"One hundred and sixty-three years old. Half a month ago, I could be considered to have spent my first birthday of this world in this immortal cultivation world, getting a custom-made magical treasure blade from the Sihufu weapon shop as a great longevity gift. Now I look young on the surface, but in reality, I am already quite old."
Inside the wooden house, Chen Dengming observed his lifespan on the system panel with a trace of emotional reflection.
However, the hundred and sixty-three years was only his consumed lifespan; in reality, he had only lived eighty-three years since transmigrating, so he was still not considered too old.
In this month and more of cultivation, his Daoist magic had not improved by a large margin, mainly because running the Gu-refinement business had sapped a portion of his energy.
Although he did not wish to scatter his energy too much, wanting to completely avoid it while sitting back and reaping the rewards was simply impossible.
Even so, due to strict self-discipline and the fact that he now had resources on hand—not as impoverished as he once was, with plenty of low-grade spirit stones heavily smashed down—his Three Yuan Spirit Gathering Technique had already completed a third of its progress.
As long as the spirit stone resources kept pace to arrange the Spirit Seizing Formation, he could break through to the Qi Cultivation Fourth Level in three months, at which point he would also be considered a mid-tier Qi Cultivation cultivator.
In the Golden Character Workshop, including Xu Ning, there were only four cultivators at or above the Qi Cultivation Fourth Level.
Aside from that, his Artifact Control Technique and Wood Escape Technique had both been elevated to the mastery level.
As for the Divine Speed Technique, because he had only started learning it not long ago, it was merely cultivated to the entry level.
The master-level Gu-refinement technique remained practically motionless; no matter how many mortal Gu were refined, it was difficult to form a qualitative change.
Among these Daoist magics, only the enhancement of the first-tier grade-two Wood Escape Technique had added five years of lifespan to him. The other techniques, due to overlapping effects, did not increase his lifespan, yet Chen Dengming's lifespan limit still reached a staggering two hundred and twenty-two years.
"Wait a bit longer, cultivate peacefully for another month, and get the income from the second wave of Gu creature dividends. The Dark Market will also open, and after I dig up some treasures, I can pull out. I cannot get sucked into the whirlpool of the Zhu Family and the Luo Family."
Chen Dengming closed his eyes slightly, collecting his mind, and his body immediately assumed the posture of the two-finger Chan, maintaining this state to continue his cultivation.
One could see that he supported his entire body using only two fingers. His muscles twisted like steel wire across his entire body, the lines emerging beneath his skin, his essence, Qi, and spirit completely concentrated. His entire body trembled slightly as spiritual energy continuously poured into his body, and fine beads of sweat began to ooze from his pores.
Five days passed in the blink of an eye, and the weather gradually entered the piercing winter.
The temperature plummeted sharply, growing increasingly cold.
The relationship between the Luo Family and the Zhu Family deteriorated even faster than the temperature.
At the very least, it exceeded Chen Dengming's expectations.
This showed that the marriage alliance between the Luo Family and the Luo Family had completely fallen through, and one could imagine the resentment and anger of that male cultivator from the Luo Family.
Chen Dengming had previously read novels with similar plots, viewing them merely as jokes when he read them, but now that this plot was truly happening, he only felt that he was probably the joke.
With the failure of Foundation Establishment plus being dumped, that male cultivator from the Luo Family was truly hurting right now.
Once the Luo Family hurt, the Luo Family would have to pay a certain price, and the Zhu Family would consequently have no more misgivings. In the end, the ones who hurt the most were still this group of minor rogue cultivators caught between several major powers.
Therefore, deep down, Chen Dengming really did not want to hurt along with that male cultivator.
Recently, the Zhu Family had grown unbridled, deciding to take back the resource points they had once lost, and the cultivators from both families directly clashed in the Cryptic Copper Mining Area.
That copper mine had been occupied by the Luo Family all these years, with cultivators standing guard daily. As a result, when the Zhu Family launched a surprise attack this time, the Luo Family suffered a minor loss, and the Cryptic Copper Mining Area almost fell.
After the news spread, panic gripped the hearts of people within the gathering place, and the atmosphere grew tense.
The Iron Forest Hall and the Flower Rain Gate—these two lackey forces fostered single-handedly by the Zhu Family—borrowed their masters' might to grow increasingly arrogant. They even went so far as to directly and forcibly seize the businesses and resources of certain factions, which included the Gu-refinement business under the umbrella of the Golden Character Workshop.
