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

Its value will be even greater after seven or eight hundred years;

Millennium-old spiritual materials are not much less valuable than millennium-old spiritual herbs; they are more than enough to forge several sets of top-tier flying sword magical artifacts. Wang Li may not be able to forge magical artifacts himself, but he can resell them to the large shops in the Seven Sects Market to exchange for what he needs.

The key point is that it's not as eye-catching as the thousand-year-old spiritual herb.

In everything, stability should be the top priority.

As for the seedlings, he had just gotten some fresh ones from Xiao Chen a few days ago.

……

Time flies.

Two months later, the cultivation of a thousand-year-old medicinal herb was completed.

And because he didn't need to be reserved and ate the pills without restraint, his cultivation level quickly approached the peak of the eleventh level of Qi Refining.

In addition, the Qingxia Sect also found several of the more than twenty materials needed to refine the Youth-Preserving Pill. Most of them were purchased at high prices from other sects and gangs through equivalent exchanges.

The vast majority of them met the year requirements.

If Wang Li were to search for it himself, he would be too busy to handle it even if he worked himself to death.

Three more months passed, and a thousand-year-old ironwood tree was successfully unearthed, allowing Wang Li to smoothly advance to the twelfth level of Qi Refining; however, several materials needed to refine the Face-Changing Pill were still missing.

For this, Sect Leader Lin flew into a rage inside the sect.

It was clear that the task could not be completed within the six-month deadline.

As time went on, the tentacles of the Qingxia Sect stretched further and further. For example, they used coercion and enticement to target the merchant alliance. All of this was keenly observed by Wang Li, who was secretly watching.

With just five people, they managed to influence thousands upon thousands of others within the group; and from these thousands upon thousands, they then influenced even more people.

At this moment, it truly is a case of "many hands make light work".

It also illustrates that ordinary people, like ants, are not entirely worthless.

As the next three-month period drew near, Sect Leader Lin, his eyes bloodshot, smashed a pile of exquisite porcelain pieces on the ground in a fit of anger and anxiety.

"Useless! Good-for-nothing!"

There are tens of thousands of you!

Is it really that hard to find a few herbs that have little medicinal value and aren't rare?!

What use are you to me?

At this point, Wang Li was not far from the threshold of the thirteenth level of the basic cultivation technique, and he believed that he could break through it in another two or three months of hard training.

The thousand-year-old spiritual material also successfully gave birth to a second plant;

The raw materials needed to refine the Youth-Preserving Pill are only missing one main ingredient and two auxiliary ingredients.

"Sect Leader, these three kinds of flowers and herbs are really hard to find. Please give me a little more time. I'm sure I can find them."

The sect leader was furious, and the steward in charge of the matter immediately panicked.

"Three months after three months, do you know what we've missed?"

"It was a hoarse voice from Sect Leader Lin," he said.

She looked much more haggard.

The crowd below trembled with fear, and even some of the sect's elite disciples hesitated, their eyes darting around.

The subtle change in the crowd was unnoticed by Sect Leader Lin; however, Wang Li, who was out for a stroll and happened to be passing by, detected it with his divine sense!

"Ok?"

Although he was surprised and suspicious, he did not immediately appear to point it out.

Instead, he waited until late at night to quietly visit the steward's room and used hypnosis to guide the man:

"Tell me, what are you hiding from the sect leader?"

The next moment, the dazed steward opened his mouth and said, "We've found a clue to the item."

"Oh? If that's the case, why not bring it back?"

Wang Li squinted.

A dangerous glint flashed in his eyes.

"Because the owner is someone of great importance, the Qingxia Sect cannot easily provoke them; those of us who know about this matter are unwilling to watch the Qingxia Sect, which gave us life and nurtured us, perish!"

"Someone with a powerful background?"

Tell me, who are these people?

Wang Li's brows relaxed.

"One is the daughter of the prefectural governor."

The beautiful bonsai that this woman adored was one of the plants that the sect leader had instructed his disciples to find at any cost; it was said to be over seven hundred years old...

