A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

After placing the corpse into his Storage Bag, Lü Zhong then destroyed the scene.

He hurried away.

...

Several months passed peacefully.

Lü Zhong had expected to be investigated by the Law Enforcement Team. To his surprise, it was as if Li Dong’s death had never occurred. There wasn’t even a bounty notice from the Heling Sect on the wanted-posters board in the South City Market.

The matter was simply dropped.

He returned to a peaceful life, spending his days either cultivating or practicing Magic Skills.

Thanks to the Harmonizing Spirit Pill, the latent danger of his Four Spirits Technique was temporarily resolved. His Spiritual Power was no longer as violent as before; on the contrary, it had become incredibly docile. As a result, his progress in learning Magic Skills had accelerated dramatically.

One day, a brilliant golden light filled the Quiet Chamber.

’This is the Entropy Light Spear?’

Lü Zhong’s face was bathed in a golden glow as he stared at the Golden Light Spear in his hand.

It was just over a foot long, condensed from a massive amount of absorbed Yang Qi.

With a light toss, the Light Spear struck the wall and exploded in a BANG.

The temperature in the Quiet Chamber immediately began to rise.

This was due to the high concentration of Yang Spiritual Qi.

He cast it one more time to confirm he had truly mastered the skill, then turned his attention to other matters.

With the combined effects of the Jade Solidification Pill and the Spirit Gathering Array, and after burning through a large number of Spirit Stones, his cultivation was finally showing signs of a breakthrough. It was hard to say exactly when it would happen, but he figured it would be within the next six months.

’At this rate, I might just make it to this year’s Heling Sect entrance ranking battle.’

’It’s about time to make some preparations.’

Lü Zhong had no desire to stand out in the ranking battle.

The consequences of attracting too much attention were not something a Loose Cultivator like him, with no backing, could afford.

It was also a matter of not wanting to reveal his true strength.

Thus, Lü Zhong turned his attention to Puppet Mechanism Beasts.

When he killed the ink-faced elder, he had obtained twenty-three Puppets. Eight of them were Mechanical Beasts with decent combat strength, which could be used to handle weaker challengers.

The Puppet Dao was not without its merits. During the Qi Refining Stage, the raw materials for various Puppet Mechanism Beasts were easy to obtain and inexpensive. This allowed a Puppet Mechanician to quickly amass a large number of Puppets or Mechanical Beasts. By turning this quantity of puppets into a qualitative change in power, they could possess what could only be described as terrifying combat strength during the Qi Refining Stage.

This was precisely why, in the ancient texts, this path was frequently cited as a way for those in the Qi Refining Stage to defeat enemies of a higher level.

The ink-faced elder back then had simply been careless for a moment.

If he had been more cautious, how could he have been defeated in a single exchange?

To control Puppets or Mechanical Beasts, a Puppet Mechanician used hand seals to command the Mechanical Soul or Spirit Core. Since Qi Refining cultivators were unable to use Divine Sense Projection, the process was identical to controlling a Magical Artifact.

After some light reading, Lü Zhong quickly got the hang of it.

After another month of practice, he could proficiently control three Mechanical Beasts.

...

「East of Yongling City, on Moon-Gazing Slope.」

Lü Zhong had come here to test his control over his Mechanical Beasts.

He lifted his sleeve slightly, and three steel-blue orbs rolled out.

With a whir of gears, three Iron Wolf Mechanical Beasts appeared before him.

He formed a hand seal.

This was how he communicated with the Mechanical Beasts’ Mechanical Souls.

The Mechanical Soul, refined from the Essence of Living Beings, possessed a degree of autonomy; it was not merely a cold, mechanical component.

Upon receiving the command to seek an enemy, the three Iron Wolf Mechanical Beasts immediately fanned out.

Before long, they found something.

It was an enormous, black-furred mountain boar. It stood nearly ten feet tall and was twenty feet long from head to tail. Its charge was like a rumbling earthquake.

It wasn’t a Demon Beast, but it had the potential to undergo a Metamorphosis into one.

Choosing to practice on a wild animal was, in truth, a choice Lü Zhong made out of necessity.

After all, in the Yongling Region, places where one could find Demon Beasts were few and far between.

And without exception, they were all extremely far from Yongling City.

THUD! THUD! THUD! The great boar charged again, attempting to use its weight advantage to crush its opponents.

But under Lü Zhong’s control, the three Iron Wolves would converge and disperse at will.

They executed a war-of-attrition tactic, constantly baiting the boar into attacking and slowly draining its stamina.

Finally, the great boar was too exhausted to charge.

Lü Zhong shook his head, formed a Technique Mantra, and had the Iron Wolf Mechanical Beasts finish it off.

With a flip of his hand, a gray Jade Ball appeared.

