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

At the fork in the road, Wang Li chose the one he had already decided on. Not long after, he noticed several fallen, multicolored feathers on the ground ahead, and his expression changed drastically.

"A peacock with flying feathers?!"

That beast is incredibly difficult to deal with.

Don't underestimate this mid-level demonic beast; if a Qi Refining disciple doesn't have a countermeasure, they can only flee in panic.

Because once the Flying Peacock sets its sights on a target, it will launch an attack, which is anything but friendly; its colorful feathers can detach from its body to automatically pursue, injure, and defend itself, and its destructive power should not be underestimated.

The only drawback is its slow flight speed, which is a disgrace to avian creatures. However, if such creatures possessed extreme speed, Qi Refining stage disciples would be essentially helpless if they were to encounter them.

The one in question died a truly tragic death.

The precious feathers were plucked clean, turning the chicken into a featherless creature. Only the remaining fragments of feathers, which had been used before and lost their spirit, were left untouched and ignored.

"Whose team is this? Impressive skills. There aren't many signs of a fight around. Does that mean the person in front ended the fight very quickly and efficiently?"

If taking down the Mountain Bear was the result of multiple people working together, it's not surprising; but taking down the Flying Peacock is real proof of individual strength.

This made Wang Li more cautious.

But then he thought, even disregarding the time it takes to fight, his opponent is at least an hour ahead of him, making the probability of them running into each other extremely low. Besides, his opponent is paving the way and reaping the rewards, while he's just getting by with the leftovers—perfect timing.

Soon, Wang Li arrived at his first stop.

A stone house about an acre in size.

The area was grayish-black, with decaying and mottled trees growing around it, some even covered in moss, giving the whole place a sense of age.

There were shallow footprints on the steps at the entrance, indicating that someone had already visited the place.

Wang Li didn't rush in. Instead, he repeatedly probed the area with his eyes and divine sense, along with the proximity perception of the Timid Mouse. After confirming there was no danger, he released the Chameleon and the Lark into the nearby woods to act as sentries and keep watch on the outside. He himself, crouching on the Wind Chaser Sword, fully armed and without the slightest relaxation, entered the area.

He had traveled all the way up using the Wind Chaser Sword.

He used a tiny bit of magic to keep his stamina at full strength, thus leaving no trace of his journey down this path.

The stone house was clearly visible, with only a few scattered seedlings of spiritual herbs in the corners and a corpse of a mid-level demon beast, the Rift-Mouthed Beast.

Seeing this, Wang Li didn't stand on ceremony. He selected more than ten of the oldest plants, and carefully packed them, soil and all, into a wooden box.

Don't ask why you should choose the best.

If we can save a little on a small bottle of green liquid, of course we should save some!

The fact that the land wasn't scraped away along with the soil suggests that the person had already acted with great restraint.

Next stop, the place where the Warm Sunflower grows, a key ingredient used to refine a holy medicine for healing. Since it's on the way, going to take a look shouldn't be a problem, and it won't take up more than a few minutes of his time.

In this way, Wang Li quickly collected seven kinds of spiritual herbs with different effects, which were hard to find in the outside world and only had seedlings left in the forbidden area.

And it was now the third day, around 3 PM.

Chapter 34 Each Gets What They Need

He had collected quite a few seedlings of common spiritual herbs; it was time to get the three main ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Pill.

After traversing mountains and valleys for more than half an hour, they arrived at the outside of a cave.

This is the nearest production area of ​​the Heavenly Spirit Fruit.

Following the planned route, he had already located the eighth spiritual herb producing area, a very secluded treasure trove. According to information provided by Huangfeng Valley, this place had been visited thirty years ago by an elite disciple who harvested the ripe Heavenly Spirit Fruit. In other words, this place had never been found by cultivators from other sects before.

However, this also greatly reduces the value of this treasure land, since it will take another four hundred years for new Heavenly Spirit Fruits to ripen.

