The Mystery of the Black Bone

The day after Sect Leader Kang Da received the dark-colored talisman, the Daoist Black Shoes summoned him to the Jade Toad cave abode: "You received the talisman from Chu Yanran, didn't you? In six months, you and Brother Qing will accompany me to Mountain-Viewing Cave in Pu Prefecture."

Seeing that Sect Leader Kang Da's expression finally showed no sign of fear, only slight surprise, the Daoist Black Shoes was quite satisfied. However, he did not explain, but simply said, "I made a deal with Chu Yanran. We will form an alliance with him and his wife in the cave."

"Yes." Kang Dabao bowed in agreement, then asked softly, "Uncle-Master, may I ask if Senior Chu has any enemies who wish to enter that Golden Core Abode together?"

That's not hard to guess. After all, the Bright Moon Token, as a token for entering the Mountain-Viewing Cave, the detached residence of the Exalted Cultivator Guanyu, is still quite valuable in the eyes of the Foundation Establishment True Cultivator the surrounding states.

Chu Yanran's generosity in giving one to the Daoist Black Shoes must have been for ulterior motives.

"It's not really about enemies, just a common problem for beautiful women in this world—a love triangle." The Daoist Black Shoes, his interest waning, ignored the curiosity in the eyes of the burly man opposite him and continued:

"It's rumored that some powerful families, such as the Han City Yue Household and the Jingnan Yuan Household, will also send their elites to participate. Your relationship with these families isn't exactly good, so you'll need to be extra careful if you encounter them."

"After returning, my junior brother will make preparations as soon as possible," Kang Dabao replied in a deep voice.

"Well, take this item back and cultivate diligently. The more your skills improve, the safer you'll be." As he spoke, the Daoist Black Shoes took out a small, transparent, goose-neck bottle, and with a gust of wind, it landed in the hands of Sect Leader Kang Da.

"This is..." Sect Leader Kang Da could only sense that the spiritual liquid was extremely potent, but he couldn't discern its origin. At this moment, the Daoist Black Shoes continued:

"This is the 'Three Mysteries True Dew,' Second-Tier Supreme-Grade spiritual dew produced by the Ye Prefecture Yang Household. It is even better than the Clear Eyes Treasured Liquid when used to cultivate pupil techniques."

Your eyes were injured some time ago, so you shouldn't overuse them. Apply three drops of the refined essence to your acupoints every ten days. Within a year, you should see some results.

Kang Dabao heard it clearly and knew that the Daoist Black Shoes must have specially found it for him, so he didn't stand on ceremony and generously took the bottle of Three Mysteries True Dew in his hand.

Ever since Gun Shide and Buse gave a bottle of Clear Eyes Treasured Liquid to Sect Leader Kang Da as a token of gratitude to Daoist Black Shoes, Kang Dabao has used several bottles of this high-quality elixir. He can now quite keenly sense that the effects of the Clear Eyes Treasured Liquid are gradually diminishing compared to its initial state.

Now that the Daoist Black Shoes has found an even rarer Three Mysteries True Dew for him, it's like a godsend, and he's naturally overjoyed.

Sect Leader Kang Da's performance greatly pleased the Daoist Black Shoes.

After his satisfaction, a hint of reminiscence suddenly appeared deep in his eyes. The fat cultivator who held a large banner, his face full of madness, and who had tried to shield him from the fake Pill Master, floated before him again.

The Daoist priest's lips curled slightly, and he thought to himself, "If it weren't for this lazy fellow, we might not have been able to hide it from those important figures in the Great Void."

The Daoist Black Shoes knew that many fake Golden Core False Core in Cloud Horn Prefecture had placed their eyes on him. He wondered if Xue Wu, the False Core cultivator from the Hongyi Sect, had ulterior motives when he came.

These important figures may not necessarily value themselves highly, but since making a casual move requires no effort, why not do it?

