A daily divination, from family tortoise shells to immortal clans.

Upon arriving at the Black Mountain City Market, Chen Qingmo was somewhat surprised by its scale.

This place is comparable to the market town of Linyuan County, with all kinds of shops lining the streets.

He walked into a talisman shop and saw some third-grade spirit talismans.

"Does the customer want to buy spirit talismans? Do you want one of these three grades?"

When the shop owner saw someone come in, he quickly came over to greet them.

"I'm just curious and have come mainly to buy some materials for making talismans."

Although Chen Qingmo was extremely envious, he still managed to protect his money.

The shop owner's expression darkened slightly, but he didn't say anything.

The materials for making talismans are much cheaper than finished talismans, so most cultivators will make some low-level talismans themselves.

These few grade-three spirit talismans in his shop have never sold and are practically the shop's prized possessions.

"What kind of materials does the customer need?"

"We still need to make money from spirit stones," the shop owner continued to press.

Chen Qingmo briefly explained that he needed quite a lot of things, which would cost a total of over sixty spirit stones.

The shop owner was overjoyed, his smile growing even brighter.

"Does the shopkeeper sell talisman manuals?"

"Not for sale! Please take the materials and leave quickly."

The shopkeeper was on high alert, thinking that Chen Qingmo wanted to learn his skills and steal his job.

Chen Qingmo sighed softly, cupped his hands in farewell, and took his leave.

Without a lineage, it's extremely difficult to improve one's talisman-making skills; he was just trying his luck.

For independent cultivators, this is their livelihood; they would not pass on their skills without a master-disciple relationship.

If a stranger suddenly asks you about your skills, anyone would think twice.

Currently, Chen Qingmo's best asset is the Listening Cloud Array Solution, but mastering array formations takes too long, and he can't find the time right now.

"Sigh, I was so focused on these things that I forgot about magic."

He suddenly realized that he didn't have many spells he had practiced. Apart from the moves that came with the sword technique, he didn't seem to have many other methods.

With this thought in mind, Chen Qingmo went to the shop that sold cultivation techniques.

He browsed through the shop and found that many offensive spells were not as strong as his sword techniques, and defensive techniques required medicinal herbs to temper the body. Only a few movement techniques were suitable.

In the end, he bought a fragment of a movement technique called "Wind and Cloud Steps" and spent another fifty spirit stones.

The shop owner said that this technique was also left in the shop by someone else for sale, so the price was set at the lowest possible level.

He figured it was a mid-stage Qi Refining technique anyway, so he agreed.

After buying his things, Chen Qingmo rented a house in Black Mountain City and practiced the Wind and Cloud Steps while making talismans.

This technique is relatively easy to learn, and he mastered it in just a few days.

But merely getting to the basics didn't satisfy him, so he spent more than ten days perfecting it.

Chen Qingmo went outside Black Mountain City to test his footwork.

He channeled his spiritual energy into the soles of his feet, urging his footwork as if he were stepping on cotton wool.

Not only did the speed increase by 20%, but the consumption of spiritual energy also decreased significantly.

"Excellent footwork!"

Chen Qingmo sighed in admiration and returned to the city.

He needed to rest before setting off for the wind-eroded forest.

Two days later.

Chen Qingmo left Black Mountain City and put on the robe given to him by Jia Buliao. He had intended to buy it, but Jia Buliao said that he could not repay the kindness and refused to accept the spirit stones.

The Stone Wall Desert was vast and boundless; if Black Mountain Pavilion hadn't provided him with a map, he probably would have gotten lost along the way.

Even so, it still takes him a whole day to reach the vicinity of the wind-eroded forest.

This is already a very slow speed for a cultivator in the late stage of Qi Refining.

Chen Qingmo strolled through the desert, accompanied only by the endless yellow sand.

That night, several dark figures slowly appeared in the desert.

