Do You Want a Deposit of Over a Hundred Million?

Gurgle, gurgle...

Across the broad river's surface, a string of bubbles suddenly rose.

Right after that, a figure emerged from the water like a drowned ghost—it was He Sheng!

This was already the middle reaches of the Silver Sand River, more than two thousand li south of the Heaven Capital Mountain range.

After He Sheng had escaped through the hidden waterway of Quiet Meditation Cave into an underground river, he had followed the current downstream, first merging into the upper reaches of the Silver Sand River.

Then, without stopping, he used Subtle Ripple Water Escape to flee in one breath for more than half an hour, covering a full thousand li.

Seeing that little of his spiritual power remained, he finally stopped using Water Escape. He then controlled the water and sped onward for another two or three hours before arriving here.

"Should be safe for now."

He Sheng used the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm to bolster his divine sense and spread it to its utmost limit. Not the slightest warning arose from his spiritual awareness, which reassured him considerably.

"First, I'll find a place to recover some spiritual power. Then I can consider what to do next."

With that thought, He Sheng headed toward a cliff face by the riverbank.

His divine sense had already detected a concealed cave there. Its entrance was hidden beneath thick green vines, while the inside was dry and spacious—a fine place to rest for the time being.

Following his divine sense, He Sheng slipped into the cave.

"That sword-bearing youth shouldn't be able to track me down anymore, right?

"There's no way he could still find me from a thousand li away after losing my trail. That would be far too inconceivable."

To be honest, He Sheng felt that sword-bearing youth was absurdly overpowered. Fighting him head-on was out of the question.

But after fleeing a thousand li like this, if he still got caught up to, would that leave anyone any way to live?

Leaning against the cave wall, He Sheng sat down. After letting out a long breath, he took several pills to restore spiritual power, then used the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm to bolster his cultivation art and began breathing exercises to regulate his energy.

Yet after completing one full great circulation, his dantian's spiritual sea had recovered only a few hundred drops of spiritual power. The results were far inferior to cultivating back in the water manor.

"Looks like once I've left a spiritual vein, relying solely on spirit pills and ambient spiritual energy for breathing exercises means even the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm can't make bricks without straw."

There naturally could not be any spiritual veins in this desolate wilderness, so it was not hard to understand why his cultivation yielded such poor results.

"It seems that cultivation first requires a relatively stable environment."

A realization arose in He Sheng's heart. He then circulated his cultivation art for several more cycles. Only after his spiritual power had recovered by more than half did he stop cultivating, his gaze turning deep.

"It's time to think about what to do next!"

He Sheng could not help but ponder.

"Logically speaking, I've taken over Brother Piao's body, and I have the Time-Reversal Clepsydra in hand. Now, I even possess Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivation. I could completely start afresh.

"From now on, I could change my identity, travel far from home, and begin again.

"But this is a world of cultivation. I've only just arrived and know nothing at all. If I run off to a place Brother Piao never set foot in, how can I guarantee that I won't encounter some dangerous calamity?"

Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivation might seem impressive, but that depended on the place.

In a place like the Silver Sand River, practically a beginner's village, he could naturally lord over everything.

But once he left the beginner's village, he would be nothing more than a slightly larger ant.

"Besides, cultivation in this world places the greatest importance on resources!

"Brother Piao cultivated quickly only because his entire clan had supported him, allowing his progress to be so astonishing.

"Without a family's supply, even someone with a high-grade spirit root might not only fail to establish their foundation early—even being trapped in the Qi Refinement Realm for an entire lifetime is hardly without precedent!"

He Sheng was now already a Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivator. Naturally, he would next have to plan for Core Formation, a step a hundred times harder than Foundation Establishment.

"If I can achieve Core Formation, then even if I'm merely a False Core cultivator, a freak governed by rules like that sword-bearing youth wouldn't dare provoke me, right?"

The foremost task in forming a core was gathering funds and resources.

With that thought, He Sheng untied the storage pouch at his waist, took out its contents one by one, and carefully inventoried them.

He Sheng first counted the spirit stones.

Spirit stones were crystal chips no larger than fingernails. They looked translucent and lustrous, as though pure gas flowed within them, though one or two impure colors could faintly be seen along their edges.

He Sheng grabbed a handful of the relatively less pure crystal chips. These were low-grade spirit stones.

There were roughly five thousand such low-grade spirit stones in the storage pouch.

Aside from those, the valuable items were magical artifacts: three top-grade artifacts, two high-grade artifacts, and a white jade talisman whose spiritual radiance was somewhat dim.

As for the pills stored in the various bottles and jars, most restored spiritual power, healed injuries, or warded off and neutralized poison. Their value was far below that of magical artifacts.

The rest consisted of jade slips and books, none containing any particularly valuable inheritances.

All told, the contents of this storage pouch were worth thirty to forty thousand low-grade spirit stones. For an ordinary cultivator, that was quite a considerable fortune.

But for a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivator of Brother Piao's status, it seemed rather shabby.

The reason was that Brother Piao had long-term plans. He had stored the overwhelming majority of his resources in the clan's secret treasury on Long Sun Mountain, intending to use them later to purchase third-grade treasures for refining a prototype magic treasure, as well as items needed for Core Formation.

