After receiving the "bequests" of Zhou Meng and the others, Huang Tian settled down to cultivate in the Riverbed Cave Abode beneath the Min River, refining several Foundation Establishment-level treasures he had acquired.
He nurtured and refined the Nine-Dragon Earth-Thorn Spear, the Moon-Mystic Thirteen Needles, and an unnamed Primordial Flower Basket—three fine treasures he had taken from Zhou Meng—with Seven Luminaries Spirit-Pivot Ancestral Qi.
There were six other treasures, but most did not suit him and were of ordinary quality, so he set them aside. Only a clear, cold longsword named Autumn Moonfall seemed useful, and he refined that as well.
After cultivating in the Riverbed Cave Abode for more than twenty days and consuming most of the pills he had seized, he advanced, as expected, to Foundation Establishment Late Stage!
Upon entering this stage, he felt his magic power multiply severalfold and grow far more refined. His strength rose dramatically; compared with Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, it was practically another realm.
No wonder Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivators were also called great cultivators. Against someone at Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, they could simply beat them into the ground!
Huang Tian had intended to keep cultivating in the cave abode, at least until he had consumed every pill and spirit plant. But things changed: True Person Suihua, a Violet Palace cultivator of the Gilded Metal Sect, personally flew to Hanzhang Commandery to investigate the deaths of Zhou Meng and the others.
Huang Tian had expected this. The Gilded Metal Sect's Violet Palace cultivators could not ignore such a major incident in the Five Commanderies forever. Sooner or later, one of them would leave the sect to investigate; it was only a question of when.
After glimpsing True Person Suihua's movements through the voice-thread, Huang Tian flew ahead to the skies