Secluded Cultivation

The man opened his eyes, looked at everything before him, and burst into tears.

"Mother, I was wrong. I really was wrong."

Tears poured down his cheeks like a river bursting through its banks.

Yet there was no one left to answer him.

Deep down, he understood that his mother had long since ceased to be the mother he had known.

He simply refused to accept reality, unwilling to admit that he had brought about the situation today.

Seeing that he could not control himself, Qin Fei brought two fingers together and traced several circles, placing a Clear Heart Incantation on the center of his forehead. Only then did the man calm down.

The Clear Heart Incantation was extraordinarily effective. It was one of the advanced Technique Methods seized last time, far beyond the basic Calm Heart Technique.

After quite a while, the man recovered some of his spirits. He stood and bowed to the two of them.

"Thank you both, fellow Daoists, for setting my mother free. You want Stage-Breaking Pills, right? I'll refine them."

All hope had died in the man's heart. He only wanted to finish refining the pills quickly and go join his mother.

After saying that, he spoke no more. He took out a Pill Furnace and set about working on his own.

But every movement made him cough up a great deal of blood, and he grew a little older each time.

"Fellow Daoist, your vitality has been devoured by the gu worm. If you seek treatment immediately, you might still have a few years to live. If you delay..."

The man acted as though he had not heard, wiping away the blood as he refined the pills.

Qin Fei understood that the man had made his choice, so he said no more to persuade him.

"Brother Hu, now that the gu worm has been destroyed, Evil Cultivators might come knocking. Sorry for the trouble, but could you go outside and keep watch?"

Wang Hu nodded and went out to stand guard in the courtyard alone.

Qin Fei leaned against the wall and waited patiently.

Early morning, just as dawn was breaking.

Qin Fei walked out of the room alone, a jade bottle now in his hand.

Five Stage-Breaking Pills from one furnace. The man's attainments in pill refining were truly remarkable.

"Did he die?"

Qin Fei nodded and said with some emotion:

"His vitality was slipping away. There was still a chance to save him last night, but unfortunately, he refused."

"That was his own choice. Let's bury him. He spent the last of his vitality refining a furnace of pills for me; it wouldn't be right to leave his corpse exposed in the wilderness."

"Did he say where the gu worm came from?"

"No, but now that these people have infiltrated Shangyu Market, I'm afraid there won't be peace in the future."

Evil Cultivators were a group of people who would stop at nothing to achieve their ends.

The Cultivation Methods they practiced often involved rapid advancement.

Some sucked out people's Essence Blood, some took their yang Qi, and some even slaughtered mortals to sacrificially refine a Law Treasure, leaving themselves burdened with sinful karma.

Such cultivators acted viciously and without restraint, stirring up bloody storms wherever they went.

Qin Fei had no particular opinion of them. Righteous cultivators were not necessarily much better.

He was only worried about his own circumstances.

He had to hurry and break through to Late Qi Refining.

After muttering to himself, he bid Wang Hu farewell and returned alone to the puppet scrapyard.

A few days later, Tang Zhan's two Stage-Breaking Pills were delivered as well.

Together with the few he had sought to buy through Yama Hall, Qin Fei now had ten Stage-Breaking Pills.

It was worth mentioning that he had used the Yama Pendant to conduct a transaction for the first time, and the scene was still fresh in his memory.

Someone had accepted his task, and after both parties confirmed it, a vortex suddenly appeared in the Yama Pendant, and a tray emerged.

Qin Fei placed the Spirit Stones on the tray. The vortex immediately churned and vanished, taking the tray with it.

Immediately afterward, three Stage-Breaking Pills fell out of the Yama Pendant. It was quite wondrous.

Qin Fei had studied the formation patterns of so many discarded puppets that his attainments in formations were considerable. He recognized at a glance that the vortex was a small teleportation formation.

The person who had crafted it was truly a genius to have placed a teleportation formation inside the Yama Pendant.

The cultivation world was vast; beyond one mountain, another rose higher.

Qin Fei grew even more drawn to this world where anything was possible.

With ten Stage-Breaking Pills in hand, he entered secluded cultivation.

