A Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Starting as a Rogue Cultivator

And that is the main reason why Chen chose to befriend a junior!

He's no saint.

A top-tier, exquisite magic weapon worth hundreds of spirit stones—just thinking about it makes my heart ache.

I have to squeeze the money back from my elder brother, principal and interest, right now. And after that, I'll continue guarding the gate; maybe I'll run into another one of those lucky breaks?

"Respectfully seeing off my senior uncle, and farewell, Senior Brother Chen."

Wang Li smiled as he saw the father and son off.

Having reaped a bountiful harvest, the two left with a carefree and joyful air.

This place was completely left to Wang Li.

Wang Li was not idle either, but he also remained vigilant.

Instead of choosing to settle in the wooden building where Uncle Chen's youngest son had previously lived, he used the low-grade magic weapon, the Cold Moon Blade, to carve out a new cave dwelling on the hundred-zhang cliff face of the highest peak with a good view.

Caution is the boat.

He couldn't guarantee that the wooden building next to the spirit field hadn't been tampered with, perhaps by leaving some kind of divine imprint.

If I were to move in carelessly, I might inadvertently expose my secret to others.

Even if Uncle Chen didn't have such intentions, there's no guarantee that there weren't any wicked people among the other members of the Chen family before Little Chen; and if the person who did the trick was even more powerful than Uncle Chen, it's understandable that Uncle Chen and his son didn't notice anything amiss before.

The Chen family indeed has two cultivators at the late Foundation Establishment stage, the previous patriarch of the Chen family was at the peak of Foundation Establishment, and the Chen ancestor had even been in the Core Formation stage for over two hundred years. Which one of them is not stronger than Uncle Chen?

Besides, I'm currently living under someone else's roof, so how can I easily occupy their house? It's not like I don't have the ability to carve out a cave in the mountainside.

In short, it's always better to be cautious.

Don't let a moment of carelessness lead to your death and the loss of your life's blessings to others; that would be a great injustice.

He infused his magic power into the magical artifact, making it capable of cutting through iron like mud. Before long, a simple cave dwelling was dug. After casually swallowing a few pills to replenish his lost magic power, Wang Li began meditating and cultivating again.

For the next five days, besides watering the spirit valley, engaging in normal cultivation, and finding an open space to cultivate a small medicinal herb field, he also used his divine sense to repeatedly and meticulously scan every part of the valley, leaving no corner unchecked to avoid potential dangers.

With his current strength, he checked it three times to make sure there were no problems before daring to open the second package. From a pile of exquisite bottles and jars of similar size and style inside a closed box, he took out the most special one to use.

Seven days later, a drop of green liquid can be generated.

"Sigh, I'm still much less lucky than that person."

With a sigh, he thought of Han Li in another timeline.

The old demon was able to obtain fragments of magical artifacts with the effect of concealing spiritual power at the Tainan Small Gathering, but he was not so lucky, so he could only continue to use this clumsy method to fool people.

The divine sense of a high-level cultivator is not to be trifled with.

If the small bottle can't be openly hidden, then let's not bother hiding it! Let's use a bunch of similar ordinary yet exquisite jade bottles to hold the pills. Surely the big shots won't be so shameless as to steal these things too, right?

Fortunately, the small bottle's miraculous power only manifests at night, otherwise it would have been a huge problem.

Fortunately, he chose to join Huangfeng Valley in the morning and didn't let Uncle Chen keep him occupied until the evening, otherwise he would have felt a bit guilty.

What followed...

"I can fly! I can fly! Wahahaha... Wahahaha..."

Inside the plantation, atop a magical artifact shaped like a flying leaf, a novice driver begins his journey, as happy as a child.

Since the dawn of humanity, people have been quite dissatisfied with being confined to the Earth's surface; especially time travelers like Wang Li, who have an inexplicable yearning for the sky deep in their bones.

He has a dream of flying into the sky and standing shoulder to shoulder with the sun.

He practiced martial arts, mastered light-body skills, and climbed trees and mountains so that he could have a high vantage point and a wide view.

Chapter 13 Each Gets What They Need

Before he began cultivating immortality, he envied birds, the white clouds in the sky, and the eagles soaring through the universe, for they could look down upon all living beings.

Now, he can fly too, and he has truly become one of those who look down upon all living beings.

The excitement in my heart was impossible to suppress.

Only after the initial novelty wore off did he gradually revert to being the boy he once was.

Refine various spiritual herbs into pills, study pill formulas, and improve your skills.

Next, one should go to the Transmission Hall to resolve any confusion regarding cultivation techniques, and consult with senior disciples about the basic techniques of the "wood, water, and fire" elements to hone one's skills.

However, in order to cultivate the medicinal herbs more safely, he did not follow the usual procedure, but instead chose an inconspicuous corner under the secondary peak waterfall and opened up a hidden cave.

This place is very well hidden.

It should be noted that the array restrictions in the Spirit Valley Garden do not cover the three mountain peaks and valleys in all three directions; rather, they cover the valley and parts of the mountains in the three directions in an inverted bowl shape, thus creating many points where the mountains meet the restrictions.

This section of the mountain wall, because the surface of the mountain is concave, was precisely concealed by the array that was not completely concave.

It gives the impression of a small bowl fitting over the base of a large bowl.

The waterfall cascading down from the mountainside also provides a degree of visual camouflage.

Therefore, for outsiders to use their divine sense to investigate this mountain wall and cave, they would first have to penetrate the array restrictions and fog of the valley from the outside, and then from the inside through another array restrictions and the visual obscuring effect of the waterfall. Alternatively, they could start from the thousand-foot peak and try to penetrate the rock wall at least a hundred feet deep.

