because once he achieved results, it would be equivalent to pushing open the door to microscopic cultivation. He would be only half a step away from touching the root of the Mortal World.

"For the next few years, my primary goal is to pave the way for my own Foundation Establishment. My secondary goal is to complete the first phase of the external meridian circulation project. Researching Spirit Particles is a long-term goal beyond even that; for now, I will mainly collect relevant data, and it must not affect my primary or secondary goals."

After sorting through his tangled thoughts, Luo Hong looked at the notebook whose ink had yet to dry and nodded. He now had a clearer direction for the road ahead.

Toward evening, Liu Jing returned to the inn With a Face full of disappointment. He had visited several secret shops in succession that day and found nothing at all, leaving him no choice but to pin his hopes on tomorrow's Trade Fair.

But the moment he thought of the Trade Fair, his expression changed from disappointment to gloom.

"I never expected people from both the Moon Concealing Sect and Spirit Beast Mountain to come This Time. I do not know what treasure they are after, but they will surely contend for the Spiritual Herbs and spirit pills I need. In that case, the Spirit Stones I prepared will not be enough."

Liu Jing hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he could not let go of this opportunity that came only once every ten years. He turned and left the inn again.

"No, This Time I must obtain several Pills that can increase my cultivation, so I can prepare to overcome the bottleneck of the Foundation Establishment Late-stage. Sigh, this unfilial descendant must sell off ancestral possessions again."

The reason Liu Jing felt so pressed was entirely due to the influence of Old Ghost Blood, the Foundation Establishment Evil Cultivator.

Though that man's crimes were monstrous, he could still be considered an Owl. Yet he had been utterly unable to overcome a Foundation Establishment Late-stage bottleneck and had been trapped by it for nearly a hundred years.

My ambition is to break through to Core Formation and bring glory to my family. I absolutely cannot stagnate at the Foundation Establishment Mid-stage.

At that thought, all hesitation vanished from his face.

The ancestral property I sell today, I will repay to the family tenfold once I form my Core!