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Time flowed on.

Meng Nan stayed in Yinlian Village with Zhao Xiaoshuang, never ceasing his cultivation. The first thirty levels of the Giant Spirit God's Qi Circulation Diagram were rapidly taking shape. In his spare time, he refined medicine and copied books by hand.

There were not many books worth reading in the village, leaving no room for selection.

Meng Nan could only ask Qian Yu to search everywhere while copying down the books he had read in his previous four lives and considered worthwhile.

On one hand, this allowed him to review the old and gain new insights, bringing fresh realizations.

On the other, he mainly wrote them out for Zhao Xiaoshuang to read.

There was little to do during pregnancy, so reading was just right.

And so, time flew by.

Zhao Xiaoshuang's belly gradually grew larger by the day.

Meng Nan's cultivation steadily improved.

Qian Yu also became busy.

On one side, she began making inroads into the medicinal herb trade in Yinlian Village, carrying out preliminary preparations and still recruiting troops and gathering horses.

On the other, following Meng Nan's guidance, she traveled through the wilderness jungle in search of Rogue Cultivator settlements. None of these settlements were large; most were roughly the same scale as the one Zhao Xiaoshuang and Feng Ying had encountered before—

A dozen or twenty people, sometimes even fewer.

Inner Qi, True Qi, or even lower.

None amounted to much.

Some could no longer get by in the villages, while others had lofty ambitions and had ventured out to make their way in the world.

Batch after batch, they gathered and dispersed. Many even died without a sound, their bodies lost who knew where, vanishing forever into the jungle.

But if these people could be linked together, they would still make for a decent force in the early stages.

They could gather medicinal herbs in the jungle and wilderness, have Qian Yu consolidate them and send them to Meng Nan, and ultimately refine them into cultivation pills such as Qi Circulation Powder and Yellow Spirit Pill.

These low-cultivation Rogue Cultivators did not lack the ability to act. What they lacked was an organization—a channel through which to turn their efforts into something tangible.

What Meng Nan was doing now was giving them that channel.

Of course.

For the time being, Meng Nan remained behind the scenes in all this.

Even Qian Yu concealed much, doing her best not to expose him.

Once they got through the early stage, and both Meng Nan and Qian Yu cultivated True Essence, there would be little left to fear. But their cultivation was still shallow for now, so they had to remain cautious.

Time flowed like water.

One month.

Two months.

A new year arrived.

Several more months passed.

In the blink of an eye, it was already late March in Immortal Calendar Year 19.

On this day.

Accompanied by a loud, ringing cry, Meng Xingzhe was finally born.

June, Immortal Calendar Year 19.

Within Angming Mountain, atop Wuyun Peak.

A pine forest stood close against a mountain wall. Within that wall was a naturally formed cave dwelling, and outside it, two simple wooden huts had recently been built.

"We'll be living here for the next few years."

"The spiritual energy here is rich. It will benefit our cultivation."

Meng Nan held the child in one arm and Zhao Xiaoshuang's hand in the other, his heart somewhat stirred.

They had arrived at Angming Mountain.

They had moved to Wuyun Peak.

Only from this moment onward could Meng Nan be said to have truly taken a step forward.

He was no longer confined to Yinlian Village.

With Spirit Land and spirit sand to aid him, and Qian Yu outside connecting with many Rogue Cultivators, the beginnings of something grand had already taken shape.

"It is quite nice."

"It's just a little too deserted."

Having suddenly gone from Yinlian Village to the uninhabited Angming Mountain, Zhao Xiaoshuang inevitably found it a little hard to adjust.

"In a few days, Aunt Yu's three children will be brought over as well. Aunt Yu will also spend most of her time here from then on. It'll be livelier then."

Meng Nan held Zhao Xiaoshuang's hand and spoke to comfort her.

He needed the Spirit Land for cultivation. If he came alone and left Zhao Xiaoshuang in Yinlian Village, she might enjoy temporary peace, but it would do her no good in the long run.

Besides, Zhao Xiaoshuang might not be willing to part from Meng Nan.

This was a matter of trade-offs.

A choice had to be made.

At least for now, there was no way to have it both ways.

"It's good if it's quieter. I'll be able to focus more on cultivating."

