Jiayuan City, Li Garden.
After Li Xunhuan returned to his residence, he inexplicably felt safe.
Only then did he finally have time to open the three brothers’ storage bags and tally the spoils of war.
Unlike other cultivators, he didn’t follow the pay-to-win path, spending hundreds of spirit stones in a single battle and earning back even less.
Instead, he relied entirely on skill.
Seriously, start with a Golden Finger; get all your gear by fighting for it.
One-Eye’s storage bag was the simplest: a mid-grade offensive magical artifact, a few spirit stones, and nothing else.
No wonder he was the first to die. What a brute.
Li Xunhuan looked down on people like that the most.
One-Arm’s cultivation was the same as One-Eye’s: Qi Refining, Sixth Layer.
His storage bag held a mid-grade offensive magical artifact, a mid-grade defensive magical artifact, thirty spirit stones, and a cultivation technique jade slip.
The verdict: the net worth of an ordinary Qi Refining, Sixth Layer robber cultivator.
He hadn’t expected anything interesting, but to his utter surprise,
he got a green drop.
The cultivation technique jade slip actually contained a divine sense cultivation method.
【Mid-grade first-tier cultivation technique, Tempered Spirit Art. Practicing it can increase divine sense】
That was the Equivalent Balance’s simple assessment, but Li Xunhuan wouldn’t underestimate it.
Cultivation methods for divine sense were always precious. In other words, they had great Trade value.
He himself would certainly turn his nose up at it.
The Great Development Art was merely decent.
The best option was still to find a cultivation method in the Myriad Heavens.
Still, this One-Arm young hero seemed to have died in a thoroughly mediocre fashion.
By rights, a strong divine sense should mean greater combat strength, but he’d seemed rather ordinary in battle.
It was puzzling.
If One-Arm had known, he would surely have felt deeply wronged.
What rogue cultivator could afford a supreme-grade magical artifact?
What Qi Refining, Sixth Layer cultivator could withstand that indescribable sword technique?
That was just unfair.
Li Xunhuan had made quite a haul, and now he was curious about the eldest of the three brothers’ net worth.
For starters, that Flying boat flying magical artifact was at least a high-grade magical artifact, and worth almost as much as a supreme-grade one.
【Second-tier high-grade magical artifact, Flying boat. Fast and energy-efficient】
Neither a surprise nor a disappointment. It really was a high-grade magical artifact.
To be fair, for a rogue cultivator to own a flying magical artifact already meant he had considerable resources.
But this Fellow Daoist was at the late qi refining stage, with all four limbs intact, and this was all he had?
Li Xunhuan didn’t believe it.
He shook out the storage bag, and a pile of things clattered to the ground.
The offensive and defensive magical artifacts were both mid-grade, just like the two brothers’ were.
Likewise, there were no pills.
He seemed even poorer than One-Arm.
Huh, what’s this?
Li Xunhuan’s attention was drawn to two boxes.
Just as he was about to open one, a thought crossed his mind.
【Mid-grade first-tier magical artifact, self-detonating box. A surprise awaits when you open it】
That said,
what an Old Silver Coin.
Good thing he was cautious and had a cheat.
He put it away instead, saving it for his own use.
What about the last box? Could it be the same?
【Mortal Grade, sandalwood box】
Safe.
With a trace of anticipation, Li Xunhuan slowly opened it. A bead and three jade slips appeared.
The bead was a Heavenly Thunder Seed.
He’d used one, and now he had another. Not bad.
【Grade 2 Top-tier cultivation technique, fire-attribute Foundation Establishment Technique. Can break through to foundation establishment peak】
【Grade 2 Top-tier cultivation technique, wood-attribute Foundation Establishment Technique. Can break through to foundation establishment peak】
And,
【Third-tier low-grade cultivation technique, water-attribute Core Formation cultivation method. Has a chance of breaking through to Core Formation】
?
Li Xunhuan’s first reaction was confusion.
Was this something a rogue cultivator could own?
It seemed more like something a Foundation Establishment family would have.
Wait. Feiyu Shangren had organized people to attack the Yu Family, and members of the Black Fiend Sect had taken part.
So, could these have been stolen from the Yu Family?!
In fact, he had guessed correctly.
The Yu Family’s Foundation Establishment patriarch naturally knew the family was in danger. On one hand, he invited old acquaintances from Spirit Beast Mountain to help defend them; on the other, he secretly sent away some promising young cultivators to preserve the family’s inheritance.
As Li Xunhuan turned the Heavenly Thunder Seed in his hand, he felt he’d acted too quickly.
If he hadn’t killed this Fellow Daoist outright, and had instead used some unorthodox methods to force him to talk, he might have gotten an answer.
What a pity.
