Chapter 123 - 111: Seeking Refuge in the Outer Sea_i
Outer Sea
Misty Morning Island
In the midst of thick fog, a beam of lightning cut across the void, stopping suddenly, hovering above the sea level.
“Finally, I’ve arrived! That just about killed me!”
Upon confirming that he had completely left the Cang Ming Ocean Territory on his sea chart and entered the tumultuous Outer Sea region, Xu Mu finally exhaled in relief.
Once bitten, twice shy!
Ever since he was almost captured by the Luo Family using the Lu Ling Jue, Xu Mu found it hard to trust anything.
An influential power at the Nascent Soul Stage, who knows what tricks they might have up their sleeves.
So after he left Illusional Sea City, instead of returning to Pursuing Wind City he headed straight for the Outer Sea, planning to lay low overseas first.
If he were captured later, he would choose to detonate his soul and die rather than involve his family.
“But it seems like I won’t be able to keep the promise I made to Luan’er!”
Xu Mu sighed.
Originally, he wanted to accompany her to find her elder sister after selling the pills this time.
But now, it seems like it would take years before he could go back.
The question of whether he will ever have a chance to return is still up in the air.
The world is too dangerous!
He used to think that the Cang Ming Ocean Territory was a peaceful and quiet place, but now he realizes that peace and tranquility are based on obeying the rules here.
In essence, the overall structure of the Cang Ming Ocean Territory isn’t much different from the Tianhe Sect, but because of its higher hierarchy, the bottom layer appears to be more relaxed and free.
But once you reach the upper levels, where huge benefits are involved, the Cang Ming Ocean Territory and the Tianhe Sect are pretty much the same. It’s human nature!
If it weren’t for these rules and regulations, the three major forces might have been overturned long ago!
The lower classes are destined to be exploited. If you don’t want to be exploited, you have to face great risks.
Be it in his past life or this one.
This has never changed!
Even if he was lucky enough not to meet Mu Yunwan this time, next time he might meet Ma Yunwan or Niu Yunwan.
The profit from the Stay Age Pill might not be significant to the big shots, but the small ones won’t misdchance!
From Mu Yunwan’s memory, he learned that she was the person in charge of selling pills in the Illusional Sea City. Although it was only a nominal title, she still received a sizeable portion of the profits.
Xu Mu selling pills in Illusional Sea City was like snatching food from a tiger’s mouth!
He was marked from the beginning when he started to sell, it was just that his whereabouts were not discovered at first.
As for the claim by Mu Yunwan that his method was insignificant, it was merely her boasting.
In fact, in the end, she was only suspicious of Xu Mu and did not have any solid evidence.
So she made a tentative move, pressuring him to sign a contract, otherwise, she would have directly captured him.
If Xu Mu had revealed his identity with the Four Seas Immortal Palace and quoted Nangong Suyi’s name back then, he might have been able to resolve this crisis in some other way.
But Xu Mu was too adamant about keeping his real identity secret, he didn’t even consider this path and chose instead to fight directly.
Mu Yunwan herself was not that strong a cultivator. If she didn’t use outside force, Xu Mu was 90% confident he could kill her.
Unfortunately, he messed with the wrong person!
With the presence of a Nascent Soul power like Mu Yuchan, it didn’t matter whether Xu Mu was in the Foundation Establishment Stage or even an ordinary Golden Core Stage, all he could do was kneel in defeat.
In this aspect, his loss wasn’t unjust!
It was just plain bad luck.
“Whatever the case may be, I got a harsh lesson from society this time.”
“After surviving this calamity —”
“I need to be more cautious!”
As for giving up selling pills, that’s not happening!
“However, before the next operation, I should study a secret skill to conceal my traces, one so good that even a Nascent Soul cultivator can’t track me down!” This top-level secret skill was hard to come by, or else Xu Mu would have found it long ago.
But in the Outer Sea, there’s a fair chance of finding one.
The Outer Sea is a haven for cultivators undergoing tribulation, assassins, devil cultivators, evil cultivators, ghost cultivators, and even demon cultivators.
