A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

”So this is the site of the Ye Ling Immortal City ruins.”

After leaving Yanhu Square, Lü Zhong headed straight northwest. He traveled for over an ancient hour, using up several vials of powder, only to find a massive pool of corruption when he arrived.

He looked around for a long time, but there was no sign of any cultivator activity.

’What a wasted trip!’

He continued heading west.

At first, he could still see some ruins, but gradually, all that remained was a ground covered in corruption.

It stretched out in a continuous sheet, with no end in sight.

Along the way, he came across a crashed Mountain Shaking Ship, planted nose-down in the pool of corruption. Judging by the corrosion on its hull, the crash must have happened about five years ago.

He made a point to inspect it. The ship’s hull was almost perfectly intact, with only minor damage here and there, a testament to its extraordinary craftsmanship. Compared to it, an ordinary Flying Ship was like a canoe.

Lü Zhong soon found the cause of the Mountain Shaking Ship’s crash: the Soul Wind Crystal had likely shattered.

’Soul Wind Crystals aren’t consumables, so how could one have shattered?’ he wondered. He suspected something had happened on board, and it was highly probable that cultivators from the Western Border Alliance were responsible.

Cultivators from the True Central Sect would have had no reason to destroy it.

After the Soul Wind Crystal was damaged, the cultivators on board had no choice but to abandon the ship. There were no bodies or bones in the vicinity, so they had likely escaped long ago.

Staring at the socket for the Soul Wind Crystal, a bold idea surfaced in Lü Zhong’s mind.

He had a Soul Wind Crystal too, it was just a bit smaller.

’I’ll give it a try. Maybe I’ll be in for a surprise...’

He inserted the Soul Wind Crystal. It was a loose fit.

’There’s a fastening mechanism here, and it’s even inscribed with a Control Mantra. How thoughtful.’ Following the prompt, Lü Zhong performed the Technique Mantra and infused a sliver of Magical Power.

The device reacted at once. A golden ring popped out, then contracted, securing the Soul Wind Crystal in place.

’Okay, what’s next?’

Lü Zhong glanced around and suddenly spotted the dust of shattered Jade Scrolls on the floor. He searched the area and found about ten of them, their stored information still intact.

Flight Log

Profound Hao Ship Materials Inventory

Western Border Alliance Bounty Cultivator List

Chronicles of Immortal Beauty

One Hundred and Eight Techniques of X-ray Vision

...

’Got it! The maintenance manual!’ Lü Zhong was surprised that such a Jade Scroll had been left behind on the Profound Hao Ship. It contained detailed maintenance information for the Mountain Shaking Ship, including a section on operational testing.

Controlling the Mountain Shaking Ship was extremely complex, but there was a dedicated Technique Mantra just for testing its integrity.

Following the manual to the letter, he formed a hand seal and cast the Technique Mantra at the device.

BZZZZ...

The device, known as the Floating Pivot, flickered a few times and emitted pulses of light. Just as Lü Zhong thought it had successfully started up, it immediately went dark again.

Seeing a lightning-bolt-shaped Array Pattern light up on the pivot, Lü Zhong consulted the maintenance manual to find the cause.

’It’s a power supply issue.’

Leaving the Central Mechanism Room, he went to the power bay and found the Spirit Storage Pool inside completely empty. ’No wonder it failed to start,’ Lü Zhong thought. ’How could it possibly start up successfully without a single Spirit Stone?’

He took out ten High-grade spirit stones.

One by one, he inserted them into the slots.

He returned to the Central Mechanism Room and performed the startup Technique Mantra again.

This time, there were no issues.

A successful startup was just the first step, proving only that the Mountain Shaking Ship was not completely destroyed. Next, he needed to gain control access to the vessel. It stood to reason that a war machine like the Mountain Shaking Ship would have security measures.

’Otherwise, if a spy managed to sneak aboard, couldn’t they just fly the ship away at will?’

According to the maintenance manual, the control system for the Mountain Shaking Ship was a composite Mystery Lock Array. This type of array, like a Transmission Array, fell into the category of an ”Array Dao Pearl.”

Furthermore, the level of a Mystery Lock Array was even higher than that of a standard Transmission Array. Its equivalents were likely things such as the ”Acquired Spiritual Treasure” forging technique in Artifact Refining—truly high-end, cutting-edge technology in the Cultivation Realm.

Generally, only Immortal Sects had mastered such Mystery Lock technology.

The prerequisite for breaking the control access was to have mastered this very technology.

’I got my hopes up for nothing!’

Reading this, Lü Zhong knew his efforts had been for naught. He had thought he could just scavenge a free Mountain Shaking Ship, but he never imagined they would have countermeasures, completely unafraid of it being stolen.

He magically retrieved the Log Jade Scroll. It recorded a great deal of sensitive information, including navigation routes and operational records. It would be no exaggeration to call this Jade Scroll a sect secret. He wondered why the ship’s cultivators had left it behind when they abandoned ship.

He decided to check if the Profound Hao Ship had passed any other cultivator settlements before it crashed.

”Seventh Month, 28th Day, True Central Year 45557. Compass heading West, southeast wind level three... Crewman Chu Weichen fell gravely ill, Steward Bai Xiaolan sent him to the isolation bay... In accordance with the Great Extinction Order, destroyed one Lower-class Market, Xinluyuan Square. Total guilty populace exterminated: 112,907. Details as follows...”

”Second Month, True Central Year 45557...”

”Tenth Month, True Central Year 45556...”

’The things they did were inhuman.’

...

Entry by entry, the log clearly recorded the movements of the Profound Hao Ship.

With this information, Lü Zhong could connect the dots on a map to trace the Mountain Shaking Ship’s trajectory. By working backward, he could deduce its likely point of origin, which was probably his own destination: the West Extreme Sword Domain.

’The Great Extinction Order... Does this mean the Western Border Alliance failed?’

Lü Zhong clearly remembered the Western Border Alliance cultivators’ goal, which they called ”Heaven-Swaying”: to develop a Spiritual Energy Conversion Technology for the Crimson Spiritual Energy and fundamentally resolve the crisis in the Western Realm.

But judging from the current state of the Western Realm, it was highly probable they had failed.

’That’s to be expected,’ Lü Zhong thought. ’Spiritual Qi conversion is incredibly difficult. Otherwise, with the power of the East Sea Cultivation Realm, they would have made the Demon Core Refining Art practical long ago. It wouldn’t still be a half-finished product.’