"Fellow Daoist, you possess immeasurable merit and excel at nothing more than mending the Earth Veins and repairing the flaws in Heaven and Earth."
"The boundless baleful energy there would be a death warrant for anyone else. But for you, fellow Daoist, it might just be a fortunate opportunity to earn merit from Heaven and Earth."
"As for whether you go or not, the decision is entirely yours. I've said all I have to say. Farewell."
Her voice faded.
Nuwa didn't linger. The Creation Azure Light around her flashed, and she transformed into a streak of light, disappearing in an instant beyond the horizon.
Inside the cave dwelling.
Lu Changsheng stared at the empty ruins in the water mirror for a long time without saying a word.
"She's gone..."
He took a deep breath and gave the vine in his hand a sharp tug.
"Whoosh!"
The wooden casket was swiftly pulled back to the gap in the formation.
In the space between the thousandth layer and the nine hundred and ninety-ninth layer of the formation, that dazzling mass of dark-red Pure Yang Fire surged up again.
This time, Lu Changsheng was going all out. He was putting every last bit of strength into it.
He burned Pure Yang Fire for seven whole days and nights!
Even the lump of Nine Heavens Breathing Soil had developed a dark-red, glazed sheen on its surface after being repeatedly scorched by the Pure Yang Fire.
The green jade slip had been roasted until it was transparent all the way through, as if it might melt at any moment.
"You can't be too careful around others. And when it comes to something given by a future Sage, you have to inspect it a hundred times over."
Lu Changsheng muttered to himself.
Over those seven days and nights, he hadn't just burned the items with Pure Yang Fire. He'd also summoned Earth Vein Heavy Water to wash them repeatedly, and even swept his divine sense inch by inch across every tiny crevice in the Breath Soil and the jade slip.
Only after confirming countless times that there wasn't a trace of Nuwa's divine sense or any means of tracking attached to either item
did he finally let out a long breath and carefully pull the wooden casket into the safest area at the very heart of his cave dwelling.
Thud.
Lu Changsheng slumped to the ground, staring at the Nine Heavens Breathing Soil and the scalding jade slip on the White Jade Platform.
"That woman... She could've just left. Why did she have to dangle such a huge bait in front of me before she went?"
Lu Changsheng's brow furrowed, his eyes full of inner conflict.
He picked up the jade slip and pressed it to his forehead.
The information Nuwa had left behind flooded into his mind.
Eighty thousand li east of here.
A shattered Xiantian Micro Spiritual Cave.
A vast amount of merit for repairing Heaven and Earth.
And... an unclaimed Innate Spirit Treasure radiating the light of a damaged treasure!
Taken together, those four things held a fatal allure for a miser like Lu Changsheng, who considered merit and defensive treasures his second life.
"Eighty thousand li..."
Lu Changsheng gritted his teeth and paced back and forth irritably in the cave dwelling.
"Last time I went out, I'd only traveled ten thousand li when an Earth Dragon at the Mystic Immortal level burst out of the ground and nearly chewed me up like a snack."
"If I go eighty thousand li this time, who knows what Daluo Golden Immortals or Quasi-Saints might leap out along the way?"
"Too dangerous! It goes against every principle of the Dao of Cowardice! The outside world's a meat grinder. I absolutely cannot leave this Three Thousand Layer Turtle Shell!"
Lu Changsheng frantically tried to brainwash himself, hoping to suppress the greed in his heart and the urge to go treasure hunting.
He went to the control panel and reached out to close the formation's exit, ready to return to his long seclusion.
But—
Just as his hand was about to touch the formation's control hub, he stopped.
In his mind, the image of that unclaimed Innate Spirit Treasure began sprouting like weeds, spreading wildly.
"An Innate Spirit Treasure..."
Lu Changsheng swallowed, his voice trembling.
"Everything I've got on me is junk I picked up and cobbled together from scraps. Sure, the formations are good at defense, but if I leave them, I'm as fragile as a chicken."
"What if... I mean, just what if..."
"What if that damaged Innate Spirit Treasure is a defensive treasure?"
The thought opened Pandora's box. There was no putting it away again.
"Nuwa said the baleful energy there is sky-high, and ordinary cultivators don't dare go near it."
"In other words, aside from me, a body of merit who can withstand the baleful energy and purify the Earth Veins, no one else will go there!"
"It's a natural safe zone, a vacuum untouched by anyone!"
Lu Changsheng's breathing grew heavier.
He stood where he was and weighed the pros and cons for three whole hours.
Fear and greed waged a desperate battle in his mind.
In the end, his craving for absolute safety overcame his fear of the unknown.
"A horse won't grow fat without night fodder, and a man won't grow rich without a windfall!"
Lu Changsheng slapped the White Jade Platform, a ruthlessness he'd never shown before flashing in his eyes.
"I'm doing it!"
"Once I pull off this job and get that Innate Spirit Treasure, I'll finally have the means to protect myself in the Primordial Land!"
"At worst, I'll grab the treasure and run back here, then shut myself away for a hundred thousand years!"
Once he'd made up his mind, Lu Changsheng's eyes instantly cleared.
Since he'd decided to go out, he couldn't just charge outside like some reckless fool.
He valued his life more than anything, so the preparations he made before leaving had to be downright insane.
"No rushing. The preparations have to be absolutely foolproof."
Lu Changsheng paced around the cave dwelling, muttering to himself.
The distance of eighty thousand li would take a True Immortal cultivator half a day to cover by riding Escape Light.
But who could guarantee he wouldn't run into some mighty figure from the Primordial Land in the middle of a fierce battle during that half-day journey?
He had no desire to experience the exquisite agony of being grazed by the shockwaves of a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal's fight again.
Lu Changsheng's gaze swept across the cave dwelling before finally settling on the pile of "junk" he'd spent thousands of years accumulating.
He went to a corner and took a dust-covered jade casket from a concealed compartment in the rock wall.
These were his true treasures, the ones he kept hidden away. Inside were all kinds of strange talismans and one-use formation disks he'd crafted from leftover materials over the years.
"Earth Escape Talismans—three thousand."
"Breath Concealment Talismans—five thousand. And these Turtle Breath Pore-Closing Talismans. They're a pain to use since I have to hold my breath, but they can completely conceal my life signs. I'll bring a thousand as backup."
Like a merchant stocking up on goods, Lu Changsheng stuffed handful after handful of talismans into the hidden pouch beneath his feathers without the slightest reluctance.
His formerly slender Fire Crow body was forcibly made a full size plumper by all the talismans.
After packing the talismans, he headed over to the formation disks.
"Ten sets of the Lesser Five Elements Maze Formation."
"The Heavenly Thunder Detonation Array Disk. The power's nothing special, but it's perfect for causing chaos while I escape. I'll take twenty."
Only after every place he could hide anything was stuffed to the brim, and even the jade casket was completely empty, did Lu Changsheng finally stop.
He looked down at his outfit, which made him resemble a walking arsenal, and nodded in satisfaction.
"My defenses and escape methods should be enough. But I'm still missing a radar that can give me an early warning."
Lu Changsheng rubbed his chin, his brow creased.
Divine sense was useful, but in a place like the Primordial Land, where mighty figures were everywhere, spreading his divine sense recklessly would be like shining a flashlight in the dark. It would make him extremely easy to spot.
As he racked his brains, the corner of his eye caught sight of the spiritual field in the corner.
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