The Eleventh Life!

The third day.

Qian Yu returned as expected, bringing back several more treasures--

The Earth-Piercing Shuttle.

The Azure Dragon Bottle.

The Hundred Spirits Jade Liquid.

"The Earth-Piercing Shuttle can travel underground. It's no good for traveling on the surface, but it's first-rate for boring through mountains and earth."

"The Azure Dragon Bottle can release twelve flags to set up the Azure Dragon Great Formation. This formation can neither attack nor defend; it's merely an illusion formation. Once it's set up, even True Essence is hard-pressed to see through it."

Meng Nan accepted the two magical artifacts and smiled.

He had used both artifacts in his tenth life and knew their abilities and power well. He trusted them completely.

With these two artifacts at his side on this journey, he'd have an extra measure of safety.

As for the Hundred Spirits Jade Liquid--

"How well does it work?"

Meng Nan looked at Qian Yu.

"Very well."

"One drop in each eye and another taken by mouth. Clouds and miasma can no longer block your vision. If you climb to a high place, you can make out the patterns on tree leaves dozens of miles away."

Qian Yu blinked, her eyes clear and bright.

The Hundred Spirits Jade Liquid had been brewed by two Qi Refining rogue cultivators from the juices of more than eighty kinds of melons, fruits, and spirit medicines transplanted from various regions. It was like kongqing in texture and sharpened the eyes. After drinking a little and applying one or two drops to the eyes, one could see through clouds and mists; a hundred miles away, everything was as clear as lines on one's palm.

That was what it could do on its own.

But combined with the Heavenly Eye Technique Meng Nan had learned in his sixth life, its effects were even stronger, and it could also boost the power of the Heavenly Eye Technique.

It was worth a fortune.

The two Qi Refining rogue cultivators had long since passed away in meditation, leaving behind two magical artifacts and the Hundred Spirits Jade Liquid they had brewed. Someone found them in the ninth life, and Meng Nan had learned of them. Now they had fallen right into his hands.

Meng Nan kept the two magical artifacts, then divided the Hundred Spirits Jade Liquid into three portions, one for himself, one for Zhao Xiaoshuang, and one for Qian Yu. Then he said to Qian Yu, "Senior Sister, you've worked hard these past days. Xiaoshuang and I will be heading out in a month. The round trip should take about four months. I'll have to trouble you to stay here on Angming Mountain and keep an eye on things."

"You're going out?"

"For four months?"

"With Xiaoshuang?"

Just like Zhao Xiaoshuang, Qian Yu was taken aback.

How unexpected!

That coward Meng Nan was actually going on a long trip?

Surprised and amused, Qian Yu smiled and said, "All right. Leave Angming Mountain to me. I've been running around for over a year; it's time I had a rest."

He longed to leave the mountain, but still waited to go.

A month passed.

Meng Nan still didn't truly leave the mountain. He only took time to go down and kill a True Essence cultivator.

While he was at it, he tested Deprivation--

[Deprivation: Elephant Armor Skill]

[Elephant Armor Skill: A body-tempering method that makes one as if clad in precious armor, impervious to blades and spears, untouched by water or fire, and possessed of immense strength.]

This True Essence cultivator had followed the body-tempering path. His Elephant Armor Skill was well-practiced, leaving him thick-skinned and tough.

But he had too few other tricks.

Meng Nan killed him with ease.

First, lock on.

Then, strip away.

He got the Elephant Armor Skill.

After trying it out, he immediately understood how it worked--

"Abilities obtained through Deprivation can't be cultivated further. Their level of mastery is the same as the original owner's."

"Deprivation."

"Replication."

If Meng Nan could obtain an ability from an Immortal Master of Qi Refining, then given the master's deep study of spells and cultivation arts, the ability's power would surely be formidable.

Meng Nan could simply reap the benefits. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Once he became a Qi Refining cultivator in the future, the ability wouldn't improve and would gradually fall behind. By then, he could simply replace it.

Deprive, again and again.

Keep updating, without end.

It was as if Meng Nan could always have three spells that exceeded his current level.

And the most outrageous part was--

"Elephant Armor Skill!"

Meng Nan activated the Elephant Armor Skill. His true qi flowed through him, layering upon itself, as though it truly formed an elephant's armor to protect him.

At that moment,

Meng Nan focused inward and carefully sensed it.

Every subtle detail of the Elephant Armor Skill was reflected in his mind.

As long as he was willing to work hard, he could completely extract its methods of cultivation and application, turning them into a manual.

Then he could cultivate it himself, no longer restricted by Deprivation.

"That's great!"

Only then did Meng Nan realize that Deprivation's greatest use wasn't stripping away and copying other people's abilities. It was the subsequent "stealing by learning" built on top of that!

"With this technique, there'll be no spell I can't hope to learn!"

Meng Nan was overjoyed.

After killing the man,

and testing his Deprivation talent,

Meng Nan hurried back to Angming Mountain.

Before setting out this time, he needed to visit the future once more and make sure nothing went wrong on the journey.

[Opening Progress--]

[Base Progress: 99/100][Required]

[Spirit Sand: 0/10][Choose One of Two]

[Sacrifice: 1/1][Choose One of Two]

When night grew quiet and Zhao Xiaoshuang was fast asleep, Meng Nan poured in the last bit of true qi--

Progress complete.

The eleventh life began!

The South Frontier was vast.

Boundless and endless.

From Cha Mountain, Ghost Mother Mountain, Xuanwu Mountain, and Blood Lotus Mountain, the farther southwest one traveled, the deeper into the wilderness one went.

