Chapter 208: Seeking Self-Preservation

"Ding Huan, I know you must have opinions about how the Sect Master handled Dong Lishang and Gong Hua.

The Sect Master had no choice. We and the Jiuyinmen are bound to have a fight coming. Dong Lishang and Gong Hua are the two strongest True Core elders in our sect."

Liu Yinzhu accompanied Ding Huan out, her tone carrying a hint of guilt.

She knew Ding Huan's temperament—being confronted so bluntly, and then under circumstances where he was in the right, the Sect Master only punished with three cups of wine.

For Ding Huan to be satisfied with such a punishment would be strange indeed.

Ding Huan said, unconcerned:

"The Sect Master handles sect affairs—how could an outsider like me be dissatisfied? I still need to ask Sister Yinzhu for a favor."

Liu Yinzhu naturally didn't believe Ding Huan's words. Qing Yu schemed against Ding Huan, and Ding Huan would scheme back at the slightest opportunity—how could he not care?

Now that Ding Huan spoke this way, she could only go along with him:

"What's there to be polite about with me? Just say it."

Ding Huan raised the Guest Elder jade token in his hand:

"Sister Yinzhu, I have a hundred thousand contribution points here. I want to exchange for some things—take me there."

Ding Huan had refused the identity of Sect Master's heir. But he had to have some identity to obtain the contribution points jade token, so in the end he could only take it under the identity of a Guest Elder.

Such a small matter, Liu Yinzhu naturally wouldn't refuse.

The surroundings of Purple Mist Valley were rich in resources, so although Purple Mist Valley's strength was nothing special, the sect's storehouse still had quite a few good things.

Ding Huan followed Liu Yinzhu to the Resource Exchange Hall and was stunned by the variety of materials—how could there be so many?

Huan Yuan Stone, one piece for five contribution points; Refined Gold, ten contribution points per piece; Hundred-Thousand-Year Iron Tree Root, fifty contribution points per section…

"Give me a hundred Purple Thunder Crystals, a thousand Huan Yuan Stones… Binding Iron too, I'll take it—five hundred pieces.

Second-grade Double-Horned Leopard horns, twenty pairs; Brilliant Yuan Geng Gold is available too? Give me ten pieces…"

Seeing Ding Huan take everything cold and hot, wanting everything, even Liu Yinzhu was stunned, let alone the deacon in charge of exchanges.

Until she saw Ding Huan exchange nearly all hundred thousand contribution points, with all kinds of materials in the process, she thought to herself—does Ding Huan want to leave?

"Ding Huan, what are you exchanging so many materials for?"

Liu Yinzhu completely didn't understand Ding Huan's meaning. The materials Ding Huan exchanged ranged from grade one to grade four, everything available.

If fifth-grade materials weren't scarce and expensive, she suspected Ding Huan would want to exchange those too.

Ding Huan said awkwardly: "My cultivation hasn't progressed much, so I want to learn artifact refining and the like."

Having exchanged all hundred thousand contribution points, Ding Huan didn't feel the slightest embarrassment.

This was what he got from saving Gu Mo's life—a transaction, and it belonged to him.

Liu Yinzhu knew Ding Huan was a first-grade array master. Now Ding Huan wanted to learn artifact refining too—she speechlessly covered her forehead.

Fortunately, Ding Huan didn't exchange for spiritual medicines to refine pills, otherwise she would probably have immediately advised Ding Huan not to do useless work.

From the fact that Ding Huan exchanged all his contribution points, it could be seen that Ding Huan had no intention of staying long at Purple Mist Valley.

She indeed hadn't misjudged Ding Huan. After the Sect Master made the punishment of three cups of wine, Ding Huan was already very disappointed in the Sect Master.

……

"Brother Huan, today someone attacked our protective array, and what did Elder Jia call you away for?"

As soon as Ding Huan returned to Morning Glow Peak, Yan Mei hurried over to ask.

"Someone in Purple Mist Valley wants to kill me. You must work hard to improve your strength—we may leave here at any time." Ding Huan shared his judgment.

"Ah…" Yan Mei panicked a little. If someone in the sect wanted to kill them, didn't that mean they couldn't leave the sect?