Among these people, many have offended the three major forces. Without a means of hiding their tracks, they would have been killed long ago.
Moreover, hiding oneself in such a chaotic place is almost a compulsory course.
Xu Mu carefully stored the sea map, controlled his cultivation at the Qi Cultivation Late Stage, and then flew towards the nearest Misty Morning Island.
According to the map, Misty Morning Island is a small island less than a hundred miles in length and width. Its location is remote, and the spiritual energy is thin, with only a small number of low-level cultivators living there. Because it is covered by mist on most early mornings of the year, it is named as such.
When Xu Mu flew to the island, most of the fog had dissipated. He first flew around the entire island. After making sure that the island’s inhabitants were all Qi cultivation stage cultivators, he chose a deserted hill with sparse spiritual energy and landed.
The island does have a few miniature spirit veins, but all of them have been occupied. Despite his strength, Xu Mu could easily seize them, but, being a newcomer, he didn’t want to cause trouble over such a pitiful amount of spiritual energy.
Over the years, he had also learned some simple formation knowledge from his deep conversations with Lan Shijin, so setting up a small Spirit Gathering Array was no problem.
The spiritual energy possessed by the small Spirit Gathering Array far exceeds that of the miniature spirit veins.
Moreover, cultivators in the Outer Sea like to hide their identities. No one can be sure if the apparent Qi stage Loose Cultivator might be a Golden Core master or a Nascent Soul master in disguise.
He himself is a living example!
“Sword, come!”
Xu Mu squeezed the Finger Jue, and a red sword light flew out from his storage bag.
This four-tier fire attribute flying sword was used for pretense, and it was just right for opening up a cave dwelling at this moment.
The hard rock, under the spirit sword, was as fragile as tofu. Xu Mu effortlessly opened up a spacious cave dwelling.
After cleaning up all the rubble, Xu Mu took out the formation tools and set up
a hiding formation at the cave’s entrance.
Although it’s only a tier two formation, it’s still no problem to deceive the ordinary Qi Cultivation Stage cultivators.
After Xu Mu stepped in, he first stuck a reinforcement talisman on the wall to increase its defensive power, and then set up two more layers of hiding formations and a defensive array, finally feeling slightly safer.
After meditating for a while, and then sleeping on the stone bed for two days, Xu Mu finally felt relaxed. He then took out a jade box from his chest, squeezed the Finger Jue, and unsealed it.
With a mix of excitement and apprehension, he opened the lid of the jade box.
Inside, there was an exquisite storage bag with a red flower embroidered on it.
It was Mu Yunwan’s storage bag!
When he just left Illusional Sea City, Xu Mu was only thinking about getting as far away as possible, he didn’t have time to have a closer look.
On the other hand, he was worried that someone might have tampered with it.
He was afraid that if it was opened rashly, it would be discovered by someone.
To be on the safe side, he deliberately sealed it within the jade box used for sealing spiritual objects.
To be honest, at first he considered discarding the storage bag.
But —
Greed!
People die for wealth, and birds die for food.
He was no exception.
Considering the two priceless magic treasures on Mu Yunwan, he really couldn’t bear to throw them away.
He risked his life to keep them on him!
Of course, he wasn’t so greedy as to sacrifice his life.
Through Mu Yunwan’s memory, he already knew that there were no marks left on the storage bag. Instead, a locating mark was left on Mu Yunwan’s body using a special method by Mu Yuchan.
However, Mu Yunwan’s corpse was dumped into the sea just as he left the city, and by now it must have been devoured by the fishes.
The only reason he hadn’t opened it until now was due to his prudence and caution.
Fortunately, he did not encounter any mishap on the way, and no one caught up to him, which proved that there were indeed no marks on this storage bag.
Now, he was tens of thousands of miles away from the Illusional Sea City. Even a Divinity Transformation cultivator definitely wouldn’t sense it, and only then Xu Mu was completely at ease.
Having survived a life and death crisis, it was finally time for him to reap the rewards!
As the original owner of the bag was dead, Xu Mu easily refined it and then took out the contents one by one.
A purple handkerchief!