May I seek good fortune and avoid misfortune, and live a long and prosperous life.

Two months later, Li Heng finally arrived at Chixia Mountain.

Chixia Mountain is very large, covering an area of ​​100,000 square kilometers.

Chixia Mountain is divided into an outer layer and an inner layer.

After entering the outer area of ​​Chixia Mountain, Li Heng first paid a deposit and monthly rent to the Black Fiend Gang, one of the three major gangs in the outer area, registered his name and cultivation level, and then received a cave dwelling.

This cave is the lowest-level cave in Crimson Cloud Mountain, located at the very edge of the mountain, where spiritual energy is relatively thin. If Li Heng were to cultivate here with his five spiritual roots, it would be impossible to know how long it would take him to reach the Great Perfection of Qi Refining.

However, Li Heng had no choice. In the few years since he came to Tianyan Sect, he had not earned any spirit stones and could only stay here temporarily.

Li Heng left the Black Fiend Gang's base with the cave dwelling number and a list of precautions for rogue cultivators of Crimson Cloud Mountain, heading towards his own cave dwelling.

Half an incense stick later, Li Heng successfully arrived at the entrance of his cave.

This is a very dilapidated cave dwelling, extremely unsightly, as if it were randomly piled up with various stones. The entrance to the cave dwelling is overgrown with dense weeds, clearly indicating that no one has lived in this cave dwelling for a long time.

However, Li Heng didn't care much about these things. On the contrary, the more secluded the cave was, the better, as he didn't want too many cultivators to notice his presence.

It took Li Heng about an hour to finally clean the cave, but he had no intention of clearing the dense weeds outside.

This is a very good disguise.

Li Heng stood in the cleaned cave and looked around.

The cave walls are rough, covered with moss and watermarks, clearly a natural cave that has been slightly carved out, barely concealed by the dense, overgrown weeds at the entrance and a few piles of natural rocks.

The cave was empty except for a simple futon that he had just laid out.

The air was filled with the smell of dust and decaying plants. Although it smelled unpleasant, Li Heng didn't care. After all, the environment was just an external thing; personal strength was the most important thing.

Just as he was about to sit down and cultivate, a polite voice came from the cave entrance: "Fellow Daoist, are you new here? I live in the next cave, and my name is Su Changsheng. I'd like to get to know you. Would you do me the honor?"

Since the other party wanted to get to know him, Li Heng naturally had no need to refuse. Besides, if the other party really had malicious intent, would refusing him prevent them from coming in?

So, Li Heng walked out of the cave and saw a middle-aged man with his hair tied up, wearing a blue robe, looking him over with a smile.

Su Changsheng cupped his hands and smiled, "Fellow Daoist, what's your name? From now on, we'll be neighbors. In Crimson Cloud Mountain, cultivators at the lower levels of Qi Refining like us need to support each other to go further!"

Li Heng clasped his hands in return and said, "So it's Fellow Daoist Su. My name is Li Heng. I did just arrive at Chixia Mountain recently and plan to settle down here."

Su Changsheng clasped his hands and said:

"Fellow Daoist Li, greetings. As the saying goes, a close neighbor is worse than a distant relative. If you have any questions in the future, feel free to ask me, Su Changsheng! For example, the power structure of the outer cave dwelling area of ​​Crimson Cloud Mountain, and the rules of the Crimson Cloud Mountain market."

I know a little about which places are safe to go and which are dangerous. If you have any questions, I will answer them to the best of my ability! I won't disturb your rest any longer today; see you next time!

After saying this, Su Changsheng left with a smile.

Li Heng returned to his cave to continue consuming waste pills to refine his spiritual power. Now, half of his spiritual power has been refined into solidified spiritual power, making him far stronger than an ordinary Qi Refining Stage 3 Perfection cultivator.

The next day, Su Changsheng once again took the initiative to visit Li Heng. During their conversation, Li Heng obtained a lot of important information.

"Brother Li, the area we are in now is called the outer region. The strongest cultivators in the outer region are those who have reached the sixth level of Qi Refining. Cultivators above the sixth level of Qi Refining have already entered the inner region and look down on the outer region where spiritual energy is relatively scarce."

"The outer area is jointly controlled by three small gangs. These three gangs are Blood Slaughter Sect, Black Fiend Gang, and Evil Tiger Gate."

The leaders of the three gangs were all cultivators at the peak of the sixth level of Qi Refining, and not just any ordinary cultivators at this level; their strength was virtually unmatched among their peers.

When Li Heng heard Su Changsheng mention the names of three gangs in the outer region, he frowned and thought to himself:

"These three gangs don't sound like righteous sects at all. They're probably all demonic cultivators. It seems I need to lie low and avoid attracting their attention."

Seeing Li Heng frown, Su Changsheng guessed what Li Heng was thinking and simply smiled:

"Brother Li, do you think these three gangs aren't so righteous? Haha, actually, these three gangs are indeed demonic gangs, with almost all their members being demonic cultivators. The Blood Slaughter Sect controls the market trade, and the Black Fiend Gang controls all the outer cultivation caves."

They are also responsible for collecting protection fees from cultivators, and the Evil Tiger Sect controls a large amount of spiritual fields. Newcomers have a two-year free period, so presumably the year after next, fellow cultivators will see members of the Black Fiend Gang coming to collect protection fees.

"Brother Li can rent spirit fields from the Evil Tiger Sect, but the Evil Tiger Sect charges very high rent. You have to buy the spirit rice seeds yourself. After harvesting the spirit rice, you have to hand over 70%, and you can keep at most half of the remaining 30% for your own consumption. The rest is exchanged for spirit stones. Although these spirit stones are just a drop in the bucket for cultivation, and you also have to pay protection money to the Black Fiend Gang, it's still enough to make a living."

Li Heng immediately rejected the idea of ​​renting spiritual fields, as this would be a complete exploitation by the Evil Tiger Sect. As a proletarian in his previous life, he didn't want to be exploited by landlords after transmigrating!

Afterwards, Su Changsheng shared some more information before bidding farewell to Li Heng, who politely saw him out of the cave.

And so, a year passed, and Li Heng successfully honed his Qi Refining Level 3 spiritual power to its limit, transforming all of it into solidified spiritual power.

However, he also faces a headache: all the waste pills he brought with him have been used up, making it very difficult to cultivate quickly in the future.

He had to find a way to solve the problem of cultivation resources.

Over the past year, Su Changsheng had come to talk to him several times. He had rented several acres of spiritual fields from the Evil Tiger Sect and basically went out early and returned late, only having time to chat with Li Heng at night.

Seeing Su Changsheng's haggard and aged appearance, and his sun-darkened face, Li Heng became even more determined not to rent spirit fields from the Evil Tiger Sect.

After reaching the third level of Qi Refining perfection, Li Heng was able to break through to the next realm.

So he set up several concealment formations in his cave, and then chose midnight on a certain night to break through the barrier and enter the fourth level of Qi Refining.

After the breakthrough, Li Heng's dantian was greatly expanded once again, far exceeding the expansion of other cultivators of the same level.

The solid spiritual energy that originally filled the entire dantian has been reduced to only one-third.

After completing his breakthrough, Li Heng decided to go and take a look at the outer market of Chixia Mountain.

Having been here for a year, Li Heng had not yet visited the outer market. Now that he had broken through his cultivation level, it was time for him to go out and explore.