Magical Artifacts! Secret Techniques! Challenges! A Date with Death! The Fourth Life Ends!! [Please Vote!]

"It's been over ten years since I last went. Several of the markets have become much more impressive."

Zhao Xiaoshuang had returned, full of emotion.

She and Qian Yu had gone to the area around Ghost Mother Mountain once, thirteen years ago. Back then, both of them had only just advanced to True Essence. They had seen plenty along the way, and the bustling markets around Ghost Mother Mountain had opened their eyes even wider.

This time, only thirteen years later, they had found plenty of new and unfamiliar things, as well as many changes. By comparison, the thirty-thousand-li territory under Tianlin Cave felt a little dull, unchanged year after year.

"Most of the Rogue Cultivators who gather around Ghost Mother Mountain don't want to be bound. They're devoted to freedom, and they dare to venture out and fight for what they want."

"Most of the True Essence and True Qi cultivators under Tianlin Cave stay in the stockades. They're good at governing the herdsmen, but when it comes to cultivation, temperament, and methods, most of them can't compare to the people around Ghost Mother Mountain."

Meng Nan had lived in both places and knew their differences best.

For Rogue Cultivators, venturing out to cultivate around Ghost Mother Mountain was more dangerous, but their chances of achieving Qi Refining were far greater than if they stayed in a region like Tianlin Cave.

"Once we're done building the city, we should go over there and set up a market too."

Meng Nan said it aloud, and he truly meant it.

Tianlin Cave.

Ghost Mother Mountain.

Then they could venture even farther, and see a wider world.

"Not just Ghost Mother Mountain. While we're still alive, we have to get out there and see the world."

"Beyond Cha Mountain and Ghost Mother Mountain, there must be even more exciting places!"

Zhao Xiaoshuang felt the same way.

In this life, Zhao Xiaoshuang had grown more capable and valiant. She came and went with dust on her clothes, yet her spirits remained high, as if she had endless energy.

She eagerly told Meng Nan about everything she had seen during the three years of travel, there and back, then spoke dreamily of the world beyond this little corner of existence.

The two chatted for a while.

Only then did Zhao Xiaoshuang return to the matter at hand. "Everything we brought back is here."

When she and Xu Rong had left, they had been accompanied by more than twenty Inner Qi and True Qi cultivators, each carrying a full load of building materials.

But when they returned,

all they had was a cloth pouch the size of a palm.

"This is—"

Meng Nan's expression shifted. He took it in his hand and swept it with his True Qi, sensing a space within that could be round or square, changing at will. It was filled with Spirit Sand, bottles and jars, and stacks of jade slips.

Spirit Sand.

Pills.

Cultivation arts.

Techniques.

It had everything.

Even the pouch in Meng Nan's hand was an extraordinary magical artifact called a Storage Bag. Rarely seen and a practical artifact that cultivators below the Immortal Master level could only hope to come across, it contained a small pocket space where one could store various odds and ends.

The Storage Bag's inner space was about one cubic meter, perfect for storing precious, compact items like Spirit Sand, pills, and jade slips.

"When Xu Rong and I reached Jinhua Market, they happened to be holding an auction. This Storage Bag was one of the final treasures up for sale. I paid three jin and seven liang of Spirit Sand for it."

Three jin and seven liang of Spirit Sand!

In gold, that was three million seven hundred thousand liang.

Spirit Sand was easy to trade for gold, but gold was hard to trade for Spirit Sand.

In the third life, more than ten True Essence cultivators and hundreds of True Qi cultivators ran the vast Qingtian Market, yet in a whole year, excluding gold, they only earned seven or eight liang of Spirit Sand.

And more than half of that came from the Spirit Sand Vein beneath Qingtian Market, in Qingtian Mountain.

That showed just how hard Spirit Sand was to earn.

This Storage Bag alone was worth four or five years of Qingtian Market's Spirit Sand income. It was truly valuable.

Of course,

it also showed just how badly Meng Nan had been embezzling!

Still, an artifact like the Storage Bag couldn't kill enemies, defend against attacks, or carry its user along. Its only function was storage. You could say it was useful, but you could also say it was useless.

But Meng Nan and the others would soon be fencing their goods frequently, and a Storage Bag like this would undoubtedly be a great help.

Three or four jin of Spirit Sand.

Not a bad deal.

And the gains from this trip went beyond the Storage Bag.

Spirit Sand, pills, cultivation arts, techniques, pill recipes, and methods of artifact refinement.

All in all, they'd made a killing.

"There's not much else worth mentioning."

"But one of the jade slips recorded the refinement method for a magical artifact called a Soul Banner. I took a look. The materials are too hard to find, and the requirements are extremely strict. I doubt we'll be able to use it."

"But didn't you want something like this? So I brought it back."

"Quite a few things had to be bartered for other goods, then traded again before we could get Spirit Sand. We were in a hurry, so we took some losses along the way. But I did as you said and didn't worry about it."

