"Cough, cough." Old Daoist Li gave a dry cough, finally turning serious as he said solemnly, "I'll keep it short. An ancient tomb has surfaced nearby, and its scale is astonishing. Many Rogue Cultivators have already gone there."
"They say this ancient tomb is exceptionally dangerous, and major clans are involved. More often than not, the danger posed by people surpasses the dangers within the tomb itself."
"This old man is alone and weak, so I came today to invite you to form a team. We can watch each other's backs."
Hearing this, Long Xuan frowned for a moment and pondered it over.
He felt that his current strength was still far too weak. The mid Spirit Gathering stage was completely unpresentable, and without even a single External Gu for protection, his combat methods were extremely limited.
He felt he should develop for a while longer and not leave his comfort zone too early. With his current strength, he was fundamentally incapable of protecting himself and could only rely on protagonist luck.
Treasures were good, but only if he lived long enough to spend them. Better to lie low for a while longer.
Long Xuan did not follow the usual novel routine of rushing off the moment he heard of an opportunity. No matter how precious the treasures in the ancient tomb might be, they could not make him risk his life.
Having made up his mind, Long Xuan said, "No. Since major clans are involved, why should little Rogue Cultivators like us join in the fun? I still want to live a little longer. Go by yourself."
Seeing that Long Xuan remained unmoved, Old Daoist Li said again, "I know what you're worried about—nothing more than personal safety."
"Rest assured. I guarantee this trip will be one hundred percent safe. We won't compete with the major clans for treasures. We only need to follow behind them and pick up whatever they pass over."
"There will always be times when they miss something or let their guard down. That will be our chance to pick up the leftovers. Besides, all the dangers in the ancient tomb will be borne by the major clans in front. Those following behind definitely won't encounter any danger."
"The only danger will be the other Rogue Cultivators. But as long as we gather a few close friends to form a team, there will basically be nothing to worry about."
Long Xuan sneered inwardly. What a fine plan. Everyone thought like this before an adventure, harboring fluke mentality—yet when had there ever been an expedition that did not leave corpses strewn everywhere?
"There's no need to persuade me. I've always been a man of my word. If I say I'm not going, then I'm not going," Long Xuan said firmly.
Seeing that Long Xuan had set his heart on refusing, Old Daoist Li did not press the matter. He had approached Long Xuan only because he believed the more people there were, the safer it would be. Since Long Xuan was not going, it made little difference. He had no shortage of close friends.
"Fine, then. You're young, yet you're already so overly cautious. If young people don't dare to take risks, can they still be called young people?"
Old Daoist Li shook his head and finally turned to leave.
Long Xuan did not see him out. Instead, he remained seated, continuing to think about how to design a divine ability for the Ten Absolutes Scripture.
In the blink of an eye, another month passed. A light rain was falling outside. Just as Long Xuan was about to close the window, Old Daoist Li suddenly jumped in through it, giving him quite a fright.
"Cough, cough..." Old Daoist Li coughed up a pool of blood. His clothes were torn to tatters, his entire body was covered in blood, and his hair was a complete mess. He looked half-dead, clearly having suffered severe injuries.
"Cough, cough... Damn it. One wrong move, and the whole game was lost. We never intended to compete with the major clans for treasures. We only wanted to follow behind them and pick up what they didn't want."
"Who knew those dog bastards would be rich yet heartless? They feared the unknown dangers within the tomb and forced us Rogue Cultivators to scout the way for them. Man proposes, Heaven disposes!"
"And this ancient tomb was extraordinarily dangerous. A great many of the Rogue Cultivators who went in died, and every Rogue Cultivator who teamed up with me was wiped out..."
Old Daoist Li complained with towering resentment, so enraged that he was nearly driven mad. Only after coughing up another pool of blood did he stop his endless stream of curses.
Long Xuan showed no surprise whatsoever. It was exactly as expected. There was no such thing as absolute safety in this world. Even without the major clans forcing them to scout ahead, conflict could have erupted over unevenly divided treasures. It was absolutely impossible for no one to die.
"What was the result? Did anyone take the tomb-suppressing treasure? And what was the most valuable treasure in the tomb?" Long Xuan asked curiously.