"You don't need to worry. The people who want to kill me have been confined. Although they could come out at any time, for the sake of appearances, they'll be confined for at least about a year."

Ding Huan knew Yan Mei was a bit like a startled bird.

Yan Mei quickly said: "Then can we leave now?"

Ding Huan shook his head:

"Leaving now would be seeking death. Just focus on cultivating, don't worry about anything else."

Gong Hua and Dong Lishang had so many accomplices, and now they had a hundred percent set their sights on him. If he dared to leave Purple Mist Valley now, the next moment he would be surrounded and attacked by True Core elders.

At Morning Glow Peak, at least about a year would be safe.

After a year, it would be hard to say. In Ding Huan's judgment, neither Dong Lishang nor Gong Hua would actually be confined at Canyuan Cliff for three years.

Even if on the surface they were confined for three years, they still had chances to come out at any time.

As long as they could come out, Gong Hua would definitely find his way to Morning Glow Peak at the first moment and kill him.

Given Gu Mo's nature like this, if he, Ding Huan, were killed, at most Gong Hua would be punished with one cup of wine, and Gu Mo would even have dishes served to Gong Hua.

"Brother Huan, I'll hurry to cultivate now." Yan Mei didn't dare delay at all and rushed to go into closed-door cultivation.

Seeing Yan Mei go cultivate, Old Six also got anxious. It couldn't reach Foundation Establishment, just waiting here in vain.

"Brother Huan, what should I do?" Old Six was so anxious he scratched his ears and cheeks.

In West Wind City, it had been swaggering around and forgot about other things. Now that there was no chance to swagger, it could only think about Foundation Establishment again.

Ding Huan patted Old Six on the head:

"You keep seeking opportunities for Foundation Establishment, don't fear failure. When my cultivation advances another step, I'll help you solve this problem."

Old Six's inability to reach Foundation Establishment wasn't a capability issue, but a talent/aptitude issue.

"Yes, Brother Huan." Old Six cheered up.

In its understanding, Ding Huan's strength was so-so, but he had plenty of ideas.

Otherwise, how could it—one of the illustrious and mighty Chaos Four Monkeys—be Ding Huan's beast pet?

After Old Six and Yan Mei went into closed-door cultivation, Ding Huan began researching arrays.

Ding Huan had already reached the level of a second-grade array master. The reason he couldn't set up a second-grade array before was that he had no artifact-grade array flags.

Now that he had refined artifact-grade array flags himself, Ding Huan easily set up a second-grade array.

After becoming a Level Two Array Master, Ding Huan did not modify the protective array outside Zhaoxia Peak; he merely placed a trigger array at its edge.

Anyone who enters Zhaoxia Peak will surely detect it.

After completing this, Ding Huan continued to set up Level Two trapping arrays, stealth-killing arrays, and defensive arrays outside his cave dwelling.

After several days of arranging these arrays, Ding Huan resumed studying artifact forging.

Ding Huan's talent was average, but the knowledge he held about pills, artifacts, talismans, and arrays was simply too vast.

Under Ding Huan's frantic study, these artifact-forging techniques quickly became interconnected in his mind.

Two months later, Ding Huan could forge Level Three Mid-grade artifacts.

Being able to forge Level Three Mid-grade artifacts was sufficient for Ding Huan.

He resumed studying arrays.

In the short term, he could never break through the Star Cloud realm; to survive, he could only rely on arrays.

Gu Mo's way of handling matters was to tolerate Gong Hua and Dong Lishang's abuses.

Gong Hua and Dong Lishang dared act so brazenly not only because of Gu Mo's position as sect master, but also because they had a Core Soul peak elder behind them.

By the fifth month, Ding Huan could effortlessly set up Level Three arrays, and he had already forged a pile of Level Three array discs.

Ding Huan very much wanted to continue learning Level Four array arrangements, but he knew clearly he could not possibly set up a Level Four array in the short term.

Unless he broke through the Star Cloud realm, or studied array arts for another ten years or more.

After replacing all protective arrays at his residence and locking them with a concealment array, Ding Huan finally sighed in relief.

Now, even if Gong Hua or Dong Lishang came to him, he would not fear them.

