Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

Granny Jia saw the black stone, her eyebrows furrowed slightly, revealing a contemplative expression.

Qu Jianlei’s attention wasn’t on that stone, but he picked up a palm-sized brown wooden plaque.

There were a total of about ten such wooden plaques, with four of them slightly smaller.

The Paranoid paused slightly at this sight, then took out Ke Zhe’s Storage Talisman, and also brought out a similar wooden plaque.

However, this wooden plaque was rectangular and had a base; it looked worn-out, with many places cracked.

The two types of plaques differed significantly, but they seemed to be made of similar materials.

He tentatively asked, "Is this the soul nurturing artifact you mentioned...?"

Qu Jianlei nodded upon hearing the question, "I’m not particularly sure, but... it should be."

This plaque, placed in the Divine Land, unmistakably had the shape of a God Master Token.

Qu Jianlei, who had flipped through many Daoist Sect classics on the Blue Star, indeed knew that such items could host souls according to legend.

"Well, that’s good then," the Paranoid laughed upon hearing this, "No need to worry about this thing being in short supply."

Then he realized, "So this plaque is the original one, and the others are... replicas?"

Qu Jianlei shook his head, "I can’t be sure, but the possibility is high."

Aside from these, there’s nothing else worth mentioning.

The Qi Gathering Array and Spirit Gathering Array were all set up, but everyone’s needs weren’t great.

During that evening’s battle, everyone consumed quite a bit of Inner Breath and Spiritual Qi, needing to replenish them.

From the cultivation perspective, the only one with a strong need for the array was Granny Jia; she needed to maintain her peak condition.

So, after seven or eight days, everyone went their own ways.

The Paranoid was quite interested in the wooden plaques, capturing animals for testing; he was curious about how a dog’s spirit could also be harnessed.

Qinghu went to White Harbor City to learn about the clan’s situation.

Only Celestial Sound and Claire roamed the snowy mountains every day, hoping to find more treasures of Lund.

Qu Jianlei mainly focused on the state of the Flower Scorpion, and also on calculating other elixirs.

Time flew by, and one day Granny Jia finished her cultivation, once again showing a hesitating expression.

Qu Jianlei was getting tired of her expression lately, "Senior, why don’t you go out and look for Lund’s secret chamber?"

Granny Jia hesitated for a long time before asking in a subdued tone, "That black stone plaque, do you really not know what it is?"

"How could I know everything?" Qu Jianlei shook his head, half-laughing and half-crying.

The next moment, his eyebrows raised, "Seems like you do know, but... is this thing important?"

Granny Jia sighed lightly upon hearing this, "Alas, I don’t know whether telling you is right or not... This is an Inheritance Stone Scroll!"

Inheritance Stone Scroll? Qu Jianlei was stunned upon hearing this; he truly hadn’t expected this.

Seeing him dumbstruck, Granny Jia sighed again.

"I once had the opportunity to see it, but this matter is of great significance... it can’t be spoken of carelessly."

Qu Jianlei understood this point, for someone to confirm it’s an Inheritance Stone Scroll almost equates to receiving an inheritance.

Even if it wasn’t the person who received the inheritance, it certainly involved ancestors, friends, or such.

This kind of news, who dares to spread around carelessly?

For Granny Jia to say it now is already quite a feat; didn’t even someone like the Paranoid recognize it?

But Qu Jianlei furrowed his brows, muttering softly, "Supposedly, it should be a Jade Scroll. How could it be this?"

However, Granny Jia’s ears worked well, "What’s a ’Jade Scroll’? Do you really have this inheritance?"

"I wish I did," Qu Jianlei replied casually, only then realizing, "You think I’ve received the inheritance?"

Granny Jia responded indifferently, "You can ask others, who would think you haven’t received an inheritance?"

"Well..." Qu Jianlei curled his lips, feeling a bit helpless.

But a misunderstanding is a misunderstanding, having an inheritance is certainly more believable than traveling through time.

Then he realized one thing, "Bad, it seems like we won’t get any cultivation techniques from Lund."

There was no cultivation method book; it was passed down through the Stone Scroll, certainly not already written down if it’s memorized.

Granny Jia had apparently considered this earlier, sighed leisurely upon hearing this, "Then we can only see how the Flower Scorpion is doing."

The Flower Scorpion’s condition wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible either; she first woke up on the fifteenth day of being in a coma.

But shortly after waking up, she ate some nutrient injections and fell back into a coma.

Fortunately, Qu Jianlei excelled at emotional judgment, and combined with some issues, was able to ascertain that she was herself, not Lund possessing her.

In the blink of an eye, they had been on the snow mountain for over two months.

The Flower Scorpion’s waking intervals grew longer, only occasionally experiencing mild headaches when recalling Lund.

Qu Jianlei and the others analyzed and felt it wasn’t appropriate to further stimulate her, letting her recuperate slowly to ensure the completeness of her memory.

The Sigma Clan affair was truly brought to an end.

No one knew what had happened, but the opponent that had entangled them for over half a year suddenly gave up their provocations.

