Chapter 205

Liu Liu Xiaolou would not be like the Longshan Loose Practitioner of years past, breaking through by force; that was too exhausting and did not befit the style of an array master. A true array master breaks a formation with ease, completely devoid of any signs of struggle.

Following the method taught by Liu Daoran, after calculating the result, he stepped on the Big Dipper Xuan Shu Gang, mixed with the Primordial Dipper Steps, each step landing on the key of the formation. In less than half a cup of tea's time, he walked out of the encirclement of countless layers of earth ridges and arrived beneath the ten-thousand-year-old pine.

The ten-thousand-year-old pine possessed an inherent sense of vigor; the ancient and desolate aura rushing toward him carried a natural deterrent, like an elder who had experienced all the world's cold and warmth, watching Liu Liu Xiaolou with a scrutinizing gaze.

Liu Liu Xiaolou could not help but feel a trace of awe. He looked up for a moment, subconsciously cupped his hands in salute, and only then calmed his heart to search for the amber pine resin essence among the trunk and branches.

The pine resin essence was the essence of the sun and moon condensed by the ten-thousand-year-old pine, a spiritual quintessence that overflowed from the trunk like the tree's tears. All he needed to do was collect these teardrops overflowing from the branches.

It took half an hour to finally pick all these teardrops of pine resin essence, kneading them into a ball of pine resin essence the size of a dog's head. His heart was filled with infinite joy; having endured such hardship to travel a thousand miles south, it was truly worth it!

With just this large ball of pine resin essence, he could refine a great deal of Illusory Fragrant Tendons; using it freely, there would be no problem using it for three to five years!

After checking again, Liu Liu Xiaolou confirmed he had missed nothing, picking everything that could be picked, and only then did he let go. It would likely be five or ten years before this ten-thousand-year-old pine could grow so much pine resin essence again.

Satisfied, he looked at the pine branches again, but in the end, he restrained himself and did not break any off. To him, the pine resin essence was the true quintessence of this ten-thousand-year-old pine. While the pine branches were indeed top-tier treasures for refining, breaking them would trigger the formation to report to Flying Cloud Peak. Since he had already achieved the purpose of his trip, there was no need to invite extra trouble.

The Longshan Loose Practitioners of the past had come specifically for the pine branches, so taking risks was only natural, but he had no such need. After all, he was only at the sixth stage of Qi Refinement, and he would be much slower if he had to flee.

Therefore, he suppressed the greed in his heart, turned, and left. He once again slipped out of the trap formation without a sound, returned to the opposite side of the deep ravine along the vine bridge, flicked the vine rope, loosened the slipknot, retrieved the rope, dug a pit in a secluded spot to bury it, eliminated all clues, and hurried down the mountain before dawn.

Liu Liu Xiaolou's steps were light and quick. After descending Huashou Terrace, he soon entered Green Glow Valley, walking along the edge as usual, pondering as he went:

With so much pine resin essence, once the young masters of the "Don't-Erect Circle" gathered the materials needed for the array plate, he could refine a simplified version of the Abyss-Facing Profound Stone Array according to his design.

This time, the pine resin essence had been obtained without any effort, not even spending a single spirit stone. After completing the array plate, it would be equivalent to a net profit of twenty spirit stones, and he could collect a fixed sum for array plate maintenance every six months thereafter. This business was quite good.

If he were to discover another "Don't-Erect Circle" outside of Spirit Wushan and refine another set of array plates, wouldn't his income double?

It was just that such "Don't-Erect Circles" were always very hidden; where should he go to find them?

Should he take the time to go to Yuezhou and visit Zhou Qingzhu? Didn't she claim to have a lot of contact with such people?

The road ahead was becoming brighter and brighter. As long as he worked hard, he truly had hope of earning enough one hundred spirit stones. When the one-year term arrived, he would return to Spirit Wushan and formally ask Steward Song if his promise still held, and if he could take Su Su away!

The journey there was slow, and the journey back was fast; travel was always like this. Before he knew it, he was out of Green Glow Valley, and the mountain walls on both sides spread out and became lower.

Seeing that he was about to leave Er Yue Peak, and after circling around a bit more, he could leave Luo Fu Mountain before dawn. Liu Liu Xiaolou was in a great mood. But his mood took a sharp turn for the worse after only a few breaths.

A person was standing on the path ahead, with their back to him, looking up at the stars.

Liu Liu Xiaolou subconsciously put on his bamboo hat and covered his face with a black cloth.

The person turned around, but the half-smiling expression on their face froze, and they couldn't help but scold: "Put away the bamboo hat and black cloth; who are you hiding from?"

Of course, Liu Liu Xiaolou would not take off his bamboo hat and black cloth just because of a single sentence. The Profound Truth Rope on his wrist pulsed faintly, his right hand curled slightly upward, ready to draw his sword at any time, and the array plate also slid halfway out of his sleeve, landing at his left fingertips.

