61: Cave

Inside the Formation, lush greenery thrived, vibrant with life.

His eyes met a clear lake, where fish seemed to play.

Lu Ming's eyes lit up, and he thought, "This is indeed a good place. Cultivating here would certainly improve one's mood."

He walked straight inside, his expression growing increasingly surprised.

The interior space was much larger than he had imagined; Lu Ming had always thought an Immortal Cave was just a random hole dug into a mountain.

He never expected it to be a world of its own.

Cultivation rooms, reception rooms, and everything else were fully equipped, and there was even a dedicated area for cultivating spiritual plants.

Although it was only a C-grade Immortal Cave, Lu Ming felt that the Spirit Stones were well spent.

His fingers traced the cabinets, couches, and chairs placed inside, then he rubbed his fingers together; there wasn't a speck of dust.

Lu Ming was even more satisfied; he hated cleaning more than anything.

After circling the Immortal Cave, Lu Ming was very pleased.

He finally arrived at the Cultivation room, sat on the existing meditation cushion, and began to circulate his Cultivation Technique to try Cultivating.

Strands of Spiritual Qi gathered towards him, and after a simple Cultivation session, Lu Ming had an idea.

"The Spiritual Qi is indeed much denser than at my previous residence in Green Bamboo Market."

In fact, his most satisfying aspect was the sense of security; not only did the Immortal City's Law Enforcement Team patrol day and night, but even the Immortal Cave had a basic Formation protecting it.

Although the Formation's grade was too low, it could still serve as an alarm.

Without further delay, Lu Ming exited the Immortal Cave.

Dong Pingan was still waiting outside, dutifully.

"I have some items I need to sell. Do you know which shops in the Immortal City have good reputations?"

Lu Ming looked at Dong Pingan and asked.

He planned to get rid of some of the illicit goods on him, as he would need Spirit Stones for many things in the future.

Dong Pingan scratched his head and said with some embarrassment.

"Replying to Senior, I truly don't know about this. This humble one is short on funds and has never been to..."

"However, I've also rarely heard of any shops in the Immortal City engaging in 'big shop bullying customers' incidents."

Lu Ming was a bit speechless; would you even know about 'big shop bullying customers' incidents?

But since Dong Pingan didn't know, he would go inquire himself.

On the way, he had seen many shops: Precious Treasure Pavilion, Hundred Treasures Building, Gathering Treasures Hall...

Anyway, they all looked magnificent and should be quite good.

Without making things difficult for Dong Pingan, Lu Ming casually tossed him ten Spirit Stones and instructed him.

"Go and collect all kinds of strange news and anecdotes from near the Immortal City for me. Everything."

Dong Pingan's eyes widened when he saw the ten Spirit Stones. Although he didn't know why Lu Ming wanted these things, since he had been instructed, he would do it well.

The way of the small person in the world: ask less, see less, learn more, do more!

The reason Lu Ming asked Dong Pingan to collect strange news and anecdotes was to prepare for future Cultivation Techniques, but he couldn't say it directly, lest he arouse suspicion.

The Devouring Spirit Blood Demon Art he was currently Cultivating was only first-tier. To Breakthrough to Foundation Establishment, without a second-tier Cultivation Technique, he would be like a clever housewife with no rice to cook.

And some of the strange news and anecdotes in the Immortal City might contain traces of Demonic Cultivators, which he could then investigate.

After all, the supplementary value of Demonic Techniques was too high; advancement was incredibly fast, and side effects like backlash could be used against enemies.

So, Lu Ming planned to act on two fronts: first, he would look for second-tier Demonic Techniques for sale in the city.

But it was foreseeable that Demonic Techniques would be very difficult to find.

Lu Ming had already decided that if there truly were no Demonic Techniques available for him to Cultivate, he would switch back to the Righteous Path.

His bottom line was very flexible!

He had expected Dong Pingan to ask a couple of questions, but he simply accepted the order and withdrew.

Lu Ming was very satisfied; Dong Pingan was a person who understood propriety and knew when to advance and retreat, not inferior to Zhou Yang.

He decided to observe him further to see if he had potential for development.

Lu Ming would collect more Cultivation Techniques and ancient texts in the future, and he couldn't do everything himself. Cultivating a group of subordinates to work for him would also be quite good.

After Dong Pingan left, Lu Ming returned to the Immortal Cave, sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion in the Cultivation room, and pondered his next arrangements.

First was the change in the golden book; this was his foundation, and he needed to understand it.

After escaping Green Bamboo Market, Lu Ming had been constantly on the move and hadn't had much opportunity to study it carefully.

He hadn't forgotten that there were still two Foundation Establishment Cultivators on the golden book's list.

However, the restrictions given by the golden book gave Lu Ming a headache.

Firstly, Cultivators whose Realm was higher by one major Realm could not be recorded.

That meant if a Golden Core Cultivator or even a higher Cultivator targeted him...

"No, I know my own capabilities; I don't have that much power."