"Cloud Horn Prefecture Court... I'll go find Lord Shan in a few days and then we'll discuss it further." Xue Wu's appearance served as a stark warning to the Daoist Black Shoes. He then turned to Kang Dabao and asked, "Is it true that the Shan Household has a promising young disciple who wants to join the Chongming Sect this year?"

Kang Dabao was puzzled by the question posed by the Daoist Black Shoes. After a moment's hesitation, he replied, "To be honest, Uncle-Master, the Shan Household does indeed have a promising immortal talent, but..."

"Accept him!" Sect Leader Kang Da was interrupted by the Daoist Black Shoes before he could finish speaking. The latter pondered for a moment, seemingly feeling that this was not enough, and then added, "Not only should we accept him, but we should also make him an inner disciple as soon as he enters the sect."

"Uncle-Master? This..." Kang Dabao looked puzzled. The Daoist Black Shoes simply said in a calm voice, "That Shan Sheng then, he used half a Horned Dragon Grass to find the Lifespan Pill refined by the Herbalist Alchemist, and there's still one left. Moreover, the old man Lord Shan shouldn't have taken this pill yet."

"Oh," Sect Leader Kang Da suddenly realized. According to the message Qin Sufu had recently sent, the Lord Shan's condition hadn't been good lately, and he was likely to pass away within the next month or two.

Lord Yin Shan traveled in Cloud Horn Prefecture for many years, and he did countless things to help the needy and uphold justice. It is no exaggeration to say that he "benefited the entire prefecture".

In recent years, as the lifespan he received from the Golden Core Demon Spirit has come to an end, there have been many people, like the Daoist Black Shoes of today, searching for longevity spirit medicine for him.

That is why Lord Yin Shan was able to persevere until now, and even in recent years, he was able to personally participate in the battle to suppress Chen Ye.

However, to be honest, given the current state of the Lord Shan, even if the Daoist Black Shoes had obtained the Lifespan Pill from Shan Sheng, he might not have been able to save it.

Therefore, even if there was only a sliver of hope, the Daoist Black Shoes still had to exchange for the elixir and give it a try.

Sect Leader Kang Da quickly understood. After all, one could only take one Lifespan Pill, Shan Sheng had only released the news to the Daoist Black Shoes now in order to gain favor.

Shan Sheng truly devoted himself wholeheartedly to the Shan Household. It remains to be seen whether his descendants will be able to live up to his expectations after his death.

This time, Sect Leader Kang Da's calculations were correct. He knew that even if it was just for the sake of Lord Shan, the celestial seedling of the Shan Household should be accepted as inner disciple, just as the Daoist Black Shoes had said.

After the agreement was reached, Kang Dabao didn't hesitate at all and simply replied, "I understand!"

Seeing that the Daoist Black Shoes was about to leave, Sect Leader Kang Da asked again, "If Uncle-Master is going to Jade Moon Valley in Hong County, would you like your junior brother to accompany you? My relationship with Shan Sheng is quite good, so I think it would be appropriate."

The Daoist Black Shoes shook his head, gestured to stop Kang Dabao from speaking, and said in a deep voice, "Once I return, the Shan Household will have no reason not to give it to me."

Hearing Daoist Black Shoes's words, Sect Leader Kang Da felt a pang of worry for Shan Sheng, hoping that even though the latter was dying, his mind was still clear. Otherwise, the Jade Moon Shan Household might face another tragedy.

After the uncle and nephew finished speaking, the Daoist Black Shoes left the Jade Toad cave abode. After sending message talismans to Fei Shuhe and Duan Anle respectively, Sect Leader Kang Da began cultivating on the spot in this Second Tier Spirit Vein.

The Little Ring Mountain, which now only possesses First-Tier Superior-Grade Spirit Vein, is no longer sufficient to meet the needs of powerful True Cultivator like Sect Leader Kang Da, who have greater requirements.

Kang Dabao has already put the matter of upgrading the sect's Spirit Vein to the Second Tier on the agenda, but this project is quite difficult and cannot be undertaken by ordinary people. The most skilled geomancer in Xuanwei City from the Fei Household happens to be away on business and will not return for another six months, so it has been temporarily put on hold.