"It was easy enough to come by, anyway."

Zhao Xiaoshuang grinned.

The trip had opened her eyes and let her flaunt her wealth. She had also drawn the attention of others and gotten into quite a fight.

A thoroughly exhilarating time.

She couldn't get enough of it.

The other details didn't matter.

"A Soul Banner."

Meng Nan's heart stirred. He took out a jade slip and pressed it to his brow.

After a while,

he opened his eyes, delighted.

The Soul Banner was a demonic magical artifact. Once refined, it could capture souls and turn them into ghosts and baleful fiends, which would help its master slay enemies.

If successfully refined, its power would be immense.

If it held ten or a hundred baleful spirits, each with the fighting strength of a True Essence cultivator, one could imagine the power it would wield.

But it was incredibly difficult.

Refining it was hard—

the materials and techniques were the problem.

The materials were hard to find.

The techniques were hard to learn.

Only an expert proficient in artifact refinement could personally make one with any hope of success.

If an amateur tried, they'd just be wasting materials.

And that was only the first difficulty.

The second was raising the baleful spirits.

From the quality of the captured souls, to the tricks and methods used in the process, to the care and feeding of the spirits—

there were simply too many obstacles at every turn.

And in the end, one still had to guard against the spirits turning on their master.

"This is no easy feat!"

"If this Soul Banner were refined, I'm afraid its power wouldn't be much weaker than the Giant Spirit God secret technique."

"But it's no less difficult to master than the Giant Spirit God!"

Meng Nan shook his head.

To gain strength, one had to put in the corresponding effort.

That went for secret techniques.

And magical artifacts, too.

"In short, it's not easy."

"Among those in Tianlin Cave, Zhu Keda may be the only one who could refine it."

Zhao Xiaoshuang shook her head.

She wasn't impressed by the artifact.

With that time and effort, it would be better to take the Giant Spirit God to the next level. That would increase their strength directly.

A Soul Banner?

Too ethereal!

"No rush."

Meng Nan was still pleased and put away the jade slip.

Time passed.

Three years after she left, she returned.

In the second year after her return, Zhao Xiaoshuang grew restless again and set out once more, leading a group to and from Ghost Mother Mountain.

Meng Nan, meanwhile, continued his hard cultivation.

With the supplies he had embezzled constantly backing him, he cultivated at incredible speed.

Water Mirror.

Silver Mirror.

Plateau.

In just four years, Meng Nan had completed True Qi Accumulation.

After that—

he refined his flesh.

His sinews.

His skin.

His bones.

With the help of Spirit Sand and pills, he advanced one level each year.

By the ninth year of his fourth life, he had already begun refining his internal organs.

By then, Meng Nan's muscles were firm and full, his reflexes quick. His fascia stretched and snapped back with force, giving him explosive strength and agility. His skin was tough, greatly increasing his resistance to blows. His bones were hard, increasing his piercing power and agility, as well as his resistance to blows. His bones were like steel.

Even without relying on Inner Qi or True Qi, Meng Nan could now overpower most Inner Qi cultivators with his body alone.

It was a transformation of the body.

And a small step from mortal to immortal.

But once he reached the internal organs, cultivation involved the viscera, and his progress slowed once more.

Meng Nan spent freely, but he wasn't impatient. He studied the details carefully, bit by bit.

After reaching True Qi Body Cleansing, his lifespan in the future timeline increased once more, rising to ten years.

He still had almost two years to refine his internal organs.

If he succeeded, he could move on to blood exchange and marrow cleansing, and his True Qi Stage would be complete.

But judging by his progress, it seemed unlikely.

Still, that was no big deal.

Besides his cultivation, Meng Nan had also worked extremely hard on the Giant Spirit God secret technique.

The first six years of this life, combined with the six years of his third life, had been enough for him to complete all thirty Qi Circulation Diagrams of the Giant Spirit God.

Then he had devoured spiritual energy and Spirit Sand.

Four more years passed.

The secret technique had now achieved its initial success.

Boom!

On Wuyun Peak, the air exploded with a thunderous roar.

Meng Nan swayed, and his body immediately transformed, growing to a height of three zhang. He looked like Meng Nan, but wore patterned armor that glowed with divine light, making him look imposing indeed.

Punches and kicks.

Hand seals and gestures.

Everything came naturally, and all his moves had gained tremendous power, raising Meng Nan's strength by more than a whole level!

Bang!

Bang!

Meng Nan kicked Xu Rong away, then swept Qian Yu aside with a palm.

Their lightning arts and blades struck him, divine light rippling across his body, but it was all useless.

He formed a seal and pointed into the air—

Rumble!

Two thunderclaps rang out, lightning snaking through the air.

This was Palm Thunder advanced into the Five Thunder Technique. It had been passed down personally by an Immortal Master, and at its highest level, it could command five bolts of thunder. Meng Nan could only command two, but amplified by the Giant Spirit God, they struck Xu Rong again and again, forcing her back, and sent Qian Yu raising her shield to block.

