A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

As he pulled over a Storage Bag, an ecstatic grin spread across Lü Zhong’s face.

A scan with his Divine Sense revealed over a hundred ingots of Cyan Spirit Iron inside.

By the conventions of the Cultivation Realm, the standard weight for each ingot was one hundred catties.

Cyan Spirit Iron was suitable for forging Lower-grade Magical Artifacts. The Green Frost Sword he had previously used, for instance, was forged from this very Spirit Iron. One hundred catties of this material typically sold for twenty-five Spirit Stones.

Just that one Storage Bag was worth two thousand five hundred Spirit Stones.

When he looked over again, Lü Zhong realized the two besieged Golden Rainbow Sect disciples weren’t Sword Cultivators at all—they were two walking Spirit Stone Mountains. He estimated that the possessions on each of them were worth at least ten thousand Spirit Stones.

His breathing quickened involuntarily.

Lü Zhong suppressed his excitement and held back from joining the siege against the two men.

’For now, securing the loot is the most important thing.’

He pulled another Storage Bag from a corpse. Its contents were also substantial, worth at least a thousand Spirit Stones.

The next one, to his surprise, held a box full of Cyan Spirit Steel Ore Sand!

Cyan Spirit Steel was a companion ore to Cyan Spirit Iron and usually appeared as ore sand. A single bean-sized grain was worth one Spirit Stone. It was a raw material for refining High-grade Magical Artifacts and could also be used as a base material for Spiritual Artifacts.

A box full of Cyan Spirit Steel Ore Sand was worth nearly ten thousand Spirit Stones!

Glancing at the corpse on the ground, its eyes wide with lingering grievance, Lü Zhong felt he could understand the man’s final feelings.

After he stowed the items away, the siege over there was still not over.

They hadn’t used a Half-Spiritual Artifact to launch a sneak attack like Lü Zhong had. As a result, even though the three sect brothers were also at Late-stage Qi Refining Cultivation and had the support of thirty Outer Disciples in formation, they still couldn’t take down the two Golden Rainbow Sect Sword Cultivators after a considerable amount of time.

One of them had even been wounded by the Sword Cultivators’ Sword Qi.

And this was exactly what Lü Zhong had wanted to see.

’If they don’t run into trouble, they’ll never willingly share the spoils. They have to be taught a small lesson.’

”Senior Brother Lü, please lend us a hand!” the injured man cried out, unable to hold back.

The other two remained silent, giving their tacit agreement.

”Don’t be so formal. It is our duty to help fellow sect members!”

Upon hearing this, Lü Zhong immediately summoned his Golden Devourer Sword and joined the fray.

His arrival was like the straw that broke the camel’s back. The two Golden Rainbow Sect Sword Cultivators resisted for a while longer but ultimately fell one after the other, leaving behind a massive fortune that enriched the Heling Sect members.

After the spoils were divided, everyone received a share.

Naturally, Lü Zhong, having contributed the most, received the largest portion.

Many more Allied Army cultivators escaped from the mine tunnels afterward, but no more ”big fish” like the first three appeared. Although the subsequent hauls were still satisfying, they lacked the intense, pleasant surprise of the initial encounters.

The interception battle lasted until midnight.

In the pitch-black night sky, a Light Flag bearing the Three Spirits Unification Seal suddenly lit up. This was a martial tradition of the Heling Sect, dating back to its founding. The appearance of the Light Flag signified another victory for the Heling Sect and brought the interception battle to a close.

Lü Zhong roughly estimated his haul. He figured he had made a bare minimum of thirty thousand Spirit Stones. If he sold everything off slowly, it wouldn’t be a problem to earn another ten or twenty thousand on top of that.

’Enough for a Foundation Establishment Pill, just like that!’

He marveled at the thought for a moment, then circulated his Ice Heart Mantra faster, forcing himself to calm down.

’After all, my inner demons haven’t been purged yet. Adding new ones would only bring me more trouble.’

Afterward, everyone returned to the mining camp to regroup.

On the way, they passed through the West District of the mining camp.

After such a fierce battle, extremely few mortals in the mining camp had survived. This was evident from the mountain-like piles of mortal corpses stacked between the houses in the West District. It was estimated that fewer than one in a hundred had made it out alive.

When they reached the Central Square, the atmosphere was exceptionally grim.

The ground was lined with bodies, each draped in a flag bearing the Three Spirits Unification Seal. There were at least a hundred of them.

Caught in a sudden ambush with no Foundation Establishment-level experts on their side to mount a defense, any Heling Sect disciple who failed to escape the Little Yuan Valley Mine in time had met a single fate, especially if they weren’t in an easily defensible location when the attack started: death in battle.

Those who had known the deceased stood silently before the bodies.

An occasional sob could be heard from someone whose Dao Companion had fallen in battle; people nearby were consoling them.

Taking in the scene, Lü Zhong couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy. He couldn’t help but wonder, ’If I had been unlucky enough to be caught by Chen Jiang’nu, would anyone have cried for me?’

