Chapter 108: Chapter 76: Return 1
Translator: 549690339
One year later, at Dongting Lake.
“I’ve returned!”
Standing at the bow of a black-canopied boat, Xu Yang looked out over the vast and misty waters of Dongting Lake, his eyes filled with nostalgia.
A year ago, he had rejected the invitation from White Dragon Island, decisively leaving that place of conflict.
Afterward, he did not return directly to Dongting Lake but instead traveled to other regions, touring Liang Country.
He made his presence known both in the ordinary world and in the realm of cultivation.
Through this, he had also clarified the general situation in Liang Country.
First of all, the cultivation world of Liang Country was dominated by three major Golden Core Sects, namely Tianshu Sect, Green Jade Sect, and Medicine King Valley.
Among them, Tianshu Sect was the strongest, recognized as a grandmaster of the Array Path, with several Golden Core experts, and it was said that their old ancestor had reached the Perfect Gold Core Realm, potentially breaking through to achieve Nascent Soul at any moment.
The Liang Country’s royal family stemmed from the bloodline of Tianshu Sect’s founding master. Although the founding master had long since passed away, as long as the Tianshu Sect’s legacy endured, the royal family would remain the sovereign rulers of Liang Country.
Beneath the three major Sects were various Foundation Establishment forces, with varying strengths, but none posed a significant threat to the hegemony of the three Sects. The competition amongst them was fierce, and the situation on White Dragon Island was a common occurrence.
Below the Foundation Establishment forces were the Qi Cultivation loose cultivators, lacking the capacity or the right to exist independently, as Qi Cultivators didn’t qualify or possess the ability to occupy lands rich in spiritual energy.
Qi Cultivation practitioners who wanted to cultivate had no choice but to attach themselves to Foundation Establishment forces, join Sects, serve in families, or rent Cave Mansions in the marketplaces, earning Spirit Stones to maintain their cultivation, which was highly challenging.
Xu Yang continued his low-key tour of the cultivation world while scattering “opportunities” among the ordinary people.
He took on many more disciples, further spreading the Martial Arts Scripture, enhancing the effects of his teaching skills.
Of course, there were risks associated with such indiscriminate recruitment of disciples, namely that their characters couldn’t be guaranteed without his constant oversight and guidance, potentially fostering ungrateful ingrates who might betray him, their master.
However, it didn’t matter. He was using false identities and disguises; losing one layer of disguise simply meant he had another to fall back on, so basically no one could find him, and even if they did, they posed no threat.
After all, when it came down to it, all problems were, fundamentally, matters of strength.
His current power was sufficient to support him in many endeavors.
Spreading martial arts all over was still not feasible, but taking some disciples ana teacmng some martial arts was entirely errortless, witnout any pressure.
Therefore, his actions grew bolder and bolder. Apart from personally taking disciples under his wing, he also distributed secret manuals, instructing thousands in various disciplines, which again slightly increased the speed of his cultivation.
Beyond teaching, during this year, he used Zhuanzhou Mengdie to, with a tenfold time difference in the Blackwater River, thoroughly research the Pill Master, Spirit Plant, Beast Taming, and some unique skill inheritances he had obtained on White Dragon Island.
Now, apart from Array Formation, he had more or less mastered all other skill inheritances.
It must be said, Array Formation was indeed very difficult to learn.
Even with the accumulation of two lifetimes and scholarly brilliance, coupled with the “Never Forget After Reading” ability to immediately grasp and creatively apply new knowledge, learning the Array Path was still extremely challenging, and he had not yet mastered it.
And this was only a first-tier Array Formation inheritance corresponding to the Qi Refinement realm. Considering the second-tier Foundation Establishment Arrays, third-tier Golden Core Arrays, fourth-tier Nascent Soul Arrays, and even the fifth-tier Divinity Transformation Great Arrays, one could only guess how long it might take to study them.
But it didn’t matter; he had Zhuanzhou Mengdie, and no matter how esoteric the path of Array Formation was, he could conquer it bit by bit with time on his side.
If the tenfold time disparity of the Black Water World was not enough, he would switch to other worlds, a thousandfold or a hundredfold—success was only a matter of time.
Thus, he was not in a hurry, traveling through Liang Country and wandering the Black Water in spirit.
So it was that after a year had gone by, he who had traversed Liang Country returned to the familiar Dongting Lake.
Indeed, he had considered settling down somewhere in the Cultivation World.
Although he did not rely on Spiritual Energy to cultivate, having it was still better than not, right?
But in the end, after much thought, he dismissed the idea.
