When the tide of Spiritual Qi reached the upright spear, the Chaos Spiritual Qi was sucked into the dark spear.
Li Ze quickly tapped the acupoints of the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, stopping the absorption and circulation of Spiritual Qi from all sides.
Gasping for breath, he said, “I almost had my meridians shattered, my Sea of Consciousness crumbled, and my body blown apart by a Spirit Qi explosion.”
“Chaos Spiritual Qi is so chaotic and maddening; it’s no wonder no one has ever succeeded since ancient times.”
Li Ze entered the Sea of Consciousness.
After comforting the startled Cai Xiaonuo, he said, “You just broke through two realms in a row. You are now at the Fourth Stage of the Spirit Realm.”
As soon as Cai Xiaonuo saw him, she hugged him like a little kitten snuggling into his arms.
(৹˃̵﹏˂̵৹)
Her faint whimpering sounded like a kitten that had its tail stepped on.
At this moment, she felt completely safe.
“Senior, I was scared to death just now~”
“The overwhelming tide of multicolored Spiritual Qi was sweeping toward me!”
Li Ze said in a steady tone, “It’s alright now!”
…
Li Ze discovered that the dark spear seemed to recover faster by absorbing Chaos Spiritual Qi than normal Spiritual Qi!
Even though it was faster, the amount of Chaos Spiritual Qi required for a full recovery was still incalculable.
Chaos Spiritual Qi was too violent, yet the Spiritual Qi it yielded was also purer.
For now, it was impossible to continue any further meditation.
The young girl took out the map she had just bought at the market and looked at it.
(๑•̀ㅂ•́): “Senior, what should we do next?”
There were ten great sects and fifteen denominations standing tall on the Lingzhou Continent.
Currently, they were located near the Azure Sword Sect in the southern part of the continent.
Li Ze’s eyes fixed on the Yin-Yang Sect.
This sect possessed a Ninth-Grade Spirit Vein and specialized in formations and talismans.
It was also the archenemy of the Azure Sword Sect and was currently recruiting disciples.
“We’re going to the Yin-Yang Sect!”
Li Ze chose the Yin-Yang Sect for several reasons: first, to avoid the Azure Sword Sect while raising his cultivation realm for self-preservation; second, to find an opportunity to kill the protagonist and the transmuted traveler; and third, to restore the state of the spear.
Fourth, Li Ze had previously been unable to cultivate on the barren Earth.
Now that he had a divine artifact and his memories in hand, he was determined to become a powerhouse in the world of cultivation, experience the pleasure it brought, and seek his own path to immortality.
“We’ll set out after resting for a day.”
…
One day later.
On the mountain path toward the Yin-Yang Sect, a carriage rolled past.
Inside the carriage, a young girl looked out the left window, then scurried over to peek out the right one.
Cai Xiaonuo’s joy was evident in her natural chatter.
“Senior, look quick! This tree is shaped like the letter Y!”
She gestured with her hands.
“Wow, this tree is so big, I couldn’t even wrap my arms around it if there were ten of me (￣▽￣)”
Li Ze sat cross-legged within the Sea of Consciousness, reading “The Proper Sword Manual” that Cai Xiaonuo had bought at the market.
At the time, Li Ze had advised her not to buy such an ‘improper’ sword manual.
But she insisted it looked very proper and clamored to have it.
Left with no choice, Li Ze spent one gold coin to buy it.
Li Ze couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Did she used to practice her swordplay based on books like this?!”
The text read: How to draw a sword: hold the scabbard with the left hand and pull the sword with the right, then gesture left and right, then give a loud shout to manifest your imposing aura…
Hearing the laughter, Cai Xiaonuo entered the Sea of Consciousness and peeked from behind Li Ze.
She stood there giggling. “Senior, I can’t stop laughing. What kind of book is this?!”
Li Ze flipped to the cover: “The Proper Sword Manual.”
(⊙_⊙)
Cai Xiaonuo retreated to a corner to weep silently.
…
While passing through the mountain range, the sound of fighting and Spiritual Qi fluctuations drifted down from above.
Two assassins were pursuing a slender woman in a cyan dress—a disciple of the Azure Sword Sect.
The woman was already heavily wounded.
The woman screamed loudly, “Who exactly sent you?”
One of the assassins replied in a muffled voice, “The dead don’t need to know.”
The girl got out of the carriage to watch—?
An opportunity for a hero to save the beauty had arrived… or rather, for a girl to save the beauty.
Suddenly, a sharp sword instantly pierced through the woman’s body—while she was confronting one assassin, the other had ambushed her from behind.
“Aw, I didn’t even get to save her yet. What a shame.”
Seeing their goal accomplished, the two black-clad assassins sheathed their swords and departed.
The slender woman fell from the sky, and Li Ze stepped forward to catch her.
“How did she end up hanging on a tree?”
（─.─||）
Cai Xiaonuo was speechless.
“Senior, you didn’t manage to do anything.”
“Forget it, let’s just consider it a good deed. We’ll bury her.”
Cai Xiaonuo nodded.
Li Ze searched the woman’s body and obtained a low-grade flight artifact, a storage bag, and a low-grade sharp sword.
