Glug glug...
On the broad river's surface, a string of bubbles suddenly rose.
Immediately after, a figure drilled out of the water like a water ghost—it was He Sheng!
This was already the middle reaches of the Silver Sand River, more than two thousand li south of the Celestial Capital Mountain Range.
After He Sheng had slipped from Quiet Meditation Cave's hidden waterway into the underground river, he had ridden the current downstream, first merging into the upper reaches of the Silver Sand River.
Then, without stopping, he had used Subtle Ripple Water Escape in one breath for over half a shichen, covering a full thousand li.
Seeing that little of his spiritual power remained, he finally stopped using the water escape. He then rode the water at high speed for another two or three shichen before arriving here.
"Things should be safe for now."
He Sheng used the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm to reinforce his divine sense and extend it to its limit. His spiritual awareness gave no warning whatsoever, which eased his mind considerably.
"I'll find somewhere to recover some spiritual power first, then consider what to do next."
As the thought turned in his mind, He Sheng headed toward a cliff wall 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 decent place to rest temporarily.
Following his divine sense, He Sheng slipped into the cave.
"The sword-bearing youth shouldn't be able to track me down anymore, right?
"There's no reason he could still find someone from a thousand li away after losing their trail. That would be far too inconceivable."
To be honest, He Sheng felt that sword-bearing youth had been absurdly overpowered. Facing him head-on was out of the question.
But after fleeing a thousand li away, if he still got caught... was he even supposed to be allowed to live?
He Sheng sat down against the cave wall. After letting out a long breath, he took several pills to restore spiritual power, then used the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm to reinforce his cultivation technique and began breathing exercises.
Yet after completing one Greater Celestial Circuit, his spiritual sea in the dantian had recovered only a few hundred drops of spiritual power. The effect was far inferior to cultivating in the water manor before.
"Looks like once I've left the spirit vein, relying solely on spirit pills and the spiritual energy born from breathing exercises leaves even the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm like a clever housewife unable to cook without rice."
There naturally were no spirit veins in this desolate wilderness, so poor cultivation results were hardly surprising.
"It seems cultivating immortality first requires a relatively stable environment."
A realization arose in He Sheng's heart. He then circulated his cultivation technique through several more cycles. Once more than half the spiritual power in his body had recovered, he finally stopped cultivating, his gaze turning deep.
"It's time to think about what to do next!"
He Sheng could not help but fall into thought.
"Logically speaking, I took over Brother Piao's body, possess the Time-Reversing Water Clock, and now have Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivation. I could completely start from scratch.
"Change my identity, travel far from home, and begin anew.
"But this is a world of immortal cultivation. I've only just arrived and know nothing at all. If I head somewhere even Brother Piao never set foot in, how can I guarantee I won't run into some deadly danger?"
Foundation Establishment Great Perfection might seem like impressive cultivation, but that depended on where one was.
In a place like the Silver Sand River, practically a beginner village, he could naturally lord over all.
But once he left the beginner village, he would be nothing more than a slightly larger ant.
"Besides, cultivation in this world places the greatest emphasis on resources!
"Brother Piao cultivated quickly only because his entire Lineage had supported him, allowing his progress to be so astonishing.
"Without a Lineage's supply, even someone with a superior spirit root might not merely fail to establish their foundation early—there were precedents of people remaining trapped in the Qi Refinement stage their entire lives!"
He Sheng was now a Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivator, and his next step would naturally be planning for core formation. That step was 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 with cheat-like mechanics like that sword-bearing youth wouldn't dare provoke me, right?"
The first priority for core formation was gathering funds.
With that thought, He Sheng untied the storage pouch from his waist, took out its contents one by one, and carefully inventoried them.
He Sheng began by counting spirit stones.
Spirit stones were crystal shards no larger than fingernails. They appeared clear and translucent, as if pure gas flowed within them, though one or two impure colors could faintly be seen around their edges.
He Sheng grabbed a handful of relatively less pure crystal shards. These were low-grade spirit stones.
There were roughly five thousand such low-grade spirit stones in the storage pouch.
Besides that, the valuable items consisted of three top-grade magic artifacts, two high-grade magic artifacts, and a white jade talisman whose spiritual glow was somewhat dim.
As for the pills stored in various bottles and jars, most restored spiritual power, healed wounds, or warded off and neutralized poison. Their value was far beneath that of magic artifacts.
What remained were some jade slips and books, none containing any particularly valuable inheritances.
All told, the contents of the storage pouch were worth thirty to forty thousand low-grade spirit stones. For an ordinary cultivator, that counted as considerable wealth.
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 Lineage's secret vault on Long Sun Mountain, intending to use them later to purchase third-rank treasure materials for refining a Nascent Dharma Treasure, as well as the items needed for core formation.
