Cultivation Starts with Rejuvenation

Before long, two other Tier Three spirit medicines for the Crystal Condensing Pill were pocketed by Li Ji'an.

At this point, among the ingredients for the Crystal Condensing Pill, only three remained, one of which was the Celestial Heart Grass right before his eyes, while the other two were promised to be found by Master Yuxiao.

He no longer hesitated and returned to the Celestial Heart Grass stall.

Due to his previous confident judgment at the stall, coupled with Qin Henian's trusting acquisition, the remaining two Celestial Heart Grass went almost completely unnoticed.

With a different identity, he feigned a careful sensing once more and shook his head: "Friend, these two Celestial Heart Grass are for old me to refine the Flying God Pill, can we trade at the price of a Tier Three spirit medicine?"

As a Core Formation medicine, eight thousand Spirit Stones isn't much, but as a Tier Three medicine, the market price is around two thousand.

The stall owner clearly looked like a medicine peddler, with mostly spirit medicines on the stall, likely having been incredibly lucky, unexpectedly gathering three Celestial Heart Grass from somewhere, and employing multiple concealments, certainly worrying that the Sect would find out later.

Once the Celestial River Grand Assembly was over, he probably wouldn't dare to show himself publicly.

Moreover, many had already examined and sensed the remaining two Celestial Heart Grass, so he had a general idea.

Furthermore, the elder before him possessed a powerful Divine Soul and claimed to be refining Tier Three spirit pills, most likely a Tier Three Pill Master.

This essentially convinced him that his remaining two Celestial Heart Grass couldn't be used as Core Formation medicine.

"A sincere offer, three thousand eight hundred Spirit Stones!" The stall owner pondered for a moment and made his decision.

Li Ji'an decisively paid the Spirit Stones and collected the two Celestial Heart Grass.

"Hm?" Just as Li Ji'an put away the Celestial Heart Grass and turned to leave, a slight sense of disorientation arose in his Sea of Consciousness.

This feeling wasn't the first time.

The first occurrence was three years ago after eliminating the Liu Family Ancestor practicing the Immortal Golden Body Technique while trying to connect with Gugu.

At that time, his Sea of Consciousness felt mildly disoriented and he failed to immediately connect with the Spirit Contract with Gugu, which he attributed to the presence of adept individuals at the Liu Family's Odd Stone Forest Spirit Vein Dao Field, causing Gugu to hesitate in revealing its presence, thus disrupting the spirit contract sensing.

But right now, although the sensation in the Sea of Consciousness is faint, it was very similar to that day.

"What's going on?" In his confusion and doubt, Li Ji'an reassessed his Sea of Consciousness.

The Sea of Consciousness is the place where cultivators store their spirits, also the source and foundation where one communes with the heavens and earth. It's even more mystical than a cultivator's Dantian; unless one's Divine Sense far surpasses the other's, only a forcible Soul Searching Secret Technique can invade another's Sea of Consciousness. Even when viewing one's own Sea of Consciousness, only the superficial layer can be seen, and the bottom layer covered by the Divine Soul cannot be penetrated.

Previously, Li Ji'an had inspected his own Sea of Consciousness meticulously and found nothing abnormal.

This time, with Divine Sense to perceive himself, still nothing had changed.

However, just as he prepared to exit the Sea of Consciousness.

Suddenly, the mild feeling of disorientation resurfaced.

Simultaneously, within his Divine Sense perception, there seemed to be something within a hundred-zhang radius resonating with him from afar.

"What is it?" Just at the moment this sensing appeared, he abruptly halted, noticing a faint dark gold speck floating up and down along the surface of his Sea of Consciousness filled with Divine Soul.

"Curse Seal?" Almost instantly, he could only think of this one possibility.

From the ancient texts he had perused, only "curse" possesses such an eerie technique capable of directly invading one's Sea of Consciousness and merging with one's Divine Soul.

"Curse" is unpredictable and dangerous, and aside from the type that invades the Sea of Consciousness, there were even legends from Ancient Times about curses that could infect bloodlines, reside within the reincarnation cycle, and other ultimate malice curses.

However, "curse techniques" were categorized as evil paths in Ancient Times, and their legacy has long since been severed.

"Or perhaps other unknown methods?" Uncertain about the anomaly within his Sea of Consciousness, Li Ji'an felt increasingly uneasy.

Had the Sea of Consciousness not barred the Little Fire Spirit from entering, he would have summoned the Little Fire Spirit immediately to scorch his Sea of Consciousness.

"Is the other party using this sensing to locate me?" Suddenly discovering within the sensing from his Sea of Consciousness that the ethereal sensation was swiftly moving towards him from a hundred-zhang interval.

