Chapter 439 - 437: Did Not Meet
Shen Changchuan truly hadn’t expected his Gu-controlling Secret Technique to have such a huge impact.
To the point that when he entered the city, quite a few Cultivators on the road recognized him. They excitedly greeted and bowed, letting him experience the kind of celebrity treatment he had never enjoyed in his past life.
At first, the experience felt rather novel.
It gave him a certain sense of accomplishment.
But after it happened a few more times, the novelty wore off for Shen Changchuan.
So after bidding farewell to Pei Yong’an,
he discreetly concealed his presence and headed for the Sect’s garrison.
Shen Changchuan didn’t recognize the disciple guarding the Sect’s post.
He was only at the Qi Introduction Ninth Layer Peak,
likely one of the Outer Disciples recruited during the expansion after the war in the Nanyue Kingdom began.
To Shen Changchuan’s slight disappointment,
his master, Master Wandering Dragon, was not at Broken Soul Mountain. According to the disciple on duty, he had gone out to garrison a key location to prevent a counterattack from the White Bone Sect.
Senior Brother Hong Yang and a group of other Soul Emergence Realm brothers had gone with him.
But the good news was,
the changing of the guard was scheduled for another month or two.
They should be returning then.
Considering he had only just broken through to the Soul Emergence Seventh Layer,
and although the life-and-death battle against Qiu Kunsheng had allowed him to fully stabilize his Seventh Layer Realm, he hadn’t had the chance to properly polish it,
Shen Changchuan decided against going directly to the garrison point to look for Master Wandering Dragon.
They would be rotating back eventually anyway.
This gave him the perfect opportunity to spend the next month or two properly polishing his newly advanced Cultivation Realm.
Besides,
as for his specific plans for the future,
his thoughts were still a bit of a mess.
’I need to sort them out properly.’
And so,
led by the Outer Disciple on guard duty, Shen Changchuan was given access to a Tier Two Cave Mansion brimming with Spiritual Qi.
It was free of charge.
Broken Soul City was established because of the Spirit Stone Vein within Broken Soul Mountain.
The mountain had numerous nodes where Spiritual Qi naturally escaped, so there were plenty of Cultivation Cave Mansions. As one of the victors,
the Dragon Cloud Sect was certainly not short on them.
And as the most famous Soul Emergence Realm senior brother of the Dragon Cloud Sect, Shen Changchuan naturally received the best treatment.
Of course,
as for this fact,
Shen Changchuan himself was unaware.
Seated cross-legged on the White Jade Meditation Mat inside the cave mansion,
Shen Changchuan began to calm his mind,
and review the experiences of his journey.
’Come to think of it,’
’my trip to Broken Soul Mountain was plagued by one accident after another.’
’Even after I was lucky enough to break through to the Soul Emergence Seventh Layer, I had to hastily continue my journey.’
’I haven’t even had the chance to settle down and do a proper post-battle review.’
’That won’t do.’
Now that he had settled down,
Shen Changchuan began to recall the battles he’d fought along the way.
He focused especially on the fight with Qiu Kunsheng.
First, he examined his various responses and attacks from a third-person perspective,
noting what he had done well and where he had been deficient.
He broke down his successful moves to see if they could be improved and committed his flaws to memory to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.
Reflecting on oneself,
keeping the good and discarding the bad.
This kind of post-battle review,
was something Shen Changchuan did after basically every major battle.
Doing so might not show much progress or benefit in just one or two fights.
But over time,
these small accumulations would eventually converge into a vast ocean!
The fact that Shen Changchuan was able to rapidly advance his Cultivation Realm,
while simultaneously increasing his combat prowess,
was undoubtedly due in no small part to these post-battle reviews after every major fight.
After all,
this was one of the secret weapons that had propelled a certain army in his past life to the peak of its combat effectiveness.
And this,
was one of Shen Changchuan’s hidden advantages that set him apart from other Cultivators.
It had to be said,
although the education system of his previous life had many flaws,
the mindset for learning and improving was the culmination of a century of continuous exchange, refinement, and summarization.
It was something the insular, feudal ancient era could not compare to.
He spent two or three days analyzing and summarizing his great battle with Qiu Kunsheng.
Shen Changchuan could feel that he had gained a great deal.
"No wonder they say people who are good at reviewing their actions are more likely to succeed."
"If it were me now, fighting the Qiu Kunsheng from back then, I’m afraid I could kill him even without using Divine Techniques!"
After his review, Shen Changchuan was brimming with confidence.
The benefits he gained from this process,
were in no way inferior to fighting another bloody battle against a Soul Emergence Eighth Layer Cultivator!
Of course,
Shen Changchuan was confident, but not arrogant.
He hadn’t reached the point of arrogance yet.
If nothing else,
just looking at Qiu Kunsheng, the Corpse Refining Sect Leader he killed, if not for the mishap with his opponent’s Lifebound Corpse Refinement,
even his current self wouldn’t dare claim he could fight him head-on.
After all, with the Human Corpse Unity Secret Skill, his opponent’s strength could reach the Ninth Layer Realm!
A gap like that wasn’t something that could be bridged by one or two attacks comparable to the Ninth Layer.
’The Path of Immortal Cultivation is fraught with danger.’
’The slightest carelessness can lead to death.’
’I don’t want to repeat Shadow’s mistakes.’
’In the end, caution is paramount.’
....
After summarizing his combat experience,
Shen Changchuan then began to focus his time on polishing his Cultivation Realm.
Of course,
before that,
Shen Changchuan didn’t forget to make a trip to the Workshop in Broken Soul City.
After taking stock of the various spoils he’d obtained from the Corpse Refining Sect group, he sold off the Heavenly and Earthly Treasures he didn’t need, as well as the Secret Techniques that Qiu Kunsheng had been carrying.
What he couldn’t sell, he simply found a stall to sell on consignment.
This trip directly netted Shen Changchuan a large income of Spirit Stones.
Adding the Spirit Stones carried by the Corpse Refining Sect’s Sect Leader and Elders, as well as the Heavenly and Earthly Treasures that Shen Changchuan could use, the wealth in his pockets skyrocketed.
After all, they represented the majority of the Corpse Refining Sect’s elite; their wealth was imaginable.
Naturally, Shen Changchuan was also short on Spirit Stones.
Although he had earned a huge income thanks to his Gu-controlling Secret Technique,
his expenses in cultivating from Soul Emergence Fourth Layer to Soul Emergence Seventh Layer in three years were also enormous. In a sense, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he had practically piled up Spirit Stones to get there.
Because of this,
when Shen Changchuan was planning to refine the Void Escape Gu, he had been somewhat worried that he wouldn’t have enough Spirit Stones to gather the remaining materials for it.
But with this large influx of income, he probably didn’t need to worry anymore.
And so,
after liquidating his goods and collecting a large sum of Spirit Stones,
Shen Changchuan went to the Alliance public hall in the center of the Workshop. He spent a hefty sum to post a quest for the materials needed for the Void Escape Gu, such as Purple Star Sand and Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ants.
This Alliance public hall was built to make it convenient for the Alliance to issue quests to Loose Cultivators.
And to increase activity, it also allowed others to post quests there.
A prototype of this had already existed back in Barbaric City.
It was established to more rationally integrate the forces of all parties.
It seemed a bit like an adventurer’s guild from his previous life.
This made things much more convenient for Shen Changchuan.
Only after posting the quest and taking care of these miscellaneous tasks did Shen Changchuan feel at ease enough to return to his temporary cave mansion for closed-door Cultivation.