A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

In the days that followed, Lü Zhong’s life returned to a state of peace.

It was a peace that bordered on tedious.

Fortunately, he was already used to this kind of life.

A person’s life wasn’t filled with so much fighting and killing. As long as one didn’t actively seek out excitement, it wasn’t difficult to live a good, quiet life.

「Three years later.」

「Tide Cave, Quiet Chamber.」

Lü Zhong emerged from his meditative state and slowly opened his eyes, his expression tinged with bitterness. ’The Core Formation Realm really is difficult to cultivate. It was already obvious in the early stages, but I never thought it would get even harder in the Middle Stage... As my cultivation progresses, my training speed is slowing down more and more.’

In three years of seclusion, his cultivation had improved less than it had in the first six months after his breakthrough.

A situation like this was clearly a bottleneck.

The bottleneck stemmed from his innate aptitude.

According to the common knowledge of the Cultivation Realm, Foundation Establishment was the peak for Four Spirit Root Cultivators. Someone like Lü Zhong, a Four Spirit Root cultivator who had reached Core Formation, was exceedingly rare even in historical records.

An aptitude bottleneck could only be broken by improving one’s aptitude.

Otherwise, all he could do was grind it out slowly.

’The only option now is to start cultivating the Third Layer of the Jade Vein Technique.’ Lü Zhong quickly made a decision. Once he mastered the Third Layer of the Jade Vein Technique, his aptitude would be no less than that of a cultivator with Three Spirit Roots.

That way, Nascent Soul Formation would become a possibility.

After reaching Nascent Soul Formation, the limitations of aptitude would no longer exist.

’I hope what the ancient texts say is true. Otherwise, even if I successfully form my Nascent Soul, I’ll be stuck in the Nascent Soul Realm... I really have no idea how those Divinity Transformation Grand Venerables managed to cultivate to that level.’

They probably possessed talent, opportunity, and diligence in equal measure.

’But even if I stop at the Nascent Soul Realm, I won’t have lived this life in vain.’

The Immortal Dao was fraught with hardship. To be able to cultivate to the Nascent Soul Realm was to stand at the pinnacle of billions of living beings. This achievement was far greater than becoming a world leader in his past life; there was no reason not to be content.

Lü Zhong rose and walked out of the Quiet Chamber.

「In a waterside pavilion.」

Yu Feng’Er was leaning against a railing. A small table sat before her, on which a few jade bottles were scattered. Judging by how empty they were, she must have already consumed and refined their contents.

Suddenly, Yu Feng’Er’s gaze shifted to the covered walkway connecting to the pavilion, and a smile blossomed on her face.

Lü Zhong walked in with a serving girl. Seeing the broad smile on Yu Feng’Er’s face, he couldn’t help but ask, ”What’s happened to make you so happy? Here, try this. It’s King Insect Juice from a Great Honey Insect. They say it has beautifying and rejuvenating effects. If you take enough of it, the results are almost as good as a Beauty Pill.”

He had expected Yu Feng’Er to drink the Spirit Soup as she usually did.

But this time, something seemed different.

Yu Feng’Er leaned in with a mysterious expression and waved the serving girls away. Only then did she wrap her arms around Lü Zhong, tilt her head back coquettishly, and say with a grin:

”Husband, what do you say we go explore the Molten Iron Lake Ruins?”

’The Molten Iron Lake Ruins?’

Her words reminded Lü Zhong that a new ruin had recently been discovered within the territory of the Yan Zhen Sect, sparking a wave of exploration throughout the Southern Barbarian lands.

The Molten Iron Lake Ruins were said to have been a Weapon Foundry during the Human Race’s expansionist wars of the past.

The steady stream of news from the ruins confirmed this claim from the ancient texts. Many cultivators who entered had found either precious artifact refining materials or astonishingly valuable Artifact Embryos.

It was even rumored that a treasure of the Spirit Treasure Level existed in the deepest part of the ruins.

At this thought, he grew vigilant.

The Southern Barbarian lands had only just calmed down, and the turmoil hadn’t fully subsided. For something like this to happen now meant that another period of chaos was likely on its way.

’I hope I don’t get dragged into it,’ Lü Zhong thought. He looked down at Yu Feng’er in his arms, her eyes filled with anticipation.

”Absolutely not!”

He instantly crushed the silly woman’s hopes.

’Why wade into those muddy waters when we have such a good life?’

”Husband...” Yu Feng’Er whined coquettishly.

Even though they had been a married couple for a century, her teasing tone nearly shattered Lü Zhong’s defenses. It took him a long moment to recover. He gave her a light flick on the forehead and reminded her, ”Don’t forget, you haven’t even finished refining your Lifebound Treasure...”

