Wei Zhong awoke from cultivation and sighed:
"I never expected a single cultivation session to last half a year."
He looked at the Status Panel:
Name: Wei Zhong Cultivation: Foundation Establishment, First Layer (12%) Cultivation Art: Spring Autumn Water Refining Art · Proficient (51%); Nourishing Body Art · Proficient (88%) Lifespan: 116/240 Spells: Invisibility Art · Master (43%); Aura Concealment Technique · Grandmaster (1%); Soaring Cloud Art · Grandmaster (1%); Flying Throwing Art · Grandmaster (11%); Geng Sword Art · Master (68%)
Over the past half year, Wei Zhong had advanced hand in hand in both cultivation and spell practice.
Of the spells, he had only practiced the Aura Concealment Technique and Soaring Cloud Art. Through unrelenting effort, both had successfully risen to the Grandmaster level.
What delighted Wei Zhong was that after the Aura Concealment Technique reached the Grandmaster level, it had developed a special trait: it could resist divine sense probing.
Thinking back to the day Lu Yibin had discovered him inside the mine tunnel, it had most likely been the might of divine sense.
The Soaring Cloud Art had also undergone a change that Wei Zhong could neither explain nor comprehend.
Wei Zhong could not help but marvel, "The path of spells is mysterious beyond mystery, wondrous beyond words."
Grandmaster-level Soaring Cloud Art was no longer about riding the clouds. Instead, it directly controlled spiritual energy for flight, faintly creating the illusion of teleportation.
It greatly increased Wei Zhong's escape speed. As for exactly how fast it was, he would have to compare himself against other Foundation Establishment cultivators to know.
His cultivation progress, however, was somewhat unsatisfactory. Wei Zhong understood that the farther one went, the more difficult it became to advance one's cultivation.
His aptitude had already become a tremendous disadvantage at this point.
No wonder Core Formation cultivators were so rare. Without a great opportunity, ordinary cultivators could not even touch the threshold of advancement.
Fortunately, Wei Zhong was different.
After swallowing a High-Grade Qi Nourishing Pill, Wei Zhong shook his head.
"At this point, Qi Nourishing Pills have truly become candy beans to me. If I want my cultivation to grow quickly any further, I'll need to buy Harmony Qi Pills suited for Foundation Establishment.
"With a spirit land outside and pills within, only then can both inner and outer needs be attended to."
Among the Second-Order brewing inheritance he had obtained from Hu Yang was a spirit wine recipe that could increase cultivation. He had not had time these days to gather the spirit herbs required by the recipe, nor had he managed to brew it, so he did not know how effective it would be.
Wei Zhong ended his cultivation and left the grotto-heaven. Stepping upon the spiritual energy in the air, he headed toward the market. Before investigating Sea Moon Lake, he needed to further equip himself.
A short while later,
Wei Zhong held a Second-Order magic sword, his face twitching as he looked at the shopkeeper before him.
"Couldn't you make it any cheaper, Fellow Daoist?"
White-Brow Daoren, standing opposite him, shook his head.
"Please do not make things difficult for this junior, Senior. This price is already the lowest my authority permits. There is truly no way to lower it further.
"If Senior were a Guest Elder of our sect, it could be made a little cheaper, but..."
Wei Zhong waved his hand, helplessness on his face.
After reaching Foundation Establishment, I've seen Azurewood Sect's true face more and more clearly. To eliminate dissidents, they actually came up with this Guest Elder system. No matter where one goes, they're squeezing the living space of rogue cultivators.
He could only take out his spirit stones.
"Buy it!"
A short while later, Wei Zhong left the place wearing a Second-Order magic robe and carrying a Second-Order magic sword.
There was no avoiding the expense of spirit stones. As part of a cultivator's strength, magic items were indispensable.
Although Wei Zhong relied on spells in battle, magic items could still prove useful at certain moments.
Looking at the heavy magic sword in his hand, Wei Zhong let out a sigh.
The blade is black as charcoal, and its appearance is terrible. No ordinary person would choose a magic sword like this.
The reason Wei Zhong had bought this sword was to deal with Candle Daoren's Blazing Stone Treasure Scissor.
Though Li Haowen's words could not be fully trusted, the matter of him possessing that treasure scissor should have been true.
Thus, Wei Zhong had specifically bought a thick, heavy sword. When they clashed, it could at least withstand that magic item for a few more exchanges.
As Wei Zhong moved through the market, a trace of heartache still lingered on his face. The two Second-Order magic items had cost him more than four thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
This was certainly partly because the Second-Order magic robe was rather expensive, but it was still enough to show their value.
