Chapter 78: Farewell to Wu Zheng
Song Yan sorted through the remaining spoils, organizing them by category. After a careful count, he now possessed over six hundred and fifty spirit stones.
In addition, there were five mid-grade spirit stones.
For a cultivator at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, this was undoubtedly a fortune.
He did not intend to keep these spirit stones on hand.
After some consideration, he decided to keep only three mid-grade spirit stones and one hundred low-grade spirit stones for emergencies.
All the remaining spirit stones would be exchanged for cultivation resources.
Only when these resources were fully utilized on himself could he feel at ease.
“The most important thing right now is, on one hand, to diligently cultivate spiritual energy and break through to the seventh level of Qi Refining as soon as possible to enter the inner sect.”
“On the other hand, it is to comprehend sword intent…”
To be honest, both seemed quite far off.
Breaking through to the seventh level of Qi Refining would take an ordinary cultivator five to seven years.
Now, having comprehended the embryonic form of Dao Heart and obtained a trace of formless spiritual intent from the Untethered Vessel,
plus having refined the Wind and Thunder Supreme Spirit, the Dao Seed beneath the Town-Dao Sword Manor was already extremely full.
Although there was no comparison to make, a rough calculation suggested that his speed of absorbing spiritual qi might already be comparable to the inner sect “geniuses” with dual spiritual roots.
“By this calculation, perhaps three or four years would be enough to break through to the seventh level of Qi Refining?”
“As for sword intent…”
He planned to spend more time each day practicing the sword-driving techniques recorded in the Sword Arts Essentials.
One does one’s best and leaves the rest to fate.
He did not feel particularly anxious.
In the days that followed, Song Yan began a methodical routine of cultivation—drawing qi and refining spiritual energy, practicing sword arts, and whenever he had time, cultivating the Five Stars Pulse-Seeking Technique.
When he went out, he also paid attention to the rumors within the sect.
He was mainly worried that his killing of Shan Zifeng would be exposed.
The news of Shan Zifeng’s death did trigger some discussion, but the atmosphere seemed more celebratory than anything.
And soon, no one paid attention to it anymore.
After all, in such a vast sect, dying in battle outside was simply a matter of inferior skill.
Shan Zifeng was not the offspring of some great cultivator, so naturally no one would investigate further.
The false authority borrowed from others’ power ended just like that before the new year.
The calm breeze and peaceful waves made Song Yan feel at ease.
However, he heard another piece of news.
He heard that Senior Brother Lin Qing had passed the Heart Tempering Path a few days ago and finally succeeded in advancing to become an inner sect disciple.
“This Senior Brother Lin is quite a character…” he thought to himself.
He had long since advanced to the seventh level of Qi Refining but had never participated in the Heart Tempering Path.
He stayed in the outer sect for eleven years until recently, when he officially advanced to the inner sect.
At first, Song Yan thought the Heart Tempering Path was some profound and difficult trial.
But after staying in the sect for a while, he learned that since the Heart Tempering Path was established, there seemed to be no failures.
“I wonder what Senior Brother Lin was thinking.”
Curious as he was, other people’s affairs were not his concern.
Senior Brother Lin Qing was already an inner sect disciple now, so no matter what he had done before, outer sect disciples would analyze its profundity.
This day, Song Yan left his cave dwelling and headed toward Tongchen Peak.
Shan Zifeng had been missing for over ten days, and when the duty disciples conducted their routine inspection, they found his life lamp extinguished and reported it to several stewards of Tongchen Peak.
A disciple dying outside was too common an occurrence.
However, the Preparations Hall still needed someone new to take over the work.
This person, Song Yan knew.
Or rather, had seen before.
In the Preparations Hall, Wu Zheng, along with the assisting duty disciples, received Song Yan.
He was beaming, still wearing that amiable expression.
Song Yan vaguely recalled that when they explored the cave dwelling together, Wu Zheng had been only at the sixth level of Qi Refining.
