A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

「One day, half a year later.」

Lü Zhong sat cross-legged in his Quiet Chamber, continuing to comprehend the Gathering Element Technique.

With his Foundation Establishment imminent, this Secret Skill, which could increase his chances of success by five percent, was well worth cultivating. It might even save him a great deal of Spirit Stones.

’I’ll practice on my own for a while first, then go ask Master for guidance.’

’And I need to start planning to acquire a Foundation Establishment Pill. The ones at auctions aren’t easy to get, so I’ll need to prepare well... As for Sect Merits, I’ve barely scraped together enough for one pill. I need to go and contend for it. I’ve heard the Foundation Establishment Pills in the Treasure Vault are in high demand; you have to queue up just to exchange for one...’

He thought to himself, lifting his head to look at a corner of the Quiet Chamber.

A gray Treasure Bead floated there, absorbing the Soul Power from the surrounding Essence. It formed numerous Soul Power vortexes, all of which converged on the Earth Wood Spirit Ring, slowly enhancing the ring’s Spiritual Attribute.

He wasn’t sure if it was because of the Sacrificial Spirit Technique or if Half-Spiritual Artifacts were simply difficult to metamorphose, but the ring’s improvement was slow. Lü Zhong estimated that even by the time he broke through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, it still might not become a true Spiritual Artifact.

’I can’t rush this. I’ve heard that not all Foundation Establishment True Cultivators have a Spiritual Artifact for protection. Most Early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators lack the resources and can only use High-grade Magical Artifacts.’

He continued to comprehend the Gathering Element Technique as he pondered.

Lü Zhong recently had a sudden idea. If he could multitask—observing both the world of his scene regressions and the real world simultaneously—it might produce some miraculous effects.

But as for what those effects might be, the idea in his mind was still quite vague.

He figured he would only understand once he could truly do two things at once.

”Sigh, learning truly never ends!”

...

「Several days later.」

Having gathered enough Merits, Lü Zhong arrived at the Treasure Hall.

”Senior Brother Lü, good morning!”

In front of the hall, a horse-faced disciple on duty greeted him enthusiastically. Lü Zhong looked over and recognized him as one of the Inner Sect Disciples from the team he had led to clear out the waterways of Yongling City. He smiled and nodded in acknowledgment.

He handed over his identity token for verification. Soon, the Prohibition at the entrance of the Treasure Hall was lifted, revealing an opening large enough for one person to enter.

Lü Zhong stepped inside and quickly disappeared within.

After the Prohibition sealed itself again, another guard, a short and stout disciple, asked curiously, ”Huh? I’ve been in the Sect for three years. How come I’ve never seen that Senior Brother Lü before?”

The horse-faced disciple laughed and explained, ”That’s not strange. In fact, this is the first time I’ve seen him inside the Sect as well. But if I use another name for him, I’m sure you’ll find it familiar, Junior Brother!”

”Oh?” The short, stout disciple’s curiosity was piqued.

”He’s Master Shuini’s disciple,” the horse-faced disciple whispered, glancing around.

Hearing this, the short, stout disciple suddenly felt a pang of jealousy. He said gloomily, ”So... he’s the one who’s about to become a Master’s Disciple...”

According to the rumors he’d heard, Master Shuini had already entered seclusion. When she emerged, she might very well become their grandmaster—a Golden Core Master with a lifespan of at least five hundred years.

”Exactly!” the horse-faced disciple said sourly.

...

”What do you need to exchange for?”

Sha Baoren was the Steward on duty at the Treasure Hall this year. He sat behind a desk, questioning the disciple who had come for an exchange. Judging by his impatient expression, he clearly had no desire to be a Steward and was only fulfilling the duty because of the Heling Sect’s rules.

”Disciple wishes to exchange for... one stalk of Hundred-Year-Old Golden Treasure Thorns.”

A scrawny disciple standing before the desk said weakly.

Master Sha’s terrible reputation was well-known; among the disciples, the mere mention of his name was enough to make them pale.

”Hundred-Year-Old Golden Treasure Thorns? The Treasure Vault has never stocked such an item. If you want one, you should go look in the Workshop Market.” Sha Baoren shot him a vicious glare, not letting up until the scrawny disciple’s eyes welled with tears. Then he looked at the disciples queueing behind and said, his voice laced with suppressed fury, ”All of you who want to make an exchange, look at the catalog first! If another idiot like this comes up, don’t blame me for teaching him a lesson!”

After his tirade, Sha Baoren sat back on his long bench and said coldly,

”Next!”

The crowd of disciples was now dead silent.

Someone whispered, ”What’s wrong with Master Sha?”

”It’s because of that whole affair. I heard...” The person next to him lowered their voice even more. ”I heard the higher-ups have already reached a decision. We’re about to split the Sect.”

”Splitting the Sect?” Hearing this, many people, though they seemed to have already known, couldn’t help but sigh.

Lü Zhong, standing to the side, naturally knew what splitting the Sect meant.

Not long ago, his Master, Shuini, had revealed that the Heling Sect, facing pressure from the Lingyue Sect, would very likely resort to splitting up to avoid disaster. This meant the Three Spirits Unification Seal would be broken, and the three lineages—Profound Moon, Flying Star, and Tuoyang—would each become independent sects.

Lü Zhong didn’t know if this was a policy of appeasement or a brilliant move conceived by the three ancestors, only that he was powerless to stop it.

This was something many Heling Sect disciples likely understood as well.

The long queue at the Treasure Hall today was probably related to this. After all, no one knew if their Sect Merits would still be recognized after the split. To avoid having their hard-earned Merits become worthless, many were planning to spend them all.

Soon, it was his turn.

”Master Sha, this disciple would like to apply to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill.”

A Foundation Establishment Pill?

Sha Baoren looked up curiously, wanting to see who was exchanging for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

The Foundation Establishment Pill was an item that disciples fought tooth and nail to exchange for. As such, there was a ranking system to determine the order of acquisition, based on two factors: the order in which applications were submitted and the size of a disciple’s contribution to the Sect.

In other words, there was one ranking based on application time and another based on Sect contribution.