A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

The family feast lasted until dawn.

Gray, leaden clouds filled the sky, heralding the coming of a great storm.

Through the pouring rain, the Traction Tower was faintly visible, adding to its mystique. Occasional silver flashes of lightning illuminated its pristine white surface, revealing every detail. The Prohibitions on the tower flickered erratically, shattering the falling raindrops into a fine mist that drifted down.

When Lü Zhong emerged from the hall, he couldn’t help but stop and watch the scene for a while.

According to Shuini, the Profound City Celestial Attraction Secret Array would be completed by the end of the year. They would then immediately execute their plan and begin to pull the Ten Thousand Witches Hall from where it was lost in the Void.

As for the Celestial Demon disaster he had warned her about, Shuini said that the Seven Sects were all prepared for it. They had cultivators ready to deal with it, so there was no need to worry too much.

After that, he stayed at the True Spirit Sect for another half a month.

Only then did Lü Zhong bid farewell to Shuini.

He returned to the Bihai Sect and began a period of tense and busy cultivation.

Currently, his cultivation of the Yue Spirit Unification Mantra was going very smoothly. He figured it wouldn’t take much longer to successfully condense the Unity Spirit Ring.

The key was the Evergreen Seal.

Cultivating this seal required the aid of the Evergreen Pill.

According to Lü Zhong’s recent investigations, the lands that produced the materials needed to refine this pill were almost all firmly controlled by Changchun Valley. It was obvious that those places were now heavily guarded.

Trying to obtain Spirit Medicines of a suitable age from them was, to put it mildly, next to impossible.

’The only plan now, it seems, is to borrow the power of the Western Border Alliance...’

Lü Zhong quickly thought of a solution.

He would leverage the power of the Western Border Alliance, having them use their Spiritual Energy Conversion Technology to purify low-age Spirit Medicines and directly extract the required Medicinal Spiritual Qi.

By accumulating small amounts, he could still achieve his goal.

There was one prerequisite to doing this: providing a massive quantity of Spirit Medicines.

Based on the current efficiency of the Spiritual Energy Conversion Technology, this would be an incredibly high number. Especially for the supplementary ingredient used in the largest quantity, the Cyan Cloud Flower, he would need at least ten thousand of them.

’All things considered, to have enough to cultivate the Evergreen Seal, I’ll need to spend at least tens of millions of Spirit Stones!’

After calculating this number, even Lü Zhong, who had always considered himself wealthy and wasn’t easily fazed by large sums, was still shocked. This was equivalent to the annual expenses of a Nascent Soul Sect.

But now, it was all for the sake of cultivating a single Secret Skill.

’The path of cultivation is what matters most!’

Though his heart ached at the cost, Lü Zhong comforted himself with this thought.

After all, wealth was just an external possession.

He decided to issue a decree the very next day. He would change the existing tax exemption conditions, requiring all new Spirit Fields in Bihai territory to be used for planting the raw materials for the Evergreen Pill. He would also encourage other families to switch their crops, offering the same tax exemption as an incentive. Furthermore, the Bihai Sect’s own Spirit Medicine Gardens would have to establish a large number of new Spirit Fields as well.

Lü Zhong was determined to grow all the raw materials for the Evergreen Pill within a year!

As for Changchun Valley... and whether they would fly into a humiliated rage upon learning of this.

He wasn’t worried about that.

For one, their treaty was still in effect.

Later, once he cultivated the Evergreen Seal and successfully achieved Nascent Soul Formation, the threat from Changchun Valley would naturally be nothing to fear.

But if he failed, his troubles would be over anyway.

...

「As autumn’s chill set in.」

In the Quiet Chamber, Lü Zhong let out a long sigh and slowly opened his eyes, a look of immense joy on his face. After a period of hard work, he had finally mastered the Yue Spirit Unification Mantra.

Using Introspection on his Qi Sea, he could see a golden Spirit Ring had formed around his Flying Star Golden Core.

This Spirit Ring was the ”Unity Spirit Ring.”

It spun on its own, like the rings of a planet. On its crystalline, jade-like surface, countless complex Prohibitions flickered, emitting a hazy glow that was quite beautiful to behold.

When attempting Nascent Soul Formation, activating the Unity Spirit Ring would expand a stable space. Inside it, he could rapidly condense his Nascent Soul without fear of bursting his fragile Dantian, thereby increasing his chances of success by several points.

Slowly retracting his power, Lü Zhong stood up.

Now that this Secret Skill was complete, and he couldn’t cultivate the Evergreen Seal for the time being.

Continuing to refine his Magical Power was all well and good, but it was a bit too tedious. As the saying goes, a long period of quiet makes one long for action, and he wanted to stretch his legs.

Otherwise, staying cooped up all the time just felt off.

He turned and went to Bihai Hall.

Lü Zhong sat in the main seat and summoned the Steward in charge of information gathering, telling him to bring all the recent records regarding Flood Dragon sightings.

That’s right, he wanted to go hunt a Flood Dragon.

If he collected seven Flood Dragon Spirit Banners, he could combine them into a Flood Dragon Banner.

A Defensive Treasure with a twenty-one-layer Prohibition that could automatically protect its master—who wouldn’t be tempted?

Let alone a Core Formation Cultivator, even a Nascent Soul True Monarch would likely feel an irrepressible sense of greed upon hearing of it. After all, not even they possessed a Magical Treasure with such a high-layered Prohibition.

Lü Zhong had been fixated on this for a long time.

Since he wanted to get out and be active, it was only natural to choose a Flood Dragon as his target.

Information on the whereabouts of a Flood Dragon was typically extremely valuable. As soon as an opportunity to slay one appeared, it would usually attract a large number of cultivators to besiege and kill it.

The situation with the Water Flood Dragon had been somewhat special. Trying to slay a Water Flood Dragon, which was master of the seas, in the middle of the vast ocean was indeed little more than a fool’s dream.

It was only possible if one could lure it onto land.

Before long, the records were brought to him.

The records were divided into several categories based on their credibility.

Rumors: This category included reports with no direct eyewitnesses, but rather were based on clues or someone’s account, speculating that a Flood Dragon might be present in a certain area. These were further subdivided into rumors from mortals and rumors from cultivators, a very detailed classification.

Sightings: Sightings of Flood Dragons were not uncommon in the Southern Barbarian lands. Occasionally, a Flood Dragon passing through the region would be seen by adventurous cultivators. They would almost always sell this information. Sometimes, by analyzing the information provided by the eyewitness, one could even find a Flood Dragon Nest.