Chapter 54: Restraint

The setting sun cast its final glow into the canyon.

Yet, at this moment, the southeastern part of the canyon remained incredibly lively.

Many miners, showing no concern for the late hour, were still gathered there in high spirits, playing the Divine Beast Roulette.

From time to time, spurred by the shouts of close friends, miners would arrive in small groups.

There were joys and there were sorrows.

Those with triumphant expressions were the winners of life, while the miners with grim faces, who occasionally cursed under their breath, were naturally those who had lost spirit stones.

Perhaps a single loss represented an entire year of hard labor.

Cheng Buzheng watched the myriad aspects of life quietly. His face remained expressionless, but he sighed inwardly.

"Perhaps this is the true life of a Qi Refinement stage cultivator. Those who can control their desires are few; it is not something every cultivator can achieve.

Both cultivators and mortals possess desires.

It is simply that their power levels are not on the same plane, and the things they pursue are incomparable.

One pursues the Great Dao of Longevity; I believe no cultivator can abandon this dream. Though it is distant, it is an indisputable fact!

As for mortals, they seek nothing more than a lifetime of peace, sufficient food and clothing, and a house full of children and grandchildren!"

Cheng Buzheng saw Sang the Fatty, who was shouting to the miners to place their bets, his face filled with the joy of profit.

His gaze instinctively fell upon the spirit stones on the animal skins.

At this moment.

Within the eight pattern areas—four for the four Spirit Beast patterns and four for the four Divine Beast patterns—each Spirit Beast area contained over a hundred spirit stones.

However, within the four Divine Beast areas, which offered twenty-fold returns, the area with the most stones held only twelve, and the area with the least held only seven.

Cheng Buzheng knew that there was still a high probability that a twenty-fold Divine Beast would appear in this round.

But he did not place a bet. He knew he had to restrain his desires; he could not be controlled by them, nor allow them to cloud his reason.

Moreover.

There was certainly something strange about this. It was equivalent to handing one's spirit stones over to someone else to control—how similar was that to handing over one's own fate?

The only difference was the consequence.

One meant being drained of spirit stones, while the other meant one's life and death were at the mercy of another.

As these thoughts crossed his mind, Cheng Buzheng's mind cleared, and his eyes became much more lucid as he quietly watched the final result of the Divine Beast Roulette.

The result, however, was unexpected.

The pearls surrounding the Divine Beast Roulette did not flash, signifying that this round would not produce a Divine Beast, but would instead result in one of the four Spirit Beasts.

Seeing this, Cheng Buzheng couldn't help but sigh inwardly. "How similar is this to having one's fate controlled? The outcome is something beyond one's own control!"

Losing interest, he no longer felt the desire to watch.

He turned to leave, brushing past the "fat sheep" currently rushing toward the gambling area.

The moment Cheng Buzheng turned around.

Sang the Fatty's gaze involuntarily fell upon him. He maintained a high level of attention toward every cultivator who left; a cultivator's memory was not something that could be compared to that of a mortal.

Sang the Fatty knew exactly how much every betting miner had won or lost. To maintain control over the situation, he had to remember this information clearly.

Watching Cheng Buzheng's retreating figure, Sang the Fatty muttered to himself.

"This junior brother is quite interesting. He wasn't blinded by desire; he is certainly not comparable to these rogue cultivators who are controlled by their greed!

...After winning eighteen spirit stones, he watched for a long time... yet he never placed another bet. Truly interesting."

Sang the Fatty knew well that if those rogue cultivators perceived a pattern, it was because he had intentionally revealed it to entice them to bet, and of course, to harvest more spirit stones.

Though he was muttering to himself, his mouth and hands did not stop.

"Alright... time is up for betting!"

***

Cheng Buzheng arrived at the entrance of the formation and handed his mission talisman and sect token to the cold-faced guarding senior brother.

"Senior Brother... this is my mission talisman!"

The cold-faced guard took the talisman and the sect token. Upon inspecting the back of the talisman, he saw the incised words "Outer Disciple." Below Cheng Buzheng's name, there was an additional small, incised character: 'Excellent.'

The guarding senior brother examined it closely. After confirming its authenticity, he returned the talisman and the sect token to Cheng Buzheng.

"Mm... you may leave!"

The cold-faced senior brother glanced at him and spoke slowly.

As soon as he finished speaking.

The senior brother performed a hand seal.

A moment later.

An arched opening appeared in the layer of the formation's light screen.

After cupping his hands to bid farewell to the guard, Cheng Buzheng did not delay and exited the spirit stone mine.

Once he was far from the entrance of the mine, he ceased the mana supply to his concealment technique. Immediately, the spiritual pressure radiating from Cheng Buzheng's body rose rapidly, stopping only when it reached the peak of the third layer of Qi Refinement.

A sense of oppression spread to the surroundings, causing birds and beasts to immediately flee from the creature emitting such a strong aura of danger.

Then, with a flash of yellow light, Cheng Buzheng vanished from his spot. Like a fish in water, he swiftly descended through flight, only stopping once he reached a depth of six zhang.

Six zhang underground, a streak of yellow spiritual light sped toward the White Cloud Mountains.

He traveled with frequent stops; whenever his mana was mostly depleted, he would stop to rest, opening a small secret chamber underground to recover his mana before continuing his journey.

Because his cultivation had improved significantly, his speed was far beyond what it had been when he first arrived at the spirit stone mine.

It had taken him a full month to arrive, but now it took only half a month, proving that Cheng Buzheng's cultivation had undergone a massive change over the two years.

Cheng Buzheng extended a strand of divine sense, looking toward the distant White Cloud Mountains. It had been two full years before he finally returned to this point.

There was little change here compared to two years ago; he could still see streaks of spiritual light occasionally crossing the sky above the White Cloud Mountains.

Most of the lights streaking across the sky were senior brothers from the sect.

Cheng Buzheng did not continue to observe, instead continuing his flight toward the sect's formation entrance.

Before long.

As the sect's formation entrance came into view, he performed a series of complex hand seals.

The spiritual pressure radiating from Cheng Buzheng's body rapidly declined until it reached the level of someone who had just entered the third layer of Qi Refinement.

Originally, he had intended to lower his pressure to the peak of the second layer, but considering that he had displayed the third layer at the spirit stone ore site, he reconsidered.

If a senior brother from that area happened to return in a short time and ran into him, seeing such an abnormal discrepancy in his cultivation would surely attract unwanted attention.

At this time, the best course of action was to follow the crowd. Not standing out would make it easier to adapt to life within the sect.

This was what Cheng Buzheng thought to himself.