For a whole month after returning to the sect, Gu Yanqing barely took half a step out of his courtyard.
His daily routine was rigid and disciplined.
At daybreak, he practiced his swordsmanship to polish his foundation; in the afternoon, he sat cross-legged in meditation to stabilize his cultivation; and he spent all remaining free time completely immersed in tempering the 《Black Iron Body》.
Such days repeated for an entire month—monotonous, dry, and devoid of ripples—yet they yielded undeniable, visible progress.
He lowered his eyes to look at his hands, gently flexing his fingers.
As the spiritual energy of the 《Black Iron Body》 quietly circulated, a warm, heavy, dark golden luster faintly rippled beneath the surface of his skin.
The fourth layer of his physical tempering was already mostly complete.
Estimating by his current progress, he would only need to cultivate in quiet seclusion for a while longer to achieve complete perfection and break through.
The reserve of Scarlet Flame Crystal Marrow he had brought back from the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range was plentiful, enough to support him through the final stage of tempering.
Yet the only tricky problem also surfaced with it.
He raised his hand and unfastened his storage bag, his fingers brushing past the stacks of spiritual materials inside.
The auxiliary spiritual materials used alongside the 《Black Iron Body》 had been mostly consumed, their reserves scraping bottom.
“Looks like I’ll have to leave the sect again to restock.”
Gu Yanqing casually packed away his belongings. With a flash of spiritual light beneath his feet, he took to the sky via the sword flight technique and flew straight out of the Yunxiao Sect’s mountain gate.
Yet when the flying sword had barely cleared several li, he suddenly halted midair.
He looked down, unfastened his storage bag once more, and carefully counted his savings inside.
Spirit stones: exactly thirty-seven.
Gu Yanqing was momentarily at a loss for words.
Thinking carefully, ever since returning from the Scarlet Flame Mountain Range, he had buried his head in cultivation with single-minded focus.
He hadn’t taken on any sect missions, nor had he gone to the market to earn a single spirit stone; it had been all outgoing expenses with zero income.
To make matters worse, his daily cultivation materials and running his techniques all burned through spirit stones, draining his savings before he even realized it.
Without him noticing, the modest wealth he had worked so hard to amass had been virtually emptied out.
It truly amounted to having his supplies completely run dry.
After a brief silence, he silently turned the tip of his sword and headed back toward the sect.
Forget it.
The spiritual materials were indeed running low, but a day or two wouldn’t make a difference.
Rather than making a futile trip to the market penniless, it would be better to return to the sect, take on some missions, and save up some spirit stones first.
He had only flown a short distance back when a familiar streak of light suddenly flashed by from the side.
“Senior Sister Xu?”
The light gradually came to a halt. Xu Muhe dispersed the spiritual energy sustaining her flying sword and paused midair.
“Junior Brother Gu, what a coincidence.”
“It really is.”
Gu Yanqing asked, “Is Senior Sister heading out of the sect?”
“Mm, making a trip home to take care of some business,” Xu Muhe replied casually.
Having said that, she glanced toward the direction Gu Yanqing was returning from, somewhat curious.
“Wait, Junior Brother, weren’t you clearly heading out of the sect just now? Why turn back so soon?”
A touch of helplessness showed on Gu Yanqing’s face as he answered honestly:
“I originally planned to head out and buy a few things, but halfway there, I realized I didn’t have enough spirit stones. I had no choice but to turn back and take on some sect missions to earn some.”
Xu Muhe was momentarily taken aback before letting out a soft chuckle.
“Junior Brother Gu, have you been so buried in cultivation lately that you didn’t even notice when your spirit stones ran out?”
“I’ve been in secluded cultivation the entire time,” Gu Yanqing replied simply.
Xu Muhe appraised him from head to toe. Not having seen him for a month, his overall aura had grown considerably more settled.
“As it happens, I know of something. A secret realm was recently opened to outsiders.”
“A secret realm?” Gu Yanqing’s interest was piqued.
“Mm. You’ve probably heard of the Luofeng Sect, right?”
Gu Yanqing recalled briefly. “I’ve heard of them. Not quite a major sect.”
“That’s right,” Xu Muhe said.
“They discovered an ancient secret realm earlier. After their own disciples explored it several times, they began opening it to outside cultivators. For a set fee of spirit stones, both Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators can enter to explore.”
Gu Yanqing calculated inwardly.
Secret realms never lacked spirit herbs, ores, and demon beast materials, and realms open to outsiders generally placed no restrictions on what cultivators could take out.
He could gather materials for his cultivation while searching for valuable items to sell at the market afterward, using his old method of setting up a stall to make up for his shortage of spirit stones.
Moreover, it would be far less tedious than sect missions.
“Many thanks for letting me know, Senior Sister.” Gu Yanqing cupped his hands in a salute.
“I’m short on spirit stones right now, so that place sounds perfect.”
“It was no trouble at all.”
Just as Gu Yanqing was about to head toward the Luofeng Sect, Xu Muhe spoke up again.
“By the way, Junior Brother Gu, do you know roughly when Junior Sister Lin will return?”
The question was posed lightly, yet it brought Gu Yanqing to a halt.
He didn’t answer immediately.
With only the sound of wind whistling through the sea of clouds in his ears, he stood quietly on his flying sword for a few seconds.
“I’m not sure. She never told me when she’d return.”
Seeing his quiet demeanor, Xu Muhe harbored other questions in her mind, but after some thought, she refrained from pressing further and merely nodded.
“I see. In that case, go on ahead with your business, Junior Brother. I’ll take my leave.”
“Mm.” Gu Yanqing cupped his hands in farewell.
He urged his flying sword upward. Sword light cut through the clouds, swiftly leaving Xu Muhe’s figure far behind.
He didn’t look back; he merely tightened his grip on his sword hilt just a fraction.
Half a day later, Gu Yanqing arrived at the Luofeng Sect’s mountain gate, where cultivators came and went in an endless stream.
He paid the full fee of spirit stones required to enter the secret realm and received a temporary jade badge from the gate guard disciple.
The entrance to the secret realm was set at the center of a bluestone altar behind the mountain gate, where a large crowd of cultivators had already gathered.
There were solitary rogue cultivators constantly on guard, as well as sect disciples arriving in groups of two or three. Some wore excited expressions, while many others remained wary, cautiously observing the surroundings. The scene was lively and bustling.
Before long, the space at the center of the altar began to vibrate, rippling outward like waves on water, and the entrance to the secret realm officially opened.
He stepped forward and walked directly into the ripples.
In an instant, the clamor of the outside world vanished completely, and the hard bluestone beneath his feet turned into moist, soft black soil.
Gu Yanqing looked up and surveyed his surroundings. What entered his sight was a primeval, dense forest.
Colossal trees towered into the sky, their lush canopies blocking out most of the daylight. A thin veil of white mist drifted through the woods, while the low roars of demon beasts resonated from deep within from time to time, exuding a natural aura of danger.
The spiritual energy here was exceptionally abundant, far denser than that of ordinary spirit veins in the Yunxiao Sect.
He paused to observe for a moment before taking out the simplified map provided with the secret realm.
The map was exceedingly rudimentary, only marking the safe outer perimeter that had already been swept clean; the depths of the forest were completely blank.
“First, find the spiritual materials needed for cultivation.”
Gu Yanqing put the map away.
If he couldn’t find what he needed, he would just scavenge whatever he could find—so long as it could be sold for spirit stones.
Having determined his direction, he strode slowly into the mist-shrouded depths of the dense forest.
Rate on N.U.
