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He didn't tell his younger brother the true conditions for recognizing him as master, because he knew his brother too well. If his brother knew, he would definitely sneak into the Secret Realm on his own or find other ways to earn Spirit Stones for him.
But his brother was naturally simple-minded and of average strength, unable to compete with those who saw deception as a common practice.
Since he had fled with serious injuries, he had been afflicted with the Bone Devouring Poison and was completely devoid of combat ability, possessing only a few cunning tricks.
"..."
The scholar remained silent, not speaking. He just continued to sit cross-legged, gazing at the clouds rolling by in the sky. He used to have a few good friends; if he approached them using his influence, perhaps he could borrow three thousand Spirit Stones.
But first, the risk was too high, he wasn't sure whether his former friends would report him, and the bounty on his head was not low.
Secondly...
He was once the number one Sword Cultivator in Da Xia after all.
He had his own pride.
He was unwilling to let those who once knew him well see such a desolate scene of himself.
If it weren't for his brother, he would rather die standing than be confined to a seat like a cripple on the edge of a cliff in the Ask the Heavens Market, surrounded and gawked at by passersby like a piece of garbage.
And bargain with those forces that were trying to recruit him.
"Alright."
The scholar glanced at his brother beside him, whose face was anxious and mouth kept opening and closing without uttering a word, and said softly, "I have a plan in mind, don't worry."
His brother was a bit dull and had no real concept of the value of Spirit Stones, thinking that most people could easily produce the amount he wanted as long as they were willing to stoop down and talk to him, and then he would recognize them as master.
But in reality...
Three thousand Spirit Stones, many forces within a hundred miles could not produce that amount.
Those who could afford it, did not regard him highly.
He didn't dare to say outwardly that his teleportation range was 200 miles; a Golden Core cultivator specializing in movement technique could cover a hundred miles within ten breaths, hence a hundred miles was often considered the immediate striking range for Golden Core cultivators.
Going beyond two hundred miles meant he had surpassed the immediate striking range of two Golden Core cultivators.
Then the forces attracted would not be small, those forces knew him.
Even if he had changed his appearance, certain subconscious habits that couldn't be changed would always expose him and thereby put his brother in danger as well.
If he says ten thousand miles...
It might be the Da Xia Royal Family that comes for him.
Unfortunately, when he fled heavily injured that day, all the Spiritual Treasures and the Storage Ring on him were stolen, leaving only this Lifebound Spirit Treasure that had been with him for a long time. Along with his fallen Cultivation Realm, it had also become an ordinary Yellow Level Mid-grade Spiritual Treasure.
Not worth much.
Back in the day—
When the Qingfeng sword was unsheathed, who did not recognize his White-clothed figure!
In three breaths' time, there was no place in the world he could not reach!
Were these merely child's play? Were these just empty words?
Yet now, all those past glories only stayed preserved in the comic books tucked in his bosom, drawn by a scholar when his name was known far and wide, depicting his various imposing feats.
The title of the book was "White-clothed Sword Cultivator".
The book did not chronicle his entire life, but it did capture his life as fleeting as the blossom of the magic flower.
...
Meanwhile, Chen Qiu, who was at the bottom of the canyon, was attracting the attention of the Human Face Spiders in the cave by continuously striking the ground with his knife blade. The stone caves in the rock walls were extremely cramped, and it was impossible for him to crawl in and fight, as that would be very disadvantageous to him.
Soon...
In the stone caves on the rock walls, numerous pairs of pale blue eyes slowly appeared at the entrances. Soon after, the first Human Face Spider crawled out of its cave and up onto a transparent spider web in the sky.
Its eyes were fixated on him, the pupils constantly rolling.
The sight was incredibly creepy.
This spider was at least three feet wide, and its head was embedded with a baby's face, emitting cries like that of a baby within the depths of the canyon, driving them away as if rebuking them.
Then the second and third Human Face Spiders also emerged.
At this point, Chen Qiu realized that the stone caves in the rock walls were surrounded by transparent spider webs that were nearly impossible to detect with the naked eye even under the sunlight.
"Huff..."
Chen Qiu took a deep breath, swung his right hand, and released all the resentful spirits he had stored. Instantly, the surrounding area grew colder, with ten Qi Refinement Realm Sixth Layer and one Qi Refinement Realm Eighth Layer resentful spirits, along with the Demon Beast Resentful Spirits he had slain in the Ask the Heavens Market, rushing toward the stone caves all at once!
They wreaked havoc on the spider webs and provoked the Human Face Spiders.
The Cultivation of these Human Face Spiders was not low, and they liked to swarm in attack; he couldn't afford to be careless.
'Resentful Spirit Summoning' was only a green entry, but it was particularly useful. Any creatures killed by his resentful spirits could also be transformed into his own resentful spirits. He didn't understand why such a handy entry was only green.
He felt it should be at least yellow.
But at that moment, he had no time to think further about this.
Provoked by the resentful spirits, the Human Face Spiders were already lunging towards them with cries as sharp as those of a baby.
"Excellent."
Chen Qiu, gripping the collar of Huang Shikai's clothes with his left hand, brandished the knife in his right, slightly bent his legs. As the first Human Face Spider approached, he let out a fierce shout, using Huang Shikai to block the mid-air lunge of the spider, then brought his long knife slicing down!
