A Loose Cultivator's Path to Longevity

A tremendous BOOM echoed.

The crimson peak swayed, then immediately began to crumble and shatter, breaking into fragments of all sizes. A plume of dust and smoke billowed toward the heavens, accompanied by an enraged roar.

Lü Zhong, who had already retreated to a safe distance, smiled faintly at the sight.

When he’d left earlier, he had deliberately left his Incarnation behind in the Magma Lake. ’I didn’t expect it to actually come in handy,’ he thought. ’Even if it can’t seriously injure Qingding, it’ll at least make them suffer a bitter loss.’

’As for whether it could kill them?’

Lü Zhong considered it unlikely. ’After all, they’re old monsters who have cultivated for several hundred years. It’s impossible for them to be unable to handle something so trivial.’

In fact, even Hundred Flowers, who had been swallowed by the Ancient Rock Python, was very likely still alive.

His true goal was to gradually weaken his targets’ strength.

Although Nascent Soul Cultivators were powerful, their recovery speed was not limitless. Limited by nature’s spiritual energy and Pills, just replenishing their Magical Power could easily take several months. If they were carelessly injured, the healing process would take three to five years at the very least.

Soon, two figures emerged from underground, looking exceptionally wretched.

To avoid being detected, Lü Zhong didn’t look directly at them, instead observing them through the Gray Mist Space. He was pleasantly surprised to see bloodstains on Qingding’s left arm, which now hung limply at his side.

’An unexpected bonus?’ Lü Zhong was surprised.

After emerging, Qingding and Fire Dragon frantically transformed into streaks of rainbow light and fled. Shortly after they left, a furious Fire Scorpion with a multicolored tail burst from the ground. It roared at the sky for a long while before reluctantly burrowing back down.

Only after everything had settled down did he reveal himself.

Gazing in the direction Qingding had fled, Lü Zhong hesitated for a moment before giving up on the idea of pursuit.

Against either Fire Dragon or Qingding alone, he was fairly confident of victory, perhaps even to the point of destroying their physical body. But if the two of them joined forces, he would have no choice but to flee.

’The time is not yet right,’ Lü Zhong thought.

Slaying a Nascent Soul was by no means a simple matter, especially one of equal cultivation. It was exceedingly difficult and often required meticulous, long-term planning.

First, destroy the physical body, then slay the Nascent Soul.

Only then could his goal be achieved.

...

「Several days later.」

With a safe route through the passage now discovered, large numbers of cultivators began to pour in. The large-scale arrival of sect cultivators, in particular, caused the once-calm Outer Hall of the Ten Thousand Witches Hall to erupt with activity.

Carrying out the will of the High-level cultivators, droves of other cultivators began battling the Demon Beasts guarding the Spirit Medicines in hopes of acquiring them.

For a time, the fires of battle raged everywhere.

Meanwhile, Lü Zhong was staring at his Sensing Jade Pendant.

Since yesterday, the once-silent pendant had been humming and trembling, pointing in a vague direction. What struck him as odd, however, was that the indicator for Shuini’s location was fixed in one spot, not moving in the slightest.

’She must have run into trouble,’ Lü Zhong thought.

With that thought, he transformed into a streak of rainbow light and sped toward Shuini’s location.

Following the pendant’s guidance, Lü Zhong flew for the better part of a day before arriving in a desolate land. The area was covered with jagged, bizarrely shaped rocks riddled with tiny holes.

The moment he entered the area, a buzzing sound immediately rose from all around.

A moment later, countless tiny flying insects poured from the holes in the rocks—at a rough estimate, nearly ten thousand of them. They converged into a black torrent that formed a single, ferocious giant insect. With a deafening beat of its wings, it lunged viciously at Lü Zhong.

Without a second thought, Lü Zhong raised his hand and cast Thunder Swamp.

Countless bolts of lightning materialized from the Void, striking the giant insect’s path. Unable to dodge, its constituent insects rained down like hailstones, quickly carpeting the ground in a black layer.

But the insects were seemingly endless. Even though Thunder Swamp had instantly annihilated nearly ten thousand of them, more black insects continuously crawled from the holes in the rocks. Beating their wings, they took to the air and, in an instant, formed into arrowheads that shot forward without a trace of fear.

’What are these insects?’ Lü Zhong’s brow furrowed.

Seeing that the insects were endless, he simply waved his hand and sent out an Incarnation.

Then, he rapidly retreated.

A moment later, a brilliant flash of light erupted, followed by a violent shockwave that swept through the area. Only then did a dazzling mushroom cloud rise into the sky.

’An Incarnation’s self-destruction is certainly powerful, but it’s just too expensive...’ Lü Zhong gazed at the dissipating dust in the distance, mentally calculating the cost. Refining a Nascent Soul Stage Incarnation was far more expensive than its Core Formation Stage counterpart, running into the millions of Spirit Stones.

The thought made his heart ache.

Fortunately, it was worth the price.

Its power, surpassing the self-destruction of a Core Formation Cultivator, was enough to obliterate everything within a radius of over a thousand zhang.

When the dust settled, a crater a hundred zhang deep remained.

As for the insects, they had vanished completely. Not even their corpses remained; Lü Zhong had obliterated them along with the jagged rocks they called home.

As he flew onward, he still saw jagged rocks, but they were noticeably sparser than before. It seemed his ruthless move had been effective; although insects crawled to the mouths of the holes, not a single one dared to fly out.

’They bully the weak and fear the strong?’ The phrase surfaced in Lü Zhong’s mind, and he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

But then again, it wasn’t surprising.

After all, survival is the most basic instinct of any living creature.

He encountered no further opposition on his way.

After flying for another half a day, the Sensing Jade Pendant was no longer just trembling—it was vibrating violently. A faint, bloody light suffused its surface, and the direction it pointed became crystal clear.

As he flew over a stretch of flat sand, the pendant suddenly pointed straight down.

’Underground?’ Lü Zhong mused.

Just then, a slightly hoarse voice called out.

”What are you doing here?” Shuini’s voice was filled with astonishment, but she quickly added, ”That’s strange. Why aren’t the Black Sand Worms chasing you?”

A moment later, with a flash of brilliant light,

Shuini emerged from the ground. Seeing that there were indeed no Black Sand Worms around, a rare look of shock crossed her face.

She had stumbled into this area by mistake while searching for a Divine Witch Order and had suffered greatly at the hands of these Black Sand Worms. Not only were they impossible to exterminate, but they could also spew a highly corrosive black wind.

Realizing it would be difficult to escape quickly, Shuini had decided to simply stay underground and recover her Magical Power.

She never imagined that Lü Zhong would manage to enter completely unscathed.

After Shuini heard Lü Zhong’s explanation, the shock on her face slowly faded, replaced by awe at his extravagance. After all, he had just spent millions of Spirit Stones.

”Still, I have to thank you for coming to my rescue. It would have been much more troublesome to get out of here on my own,” Shuini said with a smile, taking Lü Zhong’s arm.

She then handed him a silver Token.

It was a Seven Luminaries Order, a token of the second-highest tier. It ranked two levels above the Five Central Orders Lü Zhong had seen before, and was surpassed only by the highest-level Nine Witches Order.

”I found two Seven Luminaries Orders in total, so it’s perfect. One for you, one for me,” Shuini said.

Lü Zhong was surprised.

But he didn’t refuse, simply nodding as he accepted it.

Immediately after, Shuini revealed another piece of news.