Four hundred years is good; the number of years is just right, indicating that the newly grown medicinal herbs are less than a hundred years old.

It's important to understand that the three main ingredients of the Foundation Establishment Pill—Jade Marrow Fungus, Purple Monkey Flower, and Heavenly Spirit Fruit—all require four to five hundred years to mature. Furthermore, spirit-smelling beasts in the outside world have a keen sensitivity to spiritual herbs and plants older than a hundred years. Therefore, all the seedlings Wang Li collected had to be under a hundred years old; otherwise, it would be difficult to conceal them and deliver the finished product.

In particular, the Seven Factions find this kind of uprooting behavior most unacceptable, and they fear they might tear him apart.

"what?"

Before the cave, which appeared particularly secluded due to the obstruction of view by the protruding mountain and a large number of dead trees, Wang Li suddenly stopped, then slowly lowered his raised foot, and squinted as he looked at the mountain wall on one side.

There, several gray moths almost blended into the mountainside.

"There are people inside, and they're from Spirit Beast Mountain!"

This kind of demonic moth is only a low-level demonic beast with little combat power, but it can blend naturally into its environment, making it extremely difficult to spot with the naked eye. In addition, its small size makes it very deceptive, and even if it is noticed, people can easily ignore its presence. Its camouflage ability is even better than his chameleon.

However, the little thing has two obvious flaws.

Firstly, it cannot adapt to slightly cold environments; it simply cannot survive in places where ice forms.

Secondly, it cannot completely hide its spiritual power. Cultivators can see the faint spiritual power it carries by simply using their Heavenly Eye Technique to examine it carefully. This is the most prominent characteristic of a demon beast.

Unfortunately, when Wang Li entered the cave, he habitually used his Heavenly Eye Technique to carefully scan his surroundings.

Even the smallest moth cannot escape the eyes of the law.

What's frustrating him right now is...

This cave was supposed to be extremely well-hidden, but it's been discovered! And how could anyone visit such a worthless, run-down place? How destitute must the people inside be?

"trouble."

He doesn't want to get into conflict with people too early unless there's something about the other person that interests him.

Therefore, he did not choose to approach the cave again, but instead turned around and left with a feigned regret.

Soon, only the whistling wind of the mountain stream remained in the surrounding area.

Fifteen minutes later, a small snake, its color similar to the ground, slowly crawled out of the cave entrance, swaying its head. It then circled the cave entrance once more. Finding nothing amiss, it crawled back inside. A short while later, a young man draped in animal skin nervously crept out of the cave, clinging to the cave wall.

"gone?"

Beside him, a giant white wolf with soft, glossy fur twitched its nose a few times, then nodded in a human-like manner, its eyes gazing in the direction Wang Li had left.

"Phew, at least I wasn't blocked at the door..."

It was clear that the guy, constantly wiping the sweat from his brow, was genuinely terrified. And I was certainly relieved.

"Dad, we can't stay here any longer, let's get out of here!"

With that, he took a step to leave.

But after taking only a few steps, he realized that his giant white wolf hadn't kept up. Turning around, he looked on helplessly. The wolf, whose eyes had been clear and bright just moments before, was now staring at him blankly.

"No, please don't have a relapse at this time!"

The young man was now truly anxious.

As his strongest fighter, White Wolf's failure at a crucial moment would be fatal. Fortunately, the other person hadn't chosen to fight him directly, otherwise he would likely be in dire straits. Left with no other choice, he used his spirit beast pouch to collect his spirit pet, then chose the opposite direction from where Wang Li had left and quickly fled.

What the young man didn't know was that if he had chosen the path Wang Li had taken to retreat, he would already be a corpse.

A mound slowly rose up, and Wang Li, covered by a green water shield, leaped out from it.

With two top-tier magic artifacts surrounding him, he merely glanced in the direction the young man from Spirit Beast Mountain had left before putting away the low-tier Earth Trap Talisman in his hand.

