En Route

One day later.

Cheng Buzheng, who was traveling six zhang deep underground, was extending his Divine Sense to check his direction.

Suddenly.

He saw three people in the distance; two were conversing, and one was lying on the ground.

Originally, he intended to bypass this place of trouble, but upon seeing a familiar figure, he immediately halted his movements.

A female cultivator dressed in white, with a slender figure and a beautiful face, was talking to a burly man in black tight-fitting clothes.

And that familiar figure currently lying on the ground was none other than Senior Brother Huang, the very same Senior Brother Huang who had shared a Bigu Pill with him.

At this moment, Senior Brother Huang lay on the ground, his life or death unknown.

Cheng Buzheng sensed that both individuals were Qi Refining Mid-stage cultivators. With his own strength at Qi Refining Level 2, he could not possibly contend with them; throwing himself into the fray would only add another soul to the list of the unjustly dead.

The warning range of a Qi Refining Mid-stage Divine Sense is approximately six zhang in radius and three zhang underground.

If I lurk seven zhang away at a depth of four zhang, they won't be able to notice me at all unless they deliberately investigate!

Besides, if the situation goes south, I can just run away. The Earth Escape Technique is easy to learn but difficult to master; most practitioners are only at the introductory stage, and those who have cultivated it to the Minor Accomplishment stage are few and far between.

Although I cannot contend with them right now, confirming Senior Brother Huang's status while ensuring my own safety is still feasible.

Cheng Buzheng immediately took action. A yellow light flickered six zhang underground, stealthily tunneling toward the upper diagonal.

A short while later.

He arrived silently seven zhang away at a depth of four zhang, quietly watching their movements, ready to flee at any moment.

After getting closer, Cheng Buzheng saw that Senior Brother Huang had already perished. The fatal wound was a puncture through the center of his brow caused by a hidden weapon the size of a thin needle.

Although he had anticipated this, seeing the reality still made him feel somewhat uncomfortable. He and Senior Brother Huang did not have much of a friendship, but the latter had given him a Bigu Pill, and he had always kept that small favor in his heart.

In the future, if there is an opportunity... I wouldn't mind killing these two as a side task.

...As for now, I had better continue to develop my strength!

At this moment, Cheng Buzheng noticed how alluring the young woman in white was; draped in white gauze, her delicate body was faintly visible.

"This place is not secluded. Hurry up and clean up the battlefield, or someone will come soon!" the young woman in white said in a sweet, coquettish voice.

The burly man in black glanced at the beautiful young woman, his throat bobbing. "Right, right. Let's find a more hidden spot!"

As he spoke, he flicked a fireball from his fingertip onto Senior Brother Huang's corpse. In the blink of an eye, only a pile of ashes remained on the ground.

He continued:

"Baby, your charm is truly something else! I didn't even get a chance to strike, and you sent this silly brat to the netherworld the moment you acted!"

The young woman draped in white gauze seemed to recall something at these words, and she retorted in a fit of bashful anger.

"I'm asking you, when you pretended to flee earlier, why were you so ruthless with your attacks!

Were you planning to find someone new, and now you think I'm getting old and withered... is that it!

And... I want an extra ten percent of the loot this time!"

The burly man in black chuckled apologetically.

"Baby, in my heart, you are a flower that will never wither.

How could I ever look down on you! Besides, wasn't that just an act?

...It was just for show, you're overthinking it, baby!

But, the rules cannot be broken."

However, when it came to the distribution of the spoils, his tone hardened once again.

Hearing this, Cheng Buzheng roughly understood how his senior brother had died.

In the world of immortal cultivation, there are all sorts of methods; he would have to be careful and cautious from now on.

"Baby, let's find a secluded spot to check our haul," the burly man in black said, his tone turning incomparably gentle.

"Hmm... let's go," the gorgeous young woman replied, sounding somewhat unwilling.

After hearing this, Cheng Buzheng couldn't help but sigh; both of these people were masters of acting.

The burly man in black was truly the dominant one, knowing when to be firm, yet turning incomparably gentle in the blink of an eye.

The gorgeous female cultivator was no slouch either, constantly using her own advantages to tip the scales of profit in her favor.

In the blink of an eye, Cheng Buzheng watched helplessly as the two of them steered their Magic Tools and escaped into the sky.

Having remained undetected the entire time, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

But at the same time, he felt a sense of unwillingness; he knew that with his current escape speed, there was no way he could track those two Evil Cultivators.

He had originally intended to follow them from a distance to see if they would turn on each other.

Who would have thought they would depart on their Magic Tools, causing his first attempt at playing the role of the oriole to fall through.

Watching the two streaks of spiritual light speeding away, his dream of scavenging for loot was shattered.

There is always a gap between plans and reality.

With a flash of yellow spiritual light, Cheng Buzheng appeared before the pile of ashes.

He flicked a strand of Magic Power from his fingertip to shroud the ashes, then walked over to a pile of rubble to select a suitable piece of bluestone.

He shot another strand of Magic Power from his fingertip; it acted like a laser, carving continuously into the stone as debris drifted away.

Before long, a square stone casket was finished.

Returning the way he came, Cheng Buzheng waved his sleeve, and every bit of the ashes was swept into the stone casket.

He walked and stopped along the way until he reached a place with beautiful scenery and clear waters. Cheng Buzheng climbed to the highest peak and stood on the summit, surveying the feng shui layout of the area.

The mountain ridges ahead rose and fell in succession. Most crucially, this peak resembled a dragon's head; it was a feng shui formation known as the Green Dragon Sucking Water. The cliff behind it resembled a White Tiger, appearing as if it were about to pounce forward.

What should have been a scene of a Dragon Fighting Tiger had been strangely transformed by a narrow river beneath the peaks into a site of a Coiling Dragon and Crouching Tiger. This feng shui layout was highly auspicious, promising endless blessings for future generations.

This was one of the things he had gained from the Scripture Library. Both his past life and his current one held the concept of feng shui, so he had simply learned it. After all, for a Cultivator, it was not a difficult task; it just required a bit more time.

In the blink of an eye, he found the location of the Auspicious Burial Site, which was right below the narrow river.

A yellow light flashed over Cheng Buzheng, and he instantly submerged into the earth. The yellow light dove deeper and deeper, reaching a depth of twenty zhang before arriving at the Auspicious Burial Site.

After burying Senior Brother Huang, he waited quietly for a while.

Then, he drifted away and headed toward the Spirit Stone Mine.

It took a full month of continuous travel to reach his destination.

This was due to his low cultivation level. A Qi Refining Mid-stage cultivator flying on a magic tool could have arrived in less than ten days; the higher the cultivation, the shorter the time.

The Spirit Stone Mine of the White Cloud Sect was located in the southwest of the Tianhua Mountain Range, and its entrance was formed by two mountains.

A passage between the two mountains led to a canyon basin located in the center.

The canyon was filled with a large number of wooden houses and pavilions, which served as living quarters for the White Cloud Sect's resident cultivators and the miners to rest.

At the very back of the canyon lay the entrance to the Spirit Stone Mine.

Suddenly.

Not far from the entrance of the Spirit Stone Mine, a yellow spiritual light emerged from the ground.

Cheng Buzheng gazed at the two towering mountains in the distance, but the passage between them was blocked by a barrier of spiritual energy.

He knew this was a formation set up by the sect to prevent Evil Cultivators from taking advantage of the situation.

Although no Evil Cultivator had ever dared to come here to cause trouble, precautions still had to be taken.

After all, one could not count on Evil Cultivators remaining indifferent to this place forever.

This was the White Cloud Sect's source of Spirit Stones; one could only imagine how important this place was to them.