Chapter 79 - 69 Lu Ling Jue_i
Two hundred and seventy medium-grade Spirit Stones!
Nineteen sets of tier three fine robes!
Seven bottles of pills!
Five talismans!
Three flying swords!
A jade slip!
A Liyang Sect identity token!
An icy corpse!
These were all the items in Luo Lie’s storage bag.
The Spirit Stones need not be mentioned, they were almost comparable to Xu Mu’s maximum savings.
Nineteen sets of tier three clothes, when tallied up, were worth over ten thousand lower-grade Spirit Stones.
The seven bottles of pills were all tier-four Spirit Pills.
Two Bottles of Grass Renewal Pills for replenishing energy, three Cultivation Pills for improving cultivation, one Vein Protection Pill for treating internal injuries, and one Blood Lotus Pill for treating external injuries.
These pills were common Spirit Pills. Although Xu Mu saw most of them for the first time, there was no problem for him to recognize them being a alchemist.
Despite being common, these pills were not cheap at all.
The Grass Renewal Pill didn’t need mentioning, one bottle cost one medium-grade Spirit Stone.
The Cultivation Pills, which could enhance one’s cultivation, were expensive. Depending on the quality, one bottle ranged from three to eight medium-grade Spirit Stones.
The Vein Protection Pill was more expensive than the previous two. It was a life-saving pill, and according to its quality, prices ranged between ten to thirty medium-grade Spirit Stones.
The Blood Lotus Pill was slightly cheaper, depending on the quality, it cost between three to seven medium-grade Spirit Stones.
Adding all these pills together, their worth was at least twenty to thirty medium-grade Spirit Stones, which equaled Xu Mu’s earnings in a month.
If Xu Mu worked non-stop for a month, he could produce about twenty to thirty Mysterious Yuan Pills, each sold for ninety lower-grade Spirit Stones, after subtracting costs that were only eighteen medium-grade Spirit Stones.
“Thanks to these pills, my progress to the eighth level of Qi Cultivation will be much quicker!”
There were five talismans, all of which were tier four spirit talismans, also worth quite a few Spirit Stones.
But the most precious were the three flying swords!
All of them were tier four Spirit Swords!
Unfortunately, there were no soul seals inside!
They could be considered as fake four tiers!
Even so, they were still not cheap. The three Spirit Swords could sell for at least three to four hundred medium-grade Spirit Stones.
Unfortunately, Xu Mu didn’t have the guts to sell them yet.
Not just the Spirit Swords, he didn’t dare to sell the clothes either.
He still remembered the lesson from the last time he sold things.
Either keep them for personal use, or sneak them over to Demon Gate to be sold.
Never again would he choose the easy way out!
As for the remaining tokens, they weren’t valuable, just a form of identity proof made from ordinary black iron.
The icy corpse belonged to a middle-aged woman who had passed away. It was marked “Beloved wife – Han QingShuang”.
The identity was self-explanatory.
Carrying his wife’s corpse with him every day and recalling the QingShuang Sword among the three swords, Luo Lie could be considered a romantic person.
Out of sympathy, Xu Mu helped cremate her, allowing the couple to return to heaven and earth together, inseparable forever.
Apart from Luo Lie’s storage bag, Xu Mu also harvested some storage bags from main figures of the Luo family.
Inside these storage bags, apart from items that couldn’t be sold for the time being, such as the robes and magic artifacts, there were two hundred and ten medium-grade Spirit Stones, hundreds of tier two and three pills, nearly a thousand talismans, and a pile of other miscellaneous items.
Anyway, Xu Mu made a huge profit this time.
However, considering that he essentially robbed a Foundation Establishment Family that had a history of several hundred years, such a harvest was not surprising.
“A whole year of hard work doesn’t bring as much profit as one windfall! How could you not be tempted!” Xu Mu lamented in his heart.
No wonder bandit cultivators were irresistible, the attraction of wealth was too strong!
“It’s a pity there were no Foundation Establishment Pills! It seems like the information Chi Feiyan got was not completely correct!”
Although there was some regret, Xu Mu did not dwell overly much on it.
The purpose of this operation had been achieved, and the harvest was big enough!
However, while resolving a crisis and obtaining huge profits, he also had to face a bigger crisis.
“I wonder how the Liyang sect will deal with this matter?”
If they turned a blind eye to the extermination of a family responsible for managing the marketplace, the sect’s demise would be imminent.
Therefore, the Liyang Sect would definitely investigate, but to what extent they could investigate was something Xu Mu did not know.
This made him suddenly remember a saying from his past life.
‘To rectify a mistake, you often have to make another mistake!’
His current situation perfectly embodied this saying.
However, some things, even if you know they will bring bigger troubles, you still have to do.
Fortunately, he had been very careful this time. Every step was carefully considered, his identities going to and from were all fake, and he had never shown his true face during the process.
Besides, he had a huge advantage.
That was his cultivation!
The people from the Liyang Sect would never dream that the one who exterminated the Luo family was a Qi Cultivation stage cultivator.
All the witnesses had been reduced to ashes!
And even if they were to detect Xu Mu’s cultivation level, they would only assume he was pretending, not really a Qi Cultivation stage practitioner.
If despite all this, someone still managed to track him down, he’d just have to consider himself unlucky.
“In any case, it’s always wise to have a backup plan. I still need to buy tickets to other Sects!”
Before, he had been hard-pressed for money, making the purchase a significant burden. Now that he had so many Spirit Stones, as long as he was willing to splurge, getting a ticket in a short time should not be an issue.
“I also need to boost my strength!”
Having strength is indeed the best backup in any situation.
If he had the strength equivalent to the Golden Core Stage, even if he were to destroy the Luo Family outright, the Liyang Sect would only assist in hiding the fact, rather than causing him trouble.