However, according to other cultivators who have explored the Chongming Sect, generally speaking, the greatest potential of the Little Ring Mountain Spirit Vein is nothing more than upgrading to Second-Tier Lower-Grade, and that would be too costly and not necessarily worthwhile.

In recent years, the state court has been confiscating and exterminating families everywhere, leaving many sacred mountains and Spirit Vein empty. It would be better to just make a call to Sima Fei and take one for our use.

Objectively speaking, this idea is quite pragmatic and aligns well with the wishes of Sect Leader Kang Da.

Even with the new spiritual mountain, Sect Leader Kang Da is reluctant to give up Little Ring Mountain, the place of its revival. Therefore, this Spirit Vein must be seriously upgraded so that future generations can admire it. However, it still needs to be planned carefully.

March has passed in the blink of an eye.

Kang Dabao sat cross-legged on a jade futon, his eyes slightly closed, one hand forming a Tai Chi mudra in front of his chest, and the other hand forming a dragon and tiger mudra at his Dantian.

The three jade pendants were placed on the Baihui point on the top of his head, emitting a faint glow.

His breathing was long and even. As he circulated his Cultivation Method, the surrounding Spiritual Qi gathered around him, forming a gentle, visible current that flowed around his body in layers, continuously.

With a "whoosh," Sect Leader Kang Da exhaled a breath of turbid air, slightly raising his eyebrows. His eyes were clear as ice, with golden edges appearing on the black pupils, making them appear even more solid. The Three Mysteries True Dew given by the Daoist Black Shoes was truly extraordinary. However, after three months, most of the hidden injuries in Kang Dabao's eyes had healed.

However, due to the difficulty in finding the "Moon Fern," the Sect Leader Kang Da's cultivation of the Delusion-Breaking Golden Eyes has remained at the minor completion stage.

He knew he was anxious, and not long ago he asked Yan Qingwei to help him find out about this spirit medicine. Given the Fearless Tower's influence throughout the Shannan Circuit, finding out the whereabouts of this spirit medicine shouldn't be too difficult.

Suddenly, Kang Dabao made a hand seal with both fingers, and two crisp sounds rang out from the cloud chamber. The three jade pendants on his head also instantly stopped glowing and fell back into Kang Dabao's hands.

Carefully putting away the three jade pendants, Sect Leader Kang Da saw the ring of Spirit Stone in the Spirit Gathering Formation plate in front of him, now reduced to dust. His usual air of poverty welled up again, and he thought to himself:

"After reaching the Foundation Establishment, the amount of Spirit Stone needed for Qi Refinement is far greater than what was required during the Qi Refining stage. A single ordinary cultivation session can be equivalent to several years' worth of regular salary for many Qi Refinement disciples."

With a "whoosh," watching the summoned breeze carry away all the Spirit Stone dust scattered on the ground, Kang Dabao thought to himself, "I wonder how many Spirit Stone it will take to cultivate to the age of two hundred?"

Even though the Spirit Vein already contain ample spiritual energy, those scions of wealthy families still bother setting up Spirit Gathering Formation arrays for that negligible little bit of benefit. Tsk, this cultivation method is truly extravagant. Once you've tasted it, you're good to go; you'll have to learn less of it in the future."

Fortunately, after acquiring the third jade pendant, the time it took for Sect Leader Kang Da to break through the bottleneck of comprehending the Cultivation Method was shortened considerably, which can be regarded as further filling a weakness for Kang Dabao, whose aptitude was not good.

With the Long Breath Art nearing completion and the "True Explanation of the Primordial Ancient Body of the Northern Night Palace, Volume One" about to reach a basic level, even his own cultivation had made considerable progress.

It is well known that in the path of cultivation, "Spiritual power is easy to cultivate, but bottlenecks are difficult to break through." Now that Sect Leader Kang Da has three jade pendants in hand, one wonders how many years he could have wasted.