Faces flashed through his mind.

In the end, he gave a bitter smile. ’Probably not.’

...

Not long after the Little Yuan Valley Mine was recaptured, news from the main front quickly arrived.

Just as Lin Zhenghe had predicted, the decisive battle at Jufeng Pass had concluded. The Heling Sect had suffered considerable losses in the engagement. Over a hundred of the sect’s High-tier Disciples had fallen, and when including the low-level disciples and hired Loose Cultivators, the total casualties neared ten thousand.

The losses in war materiel, such as Flying Ships, were valued at several million Spirit Stones at least.

But for such a great price paid, the spoils of victory were naturally substantial.

The Golden Rainbow Sect’s sole Golden Core Ancestor, Master Profound Sword, had suffered a fatal blow in the battle. Even though he had managed to escape back to the Golden Rainbow Sect’s main force, it was futile. He could pass away at any moment.

Without a Core Formation Stage expert, the Golden Rainbow Sect’s defeat was all but certain.

After all, in a sect war of this magnitude, the outcome was never decided by Qi Refining Stage disciples like Lü Zhong, nor by the ranks of Foundation Establishment True Cultivators, but by beings at the level of a Golden Core Ancestor.

As for the Luoyun Sect, even though their Golden Core Ancestor, Master Yun Qing, was unharmed, he was now fated to do nothing more than defend his sect’s grounds. If he dared to venture out, he would have to face three opponents at once and suffer an even more miserable fate than Master Profound Sword.

As long as no other surprises occurred, the Heling Sect’s annexation of the Golden Rainbow and Luoyun Sects was practically a foregone conclusion.

”Whew, it looks like the Second War of the Three Sects is finally drawing to a close.” Lü Zhong heaved a long sigh of relief. ’I can finally go back to cultivating in peace, without getting tangled up in these life-or-death struggles.’

After standing guard at the Little Yuan Valley Mine for half a year, an order summoned him back to Heling Mountain.

...

「Shuini Cave Mansion.」

Under the ever-more-lush Laurel Tree, master and disciple sat facing each other.

GLUG GLUG... Lü Zhong first refilled Shuini’s tea before pouring a cup for himself.

Shuini was dressed in a light, gossamer palace gown, leaning lazily against the trunk of the Laurel Tree as she usually did. With a smile in her eyes, she asked, ”My good disciple, I heard from Junior Brother Lin that you were pursued by Chen Jiang’nu, the Saintess of the Black Corpse Hall?”

”Master, that is correct,” Lü Zhong replied, his tone perfectly level.

”Oh?” Shuini lifted her teacup, took a delicate sip, and said cheerfully, ”The Golden Palace Jade Talisman came in handy, I assume? That talisman is far more powerful than the Three-Flower Jade Talisman your martial uncle, the Sect Leader, gave you. Even if I were the one attacking it, I’d have to strike with my full power at least ten times to break the Golden Palace Secret Talisman. Blocking Chen Jiang’nu would have been a simple task.”

Lü Zhong was stunned as he looked at his master’s proud expression.

’Shuini is a Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. A Jade Talisman that would take even her ten full-power strikes to destroy... it could probably block a blow from a Core Formation Stage expert. The value of the Golden Palace Jade Talisman is unimaginable.’

At this thought, Lü Zhong stood and bowed respectfully. ”Thank you for bestowing this talisman upon me, Master. I am eternally grateful!”

’As for the fact that I didn’t actually rely on the Golden Palace Talisman to get away,’ he thought, ’it’s probably best to just gloss over that part. If I make Master lose face, I might not be so lucky as to receive another talisman like this in the future.’

Shuini giggled, clearly enjoying the praise. Her laughter, like the chiming of silver bells, held more genuine emotion than usual.

The two chatted idly for a while longer, and Lü Zhong took the opportunity to ask several questions he had about his cultivation.

Since joining the Heling Sect, he had truly come to appreciate the importance of a guide. In cultivation, the difference between having a master’s instruction and not was like the difference between traversing rolling hills and a rugged, treacherous mountain ridge.

The reason he had been able to cultivate so smoothly to the Qi Refining Eighth Layer was largely thanks to Shuini’s continuous guidance.

Having received his answers, Lü Zhong returned the favor.

He presented her with ten of the latest romance novellas.

Shuini accepted them with a cheerful laugh and, in turn, handed him a bead that shimmered with a silver light.

Her smile vanished, replaced by a serious expression. ”This is called a Memory Secret Bead,” she explained. ”It can directly imprint memories from your mind as an image. My good disciple, go back and sort through your memories, then imprint the ones involving Chen Jiang’nu into the bead. Return it to me tomorrow.”

”Yes, disciple obeys!” Lü Zhong responded.

Her words were incredibly considerate.

’After all, if he had to imprint the memory right here and now, the part where he used his Scene Playback ability to discover Chen Jiang’nu’s anomaly would surely be recorded as well.’

’If that happened, their master-disciple relationship would likely be over.’