Aside from that, most of the resources Brother Piao had brought north this time had been exchanged for the rare second-grade high-grade spiritual material, Star Swirl Sand.

At the thought of Star Swirl Sand, He Sheng could not help but take out the stone box the green snake had delivered.

The moment he opened the lid, a chilling cold seeped out, and a thin layer of white frost formed over He Sheng's fingertips.

"What treasure is this?!"

Startled, He Sheng looked into the box and saw a fist-sized crystal, snow-white and translucent throughout.

"This is... a third-grade low-grade treasure material, Cold Soul Mystic Crystal Stone?!"

It happened to match something from Brother Piao's memories. This item was one of the treasure materials Brother Piao considered most suitable for refining a prototype magic treasure.

"In Brother Piao's memories, this Cold Soul Mystic Crystal Stone once appeared at an auction held only once every few years in Primordial Mist Immortal City. Its final price reached eighteen hundred... middle-grade spirit stones."

Middle-grade spirit stones were purer spirit stones, each worth a hundred low-grade spirit stones.

At market rates, one middle-grade spirit stone could be exchanged for at least a hundred low-grade spirit stones, often with an added premium.

Eighteen hundred middle-grade spirit stones naturally amounted to one hundred and eighty thousand low-grade spirit stones.

"The Star-Backed Black Turtle truly has a decent temperament. Even though it had been at odds with Brother Piao before, after I paid it a visit with generous gifts in an attempt to mend the relationship, it not only accepted me so readily, but even gave me such a lavish gift upon seeing that I had broken through to Foundation Establishment Late Stage. That is truly rare."

Not to mention that, after seeing the other party's formidable methods, the old turtle had not thought to flee. Instead, it had thrown in six parts of its lot with him, indirectly tying down the other side and allowing He Sheng to escape at leisure.

All he could say was... what a good man—no, what a good turtle!

Feeling grateful toward the old turtle, He Sheng carefully put away the Cold Soul Mystic Crystal Stone.

"A single third-grade treasure material like the Cold Soul Mystic Crystal Stone costs one hundred and eighty thousand low-grade spirit stones, while refining a prototype magic treasure requires quite a few supplementary materials with compatible attributes and not too great a disparity in quality. That will be another enormous expense.

Not to mention that if I want to form a core, I must first purchase a third-grade spiritual pill essential for core formation, something like a 'Golden Core Pill.'

This pill has always been exorbitantly priced. At the Primordial Mist auctions over the past century, its final price has never fallen below three hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones.

..."

Primordial Mist Immortal City was an immortal city located four or five thousand li southeast of Ten Thousand Stars Mountain, built by the mid-stage Core Formation Rogue Cultivator, Heavenly Centipede True Person.

Brother Piao had attended a Primordial Mist auction several years ago, so he had seen a bit of the world.

After sorting through Brother Piao's memories concerning the preparation of resources, He Sheng swiftly arrived at a rough figure.

That was, refining a prototype magic treasure and purchasing the spiritual pills and treasures necessary for core formation would cost no less than a million low-grade spirit stones. And that was only the most basic level of preparation.

If He Sheng truly had to prepare that many spirit stones all by himself, he did not even know how many more years he would have to toil like an ox and horse.

Fortunately, there was a shortcut!

"According to Brother Piao's memories, the resources stored in the clan's secret treasury are exceedingly valuable. No matter what, I have to go back and strip it all clean!"

Put simply, aside from the Cold Soul Mystic Crystal Stone gifted by the old turtle, the resources He Sheng currently carried on him were probably worth only a few million in his previous life's currency.

But Brother Piao's old nest in the beginner village held savings worth over a hundred million.

If it were you, wouldn't you go back and take a haul?

"But I can't just head straight back like this!"

Setting aside whether that sword-bearing youth would directly attack Long Sun Mountain after failing to find him, more importantly, Brother Piao did not know this person at all and had no idea why he wanted to kill him.

In other words, Brother Piao had no idea who had set this deadly trap against him.

"What if the person behind it has also made arrangements at Long Sun Mountain? If I charge back recklessly, only to fail to get my savings and instead stir up a whole mess for myself, that would be terribly bad."

By all rights, in this situation, He Sheng should observe for a while first. But money was hard to part with—after all, that was savings worth over a hundred million.

"I need to come up with a proper method."

A thought stirred in He Sheng's mind. He took a jade slip from his storage pouch, which recorded a Flesh Rebirth Art.

As the name implied, it was a secret art that could alter one's physique, appearance, and even transform one's aura.

"I can cultivate this secret art, change my face and identity, then return to investigate the situation before deciding what to do according to the circumstances."

With that thought, He Sheng glanced at the information in the clepsydra.

[Total currently available cultivation time: one year, seven months, sixteen days]

"I only need to spend a little time getting this secret art started, then invest some general cultivation time into it. This secret art should become highly useful, shouldn't it?"

Having made up his mind, He Sheng followed the method from Brother Piao's memories, pressed the jade slip to his brow, and began comprehending the Flesh Rebirth Art.