Unfortunately, after some initial negotiations, even though we offered an astronomical price of a thousand gold pieces, the daughter of this manor lord not only refused to give up this bonsai, but also became interested in why her subordinates, who were martial artists, were looking for such plants!

They almost arrested him on the spot.

Having narrowly escaped death, we certainly cannot allow the Qingxia Sect to be dragged down with us.

The Qingxia Sect, a mere second-rate martial arts force, is not even as powerful as the Wild Wolf Gang at its peak. How could it withstand the government's massive crackdown?

The once invincible, top-tier outlaw gang, the Wild Wolf Gang, has been crippled and reduced to a third-rate local force by the official power of Jingzhou Prefecture. How dare the Qingxia Sect provoke the government?

"The other two holders are also people of great importance...!"

Anyway, the Qingxia Sect can't afford to offend them.

They are unwilling to do business with them, and they wouldn't trade with them no matter how much gold they receive.

"Why not inform the sect leader?"

Wang Li continued to ask.

"This matter was originally intended to be informed to the sect leader."

But in recent months, the sect leader has seemed to be possessed and become a different person, frequently mobilizing manpower and squandering the sect's human and financial resources, all for the sake of collecting these flowers for people to enjoy!

If the sect leader is informed, the Qingxia Sect will surely be plunged into an abyss of no return!

As members of the Qingxia Sect, we may not be able to bring prosperity to the sect, but we also cannot jeopardize its future.

The manager mumbled in a daze.

"Even if you don't say anything, surely other disciples will find out about this and report it?"

"This area is the responsibility of just a few of us; the other disciples have all been sent elsewhere to search for clues."

"I see."

No wonder it took so long.

"Aren't you afraid that the sect leader will kill you all if he finds out about this?"

"Afraid.

Right is right, and wrong is wrong.

"We are but a small fry, and our voices carry little weight; this is the only way we can protect the Qingxia Sect."

This is really...

The only problem is that his existence, and that transaction, were known only to the five top executives.

In a way, wouldn't you say these people saved me a lot of pills?

If the five elders, including Sect Leader Lin, knew the inside story, wouldn't they be furious?

"Alright, get some rest now. You won't have to worry about this anymore."

At this moment, Wang Li's gaze toward the steward held a hint of goodwill.

A loyal person.

Even if this person was blindly loyal, he still admired him greatly.

After giving him a Nine-Flower Jade Dew Pill, he went to the other people's rooms to verify its authenticity.

Considering I saved him a few bottles of pills, I'll open up some of their meridians and use the pills to boost their internal energy.

Forget about reaching the absolute top level, but you can still manage to be a first-rate martial arts master.

Adding a few hidden top-tier experts to the Qingxia Sect is a way for me to leave behind a legacy of goodwill.

……

The following day, in the council hall.

"Sect Leader Lin, stop the search. I already have information about those three kinds of flowers and herbs."

Wang Li's voice came from outside the window.

Along with this sound, two exceptionally exquisite jade bottles flew in through the window and landed steadily on the tea table beside Sect Leader Lin:

"Although you did not meet the conditions I set out for you, I have seen your earnest attitude in carrying them out. Consider these two bottles of the precious Nine-Flower Jade Dew Pills as payment. From now on, we are even."

The reason for choosing to bestow the Nine-Flower Jade Dew Pill instead of the Yellow Dragon Pill, Golden Marrow Pill, or Meridian Expanding Pill was to keep things clean and avoid leaving any clues for anyone to trace back to him.

Aside from the portion he kept at home, the Nine-Flower Jade Dew Pill was never shown to anyone again.

All that was given to Xiao Chen in total were three kinds of pills: Huanglong Dan, Jinsui Wan, and Tuomai Dan.

"Senior, this..."

That's all.

By the time the words were heard, the person had already gone far away.

Chapter 16 Plan Before You Act

Next, putting aside all other matters, he devoted himself entirely to cultivation and planting flowers and plants. In less than half a year, Wang Li's cultivation level reached the middle stage of the thirteenth level of Qi Refining.

At the same time, he also used up very few of the Qi-restoring pills he had prepared earlier to enhance his magical power.

With only what little he has left and a lot of hard work, it will be difficult to make any further progress in less than a year or two.