Nearly half a month later, near a deserted coastal village in Eastern Yue, Li Ling concealed himself and began the first step of putting the dragon vein to use.
He had gone to great lengths to seize it, only to discover that it was not a higher-order dao fruit of the Dragon Soul Fruit or Transformation Fruit as he had initially imagined, but something entirely different.
Rather than a treasure, this Dragon Heart Stone was better described as a spirit root, an immortal vein, or a seed of the Dao.
Such things could not be used directly, and for the moment, it had become a hot potato.
But Li Ling was no ordinary rogue cultivator. An ordinary rogue cultivator who reached this point would truly have had no options beyond joining a major power to develop and use it together. He, however, still intended to make full use of it first, then pass it on to someone else once only its value as a spirit peak vein remained.
Of all his concerns, verifying the matter of the Heavenly Book he had seen in his dream came first. It concerned his and his wife's future.
Before that, however, he needed to explore ways to conceal it. Hiding it so that the Dao Registry Bureau would not hound him was the essential prerequisite.
Another day, Li Ling walked onward and, before he knew it, reached an open riverbank. Ahead of him, a broad river wound eastward.
This was a wild ferry crossing. Dusk was approaching, and the sun sank in the west. White egrets stood beside the water, then startled at his approach and flew toward the distant mountains.
Li Ling continued forward and saw a small boat moored beside the river. A white-haired old man, wrapped in thin clothing, sat hunched