Mortal: I have a Spirit Gathering Cauldron

Lin Feng suddenly opened his eyes from his meditation and yanked open the spirit beast pouch.

The gray butterfly in the spirit beast pouch immediately darted out, its wings flapping loudly, its antennae trembling incessantly in the northwest direction.

"It moved."

Lin Feng's heart skipped a beat. Without thinking too much, he reached out and summoned the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, which was floating above the Spirit Eye Spring, back to his dantian. He then quickly put away the array flags and spirit stones of the high-level Spirit Gathering Array, stuffed them into his storage bag, and walked out of the cave.

In just a dozen or so breaths, he was already standing outside the cave.

He took out the Hidden Spirit Veil and put it on. The transparent thin film covered his whole body, and Lin Feng's figure and aura instantly disappeared.

As the Qingfeng Banner unfurled and spiritual energy poured in, Lin Feng transformed into a wisp of ethereal green smoke, soaring towards the direction indicated by the Spirit-Seeking Butterfly.

He did not use the Wind-Escape Shuttle, although it was faster, it consumed a lot of spiritual energy, and he could not sustain it for long at the early stage of Foundation Establishment.

Moreover, although the Spirit Concealing Veil can hide one's figure, the spiritual energy fluctuations generated during high-speed flight can still be detected by Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Therefore, Lin Feng used the Qingfeng Flag and controlled his escape speed to about 60-70%, following at a distance.

He took the Spirit-Seeking Butterfly from his spirit beast pouch and placed it on his shoulder. The little creature's antennae trembled incessantly, twitching every now and then to adjust its direction.

Following its guidance, Lin Feng traveled through winding paths towards the northwest.

"This senior brother Lin Xingjian is quite cautious."

After following for half a day, Lin Feng finally caught a glimpse of the outline of the Tianxing Sect Market in the distance.

The Stardust Pavilion, twenty or thirty feet tall, glittered in the sunlight, and the surrounding buildings resembled a gray ocean. Lin Feng landed on a hill and gazed at the market entrance from afar.

Lin Xingjian, also known as "Senior Brother Lin," had already entered through the market entrance.

Lin Feng waited on the hill for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before changing his clothes and entering the market.

Lin Xingjian had already left the market.

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes and observed from a distance in the shadows.

Lin Xingjian has now changed out of the drab old man's robe and into a blue Taoist robe. His hair is tied up with a jade crown, and a jade belt is tied around his waist. He looks much younger.

But Lin Feng's gaze did not linger on him for long.

A thin, elderly man followed behind Lin Xingjian.

The old man was dressed in a black short robe with the cuffs tied tightly, and a string of bones and teeth of some unknown monster hung from his waist.

His face was gaunt, his cheekbones were high, and his triangular eyes were half-open and half-closed, making him look like he was dozing off at any moment.

What surprised Lin Feng slightly was his cultivation level: late Foundation Establishment stage.

Moreover, he wasn't a newly advanced Foundation Establishment cultivator; his aura was deep and restrained, and his spiritual energy fluctuations were almost imperceptible. Clearly, he was a veteran Foundation Establishment cultivator who had been immersed in this realm for decades.

The old man always lagged behind Lin Xingjian by half a step, turning slightly to the side as if he were protecting him.

Occasionally, when a passerby walks by, his triangular eyes will quickly scan them, and he will only look away after confirming that there is no threat.

"Guards?" Lin Feng frowned. "No, Lin Xingjian is the young leader of the Thousand Bamboo Sect. This old man should be one of his former subordinates, or at least a confidant. No wonder he dared to go back and cause trouble. Is this what you're relying on?"

His original plan was simple: follow Lin Xingjian, get away from the Yellow Maple Valley area, and wait for him to be alone before launching a sneak attack. After the sneak attack, he should be able to take down Lin Xingjian, who was in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, by using all his skills.

But now there's an old man in the late Foundation Establishment stage.

Lin Feng quickly reassessed the situation in his mind.

Lin Xingjian, mid-Foundation Establishment stage, cultivates the Great Evolution Technique and possesses powerful divine sense. The thin old man, late-Foundation Establishment stage, has unknown strength. He himself is early-Foundation Establishment stage, and although he possesses talismanic treasures, top-tier magic artifacts, and the Wind Escape Shuttle, his chances of winning in a head-on confrontation with two cultivators of higher realms are slim.

If you can launch a surprise attack and take one down first, you still have a chance. But the old guy in the late Foundation Establishment stage is too vigilant; those triangular eyes are constantly scanning around.

"We can't force it." Lin Feng made the judgment, suppressed his impatience, and continued to follow from a distance.

Lin Xingjian and the thin old man left the market, summoned two flying swords, and transformed into two streaks of light, flying westward.

Lin Feng waited for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before emerging from behind the hill where he was hiding.

He changed his clothes again, putting on a gray cloth robe and a bamboo hat, and suppressed his cultivation to the tenth level of Qi Refining, looking like an ordinary rogue cultivator.

Then he slowly walked into the market, pretended to stroll around, bought two low-level talismans, and left from the other exit of the market.

