A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

Through his Qi Observation Skill, he saw no Demon Qi flowing on the crystal’s surface. Instead, it emitted a gentle Spiritual Light, just like a Spirit Stone. Lü Zhong figured it must be a Spiritual Object, so he put it into his Storage Bag.

He glanced at the sky. It was already past noon.

’I found quite a few Spiritual Objects on this trip. All told, they should be worth at least fifty or sixty Spirit Stones...’

After some thought, Lü Zhong decided to return to the Workshop Market.

On the return journey, he no longer conserved his Spiritual Power, using his Light Body Skill to travel at full speed. The trip was uneventful, and he arrived back at the Yanling Mountain Market just as night fell.

「The next morning.」

He didn’t rush to sell the Spiritual Objects he had found the day before. Instead, he made a special trip to the Huangyi Artifact Refining Workshop, the same place where he had commissioned the Ink Crystal Shield.

While he was at it, he also wanted to pay a visit to Huang Shuyuan.

But when he arrived, he found her doors and windows shut tight. After asking a neighbor, he learned that she had entered seclusion two days ago and probably wouldn’t emerge until the end of the month.

’What bad timing!’

His visit unsuccessful, Lü Zhong quickly made his way to the Huangyi Artifact Refining Workshop.

This time, a different person greeted him.

It was a cultivator with the surname Xu, a chubby man whose cultivation was slightly higher than Lü Zhong’s, already at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer. Like Master Liu from before, he was also an Artifact Refiner at the Huangyi Artifact Refining Workshop.

When the man saw the jade-green crystal, a surprised expression appeared on his face.

"A Wood Spirit Crystal?"

Seeing Lü Zhong’s confusion, Fatty Xu took the initiative to explain.

"Judging by this Wood Spirit Crystal, the strange Demon Beast you killed, Fellow Daoist Lü, must have been an extremely rare Wood Spirit. In that regard, your luck is truly exceptional."

According to him, Wood Spirits only appeared in places with dense Spiritual Qi. A remote place like Yanling Mountain, which at best only had a Tier Three Spiritual Vein, shouldn’t be able to produce this type of Exotic Beast born from Spiritual Qi.

Therefore, the fatty guessed that it must have been a wandering Demon Beast.

Wandering Demon Beasts were not uncommon. They were often the losers in territorial disputes, having lost their original habitats. They were forced to roam the wilderness until they could seize new territory.

This was also why wandering Demon Beasts were extremely aggressive.

Usually, most of the Demon Beasts that attacked cultivators were of this kind.

Lü Zhong listened, a look of realization dawning on him. He’d never heard that explanation before.

He now had a theory about the Wood Spirit.

The man’s guess that the Wood Spirit Beast was a wanderer was based on the premise that no Wood Spirits could be born in the Yanling Mountain area, which meant there was no Tier Three Spiritual Vein there.

’But what if there really is a Tier Three Spiritual Vein in Ghost Cloud Valley?’

Secretly taking note of this idea, Lü Zhong cupped his hands and said, "Then, in Fellow Daoist Xu’s opinion, how should this Wood Spirit Crystal be used?"

"Well, that depends on the Wood Spirit’s Innate Divine Techniques."

After speaking, Fatty Xu channeled a profound Technique Mantra into the Wood Spirit Crystal.

Immediately after, he infused it with his Spiritual Power.

In just a moment, a pillar of jade-green light pulsed out from the Wood Spirit Crystal. It looked similar to the pillar of light the Wood Spirit had emitted, only much smaller.

Fatty Xu then pondered for a moment before injecting even more Spiritual Power into the Spirit Crystal.

With a HUM, the pillar of light suddenly sharpened, taking the form of a Light Spear.

Using a Magic Skill to hold the crystal, he controlled the Light Spear and swept it across the bluestone floor.

Silently, the stone slab was sliced in two by the beam of light, the cut surface as smooth as a mirror, clear enough for one to see their reflection.

"Tsk tsk, truly worthy of a Wood Spirit!" Fatty Xu slowly retracted his Spiritual Power and turned to Lü Zhong. "This beast’s talent is the Sharp Wood Spear. I can refine it into..."

As he spoke, his gaze swept over the copper ring on Lü Zhong’s right hand, and he let out a small sound of surprise.

