The Black Gold Killing Array, activate!
As Qi Ping activated the Black Gold Killing Array engraved on the Dark Stone Scale Armor, a terrifyingly powerful formation enveloped that old man at the mid stage of Foundation Establishment!
This array used the Dark Stone Scale Armor as its foundation to connect with the power of heaven and earth!
That dreadful feeling of oppression made every single pore on the old man’s body stand on end. “This kind of hastily set-up formation is far inferior to the complete formations set up on a territory with great effort.”
“Not only does it require me to expend more of my soul power and spiritual energy to control it, but both its endurance and the amount of heaven-earth power it can draw upon are much less.”
With just a single glance, Qi Ping had already assessed the formation’s strength.
For a formation master, the difference in combat effectiveness is huge between a chance encounter, a situation where you have time to set up a formation in advance, and fighting in a lair you’ve operated for a long time.
“But it’s more than enough to deal with this old guy!”
The moment the formation took shape, without even caring about the fearful reaction of the old man trapped inside, Qi Ping directly manipulated five incredibly sharp Black Gold Sword Qi. In an instant, they pierced through the heart and head of the Foundation Establishment old man who was still fighting Crow.
Facing an enemy with a higher cultivation base than himself, Qi Ping didn’t dare hold back at all.
After killing the enemy, Qi Ping quickly fled the scene with the old man’s storage pouch.
As for the corpse, Qi Ping left a portion of his bees to carry it away and dispose of it; maybe this action would also buy him some time.
After leaving, during his escape, Qi Ping forcibly broke through the residual spirit imprint on the Foundation Establishment old man’s storage pouch.
At a time like this, he had to quickly take out anything useful inside, then discard anything that might reveal his location or had no value.
But after opening the old man’s storage pouch, Qi Ping couldn’t help but frown.
“Why are there so many items made from human corpses?”
Judging by the contents of the old man’s storage pouch, he was indeed likely a rogue cultivator.
Because the things inside were numerous and miscellaneous, but there weren’t many high-value spirit stones; there were only less than four thousand spirit stones.
That’s quite meager, even compared to early Foundation Establishment disciples from established sects.
The cultivation techniques were also piled up in a mess. From Qi Ping’s experience killing many sect disciples, this situation was basically unheard of; those sect disciples generally weren’t allowed to take sect techniques out of the sect.
The elixirs inside were all of relatively poor quality.
For a mid Foundation Establishment cultivator to be this impoverished really shows how hard the path of a rogue cultivator is.
The only thing Qi Ping felt was a relatively big gain was that inside there were actually three Foundation Establishment level techniques and spells, as well as three second-rank spiritual seeds. Incredibly, one of them was even emanating dense fire-attribute spiritual energy!
Qi Ping estimated that the techniques and spells probably weren’t very powerful, but they would be quite useful for his research and for building a foundation of Foundation Establishment level spells.
But those three second-rank spiritual seeds were a pleasant surprise for Qi Ping!
No wonder this old guy came to intercept Qi Ping based on just some guesses. He must have had this idea for a long time, collecting those three second-rank spiritual seeds.
But what truly made Qi Ping uncomfortable wasn’t the meager wealth, but rather the items clearly coming from different cultivators.
Qi Ping estimated that the various miscellaneous items inside came from at least ten different cultivators. Considering the old man’s interception attempt today, it was likely he actively sought out and killed people he thought might have wealth or opportunities.
Add to that the cultivation products refined from human corpses, and it wasn’t hard to guess this old man’s cultivation methods and past behavior.
“Probably driven down this crazy path by the scarcity of cultivation resources…”
In the Qingtian Domain, Qi Refining stage cultivators could still earn resources by farming and raising livestock. But once you reach Foundation Establishment, there’s truly nothing to seek. Even getting your hands on a single second-rank spiritual herb leaked by the Qingyuan Sect, even at a premium or high price, depends on luck!
“So that’s why he collected second-rank spiritual herb seeds?”
“Then he kills people for their wealth… and tries to use human corpses to improve his cultivation and aptitude…”
“No wonder this man carried such heavy killing intent!”
Especially the matter of refining corpses to raise cultivation and improve aptitude made Qi Ping feel very uncomfortable.
“The path of immortality… how many people have gone mad because of it? And how many have died because of it?”
Just the number of cultivators killed by this old man alone was probably a terrifyingly high number.
Qi Ping put himself in the old man’s shoes. If he had been rejected by the sects, reached Foundation Establishment but couldn’t obtain any resources to improve, even though his aptitude would still allow him to advance, and he still had a strong desire to pursue the Dao… what would he have become in the end?
