Eternal Life by Dual Cultivation-Chapter 214 - 162: Making a Fortune in Silence

These words instantly sent all the Cultivators into a thunderous rage.

They had fought tooth and nail, risking life and limb, only for someone else to swoop in and reap the rewards. How could they possibly stand for it?

"Who did this? Who was it?"

The friendly, easygoing smile vanished from Yu Qingyang’s face. His eyes darkened as he scanned the surroundings, unleashing one detection-type Secret Technique and Divine Technique after another.

It wasn’t just him. None of the Cultivators present held back any longer, not even the few Golden Core Masters who had sealed their Cultivation.

But no matter how hard they searched, or even when they tried to blanket the area with wide-range Divine Techniques, the entire mountaintop remained unresponsive.

"Big Brother, what do we do now?"

A young woman from the Yu Family was on the verge of tears.

Her family’s elders had pulled countless strings and paid a steep price behind the scenes to secure this opportunity for her, but now it had all come to nothing.

"It looks like our only option is to try our luck at those other locations!"

Yu Qingyang sighed. Dragon Soul Valley was vast, and there were a few other treasures that could improve one’s Spirit Root Talent, but their effects were inferior to this one.

Otherwise, they would just have to wait five hundred years to come back again.

Meanwhile, the culprit, Ling Changqing, was already far from the summit, quietly making his way down the mountain along a different path.

In doing so, he completely missed encountering the Eleventh Princess, Luo Qingning, as well as Liu Qin and her three companions.

Along the path, groups of Cultivators were still constantly rushing toward the summit.

They did not yet know that the opportunity at the summit had already been taken by a Cultivator of unknown identity. They were destined to be disappointed.

Ling Changqing moved stealthily, and after half a day, he found a secluded stone cave by a mountain stream. He hid inside, intending to rest for a while.

With practiced ease, he set up several Array Banners at the mouth of the cave, using an Array Restriction to erase all traces of his presence. Only then did Ling Changqing sit down to take stock of his spoils.

His greatest prize from this venture was three golden pearls, each the size of a pigeon’s egg and as translucent as crystal.

A Cultivator only had to consume and refine one of these pearls to raise their Spirit Root Talent by a single grade. The effect capped out at Top Rank Earth Grade, and each Cultivator could only benefit from it once. Any more would be useless.

Ling Changqing considered this for a moment. ’Luo Qingxuan has an Earth Grade Superior Spirit Root, so she doesn’t need this.’

’It would be great to bring the remaining two Crystal Pearls back for Tang Qiu Yao and Ling Qiyue.’

His mind made up, Ling Changqing carefully put away the three Crystal Pearls.

’To completely refine this item, I would need to enter seclusion for over a month. Now is clearly not the right time. I’ll have to wait until after I leave Dragon Soul Valley.’

In addition, Ling Changqing also needed to take stock of the various spoils he had acquired from killing so many Cultivators.

In total, he had forty-three Storage Magical Artifacts and eighteen well-preserved Spiritual Artifacts. The best item came from Feng Zhenglong: that crimson, Top Grade Spiritual Artifact level Flying Sword called Blood Shadow.

Clearly, he must have been one of the elite prodigies the Feng Family was focused on cultivating; otherwise, he wouldn’t have possessed such a fine Top Grade Spiritual Flying Sword.

Ling Changqing spent the better part of a day breaking all the Restrictions on the Storage Magical Artifacts.

Inside was a considerable amount of loot: Elixirs, Spirit Stones, Magical Artifact Talismans, Spirit Medicine and Spiritual Herbs he had collected along the way, rare Spirit Ores, Demon Beast Cores, and more.

After tallying everything, the total came to over a thousand Middle grade Spirit Stones, more than sixty bottles of various Grade One and Grade Two Elixirs, and over three hundred unused Grade One and Grade Two Talismans.

As for the Spirit Medicine and Spiritual Herbs, Demon Beast Cores, and Spirit Gold and Spirit Ore, he figured they were also worth a hefty pile of Spirit Stones.

Ling Changqing was very satisfied with the results. Unlike those struggling, destitute Loose Cultivators, the Foundation Establishment Cultivators from the Nine Great Families were never lacking for wealth.

After a moment of thought, he sacrificed all nine of the Second Rank Demon Beast Cores to Gong Ling, receiving, as expected, nine years of Lifespan in return.

Thus, the lifespan limit displayed by the Era Star Palace returned to 329 years.

The previous few battles had consumed most of the Talismanic Divine Techniques stored in the Mysterious Jade Scroll, so Ling Changqing decided to re-infuse and empower them.

"...What do you think? Should I continue searching for opportunities, or should I start picking off lone Cultivators from the Noble Families?"

Ling Changqing conversed with Gong Ling while busying himself with the task at hand.

"Profiting from the dead is a good option, of course, but if you do it too often, you’re bound to slip up. It’s best you don’t make a habit of it, Master."

Gong Ling responded, noting that there was no guarantee he wouldn’t run into some exceptionally powerful individuals among those Cultivators.

Ling Changqing’s current power was indeed outstanding among Foundation Establishment Cultivators, but whether he could crush every single one of them was another matter entirely.

"Fine," Ling Changqing said. "I’ll just play it by ear."

After meditating for an hour, once his Essence, Qi, and Spirit had returned to their Peak state, Ling Changqing removed the Array Restriction and stepped out of the cave.

His invisibility had not yet faded. He silently returned to the mountainside, then mounted his Flying Sword and left the Luoying Mountain Range.

Even at this late hour, there were still some ill-informed Cultivators rushing toward the Luoying Mountain Range.

The group of Cultivators from the summit had certainly left, but they had all made an unspoken agreement to remain silent.

The reason was simple: it was to their advantage to let more people waste their time in this place.

Dragon Soul Valley was only open for two months at a time, and there were far too many locations with opportunities worth visiting. For the Cultivators, it was nowhere near enough time.

...

At the entrance to Dragon Soul Valley, within the camps of the various powers, tensions were already brewing beneath the surface.