This Jade Ball was a Sacrificial Artifact, used for absorbing souls.

He channeled Spiritual Power into it to activate it. The Jade Ball began to spin rapidly, emitting ripples of gray Spiritual Light that enveloped the freshly killed boar. Soon, it extracted a white soul-form from within.

This white soul-form was the boar’s Essence.

The Sacrificial Artifact quickly drew the Essence into itself. After a flash of Spiritual Light, it spat the Essence back out.

After being "processed" by the Sacrificial Artifact, the boar’s Essence had completely changed.

What was once shaped like a miniature boar was now a fist-sized, milky-white orb. It no longer bore any resemblance to its original form, having been turned into a Soul Bead—the material used for creating a Mechanical Soul.

Lü Zhong stored the Soul Bead away and continued his search for more practice targets.

...

For three straight days, the beasts near Moon-Gazing Slope suffered a terrible calamity.

After his "sweep," Lü Zhong had acquired over a hundred Soul Beads. After setting aside what was needed to repair his Mechanical Souls, he was left with ninety-three—enough to meet his requirements for refining new ones.

Deciding to quit while he was ahead, he prepared to return to Yongling City.

He had only taken a couple of steps when his expression changed slightly, and he recalled all his Mechanical Beasts.

He turned to the side, activated his Concealing Breath and Concealing Trace Techniques, and hid behind a large boulder.

A moment later, the sounds of a battle reached him.

A disciple of the Heling Sect was being hunted down.

His pursuers were three men dressed in gray.

The trio’s techniques were vicious, every strike aimed for a vital point.

Despite his Late-stage Qi Refining Cultivation, the Heling Sect disciple was no match for the three Mid-stage Qi Refining men besieging him, and his already severe injuries were only getting worse.

The Heling Sect disciple fought as he retreated, his eyes filled with despair as he pleaded for his life.

The three men in gray paid him no heed.

They pursued him relentlessly, as if they wouldn’t stop until he was dead.

Hiding behind the boulder, Lü Zhong watched coldly as the battle moved farther and farther away.

’We’re not related, not even acquaintances. And there’s no sufficient reward.’

’Why should I intervene?’

After emerging from his hiding spot, Lü Zhong was crossing a grassy area when he suddenly reached out with a grasping motion toward his left.

A small book flew into his hand. On its cover were three large words.

’Nourishing Spirit Skill?’

He flipped it open and read a couple of pages, and his expression suddenly became very animated.

’It’s a rare Secret Skill that can strengthen one’s Divine Sense!’

’This seems a little too good to be true, doesn’t it?’

While he was hiding just now, Lü Zhong had seen the Heling Sect disciple secretly drop something. He had only gone over to retrieve it out of curiosity, never imagining it would be such a rare Secret Skill.

The reason Qi Refining cultivators were unable to use Divine Sense Projection was that their Divine Sense was not yet strong enough.

And the Nourishing Spirit Skill was capable of strengthening one’s Divine Sense.

In other words, he might be able to use Divine Sense Projection while still in the Qi Refining Stage.

If he could truly accomplish that, Lü Zhong would have an enormous advantage over other cultivators in the Qi Refining Stage.

’He was carrying such a great treasure. No wonder those men in gray were so determined to kill that Heling Sect disciple.’

At this thought, Lü Zhong took a deep breath and calmed himself.

He changed direction, no longer heading straight for Yongling City. He planned to take a long detour before returning, to prevent the men in gray from figuring out his destination and setting up an ambush.

...

As the lanterns were being lit at dusk, Lü Zhong finally returned to Yongling City.

It was the Lantern Festival once again.

From the grandest courtyards to the most dilapidated ruins, lanterns were lit everywhere.

The pinpricks of light converged into a sea of flames.

The lanterns carried people’s hopes and symbolized their remembrance for the departed; to light one was to offer solace to the heart.

When he returned to his private courtyard, he found that several lanterns were already hanging there.

Seeing Lü Zhong return, Li Hejun secretly wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, her face breaking into a smile.

Her expression was full of anticipation.

Nearby, Hong Fu was her usual carefree self.

She had just written a wish on a piece of paper, hoping to eat even more delicious food in the future.

The three of them ate at the same table.

It was a Lantern Festival custom.

Lü Zhong had always spent the festival alone in the past, so for a moment, he found it a bit strange.

...

After dinner, he returned to his Quiet Chamber to study the Nourishing Spirit Skill.

’With a Secret Skill like this, the sooner I master it, the sooner I’ll gain an advantage.’

’Otherwise, by the time I reach the Foundation Establishment Stage, my Divine Sense would only be slightly stronger than others. I would lose the unique, overwhelming advantage of possessing something no one else has.’