Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

Excavation was actually quite efficient.

With one cast of the Traction Skill, he could excavate about seven or eight cubic meters of soil and rock.

The trouble was dealing with those fragments.

In total, the project required the excavation of roughly seven hundred cubic meters of soil and rock, which, if spread out evenly over the yard, could pile up to 2.33333 meters high in the little more than three hundred square meters of yard space.

That was almost as tall as the walls of the yard.

To conceal his activities,

Chen Li had no choice but to secretly transport these fragments.

Every day, just disposing of the fragments in secluded places meant making twenty-one trips back and forth in the early morning, noon, and evening, changing appearances six or seven times, and switching to seven or eight different locations.

As for what to use for transport?

Naturally, storage bags.

Convenient, fast, and hidden.

Numerous advantages.

The only drawback was their limited size.

The capacity was only one cubic meter.

Of course, as long as one had money, this drawback ceased to be a problem.

Chen Li had already looked in the shops.

In Luoluo City’s Longevity Sect Magic Artifact Store, the largest Five Directions Storage Bag,

Cost merely three... top-grade Spirit Stones.

A three-cubic-meter storage bag was even cheaper.

It only needed two top-grade Spirit Stones.

If he sold all the magic artifacts he had acquired and could maintain a profit margin of more than fifty percent, he could just about afford these prices...

...

A few days later, deep into the night.

"Whoosh," a sound echoed.

The stone in the passageway leading to the mountainside was finally breached by Chen Li; the outside was piled with a thick layer of snow, and a wave of cold air rushed in.

He put his ear against the opening, listening intently for a while.

The howling of the cold wind outside sounded like the wails of ghosts and the howls of wolves.

But beyond that, there were no other sounds.

After waiting a few more minutes, he then cleared away the snow and cautiously emerged from the passage, vigilantly surveying his surroundings. The heavy snow was swirling around, the sky was dark, and all that could be seen were dense trees and deep snow up to his thighs.

This tunnel could have been opened a few days earlier, but he had been waiting for it to snow.

Heavy snow could cover most traces, and cultivators would not venture out in such weather, reducing the chances of discovering the tunnel entrance. Although this precaution might seem overly cautious, better safe than sorry.

If one could do better, why not do so?

Chen Li walked to a spot far from the tunnel entrance, cast the Traction Skill to sweep away the snow and soil on the surface, and soon found a large expanse of rock. Looking around, he took out his flying sword and began to cut.

He quickly obtained a huge stone with a diameter of about two meters.

This stone, of course, couldn’t be used as it was.

There were marks all over it from the flying sword’s cuts, making it look too unnatural. It needed further smoothing, and at this moment, the all-purpose Traction Skill came into play again. The mana of the Traction Skill transformed into an air hammer, continuously striking the huge rock.

A great deal of crushed stone and rock dust fell down.

Under the sculpting and polishing of the Traction Skill, it soon lost most of its "man-made" traces.

Next, he used the Traction Skill to cover the exposed rock with soil and snow once more.

After completing all of these tasks, he walked in front of the giant rock, and with the strength of the Traction Skill, he struggled to lift the giant stone.

He couldn’t help but grunt, his face turning beet red and veins popping out on his neck.

The giant stone weighed five or six tons, and even with the Traction Skill greatly reducing its weight, it almost threw out his back. He steadied himself and then trudged toward the tunnel entrance. By the time he put the rock down, his arms and legs had begun to tremble uncontrollably.

"Should have made it smaller," Chen Li muttered to himself as he clutched his lower back.

He didn’t dare rest for too long.

Dawn was approaching quickly.

He hastily finished camouflaging the tunnel entrance, then leaped onto his flying sword, activated his Spiritual Power, and amidst the snowstorm without looking back, left the area.

...

The shelter was constructed, and the escape route finished.

Chen Li felt as if a heavy stone had been lifted from his heart, lightening his mood considerably, and a strong sense of security enveloped him.

Of course, there was currently only one escape route, which was not entirely safe. He still needed to ponder where to place the second exit. The exit had to be hidden, safe, not identical to the first, and not too far away.

Fortunately, there was no rush!

He could take his time to choose.

His flying sword landed at the city gate, and then he hurried back home.

...

Just after finishing breakfast,

someone came for a visit.

This was an old cultivator with a strange appearance.