First, see what this person's background was; if the background was wrong, he would prepare to act.

Entangle the enemy with the Profound Truth Rope to weaken their strength, then strike with the Three Mystical Swords and flee immediately—this was the tactic Liu Liu Xiaolou had planned. If he couldn't escape, he would have to respond with an array formation. However, since the array plate had been repaired, he hadn't added any Illusory Fragrant Tendons, so its efficacy was greatly reduced, becoming an ordinary illusion array. It was hard to say who would win once he made his move.

The opponent seemed to have very rich combat experience. With just one glance, he saw through Liu Liu Xiaolou's subtle preparations and said with disdain: "I've been watching you for a day. Do you think I don't know what kind of thief you are? Sixth stage or seventh stage of Qi Refinement? In any case, it definitely doesn't exceed the seventh stage. With such cultivation, you still want to put up a desperate struggle? I advise you to extinguish this thought early and don't make any futile struggles."

As he spoke, an ancient bronze sword suddenly appeared beside him, hovering in the air and humming.

Liu Liu Xiaolou's heart sank to the bottom.

He hadn't seen clearly how the opponent drew the sword—whether it was drawn by hand or flew out from within the body. If it was drawn by hand, the opponent was at the perfection of Qi Refinement; if it flew out from the body, it was Foundation Establishment. As for Golden Core, it was unlikely; a Golden Core cultivator wouldn't need to draw a sword against a small Qi Refinement cultivator like him.

Fight one-on-one with a master who was at least at the perfection of Qi Refinement? Liu Liu Xiaolou didn't think he had that ability, especially since his Illusory Fragrant Tendons weren't ready; there was absolutely no hope. Therefore, he immediately adjusted his mindset, pulled off his bamboo hat and black cloth, cupped his hands, and bowed: "May I ask your esteemed name?"

"I am Zhao Ru Yu, a mountain-patrolling deacon of the Luo Fu Sect's inner sect. I've been watching you since you went up to Huashou Terrace. No need to say anything else, right?"

"Ah, I mistakenly believed the rumors in the world, thinking Er Yue Peak was ownerless land... Um, I admire the style of the great Luo Fu Sect, so I couldn't help but go up the mountain. I hope Zhao Zhishi will be lenient."

"Ha, who told you Er Yue Peak was ownerless land?"

"This... I can't remember for a moment... Perhaps I heard wrong."

"Then what were you doing running into the Earth Gate Formation?"

"I am fond of array formations. This... seeing a hunt and feeling happy, it was purely for the sake of researching array formations, with no malicious intent."

"You are an array master? From which school?"

"I am a loose practitioner, just a small loose practitioner. Because of my fondness, I taught myself array formations and don't belong to any school or sect."

Zhao Ru Yu stared at Liu Liu Xiaolou and sized him up for a while, making Liu Liu Xiaolou feel completely uncomfortable, then said: "What about the ten-thousand-year-old pine branches? Where did you hide them?"

Liu Liu Xiaolou spread his arms, took off his basket, and poured out the things inside: "Zhao Zhishi, I really didn't take any pine branches. I just went in to look at that array formation. Look, this gourd is miasma I collected while traveling in the mountains and wilderness, and this leather bag contains a type of wild beehive; they are all materials for refining array plates. If your sect needs them, I can offer them all."

Zhao Ru Yu scolded: "Does my Luo Fu Sect covet these little things of yours?"

Liu Liu Xiaolou hurriedly put them away: "Ah, yes, yes, yes, my vision is too low."

Zhao Ru Yu suddenly said: "Wait, what is in this cloth bag of yours?"

Liu Liu Xiaolou untied the cloth bag: "Ah, it's just that when I was researching your sect's array formation, I saw some of this pine resin under the tree, so I picked it up along the way."

Zhao Ru Yu sneered: "Under the tree? Does pine resin fall under the tree?"

Liu Liu Xiaolou defended himself: "Under the tree... on the trunk."

Zhao Ru Yu said: "This is called pine resin essence, a material my Luo Fu Sect uses to refine divine talismans. Not to mention that it doesn't fall to the ground, even if it did, ha, falling under the tree, it's not something you can just pick up!"

Liu Liu Xiaolou nodded incessantly: "Yes, yes, yes, I will return it immediately. I really didn't know."

Zhao Ru Yu scoffed: "Pick up? You can pick up so much? You came specifically for the pine resin essence, didn't you? Preparing to use it to refine an array plate?"

Liu Liu Xiaolou admitted: "Ah, this... nothing can escape the deacon's discerning eyes."

Zhao Ru Yu tilted his head and sized up Liu Liu Xiaolou: "Are you really an array master?"

Liu Liu Xiaolou swore to the heavens: "Absolutely genuine! Zhao Zhishi can test me on the spot."

Zhao Ru Yu nodded, waved his hand, and said: "Alright then, come with me up the mountain, and I will test you properly."