Chapter 345 - 332: Opportunity

Chapter 345: Chapter 332: Opportunity

Mirror Mountain, Bamboo Forest Village.

It was nearly noon.

Chen Li had his sleeves rolled up, a hatchet in hand, unhurriedly splitting several logs of hardwood stacked against the wall.

His coarse gray clothes were dusted with wood chips, making him look no different from an ordinary village woodcutter.

A fragrant breeze wafted over.

"Master, why are you doing such coarse labor yourself? Could it be that life here in the wilderness is so hard and lonely that you’ve specially summoned Linglong to relieve your boredom?"

Linglong’s voice was soft with a hint of teasing. She glided forward gracefully, her voice as crisp and melodious as an oriole emerging from a valley.

Chen Li brought the hatchet down, splitting a log in two, then casually embedded the blade in the chopping block.

Straightening up, he dusted the wood chips from his hands and looked at Linglong, his face devoid of any smile. "This is no time for jokes. I called you here to ask you about a serious matter."

Seeing his serious expression, Linglong immediately wiped the smile from her face and stood respectfully with her hands at her sides. "Please ask, Master."

Chen Li walked to the well, drew a bucket of water, and asked as he washed his hands, "Back when the Xiang Sect had you investigate Mirror Mountain, what exactly did you find?"

The question stunned Linglong.

If Chen Li hadn’t brought it up just now, she would have almost forgotten about the Mirror Mountain affair.

She walked to the well, turned the windlass to draw up a bucket of clear water, then took a silk handkerchief from her robes, soaked it, and handed it to Chen Li.

"Wipe your hands first, Master."

Her movements were natural, as if she were accustomed to such tasks. Chen Li took the handkerchief but didn’t use it, merely staring at her.

Linglong sighed softly. "The matter of Mirror Mountain... it eventually came to nothing."

"Why?"

"Because we couldn’t find anything."

Linglong shook her head. "Following the sect’s instructions, I sent people to investigate more than a dozen villages around Mirror Mountain for several months. We found plenty of anomalies, but not a single one could be substantiated."

Chen Li frowned. "What kind of anomalies? Be specific."

Linglong gathered her thoughts and began to explain slowly, "Mirror Mountain may look like any other mountain, but it’s dominated by bamboo forests and tree species with shallow root systems. There are few tall, deep-rooted arbors. Such vegetation indicates the topsoil is not deep."

Chen Li’s gaze sharpened.

Linglong paused, then continued, "Then there are the old local ghost stories. Rumor has it that in ancient times, there were tombs within Mirror Mountain. After grave robbers plundered them, the corpses inside were found to be perfectly preserved, showing no signs of decay, as if they had just been buried.

"However, these are mostly rumors from decades, or even a century, ago. The ancient tombs on Mirror Mountain have long since been plundered, and with no new graves being dug, no one can verify the truth. We secretly had a master of feng shui look at the area, but he was vague, only saying that the feng shui here was peculiar and that it might be a ’place that nourishes Yin’."

’A place that nourishes Yin?’

Chen Li’s brow furrowed.

’Could it be that this entire Mirror Mountain is a massive tomb?’

’Or is there some object of ultimate Yin buried beneath it?’

"Is there more?"

Chen Li’s gaze drifted to the verdant Mirror Mountain outside the courtyard.

"The last point is the strangest."

Linglong pointed at the mountain. "Look, Master. The surface of Mirror Mountain is covered in a lush sea of bamboo, but it is actually a stone mountain."

"Our people secretly dug in a few hidden locations. At the deepest point, about five feet down, they hit bedrock. Not rubble, but a solid, hard, bluish-gray rock that was all one continuous piece."

Linglong turned to look at him. "In other words, the entire Mirror Mountain might be one single, enormous rock, merely covered by a thin layer of soil."

Chen Li’s frown deepened. "When the Xiang Sect’s upper echelons learned of this, what was their reaction?"

Linglong shook her head. "No reaction. After this information was compiled and reported, the higher-ups just told us to keep an eye on it, without giving any further explicit instructions. After that, the matter seemed to be completely forgotten. No one ever brought it up again."

Chen Li fell silent.

The mountain wind wailed as it passed through the bamboo forest.

He had been cultivating in the mountains for the past few days and discovered that the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi here was far richer than in Lingxi.

