Immortality and Cultivation: Starting with Improving Spiritual Root Aptitude

This statement is extremely clear: Falling Star Valley has already pledged allegiance to the Nine Provinces Alliance, and the Supreme Elder is also planning to lead the sect's elite disciples to another country, abandoning those disciples who remain in the valley.

Abandoning an alliance is a minor matter, and betraying allies is merely heartless and ungrateful; what is truly ruthless is...

Once the Spirit Mirror Sect loses the support of the other two sects, it will be unable to withstand the joint attack of the three sects of the Goose Kingdom and the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect.

When the Spirit Mirror Sect was breached, the armies of the four sects marched straight in. The disciples who remained in the valley were completely unaware of the battle on the front lines and stayed safely in the valley. Their fate at that time was predictable.

What a cruel heart, what a vicious scheme.

In order to deceive the six sects of Yan Kingdom, they had to send a small portion of their disciples into the scheme to restrain them, stabilize the situation, and even make sacrifices.

Wu Fan's face was icy cold, and a great anger rose in his heart.

Wei Changgeng remained remarkably calm upon seeing this.

Although he deeply despised the decision made by the Supreme Elder and his family, reason told him that this was the best course of action to preserve the sect and his family.

He didn't agree, but he could understand.

Moreover, from the moment Song Niang passed away, his heart died with her.

Now all he wants is to stay here and stay by Song Niang's side.

Even if things really come to a standstill, he will be able to see her again soon.

A moment later, the Refining God Technique was activated, and Wu Fan's anger suddenly vanished, and his mind returned to calm.

If what Wei Changgeng said is true, then he can understand the reason why the Supreme Elder made this decision. In that case, he will have no more burden in his heart and can leave Falling Star Valley directly.

If Wei Changgeng's words were false, he would have no way to verify them and would ultimately choose to leave.

He would never risk his life to gamble on the truth of those words.

Moreover, Wei Changgeng had no reason to deceive him. Did he go to such lengths just to make him betray the sect and leave?

Of course, it's not impossible.

"Thank you for informing me of this, Senior Brother Wei. I will keep it in mind."

Wu Fan cupped his hands slightly and spoke calmly.

Wei Changgeng raised his eyes and looked towards the gate of Falling Star Valley in the distance, a trace of sorrow in his eyes.

After a moment, he waved his hand, his voice flat:

"No need to thank me. I only told you to repay a debt of gratitude, and it also puts a weight on my mind. Now that you know, take care of yourself."

He paused, took something out of the storage bag at his waist, and added:

"Junior Brother Wu, this contains some of my insights into weapon crafting, as well as Song Niang's understanding of beast taming. It's no longer of any use to me, so I'm giving it to you."

Wu Fan's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately replied:

"Senior Brother Wei, you cannot accept undeserved rewards!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Changgeng disregarded everything else and tossed over a wooden box he had just taken out, then said:

"Junior Brother Wu, if you feel uneasy, if you have the opportunity in the future, you can return to this peach grove and erect another monument for me and Song Niang."

Wu Fan caught the wooden box and murmured:

"Erect another monument..."

"Brother Wei, are you really not planning to leave? If you stay here, the odds are against you. Besides, who will sweep Song Niang's grave in the future?"

Although he had long seen that Senior Brother Wei had already decided to die, he couldn't bear it and still wanted to say something to persuade him.

Upon hearing this, Wei Changgeng smiled bitterly and slowly shifted his gaze to Song Niang's tombstone beside him.

"I won't leave."

Although his voice wasn't loud, the determination in it was clear.

"Song Niang's home is here now, so I will stay here too. She was always most afraid of being alone, and I can't leave her here alone."

Seeing this, Wu Fan understood Wei Shixiong's obsession, sighed inwardly, and did not try to persuade him any further.

He knew that once some people made up their minds about something, nothing could sway them, and Wei Changgeng was one of them.

"Since Senior Brother has made up his mind, Junior Brother will say no more."

Wu Fan cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, his tone solemn.

"I hope we will meet again someday. Take care, Senior Brother Wei."

Upon hearing this, Wei Changgeng did not turn around, but simply looked at Song Niang's tombstone and softly hummed in agreement.

Wu Fan said no more, gave him a deep look, and then turned and left.

......

Two hours later.

Wu Fan first went to the various deacons of the sect and exchanged all the remaining contribution points under his name before turning around and returning to his cave.

He packed all the things he needed to take with him from the cave into his storage bag before leaving the cave and flying towards the mountain gate.

In fact, disciples of a sect who want to leave the sect need to report to the sect in advance, even those in the Foundation Establishment stage.

However, the situation at Falling Star Valley is unique at the moment, and most of its disciples have already been reassigned...

No, to be more precise, they fled in panic, and now the sect is short of manpower.

Moreover, how could those Qi Refining disciples guarding the mountain gate dare to step forward and check whether his Foundation Establishment stage senior uncle had reported to the sect?

Therefore, Wu Fan made up his mind to take this opportunity to leave the sect directly.