A fierce battle.

At last, Meng Nan understood just how powerful this secret technique was.

But by then, his True Qi was running low, and the strain on his body made it hard to continue.

"That's enough for now."

Meng Nan stopped.

He swayed, and his body returned to normal.

"Junior Brother, this secret technique is truly formidable!"

Though Qian Yu had seen Meng Nan and Zhao Xiaoshuang use the Giant Spirit God secret technique before, she couldn't help being amazed every time she saw it.

For example, this time.

Meng Nan was only at the peak of the True Qi stage, but once he mastered the "Giant Spirit God" secret art, he could actually stand against someone like her, at the peak of the True Essence stage, without falling a whit behind.

It was simply unbelievable!

Nearby,

Xu Rong was also amazed.

With a secret art like this, it was no wonder her teacher had once swept through the True Essence stage, invincible.

Thinking back to the years before, when she had gone with her teacher's wife, Zhao Xiaoshuang, to Ghost Mother Mountain, she had also seen her teacher's wife use this art. Its power had been even more astonishing—

More than ten True Essence cultivators had surrounded her, yet she had still been able to smack them down and kill them one by one.

And with the art of spitting blood arrows, killing someone was especially hard to guard against.

There had been scarcely an enemy who could withstand even one move!

"It really is powerful."

"But the cost of cultivating it is high, and the cost of using it in battle is high, too."

After sixteen years, Meng Nan had finally truly mastered the "Giant Spirit God" secret art. Only after trying it himself did he realize just how absurdly powerful it was.

Leaving its combat strength aside,

just consider the cost—

To complete the first thirty layers of its construction, he had to devour fourteen jin and four liang of Spirit Sand just to truly enter the basics and form the initial Giant Spirit body.

True Qi, True Essence!

More than ten jin of Spirit Sand?

Even a hundred True Essence cultivators would struggle to scrape that much together!

Meng Nan and Zhao Xiaoshuang had only managed to master this secret art after touring the sites of all eight cities in Tianlin Cave ahead of time and mining every Spirit Sand Vein they could find.

It had been a hard, costly endeavor.

Even after all these years, they still hadn't been able to produce a third person capable of cultivating this secret art.

Hard, hard, hard!

It was truly hard!

But—

It was truly powerful, too!

"With this secret art, I'll sweep through the True Qi and True Essence stages and find few worthy opponents!"

His heartfelt exclamation and boundless pride had yet to fade.

Several days later,

Meng Nan was cultivating in his residence.

Suddenly,

He sensed something was amiss. When he opened his eyes, he saw someone standing in front of him, arms crossed over a sword.

"Gasp!"

Meng Nan's heart lurched. He hurried to his feet, cupped his hands toward the person, and said respectfully, "Meng Nan of Cha Mountain greets senior."

There was a formation on Angming Mountain, and his residence had nine interlinked arrays, along with True Essence guards.

For someone to enter his cultivation chamber without making a sound under such circumstances, he was no ordinary person. He was probably already at the Qi Refining realm.

Calling him "senior" and lowering himself a little wasn't shameful.

"People say you're at the peak of the True Essence stage. Why do you only have True Qi cultivation?"

Lü Shiwu's brows furrowed in displeasure. He looked Meng Nan up and down, then said, "Show me that secret art of yours."

"Yes."

Meng Nan was honest and obedient.

He immediately stepped out of the cultivation chamber. With a sway, his body grew to thirty feet tall, surrounded by divine light.

As soon as he used the art,

the person flicked a finger. A streak of Sword Qi shot out with a clang, and Meng Nan seemed to deflate. He quickly wilted, his Giant Spirit body vanishing as he returned to human form.

He put on a look of shock and cried out, "Senior, you're amazing!"

"Bullshit!"

"You've wasted my time!"

Lü Shiwu was disgusted and swore.

Then his figure turned hazy.

A gust of wind blew, and he vanished without a trace.

"That person—"

Meng Nan returned to the cultivation chamber and put away his smile.

Everything had happened so suddenly that he hadn't given it much thought. Now, looking back, the person's cultivation was probably below the Qi Refining realm; there had even been faint fluctuations of True Essence around him.

"True Essence."

"Could he have heard of my reputation and come to challenge me?"

At the thought,

Recalling the person's few words and his bearing, Meng Nan grew more and more certain that his guess was probably right.

"He thought I was powerful and came to challenge me, only to discover I was a good-for-nothing. So he left, disappointed and dejected."

That made sense.

"Heh!"

"What a situation!"

Meng Nan gave a dry laugh.

Then he closed his eyes.

He put it out of his mind and continued cultivating.

A month later,

Meng Nan had made proper arrangements for what would come after him, and sent Zhao Xiaoshuang, Qian Yu, and the others away.

Then—

"Angming City is complete. I have no regrets!"

Before a crowd, he faced death with composure.

Thus ended his fourth life.

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