In an assembly crowded with people, Li Ji'an couldn't see the approaching party, but he dared not waste time and quickly moved towards Qin Henian; after all, the Fake Pill True Man could provide him some sense of safety.

Nonetheless, since the opponent could sense him, he mustn't reveal his true identity and had to remain near Qin Henian under another identity.

Meanwhile, a man and a woman who sensed the other party's quick approach likewise accelerated their body technique.

"Hmph! Still trying to escape? I, the Saint Child, will see what fool dares to be so bold as to dare slay the Golden Corpse my master raised!" The man's face showed cruelty, his gaze locked on the sensing direction of the skeletal remains in his hand.

"Senior Brother Du, this pursuit across thousands of miles, do not forget little me's contributions. I hope that when we're before the Golden Puppet Holy Monarch later, you could kindly speak well of my Blood Spirit Sect for everlasting unity between our sects." The Blood Spirit Saintess gave a sly smile.

Du Haizang, direct disciple and Saint Child of the Corpse Puppet Sect, smiled and nodded: "Junior Sister Blood Spirit, rest assured. Our master let us unite in the Celestial Cyan Domain as a courtesy to your master."

"With Senior Brother's words, Ling'Er feels assured. This time, when Senior Brother captures the thief, not only is it vengeance for the Saint Monarch, but there's also the possibility of obtaining a formula for a suspected Core Formation holy medicine. That's a tremendous achievement, so I congratulate Senior Brother in advance." Xue Ling'Er continued flatteringly.

Du Haizang frowned slightly: "Do not be careless; remember we are currently in the Celestial Cyan Domain. I've heard several from them have already died in our Boundless Domain; it's possible they might retaliate secretly."

"Hmph, both our Blood Spirit Sect and your Corpse Puppet Sect have not taken any action; if they died, it's only because they were too incompetent.

As for this thief before us, ha, the Ten Thousand Laws Palace has been investigating for years without results, ruling out the possibility of him being from the Sect or the True Pill Clan.

In such a case, what powers in this Celestial Cyan Domain could possibly withstand you and me combined? At most, some clan's Fake Pill True Man." Xue Ling'Er said heedlessly.

"I've never expressed concern over failing to capture this person, only worried about the Sect's True Pill practitioners getting involved.

Moreover, this thief has evaded countless inspections by the Sect, demonstrating considerable caution.

The Golden Body Holy Bone bestowed by the master doesn't fully activate; only within a hundred-zhang can I sense the precise location. If we let him escape, he'll likely become even more wary, making finding him again much harder." Du Haizang expressed impatience.

"Hehe, Senior Brother Du, don't worry. With me here, he won't escape this time. Remember the Essence Blood mark of our Blood Spirit Sect." Xue Ling'Er assured confidently.

Du Haizang nodded slowly: "Then I entrust it to Junior Sister."

"Eh, stopped moving!" Just then, Du Haizang found the other party ceased moving within his sensing.

"Hehe, Senior Brother likely overestimated the thief just now. The Saint Monarch's curse seal operates in secrecy, transferring from the failed Golden Corpse's residual soul; the thief surely hasn't noticed.

Perhaps he remains unaware of the looming danger."

Du Haizang's eyes flashed with joy, reducing this operation's difficulty significantly.

Before long, the duo followed the skeletal sensing to the vicinity of Qin Chuan's stall.

"Hm? Qin Henian?" Xue Ling'Er's blood-tinted pupils constricted instantly.

"It's his true self, not a disguise!"

Du Haizang wore a similarly puzzled expression, as detailed information was provided by the master before entering the Celestial Cyan Domain.

The possibility of Qin Henian being the one who killed the raised Golden Corpse had been ruled out.

"How can it be him?" Once more applying magical power to the concealed skeletal remains, the sensing region was near Qin Henian.

Now near Qin Henian were only four people; aside from Qin Henian, the remaining four emitted merely Foundation Establishment Stage magical power.

And inevitably, Qin Henian himself, personally leading the alliance to expose the Liu Family Ancestor and personally engaging, driving him to reveal the Golden Corpse true form, was indeed the prime suspect.

"Why hasn't the Ten Thousand Laws Palace discovered anything?"

"Could it be he has hidden secrets?"

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"Haha, seems I, Qin, am fated with you, friend. Since parting last time, I hadn't expected to meet again today." Qin Henian enthusiastically greeted the figure of Li Ji'an standing before him.

Li Ji'an now appeared as the elder selling talismans from that day, standing with Qin Henian.

Simultaneously, he had noticed the man and woman two stalls away.