After finishing the search, Li Ze buried the woman in a pit.
Cai Xiaonuo said excitedly, “Senior, let’s use the flight artifact to fly there! I’ve never experienced the feeling of flying in the sky ദ്ദിˉ͈̀꒳ˉ͈́)”
Li Ze said in a calm tone, “You wouldn’t be flying for long before your Spiritual Qi was completely drained and you died.”
(ﾟ▽ﾟ): “Fine, let’s just take the carriage.”
Five days later, a magnificent and bustling great city appeared before their eyes—Mengxi City, which belonged to the Yin-Yang Sect.
The city gate was a giant lion’s head with an open maw.
Carriages and pedestrians continuously moved in and out of the gate…
Soldiers clad in dark gray armor stood on both sides of the gate, looking quite formidable.
Seeing the carriage from Youzhou City, the soldiers crossed their halberds to stop it.
“Does the person from outside the city have a transit token for Mengxi City?”
“If not, you can buy a one-month temporary token for twenty taels of silver.”
A steady voice came from inside the carriage.
“Are there long-term or permanent transit tokens?”
“One year costs fifty copper coins. There are no permanent ones.”
A hand reached out from the carriage and handed the money to the soldier.
“Pass!”
There were both mortals and cultivators inside the city.
The moment she stepped off the carriage, Cai Xiaonuo was attracted by a large, bright red fruit the size of a watermelon.
(ﾟ▽ﾟ): “Senior, I want to eat this~”
Cai Xiaonuo pointed at the fruit.
Inside the Sea of Consciousness, Li Ze flipped through a book and said, “Don’t ask me. If you like it, buy it!”
Since it was her money, she could buy whatever she wanted.
Truth be told, fruits cultivated with formations were indeed massive.
On the crowded street, the silly girl walked along, munching on the giant fruit.
After finishing, she went to buy a dancing butterfly hairpin to replace the plum blossom one on her head.
“Does it look good, Senior?”
“It’s alright,” Li Ze answered dismissively.
“Move! Out of the way!”
A man on horseback shouted from ahead, followed by a luxury carriage.
Cai Xiaonuo had just reacted, but the powerful horse was already right in front of her.
Cai Xiaonuo’s expression changed.
A crimson sharp sword instantly flew out from her storage bag.
With a lateral flash, she gripped the sword with both hands and thrust it into the horse, splitting it into upper and lower halves.
The upper half of the horse, along with the rider, went flying.
The crowd was stunned; they hadn’t expected such power to erupt from a cute young girl.
“You dare block my young master’s carriage!”
An arrogant voice drifted from inside the carriage, followed by a fan that flew out, aiming straight for the girl’s neck.
The girl turned slightly to dodge. A guard’s hand froze mid-draw as the red-dressed girl overturned the carriage.
A man wearing a black robe jumped out of the carriage.
“Acting recklessly just because you have a bit of skill? Today, I’ll teach you a lesson on behalf of your mother!!”
Li Ze took one look and realized the man was a disciple of the Yin-Yang Sect.
“Kill her for me!”
Three subordinates rushed forward.
A red blade-light flashed by, and they were neutralized in an instant.
The girl stepped forward quickly, the crimson sword already resting against Wang Langjia’s neck.
He immediately dropped to his knees to beg for mercy.
Li Ze said in an icy tone, “You truly are a man who knows when to yield!”
Wang Langjia lowered his voice and laughed heartily.
“Haha, you flatter me, you flatter me. Fellow cultivator, using weapons only hurts our harmony, right? Heh heh!”
Li Ze said coldly, “That is true. In that case, I’ll trouble you to lead the way to the Yin-Yang Sect’s Wandering Cloud Mountain.”
His voice became cautious.
“Is my fellow cultivator going to participate in the Yin-Yang Sect’s disciple selection?”
Li Ze said flatly, “Yes.”
Wang Langjia’s tone shifted to enthusiasm.
“I am an outer disciple of the Yin-Yang Sect. There is a Great Sect Protection Formation within Wandering Cloud Mountain. There are restrictions within the array—except for disciples of our sect, anyone who arrives here can only walk in; you can’t use artifacts to fly. Since you found me, you found the right person. I can take you up there.”
“Quit your chattering. Lead the way!”
Wang Langjia took out formation flags and placed them at the four surrounding corners.
He then injected a burst of power, and yellow formation runes lit up.
The runes carried the two of them into the sky, flying toward the cloud-piercing Wandering Cloud Mountain.
The man was very honest along the way, even pointing things out to Li Ze, explaining that the foot of the mountain was where the outer sect was located while the peak was for the inner sect.
While distracting Li Ze, Wang Langjia secretly cast a spell behind his back.
Once they reached a high altitude, the light paths of the flight formation suddenly turned into ropes, binding the girl tightly.
She began plummeting toward the ground at high speed while Wang Langjia stood safely on a new flight formation.
“This young master can’t beat you, but I can certainly drop you to your death!”
（っ﹏c): “Senior~ What do we do?!”
“It’s over! I haven’t even started my apprenticeship in cultivation, and I’m going to die halfway there!”