As for the contract with the drugstore.
He could easily fulfil it by producing a few bottles of potions.
With more than enough Spirit Stones now, what he lacks is a method to quickly spend them to enhance his strength.
The first step to enhancing strength
Modify the martial method!
Xu Mu picked up the jade slip he had obtained from Luo Lie’s storage bag.
Ordinary jade slips are usually made of normal Spirit Jade, appearing smooth and warm, emitting a faint spiritual light.
The jade slip in front of him had subtle spiritual light, crystalline clear, appearing more like a crystal than a jade, exuding a sense of unshatterable firmness.
From the moment he saw this jade slip, he had an idea, but to confirm whether he was right or not, he had to try it out.
Xu Mu placed it on his forehead, and started to tap into the information within it with his mind.
With the infiltration of his mind, chunks of information poured into his mind, imprinting themselves in his memory.
It took a while for him to finish absorbing all the information.
Unlike the skill jade slip he had used before, the jade slip did not shatter after Xu Mu finished reading the information inside it!
“Just as I suspected, this is indeed a Legacy Jade Slip, and one that holds a rare Martial Method Legacy!”
The Legacy Jade Slip differs from an ordinary one in that a normal jade slip can only be used once, but a Legacy one can be used multiple times.
The martial method within the jade slip was also as per his expectations, it was the Luo Family’s inherited martial method
Lu Ling Jue!
This is a top-tier method that one can use from Qi Cultivation Stage right up to the perfection of the Golden Core Stage.
A martial method of this level is hard to come by, even if Xu Mu were willing to spend his wealth.
Usually, Qi Cultivation Stage methods are commonly found, one can easily find a bunch without spending any Spirit Stones.
But when it comes to Foundation Establishment Stage methods, one can usually only get them by joining a Sect or through an auction house.
Most people can’t get their hands on them, nor do they need to, as they simply can’t cultivate to the Foundation Establishment Stage.
Golden Core Stage methods are considered Sect-protecting level ones. Only large forces like the Liyang Sect have a complete legacy. Regular loose cultivators would need to pay a huge price for them.
For a Foundation Establishment family like the Luo family to possess a legacy of this kind, they’ve either had a glorious past or they lucked out and inherited the mantle of a Golden Core ancestor.
How the Luo family managed to protect this legacy either means that nobody knew the level of the martial method, that the force they are affiliated with was particularly magnanimous, or that the martial method was not worth stealing.
Having gone through the martial method once, Xu Mu reckoned it was the last reason.
Since the method is extremely difficult to cultivate and has many drawbacks, it’s simply not worth stealing for a Golden Core force. At the most, they’d make a replica, keep it in their library to offer some insights to their disciples.
According to the method’s introduction, the entry-level stage of Lu Ling Jue isn’t difficult to cultivate. The real challenge starts when reaching the perfection of Qi Cultivation Stage, the brink of the Foundation Establishment Stage.
The cultivators of Lu Ling Jue must refine the spirit of a monster beast into their own Lifebound Beast Soul before establishing the Foundation.
The Lu Ling Jue founder managed to merge with a nine-color deer, which led to the naming of the method.
Only when a monster beast reaches the Foundation Establishment Stage can it condense its spirit essence.
The gap between Qi Cultivation and Foundation Establishment Stage is massive. Using the cultivation of Qi Cultivation Stage to refine the spirit essence of a Foundation Establishment Stage monster beast is already difficult enough.
And there’s more hardship after that.
With the incorporation of the Beast Soul, those who cultivate Lu Ling Jue, from then onwards, must upgrade their Beast Soul first before the upgrading of their own cultivation level can proceed.
If the Beast Soul doesn’t progress, even consuming a plethora of pills would be in vain.
The upgrading of the Beast Soul, apart from absorbing Soul Power, also crucially relies on the upgrading of the martial method.
If progress in the martial method isn’t reached, the rate of upgrading the Beast Soul would be discouragingly sluggish.
It’s just like one ring being connected to another!
The upgrading of the martial method leads to the improvement of the Beast Soul, which in turn leads to the progression of the cultivation level.
On the other hand, if the martial method is sluggish, it will slow down the Beast Soul, which will then encumber the cultivation level.
To put it simply, apart from needing resources, this martial method further requires an exceptional level of comprehension.
The Luo family has possessed this method for hundreds of years, but none of them have ever made it big.
The Clear River Sword Sect surely has attempted it, but the method still remains in the hands of the Luo family.
It becomes evident how extremely demanding this method is in terms of comprehension from these two points.
Interestingly, Xu Mu found another secret book of martial method in Luo Hun’s storage bag, that of the Luo family head. It was a Sword Scripture from the Clear River Sword Sect.
This made Xu Mu wonder if the Luo family had already given up on the method.
Unfortunately, the Clear River Sword Scripture only reaches the Foundation Establishment Stage and its characteristics are too obvious. If cultivated, it’d be easy for others to detect sign.
“For others, this martial method may be a trap, but for me, isn’t it tailor-made?”
No matter how high one’s comprehension is, there are likely to be certain areas where one might get stuck.
But for Xu Mu, as long as he had Luck Value, he could break through the bottleneck.
Most importantly, once the martial realm of Lu Ling Jue is enhanced, it can in fact accelerate the cultivation progress. If Luck Value were to be invested within Lu Ling Jue, the return would be much greater compared to other martial methods.
Furthermore, Lu Ling Jue doesn’t lack in power either. With a Lifebound Beast Soul, not only can it be used for attacking, but also defending. The higher the realm, the stronger the power, and various different tricks can be utilized through the Beast Soul.
For example, it could devour souls and gain memory fragments!