Qi Cultivators could not occupy lands rich in Spiritual Energy; they could only attach themselves to Foundation Establishment forces, either seeking shelter with a family or joining a sect.
This was unacceptable to him as he needed a great deal of private space for farming and development. Joining a force would inevitably lead to being monitored, and if his extraordinary abilities were exposed, it would bring a whole host of problems.
Of course, he could consider establishing his own power. With his current combat strength, he could even face Foundation Establishment Cultivators, and if he was willing to struggle, taking a small piece of Spirit Land was not impossible.
But… what’s the point?
For a small piece of Spirit Land, to engage in mind games and deception with those Foundation Establishment forces?
Wasn’t that tiring?
Xu Yang had clear self-awareness and action plans.
His foundation was not a territory, but the Attribute Panel, Skill Traits, Zhuanzhou Mengdie, and thousands of worlds.
Wasn’t mastering these more valuable than any Spirit Land?
It was like when he used to be a fisherman. Was he only fit to be a fisherman?
No, if he wanted, he could ascend gradually without appearing exceptional, join a gang, or enter a martial arts hall.
But why didn’t he do it?
Because the risk was not proportional to the reward.
Joining a gang meant dealing with those above and below him, and occasionally having to fight fiercely with others.Joining a martial arts hall meant involvement in the conflicts of the Martial World, equally perilous.
It was better to be a fisherman, although at the bottom, because it was stable. He could have ample time to practice skills and accumulate traits, gather strength, and expand his capabilities.
Similarly, even though Spirit Land was desirable, the entanglements of various interests were too many and did not compare to the ease and freedom of the mundane world.
There was no way a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, in their right mind, would come to compete with him for a piece of ordinary land. At most, some Qi Cultivators desiring immortal fate would come along, which he could easily handle.
Therefore, he returned to Dongting Lake, his Dongting Lake.
Dongting Lake remained unchanged, the same Dongting Lake as always.
As the boat entered the lake, clouds veiled and fog enshrouded, the mist on the water growing thicker.
But Xu Yang was well-practiced and directed the “Blackwood Boat” beneath his feet straight toward his lair.
This Blackwood Boat was also a Magic Artifact, a superior quality evasion-type Magic Artifact, one of the storeroom treasures of the Three Scourges of White Dragon.
The artifacts he had acquired through underhanded means were mostly sold, with only this Blackwood Boat and a Green Shirt being kept.
This wasn’t because he couldn’t use Magic Artifacts, on the contrary, besides the “Fighting Scroll,” the Martial Arts Scripture also included the “Soldier Scroll,” which specialized in the art of using weapons. If he had divine weapons, his combat power would be even greater than with the Fighting Scroll.
According to Xu Yang’s plans, the “Soldier Scroll” should develop in a direction similar to a Sword Cultivator’s “Sword technique”: practicing the Sword technique, nurturing a Flying Sword, with the technique activated, the sword would come forth and all laws would be annihilated — the true grace of a Sword Cultivator!
Xu Yang had cultivated the “Thunder Series”; if he were to also cultivate “Sword technique” and combine them into the “Thunder Sword” technique, there would be few who could withstand him in the same realm.
Unfortunately, none of those magic artifacts were Flying Swords.
Although it didn’t have to be a Flying Sword, the “Soldier Scroll” was not limited to the Sword Dao, Xu Yang considered that the current Fighting Scroll could already meet the combat needs. After all, the priority was always cultivation, so in the end, he still sold those magic artifacts.
Magical artifacts used as boats, their speed extremely fast, it didn’t take long before he returned to the familiar place.
Looking at the lonely desolate island, Xu Yang breathed a sigh of relief.
The formations weren’t broken!
It seemed that for the past year or so, no one had set foot on the island.
The deaths of Zhang Guanghua and those five, hadn’t they attracted any cultivators to investigate?
Could it be that they were all orphans?
Or seeing that even a late Qi Cultivation practitioner like Zhang Guanghua had fallen, people were afraid to come here lightly?
Xu Yang couldn’t be sure, but having his place unspoiled was a good thing regardless.
The Blackwood Boat surged with dark light, passing through the illusion of water moon mirrors, and immediately the scenery cleared up.
“I’m back!”
Xu Yang smiled, sprang into the air, shrank the Blackwood Boat, and stored it in his Storage Bag.
It’s worth mentioning that now he, the proud owner of countless Storage Bags, large and small – over twenty in total, was more “nine-bagged” than the Nine Bags Elder himself.
