Chapter 170 - 166: Spirit Essence Fruit
Li Yuan first returned to the Array’s location at the top of the slope.
The Array had already stopped. Grayish-white Array Stones lay scattered among the bushes, their halos completely extinguished.
In the groove next to the Spirit Stone, the Spirit Essence Fruit was still there.
The emerald-green fruit lay embedded in the groove, its faint golden luster dimmer than before. After the Array had drawn out its aura, the Spirit Essence Fruit’s Spiritual Qi fluctuations had weakened slightly, but the fruit itself was perfectly intact.
Li Yuan took the Spirit Essence Fruit from the groove and placed it back in the milky-white jade box Uncle Qu had used. He closed the lid and stored it deep within his storage pouch.
’With Uncle Qu gone, I can’t leave this out in the open.’
Then he walked back to the robber cultivator’s corpse, squatted down, and began to search the body.
A bowl-sized hole had been blasted through the chest of his dark-brown leather armor. The edges were charred and still smoldering. Beneath it, he wore a form-fitting, gray cloth undershirt. Tucked into the left breast pocket was a Token. A blurry character was carved on its back, too indistinct to read.
The short blade at his waist was ordinary iron, emitting no fluctuations of Spiritual Power. It wasn’t worth much.
The storage pouch hung from the right side of his belt. It was a grayish-brown, coarse cloth bag, its craftsmanship clearly inferior to Li Yuan’s own.
Li Yuan untied the storage pouch. It was packed with items.
There were several bottles of medicinal pills, none of them labeled. He opened and sniffed them. Two smelled of Breaking Evil Pills, and one contained Replenishing Essence Pills. Another bottle held unfamiliar, dark-gold pills; bringing it closer, he caught a rich, ore-like scent.
Thirty-odd Spirit Stones were scattered at the bottom of the pouch.
There was also a worn flying dagger, a Tier One Middle Grade Magical Artifact with two Spirit Patterns carved into its blade.
A scroll of bamboo slips, tightly bound with ox-tendon rope, contained a cultivation manual. He unrolled it for a quick look and saw it was for an Earth Magic Skill.
He dumped all the contents of the robber cultivator’s storage pouch into his own—the pills, Spirit Stones, flying dagger, and bamboo scroll—leaving nothing behind. Then, he stood up and scanned his surroundings.
His Aura Imprint reacted.
’It’s not just one person.’
To the northeast, several auras were closing in fast. Their Cultivation levels ranged from the Qi Refining Fifth Level to the Qi Refining Seventh Level. They were moving quickly, as if they had received some kind of signal and were now rushing over at full speed.
Li Yuan glanced to the northeast.
Several figures emerged from the woods at the foot of the mountain, running up the gravel slope. They were about two hundred zhang away, and the distance was closing fast.
They wore uniform grayish-cyan robes, and the Tokens at their waists were all of the same design.
’The Li family’s uniform.’
There were four of them. The one in the lead had the highest Cultivation at the Qi Refining Seventh Level. The three behind him were two at the Qi Refining Sixth Level and one at the Qi Refining Fifth Level.
Li Yuan didn’t hesitate. He turned and headed south.
His pace was unhurried, yet each stride covered twice the normal distance. The acceleration from his Divine Movement Step was subtle; from the outside, it just looked like he was walking quickly, but his actual speed was already approaching a jog.
’I can’t get tangled up with the Li family, especially since Uncle Qu isn’t here.’
Li Yuan moved quickly down a small gravel path on the southern side of the slope. After he passed two clumps of low bushes, the line of sight from the hillside was blocked.
He heard shouting from behind him, but he couldn’t make out what was being said. Footsteps moved on the slope, but they didn’t give chase.
Li Yuan continued south.
After leaving the slope, he didn’t head directly back to the outer area of the Secret Realm, instead veering southwest for a stretch.
’If the Li family members saw my direction of departure from the slope, heading straight for the outer area would mean exposing my route. It’s much safer to take a detour before heading back.’
After walking for about a quarter of an hour, the terrain changed from a gravel slope to a patch of mixed woods. The canopies blocked most of the sunlight, leaving the forest dim.
His Aura Imprint reacted again.
’Very faint.’
To the northwest, about three to four hundred zhang away, a familiar aura drifted over, faint and intermittent.
’Uncle Qu.’
The aura was extremely weak, several magnitudes lower than normal. It didn’t seem deliberately suppressed; rather, it felt chaotic, like his Spiritual Power was leaking out from an injury, causing his aura to become unstable.
Li Yuan faltered, standing and facing northwest for the space of two breaths.
Then, the aura vanished abruptly.
It didn’t fade away, but vanished from his senses in an instant, as if severed by something.
Li Yuan did not take a step in that direction.
’An aura disappearing so suddenly could only mean one of two things. Either Uncle Qu actively used some technique to conceal his presence, or something bad has happened.’
’Regardless of which it is, going over there now would be unwise.’
’If it’s the former, then Uncle Qu is in hiding, and my approach would only expose his position.’
’If it’s the latter, then whatever could make a Cultivator like Uncle Qu, whose power exceeds that of an ordinary Ninth-Level Qi Refiner, just disappear... would certainly be dangerous for me too.’
Li Yuan turned and quickened his pace to the south.
He pushed his Divine Movement Step to its limit, his figure weaving rapidly through the mixed woods.
After walking for about another hour, the silhouette of the settlement in the outer area of the Secret Realm appeared ahead. Stone pillars, dirt roads, scattered wooden sheds and stone houses came into view. A few Loose Cultivators were strolling through the stall area.
Li Yuan circled around from the east to enter the settlement and returned to Wang’s Shop.
Neither Wang Lu nor Wang Zheng was there. It seemed they were busy with other matters and couldn’t be found at the moment.
Old Sun was in the back room performing Alchemy. He poked his head out upon hearing footsteps.
Seeing it was Li Yuan, he asked no questions and pulled his head back in to continue his work.
Li Yuan entered his room and closed the door.
He took the items he had looted from the robber cultivator out of his storage pouch one by one and laid them on the table.
Thirty-four Spirit Stones.
Two bottles of Breaking Evil Pills, five pills each. One bottle of Replenishing Essence Pills, with three pills. One bottle of five dark-gold pills with an unfamiliar scent; he wasn’t sure what they were.
One flying dagger, a Tier One Middle-Grade Spiritual Artifact. The two Spirit Patterns on its blade were perfectly preserved. When infused with Spiritual Power, the blade emitted a faint cyan light.
One bamboo scroll for an Earth Magic. He unrolled it and looked it over. It detailed a spell called the Earth Escape Technique, which was similar to the Fire Escape Skill and used Earth Element Spiritual Power to travel quickly underground.
He gathered the Spirit Stones and pills together, placing the flying dagger and bamboo scroll on the corner of the table.
’A bit sparse for the leader of a Qi Refining Ninth Level robber cultivator gang.’
Li Yuan didn’t dwell on his spoils. After clearing the table, he sat on his bed, circulated the Spirit-Introducing Skill, and began to slowly replenish the Spiritual Power he had consumed in the battle.
The wound on his left forearm had already healed completely, to the point that even the scar was barely visible.