A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

”That’s it, this is the fragrance of Profound Spiritual Milk!”

’No wonder I couldn’t find it. So there was another hidden mechanism.’

’These Sects really do know a lot of secrets. A Loose Cultivator, even with a genuine Black Muzhu, probably couldn’t see through this mechanism. The treasure would be right in front of them, and they’d be completely unaware.’

Lü Zhong sighed to himself and walked up to the rock wall.

Gazing at the marks left by Magical Artifacts and Magic Skills, he hesitated for a moment before flicking his wrist and releasing a humanoid figure.

It was the Spirit Puppet he had acquired not long ago. He had performed some simple repairs, but it still retained its original female form. Its erased facial features were difficult to restore on short notice, so he had simply covered its face with a piece of Spiritual Gauze.

He then removed the compartment that held its Spirit Stones and replaced them all with Mid-grade Spirit Stones to ensure the puppet would function properly.

After a moment’s thought, he also gave the Shuo Jin Sword to the Spirit Puppet.

Lü Zhong was, of course, applying the lesson he’d learned from the Water Cyan Python. He was preparing to send the Spirit Puppet in to scout ahead.

After all, he knew nothing about what was inside. He tried using his scene replay ability, but found that behind the rock wall was just solid mountain. Clearly, the real ”Long-toothed Burrow” was no simple place; it might even be a small Secret Realm.

Still feeling uneasy, he loaded a box of Fire Thunder Bombs into the Spirit Puppet’s arm.

After all this armament, the Spirit Puppet’s power was now close to that of a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

’Even if it runs into an ambush, it should be able to hold out for a while.’ Seeing that preparations were complete, Lü Zhong took out his own Black Muzhu and copied what he had seen, causing the rock wall to react.

After a while, seeing no signs of trouble from the Spirit Puppet, he went through.

The other side of the rock wall opened into a vast space with no end in sight.

The ground was covered in a jagged, crisscrossing network of tooth-like stalagmites.

Overhead was a vast, starry sky composed of massive amounts of glowing Fungus Moss.

The points of starlight twinkled, their brilliance in no way inferior to the real starry river outside. Due to the refraction of the air, this entire river of stars seemed to float and undulate, looking just like a real river.

The concentration of Spiritual Qi was extremely high, more than ten times that of the outside world.

’So this is the real Long-toothed Burrow?’ Lü Zhong stared at the bizarre vista before him, inwardly astonished.

His gaze shifted and soon landed on the patches of Spirit Fields ahead.

To his astonishment, Lü Zhong realized he was looking at Spirit Fields!

The Spirit Fields were planted with numerous Spirit Medicines, all of them rare varieties adapted for cavern growth. A closer look revealed recent signs of tending and harvesting, likely the work of the three who had entered just before him.

”Rennan Mushroom, Linglian Moss, Blind Flower Grass...”

One after another, they were all Spirit Medicines of considerable age, many of which were nearing maturity.

Besides these, there were also various fungi growing naturally in the cavern, which could also be used in medicine.

Clearly, Huayi Temple, confident that they alone knew the secret of the rock wall, had turned this place into a raw material farm. They took advantage of each opening of Chenyuan Palace to come and harvest the mature resources.

’You have to hand it to them,’ Lü Zhong thought, ’the Sects really do play the long game.’

’A Loose Cultivator would have likely stripped the place bare long ago, leaving nothing behind.’

Suppressing the urge to harvest the Spirit Medicines, Lü Zhong decided not to tip his hand just yet.

’Compared to this paltry profit, the Profound Spiritual Milk that might be here is my true objective!’

He immediately concealed his presence.

Relying on the Gray Mist Space, Lü Zhong covered a distance of over a thousand zhang and soon reached the center of the Long-toothed Burrow.

He could see the three from Huayi Temple gathered around a stone platform. On it sat a slender-necked Cyan Jade Bottle.

Above the Cyan Jade Bottle hung a stalactite, descending from the cavern ceiling, as black as ink.

He didn’t know what the three from Huayi Temple had done.

A dark, spectral light was now gathering at the stalactite’s tip. Half a drop of pitch-black liquid had already seeped out, emitting a very particular fragrance—it was the very Profound Spiritual Milk Lü Zhong had been searching for.

It wasn’t just this one drop; a rich fragrance was also wafting from the jade bottle.

Hidden behind a stone pillar, Lü Zhong watched the scene unfold, his mind beginning to race.

The Profound Spiritual Milk was right before his eyes, and there was clearly more than one drop. This was no small temptation for him.

’This trip to Chenyuan Palace... besides fulfilling my agreement with Liuu Piaoniang, wasn’t my other goal to find a Spiritual Object to increase my chances of Core Formation? If I can get my hands on this Profound Spiritual Milk, my chances of success will increase dramatically. Plus, I’ll save a huge amount of Spirit Stones that I can use to buy other Core Formation Spiritual Objects.’

At this thought, Lü Zhong grew eager to make his move.

The Huayi Temple cultivators were now almost finished.

The fragrance from the droplet grew richer, while the spectral light gathered at the stalactite’s tip slowly dimmed. A full drop of Profound Spiritual Milk had nearly formed and was about to fall into the Cyan Jade Bottle.

Lü Zhong watched, ready to make his move. ’The moment they collect the Cyan Jade Bottle is when their guard will be at its lowest. If I strike then, even if I can’t catch all three of them completely by surprise, I can at least throw them into disarray and seize a major advantage.’

The more he thought about it, the higher the chances of success seemed.

As he paid closer attention to the trio’s movements, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

’Something’s wrong!’

Lü Zhong had spotted the problem.

Of the three Huayi Temple cultivators, the old, white-haired Daoist and the cold, elegant Daoist Nun showed nothing unusual in their expressions or movements. The anomaly was the thin Daoist. Although he was still forming hand seals and chanting, his expression held a faint tension, and his eyes kept darting glances in Lü Zhong’s direction.

’I’ve been discovered!’

’When?’

His thoughts raced, and he used scene replay.

When he saw the result, Lü Zhong broke out in a cold sweat.