"Take me around and let me have a look. What's that? A mountain cave? Can people live there?"

Zhao Xiaoshuang smiled at Meng Nan, then tugged him along to wander around the wooden house. She was especially interested in the cave behind it.

She was trying to adapt.

"That's a cave dwelling. There are seven or eight stone chambers of varying sizes inside, and the Spirit Land is within. Cultivating in there from now on will yield twice the results with half the effort."

"I also set up an 'Inverted Five Elements Array' around this cave dwelling and the wooden house. This array is also called the 'Array of Prohibition.' Although it covers only a small area and has no active enemy-killing effect, it can create illusions. It is generally used to conceal marketplaces and mountain gates, preventing disturbance from mortals and wild beasts. This one is fairly good—even those at the True Qi Stage would find it difficult to detect."

Meng Nan introduced the place to Zhao Xiaoshuang. Just after mentioning the Inverted Five Elements Array, he smiled and lightly waved a small azure-blue flag in his hand. At the end of the pine forest, Qian Yu came striding over.

Clearly.

Without Meng Nan to guide her, Qian Yu would have found it difficult to locate the cave dwelling.

"Asura Net."

"Five Elements Cover."

Meng Nan took the two magical artifacts from Qian Yu and smiled at her. "Auntie, thank you for your hard work."

"I only ran a few errands."

Qian Yu shook her head.

Compared to running errands or working hard, she was more curious.

These two magical artifacts, along with the Inverted Five Elements Array set up here, had all been hidden in obscure corners of remote wilderness. Even following a map to search for them, she would have had difficulty discovering them easily.

Yet Meng Nan sat in Yinlian Village and could accurately point out their locations.

Such a method was truly difficult to imagine.

It was not only treasures.

Meng Nan also knew every detail about those scattered gathering places of Rogue Cultivators, large and small.

Time.

Location.

People.

Not the slightest bit was wrong.

To achieve such a degree, either a vast organization stood behind him and investigated on his behalf, or he possessed some divine ability or secret art capable of surveying the great thousand worlds.

Otherwise, there was no explaining it.

Meng Nan turned a blind eye to Qian Yu's doubts.

He handed the small bell-like magical artifact to Zhao Xiaoshuang. "This is the 'Five Elements Cover.' Its entire body is forged from Five Elements Jade. Refine it with your Inner Breath, and you can store it within your body. When you encounter danger, a thought will release it. With your current cultivation, even ordinary True Qi would struggle to break it in a short while. It can keep you safe."

In his fourth life, relying on the foreknowledge from his third life, Meng Nan had picked up eleven magical artifacts throughout the thirty-thousand-li Tianlin Cave. Four of them were worth mentioning, and this Five Elements Cover was one of them.

In his fourth life, Meng Nan had likewise given it to Zhao Xiaoshuang for protection.

At the True Essence Stage, with the aid of this artifact, Zhao Xiaoshuang was innately invincible. Even peak True Essence cultivators found it difficult to break through it. Its strength probably came close to the Qi Refining level.

Besides the Five Elements Cover, the black threads in Meng Nan's hand were another one, called the Asura Net. In his previous life, Meng Nan had kept it as a trump card and never revealed it. Later, he gave it to Qian Yu to increase her strength, so that she could better protect him.

The third was the Breath Concealing Jade Pendant. As its name implied, it could conceal one's aura, mainly preventing others from seeing the depth of one's cultivation.

The last was the Mysterious Iron Rod, which Meng Nan had given to his eldest son, Meng Xingzhe, for protection.

Among these four great treasures, the Five Elements Cover and Asura Net happened to be on the side of the Three Hundred Cave Villages. Meng Nan pointed out their locations and had Qian Yu retrieve them.

With this, Zhao Xiaoshuang had the Five Elements Cover to protect her and could remain free from harm.

Once Meng Nan refined the Asura Net, combined it with his Inner Breath cultivation, and mastered the Giant Spirit God secret art, he would truly have nothing to fear when facing True Essence cultivators.

Killing True Qi cultivators would be as easy as turning his hand!

As for the Giant Spirit God secret art—

Over the past half year, the thirty layers of the Qi Circulation Diagram had long since been completely constructed.

Everything was ready; only spirit sand was lacking!

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