He put everything away, and the Equivalent Balance activated.
The problem of cultivation methods remained. These spoils of war couldn’t buy him a profound cultivation method.
One had to understand that the value of cultivation methods increased enormously with each tier.
Even if he went All-in, the best he could get would be a mid core formation stage method, or even an early Core Formation method.
So he still chose a Martial Dao technique to increase his combat strength.
He’d discovered in battle that martial arts techniques had remarkable effects.
If Qi Refining Stage techniques were already this powerful, what about Foundation Establishment Stage? What about Core Formation stage?
The result didn’t disappoint him.
【Grade 2 Top-tier cultivation technique, Six Cold-Pride Arts. Its blade techniques are cold and fierce, and work even better with an Ice Spirit Root】
The long-awaited hundred-meter blade aura had finally arrived.
He wondered whether anyone in the Mortal World could withstand this move.
【Third-tier low-grade cultivation technique, True Formula of Sword Controlling Thunder. At its peak, its power is comparable to a strike from an early Core Formation cultivator】
As expected of the Myriad Heavens: it breaks through the limits of the Mortal World and lets the lower-ranked defeat the higher-ranked.
In other words, this Core Formation cultivation method was utter trash. It barely managed to reach Core Formation.
The two techniques each had their advantages, and Li Xunhuan chose to take both.
He didn’t keep the remaining cultivation method, either.
【Second-tier high-grade magical artifact, spatial ring. For storage; can turn invisible; cannot store living things】
Space: 10 meters by 10 meters by 10 meters.
A cultivator couldn’t do without a spatial ring.
As he drank and sang, Li Xunhuan felt his body grow a little stronger. A hint of wanting more lingered in his eyes.
What he wanted was a long weapon.
The Three-Pointed Double-Edged Saber—that was his destined weapon.
It seemed he had to set out for the Seven Mysteries Sect.
He refused to believe the Myriad Heavens lacked this technique.
Come to think of it, was there a Three-Headed Flood Dragon? He’d have the technique, but no weapon.
..
At present, Li Xunhuan had two problems that needed urgent attention.
The first and foremost was his primary cultivation method.
The second was the change in his spiritual root.
As a registered member of the Black Fiend Sect, Li Xunhuan’s three-element spiritual root was common knowledge. Now that he had an Ice Spirit Root, there would be questions.
If nobody noticed, that was fine. But once they did, they would certainly take him back to study him.
The Black Fiend Sect had Foundation Establishment cultivators. He couldn’t beat them, and didn’t want to fight them, so he could only make a tactical retreat.
Once he joined a sect and reached Foundation Establishment, things would be different.
If he was in a bad mood, he’d wipe out the Black Fiend Sect.
If he was in a good mood, he’d discuss who should be in charge of the Black Fiend Sect.
Yue Kingdom was too small. It would be nice if the Black Fiend Sect entered Tianluo Kingdom and served as a small unit operating behind enemy lines.
He, Li Xunhuan, had no intention of going on the run.
In any case, he wouldn’t be able to return to Jiayuan City before Foundation Establishment. He’d be gone for years, and he was a little reluctant to leave.
During his last days before setting out, he continued to keep a low profile as City Lord, reading and practicing martial arts.
Meanwhile, every night he would sneak into the city’s gangs, merchant guild storehouses, and Scripture Repository.
To learn all sorts of strange Knowledge.
The eastern household’s medicinal herb seeds and basic medical skills.
The western household’s smithing techniques.
Brewing and weaving in the south. In the north was his own Treasury; he could just take what he needed.
In cultivation, Great Power Belongs to the Individual. Mortals could not compare, but some were still remarkably wise.
Jiayuan City was the largest city in Lan Prefecture, so it naturally had no shortage of claims to being the greatest under heaven.
Li Xunhuan learned all of it.
Cultivation really did have its uses. With a photographic memory and his intelligence greatly enhanced, he learned quickly.
Finally, Li Xunhuan didn’t forget his tool, Mo Juren.
Old Mo’s medical skills, Demon Silver Hand, and Dragon-Trapping Art.
As the saying went, if you walk the night road often enough, you’re bound to encounter a ghost.
That wasn’t about Li Xunhuan, though. It was about Mo Juren.
He had discovered a cultivator.
A second clarification.
First, a cultivation method’s rank is determined by its upper limit.
Second, a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation method doesn’t mean it can only be used by Foundation Establishment cultivators. It means the method remains effective once one reaches Foundation Establishment.
For example, 《Wind God Leg》 and 《Six Cold-Pride Arts》.
In the later stages, Nie Feng still used 《Six Cold-Pride Arts》 to fight the demonized Xiong Ba and Jue Wushen to the death, which shows it was definitely much stronger than 《Wind God Leg》.