Back home, Chen Mu was in high spirits.
It wasn’t in vain that he had staked out the place after breakfast.
He had intended to observe the old man’s movements and deliver two Iron Lotus Seeds to him on the way.
Who would have expected there would also be unexpected gains?
Chen Mu counted the silver notes with glee.
Having successfully obtained the funds to settle down, his overall wealth skyrocketed to more than twenty thousand taels.
“I guess I’m a rich man now!”
“No worries about food and drink, and some spare money to enjoy the opera and take things slow with my cultivation,” reflected Chen Mu contentedly.
With proficiency on his side, achieving Shell Soul was only a matter of time.
So what’s there to rush!
“People take a hundred years to nurture their souls and still train step by step.”
“So what if it takes me until forty to achieve Shell Soul, why the hurry!”
…
With a settled heart, Chen Mu’s life returned to tranquillity.
Lijiang Guard City was south of Da Liang, too remote. Not far from Nanyang Prefecture City but still far from bustling.
That is precisely why the atmosphere in the city was relatively peaceful.
There was no way to avoid the hardships of the human world, but compared to the deep turmoil of the northern war-torn areas, here was much more fortunate.
Chen Mu lived a quiet life in the small city, brushing up his proficiency, his days passing by calmly and leisurely.
He even made time to turn the eastern side of his yard into a vegetable garden, sowing four or five rows of seasonal vegetables.
His lifestyle was regular, and before he knew it, a month had swiftly passed by.
That evening, after a day of cultivation, he was sitting in a thatched pavilion drinking tea and stargazing.
In his previous life, he didn’t know much about astronomy; besides the sun and the moon, the Big Dipper was all he recognized.
“There seem to be more stars in this world, densely packed,” he noted.
“No industrial pollution, so they’re clearer?” Chen Mu wondered aimlessly, then shook his head.
The Big Dipper was certainly gone.
“This is ultimately not the original world.”
“I wonder if the earth beneath my feet is still a sphere,” Chen Mu muttered.
In his previous life, he had always heard a statement, stating that when watching ships coming from afar at the sea, the first thing one noticed was the top of their sails.
As the ships drew closer, one would gradually see the bodies of the ships from top to bottom.
That was because the earth is a sphere, with a curved surface.
He had known about this in his previous life but never had a chance to see it for himself.
“When I achieve Shell Soul someday and travel the world, I’ll make a trip to the sea first,” Chen Mu set a little goal for himself.
He was planning his exciting future life.
Boom!
A loud noise erupted from within the city.
The little paper man on the roof immediately shot up into the sky.
In the dim night, nothing could be seen.
One could only faintly hear that the loud noise came from the direction of Lijiang, east of the city.
“Another fight?”
“Is it the same two from a month ago?”
“Or have other experts arrived?”
All four little paper men flew into the sky, monitoring the movements in all directions.
Various essential items for home and travel quickly went into the Five Ghosts Bag.
Chen Mu, clutching the Soul-Calming Stake, sat anxiously in the pavilion, ready to flee at any moment.
The loud collision noise persisted for a good two quarters of an hour, then gradually faded until it disappeared.
“Just like monster-like creatures!” Chen Mu shuddered.
From such a distance, the sounds of the battle made his heart tremble.
How strong would the force be at close range?!
“No wonder the noble families are always trying to diminish the practice of Shape Cultivation Technique.”
“With more Shell Soul individuals, even with Body Protection Aura, noble families could be surrounded and worn down by Shell Souls.”
“Still running?” Chen Mu’s heart was surprisingly less uneasy.
This tumultuous world ultimately had an impact on Chen Mu.
It gave him a heart that was not too big, but also not too small.
“Find out what’s going on first.”
Running around like a headless fly, what if he stumbled into some kind of trouble?
…
It wasn’t until the next day that Chen Mu went out.
As usual, he headed to Lijiang Tower, found a corner, ordered a table full of dishes, and ate slowly.
After eating, he didn’t leave; he ordered a pot of tea, a plate of sunflower seeds, and sat in the hall listening to story-telling, all while casually gathering information.
Not until the sky turned dark did Chen Mu return home.
“Outsiders?”
Chen Mu had listened for a whole day, and the stories about the identities of the two from that night were varied.
But there was one consensus—the two were not local martial artists from Lijiang City.