Based on this calculation, if Sect Leader Kang Da does not consider bottlenecks and obstacles in his subsequent cultivation, he can reach the Foundation Establishment Peak before the age of 170, and then complete his Core Thesis and attempt to Core Formation.

Even those Dual Spirit Root Foundation Establishment cultivators who are fortunate enough to become disciples of the Golden Core Sect can hardly compare to Sect Leader Kang Da; this jade pendant is truly remarkable.

Moreover

With a thought, Kang Dabao conjured a black bone club in his hand.

The immortal Immortal Seal Script in the center of the bone club had dimmed again after Sect Leader Kang Da deciphered the "True Explanation of the Primordial Ancient Body of the Northern Night Palace, Volume One," a Zhou Grade Upper-Grade, by relying on the jade pendant. It was unknown when the next immortal Immortal Seal Script would light up.

Over the years, Black Bone has undergone several mutations, and Kang Dabao has discovered some commonalities among them: every corpse that Black Bone has pulverized and extracted the essence from seems to belong to the surname Wu!

The Daoist Wu's surname is Wu, the Mountain Barbarians True Cultivator in the tomb's name is Wu, and the Rogue Cultivator whose life he casually took out of momentary indignation is also surnamed Wu.

The origins of the last Wu-surname Rogue Cultivator were unclear to Sect Leader Kang Da, but the identity of the Mountain Barbarians True Cultivator was certain; he must have been a high-ranking figure in the Mountain Barbarians army that caused the rebellion back then.

According to the poisonous woman in the tomb, Daoist Wu, who died at the Niu Gui'er Teahouse, should be a direct descendant of that Mountain Barbarians True Cultivator.

As for whether there is any relationship between the Daoist Wu Lineage and the deceased Wu surname cultivator, based on the information that Sect Leader Kang Da has collected from his disciples over the years, the answer should be no.

"Could it be that the original owner of this Black Bone had a grudge against the man surnamed Wu?!" The thought had just arisen in Kang Dabao's mind when he dismissed it, thinking that it was probably just a coincidence.

After all, not long ago, when Wu Yu was beheaded by Jiang Qing, Black Bone showed no reaction, just as his grandfather Wu Cangyun did when he died.

Of the Hongyi Sect Foundation Establishment who surrendered from Hongyi Sect, apart from Wu Cangyun, whose limbs and six yangs were seized on the spot by Sect Leader Kang Da, the rest were all sold by the Chongming Sect to the State Court Sima Office as conscripts.

Furthermore, Sect Leader Kang Da had previously relied on the Thunder Swallow Rune Kuang Liuting had set up at some unknown time to turn Xue Wu, the False Core Xue Wu from the Hongyi Sect, into ashes.

Kang Dabao had a very clear idea of what was going on. If he didn't hold on tight to Kuang Liuting's coattails, the Chongming Sect might be in danger of collapsing in an instant!

Although Xie Yi was left looking disheveled by Kuang Liuting, he was still a True-Grade Golden Core. If he really went berserk, even his own lord Fei Nanying, might not be able to stop him.

The anxious Sect Leader Kang Da had expected a series of storms to follow, but he didn't know what kind of exchange those important figures had made, that allowed the Hongyi Sect, a powerful Golden Core sect that dominated an entire province, to act as if nothing had happened.

Not to mention taking any revenge on Kang Dabao, the instigator, even the Rogue Cultivator from Ding Prefecture who used to harass the immortals and mortals of Cloud Horn Prefecture have quieted down considerably.

Sect Leader Kang Da could not possibly be so naive as to believe that the cultivator who Xie Yi the meaning was so magnanimous. In his view, this was merely an expedient measure taken by the Golden Core cultivator who, due to insufficient strength, could not suppress Kuang Liuting, the number one Foundation Establishment cultivator in Shannan Circuit.