This talisman is a type of basic talisman that allows the user to sink several feet underground, depending on the geological conditions. Because soil and rocks can effectively isolate aura and spiritual energy fluctuations, and can also reduce the probing power of a cultivator's divine sense to a certain extent, it is very practical. In addition, it is inexpensive, so the Earth-Sinking Talisman is probably one of the most beloved talismans among low-level cultivators.

Wang Li was naturally prepared.

In addition, he had also made quite a lot of extra harvests in the past two days, with an absolutely abundant quantity.

It's not surprising that it's used here.

After a while, the lark returned with a corner of someone's clothes in its beak. Only then did Wang Li turn his attention away and choose to enter the cave for a look.

Therefore, the apparent calm was merely a facade. Did Mr. Wang never intend to bypass this medicinal herb-producing area and go elsewhere to harvest Heavenly Spirit Fruit seedlings? Was he not prepared to disrupt his travel plans and try his luck elsewhere?

Not bad!

There are just too many variables going around in circles, and changing plans only leads to more unexpected problems. So it's better to be direct and target this place that's right in front of us. Either we wait for the people inside to leave obediently before we go in, or we take decisive action and eliminate them, getting a buy-one-get-one-free deal.

Originally, he was all set to give the young man from Spirit Beast Mountain a warm send-off.

But then he thought again. They hadn't been on the mountain long, so the amount of spiritual herbs they had collected was probably quite limited, or even nonexistent. Killing the opponent here would at most yield two or three high-grade magic artifacts, which was pointless. Keeping the opponent alive to continue restraining or even eliminating some demonic beasts would be mutually beneficial. Therefore, he mercifully gave the opponent the opportunity to choose.

Whether one lives or dies is just a matter of a single thought.

He was disappointed by the young man from Spirit Beast Mountain, who did not choose to follow him but instead went in the opposite direction.

This dampened his enthusiasm: he looked like an honest, hardworking poor guy.

But what Wang Li didn't know was what he had missed.

As expected, there were only a few seedlings of Heavenly Spirit Fruit inside the cave. Without hesitation, after satisfying their own needs, they kept two seedlings and packed up the rest.

……

For the next seven or eight hours, Wang Li worked on various treasures along the ring-shaped mountain range, from the foot of the mountain to its belly, ridge, and summit.

On a cliff face, he spotted two unknown spiritual herbs being guarded by a nest of high-level avian demonic beasts.

After careful consideration, he chose not to take action but left quietly.

At this moment, maintaining my own condition is more important; I only have one life.

Anything beyond the plan, no matter how precious, is obtained on someone else's behalf. Because even if these elixirs were given away, he wouldn't get to use them.

There's no need to risk your life.

He wouldn't mind doing something small to help the Chen family if it didn't harm his own interests; but right now, expending his magical power would be tantamount to degrading himself.

Leave.

Beside a stream in a mountain valley, several unidentified white flowers, probably six or seven hundred years old, were in full bloom. They looked incredibly medicinal and were quite valuable.

"There are signs of a power struggle!"

Within the mountain stream, in a lush corner, hung numerous fragments of clothing, now broken but still retaining their spiritual essence, stained with blood. In a shallow depression about ten feet deep in the mountainside, a magical flying sword, its spiritual power greatly diminished but its light lingering, lay upside down, its blade already warped. Furthermore, pieces of pale golden metal were embedded in small craters in the mountainside, their cut surfaces remarkably smooth…

Judging by appearances, aside from the robes, the other two items are top-tier magical artifacts!

He could tell at a glance because he had seen both of these magical artifacts before.

These are two of the five top-tier magic artifacts that Old Ancestor Chen casually tossed to Uncle Chen when he was in Huangfeng Valley!

However, most of them have now been destroyed here.

In other words, even the elite disciples of Huangfeng Valley, who sought to seize the spiritual herbs, were left with their bodies here, despite possessing two top-tier magical artifacts. There's no doubt that great danger lurks within the ravine.

There is a high probability that a top-tier demon beast is lurking there!