A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

The Cyan Glaze Sword was too conspicuous.

Lü Zhong didn’t want to reveal that he had killed Yue Cang.

’I can only use this sword in the Western Realm. As for here in the Southern Barbarian lands, I should stick to using rouge for daily matters. A Magical Treasure with a Third-Layer Prohibition is enough for someone in Early-stage Core Formation,’ Lü Zhong thought to himself.

He would never use the Cyan Glaze Sword in the Southern Barbarian lands unless he was absolutely forced to.

Getting rich quietly was the true path.

Next, he took out two Small Flags.

After wiping away the Spiritual Mark within them, Lü Zhong quickly refined the two Small Flags and learned the Magical Treasure’s name.

’Flood Dragon Spirit Banners? And they’re part of a set of Magical Treasures...’

With a flip of his hand, he took out a Jade Scroll from his Storage Bag.

Its design was simple and ancient, clearly a relic of a bygone era.

The Jade Scroll recorded the refining method for the Flood Dragon Spirit Banners. The most crucial material was a Tier Three Flood Dragon Essence, which could only be obtained by slaying a Tier Three Flood Dragon. The difficulty of acquiring it was immense.

If he could collect seven Flood Dragon Spirit Banners, they would form the Flood Dragon Banner.

’The Flood Dragon Banner... a twenty-one-layered Restriction Magical Treasure!’

Reading this, Lü Zhong was inwardly stunned.

’With so many layers of Prohibitions, just how powerful could this Flood Dragon Banner be?’

After all, according to the ancient records, even the Magical Treasures used by Early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators were only at this level.

’The prerequisite is that I have to slay five True Flood Dragons...’ At this thought, Lü Zhong’s excitement faded.

Flood Dragons were not to be trifled with.

At the same Realm, their combat power crushed that of ordinary Human Race Cultivators.

Even cultivators like Lian Zhen and Yue Cang were weaker than Flood Dragons. To slay a True Flood Dragon single-handedly, one would typically need the strength of a Nascent Soul Seed.

He committed this matter to memory.

Although slaying True Flood Dragons was difficult, it was still a shortcut to obtaining a powerful Magical Treasure.

Normally, to obtain a Magical Treasure with a twenty-first-layer Prohibition, one would have to either spend centuries nurturing it or unstintingly refine it with rare spiritual materials—or even do both simultaneously.

By comparison, slaying five True Flood Dragons actually seemed easier.

Lü Zhong continued to take inventory.

He took out a golden Flying Sword and examined it carefully.

The sword was extremely heavy, weighing at least a thousand pounds.

The blade was covered in Thunder Patterns, with faint bolts of lightning seeming to flow across its surface. It exuded an ancient, weathered aura. It was a rare, guardless style of Flying Sword, resembling a large Golden Needle.

Turning it over, he saw three words inscribed on the spine of the blade in Silver Tadpole Script.

”Thunder-Attracting Needle!” Lü Zhong read silently.

This sword had left a deep impression on him.

Yue Cang had wielded this very Thunder-Attracting Needle to neutralize the Wood Thunder Skill Lü Zhong had worked so hard to master.

If he hadn’t dodged in time, he would have been crippled on the spot.

ZAP!

Lightning flashed from Lü Zhong’s left hand. As he brought the Thunder-Attracting Needle closer, the electricity was indeed drawn toward the Flying Sword. In an instant, all the Thunder Patterns on the blade lit up, yet he felt no discomfort as he held it.

He lightly scraped it across the ground, and a wave of intense heat washed over him.

A molten trench was shockingly gouged into the stone floor.

’It can only make glass?’

Lü Zhong stared at the mirror-bright crystals lining the sides of the trench and fell into contemplation.

He had wanted to convert the lightning into a Thunder Pillar and unleash it like Yue Cang had. Instead, all it did was enchant the blade. Although its power was impressive, it was nowhere near as potent as a Thunder Pillar.

A Thunder Pillar concentrating the full power of his Wood Thunder Skill was enough to instantly kill an Early-stage Core Formation Cultivator.

Recalling the scene from the battle, Lü Zhong identified the reason.

’Thunder Return? It must be some kind of Secret Skill.’

As memories related to Yue Cang surfaced in his mind, it wasn’t hard to guess the ability was connected to the Cultivation Technique Yue Cang practiced.

’The Golden Brilliance Talisman Manual... It seems I can forget about ever getting my hands on it, unless the Yan Zhen Sect is annihilated.’

But how could a Nascent Soul Sect be so easily destroyed?

”Huh? The Thunder-Attracting Needle isn’t a Restricted Treasure?” Lü Zhong murmured in surprise, a strange look on his face.

Immersing his Divine Sense into it, he discovered many profound patterns ”growing” inside the Thunder-Attracting Needle. This was another method for refining Magical Treasures, one that imitated the birth process of a Spirit Treasure.

The reason this method wasn’t popular in the current Cultivation Realm was because the refining process was incredibly long, often taking thousands of years.

A Magical Treasure refined with this method didn’t have the flaws of a Restricted Treasure.

As long as the Spiritual Mark left by the previous owner was erased, the new owner could gain complete control of the Magical Treasure.

This should have been an advantage, but in a Cultivation Realm where simply possessing a treasure is a crime, it became a reason for it to be coveted. By killing the original owner, anyone could seize for themselves a treasure forged by the painstaking efforts of generations.

Who wouldn’t be tempted by such a prize?

It was for this very reason that this method, known as the ”Sacrificial Refining Technique,” was replaced by the later-emerging Restricted Treasures. The latter were simpler, easier, and faster to refine, yet they could still eventually grow into Spirit Treasures.

At this realization, Lü Zhong’s expression changed dramatically.

’I’m in huge trouble now!’

A Sacrificial Refining Treasure like this was very likely an Inheritance Treasure of the Yan Zhen Sect. After all, if it were nurtured generation after generation, the Thunder-Attracting Needle would sooner or later undergo a Metamorphosis and become a legendary Spirit Treasure.

Its loss might even be enough to attract a Nascent Soul True Monarch.

Thinking of the dire consequences, Lü Zhong hurriedly inspected the Thunder-Attracting Needle several more times.

He confirmed that there were no hidden marks left on it by the Yan Zhen Sect.

Only then did he cast several Sealing Prohibitions on it before placing it in his Storage Bag.

He wasn’t afraid of being tracked by the Yan Zhen Sect. While there were many tracking methods in the Cultivation Realm, all of them had their limitations.

Conventional methods were all based on the application of Spiritual Qi, and Lü Zhong was confident he had erased any such traces. As for methods like divination, they were countered by his Star Shifting and Dipper Changing Divine Technique, making it impossible for them to locate him.

’As long as I don’t expose myself, the Yan Zhen Sect will just have to suffer this loss in silence!’

At this thought, Lü Zhong couldn’t help but feel amused.

’That’s what you get for targeting me. Now you’ve gone and lost your Inheritance Treasure, haven’t you?’

He picked up Yue Cang’s Storage Bag. Seeing that there wasn’t much left inside, he simply dumped out all the contents. After a flash of iridescent light, a pile of items appeared on the ground.