45: Chapter 45 Shadow Escape

Li Qing continued to activate the Formation, then flashed into the Immortal Cave.

Looking at Huang Qi's corpse, he felt troubled; he couldn't just leave it here forever, could he?

It was a perfectly good Immortal Cave, but suddenly having an extra corpse made him feel uneasy.

Forget it. Li Qing removed Huang Qi's Storage Pouch, moved the corpse to a corner, and prepared to throw it somewhere when he went into the mountains.

"Just leave it there for now. In a few days, when I go into the mountains, I'll find a remote cave to throw you in and bury you, so you won't be an eyesore."

Li Qing clapped his hands and muttered.

After dealing with the corpse, he finally turned his attention back to Huang Qi—or more accurately, to Huang Qi's Storage Pouch.

Earlier, outside the Formation, he had been too focused on killing to check it carefully.

Now that he had calmed down, looking at the Storage Pouch hanging from Huang Qi's waist, Li Qing's eyes lit up.

This Storage Pouch looked unremarkable, with its cyan cloth surface and slightly worn edges, but after weighing it in his hand, Li Qing sensed something unusual. His own Storage Pouch was just a low-level one with a space of only one cubic meter.

However, this Storage Pouch of Huang Qi's was actually an Intermediate Storage Pouch, with a full five cubic meters of space inside!

"As expected of a Tianyun Tower Disciple at Qi Refining Level 9; his family assets are truly substantial."

Li Qing sighed inwardly and impatiently poured everything out of the Storage Pouch.

With a clattering sound, a pile of items scattered on the ground, making Li Qing's eyes widen, and he couldn't suppress the smile on his lips.

First was a pile of gleaming white Spirit Stones, neatly stacked into two piles, totaling 860 Low-Grade Spirit Stones!

Next was a pile of Talismans, including over a dozen Low Grade attack Talismans and Low Grade defense Talismans, as well as several Medium Grade attack Talismans and Medium Grade defense Talismans. On the very edge lay two High Grade attack Talismans and one High Grade defense Talisman.

Looking further down, a crimson Flying Sword lay at the very bottom, with simple flame patterns carved onto the blade, emitting a faint fluctuation of spiritual power.

Li Qing weighed it in his hand and knew it was a Medium Grade Magical Artifact Flying Sword.

Beside it was a small porcelain bottle. He opened the stopper and sniffed; a fresh herbal scent wafted out—it was a bottle of healing medicine. There was also a jade bottle containing a bottle of High Grade qi gathering pill that increased cultivation for the Qi Refining Stage.

Finally, and what surprised Li Qing the most, were two Secret Manuals made of animal hide, tied together with a red string.

Li Qing picked up the first one; the cover read "Hundred-Face Shape-Shifting Art." He opened it and saw that it was a technique for disguise.

When cultivated to the extreme, one could change at will; whether it was facial features, height, or body shape, everything could be altered as desired.

The only drawback was that if one encountered a Cultivator above the Foundation Establishment stage, they would be exposed in minutes.

After all, this only changed the outer appearance, not the Divine Soul.

For Li Qing, it wasn't very useful at the moment, so he set it aside.

He would study it when he had time.

He picked up the second Secret Manual; the cover read "Shadow Evasion." Opening it, he saw it recorded a type of evasion Cultivation Technique specifically used for traveling through shadows and concealing one's figure.

Li Qing's eyes lit up.

He was at Qi Refining Stage 7, not a low cultivation level, but he had always lacked a reliable evasion technique.

And this "Shadow Evasion" could perfectly make up for his shortcoming!

Although the manual stated that this evasion technique had many limitations—for instance, it could only be used in places with shadows and couldn't be used on sunny days without shadows, and each use consumed a significant amount of spiritual power—it was better than nothing!

This was an evasion technique delivered to his doorstep; it was better than not having one.

Besides, with his cultivation at Qi Refining Stage 7, if he slowly cultivated this technique, even if he encountered danger in the future, he could use the shadows to slip away silently, directly increasing his survival capability by a level.

"I've made a huge profit, a really huge profit!"

Li Qing carefully put "Shadow Evasion" into his own Storage Pouch, blooming with joy inside.

He squatted down and picked up the items on the ground one by one, organizing the Spirit Stones, Talismans, Flying Sword, and Medicinal Pill into their respective categories.

Huang Qi gave him 860 Low-Grade Spirit Stones, and adding his original 910, that made a total of 1770 Low-Grade Spirit Stones!

Li Qing calculated quickly in his mind.

The Spirit Stones in his hands were completely enough to Cultivate his Water-attribute spiritual power, Wood-attribute spiritual power, and Fire-attribute spiritual power all to Qi Refining Stage 7.

"This is just too satisfying!"

Li Qing couldn't help but slap his thigh, his face showing unconcealable excitement.

Before, he had thought that honestly growing spiritual rice, raising fish, feeding chickens, and slowly saving Spirit Stones to Cultivate was already fast enough.

But now he realized that compared to killing people and seizing treasures, the Spirit Stones earned from that hard work were simply a drop in the ocean!

Just now, he had only killed Huang Qi from Tianyun Tower and obtained so many good things—a Storage Pouch larger than his own, over eight hundred Spirit Stones, a pile of Talismans, a Medium Grade Flying Sword, High Grade Medicinal Pill, and a long-coveted evasion Secret Manual.

If he had to save up for this himself, he didn't know how long it would take.

Li Qing looked at Huang Qi's corpse on the ground, a flash of complexity in his eyes, but it was quickly replaced by greed and determination.

He finally understood why so many people in the Cultivation world would rather risk being hunted down than not become a Rogue Cultivator.

The wealth from killing people was simply too fast and too abundant!

He used to think that being a Rogue Cultivator was dishonorable and despised by Cultivators of the Righteous Path, but now he knew that in this Cultivation world of the law of the jungle, strength was the only hard truth.

If you don't have strength, even if you guard a mountain of Spirit Stones or the best Cultivation Technique, you won't be able to keep them; in the end, they will only be stolen by others, and you will even lose your life.

And if you have strength, you can rob anyone's resources whenever you want—this is the confidence of a Rogue Cultivator.

"It seems I need to change my mindset from now on." Li Qing rubbed his chin, calculating in his mind, "If I encounter anyone else who is blind or wants to rob me, I'll just kill them and seize their Storage Pouch; it's much faster than earning Spirit Stones through hard work."

However, he didn't get carried away and quickly calmed down.

Although killing Huang Qi had yielded a bountiful harvest, behind it was the retaliation of Tianyun Tower, and Manager Chai Jie would definitely not let it go.

People would definitely come knocking later, and Li Qing was already considering whether he should leave Xiuchun Market.

But thinking of the strength of Tianyun Tower, unless he entered the Yunling Mountain Range, he wouldn't be able to escape their search.

"Damn it, can't they just let me Cultivate in peace?"

Li Qing hated Manager Chai Jie deeply now; he hadn't expected that refusing Manager Chai Jie's trade would bring such huge trouble.

He was truly a villain!

Li Qing turned and entered the training room; time waited for no one, he still had to hurry and Cultivate.

Strength is the only hard truth!

The Immortal Cave was silent, save for the faint sound of Spirit Stones turning into powder.

Li Qing knew that from the moment he killed Huang Qi, his path to immortality would no longer be smooth.