He could even clearly feel wisps of Primordial Qi surging into his body from all directions, so quickly that he found it a little unsettling.

After his initial joy, he soon realized something was wrong.

’Why has no one occupied such a precious location?’

Mirror Mountain wasn’t isolated from the rest of the world.

The Noble Families of Jiangzhou might not have any Grandmaster-level experts.

’But a first-rate Jianghu power like the Celestial Sword Sect must have some. Could they really not have noticed?’

What’s more, the fact that even a faction like the Xiang Sect came to investigate proves that these major powers had noticed it long ago.

But for no one to occupy it defied common sense.

’Anything this abnormal must be hiding something sinister.’

Seeing Chen Li lost in thought, Linglong added, "If you wish to know more, Master, you might try sounding out Luo Pingyuan, the Magistrate of Mirror Mountain County."

"Him?" Chen Li was puzzled.

Linglong explained, "Back then, to make things convenient for themselves, the Jiang Family bought the entire Mirror Mountain. But then the Jiang Family was suddenly wiped out. It’s unknown if anyone who knew about this is still alive. If they are, Luo Pingyuan, who now controls the Jiang Family’s assets and is the local County Magistrate, might know something about it."

Chen Li nodded slightly.

However, he was in no hurry to seek out Luo Pingyuan immediately.

’That man is quite calculating. Questioning him rashly might not be a good idea.’

「That night, the moon was bright and the stars were few.」

Chen Li sat cross-legged on his bed, but he did not immediately enter a meditative state to begin his Cultivation.

What Linglong had told him had made him more vigilant.

The Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi here was so rich it was almost eerie.

Combined with the rumors of this being a ’place that nourishes Yin,’ how could he know if this Primordial Qi wasn’t mixed with some foul, malevolent energy?

If he rashly absorbed and refined it, it could lead to hidden dangers over time.

After a moment of contemplation, he decided against directly circulating the Innate Qi Gathering Technique to absorb and refine the Primordial Qi as he had in previous days. Instead, he attempted to extract and isolate the few wisps of Primordial Qi he had cultivated over the last few days from his body.

The process was extremely delicate; the slightest mistake could damage the foundation of his Primordial Spirit.

Chen Li proceeded with extreme caution.

Next, he took out the Tuo Dragon Pearl. The pearl vibrated slightly and swallowed the few wisps of extracted Primordial Qi.

In the next moment, his Primordial Spirit transformed into a clear ray of light and entered the world within the Tuo Dragon Pearl.

The world inside the pearl was still a desolate wasteland. The sky was low, the earth was cracked and dry, and only the Cyan Lotus, rooted in the barren soil, quietly unfurled its three crystal-clear leaves, emitting a faint aura of life.

But as soon as those few wisps of Primordial Qi entered this realm, they caused a violent reaction, like drops of water falling into hot oil.

The originally calm, almost depleted residual Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi inside the Tuo Dragon Pearl instantly went berserk. As if possessing a will of its own, it frantically repelled and besieged the few strands of foreign Primordial Qi, trying to expel them.

The few wisps of Primordial Qi also seemed to come alive, darting left and right within the small space, fleeing rapidly to evade the assault.

This silent chase lasted for a moment.

Suddenly, the few panicked wisps of Primordial Qi, scrambling blindly, crashed into the quietly floating Cyan Lotus.

The next moment, a scene that astonished Chen Li unfolded.

The Cyan Lotus trembled slightly. Its three leaves stirred without a breeze, emitting an even softer, emerald-green radiance.

The wisps of Primordial Qi were absorbed into the Cyan Lotus without any resistance, vanishing in an instant.

Then, radiance flowed around the Cyan Lotus. The leaves seemed to grow even more vibrant and lush, and even the unopened flower bud seemed to swell ever so slightly.

’What is this?’

Chen Li’s Primordial Spirit landed beside the Cyan Lotus, observing it intently without blinking.

He could clearly sense that after absorbing those wisps of Primordial Qi, the Cyan Lotus’s aura had grown a fraction stronger and more solid. Although the change was minuscule, it was incredibly clear to his Primordial Spirit’s perception.

What surprised him even more came next.

A moment later, as if it had finished digesting, the Cyan Lotus swayed gently again.

This time, it was not absorbing, but emitting.

