Fallen Dragon Marsh

A spirit vein?

Li Yuanqing paused as he looked at Su Fuxi, a trace of surprise on his face. Resources were scarce in the Human Realm, and every place rich in spiritual energy, large or small, had been claimed by sects and cultivation clans. For ordinary people, cultivating was harder than ascending to heaven.

A single spirit vein was enough to establish a faction. He had never expected her to obtain such a fortuitous opportunity, much less turn it over.

With a wave of his hand, he activated the restrictions to isolate the hall and asked directly, "Why not keep it and establish a faction of your own?"

Su Fuxi said, "My energy is limited. I don't want to busy myself with such worldly things."

She quickly took out the storage pouch containing the spirit stone vein and handed it to the sect master. "As a member of the Azure Cloud Sect, I haven't contributed anything to the sect all these years. Lately, the sect has been losing its Golden Core cultivators. If this can help nurture more talent, my efforts won't have been in vain. I leave the spirit vein entirely at your disposal, Sect Master."

Li Yuanqing accepted the storage pouch and probed it with his spiritual sense. He found the spirit vein, sealed beneath layer upon layer of restrictions, and estimated it to be forty or fifty li long.

It was nearly half the size of the small spirit vein beneath Cloud-Capped Peak. Such an opportunity could be chanced upon but not sought, and she must have gone to great lengths to retrieve it.

"Good. On behalf of the sect, this old man thanks you."

After putting away the storage pouch, Li Yuanqing pondered for a moment, then took out a small porcelain bottle and handed it to her. "These are fourth-tier Lifespan Pills, three in all. Take them, and they can increase your lifespan by thirty years."

The legendary Lifespan Pills?

Leaving aside their ability to extend one's lifespan, fourth-tier pills alone were already expensive enough!

Even with spirit stones, one might not be able to buy Lifespan Pills like these. At the very least, there were no fourth-tier alchemists in the Tianshui Kingdom who could refine them.

Besides, pill formulas like this were treasured possessions of a sect.

Su Fuxi's eyes widened for an instant. She promptly reached out and accepted the bottle. "Thank you, Sect Master. If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave."

As for what he would do with the spirit vein, Su Fuxi didn't want to worry about it. Exchanging it for a bottle of Lifespan Pills was no loss, either.

Though she didn't think she would need to take such pills herself, it would still be well worth trading them for resources.

Cloud-Capped Peak.

"Elder Su! Senior Brother Lin, you're finally back!"

As soon as they returned to the pavilion, Wang Xiaohu, who had stayed behind, hurried forward to greet them happily. Su Fuxi noticed that Wang Xiaohu had actually advanced to the Middle Stage of Qi Refinement and now looked middle-aged.

Lin Sui was on fairly good terms with him and gave Wang Xiaohu many resources he could no longer use himself. Clutching the storage pouch, Wang Xiaohu was moved to tears. "Thank you, Senior Brother Lin!"

A day later, Lin Sui took a wine gourd to visit Deacon Wang, only to learn that his great-uncle Deacon Wang had already reached the end of his lifespan and passed away.

He was suddenly at a loss. Strictly speaking, Wang Yuan had been his teacher of letters. Now that he was suddenly gone, Lin Sui felt a faint sorrow.

People were born, grew old, fell ill, and died. Cultivators died too.

When Lin Sui returned to Chongming Pavilion and saw Su Fuxi, he looked at her still young and beautiful face and suddenly feared that one day she would leave him.

The No Falsehood Sword had said that she could not form a Nascent Soul and had only a few decades left to live.

The Human Realm-if the Human Realm was not enough, then he would go to the upper realm!

He would surely find a way for her to break through to the Nascent Soul stage.

"Master, where are we going?"

Su Fuxi flew through the clouds as a streak of light and looked at Lin Sui flying beside her. "To Fallen Dragon Marsh, to Immortal Market City."

"It's to the south. We'll stop and take a look along the way."

They had stayed in the Azure Cloud Sect for less than three days. Just after Lin Sui had completed another round of Blood Refining Body Tempering, Su Fuxi learned at Purple Flower Valley Market that a trade fair was being held in Fallen Dragon Marsh. She thought it would be a good chance to search for a way to undo the yellow seal on the jade box.

Fallen Dragon Marsh lay in Southern Province, and the journey would take at least a month.

Li Yuanqing had acted quickly, too. When she had gone to the hall to take her leave earlier, he had told Su Fuxi that he had buried the spirit vein beneath the mountain behind the sect overnight.

No wonder she had heard a dull rumbling from the mountain the night before. The next day, however, she had been unable to detect any change there at all, except that the spiritual energy on the mountain was growing denser by the day.

Fallen Dragon Marsh.

It lay in a vast basin and mountain range in Southern Province, a lawless region under no one's control, shaped like a bowl-like lake and marsh.