After leaving the market, Lin Feng donned the Hidden Spirit Veil, unfurled the Clear Breeze Banner, and headed west.

In the days that followed, Lin Feng stayed far behind Lin Xingjian, always maintaining a distance of thirty or forty miles.

Too close and they'll be discovered; too far and they'll lose track. Thirty or forty miles is well beyond the range of a Foundation Establishment cultivator's spiritual sense; the other party won't even notice them.

Although Lin Xingjian and the thin old man were cautious along the way, they flew very fast, almost without stopping. They traveled during the day, and at night they would find a mountaintop to meditate and recover, continuing their flight at dawn.

Lin Feng followed behind, not daring to stop.

Fortunately, the spiritual energy consumption of the Qingfeng Banner was not high, and he also carried high-quality Qi-harmonizing pills with him, so following along was not too strenuous.

Along the way, they traversed the entire territory of the Righteous Alliance.

The territories of various cultivation kingdoms, such as Yuanwu Kingdom, Fengdu Kingdom, and Wangshui Kingdom, swept past beneath my feet.

Two months later.

Lin Feng had lost count of how many mountains and rivers he had flown over. In order to keep his spiritual energy abundant at all times, he had used up nearly half of the Qi-Melting Pills in his storage bag, and had also used up several mid-grade spirit stones.

That evening, he finally saw something different.

A hazy yellow hue appeared on the horizon, like a giant yellow curtain hanging in the sky. The air became dry, and the wind carried fine sand that stung our faces.

Northwest of Wangshui Kingdom, the Hurricane Desert has arrived.

Wangshui Kingdom is the westernmost country of the Righteous Alliance. Further west lies the Hurricane Desert in the far west.

This country is not large, and there are not many cultivation sects, but because it is close to the desert, it is rich in some spiritual items that cannot be found in other places: sand beast inner cores, wind spirit stones, desert spiritual plants, and so on.

Lin Xingjian's target is a cultivation market in the northwest of Wangshui Kingdom.

This market town has no city walls or gates; it's simply a cluster of buildings situated on the edge of an oasis. Most of the houses are constructed of yellowish-brown sandstone, low and sturdy, exuding a rugged feel.

The market town wasn't large, but it was very lively.

Lin Feng waited at a distance for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, confirming that Lin Xingjian and the thin old man had entered the depths of the market, before leisurely following them in.

Upon entering the market, a sense of exoticism immediately greets you.

The monks on the street were dressed completely differently from those in Yue and Yuanwu. Most of the men wore short robes with tightly tied cuffs, leather boots, and various bone and tooth ornaments hanging from their waists.

Women's clothing is much bolder, with bare shoulders, waists, and legs, and brightly colored gauze skirts fluttering in the wind, dazzling the eyes.

"They really are...open-minded," Lin Feng muttered, his eyes full of admiration.

The stalls on both sides of the street were filled with all sorts of strange and unusual things.

The sand beast's claws, scales, and inner core were packaged in a transparent crystal box, each marked with a hefty price tag.

There is a desert spiritual plant called "Wind Spirit Fruit," about the size of a fist, with a layer of fine white fuzz on its surface. It is said that it can be used to refine pills that can enhance one's cultivation level in the Qi Refining stage.

There is also a material called "flowing gold sand," which is as fine as dust and sparkles in the sunlight. It is an excellent material for crafting flying magical artifacts.

Lin Feng stopped at a stall and bought a small bag of Flowing Gold Sand. The price wasn't high, ten low-grade spirit stones for a small bag; even if he didn't use it, he could keep it as a collectible.

He bought a few Sand Beast Inner Cores from a female cultivator's stall. They were level one and worthless, but he wanted to see if he could upgrade them using the Spirit Gathering Cauldron.

After wandering through most of the market, Lin Feng never relaxed his senses regarding the Spirit-Seeking Butterfly.

The scent was right ahead, about a mile away, and it hadn't moved an inch.

"They must have settled in," Lin Feng thought to himself.

He found an inn to stay in and asked for a room on the inside, where he could see the main street of the market as soon as he opened the window.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Lin Feng took the Spirit-Seeking Butterfly off his shoulder and placed it on the windowsill. The little creature's antennae still pointed northwest, trembling occasionally.

"No rush," Lin Feng murmured. "There will always be a time when you're all alone."

He took out a Qi-unifying pill, swallowed it, and began to meditate to recover his spiritual power.

After two months of tracking, his cultivation hadn't lagged behind. However, he was still only at the first level of the Foundation Establishment chapter of the "Golden Light Technique," and the golden liquid true essence in his dantian was slowly increasing, bringing him one step closer to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

Outside the window, the lights of the market gradually came on.

The temperature difference in the desert at night is extreme. The scorching heat of the day recedes, replaced by a biting chill. The crowds on the streets gradually thin out, with only a few taverns and teahouses still lit up, emitting bursts of noise.

Lin Feng opened his eyes, glanced at the night outside the window, and then closed them again.

"Lin Xingjian, I want to see what kind of tricks you can pull in this far west."