Daoist Qingwen’s words were quite suggestive.
So Li Xunhuan advised him to stop talking.
Being a robber cultivator was fun for a while; being one forever was fun forever.
Right up until the next life.
What did it mean to be a Foundation Establishment family?
They could cast basic spells instantly, and intermediate spells came just as easily.
Against Qi Refining cultivators, it was nothing more than mowing down grass.
That was how vast the gap was.
What right did a Fourth Layer of Qi Refining cultivator like him have to withstand even the aftershock of someone else’s spell?
Sorry, he wasn’t worthy.
Being a robber cultivator was out of the question. He could only read books and be a City Lord, barely scraping by that way.
In the Myriad Heavens and Worlds, it wasn’t only extraordinary items that had value.
On the contrary, the Three Thousand Daoist Canons, strange people and strange tales, ...
Across countless worlds, wisdom was boundless.
He absolutely loved reading.
Back in his study, he immediately opened the peerless divine book, 《The Plum in the Golden Vase》.
The thousand-and-first edition.
He could never finish it. There was simply no end to it.
..
Time flew by, and before long, another half year had passed.
The sun and moon traded places; dawn had come.
It had been exactly two and a half years since Li Xunhuan obtained the secret technique for transforming spiritual roots.
At this special moment, nothing in the room changed.
Li Xunhuan reached for the storage bag at his waist. A transparent, round crystal bead appeared in his palm.
The spirit-root testing orb!
An item from this World, used to test spiritual roots.
At that moment, the orb glimmered white as snow, radiating a piercing chill.
Yet he felt warm.
He had succeeded in obtaining an Ice Spirit Root!
He pushed open the door. Sunlight fell across his face, and the air was sweet and fresh, as if announcing the arrival of a brand-new World.
Speaking of which, as a genius cultivator with a Variant Spiritual Root, should he step out with his left foot first, or his right?
As usual, he went to rummage through the City Lord’s Mansion Treasury for junk, then returned to Li Garden, beneath the pavilion.
Li Xunhuan began to feel one benefit of his Ice Spirit Root: keeping cool in summer.
He also felt the troubles of being a genius.
What cultivation method should he practice?
He could cultivate using the Water origin Art, but it always felt like a waste.
Now that he had an Ice Spirit Root, if he didn’t cultivate a technique made for it, wouldn’t the transformation have been for nothing?!
Then, the Myriad Heavens?
【Mid-grade first-tier cultivation technique, Cold Jade Art】
An ordinary cultivation technique for Ice Spirit Roots.
【Mid-grade first-tier cultivation technique, Ice Soul Sword Art】
A Sword Cultivator Technique. Highly rated!
【First tier, 】
They were all first-tier cultivation techniques, capable of reaching Foundation Establishment but with no techniques for anything beyond that.
That was a tough one to judge.
Having read three thousand volumes on cultivation, Li Xunhuan could just about be called a seasoned cultivator. He also understood one principle.
It was best to choose a primary cultivation method that would last all the way.
He had once seen a powerful cultivator obtain a Nascent Soul-stage cultivation method while at Core Formation stage. But because his Core Formation cultivation method was too ordinary to meet the requirements, he could only reincarnate and cultivate anew.
He was in the same situation now.
There were countless divine techniques and secret manuals in the Myriad Heavens and Worlds. He didn’t want a decision made in the present to affect his future.
It seemed he had to get the Little Green Bottle.
Taking things step by step was certainly steady, but it also meant losing the chance to reach the heavens in a single bound.
Once he had the Little Green Bottle, he could cultivate spiritual medicines for a hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand years, then redeem the corresponding deity transformation cultivation technique.
The only question was whether, with his Fourth Layer of Qi Refining cultivation, he could safely travel 108,000 li and obtain the Little Green Bottle.
Li Xunhuan pondered as he drank.
As the wine went down, his body grew stronger still.
He had at least six hundred jin of Immense Strength in one hand, giving him half the physique of a body cultivator.
And he had a martial arts technique to boot.
In another Mortal World, he might still be a low-level body cultivator.
But among Qi Refining cultivators in this Mortal World, his combat strength was already quite impressive.
He had a set of ten Flying Daggers, mid-grade magical artifacts.
And a low-grade magical artifact, the Azure Edge Sword.
That made him about average among rogue cultivators.
