Chapter 22: Harvest

Li Qing had a clear understanding of his own Daoist path.

In the current Qianling Realm, since the ancient era, there had never been any record of anyone reaching the path of longevity through body cultivation.

Therefore, Li Qing still harbored doubts regarding this Great Dao of body cultivation.

From the very beginning, Li Qing had determined that magic cultivation would be his primary focus, with body cultivation serving as a supplement.

It was only through a series of unforeseen circumstances that his strength in body cultivation had taken the lead.

While a magic cultivator stores their mana in the dantian, a body cultivator utilizes the spiritual apertures.

Li Qing’s eyes remained tightly shut.

The blood qi released by the Blood Replenishing Pill began to spread through his body.

One after another, the spiritual apertures of his flesh acted like gaping abysses, competing to devour the emerging blood qi.

Within the spiritual apertures upon his body, some had already begun to show faint cracks.

This was, in fact, a drawback of the Thunder Spirit Manual.

Undoubtedly, the power of thunder is one of the most formidable forces in the cultivation world.

When thunderous power is stored within the body, the violent and frenzied energy produces restless force at every moment, causing immense damage to the physical form.

Thus, the Thunder Spirit Manual recorded many treasures that could help a cultivator nourish and temper their physical body.

Since ancient times, fortune and misfortune have gone hand in hand.

This thunderous power also possessed a formidable side: it could strengthen the physical body incessantly.

Li Qing did not need to forge his body like some body cultivators; he merely needed to protect it.

Several hours later, the blood qi within his body finally returned to normal.

Immediately following this, he took a Nourishing Essence Pill from his storage bag and swallowed it.

As the Nourishing Essence Pill entered his body, it transformed into a massive surge of spiritual energy.

Not daring to delay, Li Qing immediately circulated the Water Control Technique to rapidly absorb the spiritual energy within him.

His meridians, which had already been somewhat depleted, became full once again.

After circulating through several cycles, the spiritual energy in his body was rapidly and completely refined.

Li Qing slowly opened his eyes, gradually sensing the condition of his internal state.

Not only had his consumed mana been fully replenished, but he even felt that his cultivation level had advanced further.

Based on his current progress, Li Qing estimated that by relying on the Nourishing Essence Pills in his possession, combined with the spiritual energy provided by the Zhenhai Pearl—which was equivalent to the core position of a first-grade spiritual vein—he would be able to step into the fifth layer of Qi Refinement once the pills were exhausted.

Li Qing felt a slight sense of helplessness.

Months of bitter cultivation were actually inferior to consuming a few pills.

Thinking of it this way, if he wanted to increase his strength quickly in the future, he might truly need to keep pills constantly at hand.

Thinking of the spirit stones required for future pill consumption, Li Qing couldn't help but feel a chill of dread.

Fortunately, he had the Zhenhai Pearl as a fallback.

Given the current situation, relying solely on the Zhenhai Pearl would be far from enough to fill the massive resource consumption required for his dual cultivation of magic and body.

He feared he would need to find other ways in the future.

Seeing that the time for his cave dwelling was nearly up, Li Qing took out two pouches from the side.

These two gray pouches were the storage bags taken from the brothers, Black Sand and Black Wind.

After their deaths, the imprints within the storage bags had dissipated.

With a strike of magic power from Li Qing, both storage bags opened simultaneously.

The contents poured out onto the ground in an instant.

*Clatter! Clatter!*

Items of various colors instantly carpeted the ground.

A satisfied smile appeared on Li Qing's face; after all, this was much more direct than the sect's stipend.

Besides, he had earned this through his own hard work.

He took a cursory glance, and the items inside were quite diverse.

In addition to items used by cultivators, he even saw several pieces of clearly female cultivator clothing.

With a wave of his hand, Li Qing divided the items into three piles.

The spirit stones were piled together, the magic tools and treasures were piled together, and the remaining items that were currently indistinguishable were placed in another pile.

He first inventoried the spirit stones.

Combined, the two storage bags contained approximately seven hundred low-grade spirit stones.

This was already a significant sum of wealth.

After all, the survival of rogue cultivators was inherently difficult; the Black Sand brothers were likely among the wealthier rogue cultivators.

When his gaze shifted to the pile of magic tools, he understood the source of the brothers' accumulated wealth.

Within the pile of magic tools, there were as many as five or six low-grade magic tools clearly bearing sect markings.

This proved that at least five or six sect cultivators had died at their hands, not to mention the magic tools without sect markings, which were likely disposed of by the two of them long ago.

The sect markings on these five or six magic tools were difficult to remove.

Therefore, the two brothers had not dared to sell them casually, fearing it would bring trouble upon them later.

Li Qing looked at the middle pile, which contained what interested him most: Deep Sea Thick Earth. There were a total of three pieces.

The piece the Black Sand brother had promised to sell him at a low price back then was the smallest of these three.

The largest piece of Deep Sea Thick Earth was twice as large as the one Li Qing had previously purchased.

Even with Li Qing's calm temperament, his heart couldn't help but burn with excitement.

The other gains were simply incomparable to the Deep Sea Thick Earth.

One must know that the Deep Sea Thick Earth contained Azure Sea Ghost Sand, which was a true second-grade spiritual material.

Li Qing made a rough estimate; the Azure Sea Ghost Sand alone was worth at least several thousand spirit stones.

Forcing himself to suppress the heat in his heart, Li Qing continued to inventory the remaining items.

Among the remaining spoils, the most valuable was the turtle-shell type defensive magic tool previously used by Black Wind; this was also a high-quality mid-grade defensive magic tool.

Compared to items of the same grade, defensive magic tools generally held higher value.

He estimated that this turtle-shell defensive tool was worth at least seven or eight hundred low-grade spirit stones.

The other golden sword was likely worth around four or five hundred low-grade spirit stones, while the rest were low-value items, such as a dozen or so Nourishing Essence Pills used by mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators.

The low-grade magic tool Black Sand had used was estimated to be worth about a hundred low-grade spirit stones.

Thinking of his shattered Azure Profound Shield, Li Qing couldn't help but feel regretful at the loss of several hundred spirit stones.

Of this haul, the Azure Sea Ghost Sand within the Deep Sea Thick Earth held the greatest value.

The remaining magic tools, pills, and miscellaneous items totaled approximately one thousand five hundred low-grade spirit stones.

For a mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivator, this was undoubtedly an unimaginable fortune.

However, after seeing the value of the Azure Sea Ghost Sand, Li Qing clearly became much more composed.

Once the most important spoils were inventoried, he looked at the last large, messy pile of items.

Among those items were clothes used for concealing their presence, as well as various classics and other things.

There were even some poisons and similar substances.

Li Qing picked out the important classics, examining them one by one.

He had always placed great importance on these texts.

After a period of inspection, a look of disappointment crossed Li Qing's face.

Most of the cultivation methods inside were common, run-of-the-mill techniques found among rogue cultivators, which he found completely beneath him.

Although Li Qing himself practiced the ordinary Water Control Technique, it was only to prepare for the cultivation of subsequent Earth-grade techniques.

With a wave of his hand, Li Qing swept all the useless items into a single storage bag.

Leaving only two classics behind.

(End of Chapter)