I'm in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have one equipment slot!

The first floor of Tianxing City, the market area.

Amidst the bustling crowd, an unremarkable figure walked slowly through.

This person was of medium height, with an ordinary face and slightly dark skin. He wore a drab gray robe and was not noticeable in the crowd.

It was Han Li.

After leaving Kui Xing Island, Han Li began a long and arduous journey.

He hunted demons in the outer sea, was robbed in the inner sea, and searched everywhere for spiritual objects that could form a golden core. He went through many ups and downs and faced death several times.

Finally, after gathering nearly twenty different spiritual items for Core Formation, and relying on the foundation laid by the Three Revolutions Rejuvenation Technique through several instances of dispersing his energy, he successfully condensed his core half a year ago, entering the early stage of Core Formation.

Han Li came to Tianxing City Market for one thing.

High-aged Ling bamboo.

His natal magic weapon, the Azure Bamboo Bee Cloud Sword, needs to be crafted using spiritual bamboo as a material.

The older and higher the quality of the bamboo, the more powerful the flying sword will be.

After inquiring around the market for a while, he finally got some news: Not long ago, the Miaoyin Sect had obtained a Heavenly Thunder Bamboo that was thousands of years old, but unfortunately it was stolen in the end.

"Heavenly Thunder Bamboo..." Han Li murmured to himself, "If this kind of spiritual bamboo could be used to refine a natal magic weapon, its power would surely far surpass that of ordinary spiritual bamboo. I hope the Myriad Sounds Sect can still retain a portion of it."

He immediately set off for the Miaoyin Sect's headquarters.

Although the Miaoyin Sect is called a sect, it is actually mainly engaged in business, and its headquarters in Tianxing City is not hard to find.

It was a quiet courtyard in the middle of the hustle and bustle, with two female disciples in the Qi Refining stage on duty at the entrance.

Han Li stepped forward and explained his purpose.

Seeing that he was a Core Formation stage cultivator, the two female disciples dared not be negligent and immediately led him respectfully into the courtyard.

"Please wait a moment, senior. I will go and inform Left Envoy Zhuo to come and receive you personally."

A female disciple led him into the living room, served him some spiritual tea, and then hurriedly left.

Han Li nodded, casually sat down in the hall, and aimlessly scanned his surroundings.

Suddenly, his gaze froze.

A portrait hangs on the wall in the center of the hall.

The person in the painting has a dignified face and a composed demeanor. He is dressed in a blue robe and stands with his hands behind his back.

It was none other than Zhou Yuan!

Han Li's heart skipped a beat!

He knew that face all too well!

Back in the Yellow Maple Valley of Tiannan, the two were fellow disciples; later, through an ancient teleportation array, they came together to this distant Chaotic Star Sea.

Nearly a century has passed.

Han Li's thoughts were complicated at this moment.

"Does Senior Han know our Elder Zhou?"

A sweet, charming voice suddenly rang out, interrupting Han Li's thoughts.

Han Li looked in the direction of the voice and saw a woman dressed in a lotus green dress with dark eyebrows looking at him with a smile.

It was Zhuo Ruting, the Left Envoy of the Miaoyin Sect.

"Is he an elder in your sect?"

Han Li suppressed the turmoil in his heart and asked calmly.

"That's right." Zhuo Ruting nodded. "Elder Zhou has been a guest elder of my Miaoyin Sect for many years. Senior Han, are you acquainted with him?"

"I've heard a little about it!"

Han Li gave a vague reply, then changed the subject, "Left Envoy Zhuo, I have come here to seek some spirit bamboo from your esteemed sect."

Upon hearing this, Zhuo Ruting's face showed a hint of regret: "Unfortunately, my Miaoyin Sect did indeed obtain a section of Heavenly Thunder Bamboo before!"

"It's a pity it was robbed."

She sighed, "Elder Zhou had reserved the Thunder Bamboo that day, but unfortunately those Tribulation Cultivators were too hateful. Fortunately, a mysterious expert stepped in and killed Wu Chou from Ji Yin Island, which can be considered revenge for us."