Beyond them lay Jade Ring Mountain and Dragon Ridge Mountain. Human cultivators were already rare there, while Demon Cultivators were numerous.

Great demons took human form and ruled as kings of their mountains.

Beneath them swarmed dozens or hundreds of lesser demons.

Here and there, human villages and stockades survived, their people living from one day to the next, liable at any moment to become food for a great demon.

Jade Ring Mountain was like that.

Dragon Ridge Mountain was worse.

But everything began to change in the year 135 of the Immortal Era.

The Star-Seizing Sect and the Mountain Quelling Divine Palace, two of the six great sects of the Central Plains, marched south, sending shockwaves through the South Frontier.

The balance of power changed swiftly.

Five years passed in the blink of an eye.

It was now the year 140 of the Immortal Era.

Dragon Ridge Mountain Territory, Cangshan Cave Mansion.

Meng Nan opened his eyes.

[Death Log]--

[Name: Meng Nan]

[Age at Death: 140]

[Cause of Death: Red Robe Nightmare Suppression, Soul Loss and Spirit Scattering]

[Cultivation Before Death: Qi Refining, Third Layer]

[Regression: Six Months]

"Red Robe Nightmare Suppression, Soul Loss and Spirit Scattering?"

Meng Nan summoned the Death Log, and the scene of his death six months in the future flashed through his mind--

At a military camp, with the moon at its zenith, a red-robed general led three hundred and thirty mounted soldiers. All were clad in red and carried red flags. They circled the camp three times, beating gongs and drums, shouting and waving their banners. Then they shot three arrows at a wooden effigy standing by one of the camp gates.

Eighty-one days, eighty-one rounds.

Again and again.

The wooden effigy grew more lifelike with each passing day.

By the final day, it was already unmistakable--

Clad in a Daoist robe, carrying a sword case, and shaped like a young man, the wooden effigy was none other than Meng Nan!

Whoosh!

As the final three arrows flew on the last day, gongs and drums thundered, and firecrackers exploded.

With a crash,

the wooden effigy shattered into pieces.

Far away on Cang Mountain, Meng Nan's eyes bulged, a wisp of smoke rose from his head, and he breathed no more.

"They cursed me?"

After watching the scene, Meng Nan blinked.

They were clearly cursing him. Eighty-one days of it, and once the curse was complete, he'd die on the spot.

"Did they really need to go to all that trouble to kill me?"

"Was I really this formidable in this life?"

After watching the replay of his death, Meng Nan looked at the Death Log again, and his heart leapt with delight--

"Age at death: 140?"

"Qi Refining, third layer?"

He had actually succeeded in becoming a Qi Refining cultivator in this life?

And reached the third layer, no less?

"Have I struck it rich?"

Full of anticipation, Meng Nan hurriedly took the Storage Bag from his waist.

He peered inside. Sure enough, many jade slips were neatly arranged within.

In the middle: Cha Mountain, Sky-Scraping Cliff, Shepherd Ridge, Ghost Mother Mountain.

To the north: Undercurrent Mountain, Ten Thousand Horns Cave, Three Bays Mountain, Curved Cloud Mountain, Talisman Show Mountain, Taishan East Mountain.

To the south: Xuanwu Mountain, Blood Lotus Mountain, Jade Ring Mountain, Dragon Ridge Mountain, Guangming Mountain, Bone Chasing Mountain.

The first ten lives.

And now this one as well.

Meng Nan's maps had expanded once more. He had explored northward and ventured farther south, personally visiting a total of sixteen mountain territories.

Each mountain territory stretched for tens of thousands of miles in every direction.

In his first ten lives—for instance, his fifth—Meng Nan had spent his whole life traveling no farther south than Blood Lotus Mountain.

In the lives that followed, he explored in various other directions, opening up more maps.

But the gains were still limited.

Until this life.

In one fell swoop, Meng Nan explored nine new mountain territories: Undercurrent Mountain, Ten Thousand Horns Cave, Three Bays Mountain, Curved Cloud Mountain, Talisman Show Mountain, Taishan East Mountain, Dragon Ridge Mountain, Guangming Mountain, and Bone Chasing Mountain.

He had recorded the broad outlines of each mountain territory, organized by region and chronology. Major events were all documented, minor matters sorted into categories; useful or not, he had written down everything.

These jade slips were practically a weighty history of those sixteen mountain territories. They covered all manner of subjects, including biographies, events, geography and mountains, and treasures.

They were comprehensive.

There were even several different editions--

The fifth life.

The sixth life.

The seventh life.

The eighth life.

The ninth life.

The tenth life.

Including the current eleventh life.

The broad outlines of each life were much the same, but the finer details differed.

Meng Nan had gathered and organized all of them in one place, frequently checking for gaps and filling them in, then comparing them side by side.

Now, brought together, the records made a substantial collection.

These were the overall records, written from an objective perspective.

A considerable number of jade slips, though, were written from personal perspectives—

Zhao Xiaoshuang's.

Qian Yu's.

Meng Santan's.

Meng Xingzhe's.

And those of many disciples, such as Qin Zhongjie and Xu Rong.

Of course, most of the records were still written from Meng Nan's own perspective, covering all sorts of things—

Cultivation.

Experiences.

What he had seen and heard.

Spells.

And much more.

"Now there's plenty to read!"

Looking at the mountain of jade slips, Meng Nan took a deep breath and started with the summaries.

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