Perhaps he had stayed at the mid-stage of Qi Refining for too long, and the cave dwelling expedition had yielded some gains.
So, not long after returning to the sect, he broke through to the seventh level of Qi Refining, stepping into the late stage of Qi Refining.
Later, shortly after Senior Brother Lin Qing, he advanced to the inner sect.
“Junior Brother Song, this old man has been waiting for you!” Wu Zheng said with a smile, patting his shoulder.
He seemed not to mind at all that this junior brother had used a false name when they explored the cave dwelling together.
“These spiritual materials sent from Profound Abyss Sect are truly tempting!”
Wu Zheng spoke with him without any air of superiority or pretension of an inner sect disciple, even cracking jokes, quite approachable.
“If you had come a few days later, this old man might not have been able to resist and consumed them all, which would have been a grave mistake, hahaha…”
Song Yan smiled, but his mind drifted to Wei Dao.
He said nothing.
Under the witness of the duty disciples, they jointly inspected Profound Abyss Sect’s “compensation.”
It was truly considerable.
Two hundred low-grade spirit stones, ten bottles of Yellow Sprout Pills, three sets of Small Gathering Formations, and even a small bottle of special pills.
Three pills per bottle, the pills were lake blue, emitting a faint luster.
“Condensation Spirit Pills?”
Song Yan was surprised.
Condensation Spirit Pills were one of the mainstream pills used by Qi Refining Stage cultivators.
However, compared to Yellow Sprout Pills, they were more oriented toward breaking through bottlenecks.
In the cultivation world, the various “Bottleneck-Breaking Pills” that truly increased the success rate of breakthroughs were not something everyone could obtain.
Most Qi Refining Stage cultivators, when facing bottlenecks, could only rely on the accumulated spiritual energy to force breakthroughs again and again.
If they were lucky, they could break through.
But if they were unlucky…
They would have to recuperate and wait for the opportunity to try again until they succeeded.
And Condensation Spirit Pills, although not classified as “Bottleneck-Breaking Pills,” had relatively potent medicinal effects.
If taken when approaching the several bottlenecks of the late Qi Refining Stage, they could barely provide some assistance in breaking through.
The market price for a bottle of five Condensation Spirit Pills was about forty spirit stones, and if the quality was good, it could be higher.
These three Condensation Spirit Pills could only be described as worthy of Profound Abyss Sect’s craftsmanship—their quality was excellent.
No wonder Shan Zifeng had been so desperate to embezzle them.
If converted entirely to spirit stones, they would amount to nearly five hundred…
Little did he know, Shen Yu had originally made these moves to secretly secure a spirit vein for himself and his family.
He never expected that things would completely spiral out of his control, and he was genuinely afraid that the simple-minded people of Eastern Abyss Sect would attack Profound Abyss Sect’s gates at the slightest disagreement.
To pacify the situation, the items sent were of very high specification.
In addition to cultivation materials, there were also some useless trinkets like “Cultivation World Anecdotes” and “Flower Festival Invitation Letters.”
“Junior Brother Song, take care.”
“I won’t see you out.”
Song Yan left the Preparations Hall, his mind already calculating how to use this large batch of spiritual resources wisely.
“Having spirit stones feels so good.”
Profound Abyss Sect’s “Cultivation Subsidy” had truly pushed his assets to the peak of his life.
“All of this is thanks to those elders in the sect who supported their fellow elder, and the Sect Master of Eastern Abyss Sect…”
“Especially Elder Xu Ziqing and the Sect Master.”
Although Song Yan knew their actions were likely not for his sake,
but judging by their deeds, they truly showed up when needed.
Thinking of this, he felt grateful.
Remembering his mysterious sect master, he naturally could not forget that sky-covering sword strike.
It made his blood surge with excitement.
At the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of person he truly was.
While speculating and imagining, he headed toward the Lingyuan Marsh Market.
He wanted to offload some redundant magical artifacts and miscellaneous items as soon as possible.
The New Year was approaching, and if many cultivators were nowhere to be found, that would be troublesome.
…