There was no helping it. Traveling for over a year, it was inevitable to encounter those who were courting death, plus the hoarded privacies of the Three Scourges of White Dragon Island, his Storage Bags were bound to be abundant.
One year’s time, harvest aplenty!
Back on the island, Xu Yang smiled and called out to the Golden Eagle following close behind: “Go, call all of them back for me.”
“Screech!!!!!”
Having followed Xu Yang for a year and received many enlightenments, the now demonized Golden Eagle cried out, soaring into the sky as if declaring the king’s return.
Xu Yang shook his head and went to the abandoned fishery to the west, put away his Green Shirt magic artifact, and with a leap, dove into the water.
A moment later, the water boiled as various Alien beasts and Spirit Monsters of the fish species led the shoals of fish to gather and return to the fishery.
Under the Dragon King’s command, all fish returned!
Compared to a year ago, these Alien fishes were noticeably thinner, and the number of the shoals had also decreased.
There was no helping it; Xu Yang hadn’t been here for a year. The breeding skills couldn’t take effect, plus there was no Spirit Rice like White Jade Rice to feed them. Remaining in this Yuan Qi-sparse mortal world, decline was inevitable.
Luckily, Xu Yang was back, and none of it was a problem.
Allocating management tasks, rebuilding the fishery, Xu Yang let out a light chuckle and once again dived into the lake.
Soon, he arrived at a hidden spot at the bottom of the lake.
There, thousands of electric eels gathered with a golden-bodied, lightning-flashing Electric Eel King amongst them.
Seeing his return, the swarm of electric eels boiled with excitement, with the Electric Eel King swimming around him, coiling around his body and crackling, releasing a year’s worth of grievances, resembling a few hundred-pound child, but one equipped with 100,000 volts.
“Alright, alright!”
Xu Yang laughed, took out a bottle of pills, and threw it directly to it, then threw several bags of White Jade Rice from his Storage Bag: “Eat up, then let’s start planting after you’re done!”
Moments later, Xu Yang, accompanied by the swarm of electric eels, returned to the eel farm on the east coast of the small island.
“Screech!!!!!”
By then, the Golden Eagle had also led a host of Alien beasts and birds of prey back, with Laoliu and the peacock notably among them.
“You’ve all gotten skinny!”
Looking at the overly excited flock, Xu Yang shook his head and threw out a few more bags of White Jade Rice.
“I’ll make an exception today, eat your fill.”
After petting the birds and pacifying their emotions, he finally headed to the medicinal garden.
In the medicinal garden, the Spiritual Medicines that had been planted before were all intact, not picked by anyone nor eaten by insects.
“It seems that even when I’m away, the Skill Traits of my abilities still have some effect.”
Xu Yang thought to himself, then took out a bag of crystalline powder from his Storage Bag and poured it into the medicinal field.
This was… Spirit Stone powder.
It could effectively promote growth and enhance the medicine age.
Of course, doing so was rather extravagant and might even be counterproductive.
But there was no choice; this Spirit Stone powder was the result of when Xu Yang took down some rubbish Robbing Cultivators and accidentally blew up the people along with their Storage Bags, turning the Spirit Stones and magic artifacts inside to ash. With no other use, they served as fertilizer.
This Spirit Stone fertilizer wasn’t in abundance; it could only be supplied to the medicinal fields and not the rice fields.
It didn’t matter, Xu Yang had other fertilizers.
He turned and walked into the rice fields, where the land was overgrown with weeds, and some rice stalks already bore grains—which, upon peeling, turned out to be White Jade Rice!
In his absence, Spirit Rice had actually grown in this field autonomously?
Could it be the effect of the planting skills?
No, it was the effect of the “fertilizer!”
A year ago, after the harvest, he had buried some “fertilizer” in the ground; these Spirit Rice plants had sprouted right where the fertilizer was buried. Cultivators’ bodies were treasures through and through, valuable even after death.
When Xu Yang had visited several Cultivation “black markets” in Liang Country, there were quite a few who bought the bodies of deceased Cultivators. The stronger the power, the higher the price.
But he didn’t sell because he needed them too.
Xu Yang took out a Storage Bag, poured out several large chunks of ice, which were frozen bodies—among them were unmistakably the Three Fiends of White Dragon Island.
Then, he took out a mid-tier magic artifact level hoe, began digging the ground, ploughing the field, applying fertilizer, and planting, burying all these bodies into the rice field to serve as fertilizer to enhance soil fertility.
With such high-quality fertilizer, the next rice harvest was sure to be bountiful, yielding more exotic and excellent Spirit Rice crops..