Chapter 83: The Temptation of a Million Spirit Stones

The Xiao family's lesson this time actually lasted a full one-fourth of a Spirit Realm day.

Put in the lower realm, that would be just over seven days.

Wang Ping, whose foundation has always been weak, this time truly managed to dispel his doubts about achieving the great perfection of Qi Refining and advancing to Foundation Establishment.

Wang Ping felt that, given his current understanding of the great perfection of Qi Refining and breaking through to Foundation Establishment, he would probably surpass many Foundation Establishment cultivators in the lower realm.

He now has no other thoughts; he only wants to immediately enter seclusion, exert himself fully in cultivation, striving to reach the limit of the great perfection of Qi Refining as quickly as possible, then attempt to break through that limit; if he cannot, he will not force it and will directly proceed to Foundation Establishment.

The realm of great perfection in Qi Refining is ultimately still a bit low; nowadays the West Drooping Lands are probably no longer an era where one could roam freely with just great perfection in Qi Refining.

Therefore, after the lesson ended, he did not directly cultivate in the Xiao family's lecture courtyard; instead, he directly returned to the lower realm.

Wang Ping harbored a concern: he feared that cultivating there would attract the attention of those great supernatural cultivators of the Xiao family.

Although this possibility is small, he is unwilling to take the risk; with the silver stone gate, he still has many chances to enter the Spirit Realm, so there's no need to rush.

This time he only stayed in the Spirit Realm for one-fourth of a Spirit Realm day; next time he enters, he will have four Spirit Realm days.

Cultivation done in one continuous effort is often the best.

During this period, he decided to properly practice the Divine Sense Condensing Hammer method.

Wang Ping knows that the next time he enters the Spirit Realm, he will likely cultivate directly to the limit of great perfection in Qi Refining.

Given his inferior spiritual root aptitude, he fears that heavenly and earthly resistance will appear when he condenses about fifty strands, and he wonders whether the Qingdi Changsheng Gong will provide any aid.

After suppressing these thoughts, Wang Ping, upon returning to the cultivation world, first used his divine sense to survey the ground; finding everything normal, he then examined the eggs of the Heaven-Flying Soul-Eating Butterfly before beginning to practice the Divine Sense Twisting Hammer method.

Since embarking on the path of cultivation, Wang Ping's cultivation life has been almost as still as a dead pool.

Only in the market did he stir up some ripples, but with his early escape, those ripples merely made a single wave before calm returned.

In the early stages of cultivation, sometimes after finishing practice, Wang Ping's state of mind had also experienced some ripples.

Feeling that this was bitter and hard to persist, whenever such emotions arose, he would recall the sensation of his first wind-riding flight, breaking free from the earth's bonds.

As his cultivation deepened, he now rarely experiences such emotions.

Day and night passed, Wang Ping paid no attention at all; his current energy is wholly focused on that one-catty stone.

Lift up, put down!

Lift up again, put down again!

He has performed this action so many times that even Wang Ping himself can't recall the count.

Fortunately, he possesses an innate tenacity, allowing him to repeat this tedious action over and over without tiring.

Using divine sense to lift the one-catty stone, the feeling is clearest only at the moment the stone leaves the ground; if the sensing time is too long, numbness arises.

After all, with Wang Ping's current divine sense strength, controlling a five- to six-hundred-catty object for an hour is no problem.

Therefore, for a mere one-catty stone, if the sensing exceeds a single breath, there will be completely no sensation.

The sensation is clearest precisely at the instant the stone leaves the ground.

Past that point, that sensation gradually becomes blurred.

Until he felt he had completely memorized that sensation, he then turned his gaze to the twenty stones on the ground that are almost identical.

Among these stones, only three are standard one-catty weight; the others are slightly heavier, but none exceed one tael.

Wang Ping used spiritual power to lift them all off the ground, then withdrew his divine sense, sealed his five senses, and abruptly withdrew his spiritual power's control over them.

Because his five senses were sealed, he could not hear the sound of the stones landing.

After silently counting five numbers in his heart, Wang Ping

He opened his eyes, without the opportunity to observe with his naked eye, directly using his divine sense to lift a stone.

No feeling!

Lifting a stone again still gave no feeling; Wang Ping was not discouraged, and as he lifted another stone and waited for it to leave the ground, a familiar sensation suddenly surfaced in his mind.

This is the stone! Without hesitation, Wang Ping directly placed it aside.

Continue onward!

After twenty breaths, three stones were singled out by him.

Then he made a simple balance board, placing the training stones and experimental stones on either side, and his divine sense closely monitored the board's changes.

First stone, the balance board remained still; second stone, likewise unmoved; third stone, also unmoved!

Success! Wang Ping's heart eased.

Day-and-night practice has finally allowed him to condense the Divine Sense Hammer!

"Huh?"

Just then, Wang Ping slightly furrowed his brow.

His divine sense slowly released; in the northeast direction, ten cultivators a hundred zhang away were sneaking toward that rock wall over fifty zhang high!

"Heh heh heh heh! Ancient Dao Friend, are you sure that Lan Ming is really here? Damn! That guy can really run, actually fleeing to this godforsaken place! If it weren't for the million spirit stones, I wouldn't put up with this bird's anger."