With prices this exorbitant, it was no wonder none of Liu Neng's group of three had possessed a Second-Order magic item among their trump cards.
Perhaps it was also because Qi Refining cultivators had spiritual power too weak to fully activate Second-Order magic items.
Wei Zhong shook his head and went to the Spirit Pill Pavilion to buy Harmony Qi Pills.
After asking around, he learned that Low-Grade Harmony Qi Pills sold for three hundred spirit stones each, while mid-grade ones cost five hundred, though both were limited in quantity. As for high-grade ones, they simply were not sold to rogue cultivators like Wei Zhong.
Fine, Guest Elder privileges again. All Wei Zhong could say was that Azurewood Sect really knew how to play this game.
After buying several bottles of pills, Wei Zhong went to the Mission Hall. Beneath the spirit land mission he had posted were already many messages.
But every one of them mentioned only First-Order spirit lands. Wei Zhong glanced through them, noted a few that were barely acceptable, and planned to choose among them if Sea Moon Lake proved impossible.
Returning to his small courtyard, Wei Zhong refined the magic items and inspected himself. He had already made sufficient preparations.
Set out. Time to investigate Sea Moon Lake.
Sea Moon Lake, where the Li family was located, lay north of Azurewood Sect and was not particularly far away. At Wei Zhong's escape speed, he arrived in less than half a day.
This Grandmaster-level Soaring Cloud Art is astonishingly fast, but it also consumes more spiritual power than before.
He found a secluded corner, entered the grotto-heaven, and took out the pills he had just bought to restore his spiritual power.
Once a Low-Grade Harmony Qi Pill entered his stomach, Wei Zhong immediately discovered that its medicinal effect was indeed much better than that of a Qi Nourishing Pill. He then tried a mid-grade one, and Wei Zhong frowned.
Though the mid-grade pill was better than the low-grade one, the improvement was nowhere near as obvious as when he had taken Qi Nourishing Pills during Qi Refining. On second thought, considering its price, he felt somewhat relieved.
By the time he finished adjusting himself, it was already deep into the night. Cultivation knew neither the passage of years nor the distinction between day and night.
Under the cover of night, Wei Zhong headed toward the Li family's residence.
In the deep night, only scattered points of light could be seen below. Most of the Li family territory was shrouded in darkness.
Mortals had already gone to rest beneath the night sky, while cultivators had also sunk into cultivation. Only night watchmen or street guards carried torches as they moved through the small alleys between residences.
The two tallest Second-Order spirit islands, however, were pitch-black, without the slightest light.
As Wei Zhong knew, the island with the mid-grade Second-Order spirit vein had been occupied solely by Candle Daoren for his personal cultivation needs.
The inferior Second-Order spirit vein island had been turned by him into a base for cultivating spiritual plants. Various spiritual items were grown there, and Li family members were forbidden from cultivating on it.
Everyone in the Li family had been forced to huddle upon the other First-Order spirit islands.
One person occupying two spirit islands. How overbearing.
With a flash, Wei Zhong headed toward the spirit island where Candle Daoren resided.
Yet he suddenly stopped halfway through the air. Wei Zhong keenly detected ripples in the spiritual energy ahead.
A formation, but its grade does not seem high. It is far inferior to Azurewood Sect's.
In Mangyuan Prefecture, the Dao of formations was not particularly developed. This could be seen from the fact that Azurewood Sect had established only the three halls of pills, artifacts, and spells.
Cultivators who understood formation arts were exceedingly scarce, and rogue cultivators in particular were in a miserable state. Most only knew illusion formations used to deceive mortals.
The presence of a formation enveloping the entire island here left Wei Zhong greatly surprised.
However, Wei Zhong detected no threat from it whatsoever. It was probably a warning-type formation.
Gazing at the formation, which resembled an eggshell, Wei Zhong slightly furrowed his brows.
A flash of inspiration suddenly surged into his mind.
Soaring Cloud Art · Grandmaster
With a flash, Wei Zhong had already passed through to the inside of the formation. Only faint ripples remained in the air, yet the formation's warning was not triggered.
Only then did Wei Zhong understand what Grandmaster-level Soaring Cloud Art had brought him. It was not teleportation, but an extremely fast traversal carrying a trace of spell-evading properties.
It was as though an invisible hand had parted open a passage, allowing Wei Zhong to swiftly pass through it before naturally smoothing it over afterward.
This Grandmaster-level spell was indeed extraordinary. Perhaps it could also be used to evade certain offensive spirit spells that were not too powerful.
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