Chapter 25: En Route

One day later.

Traveling through the earth at a depth of six zhang, Cheng Buzheng extended his divine sense to check his surroundings.

Suddenly.

He spotted three people in the distance: two were conversing, and one was lying on the ground.

Originally, he intended to bypass this place of trouble, but seeing a familiar figure, he halted his movements.

A female cultivator with a slender figure and a beautiful face, dressed in white, was talking to a burly man in black martial attire.

The familiar figure was currently lying on the ground; it was Senior Brother Huang, the very man who had given him a grain of Fasting Pill.

At this moment, Senior Brother Huang lay on the ground, his life or death unknown.

Cheng Buzheng sensed that both were mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators. With his current strength at the second level of Qi Refinement, he was in no position to contend with them; approaching them would only result in adding another soul to the underworld.

"The divine sense warning range for a mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivator is approximately six zhang in radius and three zhang underground.

I am lurking seven zhang away and four zhang underground; as long as they do not deliberately search, they won't be able to notice me!

Moreover, if things go wrong, I can simply flee. The Earth Escape Technique is easy to learn but difficult to master; most practitioners are only at the introductory stage, and even among mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators, those who have achieved minor mastery are few and far between.

Although I cannot contend with them now, as long as my own safety is guaranteed, I can still check on Senior Brother Huang's condition."

Cheng Buzheng immediately took action. A yellow spiritual light emerged from six zhang underground, stealthily tunneling toward a diagonal upward direction.

A short while later.

He arrived silently at a depth of four zhang, seven zhang away, quietly watching the two individuals' movements, prepared to flee at any moment.

Upon getting closer, Cheng Buzheng saw that Senior Brother Huang had already passed away. The fatal wound was a puncture through the center of his forehead caused by a concealed weapon no larger than a fine needle.

Though he had anticipated this, seeing the reality was still somewhat distressing. He didn't have a deep friendship with Senior Brother Huang; the man had only given him a single Fasting Pill, yet he had kept that meager kindness in his heart.

"If I have the chance in the future... I won't mind killing those two in passing.

...As for now, I should continue to develop my strength!"

It was then that Cheng Buzheng noticed just how radiant the woman in white was; she was draped in white gauze, her delicate figure faintly visible through the fabric.

"This is not a private place. Hurry up and clean up the battlefield, otherwise, someone will arrive soon!" the woman in white said in a coquettish voice.

The man in black glanced at the radiant woman, his throat bobbing slightly. "Right, right... let's find a more secluded place!"

As he spoke, he flicked a fireball from his fingertip, striking Senior Brother Huang's corpse. In an instant, only a pile of ashes remained on the spot.

He continued, "Baby... your charm is truly great! Before I could even make my move, you've already sent this foolish boy to the underworld!"

Hearing this, the woman in white seemed to think of something and said with embarrassment, "I asked you earlier, when you were pretending to flee, why were you so ruthless!

Are you planning to find someone new because you think I'm getting old and withered... is that it?

And... I want a larger share of the harvest this time!"

The man in black smiled apologetically. "Baby, in my heart, you are a flower that never withers.

How could I ever despise you? Besides, wasn't that just acting?

...I was just being a bit fierce. You're overthinking it, baby!

But the rules cannot be broken!"

However, when speaking of the distribution of the harvest, his tone turned stern again.

Hearing this, Cheng Buzheng roughly understood how his Senior Brother had died.

The cultivation world possessed all sorts of methods; he would have to be more cautious in the future.

"Baby, let's find a hidden place to check our spoils!" the man in black's tone became incredibly tender again.

"Fine... let's go!" the radiant woman said with a hint of reluctance.

Hearing this, Cheng Buzheng couldn't help but marvel at how both were masters of acting.

The man in black was indeed the dominant figure; his tone was firm when it needed to be, yet turned tender in the blink of an eye.

The radiant female cultivator was no less skilled, constantly using her advantages to increase her leverage in negotiations.

In the blink of an eye, Cheng Buzheng watched as the two rode their magical tools and vanished into the sky.

Having remained undetected, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, he also felt a sense of dissatisfaction. He knew that with his current flight speed, he could not track those two rogue cultivators.

He had originally intended to follow them from a distance to see if they would betray one another.

To his surprise, they had flown away on their magical tools, causing his first desire to play the "mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole" meant to go unfulfilled.

Gazing at the two rapidly receding spiritual lights, his dream of scavenging was shattered.

There is always a gap between plan and reality.

With a flash of yellow light, Cheng Buzheng appeared before the pile of ashes.

He flicked a strand of mana from his fingertip to shroud the ashes, then moved to a nearby pile of rubble to select a suitable piece of bluestone.

He shot a beam of mana from his finger, like a laser, continuously carving into the stone, with stone dust constantly falling.

Before long.

A perfectly square stone casket was completed!

Returning to his original path, Cheng Buzheng waved his sleeve, and the ashes were packed into the stone casket without losing a single speck.

Traveling with frequent stops, he eventually settled in a place of beautiful scenery and auspicious feng shui. Cheng Buzheng climbed to the highest peak and stood at the summit, surveying the layout of the land.

The mountain ranges rolled out before him. Most crucially, this peak resembled a dragon's head, which was the "Azure Dragon Absorbing Water" feng shui formation. The cliff behind it resembled a White Tiger, appearing as if it were about to pounce forward.

Normally, this would be a scene of "Dragon and Tiger fighting," but due to a small river at the foot of the mountain, it had strangely transformed into a "Dragon Coiled and Tiger Crouching" site. This feng shui formation was extremely auspicious, promising endless blessings for future generations.

This was one of the things he had learned from the Scripture Pavilion. Both his past and present lives held the concept of feng shui, so he had simply learned it; after all, for a cultivator, it wasn't difficult, it just required a bit more time.

In an instant, he found the auspicious spot: directly beneath the small river.

A yellow light flashed on Cheng Buzheng's body as he dove into the earth. The yellow light continued to penetrate deep into the ground, reaching a depth of twenty zhang before arriving at the auspicious spot.

After burying Senior Brother Huang, he stayed quietly for a while.

Then, he drifted away, heading toward the spirit stone mine.

After traveling continuously for a month, he finally reached his destination.

This was due to his low cultivation level; a mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivator flying on a tool could arrive in less than ten days, and the higher the cultivation, the shorter the time.

The White Cloud Sect's spirit stone mine was located southwest of the Tianhua Mountains, with its entrance formed by two great mountains.

A passage between the two mountains led to a canyon basin located in the center.

Numerous wooden houses and pavilions were built within the canyon, serving as residences for the White Cloud Sect's stationed cultivators and miners during their rest.

At the very end of the canyon lay the entrance and exit to the spirit stone mine.

Suddenly.

Not far from the entrance of the spirit stone mine, a yellow light emerged from underground.

Cheng Buzheng gazed at the two towering mountains in the distance; the passage between them was blocked by a layer of spiritual light shield.

He knew this was a formation set up by the sect to prevent rogue cultivators from taking advantage of them.

Although no rogue cultivators had dared to cause trouble here yet, one must always be prepared.

After all, one could not expect rogue cultivators to remain indifferent to this place forever.

This was the production site of the White Cloud Sect's spirit stones; one could imagine how vital this place was to the sect.