After leaving Old Man Chen’s smith shop, Lu Ping used the teleportal to Xuan Qi Island, then flew back towards Huang Li Island from there.
Along the way, Lu Ping completely unleashed the low-grade skiff mystic instrument to its full potential. He’d never flown at a speed this fast before, and it really felt good to be a Blood Condensation Realm cultivator.
On Huang Li Island, in his cultivation room, Lu Ping settled down and mulled things over. Right now, he already had some plans for his current cultivation route. Of course, the more important thing to do now was prepare for the upcoming battle between sects. Although frankly speaking, Lu Ping had always been preparing himself for it.
Firstly, he had to set up his cave-dwelling. Lu Ping initially thought of heading to the Emerald Sea Spirit Snake’s lair and plundering the wealth there. He had spent almost all the wealth he gathered in the Blood Refining Realm and was now a poor man.
However, considering the current tense situation between sects, in addition to the location of the lair being in Xuan Ling Sect’s territory, Lu Ping decided to quietly sneak into the lair at night so as to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.
Lu Ping decided to set up his cave-dwelling underground, taking inspiration from Sheng Tao’s cave-dwelling and Master Immortal Liu’s advice. Hence, Lu Ping went to the small mountain on Huang Li Island.
The island had two rivers that originated from the small mountain, one flowed northeast and the other southeast. In the middle of the two rivers was a steep cliff almost twenty yards high. Lu Ping decided to set up his cave-dwelling here.
He also wanted to confirm if the rivers on the island were coming from the same source. After all, he was a pure water-element cultivator; his cultivation would progress faster and feel more comfortable near a water source.
Lu Ping released Dabao from the spirit beast pouch. It had been a long time since Dabao was let out, it excitedly circled Lu Ping around his feet. Since Lu Ping fed Dabao all of the low-grade Blood Refining Realm pellets he concocted, the little mouse gained a lot of weight, making it look like a rolling meatball. It was so fat Lu Ping couldn’t even see its feet. But as a result, Dabao’s cultivation improved to the Third Layer Blood Refining Realm, making it a considerably strong expert among its peers.
Lu Ping took out his Flying Swallow Sword, swinging it in the air while casting a sword art. This sword art was one of the eight arts contained in the [Sea Coast Wave Listening Scripture], the [Disarrayed Rocks Puncturing Sword Art] of the [Wave Listening Eight Ultimates].
This was Lu Ping’s first time casting this sword art. Prior to this, he’d only studied it in his mind. But because he achieved the state of Technique in water spells, he was able to grasp the sword art easily.
As he cast the sword art, a huge tidal wave appeared out of thin air around the Flying Swallow Sword. In the midst of bright sunlight, the tidal wave pounced towards the cliff, as if to punch a hole through it.
In just a few moments, a hole large enough to fit a man was carved into the steep cliff. The hole was several yards deep, stretching diagonally underground. Dabao, who was playing behind Lu Ping, suddenly ran to the front and squeaked. Immediately, Lu Ping smiled with joy. It looked like there was a spirit-gathering spot inside the cliff.
In most cases, rivers originated from spirit-gathering lands. Some could even be from spirit veins. Hence, it was rumored that strong and large sects would always set their sect base around the origins of big lakes and rivers.
The Flying Swallow Sword continued to dig the hole ten yards downwards. Suddenly, Lu Ping felt it hitting air; it seemed there were no more rocks further down. Surprised, he took a look.
It turned out to be a hollow space inside of the mountain body. The cave was almost thirty yards in radius and five yards tall. Crystal-clear spring water seeped out from a crack on the rock floor and flowed to the sides. This would be the origin of the two rivers on the island. However, the spring water was small in size—there should be other sources of water flowing into the rivers as well.
The cave was lined with rock walls. Despite the water flow on the ground, the space wasn’t humid or stuffy, making it an ideal living environment.
The crack on the ground where the spring waters flowed out was the spirit-gathering spot. As soon as they entered the space, Dabao had already rushed to fill its stomach with the spring water. It was so full that it couldn’t bring itself to move away from the stone platform beside the water source.
Lu Ping was very satisfied with this place. However, the space was only big enough to be a cultivation room. Hence, he returned to the passage he came in through and dug out the sides to make a hall. This would be the common area for guests to visit him.
Returning to the cave, he dug out another two rooms on the sides of the rock walls, one for a study room and the other for alchemy. He also dug out another room for Dabao’s sleeping quarters.
He cultivated the area beside the spring water streams into a half-acre mini spirit herb garden. He planned to move the spirit herbs from Sheng Tao’s garden over to this spirit vein.
After he completed his cave-dwelling, Lu Ping went outside to set up the Ice Age Killing Array around its perimeters. He placed eight mid-grade spirit stones in the center of the formation chassis and placed a few ice and water element spirit materials around the cave-dwelling on specific locations.
Then, he returned to the cave-dwelling and activated the array formation. Immediately, everywhere within a hundred yards from the cave-dwelling suddenly became cold and icy. Should any Blood Condensation Realm cultivator enter the area now, he would be welcomed by endless waves of ice spikes and hail.
Lu Ping entered the array formation himself to test its power and he only lasted two hours inside of it before running out of arcane energy. No wonder Multi-Treasure Pavilion’s Manager Jia was so confident that this array formation could even trap Late Blood Condensation Realm cultivators inside.
The layout of the array formation depended on the location of the formation chassis. Hence, even the formation masters that crafted this array formation would have to take time to decipher the layout and break out of the array formation. Knowing that this layer of security wouldn’t be so easily compromised, cultivators were more willing to buy array formations and felt at ease setting them up.
Additionally, the array formation came with a small illusionary array surrounding it. This illusionary array was mainly to prevent commoners from accidentally trespassing and had no effect to cultivators.
Lu Ping switched the formation chassis to trigger mode. In this mode, the array formation would be hidden at normal times and only be activated when enemies crossed the formation. This would catch the enemies by surprise.
Lu Ping looked at the eight mid-grade spirit stones on the formation chassis and then looked at the thirty-six varieties of spirit materials he buried around the cave-dwelling. He was probably the poorest Blood Condensation Realm cultivator in the sect now with only 29 low-grade spirit stones.
The formation chassis had three modes. The first mode required 60 low-grade spirit stones. In this mode, the array formation’s power was the weakest and it could also be activated for only a short duration.
The second mode required 4 mid-grade spirit stones and 32 low-grade spirit stones. In this mode, the array formation could unleash 80% of its power and could last a little longer.
Whereas the third mode required 8 mid-grade spirit stones. The array formation in this mode could unleash its full power.
Lu Ping was someone who could put up with anything when he possessed nothing, but he was also someone who had to use the best when he had the means available.
Hence, since he had enough spirit stones on him, he didn’t see the need to save up. Furthermore, there were still some valuables that he could change into spirit stones anytime when needed.
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