’Are you in such a hurry to go out? Aren’t you afraid of becoming a disgrace to Core Formation cultivators?’

「Three days later.」

Lü Zhong emerged from the Alchemy Room.

At the same waterside pavilion as before, Yu Feng’Er was slumped over the railing, a pout on her face. She was clearly still upset about the Molten Iron Lake Ruins.

So he grabbed her small hand.

”Demoness!”

”What?” Yu Feng’Er didn’t react at first.

”I need you to help me with my cultivation!”

”Ah? Here?!” Yu Feng’Er’s mind went blank.

’Tide Cave isn’t completely enclosed; people outside can see in.’

As it turned out, the effects of the Tier Three Vein Tempering Formula truly were far superior to the Tier Two version. When the pool water became clear again, Lü Zhong was delighted to discover that the meridians throughout his body had all been strengthened to varying degrees.

This manifested as a minuscule, almost imperceptible increase in his cultivation speed.

Suddenly, a fist thumped his shoulder.

It was Yu Feng’Er.

”Hmph, all you know is how to bully me!”

Her punch was soft and weak, and paired with her indignant tone, it was only more arousing.

”Isn’t this for the sake of cultivation?” Lü Zhong chuckled, then casually pulled out another bottle of Tier Three Vein Tempering Creation Liquid. The stuff didn’t have a long shelf life, so it needed to be used quickly.

”Again?” Yu Feng’Er’s eye twitched, a sense of foreboding rising in her heart.

She tried to get out of the pool.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

...

「In the Quiet Chamber.」

Lü Zhong had just finished refining a Miaoxing Pill. His joy was so palpable he couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

The Jade Vein Technique was truly effective. After using just five bottles of the Tier Three Vein Tempering Creation Liquid, his cultivation speed had shown a noticeable improvement. He figured that with more vein tempering sessions, the rate of his cultivation progress would become even faster.

If he could master the Third Layer of the Jade Vein Technique, the effect would be even more impressive.

’The only problem now is how to gather enough materials,’ Lü Zhong thought.

The Southern Barbarian lands had been in constant turmoil in recent years.

Affected by the previous unrest, the Spirit Medicine output from the various Sect Clans had decreased.

Compounding this was the loss of the Northern Great Forest Sea, a major source of Spirit Medicines, which had led to an even tighter supply on the market. Certain types of Spirit Medicines were even becoming scarce.

This shortage was different from before; this was a shortage caused by depleted inventories.

Because of this, the process of collecting the ingredients for the Vein Tempering Formula had been fraught with difficulty. Sometimes, even if he offered a large sum of Spirit Stones, the owners were unwilling to sell.

’Grow them myself?’

Lü Zhong quickly dismissed the idea.

He wasn’t some protagonist from a novel in his past life who had a method to rapidly mature Spirit Medicines, nor had he obtained a Longevity Dao Fruit that would allow him to plant Spirit Medicines and wait a few hundred years to harvest them.

’It would be great if the Demon Core Refining Art could be made practical!’ Lü Zhong thought with a touch of regret.

Unfortunately, due to the limitations of Spiritual Qi conversion, this type of Alchemy Skill had always been unusable.

After careful consideration, he decided to take a two-pronged approach. First, the simple and direct method of throwing Spirit Stones at the problem. Second, he would leverage the Spirit Ascending Honey he possessed. This Spiritual Honey could advance one’s cultivation and was nearly as effective as Pills. Using it as a bargaining chip, he might be able to collect many of the Spirit Medicines he needed.

With a solution in mind, his mood lightened considerably.

He left his chamber and went to the waterside pavilion.

Yu Feng’Er was there, and on the table before her was a Jade Scroll.

The Jade Scroll had a distinctive style; it was the kind used by the Chengde Commerce Association specifically for sending messages.

Seeing that her expression was off, Lü Zhong curiously drew the Jade Scroll to him with his power. After immersing his Divine Sense into it, he understood the reason for her look.

”Oh, so there was an incident at the ruins!”

According to the message, there was a reason the Ancient Cultivators had abandoned the Molten Iron Lake.

Molten Iron Lake was a place where the Fire Veins of the Inference Realm converged.

In other words, it was a ticking time bomb. If it were to erupt, it would have the power to reshape the world. Not only could the Inference Realm be transformed into a volcanic wasteland, but the adjacent Huayi Domain and Changchun Domain would also suffer enormous consequences, leading to a drastic change in their environments.

That was why the Ancient Cultivators sealed it, to prevent an eruption of the Fire Veins from causing a cataclysm.

But unexpectedly, after so many years, it had finally been unearthed.

And this time, someone had detonated one of the Fire Veins. Not only did they perish in a sea of flames, but they also took three of their Core Formation enemies and over a hundred Foundation Establishment Cultivators with them.