This naturally provoked Xu Ning into a towering rage, yet for the time being he did not act rashly, seemingly having received some sort of instructions from that person of the Luo Family behind him.
Chen Dengming directly kept such a low profile that he didn't even go to the Gu-refinement grounds.
Forget being called Chief Chen; even calling him Chen, the King of Heaven and Old Master, wouldn't work.
For a few dozen low-grade spirit stones a month, who was going to risk their life?
He nestled and cultivated in peace inside his own two-courtyard small residence.
The surrounding courtyard walls of the entire estate had formation flags deployed by Jiang Qiang. Spiritual light flickered on all sides; it was peaceful, neat, fragrant with flowers and trees, a truly elegant, secluded, and private sanctuary where no one could pry.
On this day.
The courtyard gate was knocked.
After confirming the identity of the visitor, Chen Dengming pinched hand seals and executed magic, instantly causing the formation flags planted along the courtyard walls to flutter and unfurl, a wave of spiritual energy dispersing outward.
With a creak, the courtyard gate opened, a layer of faint spiritual light flashing and vanishing instantly.
"Brother Chen."
A tall and thin human figure appeared behind the door, bowing respectfully to the incoming Chen Dengming, after which he entered the house and began to inspect the formation disc.
Chen Dengming walked beside him, saying faintly, "Qiangzi, how is it? What are your chances of breaking through to the Qi Cultivation Third Level?"
The person who entered the courtyard was none other than Jiang Qiang—the subordinate Chen Dengming had taken in over a month ago.
The defensive warning array of the entire courtyard was also the Three Powers Guard Formation deployed by Jiang Qiang.
With this protective formation in place, Chen Dengming dared to cultivate peacefully at night.
Otherwise, he would constantly worry that cultivators from some faction would disregard the rules and come to forcibly abduct him to refine Gu.
Therefore, Chen Dengming held this subordinate in high regard. Whenever he left the residence, he frequently invited the other party to come guard and inspect the array, letting him cultivate in peace while tending to the formations.
After all, the spiritual energy in the mansions within this city was quite a bit stronger than that in the wilderness or the shantytowns.
Moreover, Jiang Qiang possessed a fire-attribute spiritual root. Every time Chen Dengming finished cultivating with the Spirit Seizing Formation inside the residence, a considerable amount of remaining water, fire, and earth spiritual energy lingered in the courtyard. For Jiang Qiang, cultivating there not only saved effort, but the two of them did not conflict at all.
"Brother Chen, I feel it should be about time. In the next half month to a month, I can pretty much break through."
Jiang Qiang responded respectfully while inspecting the formation disc and flags.
He felt deeply grateful for Chen Dengming's regard and help, and was willing to work and risk his life for Chen Dengming.
"That's good. It's truly not very peaceful lately. Only after you become a Qi Cultivation Third Level cultivator can the two of us better watch over each other. Off you go, we'll get in touch again after your breakthrough."
As he spoke, Chen Dengming tossed three low-grade spirit stones to Jiang Qiang.
This counted as wages, and also as funds to nurture Jiang Qiang.
The maintenance of relationships was mutual; since Jiang Qiang worked hard to forge formations for him, Chen Dengming naturally would not be stingy.
"Alright, Brother Chen! Actually, you don't even need to give me this many spirit stones. The ones you gave me last time haven't been used up yet..."
Jiang Qiang put away the spirit stones with an embarrassed expression, then suddenly hesitated and said, "Brother Chen, there's a matter I'm not sure if I'm just being paranoid about, but I should still remind you."
"Oh?" Chen Dengming looked surprised. "What matter?"
Jiang Qiang frowned and said, "I heard some news from two wanted cultivators. It seemed to be saying that your Golden Character Workshop intends to ally with the Merchant Alliance to develop the market over at Jingxiu Workshop, and before long, a batch of goods will be shipped over there. Quite a few wanted cultivators are eyeing this droolingly—"
A thought stirred in Chen Dengming's heart. "You heard this news from the mouths of wanted cultivators? What do they look like?"
