“Retreat?”
“No, we will continue to stay at Goose Sheep Mountain.” In the wooden living room on the hillside, Mu Long shook his head, “Haven’t you heard? Qiu Jinwu sold Goose Sheep Mountain for a good price, and soon there will be Qi Cultivators taking residence here.”
“The Earth Spirit Vital Energy will dissipate sooner or later, who would dare to take over Goose Sheep Mountain at this time?” Chen Mu was quite surprised.
“It will dissipate sooner or later, but it hasn’t disappeared yet, has it?” Mu Long gave Chen Mu a glance, “After all, Goose Sheep Mountain has been the Upper Court of Goose Sheep Path for hundreds of years. Even though the Earth Spirit Vital Energy has been declining in recent years, it still whets one’s appetite.”
“Even the other sects among Yunzhou’s Seven Paths would be tempted, let alone the shortsighted fools of the Great Li Seven Families Alliance.”
“The Seven Families Alliance?”
“Ha! A bunch of worms full of evil deeds, accustomed to throwing their weight around among the mortals.” Mu Long spoke indifferently, “This time we can capture them all at once and bury them in the ground!”
Chen Mu’s mouth twitched.
Spend money to buy a mountain to settle down, only to have your home go under the ground?
Tsk… how pitiful.
“Are you sure the Lock Dragon Institute doesn’t have any schemes targeting the Water Avoiding Shuttle?”
“At least I haven’t received such orders,” Mu Long shook her head.
Not having received such orders is good.
All the Daqian spies on Goose Sheep Mountain had been controlled by Mu Long. If she didn’t know about such orders, it meant they truly didn’t exist.
After a brief contemplation, Chen Mu came to some understanding.
After all, Goose Sheep Path had been a dominant Daoist Sect in Yunzhou for hundreds of years, powerful in its own right. Rather than setting traps and causing trouble, the Daqian Lock Dragon Institute would probably be glad to see Goose Sheep Path leave as soon as possible.
Without Goose Sheep Path, the Lock Dragon Institute would find it easier to take action against other smaller Qi Cultivator forces.
Just like in the past with Daqian, shortly after Jilong Road disappeared, the Lock Dragon Institute immediately began hunting down Qi Cultivators within its territory.
…
Five days later in the evening, on the east side of Goose Sheep Mountain, in Pingjiang, the Ping Ning Water Avoiding Shuttle lay quietly by the shore.
Countless Lower Institute Disciples gathered in small groups, standing in the distance to watch.
Envy, jealousy, bitterness, self-pity – a myriad of expressions were in full display, akin to a kaleidoscope.
These people were all disciples of Goose Sheep Mountain, but had been left behind because they hadn’t condensed the Primordial Talisman and thus lacked mana.
To become a Lower Institute Disciple of Goose Sheep Path, at the very least, one had to be an Armor Spirit Warrior. Each one of them either possessed extraordinary talent or remarkable perseverance and chance. In the mundane world, they all were extraordinary figures.
They had forsaken the wealth and honor at their fingertips and came to Goose Sheep Path solely for the purpose of Qi refinement and Cultivating Immortality, but now they had been abandoned at Goose Sheep Mountain.
With the changes in Yunzhou’s earth veins, and the Earth Spirit Vital Energy dwindling more each year, coupled with the chaos caused by the City God Tao, the path of Qi cultivation for these people was almost utterly severed.
“Fortunately, I’m not one of them.”
Chen Mu gave another glance, then turned and headed into the shuttle alongside Lei Hong.
“It’s fate that I’m on the same boat as Brother Li,” the stout Lei Hong chuckled, “Just that Brother Li, you’ve come rather late. Had you been any later, you might have missed the departure time.”
“Alas, after spending more than a decade at Goose Sheep Path, leaving now… there are some people I might never see again. There are some matters that also need a final resolution.”
Previously, he had been afraid of alerting the enemy, leaving the Mechanical imprint untouched. Now that departure was imminent, he couldn’t dare to board the ship with peace of mind without clearing it out.
“Brother Li is someone who cherishes the old times…” Lei Hong did not understand the underlying meaning but offered a polite compliment.
“In the end, it’s hard to leave one’s native soil…” Chen Mu went along with a feigned performance.
…
On the second floor of the New Yuan Tea House in area C on the Ping Ning Water Avoiding Shuttle, Chen Mu leaned against the window, cracking seeds, watching along with others as two old men by the window bickered over a game of chess.
His ears twitched slightly, and the voices of the surrounding people immediately reached his ears.
“We’ve been traveling under the Pingjiang water for three days and still haven’t entered the Sky-reaching River Waters?”
“They’re reducing speed, saying it’s to test and adjust various capabilities of the Water Avoiding Shuttle.”
“It’s a pity the Earth Spirit Element inside the shuttle is so sparse, making cultivation difficult…”
“Just take it as rest then. In the past, we were too busy earning White Jade Coins; when did we ever have time to relax like this?”
“It’d be nice if there was a Red Sleeve Pavilion around. There’s nowhere even to listen to music.”
“You want to listen to music, eh? I’m too embarrassed to even call you out on it, and aren’t you afraid of your wife scratching you?”
“I’m just asking you, do you want to listen or not?”
