A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

A Core Formation Cultivator’s Divine Soul was powerful, and deciphering it took but a moment.

Lü Zhong had assumed the human skin paper recorded a Cultivation Technique or a Magic Secret Technique, but he never expected it to be just a short journal entry.

The author of the entry was a Barbarian Race City Priest, whose strength was equivalent to a Human Race Golden Core Master.

The entire text was over a thousand characters long.

”...A hundred and twenty li west of Wu City, past the Gloom Forest, one hears the sound of water, gurgling like a stream—there must be a treasure... The cave is filled with many evil monsters; fortunately, there are Evil-breaking Talismans from Human Cultivators... The cave winds and twists like a snake, yet the treasure is nowhere to be seen. Have I lost the Barbarian God’s favor? ...At the bottom of the cave, I saw the Nai River.”

’Nai River?’

Lü Zhong’s brow furrowed when he saw those two words.

He knew of the Nai River Bridge, said to be a necessary crossing for Yellow Springs Reincarnation. But the Nai River itself was supposed to be in the depths of the Nine Netherworld, an unreachable place that not even a Divinity Transformation cultivator could access.

’Perhaps the Barbarians were mistaken. After all, they call Divinity Transformation cultivators ”Barbarian Gods.”’

Liu Yu had previously tried to lure him to Flowing Water Cave;

the Ye Brothers and Sisters had also been lost there;

and now this Barbarian City Priest claimed the Nai River was at the bottom of the cave.

No matter how he looked at it, Flowing Water Cave was not a good place.

However, Lü Zhong was now certain of one thing: the source of the strange black shadows was most likely related to Flowing Water Cave.

At this thought, he flipped his hand and produced a Silver Talisman.

The Silver Talisman was only the size of a palm, but whether it was the Talisman Head, Talisman Core, or talisman foot, all were incredibly complex. The strokes on it seemed to stick together, making even Lü Zhong dizzy just looking at it.

It was a Tier Three Communication Talisman.

Once activated, it could send a message of a hundred characters to a relay point ten thousand li away.

The Changchun Domain was dotted with numerous relay points, manned by Changchun Valley disciples who would forward messages. After several such relays, the message could be transmitted all the way back to Changchun Valley.

In Lü Zhong’s understanding, this thing was the cultivation version of Quantum Entanglement.

Flowing Water Cave involved the legendary Nai River, and he had no intention of exploring it. After all, the Barbarian City Priest had also said that aside from a large number of evil creatures, there were no treasures in the cave at all.

’Forget it. I’ll just report this to Changchun Valley and let them deal with the headache,’ Lü Zhong thought to himself, deciding to stay out of it.

Sigh, what a mess!

Not only were two Nascent Soul Sects fighting for no reason, but now something that might be the Nai River had also appeared.

He truly couldn’t imagine what would happen next.

Fortunately, he had already reached the Core Formation Stage.

With his cultivation as a foundation, even if he truly encountered chaotic times, he could still live a comfortable life.

He turned his gaze back to the human skin paper.

Liu Yu had hidden this item so deeply, which meant it couldn’t possibly be just a simple travelogue. There was very likely another secret hidden within it.

There were only a few common methods for hiding information.

After trying them one by one, when Lü Zhong immersed his Divine Sense into it, the writing on it changed.

”Barbarian Ancestor Heaven-Swallowing Technique”

The name was incredibly domineering.

Judging from the content, it was a Barbarian Race Body Refining Technique.

Mastering it was said to grant a Flood Dragon Physique.

’I wonder how much truth there is to that.’

If it was even fifty percent true, this technique would rank among the top-tier Body Refining Techniques.

Lü Zhong took a closer look and found that the required materials weren’t particularly rare. The technique primarily involved absorbing blood and qi to strengthen one’s physique bit by bit, which could be done using either Spirit Beast Blood or Spirit Beast Meat.

The difficult part was opening the Acupoints within the body. This step was extremely dangerous for others, mainly because no mistakes could be made when breaking through. Otherwise, it would result in the reverse flow of blood and qi, causing severe damage to the body’s Primordial Qi.

It was a typical Barbarian Race Cultivation Technique: if you lacked resources, you made up for it with talent.

For him, however, he could simply pile on resources to speed up his Body Refining progress.

As for breaking through the Acupoints, he could first simulate it in the Gray Mist Space. Once he was proficient, he could then attempt it for real. As long as he was extremely careful during the process, there was basically no chance of anything going wrong with his cultivation.

’I happen to need a Body Refining Technique. I might as well practice this one,’ Lü Zhong mused.

Once his physical strength increased, achieving the Star Source Spirit Body would also be simpler.

...

At that moment, the night began to fade.

The black shadows attacking the Workshop Market retreated as the fog thinned at dawn, as if nothing had ever happened.

Soon, Si Huandou delivered a report.

In Ningwu Market, aside from a few unlucky people who were out and a patrol team of cultivators who ran into the swarm of black shadows and had their Life Essence Qi drained by the evil creatures, there were no other casualties. The material losses were also minor, except that during the initial chaos, some malicious individuals had tried to loot, and a few shops were destroyed in the ensuing fights.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Lü Zhong had the Law Enforcement Team execute them all to serve as a warning to others.

For several days after, the black shadows continued to assault the Workshop Market.

Lü Zhong took action several times, annihilating over a thousand of the black, evil creatures, but it had no noticeable effect. Their numbers were still as vast as the sea. After a night of fruitless, frenzied attacks, they would retreat back to Flowing Water Cave.

On this day, a colossal warship broke through the clouds.

’A Mountain Shaking Ship? No, just a replica.’ Lü Zhong stared at the mini ”Mountain Shaking Ship” flying toward them. It was only a little over two hundred zhang long, a third smaller than the genuine article. There were no Primordial Cannons on its sides, only rows of Giant Crossbows. Furthermore, due to being laden with heavy armor plates, its flight speed was about the same as a normal Flying Ship.

Even so, when the ship landed in the Workshop Market, it still caused a series of gasps and exclamations.

A moment later, three streaks of light flew out from the ship.

The leader was Qingding Master. His expression was not pleasant; he had thought that his meritorious service guarding Snow Dragon Pass would earn him a transfer back to the Sect for a promotion. He hadn’t expected to be sent to this Ningwu Market to handle a sudden incident.

Behind him were two Core Formation Cultivators from Changchun Valley in a similar situation.

In the main hall, the three of them met with Lü Zhong.

After a few simple pleasantries, they got straight to the point.

Qingding Master had heard about how Lü Zhong had managed to survive his encounter with Yue Cang some time ago. Coupled with the previous matter of aid at Snow Dragon Pass, he no longer treated him as an ordinary Core Formation Cultivator. He politely cupped his hands and said: