Gains and Reflection

Chapter 44

Not far from the Qingmiao Sect, in a mortal city called Linhao City, Li Changmeng rented a house.

"Alas, I didn't expect that Feng Qi finally succeeded in breaking through. Those surrounding forces are in big trouble."

In the past few days, even in the mortal city, Li Changmeng had heard some news about the Qingmiao Sect.

All the surrounding sects and family forces were suppressed by Feng Qi alone and merged into the Qingmiao Sect.

As for the specific situation, Li Changmeng didn't know. Anyway, as far as the Qingmiao Sect knew, he and Qi Shu should be dead.

However, what puzzled Li Changmeng was that Wang Xuan didn't die.

He came to this conclusion from the connection of the Incense - Transforming Spirit Spell.

Just like the connection with Zhao Wenyue still existed, the connection with Wang Xuan was also intact.

"Could there be something wrong with my spell?"

After creating the spell, Li Changmeng had only tried it on animals in the mountains. He hadn't tested it on cultivators.

Although theoretically, there shouldn't be any problem, the fact that the spell failed to kill the target twice made him a little confused.

Could it be that this spell really had little effect on cultivators?

But now that he was in a mortal city, it was not convenient for him to go out and find someone to test it.

Because Feng Qi had been aggressively annexing other forces recently, all the Foundation - Establishment cultivators in the area of the Qingmiao Sect had become extremely cautious.

They were afraid of being regarded as the remnants of the forces that had attacked the mountain before and being casually suppressed.

In these days, Li Changmeng lived in the city just like an ordinary mortal.

He practiced every day, raised Black Star, and studied spells. The days passed quite pleasantly.

As for Black Star, the spiritual beast grew quite fast in the early stage. Now it was about the same size as an ordinary monkey, and its intelligence was close to that of a ten - year - old child.

"Sir, your food is here."

A voice came from outside the door. It was a waiter from the restaurant on the street. Li Changmeng had ordered food for Black Star.

Li Changmeng opened the door, took the food, and threw a piece of broken silver and the lunch box left from last time to the waiter.

Seeing the silver, the waiter happily took it. "Thank you, sir~"

Then he left contentedly.

"Black Star, it's time to eat!"

"Ooh - ooh, aah - aah"

There was a series of monkey calls. Black Star swung around in the room and ran over. It took the lunch box and began to gobble up the food.

"Luckily, it's easy to feed. It enjoys these ordinary foods so much."

As he said this, Li Changmeng took out a spirit stone, circulated his spiritual power to turn it into powder, and sprinkled it on the food.

In this way, a simple spiritual - beast food was made.

After feeding Black Star, Li Changmeng took out a storage bag and immersed his divine soul in it.

This was the storage bag he had picked up from Qi Shu's body. However, there was a restriction set by Qi Shu on it.

Without a special method, one could only use divine sense to slowly wear down the restriction over time.

Today, the restriction was already very weak and was about to be completely worn away.

Although Qi Shu was only at the middle stage of Foundation - Establishment, he was also a second - order alchemist. His wealth was far beyond that of an ordinary Foundation - Establishment cultivator.

Obtaining Qi Shu's storage bag was already a considerable gain for Li Changmeng.

The restriction was constantly being worn down. Finally, the last part disappeared, and the contents of the storage bag were fully revealed to Li Changmeng.

He immediately imprinted his divine sense on it and took out the items inside to count his spoils.

For a moment, all kinds of lights flashed. Bottles and jars filled with various pills emitted a medicinal fragrance. There were also many spirit stones and jade slips, which were dazzling.

Li Changmeng was so excited when he saw this pile of wealth that it took him a long time to start counting.

There were ten bottles of second - order Condensing - Qi Pills, which meant a hundred pills in total. If Li Changmeng had served as a guest elder in the Qingmiao Sect, it would have taken him twenty months to get these hundred Condensing - Qi Pills.

Moreover, these were the pills that Qi Shu used himself, so their quality was even better.

In addition to the Condensing - Qi Pills, there were also some other pills for different purposes, such as Detoxification Pills and Mind - Cleansing Pills.

Apart from the pills, there were more than five thousand spirit stones, which was no small amount.

Then there was a jade slip about alchemy - "The Secret Book of Alchemy Formulas". It was a third - order alchemy book that recorded several third - order pills.

If one had enough talent, they could become a third - order alchemist by themselves with this alchemy book.

This was much more valuable than the first - order spiritual - beast - rearing technique that Li Changmeng had exchanged for himself.

In addition to the items in the storage bag, the storage bag itself was also a valuable magical tool and an essential one.

Qi Shu's storage bag was a standard second - order medium - grade storage bag. There was a space of ten square feet inside. To store an item, one only needed to cover the item with their divine sense and could store or retrieve it freely within the ten - foot range.

All in all, the gains were abundant. And since in the eyes of others, he was already dead, there were no karmic consequences left.

"Where there are people, there are disputes. I originally wanted to find a sect to settle down in, but I got involved in such a thing, a battle among dozens of Foundation - Establishment cultivators.

Going to the Black Deer Mountain before was also the same. I just wanted to find a second - order monster, but I almost offended a Core - Formation cultivator. If I had been a little careless, I would have died under that Core - Formation Talisman."

After counting the spoils, Li Changmeng didn't feel complacent. Instead, he began to reflect on his recent experiences.

...

It was true that he had gained a lot, which had instantly made him surpass most middle - stage Foundation - Establishment cultivators.

But at the same time, the dangers were also not few.

If the Desolate Flying - Sword Technique had hit his head, he would really be dead.

If Zhao Wenyue had had enough combat awareness, he would have died in the Black Deer Mountain, and maybe not even his bones would have been left.

Even after becoming a Foundation - Establishment cultivator and being called a senior by others, the dangers in the cultivation world had not decreased.

On the contrary, they had increased.

"A single misstep could lead to a complete loss? I don't want to play this kind of dangerous game anymore."

Realizing how close he had come to death all the way, Li Changmeng couldn't help but feel a little scared. There weren't many "what - ifs" in this world for him.

He couldn't get involved in such disputes anymore.

If he hadn't wanted to get a storage bag quickly, he wouldn't have gone to the Black Deer Mountain on his own initiative.

If he hadn't been thinking about plundering the treasures of the Qingmiao Sect, he wouldn't have participated in the mountain - guarding battle.

All the reasons were because he was greedy.

Greed would sooner or later lead him to the path of self - destruction.

He calmed his mind, put away his complicated thoughts, and then suddenly opened his eyes!

Since his cultivation was temporarily improving slowly, the most important thing for him at present was to study his own Dao and create more spells based on it.

Cultivation was the foundation, and spells were the branches and leaves. The more prosperous the branches and leaves, the more means he had, and the safer his foundation would be.

The mental impact brought by the huge spoils didn't make him further blinded by greed. Instead, it made him realize the danger behind this huge wealth.

Gains and sacrifices always went hand in hand. And Li Changmeng didn't approve of the act of risking his life to obtain wealth.

From now on, he would stay away from all places that might bring him danger. With the Hundred - Eyes Supernatural Power, he believed it wouldn't be difficult.

"Black Star, stop eating. Let's go!"

As soon as he thought of it, he took action. Li Changmeng pulled Black Star, which was still in the middle of eating, and in the blink of an eye, they left the room.

Only the food on the table showed that someone had been there before.