“I do!”
I want to listen too, unfortunately…
Chen Mu maintained a neutral expression, but inside he felt a deep sense of regret.
He called up the Gray Wall and looked at one of the columns.
Truthful Listening Technique: 8066/10000/Ninth Rank;
“Another fifty-plus points of experience, not bad.”
Since boarding the ship, Chen Mu had visited the Xinyuan Tea House every day for a while.
While brushing up on the Truthful Listening Technique, he also listened to various rumors and news circulating inside the Water Avoiding Shuttle.
After listening for a while longer and finding that most of the information was not new, Chen Mu stood up and left Xinyuan Tea House.
…
Moments later, on a street about four or five meters wide, stepping on translucent stone slabs that resembled white jade, Chen Mu walked while looking up.
At the top of the Water Avoiding Shuttle, crisscrossing streets and rows of neat buildings came into view.
Two sets of street buildings stood opposite each other, mirroring each other.
And at that moment, there were quite a few people on the streets, just like him, looking up towards his side.
“The Artifact Refiners of the Hundred Refinement Hall are truly extraordinary.”
He had only participated in the engraving of the Mustard Talisman, and after each expansion of the interior space was completed, he would be called to repair the next Water Avoiding Shuttle. Only when the ship was about to depart did he see the interior landscape of the Water Avoiding Shuttle for the first time.
Chen Mu truly didn’t expect that the top of the Water Avoiding Shuttle would also be filled with streets and attics.
Three days into the voyage, every time he saw it, he couldn’t help but marvel.
He had even specifically gone up there to experience it, and it felt just like standing on solid ground, without any hint of oddity.
“I wonder what kind of restriction is at play, able to perfectly draw people and buildings together, much like the natural gravity outside.”
As he walked, he looked with interest. Unfortunately, by the time he walked back to the two-story building arranged for him by the Lei Family, he still hadn’t figured out how it worked.
“It is most likely related to the Thousand-mile House Pocket Miniature Technique,” Chen Mu guessed in his mind, inadvertently looking towards the column for the Mustard Seed Spell on the Gray Wall.
Mustard Seed Spell: 7305/10000/Second Rank;
“When it reaches the Perfection of the Second Rank, perhaps I’ll be able to discern some of its mysteries.”
“But now, with no need to continue shipbuilding, to rapidly improve the Mustard Seed Spell, I still need to allocate special time for practice, which seems somewhat uneconomical.”
Chen Mu shook his head slightly, pushed open the door, and walked into the small building.
…
On the second floor, to the left, in a room that Chen Mu had specifically partitioned, the patterns of the small Light-Shielding Technique on the wall were faintly visible.
Beside the window on a low bed, Chen Mu sat cross-legged, taking out the Exquisite Jade Plate and placing it beside him.
“Lucky to have this treasure, otherwise I would have had to sit idly by like the people playing cards and chess in the Rest Tea House.”
Inside the Water Avoiding Shuttle, the Earth Spirit Vital Energy was extremely sparse, unable to support cultivation.
Only in the Dojos at both ends of the shuttle, with restrictions similar to the Exquisite Jade Plate, was there a sufficient concentration of Vital Energy.
Unfortunately, only the talented Core Disciples could stay there. Ordinary disciples, regardless of Upper Court or Lower Courtyard, had to pay a large sum of White Jade Money to enter.
The Boarding Jade Token had already drained ninety percent of their savings, and almost no one was able to cultivate in the Dojo.
“I can’t let anyone discover the Exquisite Jade Plate.”
After Chen Mu once again confirmed the effect of the small Light-Shielding Technique, he then inserted a White Jade Coin into the center of the Jade Plate.
After a few breaths, threads of Earth Spirit Vital Energy appeared around him. It was then drawn by an invisible force, entering inside Chen Mu’s body.
It didn’t take long for the mana depleted from using the Truthful Listening Technique to be automatically replenished.
“Similar to the Earth Vein Spiritual Spring, capable of generating Earth Spirit Vital Energy, the restrictions within the Jade Plate are definitely not simple,” Chen Mu studied the silver star patterns on the Jade Plate.
Over the years, he tried more than once to analyze it, but unfortunately, he gained nothing.
To him, the mysteries within the Jade Plate were still too difficult.
“I fear that only after reaching the River Chariot or even establishing the Daoist Foundation will the secrets of the Jade Plate begin to reveal themselves.”
Chen Mu shook his head and ceased dwelling on the thought, closing his eyes to introspect his Jade Seed.
In its center, the nine-layered Divine Orifice Talisman rotated slowly and chaotically.
On the silver hollow sphere, dense black patterns sprawled, exuding threads of mysterious aura.
Enveloping the surroundings was the black mist belonging to the Dark Cloud True Method.
Seeing this, Chen Mu couldn’t help but smile.
“The Five Ghosts Bag provides Primordial Energy, the Dark Cloud Skill operates on its own, clearing the way for refining the Divine Orifice.”
“What I lack now is just a period of safe and stable cultivation time.”
“Now that Goose Sheep Path is relocating to Hai Province, it is quite safe within the Water Avoiding Shuttle, just the right time to use this period to advance the refinement of my Divine Orifice!”
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