Even those inside the array's restrictions need to pass through a layer of array restrictions, mist, and waterfall water curtain from the inside to use their divine sense to detect this mountain wall and the newly opened cave.

Without using divine sense and relying solely on the naked eye, it is even more difficult to detect.

This means that what appears to be a waterfall curtain to others is actually a hidden world behind it.

The medicinal herb field cultivated in the open space within the valley, and the cave dwelling on the main peak, indirectly became a pretext to attract the attention of others.

However, what Wang Li never expected was that the durability of the beginner equipment he obtained would quickly reach its limit.

"I've witnessed the generosity of the sect firsthand. You get what you pay for; the ancients were right."

Looking at the two weapons given to him by the sect, which were covered with scratches and nicks, Wang Li felt a pang of toothache.

The legendary "Frostmourne, Fire's Joy," how about that?

The Cold Moon Blade and the Blazing Sun Sword, being the lowest-tier magical artifacts, are practically worthless after these two ordeals.

Fortunately, he cultivated this small herb garden under the waterfall, and from then on, he never needed those two beginner's gift packs again, so they can be considered to have reached the end of their lifespan.

"Everything still depends on your own efforts."

He shook his head and sighed.

Of course, even though this small cave was already quite hidden, Wang Li still made sure to add a large rock, placing it perfectly in front of the cave entrance behind the waterfall as an extra layer of security.

Only then did he feel a little more at ease and begin his large-scale planting business.

Of the three pill formulas provided by Uncle Chen, two are suitable for Qi Refining stage cultivators:

One of the items is a common item, describing a pill called the Qi-Returning Pill, which is available to most reputable cultivation families or sects. The challenge is finding a suitable medicinal herb that has been cultivated for sixty or seventy years in a place with abundant spiritual energy.

Although everyone wants to cultivate in large quantities, spiritual lands with abundant spiritual energy are very limited.

These precious lands are mostly used to cultivate the precious herbs needed by cultivators in the Foundation Establishment and Core Formation stages to enhance their cultivation. Therefore, the production of spiritual herbs needed by lower-level cultivators has always remained low.

His requirements were not high, so he obtained a complete set of seedlings at a very low cost.

As for the other pill formula, it is an ancient one, and the pill described on it is a top-grade pill for the Qi Refining stage. Unfortunately, two of the ingredients are hard to find and even harder to cultivate.

Wang Li had no choice but to give up.

He didn't have time to waste searching for those two Qi Refining stage spiritual herbs.

Anyway, since he has the small bottle, even if it's a slightly lower quality Qi-restoring pill, he can make up for it with quantity.

Therefore, before the Qi-restoring pill was refined, Wang Li used ordinary holy medicines such as the Yellow Dragon Pill, Golden Marrow Pill, Meridian Expanding Pill, and Qi Gathering Powder to cultivate to the tenth level of the basic cultivation technique in more than half a month, and his cultivation level was further improved.

This speed startled Uncle Chen's youngest son, who had come to harvest the spirit grain.

However, Xiao Chen didn't ask any more questions, because when Wang Li entered Huangfeng Valley, he was already at the bottleneck of the ninth level of the basic cultivation technique, and it was possible to achieve this by using some pills.

Later, after a large number of Qi-restoring pills were produced, Wang Li broke through to the eleventh level of the Qi Refining stage in just about four months.

Two months later, when Xiao Chen came to harvest the spirit grain for the third time, the little guy was quite envious.

But the boy still didn't ask any more questions, because Wang Li gave him a bottle and a half of Yellow Dragon Pills, a small half bottle of Golden Marrow Pills, and a large half bottle of Meridian Expanding Pills.

"Senior Brother Chen, I'm so lucky! I'm so lucky to have this precious spiritual land that the Chen family provided for me. I feel like I'm achieving twice the results with half the effort by cultivating here. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to advance so much in just six months. Here, these are the few pills I have left. They're not very effective for me now, but I'll give them all to you. I hope you can reach the tenth level of Qi Refining soon."

Four months was said to be six months;

To portray oneself as someone who has just achieved a breakthrough;

Exaggerating the time frame as much as possible, and attributing most of the credit to this blessed valley, can at least increase the plausibility somewhat.

Wang Li's intentions were also very good.

With the addition of bribing him with pills and echoing the previous preemptive strike, even if the news reaches Uncle Chen's ears, he will likely only sigh and be surprised.

He gave the young man half a bottle of Yellow Dragon Pills in front of his Uncle Chen back then, and now he is giving away "the rest of the stock," which is enough to establish good relations and explain the situation.

"Senior Brother Wang Li, please continue to call me Junior Brother Chen. Although I really hope to be called Senior Brother, my cultivation is far inferior to yours, so it's not appropriate to address me that way. My father said that in our cultivation world, seniority is determined by strength. Only when my cultivation surpasses yours will you call me Senior Brother, and then I will feel a sense of accomplishment."

Xiao Chen said with a slightly serious expression.

Although the twelve-year-old boy was deeply influenced by the cultivation world, he seemed to have not yet become dirty or darkened under the protection of his Uncle Chen.

Of course, Xiao Chen skillfully pocketed these pills, worth twenty or thirty low-grade spirit stones.

It seems he's received quite a few red envelopes from others.

"Hey Chen, I need to ask you something..."

Taking advantage of the other party's good mood, Wang Li prepared to get something useful.

"What is it? Tell me."

The excitement hadn't worn off, and he was indeed easy to talk to.

"Could you give me one of each of those ironwood, fir, and oak trees that you planted behind your house? I'd like to study them; I might need them someday."

Wang Li asked with a smile.

He said it with a pained expression, but his hands were busy handing over ten spirit stones.

The thirty-six yuan I just received will soon be ten yuan less.

It's impossible not to feel the pinch.