As Chen Qingmo approached, he saw that most of the house-sized boulders were riddled with holes from erosion, while some of the relatively intact ones were barely big enough for a person to hide in.

About a mile further ahead was the location marked on the map, where he could hear the howling of the wind.

The wind-eroded forest is located within the canyon, where the gale force is relatively weaker, but it is still beyond the tolerance of Qi Refining cultivators.

The Black Mountain Pavilion's intelligence indicated that there were former cultivators' caves within the forest that could be used for refuge; in case of special circumstances, one could simply go inside.

Chen Qingmo wasn't sure if he could get out within two days, so he had to prepare for the worst.

Moreover, two other cultivators had already arrived nearby, and the three of them were on guard against each other.

At midnight, the strong winds began to dissipate slowly, and the hexagrams in Chen Qingmo's sea of ​​consciousness were also refreshed.

He glanced at it and found it was a neutral hexagram.

This means that there will be neither danger nor opportunity on the first day.

Once they were able to enter safely, the other two men sprang into action, eager not to waste any more time.

Chen Qingmo was not in a hurry. Since nothing happened on the first day, he wanted to explore the cultivator's cave first.

Just after the three of them left, the last cultivator, who arrived late, also entered the canyon.

The wind-eroded forest is filled with stone pillars, some as tall as five or six zhang (approximately 10-12 meters), others no more than knee-high.

Their seemingly chaotic distribution subtly forms a path that leads people deeper into the area.

"This place seems unusual; it feels like it's part of a secret formation."

Chen Qingmo looked puzzled and picked up a handful of sand, placing it in his palm.

No matter how closely he observed, he couldn't discern the secret within.

"Forget it, let's find a cultivator's cave dwelling first."

He dared not rush forward, fearing that there might be an unmanageable crisis at the end of the road.

He brushed the sand off his palms and began searching for places that resembled caves.

Due to the difficulty of moving around at night, Chen Qingmo searched for several hours but found no cave dwellings.

But it wasn't all for naught; he saw a kind of monster that lived here, the Rock Armor Beast.

This beast resembles a lizard, with its body covered by a thick layer of stone armor, making it indistinguishable from the sand and stones in the wind-eroded forest when at rest.

They feed on minerals, like to burrow, and are not very aggressive.

Following them, Chen Qingmo found a lot of Fire Element Iron, a good material for refining fire-attribute magic weapons. It was slightly inferior to red copper, but it could still be sold for a considerable amount of spirit stones.

After securing the Fire Element Iron, Chen Qingmo quickened his pace of searching.

On the way, he encountered another cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Refining. Seeing that the other party had ill intentions and was about to make a move, he immediately took out the Silver Edge Sword.

Seeing that he wanted to fight, the man quickly laughed it off, saying he meant no harm, and used his spiritual power to run away.

Chen Qingmo didn't want to waste his energy chasing this person, so he snorted and headed in another direction.

A day passed quietly, and fortunately he finally found a small cave dwelling, which, although not large, could still hide two or three people.

Leaving behind a talisman, Chen Qingmo quietly waited for midnight.

The divination result has been updated.

[Today's Divination - Ominous]: You are searching for treasure in a wind-eroded forest, and after much hardship, you finally find white chalcedony. Just as you get close, you suddenly fall into an underground cave. Inside, there is a giant sand worm, and you are bitten off an arm, barely escaping with your life.

"Is this the inevitable danger that comes with great treasure?"

Chen Qingmo was constantly on guard against those cultivators and almost forgot that the Wind-Eroded Forest itself was not safe either.

Although the divination did not mention those individuals, we still have to be wary of them.

With his precious treasure before him, it was clearly impossible for him to abandon the opportunity and leave.

To safely obtain the white chalcedony, one might have to wait until the winds of the wind-eroded forest rise again, potentially being trapped for a month.

But this is not terrible; the supplies in his storage bag are enough to last him for several months.

With the sand worms in the open and the cultivators in the shadows, he needed a foolproof plan.