However, during this process, the Sigma Clan has already suffered over a hundred casualties, with two Awakened being wanted for causing harm.

Qinghu simply informed the clan leader in secret, urging them to launch a targeted counterattack to reclaim half of the mountain.

It’s not that she can’t let go of this bit of interest, but she wants to seize the opportunity to see if there’s still anyone sinister within the Tata Clan.

The Tata Clan, encountering the counterattack, was equally furious, and some skirmishes occurred between the two sides.

Qinghu was assisting the team in testing, and naturally couldn’t stand by while her clan suffered losses.

Thus, she opted to station herself in White Harbor City, occasionally taking time to return to Kongming Mountain.

After all, with the teleportation array plate, it doesn’t take much time.

Besides, she also had the clan leader mobilize clan members to collect secret information from recent years.

As the situation of the Flower Scorpion gradually improved, everyone felt that in about half a month, they should be able to leave.

However, at this time, Qinghu returned with rather ominous news: there’s a public appearance of soul entities on Xueye Star.

These things have appeared in several cities, displaying an instinctive hatred towards living beings and initiating attacks actively.

They usually don’t show up during the day, but when night falls and it’s quiet, they will look for targets to strike.

Their intelligence is not particularly high, but they can discern strength, and solitary old or weak women and children are their favorites.

People attacked by them suffer varying degrees of damage, from severe loss of vitality to instant soul dispersal.

Fortunately, the numerous energy detectors on Xueye Star are not just decorations and soon detected the anomaly.

The key is that soul dispersal, occurring once or twice, might not raise concerns, but when it happens frequently, it can’t be hidden.

Yet, the Central Government of Xueye Star seems to think that this phenomenon is related to some mysterious event, and hasn’t widely publicized it.

They clearly suppressed the rumors while increasing patrols to prevent new tragedies from occurring.

However, Qinghu knows a bit more, with members of the Sigma household even hearing that Xueye Xiang Empire has requested assistance.

She finally stated, "It’s highly unlikely that the investigation team is from the military since the Blade Star Realm is somewhat special."

"The likelihood of it being the Anomalous Management Division is higher. We need to make a decision now."

She actually wanted to suggest leaving, not because she feared the Anomalous Management Division, but because she didn’t want to be involved in this vortex.

The Paranoid was somewhat reluctant, "The boss said that it’s just the controllers of these soul entities who died, causing them to lose control."

"After some time, it should be fine... The key is that the Flower Scorpion hasn’t fully returned to normal."

"I’m almost recovered," Flower Scorpion unexpectedly chimed in, "There is a secret vault in Central City, then let’s leave."

Lund’s secret vault in Central City is an estate—indeed, a Supreme’s secret vault is superior to the living conditions of a minor magnate.

Interestingly, this estate is less than twenty kilometers away from the estate where Adol hid his Supreme cache.

Lund occasionally comes here, able to monitor Adol in the process, achieving two goals with one trip.

This secret vault contains a massive wealth, with liquid assets alone exceeding two billion.

Qu Jianlei and others quietly sweep through, then board the Omen Ship.

Flower Scorpion hasn’t completely recovered yet, but it doesn’t affect teleportation.

Upon entering the Omen Ship, she stated she wasn’t in a rush to leave and wanted to clarify her memories to see where there might be treasures in Blade.

No one objected to this request, as with this departure, who knows when they’ll return to Blade.

Then they drifted in space for about ten days.

On this day, as the Omen Ship passed by a large meteorite, Celestial Sound detected an anomaly.

"Behind the meteorite, there’s a faint distress signal. Should we rescue it?"

Their distance from the meteorite is less than a million kilometers, neither too distant nor too close.

"Rescue if you can," Granny Jia stated, "After all, we have nothing else to do."

Qinghu wanted to stop them, as she knew very well what the Blade locals were like.

But since Granny Jia commented that they’re idle anyway, Qinghu didn’t bother to say more, knowing her team wouldn’t suffer losses.

Qu Jianlei has already learned about this through Little Lake; the signal is indeed very weak, but how could it be concealed from him?

He even knows that there are three life energy fluctuations at the location sending the distress signal.

"Then... rescue them," he nodded upon hearing, "Being able to encounter each other in such a vast universe is quite fateful."

"But inform them in advance, they can’t enter the cargo hold, they can only be held by the mechanical arm—if they don’t agree, we won’t intervene."

This request is a bit coldhearted, as it’s customary in interstellar travel accidents that survivors’ conditions are unlikely good.

It’s normal to take them into the cabin for treatment after deciding to rescue. Hanging them on the mechanical arm doesn’t make much sense.

Even Qu Jianlei, when rescuing Rhine last time, let people into the cargo hold to recuperate.

"Understood," Celestial Sound faithfully executed the boss’s orders without asking why.

Truly a top student from Chaoyang, her response is the most standard.

As a starship crew member, it’s best to follow the captain’s instructions, and certainly not act recklessly or question orders.

(Updated to, summoning monthly tickets, subscriptions, and recommendation votes.)