A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

"Second Brother, Third Brother, have you bought everything?"

"All of it, Big Brother."

"Good. Then let’s do this, just as we planned!"

Using scene regression, Lü Zhong was able to listen in on their entire conversation from behind the wall, as if he were standing right there in the room with them.

Just then, the three raised their cups in celebration. After downing a cup of Spirit Wine, the third brother picked up his chopsticks, ready to grab some Spiritual Food from the table.

Suddenly, black blood trickled from his seven orifices. His body went limp, and soon he stopped breathing.

"Big Brother, you!" The second brother, standing to the side, couldn’t believe his eyes.

Soon, he too began to bleed from his seven orifices and died just as suddenly.

Staring at the bodies on the floor, the big brother’s expression was incredibly complex. He looked at the left hand he had used to administer the poison, his body trembling slightly.

Then, as if to console himself, he muttered, "Second Brother, Third Brother, don’t blame me for being ruthless. There’s just too little Soul Nourishing Wood. It wouldn’t be of much use if we split it. You should also blame yourselves for not agreeing to my plan in the first place. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have come to this..."

"Yes, yes, it’s all your fault!"

Having found his justification, the guilt on the man’s face vanished. He walked briskly over to the two bodies, preparing to loot them.

SHLICK! A sharp blade plunged into flesh and twisted viciously.

Even Lü Zhong couldn’t help but be startled by this scene.

It turned out the third brother, the first to collapse, hadn’t been poisoned at all. The bleeding from his orifices had been a ruse. As his big brother approached to loot the bodies, he had suddenly sprung up and plunged the blade into his head.

The big brother fell to the ground with a THUD, his body convulsing nonstop.

Lü Zhong had learned another lesson.

He seared the incident into his mind. ’If I’m in combat with someone in the future, I must remain vigilant at all times. I can’t let a moment of carelessness lead me to the same fate as that ’big brother’.’

But then again, wasn’t this the exact scenario he had been hoping for?

’Tsk tsk, brothers turning on each other, only for an outsider to benefit in the end.’

Against the combined strength of the three, it would have been extremely difficult for him to find an opportunity to strike.

But now, two of the three were gone.

With only one Mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator left, the man was no match for Lü Zhong.

’Soul Nourishing Wood... Perhaps the root of the problem preventing me from mastering the Nourishing Spirit Skill lies with this.’ Lü Zhong was already plotting in his mind, waiting for the man to leave the city again or find a secluded spot before making his move.

As for whether it was moral or not, he could just consider it revenge for the Heling Sect disciple, and a way of thanking him for the Nourishing Spirit Skill.

Meanwhile, the third brother stomped viciously on his two brothers’ bodies.

"Pah! I’ve had enough of you two!"

...

For seven days straight, the man was busy in his room.

During this time, Lü Zhong also got a look at the Soul Nourishing Wood.

It was a piece of gray wood that constantly emitted a gray aura. The man mixed it with various Spirit Medicines to concoct a murky gray Spirit Liquid, which he then stored in a palm-sized jade bottle.

"Damn it all! Concocting this blasted Soul Nourishing Liquid is even more tiring than cultivating!"

the young man with the mustache cursed inside his room.

He then began to mutter, "The Spirit Liquid is ready, but where the hell am I supposed to find a Soul Nourishing Land? I let that kid off too easy. I should’ve lit him up like a sky lantern. He definitely knew where to find a Soul Nourishing Land."

’You’re missing more than just the Soul Nourishing Land!’

Lü Zhong silently added in his mind.

He could roughly guess what the Heling Sect disciple had been thinking.

If he wasn’t mistaken, successfully mastering this Nourishing Spirit Skill probably required three conditions to be met simultaneously: the Secret Skill’s incantation, the Soul Nourishing Liquid concocted from Soul Nourishing Wood, and a so-called Soul Nourishing Land.

At first glance, it seemed incredibly troublesome.

In Lü Zhong’s eyes, however, this was perfectly normal.

After all, strengthening one’s Divine Sense was an incredibly difficult task.

It was clearly stated in the ancient texts that even for those in the Core Formation Stage, methods for enhancing Divine Sense like the Soul Nourishing Technique were exceedingly rare, not something you could find just anywhere.

Right now, it was merely a matter of fulfilling three conditions.

Seeing the man preparing to leave, Lü Zhong’s spirits immediately lifted.

...

A dense forest outside the city.

The target walked into a clearing in the woods and suddenly stopped.

