A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

Afterward.

The room was filled with steam.

A tub of costly medicinal liquid was now as clear as water.

Lü Zhong looked at Yu Feng’Er in his arms. She had been especially passionate lately, as if to make up for the guilt in her heart. Her own cultivation had stagnated for a long time as a result, and he couldn’t help but comfort her softly,

”You don’t have to blame yourself so much...”

Although the Beauty Pill could preserve one’s looks, it also brought about the phenomenon of ”self-decay.”

Once self-decay began, it meant one’s lifespan was completely exhausted and their life had reached its end. In such a situation, even taking a Life-extending Spiritual Object would have a greatly diminished effect.

Yu Feng’Er’s shoulders trembled as she buried her head, not saying a word.

Seeing her like this, Lü Zhong had no choice but to change the subject. ”How has the Commerce Association been lately?”

At his words, Yu Feng’Er wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and buried her head in his chest. ”Thanks to the high-quality Yellow Bud Pills, the Commerce Association has re-established its footing in the Pill Market. The next step is to follow the plan and gradually chip away at the competition... However, our expansion has also drawn the attention of many Great Commerce Associations.”

”Especially the Wangxi Commerce Association, which we consider our main competitor. They’ve already responded fiercely. Our shops in the inner city and the South District of Port City have started to run into all sorts of strange trouble. Recently, people have also been causing disturbances at Lintao Pavilion. I have already arranged for Yuu Qing to hold the fort in the city. As long as they don’t bring in a Golden Core Master, we can guarantee the shops’ normal operations.”

Yu Feng’Er continued, her slender brows furrowing slightly, ”The biggest problem is that of the Alchemy Squares that had previously agreed to work with us, three have torn up their Spirit Contracts. They would rather pay a hefty sum of Spirit Stones in compensation than continue to cooperate with us. I suspect the Wangxi Commerce Association is behind this. They have been rooted in Changchun Immortal City for many years. Whether in terms of connections or financial strength, they are far superior to the Chengde Commerce Association. In that regard, I’m preparing to establish our own Alchemy Workshops for the Chengde Commerce Association while also increasing our external procurement of Pills. Even if it means taking a small loss, we have to hold on to the market share we’ve seized.”

Lü Zhong was not the least bit surprised to hear this.

He had expected it. Ruining someone’s livelihood was like killing their parents.

In the Cultivation Realm, it was equivalent to cutting off someone’s path of cultivation!

It was foreseeable that as long as one side didn’t back down, the situation would continue to escalate.

Eventually, it wasn’t out of the question for the conflict to lead to drawn weapons.

”Then continue according to the plan,” he decided after a moment of thought.

The reason he had targeted the Wangxi Commerce Association in the first place was because they had no Golden Core Master backing them. Even if things got completely out of hand, Lü Zhong was confident he could suppress the matter with his own strength and help the Chengde Commerce Association reclaim the Pill Market share it had lost.

Only by having the Chengde Commerce Association earn more Spirit Stones could he secure a continuous supply of resources. This, in turn, would allow him to produce large quantities of Creation Spirit Liquid and ultimately convert all his painstaking efforts into an increase in his cultivation.

Lü Zhong had no other choice; after all, he was just a Loose Cultivator.

Without the strong support of a family or a Sect, if he didn’t want to rely on luck or wait for a fortuitous opportunity to fall from the sky, his only option was to get involved in disputes to obtain enough resources for Core Formation.

’Sigh, in the end, it’s all because the Heling Sect split apart.’

’If the Heling Sect hadn’t split, and I had remained in the Sect, I might have been designated as a Core Formation Seed and received the Sect’s full support in my training. Although that would have meant being tied to the Sect, it would still be better than worrying about resources like I am now.’

He shared another tender moment with Yu Feng’Er before getting up to dress.

Meanwhile, Yu Feng’Er, who had already dressed herself, was arranging her hair bun in front of a Water Mirror.

As the saying goes, one’s environment shapes one’s aura, and one’s station shapes one’s presence.

After serving as the Yu Family Clan Leader and Chairman of the Chengde Commerce Association for so many years, she had developed the air of a superior.

Given time, it wasn’t impossible that she would develop a commanding presence.

Having finished cultivating the Second Layer of the Jade Vein Technique, Lü Zhong prepared to pick up his Magic Skills again. He was especially interested in the two Secret Skills, Star Pulling Skill and Star Fusion Burst, which might prove unexpectedly useful in the coming struggle against the Wangxi Commerce Association.

He hadn’t practiced them before because their cost-effectiveness had plummeted in the Foundation Establishment Stage with the emergence of Spiritual Artifacts.

The long Casting time was a major disadvantage that made Tier Two Spells difficult to apply in real combat; the high learning curve was a minor issue by comparison. Given that he already possessed several Spiritual Artifacts, there had been no need to learn Magic Skills previously.

But things were different now. The nature of the battles Lü Zhong expected to face had changed, upgrading from small-scale duels between cultivators to large-scale slaughters that might involve fighting in Array Formations.

And during the white-hot stage of the conflict with the Wangxi Commerce Association, such a scenario was highly likely.

In this kind of situation, one either had to quickly defeat an opponent of the same level or inflict mass casualties on the enemy’s low-level cultivators.

Therefore, learning one or two high-power Magic Skills had become essential.

And as it happened, both the Star Pulling Skill, which could draw down stars from the heavens to bombard the ground, and the Star Fusion Burst, which concentrated all of one’s True Essence into a single strike, were high-power Magic Skills capable of deciding a battle in one blow.

When it came to large-scale destruction, Magic Cultivators were undisputed experts.

...

「One month later.」

Changchun Valley, Foreign Affairs Hall.

The hall was packed with people, most of them Foundation Establishment True Cultivators dressed in Dharma Robes. At a tea table to the side, there were also two cultivators exuding powerful Spiritual Qi fluctuations—they were Golden Core Masters.

Everyone had gathered here for the decennial Spiritual Land auction of the Changchun Domain.

Lü Zhong also appeared here, with Yu Feng’Er by his side.