"Did Senior Brother Zhou also search for Heavenly Thunder Bamboo?"

Han Li listened without showing any emotion, but he had already made up his mind.

He had a gut feeling that Zhou Yuan must have already obtained the Thunder Bamboo from that day.

……

Inside the boundless cave.

Zhou Yuan sat cross-legged, toying with the section of Thunder Bamboo with its roots intact in his hand.

His eyes were full of satisfaction.

Now that I have the Thunder Bamboo, I finally have a source of raw materials for my natal magic weapon.

He thought of Han Li.

That guy is currently adrift in some corner of the Chaotic Star Sea, who knows where.

However, Zhou Yuan was not in a hurry. He had kept the Azure Origin Sword Technique under wraps. He had only given Han Li the first twelve levels of the technique, and the core secrets of the thirteenth level were still in his hands. If they were to meet again in the future, he would naturally have a way to control him.

Zhou Yuan put away the Heavenly Thunder Bamboo and turned his thoughts to something more important: forming his Nascent Soul.

Only by reaching the Nascent Soul stage can one truly be considered to have entered the inner sanctum of the path of cultivation.

No matter where they are, they can be considered influential figures, possessing genuine self-protection capabilities.

However, the difficulty of achieving the Nascent Soul stage is as difficult as ascending to heaven.

He was originally a cultivator with four spiritual roots. Although he refined five remnants of the Heaven-Mending Pill to cleanse his spiritual roots, his cultivation aptitude was now comparable to that of a cultivator with three spiritual roots.

But the hope of achieving Nascent Soul remains slim.

The companion grass I obtained some time ago can increase the chance of forming a baby after equipping it.

But that slight boost is still not enough to ensure safety.

Having an extra equipment slot increases your chances of successfully forming a Nascent Soul.

The next time you want to upgrade your equipment slots, you'll need ten million spirit stones.

This amount, even through alchemy and profit sharing, would take hundreds of years to accumulate.

The only hope lies in that undiscovered treasure island—

Biling Island.

In the original timeline, it was a peculiar island that was discovered by chance hundreds of years later.

Hidden within it is an astonishing high-grade spirit stone mine, producing a vast quantity of spirit stones of extremely high quality, mostly mid-grade and high-grade spirit stones, and it is even said that it once produced a legendary top-grade spirit stone!

The spirit stone vein was mainly of the wood element, which was a godsend for Zhou Yuan, who cultivated the Azure Origin Sword Technique.

As of now, the island has not yet come into existence, and its name is unknown to the world.

What Zhou Yuan needs to do is rely on his vague memory of the original geographical location and his powerful divine sense, which is comparable to that of a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, to try to find this treasure island!

"Yao-mei, I need to go out for a bit."

Zhou Yuan found Yuan Yao and gave her a brief explanation.

"Going out again?" Yuan Yao was a little surprised, but didn't ask any further questions. She simply reminded him, "Zhou Lang, be careful and come back soon."

Zhou Yuan nodded, left the Boundless Cave, and headed straight for the Starry Sky Palace on the fiftieth floor of the Holy Mountain.

After paying the spirit stones, he stepped onto the teleportation array.

With a flash of white light, he appeared on Silver Shark Island, tens of thousands of miles away.

……

Silver Shark Island, in the open sea.

Zhou Yuan did not linger on the island. After determining the direction, he activated his escape light and sped off to the north.

According to the vague account in the original work.

Biling Island is located in a sea area roughly north of Silver Shark Island.

The distance is so great that even cultivators at the Core Formation stage need to fly for several months to reach it.

Even in the original story, after Han Li reached the Nascent Soul stage, it still took him two full months to fly there.

This is also why Zhou Yuan didn't rush to find him before.

North of Silver Shark Island lies a vast, uncharted sea area that is almost cone-shaped.

The area is astonishingly large.

Venturing deep into this area takes an extremely long time.

Even more dangerous is the possibility of encountering powerful monsters lurking in the deep sea.

You might even encounter a powerful demon in human form.

Venturing into the open sea without sufficient self-defense capabilities is tantamount to suicide.

Update released! Book lovers, go read Cola Novels!