After thinking about it, Qi Ping himself couldn’t be sure what he would have become in such a desperate situation. Without actually experiencing it, any answer would just be speculation. The chances of despair driving a person insane are just too high.
As Qi Ping transferred all the useful items to other storage pouches for his bees to carry away to a safe period, he finally discovered an extremely exquisite book made from special spiritual materials.
On the cover were written four bold, powerful characters: “Immortal Path Notes”!
“Could these be the cultivation insights of some powerful cultivator?”
So after escaping to a safe place, Qi Ping left this notebook and had his bees help him open it.
[At twelve, I entered Qi Refining! At sixteen, I broke through to mid Qi Refining! Now, at eighteen, I’ve reached the fifth layer of Qi Refining. Tomorrow, I will definitely join the Qingyuan Sect and race forward on the path to immortality!]
[Because I was too old, I’ve been rejected by ten sects in a row. Is there truly no hope for me on the immortal path? No, I refuse to accept this! Why can’t I make my way on this path?]
[I’ve finally perfected Qi Refining. But after searching bitterly for decades, I still can’t find a single Foundation Establishment technique. Could my immortal path be ending here?]
[After searching for decades, I actually found a Foundation Establishment technique, the Blood Fiend Art, on a mere Qi Refining child! Use flesh and blood as a foundation? So the flesh and blood of genius cultivators is the best Foundation Establishment Pill! How cruel! But here I come, Foundation Establishment!]
[Hunted and killed nine sect disciples, fused their flesh and blood into a divine pill, and finally broke through to Foundation Establishment! I control my own destiny, not the heavens!]
[They all say a rogue cultivator at Foundation Establishment has absolutely no future, but I refuse to accept it! Even if I have to climb over the bones of thousands, I will rise! Not enough resources? I’ll steal them! Aptitude too low? I’ll refine flesh and blood!]
[Hehehe! This old man has reached mid Foundation Establishment! Next stop, late Foundation Establishment!]
[Read the correct version at 6 9 9 9 9 9 9 . com, 6 9 Book Bar is the first to publish the original novel.]
“So this was this man’s cultivation notebook?”
After finishing reading the Immortal Path Notes, Qi Ping felt disappointed but also couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh.
The notebook had no signature, but Qi Ping guessed that its true owner was this old man. The key item, the Blood Fiend Art, was also found inside the old man’s storage pouch.
This notebook had dozens of thick pages, recording every important event from this old man’s cultivation days. The last entry was about him preparing to intercept someone who might possibly know information about a second-rank spiritual vein – a “fat sheep”…
And that “fat sheep” naturally referred to Qi Ping. In the latter half of the notebook, the words “fat sheep” and “blood food” appeared more and more frequently.
A single notebook sketched out the complete transformation of this old man, from a spirited youth into a crazed Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator.
“Sigh… could it be that from Foundation Establishment onward, there will be more and more madmen?”
Those driven to despair by limited resources, driven mad by bitter cultivation, those whose Dao hearts have shattered…
Suddenly, Qi Ping felt that the further you go on the path of cultivation, the more likely you are to uncover the terrifying side of the cultivation world.
From what Qi Ping knew so far, it seemed that only Qi Refining cultivators and mortals lived relatively well, protected by the iron-fisted methods of the top cultivation sects.
Given the severe scarcity of Foundation Establishment resources, the number of madmen it creates must be very high. Especially those with stronger Dao hearts, who are more likely to go insane.
But what made Qi Ping’s blood run even colder was the fact that this Blood Fiend Art – someone on the Mysterious Black Market’s bounty list had practiced it, and it was known as a technique for cultivating high-grade blood food!
That is to say, this old man’s entire life of madness was just his own pathetic, laughable effort to turn himself into high-grade blood food!
Thinking of this, Qi Ping couldn’t help but feel a chill deep in his heart.
“Since I’ve already got the seeds, I’d better not wander around outside too much. Who knows what other madman I might run into!”
“I need to get back to my territory as soon as possible, and use those spiritual herbs to quickly raise my own strength and that of my animal companions!”
Especially that fire-attribute spiritual seed, which turned out to be mid second-rank. But Qi Ping still couldn’t tell what type of spiritual herb this seed would grow into.
However, based on his Druidic senses and the deductions from [Nature’s Perception], this seed seemed like a pretty good thing.
Qi Ping estimated that with it, he should be able to improve his own strength considerably and help Crow complete its transformation.
Having made his decision, Qi Ping immediately set off to return…
