Three Years

Aside from escaping disaster at Wei Fan's home and discovering that Chengsan Real Person was a crafty old schemer, He Song thought back for a long while but found no other gains.

However, over the following days, while cultivating, He Song also gained some understanding of the situation on the outskirts of the Immortal Market.

Although the outskirts of the Immortal Market had suffered the ravages of the evil cultivators, not every cultivator had been killed.

Some had simply been too weak for the evil cultivators to take an interest in.

Others had possessed enough life-saving items to endure the ordeal.

Still others had hidden well, and in the end, they gradually gathered together. Surprisingly, a quarter of them had survived.

From the surviving cultivators, He Song also learned what had happened on the outskirts of the Immortal Market when the evil cultivators attacked some days ago.

From the initial spread of panic on the outskirts of the Immortal Market,

to the Enforcement Squad's departure,

to the later rampage of the evil cultivators, three stages had taken place in all.

The first stage had not been too bad. The cultivators had merely been panic-stricken, spending all the Spirit Stones on their persons to buy life-saving items.

That had also been when the prices of life-saving goods in the Immortal Market had skyrocketed.

The second stage began after the Enforcement Squad's first great battle with the evil cultivators, when they had been forced to retreat and defend the inner district.

During that stage, the Rogue Cultivators on the outskirts of the Immortal Market had suffered a truly bloody misfortune.

One cultivator had practiced the Conceal Breath Art, intending to use its properties to hide at home and evade the evil cultivators' search.

But the Conceal Breath Art only concealed one's aura; it was not an invisibility technique. Thus, he had soon been discovered.

His fate naturally went without saying.

There had also been Rogue Cultivators who used other methods in an attempt to escape disaster.

Most of them had been found by the evil cultivators and met miserable ends.

Only cultivators who were strong enough to kill the evil cultivators in return,

or who hid exceptionally well and were not discovered by the evil cultivators,

or Qi Refining Layer 1 cultivators whose cultivation was so low that the evil cultivators could not be bothered with them had survived.

The third stage had been the period of the evil cultivators' rampage.

By then, there were not many cultivators left on the outskirts of the Immortal Market. Most had hidden away.

Thus, unable to find any cultivators to plunder, the evil cultivators could only attack the inner district of the Immortal Market.

Yet with the help of the Qi Refining Late Stage cultivators in the inner district, that attack by the evil cultivators had failed.

As a result, most of the evil cultivators saw that nothing could be done and left one after another. Only a few evil cultivators who still harbored hopes of luck remained, wanting to make a small fortune on the outskirts of the Immortal Market.

And the ending awaiting them was what He Song had seen.

In a fit of rage, Chengsan Real Person had swept all those evil cultivators away in one net.

Yet among the cultivators who had survived this calamity, some powerful ones had suddenly grown quite wealthy.

For some reason.

After hearing all this, He Song could not help but suck in a cold breath.

He secretly rejoiced that he had followed Wei Fan into the inner district. Otherwise, with He Song's Qi Refining Layer 3 cultivation, he would likely have died outright on the outskirts of the Immortal Market.

One only had to look at what kind of people had survived on the outskirts of the Immortal Market.

Either they were strong enough to drive back evil cultivators.

Or they were skilled enough at hiding to evade the evil cultivators' detection.

Or they had only just reached Qi Refining Layer 1, with not even half a Spirit Stone to be found on them, leaving even the evil cultivators disdainful of them.

Other than that, cultivators who lacked strength, lacked the ability to hide, and had cultivation above Qi Refining Layer 2 were the unlucky ones in this incident.

He Song was certain that with his current ability to preserve his life, he would likely have been one of those unlucky ones.

"It seems that from now on, besides being cautious and cultivating, I also need to strengthen my ability to preserve my life."

Having secretly set a goal for himself, He Song shook his head, rose to his feet, and headed toward the Spirit Fields under his management.

He Song's five mu of Spirit Fields were now once again managed by himself.

The Spirit Plant Farmer who had previously helped He Song manage the Spirit Fields had died in this calamity.

The twenty Spirit Stones He Song had promised him no longer needed to be paid.

That fellow had tended He Song's Spirit Fields for three months in vain. In the end, he gained nothing and even died in the calamity.

Tragic and lamentable.

Besides that, after returning to the outskirts of the Immortal Market, He Song had also sent Sound Transmission Techniques to each of the friends he knew.

Yet only Zhao Lin from the Spirit Medicine Pavilion and Lin Cong, who had fled Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market long ago, replied to He Song.

There was no news at all from the rest.

He did not know whether they had died or were trapped somewhere and had not seen the Sound Transmission Paper Cranes He Song had sent out.

However, He Song believed that they had most likely died.

Three quarters of the cultivators on the outskirts of the Immortal Market had perished, leaving only one quarter behind.

Those with weak methods, poor concealment abilities, and middling cultivation had been almost completely wiped out.

After this disaster, Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market had become far emptier.

Although Lingjian Pavilion quickly restored the Immortal Market to its original state, those Rogue Cultivators who had died would never return.

The number of cultivators in the Immortal Market could only be restored slowly over time.

In the mortal world,

people became Rogue Cultivators every year.

After a few years, or a decade or so, Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market would once again become as lively as it had been before.

Time flowed on.

The years sped by like a shuttle.

He Song remained in Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market for another full three years.

Three years had already passed since Chengsan Real Person left and Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market was attacked by evil cultivators.

Over those three years, Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market had remained as peaceful as ever. He Song continuously studied the Array Dao Primer, yet even now, he still had not managed to set up even the simplest Spirit Gathering Array.

This was not because He Song lacked talent in the Array Dao.

On the contrary, He Song now possessed a deep understanding of how to set up a Spirit Gathering Array.

By now, He Song had begun trying to inscribe array patterns onto Spirit Stones, causing nearly all the Spirit Stones he had earned over the past three years to be consumed in this pursuit.

Inscribe array patterns onto Spirit Stones was one of the requirements for setting up a Spirit Gathering Array.

But Spirit Stones were often damaged while the array patterns were being inscribed, causing the spiritual energy within them to leak out, leaving He Song no choice but to absorb it himself.

Thus, He Song had never been able to save up any Spirit Stones.

However, because he frequently damaged Spirit Stones and had no choice but to absorb their spiritual energy, his cultivation had already reached the consummate realm of Qi Refining Layer 3.

Next, he only needed to circulate his cultivation technique and break through. Like Lin Cong before him, he would successfully advance into the Qi Refining Middle Stage and become a Qi Refining Middle Stage cultivator.

Moreover, because he often practiced with Spirit Stones, He Song's skill in inscribing array patterns onto Spirit Stones had steadily improved.

It seemed that before long, He Song would be able to set up a Spirit Gathering Array.

On the outskirts of Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market.

Inside He Song's house.

Within the quiet cultivation chamber.

He Song sat with his eyes tightly shut, more than ten Spirit Stones placed beside him.

These Spirit Stones were the last remaining ones on his person. To successfully break through into the Qi Refining Middle Stage, He Song had taken them out without the slightest hesitation and placed them at his side.

This was a method Lin Cong and Wei Fan had taught him.

When breaking through a minor realm, placing Spirit Stones beside one's body could slightly increase the chances of a breakthrough.

Though the chance was not high, it was still a rare little trick for increasing one's odds of breaking through.

If He Song had not been their friend, no one would likely have taught such a little trick to another person.