His hair was gray and withered, and he was so skinny he almost looked like a skeleton. Chen Li had never seen anyone so thin.

"Fellow Daoist, there’s no need to be tense. This strange appearance of mine is caused by an evil wraith. Though I was lucky to escape with my life, I have been greatly weakened. Only last night did I return, and this morning, when I saw a new fellow Daoist had moved in next door, I wanted to come and pay a visit," the old cultivator said with a wry smile, his form trembling unsteadily.

The house to the left had always been unoccupied, and Chen Li had not expected it to be him.

"I see, I didn’t realize Fellow Daoist had encountered such danger. I was being presumptuous," he released the hilt of his sword and quickly clasped his hands in apology, "May I ask what kind of evil wraith you encountered that was so terrifying?"

"Alas, I don’t know what it was. At the time, I could only run for my life!" The old cultivator sighed, his face showing a trace of lingering fear, "After escaping the peril, I ended up like this!"

Through casual conversation, Chen Li learned that the old cultivator’s surname was Bai and his given name Jinwang. According to Bai, he made a living by taking on defense missions in various places, similar to a bounty hunter.

It was a tough job. On one hand, it required constant travel, which was both mentally and physically draining. On the other hand, it was extremely dangerous. Even though the work was lucrative, it often meant living on the edge and gambling with one’s life. Bai had dealt with evil wraiths and similar issues numerous times, but this time he faced a deadly peril.

There were five people including him who went on that mission, but in the end, he was the only one who returned.

Chen Li had thought Bai was in his seventies or eighties by his appearance. Upon inquiry, he was only forty-eight, just a few years older than Chen Li himself, in the prime of his middle age. Moreover, Bai’s cultivation level was as high as the Ninth Layer of Qi Cultivation, just two steps away from Foundation Establishment.

The reason he looked so aged was because of the encounter with the evil wraith.

"Sigh, I once had some extravagant hopes for reaching Foundation Establishment, and had been preparing for it all these years. Now, all those hopes are gone. Such is life," Bai Jinwang sighed deeply, resignedly clasping his hands, "In the future, I will need more care from Fellow Daoist."

"Fellow Daoist is too serious!" Chen Li offered polite words of comfort, "As long as you recuperate well, you may yet have a chance in the future!"

Bai Jinwang shook his head, "With the foundation damaged this time, what hope is there left!"

After sending off the staggering Bai Jinwang,

Chen Li returned to his house.

"Who was that? He looked really odd," Zhou Hong asked, wiping the table.

"Our neighbour to the left, he encountered an evil wraith!" Chen Li shook his head.

"That serious!" Zhou Hong’s face changed.

"Yes," Chen Li sighed.

A Qi Cultivation practitioner of the Ninth Layer met with such a fate.

Fortunately, as long as one didn’t act recklessly and remained in Luoluo City, safety could be assured. With the Longevity Sect and the six major Foundation Establishment families present, even if the sky fell, there would be tall ones to support it.

Because of the neighbor’s encounter,

Chen Li entered his talisman-crafting room, and unusually took up the task of crafting Evil-Repelling Talismans once again.

He drew twelve talismans in one go, none of them failed. Picking up one, he inspected it closely; it was a master-level Evil-Repelling Talisman. Both the shape and the drawing method had changed slightly compared to the ones he had started with.

His understanding of them was also deepening gradually.

"It seems just like with magic skills, once talismans reach the master level, their power will grow stronger and stronger," he observed.

Waiting for the blood ink to dry,

Chen Li took a Qi Replenishing Pill to allow his spiritual power to recover, packed up the talismans, and stepped out the door, reminding Zhou Hong, "Place these talismans in the corners of our house for now, just in case. I’ll draw more in a day or two."

Zhou Hong took the talismans with a hint of amusement and rolled her eyes playfully at him, "I know!"

"Better safe than sorry! Safety first," Chen Li glared at her. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

People in this world could sometimes be foolishly bold.

Life is only granted once, so what’s wrong with being cautious?

Just like the old cultivator next door... a middle-aged practitioner. If only he had bought more Evil-Breaking Talismans back then, say a hundred, and kept them for self-defense, perhaps it would have led to a different outcome.

A hundred talismans would cost less than thirty Mid-grade Spirit Stones.

For someone at the Ninth Layer of Qi Cultivation, such an amount of Spirit Stones should be... manageable.