Even if one becomes a rogue cultivator in the future, the path to Core Formation will be several times more difficult than staying in a sect, and staying in a sect is already a matter of life and death.

If you can't even save your own life, how can you talk about achieving the Great Dao of Core Formation?

He flew rapidly toward the mountain gate, and as he passed the gate, he threw out an identity token to a guard disciple who was trying to stop him.

Upon seeing the Foundation Establishment token in his hand, the guarding disciple turned pale with fright and respectfully handed it over with both hands.

Wu Fan carefully put away the token and then fled at an extremely fast speed.

The disciples who remained behind watched Wu Fan's cold and domineering entrance and his swift escape technique, their eyes filled with longing, and they couldn't help but imagine what it would be like for them after they reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

Meanwhile, Wu Fan had already fled several miles away from the gate of Falling Star Valley. He then changed his location several times, deliberately concealing and altering his aura to hide his tracks, and finally sped off towards the Xiang Kingdom.

The Chu Kingdom is surrounded on three sides by the Hengyue Mountains, and only the southeast direction leads directly to the territory of the Yan Kingdom, from where one can travel to other cultivation kingdoms.

However, with the war spreading, cultivators from the six sects of Yan Kingdom must be guarding the various border crossings, and this route has long been completely cut off, with no possibility of passage.

The only way out right now is to go to the starting point of the Hengyue Mountains.

The border pass where the states of Chu and Xiang meet.

However, the only border between the two countries is separated by a narrow canyon.

The valley has a rugged terrain with many twists and turns, making it easy to hide and conceal oneself. Due to its scarce and barren resources, it has long become a hiding place for various bandits, criminals, and wanted criminals from both countries.

Gradually, this force of calamity cultivators took root here, forming a calamity cultivator force that called itself "Thousand Calamity Village".

The chief of Thousand Tribulations Stronghold is a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, and the second-in-command is also at the early stage of the Golden Core realm. They also have dozens of Foundation Establishment cultivators under their command.

This kind of power is no weaker than that of ordinary Golden Core families.

Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to cross this canyon border by one's own strength without the strength of the late Golden Core stage.

Therefore, the only remaining and sole method is to remember our domain name: [domain name omitted], so you can read the exciting content anytime. That is to cross the canyon aboard the giant spirit ship used by the Nine Boats Merchant Guild for trade along the border between the two countries.

In this way, the safety factor will naturally increase significantly, and you can rest easy.

Secondly, by using the Nine Boats Merchant Guild's spirit ship to cross the canyon, they could legitimately step out of the Chu Kingdom's borders.

Even if they encountered cultivators from the six sects of Yan Kingdom, they would likely not rashly inspect merchant ships under the influence of the Nine Provinces Alliance.

Moreover, Wu Fan had previously heard that the Nine Boats Chamber of Commerce was one of the three major chambers of commerce in the Xiang Kingdom, with a history of over a thousand years.

The name of the Chamber of Commerce comes from the fact that it started with only nine small spirit boats. As for whether it was intended to take advantage of the Nine Provinces Alliance, that remains to be seen.

However, the Jiuzhou Chamber of Commerce has developed to a point where it is no longer what it used to be.

Not only are there several Golden Core cultivators in the sect, but the head of the chamber of commerce is also a late-stage Golden Core cultivator. The depth of their foundation is something that ordinary forces can hardly match.

That's why they have such strength, unafraid of the Thousand Tribulations Stronghold, and daring to do business between the two countries.

The Nine Boats Merchant Guild's giant spirit ships were originally designed for transporting goods. However, in order to reduce the cost of each voyage and maximize profits, they began selling tickets for crossing the border between the two countries, allowing some "powerful" cultivators to cross safely.

However, to buy a ticket for the Nine Boats Chamber of Commerce, simply having "strength" is not enough; you also need "background."

Therefore, one must be introduced by a member of the Chamber of Commerce or someone with whom they have previously cooperated in order to be eligible to purchase.

Wu Fan naturally didn't recognize anyone in the Chamber of Commerce, nor did he know anyone related to him, but he was well aware that many rules in this world always depended on whether the price was right.

If the price is right, everything can be resolved.

The claim that "there's no way to find connections" is simply a matter of not offering enough leverage.

Therefore, after thinking about this, he already had a preliminary idea in mind.

Those families who made a living on the border of Chu State year-round were bound to have business dealings with the Jiuzhou Chamber of Commerce.

If Wu Fan can get in touch with one of the channels and secure a "ticket," it probably won't be that difficult.

With his mind clear, Wu Fan increased the spiritual power within his body and poured it into his feet. The Crimson Flame Sparrow Spirit Sword immediately flared up with crimson spiritual light, and his figure accelerated once again.

After all, even traveling at full speed, it would take nearly a month to reach the border.

......

More than a month later.

Wu Fan sat alone in a private room on the third floor of a high-class restaurant, sipping the merchant's spiritual tea, gazing at the scenery outside the window, deep in thought.

He has been in Gagan County, a remote area, for several days now.

