Ploy

Tianlong had reserved the room for ten hours. A little more than ten minutes were left before it was over.

Within this short period, where others would barely accomplish anything, he had awakened two meridian acupoints.

Not only that, but he had also managed to hunt a few aquatic demons which were the nightmare of all cultivators.

Sitting on the edge of the pond, he was lost in thought.

"The number of aquatic demons that came here are far less than what I calculated. Even after I killed their kind, they didn't send more of their numbers in retaliation. Hmm, truly odd…"

The aquatic demons that invaded the place were not that strong individually. But what they lacked in quality, they made it up with their quantity. Their danger was such that even a Jade core realm cultivator couldn't handle them.

One might be tempted to think that against such creatures, it was best to use the policy of divide and conquer, after all, individually they didn't possess a threat.

They couldn't be more wrong.

These creatures were extremely sensitive to blood, especially their own kind. As such, unless one manages to kill them without letting a single drop of blood spill in the water, they would face swift and severe retaliation.

"As for the Corpse Qi, there's a high chance that quite a few ancient lifeforms are buried underneath the mountain. Nothing surprising. But what I don't understand is, how the corpse and the Luminescence Spirit liquid are related to each other..."

There was nothing sensational about finding buried ancient corpses in the Dark edge mountains. After all, the mountains were filled with vicious beasts and strange lifeforms since time immemorial.

According to legends, the ten worlds were previously united. It was only after a huge disaster struck them that they were split.

In fact, its effects were so far-reaching, that it left the heavenly dao surrounding the worlds permanently wounded.

The dao wounds corrupted the spiritual energy at the edges of the world. It gave birth to different congenital defects and caused severe mutation among the creatures living there.

Judging by the Qi he was absorbing, Tianlong believed that both the vine and buried corpse were such creatures.

Usually, if there were any powerful mutated corpses discovered in the mountains, the Holy Suzaku would get involved.

The messenger would either seize it or seal it depending on the circumstances.

"The bizarre things surrounding the mountains are too many and my information regarding it too few. All suppositions need to wait until I have some more information..."

Shaking his head, Tianlong stopped thinking about it.

"The spring is like a huge treasure trove for me. The huge number of creatures living here can become my test subject and later on my food. While the source of the spring itself should have some sort of secret. If I can obtain it, maybe I can learn something new…"

As he kept mumbling to himself, his face started to contort and an ordinary-looking face gradually reflected on the pool's surface.

Seeing the entire process, a ghastly smile appeared on his lips. He liked this art that his mother had given him.

"A mere Yin Yang Cleanser isn't qualified to possess such a huge treasure trove for himself. Since I've already set my targets on Qin Houzi, I'll just snatch everything from him and use his base for my operations…"

Did he have any sort of hatred towards Qin Houzi?

Was he touched by the story of Su Fei?

No, he didn't even know the man. It was just that the man had something that he desired. So with Tianlong's personality, he would just kill the latter and snatch everything from him.

He released a stream of spiritual energy which immediately vaporised the water on his body. Fixing his robe, he opened the cave with the jade slip provided and walked out of the cave.

After following the winding pathway, he found himself before the duo of Li Cai and Old Zhan again.

Li Cai was completely wasted. Lying on the platform in and haphazard manner, he was loudly snoring while spouting gibberish.

On the other hand, his companion old Zhan was sitting calmly beside him. He was totally unaffected by his companion's actions.

Swish!

Tianlong threw the jade slip towards him.

Catching it, he glanced at it once. Seeing that it was alright, he rubbed his beard once and looked at Tianlong with a kind smile before closing his eyes again.

When Tianlong was halfway up the stairs, he couldn't help but cast a scrutinizing glance at the old man again.

Lips curling into an evil smile, he mumbled, "I've always wanted to grow a beard…"

When he reached the reception hall again, the young man opened his eyes and looked at him with a profound gaze. The others who were present at the scene were long gone.

Not paying him any attention Tianlong strode out of the Bandit's headquarters.