Jiang Qiang gave a bitter smile. "Brother Chen, every time wanted cultivators gather to exchange information, each of them is extremely cautious. Everyone has quite a few mortal enemies, and someone like me is an even bigger wanted criminal. If you hadn't instructed me to blend into this group previously, I wouldn't have dared either. How could I possibly show my true appearance?"
"Hmm."
Chen Dengming gave a slight nod. Seeing that Jiang Qiang had already repaired the formation disc, he said, "I know. Go ahead, stay at that safe spot outside the gathering place, and I'll contact you if anything comes up."
Jiang Qiang nodded, pulled down his cloak's hood, and rapidly departed through the back door.
"The news that the Golden Character Workshop and the Merchant Alliance are allying to develop the Jingxiu Workshop market is currently known only to the upper echelons of both sides. Recently, affected by the Zhu Family and the Luo Family, the plan hasn't even been finalized yet, yet it actually reached the ears of wanted cultivators..."
Chen Dengming paced back and forth in the courtyard in thought, cold radiance flashing in his eyes.
It was not hard to glean from Jiang Qiang's words that there were wanted cultivators who actually harbored designs on the batch of goods jointly dispatched by the two factions.
This was simply audacious to the extreme.
Even though wanted cultivators were all desperate scoundrels, daring to plot against two entities like the Golden Character Workshop and the Merchant Alliance was no longer a simple matter of being a desperate scoundrel; it was likely that...
Moreover, where on earth had they gotten the news?
"A few days ago, Xu Ning ordered me once again to accompany the commercial caravan to Jingxiu Workshop, and I still evaded and refused... Apart from me, who else could go according to this plan?"
Chen Dengming furrowed his brows, his hands clasped behind his back as he looked at the silvery-gray canopy of the winter sky that seemed to tightly wrap around everything. An intensifying sensation told him that a mountain storm was about to arrive, and the situation was very likely about to change drastically.
Right now, he either continued to choose to stay comfortably within the gathering place, guarding his current assets,
only to be swept up into trouble the moment the situation changed.
Or his only other choice was to immediately and decisively retreat, abandoning the next batch of profits about to be generated by the Gu-refinement grounds, and pulling out while the going was good.
One must have stillness when facing major events.
"When encountering urgent matters, slow down; when encountering major events, remain still; when encountering difficult matters, change; when encountering smooth matters, restrain..."
Chen Dengming slowly gathered his mind and found his stillness.
He was well-read in numerous books on strategy and counsel, and possessed over a century of experience to lean on, knowing that when a choice arrived at this moment, he could not afford to rush.
The more rushed he was, the easier it was to make the wrong choice.
He immediately changed his clothes and pruned the Bamboo Slice Gu in the bamboo grove within the courtyard.
Then he came to the small garden, dug up the soil, and observed the Spirit Stone Gu whose toxins had completely permeated it, giving a slight nod.
Instantly standing in the courtyard, he executed a Divine Speed Technique and began practicing his arts.
While practicing his arts, his mind grew even clearer.
The faster his movement technique, the calmer his brain.
Swish—
His figure moved swiftly like the wind through the courtyard, the whipped-up gale sending the grass leaves in the courtyard flying in flurries, creating quite an impressive momentum.
After about the time it took to brew three cups of tea, his speed slowed down.
The current entry-level Divine Speed Technique could only increase his movement speed by about twofold.
Even so, the effect was already extremely impressive.
After all, his own movement technique speed was already faster than a howling gale, leaving no trace upon the snow; when driven with spiritual energy at the Qi Cultivation Third Level, he could achieve a distance of over twenty zhang in a single breath.
After executing the Divine Speed Technique, he could already achieve a distance of fifty zhang in a single breath, which could be called graceful as a startled swan and nimble as a swimming dragon. When facing this kind of speed during combat, ordinary Qi Cultivation Third Level cultivators could only despair.
After practicing the Divine Speed Technique a few times, Chen Dengming's spiritual energy was depleted by about twenty percent.
His figure shifted, resembling a gust of wind "skimming" and treading air across the ground, his robes fluttering as he swept toward the cold pool in the courtyard.
His gaze locked like lightning onto an archaic-looking, simply-styled broad-mouthed saber resting within the pool water!
This was astonishingly the mid-tier magical treasure broad-mouthed saber customized at the Sihufu magical artifact shop—the Ice Spirit Blade!
(To be continued! There will be another update in the morning!)
Before you continue