Actually, he really wanted to try an explosive firepower approach, like using a huge pile of talismans to blast his opponents to death with money.
But he was broke.
He could only make up for it in other ways.
What was this, Journey to the West? Did he have to overcome eighty-one tribulations to obtain the Heaven Palm Bottle?
Nan Bang.
At present, only one way remained to strengthen his combat power:
a flying magical artifact.
He was a scholar. Why fight? The best of the Thirty-Six Stratagems was to run.
A high-grade magical artifact, preferably a top-grade one.
It would be even better if it had some special function.
Li Xunhuan thought, somewhat greedily.
Such a magical artifact corresponded to a fourth-tier item.
So he needed to gather enough materials to redeem one: either a small number of third-tier items or a large number of Second Tier items.
Only then could he redeem a fourth-tier flying magical artifact.
Having made up his mind, he took one step and appeared a hundred meters away. Repeating this, he left Jiayuan City.
Then he leaped into the sky, riding the clouds as he flew.
Not Core Formation, yet better than Core Formation.
Now this was the proper way to cultivate immortality.
He hadn’t expected the Mortal World to fall short, only for a High Martial Arts fantasy World to pull it off.
He and his Golden Finger were truly amazing.
..
Tainan Valley.
Its geography was extremely similar to Jiayuan City’s. Three great rivers converged here before flowing into a mighty river. Over time, their currents had carved out a broad plain.
Others called it Tainan Valley, but Li Xunhuan preferred to call it
Guanjiangkou!
Unlike Jiayuan City, this place had a small spirit vein.
As a result, cultivators gathered here.
It was the marketplace established by Feiyu Shangren, a Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator, as Daoist Qingwen had mentioned.
The Mortal World was a dark place. Li Xunhuan couldn’t help suspecting this was the work of some sect.
Most likely, it was the local major sect, Spirit Beast Mountain.
Of course, this had nothing to do with Li Xunhuan.
He was here to conduct honest business.
To be safe, outside the marketplace he resumed the identity of an ordinary Fourth Layer of Qi Refining cultivator and walked in.
In the Mortal World, Qi Refining cultivators were just that down-to-earth.
Sword flight?
Sure.
But divine sense limited them to controlling a single magical artifact: either using an offensive artifact to fight for their lives, or a defensive artifact to protect themselves.
In either case, when faced with potential danger, continuing to fly by sword was inadvisable.
The closer they got to the marketplace, where robber cultivators lurked, the more cautious everyone became. They had to be ready to defend themselves at all times.
Li Xunhuan changed his clothes and his face to conceal his identity.
After all, someone as handsome as him was easy to remember.
【Mid-grade first-tier magical artifact, Linglong Mask, changes one’s face and appearance; only cultivators at Foundation Establishment stage and above can see through it】
The sound transmission talisman trembled. A portal appeared out of thin air before him. Li Xunhuan stepped through, then vanished.
In the blink of an eye, he was in another World.
The wonders of formations were hard to describe.
A main street ran from east to west, with a tall tower at its center: Tainan Tower.
Of course, the marketplace wasn’t this small.
Outside the street stood numerous buildings known as residences.
They could only be rented, not purchased.
Farther out were spirit fields.
In this respect, it was much the same as other Mortal Worlds.
Li Xunhuan had come here in search of Foundation Establishment-stage items.
He could either spend money or hunt for bargains.
As it happened, his Golden Finger was perfect for finding bargains.
After glancing at the Myriad Treasures Tower, a trading house serving all the worlds, he decided to browse the street stalls first.
“Come take a look! Core Formation-stage magic treasure fragments!”
“Spirit Herbs! Spirit Herbs! Purple Monkey Flower seedlings, essential for Foundation Establishment Pills!”
“Master-crafted talismans! Diamond Talismans that can withstand Foundation Establishment attacks!”
Li Xunhuan rubbed his nose. The street stalls in the Cultivation World seemed not all that different from those in the Mortal World.
They were all about swindling and cheating!
Fortunately, he was one step ahead.
【Mortal Grade, 】
【Mortal Grade, 】
【Third-tier（Core Formation）low-grade materials, magical treasure fragment】
Li Xunhuan looked at a piece of scrap metal on the stall, the corner of his mouth twitching. This fragment really was a fragment.
Even Pinduoduo would have fled in tears.
“How much?”
“A hundred spirit stones.”
“One spirit stone. Deal?”
“Take it, quick!”