With just this one strike, the Human Face Spider was severely wounded and fell to the ground.
```
He took another step forward and landed another blow, as a flurry of white light floated up from the corpse of the Human Face Spider and burrowed into his body. He had no time to celebrate this minor gain, however, as more Human Face Spiders screeched and charged towards him.
...
"Die!"
Just as Chen Qiu, drenched in blood, once again cut down a Human Face Spider that had lunged at him, his right hand holding the sword instinctively scanned his surroundings for the next target. However...
There were no other living creatures standing in the entire canyon apart from him.
The ground was littered with the corpses of Human Face Spiders, their scarlet blood splattered deep within the canyon.
Fat Long was also lying exhausted nearby, panting heavily; for him, the intensity of the battle had been rather extreme. Neither of them was seriously hurt, and most of the blood on Huang Shikai came from the Human Face Spiders.
And it was as he killed this last Human Face Spider that...
He suddenly felt a surge of warmth coursing through his body. Sensing something, he used introspection and saw a panel enveloped in clouds and mist appear above his Dantian.
'Cultivation has greatly increased; officially entered the eighth level of the Qi Refinement Realm.'
'Please choose one of the three random entries below within ten breaths.'
1:
'Entry name': Every plant and tree.
'Entry level': White.
'Entry effect': Each time you break through a small realm, you will receive three Spirit Stones.
2:
'Entry name': Start from scratch.
'Entry level': White.
'Entry effect': The quality of your Foundation Establishment will slightly increase, but each time you fail at Foundation Establishment, your Cultivation Realm will fall back to the first level of the Qi Refinement Realm.
3:
'Entry name': Never Discouraged.
'Entry level': White.
'Entry effect': When you fail at Foundation Establishment and your cultivation falls, the Cultivation Progress you gain from killing demon beasts in the Qi Refinement Realm will increase a hundredfold.
...
"..."
Chen Qiu looked at the three entries that had popped up in front of him, his mouth slightly agape, a flash of agony in his eyes, his face distorting slightly, and the hand gripping the sword also bulged with veins.
Individually, these three white entries were rather mundane.
They were the kind that were somewhat useful, but not all that impactful.
The first entry would be considered a Seven-colored term for ordinary people with no great ambitions for cultivation; three Spirit Stones for each small realm breakthrough could ensure a wealthy life for the commoner.
The second entry could only slightly increase the quality of Foundation Establishment, but if you failed at Foundation Establishment, you would have to start from scratch at the first level of the Qi Refinement Realm.
As for the third entry, it was basically next to nothing. Even if your cultivation fell back to the early stages of the ninth level of the Qi Refinement Realm after a failed Foundation Establishment, only a little was needed to reach Great Perfection; even if the progress from killing demon beasts during this time was a hundred times faster, it would just mean returning a few days sooner to Qi Refinement Great Perfection and then preparing for Foundation Establishment again.
But...
If he could own all three entries simultaneously, with just a bit of start-up capital, it was unthinkable!
As long as he had enough time, and if there was no limit to the number of times he could attempt Foundation Establishment, the number of Spirit Stones he could produce daily might surpass even the output of a spirit stone mine!
If after his cultivation fell he could reselect previously discarded entries, that would be an absolute takeoff, but this thought seemed impractical upon reflection.
But why... why!
Why could he only make a selection of one out of the three entries, rather than choose them all!!!
He did not immediately make a choice within ten breaths, but instead, his expression twisted in pain as he turned his head with the last bit of hope toward Fat Long, "Fat Long, is there any heavenly or earthly treasure that allows one to select previously discarded entries?"
In this world, when everyone first reached the first level of the Qi Refinement Realm, they had no choice but to use whatever entry they were given, and if they were unlucky, they just had to suck it up.
From the Foundation Establishment Stage onward, every time you broke through a Great Realm, you had to choose one out of three entries.
There was sufficient choice, allowing cultivators to compile the most suitable combination of entries for themselves.
"Seems like there is..."
Fat Long, although not understanding why Chen Qiu suddenly looked like this, furrowed his brow and thought before quickly responding, "Definitely, I've seen it on an auction list at the Asking Heaven Market; there's a talisman that can only be produced in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm, called the 'Heavenly Dao Retrospective Talisman'."
"It allows cultivators to reselect previously discarded entries."
"But the price isn't low, nothing from the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm comes cheap… and also, it can only select an entry discarded during the last three choices."
"Like if you are a Nascent Soul cultivator, then you can only choose from the remaining two entries that were discarded when you broke through to the Nascent Soul Stage, you can't choose discarded entries from the Golden Core Stage breakthrough."
"If you had other opportunities during the period after your ascension to the Nascent Soul Stage, acquiring an additional three-choice entry, you couldn't even choose the discarded entries from the Nascent Soul breakthrough, only the last discarded entry from the most recent three-choice opportunity."
"As for below Foundation Establishment..."
"In the Qi Refinement Realm, there's no choice, you use what you're given."
"At most, you can choose one discarded entry, if you want both discarded entries, then you'd need to buy two."
"What's up?"
Fat Long looked at Chen Qiu with some confusion, "Brother Chen Qiu, why did you suddenly ask about this?"