Its area might have been larger than several Tianshui Kingdoms combined. Legend had it that this place had once been the territory of a true dragon.

After the last true dragon fell, the lake and marsh turned to dry land.

All of Fallen Dragon Marsh looked like the bottom of a primordial ocean, laid bare after drying up, dotted with oases and enormous rocks.

Thick clouds and mist hung over Fallen Dragon Marsh year-round, giving it a damp, gloomy air.

It was a perilous place. Besides the ferocious demonic beasts, cultivators of every sort gathered here and had established countless factions.

Immortal Market City lay on the eastern outskirts of Fallen Dragon Marsh. It attracted not only local cultivators but also outsiders drawn by its reputation.

Immortal shops clustered here, and experts abounded. After disguising themselves, Su Fuxi and Lin Sui donned black robes and paid the entrance fee before walking into the city.

"Junior, this place is no simple matter. Your master is bold because she's skilled, daring to venture into Fallen Dragon Marsh alone."

Lin Sui's steps paused slightly, and he communicated with the sword spirit in his mind. "There are many experts here, but Golden Core cultivators aren't people who can be killed at will, either."

"What do you know? The moment we entered, this old man sensed a dense baleful aura. Only killing intent and deathly energy accumulated over many years can give rise to it. There must be an extremely cold and sinister place here. Heh heh, it could help this old man absorb energy and cultivate."

Lin Sui kept a wary eye on their surroundings and suddenly tugged at Su Fuxi's sleeve. "Master, the sword spirit says this place is very dangerous. Why don't we..."

He cultivated the God-Slaying Finger himself and was also extremely sensitive to cold, sinister auras. The moment he entered, he had felt a heavy, oppressive sensation.

"Mm, I know." Su Fuxi stopped and turned to look at him, her expression calm.

"But this place is still very far from the inner region where a Spirit Transformation cultivator is rumored to stand guard. I don't intend to go in there. I'm only going to the immortal shops to look for a way to undo the yellow paper seal."

Apart from this place, she truly couldn't think of anywhere else she might find a way to undo the seal.

They had to head south anyway, so they had stopped by to take a look.

Besides, as long as no Nascent Soul old monster appeared, neither she nor Lin Sui was someone an ordinary Golden Core cultivator could afford to provoke.

"Let's go."

Seeing that she was determined to enter, Lin Sui said no more and followed her.

"Senior Sword Spirit, do you know how to undo that kind of yellow paper seal? It's similar to the yellow paper seal that was on the No Falsehood Sword before."

He asked respectfully in his mind.

The sword spirit's youthful voice sounded. "Tsk, that's an ancient seal, also called a curse seal, a type of talisman curse seal."

"When I woke up and found myself bound by an ancient seal like that, I thought some ox-nosed Daoist had suppressed me... ahem!"

This time, the sword spirit dropped his profound act.

"The No Falsehood Sword was shattered back then too. This part of the blade is only an imitation someone forged using a fragment and heavenly treasures.

"I happened to be sleeping inside it and couldn't control the sword's baleful aura or sword intent. That talisman paper was meant to dispel the No Falsehood Sword's baleful aura. I reckon this sword was hard to control at first and slaughtered countless people. Anyway, I slept for too long, and my memories are incomplete. I can't even say how I ended up in the hands of a little sect like the Azure Cloud Sect."

"Ahem, getting back to the point, to undo that kind of seal, you either wait until enough time passes and the seal loosens, or find a master of talismans and restrictions..."

Inside the storage pouch, the No Falsehood Sword floated in the void, its entire length glowing red. The faint image of a youth less than six chi tall appeared over it. Sitting cross-legged, he stroked his beard, though his chin was actually smooth and hairless.

Lin Sui caught up with Su Fuxi in a few steps and spoke to her in a low voice.

"Master, Senior Sword Spirit was once the remnant soul of a demonic venerable from the upper realm. He says this yellow paper seal is called an ancient curse seal. To undo it, we need to find a master of talismans and restrictions who has studied it."

(I didn't expect the promotion algorithm to change when I switched works. If I'd known, I wouldn't have signed the contract. I'd originally planned to write casually to build up this account, but... I don't know how long I can keep updating this book. The numbers make me feel there's no need to continue... My energy is limited. Mm, I can't do it. I feel like what I'm writing is a bit different from what everyone imagined. When I write romance, it's generally more geared toward a female audience, and I treat gender-bender marriage stories as female-audience fiction.

Mm... there's still a lot of plot ahead, but if I write too much trash, I feel it won't help my writing, so it's hard to keep going... Updates might become irregular, or I might cut the outline...

If people let the chapters build up early on, it'll kill the book. These numbers look strange... This is my first time experiencing this...

All right, maybe it's probably just that my writing is too ls. Thanks to everyone who didn't give up on this foolish author and kept me company~~)