But it was undeniable that if another situation like Green Bamboo Market occurred, where a powerful Cultivator harbored ill will towards an entire region's living beings, he would not be able to judge it through the golden book.

"Sigh, I feel so insecure..."

Lu Ming found this restriction very troubling.

If everyone on the list had traces, he could even predict good and avoid evil to some extent.

But this kind of unknown was what made him most uncomfortable.

"The only solution is to quickly raise my Cultivation, which will not only lower the difficulty of survival but also allow me to glimpse some of the movements of the Golden Core Stage."

Lu Ming stroked his chin, deep in thought.

The Southern Desolate Cultivation World, at least on the surface, only had Golden Core True Persons. In this small area, if he could record a Golden Core True Person, it would not only be a guarantee of safety but also a 'resource pack' with immense health.

"Speaking of resources, what's with this restriction?"

Lu Ming had previously tried to select two Foundation Establishment Cultivators, but he couldn't do it.

Later, he also tried to select one person individually and found there was a cooldown period.

After Cultivating for six hours each time, he had to wait two days before he could re-select the same person.

However, he could change targets during the cooldown period, which had no impact.

But he later found that doing it intermittently like this was inefficient, so he eventually switched back to those Qi Refining Cultivators.

And whether he chose Foundation Establishment or Qi Refining, the impact on him was not significant.

He only needed a substitute for the side effects; as long as they could endure it, there was no difference between Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining.

However, in terms of tormenting people, it couldn't achieve the continuous torture of Qi Refining Cultivators.

"No, it seems this is even more tormenting, intermittent, and even more disgusting..."

But whether it was effective or not was hard to say.

At least for now, the names of those two Foundation Establishment Cultivators were still shining brightly.

Lu Ming glanced at the names currently on the golden book's list.

Some had been completely consumed by him, while others had mysteriously disappeared.

Lu Ming guessed that these people had died in the beast tide or were ambushed and killed.

For example, Chang Wei, Li Yu, and others from the Talisman Cultivator Alliance were all gone!

Watching his 'acquaintances' disappear one by one, Lu Ming felt a sense of nostalgia; he had grown attached to them.

Now, apart from the two Foundation Establishment Cultivators, only a few from the Murong Family remained resilient.

However, judging by the dimness of their names, they were probably almost gone too.

Originally, Lu Ming had a bit of conscience, feeling that he had provoked the Murong Family first, and they were forced onto the list, making him somewhat in the wrong.

But after the incident at the market, he completely let go.

No matter who you are, if you're on the list, you're an enemy.

Towards enemies, borrowing the words of a certain young master, it's already a path to death!

"But it's also time to replenish resources. Once they're used up, I'll only be able to use Foundation Establishment Cultivators, but Cultivating like that isn't smooth at all."

For example, when he goes into seclusion for Cultivation now, Early Stage and Middle Stage Qi Refining Cultivators can't fully withstand it.

If it's a fight, the consumption is even faster; a few activations of a Secret Technique and they're gone.

He took stock of his current Cultivation Techniques, Spells, and Secret Techniques.

His main Qi Refining Cultivation Technique was the Devouring Spirit Blood Demon Art, his auxiliary Soul Refining Cultivation Technique was the Yin Lotus Mother-Child Twin Birth Method, and finally, his Body Cultivator method was the Barbarian Beast Art.

Now he was Cultivating all three methods—Essence, Qi, and Divine Soul—recklessly taking advantage of the lack of side effects.

His burst Secret Techniques now primarily relied on the Five Viscera Refinement Demon True Art, with the Blood Burning Secret Technique as secondary.

His escape Secret Technique was the Blood Burning Escape Art, his Divine Soul Secret Technique was the Blood Demon Soul Refining Scripture, and his Qi concealing Secret Technique was the Turtle Breath Qi Concealing Art.

His Spells were still the old set: Yin Thunder Palm and Three Yin Nether Fire.

Sharp Gold Finger, Clear Wind Blade, Water Arrow Art, and other common Spells had no room for play.

Not only did Cultivation Techniques need to be updated, but Spells did too; except for Three Yin Nether Fire, all the others were first-tier Spells.

Lu Ming had just settled down in the Immortal City and hadn't even rested much when he suddenly felt like there were so many things to do that he wanted to just give up.

Before Transmigration, he was constantly busy, and now it was the same; but before it was 996, and now it was 007, living a worse life than before.

"Sigh, the road is long and arduous..."

He sighed, then rubbed his face to clear his head.

"First, I need to sell all the illicit goods on me, exchange them for some Spirit Stones, and then spend them well.

But I can't just go like that. To be safe, I still need to make some preparations."

Thinking this, Lu Ming took out several Cultivator corpses from his Storage Pouch.

These were mostly rogue Cultivators he had encountered later and killed casually.

However, he was focused on Body Refining, so these corpses had no use for him.

But now...

His eyes scanned back and forth like he was appraising goods, finally settling on a middle-aged man with a goatee, a slight curve appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"You're the one!"