Time passed slowly, and not the slightest sound came from the puppet scrapyard.

After everyone was attacked that day, Fairy Caiyi finally arrived.

With her protection, the trading company reopened, and life returned to normal for Tang Zhan and the others.

The clearing of the secret realm had reached its final stage, and the core region was gradually revealing the tip of the iceberg.

Countless cultivators had perished during the clearing, yet innumerable Rogue Cultivators continued to press forward in their wake.

All manner of heavenly materials and earthly treasures appeared, and fierce battles erupted within the secret realm. It had become a veritable purgatory on earth.

One rumor after another spread through the market. One day, some cultivator had obtained a ten-thousand-year-old spirit herb and made rapid strides in cultivation; the next, some Daoist had seized an inheritance from High Antiquity and ascended in broad daylight.

No one could tell truth from falsehood in the rumors, yet they kept countless people on edge.

As the secret realm grew increasingly crowded, the struggle between the Lin and Lu Households shifted as well, and both threw themselves into the fight for treasures.

As soon as Fairy Caiyi arrived, she joined forces with the Lin Household and beat the Lu Household until it could not lift its head.

Only when another Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Azure Wood Palace arrived did the scales return to balance.

This person was none other than Daoist Fuchen, master of Shangyu Market's black market.

On this day, in the core region of the secret realm.

Two groups faced each other.

"Senior Brother Fuchen, your arrival is quite timely. The secret realm has only just been cleared, and here you are."

"What are you saying, Junior Sister Caiyi? The black market in the market is my business to begin with. Surely there's nothing wrong with keeping an eye on the situation nearby while I'm at it?"

Daoist Fuchen wore a plain robe and carried three cyan treasured swords on his back, looking every bit like an immortal sage.

Fairy Caiyi had made a name for herself in the war between humans and barbarians and was capable of slaying opponents at her own level, yet Daoist Fuchen seemed not to care in the slightest.

"The palace forbids infighting. Are you truly going to stand against me, Senior Brother? Why don't we join forces to take the treasures? I can let the matter of the trading company go."

"You jest, Junior Sister. The sect rules are plain for all to see. I wouldn't dare target your trading company. As for taking the treasures, it's better that we each rely on our own abilities."

His words were watertight, and Fairy Caiyi narrowed her eyes.

After a long while, she suddenly smiled.

"In that case, I'll go on ahead, Senior Brother."

Wind rose beneath her feet, and she became a streak of light, speeding toward the core region of the secret realm.

When taking treasures from a secret realm, it was naturally first come, first served. She wanted to seize that head start.

The others were unwilling to fall behind. Streaks of light shot into the sky, and among them were even quite a few cultivators at the early and middle stages of Qi Refinement.

Truly, people died for wealth as birds died for food.

The puppet scrapyard.

A place forgotten by all, yet today it welcomed a "guest."

A woman with disheveled hair and blood at the corner of her mouth plunged into the scrapyard.

Several cultivators followed close behind, their weapons gleaming coldly.

But the moment they stepped into the scrapyard, a thick white mist suddenly rose around them.

The white mist was truly wondrous. The naked eye could not see through it, and even Divine Sense was immediately repelled upon entering it.

"Which expert is here? This humble woman is Yunxiu. I trespassed into your cultivation grounds by mistake, fellow Daoist. Please forgive me."

The woman was none other than Yunxiu, the sole inheritor of the Heavenly Secrets Sect.

She called out, but received no answer.

Instead, several screams came from the center of the thick mist, followed by silence.

Yunxiu's expression changed slightly. She felt her way toward the sounds and found that the people who had been chasing her were now all dead, their heads severed from their bodies.

She thought to herself, Those people were all at the Sixth Level of Qi Refining. How were they wiped out so easily? Could some old Foundation Establishment monster be cultivating in seclusion here?

Yunxiu's heart lurched, and she called out again:

"This junior is Yunxiu. I trespassed into your cultivation grounds by mistake, Senior. Please forgive me!"

Just as she was growing somewhat desperate, the thick mist before her suddenly rolled aside, revealing a narrow path wide enough for one person.