The ancients truly did not deceive me, killing and arson lead to golden belts!

The ancients truly had not deceived him: murder and arson brought a golden belt! The mountain wind blew past, stirring up a thick reek of blood.

Zhao Hao looked at the head on the ground, its eyes still open in death, without the slightest hesitation.

He made a grabbing motion through the air, and the storage pouch at Jia Ren's waist, along with that pitch-black Corpse Refining Bag, flew into his hand.

As for that corpse, he did not even have the thought of refining it into a corpse puppet.

The Demonic Sect's methods were strange and sinister; who knew whether there was some secret tracking art? Only grinding the bones and scattering the ashes was the safest choice.

A ball of orange-red fire appeared at his fingertip, and he flicked it casually.

The instant the firelight touched the corpse, it exploded with a boom, turning into greedy flames that completely swallowed Jia Ren's headless body and that severed head.

"Sizzle—"

A scorched stench spread through the air. In just a few breaths, only a patch of black ash remained on the ground.

The mountain wind rose again, and even the last trace vanished like smoke and clouds.

After finishing all this, Zhao Hao took out the Disciple Token from his own waist, together with the Deacon Token from Jia Ren's waist.

All of these things might be used by the sect to locate them.

He stacked the two tokens together, and a black gleam flashed from the tip of the Ghost Bone Dagger, striking them with perfect precision.

With a crisp crack, the two hard tokens shattered into powder at once.

Even the Sound Transmission Jade Talisman he had used to trick Jia Ren was destroyed along with them.

He left no future trouble behind.

After confirming that there was nothing left at the scene related to his own identity or Jia Ren's, Zhao Hao did not linger for even a moment. His figure sank, and his entire body merged into the earth beneath his feet.

Deep underground, Zhao Hao sped through like a disembodied wandering soul.

After becoming a Foundation Establishment cultivator, both the quality and quantity of his spiritual power had undergone earth-shaking changes.

Back when he had been in the Qi Refining stage, he could not bear the pressure underground after using Earth Escape Art for ten li. Now, he felt as if he could keep escaping through the earth until the sky grew old and the land withered.

A full two hours later, when Zhao Hao estimated that he had already traveled over a thousand li, he finally emerged from a deserted dense forest.

He identified the direction, pushed the perfected-level Light Body Art to its limit, and his whole body turned into an afterimage barely distinguishable to the naked eye as he continued madly running in the direction away from Extreme Yin Sect.

It was not that he did not want to fly on a sword, but that he simply did not know how.

The Mysterious Yin Qi Absorption Art was only a basic cultivation method, and the first floor of the Scripture Repository was full of minor spells for the Qi Refining stage. As for sword flight, that standard equipment of Foundation Establishment cultivators, he had not even touched the threshold.

After becoming a cultivator, spiritual power had nourished his physical body in return. Over these few months, this body of his had also grown taller by a good bit, no longer that thin, weak child of around ten. He now looked about fifteen or sixteen.

As long as he disguised himself a little and lowered his voice when speaking, it would not seem too out of place.

Back when he had been in the Qi Refining stage, he could rely on the system and forcefully ram through realms with pills and spirit stones, placing all his energy on raising his cultivation.

Facts proved that this path had been the right one.

In a man-eating place like Extreme Yin Sect, you never knew when an accident would come. Only cultivation was the sole thing you could rely on to survive.

If he had not decisively broken through to the Foundation Establishment Realm this time, he would probably already have become Jia Ren's prisoner, his soul searched and seized, all his secrets dug out clearly.

That he had been able to counter-kill so easily was naturally partly because he had pretended to be an "old monster who had seized a body" and frightened the other party, but at the root of it all, it was still because he possessed the strength of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

But now, the situation was different.

Cultivation in the Foundation Establishment Realm required massive resources and time at every step.

He had to find follow-up cultivation methods and powerful fighting techniques as soon as possible. Otherwise, with only Foundation Establishment cultivation and nothing else, if he encountered a true Foundation Establishment Old Devil, he would still only be beaten and forced to flee.