For a moment, Lü Zhong had the overwhelming urge to rush out and attack.

In the end, he held back.

’A little impatience can spoil a great plan.’

’I must act with caution.’

The man hadn’t come here to find a Soul Nourishing Land; from his expression, it was clear he was waiting for someone.

Understanding this, Lü Zhong pushed his Concealing Breath and Concealing Trace Techniques to their limits, minimizing his aura and presence to hide himself better.

After a short wait, a middle-aged man in a faded Daoist Robe appeared.

"Oh? Why are you the only one here today?"

"My big brother and second brother are busy with something," the young man with the mustache replied, his expression unchanged as he delivered his prepared excuse.

The explanation was plausible; the three brothers had always given the man that impression.

The middle-aged man didn’t question it further. Compared to this, the real business was more important. He continued, "About this year’s ranking battle, I need you to..."

His voice grew quieter and quieter, an unconscious action.

But that, of course, couldn’t stop Lü Zhong from listening.

After using scene regression to hear everything, a storm raged in his heart.

Someone was trying to tamper with the ranking battle!

The goal was to sabotage the Heling Sect’s method of cultivating new blood, thereby weakening their overall strength.

The reason, as it turned out, was to prepare for the second war between the Three Sects.

The middle-aged man continued his secret talk with the mustached youth for a while longer, making all sorts of empty promises and offering tangible rewards.

...

Just as Lü Zhong was waiting patiently, the secret meeting finally came to an end.

The man with the mustache waited in place for a while.

"Come on out."

Out of the blue, he suddenly said this.

His gaze was fixed on the exact spot where Lü Zhong was hiding.

Lü Zhong’s first thought was that he had been discovered.

But on second thought, he realized the man was bluffing.

And he probably wasn’t trying to guard against him, but against the middle-aged man who had just left.

’Another lesson learned!’ Lü Zhong thought to himself.

After a moment, the mustached man walked away as if nothing had happened.

He wasn’t heading toward Yongling City; he must be going to find a Soul Nourishing Land.

Lü Zhong followed close behind.

When the man let his guard down, Lü Zhong launched a surprise attack, taking off his head in a flash. To be absolutely sure, he deliberately stabbed the body a few more times. After all, the man’s treacherous cunning in backstabbing his own brother had left a deep impression.

Time to loot the body.

There were over a thousand Light Spirit Stones alone, plus countless other treasures, totaling nearly three thousand in value.

Normally, Lü Zhong would have been ecstatic.

But now, all these treasures combined were not as important as that one bottle of Soul Nourishing Liquid.

’I’ve got the Soul Nourishing Technique and the Soul Nourishing Liquid. All that’s left is the Soul Nourishing Land...’ Lü Zhong already had a general idea about this, but for the rest, he would need to consult a Geomancer.

Every trade has its master. No matter how many ideas he had as a Talisman Maker, he couldn’t compare to the professional research of a Geomancer.

When it came to finding a Spiritual Land, if a Geomancer claimed to be second best, no one would dare claim to be the first.

...

Traveling day and night, he finally returned to Yongling City.

Lü Zhong saw that it was already late and figured he wouldn’t be able to find a Geomancer.

It could wait until tomorrow. No matter how urgent it was, one day wouldn’t make a difference.

As he consumed and refined a Pill, a look of pleasant surprise suddenly appeared on Lü Zhong’s face.

Just now, he had sensed that the bottleneck preventing him from breaking through to a higher level of cultivation had suddenly loosened significantly—much more than ever before. This was a good sign.

It meant he was only a paper-thin barrier away from breaking through to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.

If he could just break through it, he would be in the Late-stage Qi Refining.

In the latter half of the night, Lü Zhong stopped his cultivation.

Considering he would be searching for the Soul Nourishing Land tomorrow, some necessary preparations were in order.

From what he had read in the texts, a Soul Nourishing Land was no pleasant place. They were usually infested with all sorts of yin-evil spirits and ghosts, or various types of undead. It wouldn’t even be surprising to find a Demon Cultivator hiding in one.

When the time came, a conflict would be inevitable.

Therefore, it was crucial to prepare more Fiery Sun Stone powder.

After all, to use the Entropy Light Spear, he needed the assistance of Fiery Sun Stone powder. Otherwise, he would have to draw upon his own Yang Qi, which in a mild case would leave him weakened for three to five days, and in a severe case could even damage his body’s Primordial Qi.

He also planned to purchase a batch of Evil Exorcism Talismans tomorrow.