Furthermore, most of the resources Brother Piao had brought north this time had been exchanged for the rare second-rank high-grade spirit material, Star Swirl Sand.
At the thought of Star Swirl Sand, He Sheng could not help taking out the stone box Green Snake had delivered.
The instant he opened the lid, chilling cold air spilled out. A thin layer of white frost even formed on He Sheng's fingertips.
"What treasure is this?!"
He Sheng's heart jolted. Looking at the item in the box, he saw a fist-sized crystal, entirely snow-white and translucent.
"This is... a third-rank low-grade treasure material, the Cold Soul Mystic Crystal Stone?!"
It matched something in Brother Piao's memories, because Brother Piao had considered this item one of the most suitable treasure materials for refining a Nascent Dharma Treasure.
"In Brother Piao's memories, this Cold Soul Mystic Crystal Stone once appeared at the auction conference held only once every few years in Primordial Mist Immortal City. Its final price had reached eighteen hundred... middle-grade spirit stones."
Middle-grade spirit stones were purer spirit stones, worth a hundred times more than low-grade spirit stones.
At market prices, one middle-grade spirit stone could be exchanged for at least one hundred low-grade spirit stones, and often carried an additional premium.
Eighteen hundred middle-grade spirit stones naturally amounted to one hundred eighty thousand low-grade spirit stones.
"The Star-Backed Black Turtle truly has a generous nature. Even though he and Brother Piao had been at odds before,
"after I paid him a visit and offered a lavish gift in an attempt to ease our relationship, he not only accepted me quickly, but even gave me such a heavy gift upon seeing me break through to Foundation Establishment Late Stage. That truly is exceedingly rare."
Not to mention that after Old Turtle witnessed the other party's formidable methods, he had not thought of fleeing. Instead, he had thrown in six parts of his stake, indirectly restraining the other party and allowing He Sheng to escape at ease.
All he could say was... what a good man. No, what a good turtle!
Feeling grateful to Old Turtle, He Sheng carefully put away the Cold Soul Mystic Crystal Stone.
"A single third-rank treasure material like the Cold Soul Mystic Crystal Stone costs one hundred eighty thousand low-grade spirit stones. Refining a Nascent Dharma Treasure also requires quite a few supplementary materials with compatible attributes and not too great a gap in quality, which is another massive expense.
"Not to mention that for core formation, one must first purchase a third-rank essential spiritual pill such as the 'Golden Core Formation Pill.'
"This pill has always been exorbitantly priced. At the Primordial Mist Auction Conference 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. It had been founded by Heavenly Centipede True Person, a rogue cultivator at the middle stage of core formation.
Brother Piao had attended a Primordial Mist Auction Conference several years ago, so he had seen a bit of the world.
He Sheng sorted through Brother Piao's memories regarding resource preparations and quickly arrived at a rough figure.
That was, refining a Nascent Dharma Treasure and purchasing the spiritual pills and treasures essential for core formation would cost at least a million low-grade spirit stones, and that was merely the most basic level of preparation.
If He Sheng truly had to gather that many spirit stones with his own two hands, he had no idea 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 Lineage's secret vault are extremely valuable. No matter what, I have to go back and strip every last one of them away!"
Put simply, aside from the Cold Soul Mystic Crystal Stone Old Turtle had gifted him, the resources He Sheng carried now were worth only a few million yuan in his previous life.
But in Brother Piao's beginner-village home base, there lay savings worth over a hundred million.
If it were you, wouldn't you go back and take a handful?
"But I can't just head back directly!"
Leaving aside whether the sword-bearing youth, after failing to find him, might go straight to Long Sun Mountain.
More importantly, Brother Piao did not know this person at all. He had no idea why the other party wanted to kill him.
In other words, Brother Piao had no idea who had laid this killing trap against him.
"If the mastermind also has arrangements waiting at Long Sun Mountain, and I charge back recklessly, I might fail to get the savings and instead stir up a whole mess for myself. That would be terribly bad."
Logically speaking, under such circumstances, He Sheng should first watch and wait. But wealth was hard to part with—after all, it was savings worth over a hundred million.
"I need to come up with a proper method."
A thought stirred in He Sheng's heart. He took a jade slip from the storage pouch, which recorded a secret art called the Flesh Rebirth Art.
As its name implied, this was a secret art that could alter one's build, appearance, and even disguise one's aura.
"I can cultivate this secret art, use it to change my identity, return to investigate the situation, and then decide according to circumstances."
Thinking this, He Sheng glanced at the information in the water clock.
[Total currently available cultivation time: One year, seven months, sixteen days]
"I only need to spend a little time getting started with this secret art, then invest some universal cultivation time. This secret art should become extremely useful, right?"
Once he had made up his mind, He Sheng followed the method from Brother Piao's memories, pressed the jade slip against his brow, and began comprehending the Flesh Rebirth Art.
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