"No." Old Daoist Li shook his head. "That ancient tomb was extremely sinister. Not only did more than half of us Rogue Cultivators die, but the Gu cultivators from those major clans also suffered heavy casualties. Only a very small number escaped the tomb. No one managed to take the tomb's most precious treasure."
"However, plenty of other burial goods were brought out, including many items of astonishing value. Unfortunately, those Gu cultivators from the major clans became stingier the richer they were. Like geese plucked clean as they flew overhead, they did not leave even a single decorative object for us."
"I didn't find any treasure. I only happened to discover this damaged cultivation method."
Old Daoist Li took out a battered cultivation manual stained with blood and waved it around smugly before Long Xuan.
"Sun-Moon Heart Sutra?"
After seeing the four words on the cover, Long Xuan guessed that this cultivation method was anything but ordinary and hurriedly snatched it away to read.
Old Daoist Li froze. Did this young man not understand that teachings were not lightly passed on?
Even though this cultivation method was so damaged that it could not be cultivated, it still held tremendous value for reference. It was not something an outsider could simply read whenever he wished.
Under normal circumstances, he would certainly have snatched it back and reprimanded Long Xuan. But his injuries were too severe now, and he did not have the energy for it.
"My cultivation method isn't free to read. Shouldn't you compensate me with a Detoxification Pill? Your Cockroach Gu can only grant immunity to ordinary poisons. It cannot ward off the strange poisons in that ancient tomb," Old Daoist Li added.
Hearing this, Long Xuan did not even raise his head. He directly tossed over a bottle of Detoxification Pills.
Under normal circumstances, he would definitely have noticed something was wrong. Old Daoist Li actually knew he possessed Detoxification Pills, which meant he likely knew that Long Xuan was an alchemist. That also explained why, despite being severely injured, he went nowhere else and came to find Long Xuan immediately.
But Long Xuan was currently engrossed in the cultivation method, without the slightest distraction, and thus overlooked this detail.
Old Daoist Li hurriedly caught the flying pill bottle. He impatiently opened it, took out a pill, and tossed it into his mouth. Then, without the slightest shame, he stuffed the entire bottle of Detoxification Pills into his robes before sitting on the floor to refine the medicinal power.
After some time, the Detoxification Pills and Cockroach Gu worked together at last, barely allowing him to withstand the strange poison from the ancient tomb.
Meanwhile, Long Xuan had entered a state of complete absorption.
This cultivation method called the Sun-Moon Heart Sutra was indeed extraordinary, worthy of having been brought out of an ancient tomb.
The Sun-Moon Heart Sutra drew upon the spiritual power of Heaven and Earth, absorbed the essence of the sun and moon, and forged a supreme spirit body.
Those who cultivated it to great mastery could cultivate the unique Solar Spiritual Power, Lunar Spiritual Power, and Star Spiritual Power.
The strength of its Mutated Spiritual Power ranked among the very best of all Mutated Spiritual Power.
Its divine ability was the Externalized Clone.
Those who cultivated this method could create three Externalized Clones: a Solar Clone, a Lunar Clone, and a Star Clone.
The Solar Clone's combat power doubled during the day, while the Star Clone and Lunar Clone had their combat power doubled at night.
Not only were the three clones scarcely weaker than the main body in battle, but most outrageously, they could cultivate on their own and return the fruits of their cultivation to the main body.
This included gains in knowledge, as well as gains from body tempering and soul tempering.
Adding the main body's own cultivation speed, one who cultivated this method would cultivate four times faster than an ordinary person.
This cultivation method was absurdly powerful—one could say it was outright cheating. Even Long Xuan was alarmed upon reading it. The divine ability section in particular made his breathing quicken, and he was utterly captivated.
This was exactly the divine ability he had been looking for. The vastness of the Ten Extremity Physique's Spirit Sea resulted in the drawback of slow cultivation speed. It was a fatal flaw that had to be resolved.
Without question, designing a divine ability capable of accelerating cultivation speed was absolutely the best fit for the Ten Absolutes Scripture. The problem of the Ten Extremity Physique's slow cultivation speed had finally been solved.
He was truly more than satisfied with this divine ability.
Before you continue