On the ground, among the ten cultivators, a short, dark-complexioned middle-aged cultivator spoke gloomily.

Sure enough, they're here for me!

Wang Ping underground flashed a cold light in his eyes; he ultimately still underestimated the allure of a million spirit stones.

At that moment, another voice sounded; Wang Ping immediately listened carefully:

"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Zhu You Shan; although Lan Ming's position cannot be determined by divination, based on the information we've gathered, he is naturally cautious, and once he leaves, he will definitely go to a place where few people tread."

"In the West Drooping Lands, the only places where few people tread are the barren wastes; he very likely is hiding right here."

"Furthermore, the reason I'm certain he's here is this tracking butterfly in my hand; once it arrived here, it became unusually active!"

Wang Ping underground, upon hearing of the tracking butterfly, flashed a hint of astonishment in the depths of his eyes.

The Spirit Insect Cultivation Notes state that the tracking butterfly can locate a person according to the vital spirit's qi, which is not merely scent but also the traces one leaves in the world.

Water passing leaves traces; geese passing leave sounds.

Any existing living being inevitably leaves traces; as long as the tracking butterfly remembers such traces, it is basically impossible to escape its pursuit.

Trace-seeking butterfly!

Wang Ping kept muttering, this is a good thing.

On the ground, a tall cultivator said in a deep, resonant voice:

"Friends, according to the news, Lan Ming's combat power is astonishing; in the battle at the Shopping City, as soon as the azure sword light appeared, no cultivator could withstand it, and in one battle he slew more than thirty Qi Refining Grand Perfection cultivators! This combat power is nearly approaching the limit of Qi Refining cultivators; even if somewhat inferior, it's not far off—we probably aren't his match!"

"Hahaha! Fellow Daoist Li Yan, rest assured; according to the news, Lan Ming has such combat power only because he relies on that supreme-grade magic sword in his hand—if we seal it, we can seal half of his power, and then, with our perfect cooperation, capturing him will be a piece of cake!"

An old Daoist wearing Eight Trigrams robes explained with a squinting smile:

Li Yan shouted in shock: "Could it be that you still have a magic treasure?"

Upon hearing that, the old Daoist couldn't help but roll his eyes inwardly; "A magic treasure—you really dare to dream!"

However, Li Yan's combat power is extremely high; he once slew three cultivators of the same rank in a single battle, so he also dare not offend them.

Moreover, since we're already here, there's no need to hide it any longer; thus, mysteriously, he produced from his bosom a black clay pot one palm high and two palms wide.

"Please look, Fellow Daoist Li!" the old Daoist slightly opened the clay pot a crack, then rather proudly said to Li Yan:

Driven by curiosity, Li Yan forgot the past and immediately said somewhat bewilderedly:

"What is this? Why does it look so viscous? And there's a nauseating fishy smell!" Li Yan inadvertently inhaled a whiff, suppressing the urge to vomit as he furrowed his brow and asked:

"Hehe! This is a good thing, called viscous slime; it specifically counters extremely sharp magic weapons—once it touches them, they become extremely sticky, hard objects, like vines, both tough and hard, and it also contaminates magic weapons, even supreme-grade ones are no exception!"

"In the world of cultivation, magic weapons and treasures are never invincible; each has its own counter—this saying is indeed true!"

Upon hearing that, Li Yan said somewhat emotionally:

Hiss!

Wang Ping, listening underground, also sucked in a breath of cold air; this group has studied him thoroughly, and they probably also have a combined-attack formation coming up!

No! We must first kill that old Daoist, then kill the master of the trace-seeking butterfly!

Only then will he be unable to defeat us, allowing him to flee with peace of mind.

On the ground, this team of ten cultivators had gradually slipped out of the range of Wang Ping's divine sense.

Seeing this, Wang Ping retracted the Heaven-devouring Soul Butterfly, silently walked out of the underground abode; at this moment, the sun was setting, the light dim, and even with Wang Ping's eyesight he could not make out the condition of those ten.

Thus he flew close to the ground, extending his divine sense to its limit, able to sense conditions up to one hundred fifty zhang away.

Those cultivators advanced slowly; after only twenty breaths, Wang Ping's divine sense detected them.

Seeing this, Wang Ping also determined one thing: that the trace-seeking butterfly is probably still in its juvenile stage, only able to sense a general direction; otherwise, just now they would have been able to pinpoint their location.

"Stop!"

In Wang Ping's perception, the cultivator leading the way abruptly stopped a hundred zhang away.

"Lan Ming's combat power is extremely high; we cannot rule out that his spiritual power is formidable—if we go further we might be discovered by him! Let him detect us early and flee again!" the leading cultivator said.

"What should we do?" Zhu You Shan asked anxiously, his temper always bad.

"Don't worry!" the leading cultivator said. "We brought this time spirit-power isolating stones that can block the opponent's spiritual power. Now we need a fellow cultivator to hold the spirit-power isolating stone and go ahead to scout Lan Ming's position; then we can launch a coordinated attack, giving him no chance to sneak away—at worst we can destroy any possible hidden passages to prevent his escape."

The leading cultivator, unhurried and deliberate, analyzed:

But who should go is a problem; Lan Ming's combat power has been spread abroad—going alone to scout, a single encounter could mean death.

Doing this is too risky; several people are somewhat hesitant.