Wisps of Primordial Qi, far purer and calmer than before, slowly seeped out from the veins of the Cyan Lotus leaves and its flower bud, drifting into the dead, empty space.

And this time, after this new Qi appeared, the residual Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi within the Tuo Dragon Pearl no longer attacked or repelled it. Instead, it gradually merged with the pale cyan Qi and calmed down.

’Purification? Generation?’

A thought flashed through Chen Li’s mind like lightning.

The system’s description of the Cyan Lotus—born before the primordial chaos was separated, formed from a wisp of innate vitality from the heavens and earth, possessing the unfathomable mystical powers of purification, generation, and creation—suddenly became crystal clear.

A surge of joyous surprise filled his heart.

’It seems the abnormally rich Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi on Mirror Mountain really does have some kind of problem.’

’But my Cyan Lotus happens to possess the power of purification.’

’If that’s the case, doesn’t it mean I can fearlessly absorb the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi of Mirror Mountain, as long as I purify it with the Cyan Lotus before refining it?’

At this thought, a fire ignited in Chen Li’s heart.

He no longer hesitated. His Primordial Spirit instantly left the Tuo Dragon Pearl and returned to his physical body.

Opening his eyes, he saw the bright moonlight outside his window.

He rose quietly, left his small courtyard, and sped toward the mountain hollow where he had cultivated before.

Finding the green stone in the hollow where he usually meditated, Chen Li sat down cross-legged, cleared his mind of stray thoughts, and activated the Innate Qi Gathering Technique.

This time, he absorbed without restraint.

The dense Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi in the surroundings surged crazily into his body as if drawn by an invisible force.

Unlike before, after the Primordial Qi entered his meridians, Chen Li did not circulate and refine it into his own Primordial Qi. Instead, he used his Divine Thought to guide it, gathering it into a torrent and channeling it directly into the Tuo Dragon Pearl.

HUMMM...

The Tuo Dragon Pearl trembled slightly, like a giant, long-starved mouth, indiscriminately devouring the entire torrent of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi.

The Cyan Lotus seemed to sense the influx of nourishment. Its radiance flowed more rapidly, and its leaves swayed gently, absorbing and transforming the incoming Exotic Primordial Qi, then releasing an even purer Vitality Essence Qi that diffused outwards.

The night deepened, the moonlight like water.

In the mountain hollow, Chen Li’s figure blended in with the rocks.

He cultivated like this for the entire night.

Not until the eastern sky began to show the pale light of dawn and the first rays of morning sun fell upon the mountains did Chen Li slowly cease his practice and open his eyes.

With another thought, his Primordial Spirit entered the Tuo Dragon Pearl.

Inside the pearl’s space, above the lifeless ground, the thin mist of Primordial Qi had grown a little denser. Though still sparse, it was a world of difference compared to its previously near-depleted state.

The Cyan Lotus also seemed to have grown a fraction taller, its leaves more vibrant and full, brimming with life.

’It’s still a little slow...’

Chen Li gazed at the still-barren world and frowned slightly.

A whole night of voracious absorption had produced a rapid amount of transformed Primordial Qi for his personal Cultivation, but it was still just a drop in the bucket for filling the vast world within the Tuo Dragon Pearl.

’If only I knew how to use this Tuo Dragon Pearl and have it directly devour all the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi on Mirror Mountain, how great would that be?’

However, the thought was fleeting.

Mystical objects have spirits and their own ways; they cannot be forced.

As things stood, being able to use the Cyan Lotus’s power to safely utilize Mirror Mountain’s Primordial Qi to accelerate his Cultivation was already a tremendous stroke of fortune. It was more than ten times faster than before; he couldn’t ask for more.

Chen Li suppressed his thoughts and his Primordial Spirit returned to his body.

He got up, brushed the dew from his robes, and walked toward his small courtyard down the mountain, facing the rising sun.

It was getting late; it was time to take his children to the private school.

In the mountains, one loses all track of time; the years pass by unknown.

From then on, Chen Li lived a disciplined and fulfilling life in Mirror Mountain’s Bamboo Forest Village.

Every morning, he would take his children to school. During the day and at night, he would enter the mountain hollow to use the Cyan Lotus’s power, collecting and refining the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. His Cultivation advanced at a speed visible to the naked eye.