What he dreaded most was still his master, True Person Corpse Heart.

Jia Ren had been able to find him with a single drop of blood essence. Who could guarantee that a Golden Core old monster like True Person Corpse Heart did not have even stranger methods?

He had to leave this troublesome land within Extreme Yin Sect territory as soon as possible!

It was another three days and nights of fleeing without sleep or rest.

When the outline of a rather sizable market town appeared on the horizon, Zhao Hao finally slowed his pace slightly.

He did not dare grow careless. He used the Mysterious Yin Breath Concealment Art to disguise his aura as the seventh level of Qi Refining, then put on a mask that concealed aura and appearance, making himself look like someone not to be trifled with.

After handing over one Low-grade Spirit Stone at the market town entrance, he directly rented the most ordinary temporary cave abode.

Rumble!

The stone door closed, cutting off the outside world.

Zhao Hao immediately set up another layer of warning restrictions inside the cave abode, and only then did he let out a long breath.

He sat down cross-legged. Instead of rushing to cultivate, he impatiently took out Jia Ren's storage pouch.

The divine sense brand of a Foundation Establishment cultivator was no longer an obstacle to him.

His divine sense surged, easily wiping away the mark Jia Ren had left on it, and he dumped out everything inside in one go.

Clatter—

A pile of miscellaneous items instantly formed a small hill on the stone chamber's floor.

Zhao Hao's breathing abruptly grew heavy.

His gaze was seized at once by a jade slip, and he saw five large characters engraved on it!

Mysterious Yin Essence Condensation Art!

It was an Extreme Yin Sect Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation method! The greatest problem in cultivating through the Foundation Establishment Realm had been solved! A huge stone fell from Zhao Hao's heart, and he felt his entire body lighten somewhat.

Only then was his gaze drawn by those glittering things.

Twenty crystals that gave off even denser spiritual energy and were clearly a size larger!

Mid-grade Spirit Stones!

One was worth a hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones! These twenty alone were worth two thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones!

And the Low-grade Spirit Stones beside them were piled even higher. At a rough count, there were seven or eight thousand of them!

He had struck it rich!

There were three or four pitch-black little bottles. When his divine sense probed inside, they were filled with viscous cultivator essence blood, while another dozen or so bottles held mortal blood.

A Soul Summoning Banner wreathed in black qi and an equally pitch-black flying sword, both first-rank supreme-grade artifacts.

What remained besides those were some first-rank talismans and refining materials. He forced down the wild pounding in his chest, then looked toward a black cloth bag—the Corpse Refining Bag.

When his divine sense probed inside, Zhao Hao's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

There were eleven at late first rank, twenty-five at mid first rank, and as many as forty-two at early first rank! In the corner, there was even a pile of more than a dozen cultivator corpses that had yet to be refined!

If he took these out and sold them, it would be another enormous sum of over ten thousand Spirit Stones!

"The ancients truly did not deceive me..." Zhao Hao could not help muttering to himself. "Murder and arson really are the fastest road to making a fortune..."

Just then, his gaze was drawn to the very bottom of the little mountain, where a cyan jade bottle was being pressed down by other things.

He reached out, picked up the jade bottle, and pulled out the stopper.

An indescribably dense burst of spiritual energy, mixed with a faint fragrance, instantly surged out from the mouth of the bottle!

With just one breath of it, Zhao Hao felt even the spiritual power that had still been somewhat unsteady after he had just established his foundation instantly solidify a little!

He quickly put the stopper back on and brought the jade bottle close to his eyes.

Inside the bottle was a small half-bottle of milky-white liquid, like the finest mutton-fat white jade, giving off a soft, luminous glow.

Zhao Hao's heart pounded wildly.

He thought of the "spiritual liquid bestowed by his master" he had casually made up back then in order to trick Jia Ren.

An absurd, yet highly possible thought exploded in his mind.

This... couldn't be spiritual liquid, could it?!

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