It was already dark outside. Not that it mattered much.

As there was still some time left before Qingxue finished her session, he immediately didn't go to the Alliance sect but rather strolled around the place.

With nightfall, the Great Serpent sect had an influx of cultivators, most of which were men.

"Sex to vent one's lust, Alcohol for escapism and Gambling as an illusion of wealth. Heh, these three businesses would always find ways to flourish themselves. In the future, I can open these dens to support my finances." He inwardly mused.

Currently, he could get any resource from his parents and had no shortage of money. However, he knew that sooner or later, they would separate.

He couldn't afford to be a spendthrift.

Most of the previous cultivators had wrapped up their stalls. Among the vendors that were still here, many of them were selling their items at a lower price. Only after completely selling their stock would they go hunting again.

Of course, the prices were only reduced for those items that the people didn't want in general. As such, the reduced price did little to increase the demand.

Tianlong used this opportunity and bought many miscellaneous herbs and beast materials from them.

After half an hour of shopping, he was satisfied with his harvest and started moving towards the Alliance sect.

It didn't take him long to notice Qingxue standing in front of the Alliance sect.

Besides her, there were more than ten different cultivators who were conversing with her.

He could see the admiration in their eyes even from the distance. However, he also noticed that her eyes were detached and constantly moving around as if searching for someone.

It didn't take too long for her to notice him. Saying a quick few words to the crowd, she moved towards Tianlong in quick but graceful steps.

"What took you so long? You said that you'll be here before I finish~" She pouted and said in a dissatisfied voice.

Looking at her reaction, he laughed in response. "Ther's still half an hour left before the 12-hour mark. I thought you'd stay the entire time inside to cultivate…" His words got stuck in his mind as he noticed that something seemed different about her.

Her skin looked much smoother and glossier than before. A faint mist of spiritual energy surrounded her and made it look as if she was shimmering.

"You have reached the fourth level of Qi condensation!" There was a slight surprise in his voice.

The fourth and the seventh level of Qi condensation were both considered bottlenecks in the Qi condensation realm. Once a person passed these bottlenecks, their body would excrete a lot of impurities and undergo a qualitative transformation.

Hence, people would generally grow more and more beautiful the further they progressed their cultivation.

The difference between her looks before and after she advanced was comparable to an unpolished and polished piece of jade.

"Hehe, you must have never imagined that I would be able to clear this bottleneck so quickly!" She puffed out her chest and showed a proud expression.

The amount of time she had cultivated was far too little. Yet in these short few months, she had already reached the 4th level of Qi Condensation.

Tianlong had no choice but to agree that she had a talent for cultivation. "This is all because of your hard work and persistence. Had you not used your alchemy flames to fight, you wouldn't have become proficient in using them and wouldn't have advanced so fast." In the end, he didn't mention anything about talent and only emphasised her hard work.

Qingxue noticed this but didn't point it out. Anyway, she was happy hearing his praise.

After a moment of silence, he continued, "This Spirit Liquid is some seriously good stuff. If your own work plays five parts in your success, then the rest of it goes to the Spirit Liquid. If our clan had a large reserve of Spirit Liquid, then we could've produced a lot of Qi Condensation experts in a short time. Even those who were stuck in the early phases for too long could use it to progress."

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that he needed to seize the spirit springs for himself.

"Wow, so even someone like you can think about the clan?" She spoke in a mocking voice from the side.

Except for Long Qingxue and Yun Dingxing, maybe she was the one who understood his nature the most.

He flicked her forehead and lightly smiled. "Enough nonsense, it's good that you have increased your strength, with this I'm more assured about my plan. Say, now that you are in the fourth layer, you should be able to refine High-grade First Revolution Pills right?"

Even though the flick was light, he was still a body refiner. That flick hurt her a bit more than it should.

Rubbing her forehead, she put on an aggrieved expression and silently thought for a moment.

"My spiritual sense has still not stabilised. Give me a month and I should be able to handle the job."

"Alright."