In the past few days, he frequented various high-end places in the city, deliberately maneuvering around, and finally got in touch with Zhang Dai, a spoiled young master from a Foundation Establishment cultivator family.

Although Gagan County is named as such, its territory is extremely vast.

In terms of sheer size, four or five ordinary county towns in the heart of the Chu Kingdom combined would probably only equal the size of one Gagan County.

Despite its vast territory, it is extremely lacking in cultivation resources and can only barely "survive" by relying on trade with the Xiang Kingdom.

Although there are many powerful forces in Gagan County, only four Foundation Establishment cultivator families can be considered top-tier.

Among them, the Zhang family is the most powerful, with a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator residing in the clan. Zhang Dai is from this family.

This is why Wu Fan was able to find him.

Just as Wu Fan was pondering, the door to the private room was suddenly pushed open forcefully.

The person who pushed open the door was an ordinary-looking young man, but dressed in extremely luxurious clothes; it was Zhang Dai.

Zhang Dai was in his thirties. Although he had the cultivation level of the seventh level of Qi Refining, his magical power was weak and scattered. Anyone with discerning eyes could see that he had been relying on pills to forcefully raise his cultivation level for a long time, but he was unwilling to settle down and solidly hone his foundation.

After pushing open the door, Zhang Dai looked somewhat arrogant. He glanced around for a while before stepping into the room.

Wu Fan sensed Zhang Dai's presence the moment Zhang Dai entered the restaurant.

He hadn't expected the man to be so rude, not even knocking before forcefully pushing the door open. His expression froze for a moment, then quickly returned to its usual calm.

"Hahaha... Brother Liu, why are you sitting here all alone? Why don't you find some female cultivators to keep you company? You probably don't know, but the girls at the Qiang Song Pavilion in our Gagan County are the most enchanting and captivating. Why don't I call a few for you, so you can have a good taste of the local flavor?"

When Zhang Dai entered the inner room and saw Wu Fan sitting alone, he began to tease him.

Upon hearing this, Wu Fan put down his teacup, turned to look at Zhang Dai, and slowly spoke:

"Brother Zhang, you know what I'm really interested in."

"Hahaha... Brother Liu! I know you desperately want a 'ticket' for the Shangjiuzhou Merchant Guild's spirit ship, and I've been running around trying to get it for you these past few days. But the situation is different now, and things are really difficult. As you know, Chu and Yan are at war, and the price of these tickets has been rising daily. Even my family has strictly forbidden reselling them privately. I really... am powerless to help."

As Zhang Dai spoke with a helpless expression, he walked over and sat down opposite Wu Fan, casually picking up a string of spiritual fruits from the table and popping them into his mouth one by one.

Upon hearing this, Wu Fan let out a cold laugh.

He knew that the other party's words were nothing more than an attempt to raise the price, so he didn't waste any more words with him and said directly:

"How about adding a thousand spirit stones?"

"Brother Liu, it's not about adding a thousand or not, it's really..."

Zhang Dai instinctively opened his mouth to refuse, but before he could finish speaking, Wu Fan interrupted him directly:

"Three thousand."

Upon hearing that the price would be increased by another three thousand low-grade spirit stones, Zhang Dai was suddenly taken aback.

A moment later, when the thrown spiritual fruit hit him directly in the eye, he finally realized what was happening.

He immediately blinked, put down the half-eaten spirit fruit in his hand, sat up, and looked at Wu Fan:

"Brother Liu, is this really true?"

"really."

Wu Fan picked up his teacup, didn't even look at him, and replied directly.

Upon hearing Liu Xi's affirmative answer again, Zhang Dai was overjoyed. He added three thousand spirit stones, bringing the total to eight thousand spirit stones. After deducting the amount his second uncle wanted, he would still have four thousand spirit stones left.

This sum was enough for him to go to the Qiangge Tower to find Fairy Qing'er and enjoy several nights of pleasure.

The thought of the blissful feeling he had with Qing'er Fairy on the bed made his body tremble involuntarily.

Wu Fan frowned as he looked at him with his eyes closed, looking extremely lewd. He felt a deep sense of disgust.

Although the price was three thousand low-grade spirit stones more than originally agreed, Wu Fan knew perfectly well that this was mostly a private increase by the other party.

But as long as one can reliably buy a ticket to the Shangjiuzhou Chamber of Commerce's spirit ship, this price is worth it.

However, since the other party had asked for an extra three thousand low-grade spirit stones, he had to handle the matter properly.

Otherwise, even if Zhang Dai's family ancestor was a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, he would have no fear.

After all, he had personally killed a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and he also had the Blood Fiend Slash as a trump card. When the day came that they truly broke off relations, no matter where Zhang Dai hid, he would surely kill him with his sword.

With that in mind, he decided to give the other party a small warning first, to make them behave themselves.

Without further hesitation, Wu Fan immediately activated his divine sense, directly enveloping Zhang Dai, who was still engrossed in his thoughts with his eyes closed.

In an instant, a powerful divine pressure belonging to a Foundation Establishment cultivator crashed down.