“Does Lijiang City have any special codes?”
Chen Mu sensed that something was amiss.
It seemed as if highly skilled martial artists were slowly converging on Lijiang City.
“Is it because of the chaos in the north, coming here to escape disaster?”
Chen Mu was not unfamiliar with refugees from the north.
There were quite a few in Nanyang Prefecture City.
Strictly speaking, he was also one of the people who had come from the north to seek refuge.
“The order within the city hasn’t been disrupted, so I’ll stay a bit longer and see.”
Nanyang Prefecture City might not be stable either.
If they were guests from the north, as a bustling prefecture city, Nanyang Prefecture City would gather even more people.
…
In the following period, every ten days or half a month, there would be some disturbances.
Fortunately, they all occurred outside of Lijiang City.
The impact on the city’s residents wasn’t significant, and it merely provided some extra gossip for them after meals.
“Then I’ll stay a bit longer,” Chen Mu felt slightly reassured.
Even so, every night he had to send out little paper figures to stand guard and keep watch.
…
More than two months later.
Lijiang City, East of the City, Lijiang Tower.
In a corner of the first-floor lobby.
Chen Mu wore a gray scholar’s long robe and had his hair tied with a gray cloth, eating his meal leisurely.
Within Lijiang City, only the dishes at Lijiang Tower were to his taste.
Looking up and observing the attire of everyone in the lobby, Chen Mu couldn’t help but be startled.
“The weather has turned cold, huh,” he realized suddenly.
Having used the Soul-Calming Stake air-conditioning for a long time, he was never too hot or too cold, and wasn’t very sensitive to changes in the outside temperature.
With his strong physical constitution, he didn’t feel even a slight chill.
“Unknowingly, more than four months have passed,” Chen Mu lamented.
As he was lost in thought, a few voices nearby suddenly piqued his interest.
“Those families south of the city are really unlucky, just sitting at home when their house collapsed.”
“An undeserved disaster, it’s unknown which powerful martial artist it was.”
“Has something valuable appeared in Lijiang City?”
“Hard to say…”
“It’s already affecting the inside of the city?” Chen Mu couldn’t help frowning.
For months, there had always been powerful martial artists dueling in the surroundings of Lijiang City.
The power unleashed was tremendous.
Chen Mu had even sneakily gone to the outskirts to see for himself.
A small hillock had been pockmarked and cratered, as if it had been subjected to a mortar shelling, and had been significantly lowered.
“Shell Soul experts gathering in Lijiang City, it’s probably not a good sign.”
“Does Lijiang City really have some treasure?” Chen Mu began to think about leaving.
After listening to the crowd’s discussions a while longer, Chen Mu paid the bill and shook his head as he left.
Most of these people were just parroting others and didn’t know the real situation.
“I need to meet with Jie Jia.”
That old man had vast divine skills; he definitely knew the reason.
…
Back at home, Chen Mu sat in the rocking chair, deep in thought.
He brought up the gray wall and looked toward the item at the very bottom.
Cloud Mirage Shape Cultivation Technique: 9783/10000/Fourth Rank;
“No rush, wait another three days.”
After more than four months, the Cloud Mirage Shape Cultivation Technique was finally close to perfection.
Three days later, the Cloud Mirage Shape Cultivation Technique broke through without any disturbance.
His mind felt refreshingly cool and comfortable, and at the back of his head, near the occipital bone, there appeared a quail egg-sized Wandering Soul.
“It really is an incomplete version,” Chen Mu frowned.
The breathing method was so complex, yet the Wandering Soul was so small, it was even inferior to the White Ape Shape Cultivation Technique.
A cultivation technique that was originally high-end had been weakened to the point of mediocrity.
“Incompetent bastards,” Chen Mu composedly completed his daily curse at the nobility.
He planned to set off for Nanyang Prefecture City the next day.
He had to find out what was going on with the gathering of experts in Lijiang City.
As he was speculating, his eyes inadvertently swept over the gray wall, and Chen Mu stood frozen in place.
Cloud Mirage Shape Cultivation Technique: 3/10000/Fifth Rank; Find your next read on M V L
Chen Mu: “…”
The Wandering Soul hadn’t reached its limit yet?!
Was the Cloud Mirage Shape Cultivation Technique actually a top-tier technique leading directly to Shell Soul?!
“Did I… curse wrongly?”