During this time, Gu Mo was overwhelmed trying to reclaim Zi Yuan Zhongshan for Zixia Valley and had no time to come after him.

Liu Liu Yinzhu, Gu Mo's trusted assistant, was naturally just as busy.

Ding Huan decided to take this opportunity to cultivate for a while.

Zhaoxia Peak offered such excellent conditions; he had spent half a year only on artifact forging and array setting—it was truly a waste.

As soon as Ding Huan began cultivating, Yan Mei and Lao Liu sensed it.

Thick celestial spiritual energy was swept toward Ding Huan, and within moments, Zhaoxia Peak was once again shrouded in it.

Fortunately, the concealment protective array concealed it; outsiders could not see the swirling spiritual energy here.

Feeling his cultivation rise rapidly once more, Ding Huan thought: What if his talent was poor? He had top-tier cultivation techniques.

Besides, he was a Gene Spirit Root—could a Gene Spirit Root really be called poor talent?

With such dense celestial spiritual energy being drawn in, Ding Huan was one hundred percent certain a spiritual vein lay beneath Zhaoxia Peak.

He did not know its grade, nor did he need to know.

In less than ten days, Ding Huan's fourth cloud of star energy condensed into form, followed by the embryonic form of his fifth star cloud.

Several more months passed, and Ding Huan had already condensed his tenth star cloud.

This made Ding Huan uneasy—he felt that as long as he kept absorbing celestial qi, he could keep forming new star clouds in his dantian.

According to the principle that nine is the ultimate number, he should have sought to break through to the next realm after forming nine star clouds.

But Ding Huan soon calmed down.

For ordinary cultivators, Foundation Establishment was the late stage of refining essence into qi, while the True Pill realm was the beginning of refining qi into spirit.

From Foundation Establishment to True Pill, even the most talented cultivator would need about ten years, right?

If you subtract the time he spent cultivating the Luo Shi Jing on Earth.

How long had he really cultivated so far? Only a little over a year—how could he possibly break through the Star Cloud realm so quickly?

Keep condensing star clouds.

As time passed, when Ding Huan had condensed twelve star clouds, he felt he could no longer form a thirteenth.

Was twelve the ultimate number for the Star Cloud stage of the Great Cosmic Technique?

If so, he would need to continue deducing the cultivation method beyond the star clouds.

Calculating it, he had already been here for over a year.

But why hadn't Gong Hua come yet? Had he misjudged?

While Ding Huan was still thinking, he sensed the protective array of Zhaoxia Peak being triggered.

Someone had arrived.

Soon, Ding Huan's spiritual sense saw Liu Liu Yinzhu rushing up urgently.

"Ding Huan!" Liu Liu Yinzhu and Ding Huan were old acquaintances; she didn't need to announce her arrival.

Ding Huan stepped out; Liu Liu Yinzhu looked worn out, her cultivation having barely advanced.

This made Ding Huan sigh—sect affairs should have been left to those elders who originally supported Gong Hua.

Gu Mo had dumped all sect duties onto Liu Liu Yinzhu; Ding Huan was speechless.

Now was the best time for Liu Liu Yinzhu to advance her cultivation; instead of closing her door to cultivate, she ran around daily for trivial matters—it was excessive.

If Gu Mo needed someone to handle affairs, did he need Liu Liu Yinzhu to run errands herself?

"Sister Yinzhu, come in and sit." Ding Huan invited Liu Liu Yinzhu into the reception chamber.

Liu Liu Yinzhu saw that Ding Huan's cultivation seemed to have barely increased; she dared not be certain.

After all, when he first reached Foundation Establishment, she hadn't sensed it—the more advanced his cultivation, the less it showed on the surface.

"Ding Huan, I came today to warn you: be careful. I suspect Dong Lishang and Gong Hua will emerge soon."

Liu Liu Yinzhu was also helpless.

The sect master needed the strength of these two elders; she could not object, since her own strength was weak.

To her surprise, Ding Huan showed no shock upon hearing her words; instead, he said:

"Are you about to go to war with Jiuyin Sect?"

(That's all for today's update, friends, good night, please support me with your monthly tickets!)