"Fellow Daoist, could you let me have a look at that copper ring on your hand?"

Hearing this, Lü Zhong didn’t think much of it and took off the Small Earth Spirit Ring, handing it over.

Fatty Xu took it and examined it carefully. After a long moment, he said, "That’s right, this is also a Spirit Crystal—an Earth Spirit Crystal. Fellow Daoist, your luck is really something else. To think you managed to obtain two rare Spirit Crystals!"

Then he stroked his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Let me think... Hmm, Earth and Wood Spirit Crystal... I’ve got it!"

Fatty Xu clapped his hands, his face full of excitement. "I can refine them into a Magical Artifact! If all goes well, it should be the ’Earth Wood Sharp Spear.’ That’s a Divine Technique that usually only appears on Spiritual Artifacts!"

"Really?" Lü Zhong asked, pleasantly surprised.

He knew what a Spiritual Artifact was. It was different from the Magical Artifacts used by Qi Refining cultivators; it was a treasure that only Foundation Establishment Cultivators could use. The number of Divine Techniques it possessed was similar to a Magical Artifact, but they were all powerful ones.

Regarding Lü Zhong’s doubt, Fatty Xu adopted a casual expression and confidently took charge. "Fellow Daoist, rest assured. Although there are no finished blueprints to reference, refining Spirit Crystals into a Magical Artifact isn’t difficult. My job is actually quite simple: I just need to craft a base for the two Spirit Crystals. Then, I’ll place them in a Spirit Fire Furnace to nurture them. They will influence each other and eventually fuse into an Earth Wood Spirit Crystal."

"Then I’ll be troubling you, Fellow Daoist Xu."

"Not at all! I should be the one thanking you."

Fatty Xu was telling the truth. With a rare item like a Spirit Crystal, creating a powerful Divine Technique was practically a sure thing. There was almost no chance of an accident.

Once he successfully refined a powerful Divine Technique, he could use it for a great deal of publicity.

By then, once his reputation had spread far and wide, Artifact Refining orders would come flooding in.

After the two settled the details and signed the Artifact Refining commission contract, Lü Zhong politely declined Fatty Xu’s invitation.

He left the Huangyi Artifact Refining Workshop and returned to his secluded courtyard in the bamboo forest the way he came.

According to their agreement, the ring would take nearly half a year to refine. Thus, he decided to enter seclusion for a while.

...

「Half a year later.」

In the Quiet Chamber, Lü Zhong opened his eyes, gently exhaling a stream of Dense Qi.

PHEW!

’It’s finally stabilized!’

He hadn’t expected before his seclusion that he would actually break through a Small Realm this time, advancing from the Qi Refining Fifth Layer to the Qi Refining Sixth Layer.

Thanks to this, the Spiritual Power in his body had increased significantly, by about forty percent.

But along with the breakthrough in his cultivation came an intensification of the conflict between the Spiritual Powers within his body.

In fact, Lü Zhong’s breakthrough had only taken three months. The remaining half of the time was spent harmonizing the Spiritual Power in his body to stabilize his cultivation.

’I knew this day would come. It seems it’s time to put the trip to Yongling City on the agenda.’

The only way to resolve the hidden dangers of the Four Spirits Technique was to join the Heling Sect.

But the Heling Sect was not a place one could enter just by wishing it.

He would need to break through to the Late-stage Qi Refining, and he had to do it before he turned fifty.

Sect recruitment was extremely strict. Without a top-quality Spirit Root or powerful connections within the Sect, joining was next to impossible. At the very least, one had to show the potential for Foundation Establishment to even be considered for recruitment.

Afterward, Lü Zhong took a long bath. Even with Cleaning Talismans, going without a proper wash for so long always left one feeling strange. He then went to a restaurant in the Sixth Ring and ordered some Spiritual Food. Unlike his usual stinginess with Spirit Stones, this time he ate to his heart’s content.

During his seclusion, he could only eat Grain-Avoidance Pills every day.

Although a single pill could sustain him for a month, the taste was truly awful—practically inedible.

Now that he had successfully broken through, he naturally had to celebrate properly.

’Otherwise, what was the point of this immortal cultivation?’