That being said, since not everyone with the surname Wu will have their flesh and marrow drained by Black Bone, then...

"According to the patriarch's notes, the Mountain Barbarians refer to the strongest among their leaders as 'Wu.'" Sect Leader Kang Da squinted, pondering the sentence for a while, trying to savor it further.

After a long pause, Kang Dabao suddenly thought, "Could that Wu surname Rogue Cultivator who frequented Wondrous Cloud Pavilion back then also be a descendant of some Mountain Barbarians figure, like Daoist Wu, and have the blood of Mountain Barbarians flowing through his veins?"

Sect Leader Kang Da focused his gaze on the Black Bone and murmured:

"Could it be that you intend to break the seal and soar to the heavens by absorbing the Essence Blood of the Mountain Barbarians? But shouldn't Daoist Wu's son also have Mountain Barbarians blood? Is it because his wicked mother forced him to grow too fast that Black Bone has no interest in him at all?"

The Sect Leader Kang Da is much bolder than before. If Black Bone likes it, he really has the guts to kill a few Mountain Barbarians at the Foundation Establishment to nourish them.

But now the Mountain Barbarians are almost extinct. Not to mention Foundation Establishment True Cultivator, there are hardly any pure-blooded mortals left. Where can I find enough high-level and sufficient Mountain Barbarians corpses?!

"Wait a minute," a presumptuous thought suddenly popped into the mind of Sect Leader Kang Da, "A hundred years ago, there was a notice posted in Xuanwei City by the Liangyi Two Instruments Sect seeking to purchase the physical bodies of barbarian cultivators."

Go to the Two Instruments Sect to search!? This sudden surge of ambition startled Kang Dabao, as it clashed with his previously cautious nature.

It seems that such a high-level Cultivation Method as "The True Explanation of the Primordial Ancient Body of the Northern Night Palace, Volume One" is too tempting, making Kang Dabao temporarily forget the millennium-old prestige of the Two Instruments Sect.

After thinking for a moment, Kang Dabao sighed again. This matter probably needed to be considered more carefully.

After passing through the pass, we were greeted by the long-awaited sunshine, and it was time to enter the Mountain-Viewing cave abode.

Thank you to Mengziyou123 for the 500 coins for the Headmaster's Wife.

Thank you for the 100 points from Reality and Illusion.

Thank you to Wuwei Qingyuan, Nankenle, Jianv, Dadianzi, and Chisucunxinjiyunya for the Extended Net Moon.

Thanks to Shangxi, Mo Anyu, Kuangdao Jiangjun, Dengyue Kan Chang'e, Bu Shi Niannian, Dongxi Lai Zhe, KaKuLuKiYa, Mei Yi Su Ren, Halett, Yi Pin Da Wu Shi, Shu You Wei Hao 2726, Zhi Zhen Xian Xia Bao, Mei Tian Shui Bu Xing De Chao Ti Da Shuai Ge, Jian Chu Wu Hui, Yang Shi Dao Ting, Mu Tou Zhu Zi, Shu You Wei Hao 5613, Ri Ri Zhang Ting Ban, Shang Shan Bu Kan Chai, Nan Lou Yan Shui Chang, Zou Feng Xian, Shu You Wei Hao 85ac, Ping Xiang Jin Nian, and Dun Ma Tong. Ren Woxing, Autumn Osmanthus Fragrance, Spreading Hands and Not Loving Anyone, Old Bookworm Brother Gao, Things Don't Exceed Three Cs, Face Mask Style, Book Friend Number Ending 1194, Book Friend Number Ending 07DE, Stellar Particles, Still Regret, Dragon Ball GT, One Step to Love, Book Friend Number Ending 4474, Sleepy Big Bone, Cultivate Ma De, Book Friend Number Ending 9150, Echo, Stone Year Trees, Write Faster, Da Hei Xiong, Book Friend Number Ending 3000, Extended Net Moon from Nameless Mountain

(Due to space limitations, I will thank everyone I didn't get to tomorrow.)

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