A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

After asking his question, Lü Zhong drew his Shuo Jin Sword.

Seeing this, the hint of color that had just returned to Qizhu’s lovely face drained away, leaving it deathly pale.

She scrambled to her knees and begged loudly, ”Please, spare me, Sir! I’ll be your slave and do whatever you command. Your will shall be my own. I only ask for a chance to live!”

As she spoke, she adjusted her posture to appear more alluring.

Beauty was a form of power, and Qizhu had always believed she wielded hers well.

”Hah. Willing to be my slave, but not to give yourself to me? You must look down on me!” Lü Zhong sneered. Without a second glance at her rather comely figure, he mercilessly ended her life.

He followed up with three Fireball Bullets, burning her body to ash to ensure there were no lingering problems.

Sifting through the scattered pile of clothes, he found a Storage Bag.

He expertly tied it to his waist, only then realizing what he’d done. He couldn’t help but scratch his head. ’Huh, how did I end up with three more of these without even noticing?’

’Whatever. I’ll deal with that later.’

Next, he opened the bag he’d taken from Alou.

This bag was unusual. While it looked like a standard Storage Bag, it was actually a combination of an Insect Bag and a Storage Bag. The two compartments were separate and didn’t interfere, allowing one to store Spiritual Insects and other items independently.

The Insect Bag was crammed with countless bottles and jars.

They contained food for Spiritual Insects, numerous insect eggs, as well as juvenile and adult insects.

After some searching, just as Qizhu had said, he found a jade box with mystical patterns. He tore off the Talisman Paper sealed to its surface and opened it to find a golden insect egg resting on a bed of brocade cloth.

This was the Substitute King Insect Egg.

Among Substitute Insect Eggs, the difference between an ordinary egg and a King Insect Egg was vast. While an ordinary egg, with selective breeding, had a chance to become a King Insect, the process was incredibly time-consuming and resource-intensive. This egg, however, was from the Spiritual Insect bloodline passed down through Alou’s family. Carefully cultivated for over a dozen generations, its starting point was far higher than that of a normal Substitute Insect, and it would complete its nine molts much more easily.

Using his Qi Observation Skill, he could see the King Insect Egg was brimming with Spiritual Qi and showed clear signs of life. All he had to do was perform a blood contract to claim it as his Substitute Tribulation Spirit Insect.

Lü Zhong didn’t rush into it, instead choosing to ”simulate” the process first.

The result, however, was baffling. When he dripped his Essence Blood onto the egg, it didn’t seep in but simply slid off.

’What’s going on?’

Several more attempts yielded the same result.

Seeing this, Lü Zhong decided to check the storage compartment of the bag.

He took out one strange item after another, placing the suspicious ones to one side and items like Spirit Stones to the other. Soon, he had two distinct piles.

He grew increasingly amazed. There was a shocking amount of stuff in Alou’s bag; it looked as if he’d made off with the entire treasury of a stronghold. Unfortunately, a single glance told him the treasures were all for Insect Cultivators. To Lü Zhong, they were less useful than the pile of over ten thousand Spirit Stones.

He quickly finished his inspection and found a piece of letter paper.

A glance at the signature identified it as Alou’s. After reading the contents, Lü Zhong realized it was a posthumous letter Alou had prepared.

’Scheming even in death!’

Annoyed, Lü Zhong crushed the letter into dust.

In the letter, Alou explained that he had used an ancestral Secret Technique to tamper with the egg. Until the technique was removed, it would be impossible to bond with the egg, no matter the method.

To remove the Secret Technique, Lü Zhong would have to make a deal.

The deal Alou proposed in the letter was simple: Lü Zhong just had to return his ashes to his daughter. He provided a detailed address but included a one-year deadline. If the ashes weren’t delivered in time, the Secret Technique would continuously drain the King Insect Egg’s Life Force, eventually rendering it a dead, useless egg.

As a reward for returning the ashes, his daughter would not only remove the Secret Technique from the egg but also present him with the complete King Insect Nine Transformations.

”What a blatant scheme,” Lü Zhong said, his face impassive.

Knowing the purpose of the Substitute King Insect, it was likely that no cultivator could resist the temptation. After all, it was an exceedingly rare Substitute Tribulation Spirit Insect, one that could withstand a bolt of Tribulation Thunder from the Three-Nine Celestial Tribulation.

Thus, with his future Core Formation in mind, Lü Zhong had no choice but to hold his nose and go along with it.

Fortunately, the address Alou had given wasn’t far from Lingyue Immortal City. It was in the territory of Huayi Temple, which was adjacent to the Lingyue Sect. Unlike the chaotic Lingyue Domain, that area was under a unified Mortal Dynasty. His daughter lived in Zeshui County in the Binzhou province of a nation called the Yun Country.

Whether or not he decided to go to Zeshui County, he first had to collect Alou’s ashes.

He returned to the clearing in the woods. There were fresh animal tracks everywhere, and the ashes had been disturbed. Fortunately, none seemed to be missing. Using his Object Control Skill, he gathered them into a jar.

Soon, the Flying Ship took to the skies, heading straight for Lingyue Immortal City.

Back at Immortal Intent Square, Lü Zhong remembered to go through the siblings’ Storage Bags. Theirs were also the composite type, with both an Insect Bag and storage compartment. After a detailed inventory, he found that the contents were typical for cultivators on the run; they had likely been carrying their entire fortune with them. He’d gained a large pile of bottles and jars, over ten thousand Spirit Stones, and various other miscellaneous Spiritual Objects that could probably fetch another thousand Spirit Stones or so.

Once he finished, he moved all the items related to Insect Cultivators into a single Storage Bag, freeing up the two composite bags. He then opened a hidden compartment in the wall of his Quiet Chamber. Inside was a stack of ordinary Storage Bags he had acquired previously. He had yet to process them out of caution, as they still contained sensitive items like Magical Artifacts with distinctive features or Dharma Robes bearing clan emblems.