Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

The Flying Shuttle proceeded slowly, and as Chen Li and his companions held their breath in suspense, it flew farther and farther away.

Fortunately, the frightened Bai Niao, having been shocked by the self-explosion of the ancestor, had become a "bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring," still circling in the sky and screeching constantly, with no spare attention to pay to those cultivators who were fleeing.

After about ten minutes, when the Flying Shuttle had crossed over a mountain peak.

Chen Li looked down to survey the terrain and quickly brought the Flying Shuttle down to land.

"Husband, why have we stopped moving?" Zhang Shuniang couldn’t help but ask.

"It’s still not safe now, we’ll wait until nightfall to move again," Chen Li said.

This Flying Shuttle was too slow.

Although the seller had claimed that the Spirit Wood Flying Shuttle was faster than Foundation Establishment cultivators using Sword Flight at the initial stage, there was quite an exaggeration in that statement.

From the first to the third layers of Foundation Establishment which are considered the initial stage, both lower Second Order flying swords and mid-grade Second Order flying swords are used for Sword Flight.

The differences between them were immense.

The real speed was only on par with a Foundation Establishment first layer cultivator wielding a lower Second Order flying sword.

It was naturally much faster than any Qi Cultivation cultivator, but compared to other Foundation Establishment cultivators, it was definitely the slowest.

Moreover, the Flying Shuttle was too big of a target, flying in the air, easily seen by the Bai Niao, making it practically a perfect live target—too unsafe, and continuing to fly forward without care was nothing short of gambling with their lives.

According to Chen Li’s observations over these days, perhaps due to the creature’s natural habits, the Bai Niao clearly preferred to be active during the day and had never been seen at night, which undoubtedly made moving at night much safer than during the day.

Of course, aside from considerations of safety, Chen Li also had other thoughts in mind.

The illusory body he had left at the Returning True Sect was still alive up to now.

And this served as a reminder to him.

With the destruction of the Returning True Sect, he had inevitably become a Loose Cultivator again. While Loose Cultivators enjoyed freedom, the one downside was that cultivation techniques were hard to come by, and now the sect’s gate was, to some extent, undefended for him—not precisely open, but not far off.

At worst, he would only lose some illusory bodies.

This risk was undoubtedly worth taking, it did not even quite count as a risk.

...

The Flying Shuttle shuddered slightly as it landed in a pile of rocks by a stream.

One by one, the group stepped out.

Bai Wei was weak and stumbled, almost falling to the ground.

"Be careful!" Chen Li reached out to help her.

Bai Wei blushed, "Thank you, Master!"

Then she dropped to her knees and gave a deep bow, "Thank you, Master, and both Ladies, for not abandoning me."

Seeing this, the other two servant girls also hurriedly knelt down, their faces filled with respectful gratitude.

Logically, during such a crisis situation while fleeing, Chen Li shouldn’t have brought these servants with him, slowing down the speed of the Flying Shuttle and increasing the risk. However, by his very nature, he could not bring himself to do such a heartless act.

"What are you all doing, get up quickly. The ground is full of stones," Zhou Hong hurriedly said, making a gesture to help them up.

The women usually did not go outside much, spending more time chatting and bonding with each other than with Chen Li.

Particularly the beautiful Bai Wei, who was only fourteen when she arrived, had almost been raised by them. Although they were master and servant, her status was somewhere between a maid and a little confidante.

"Sigh, get up, all of you. From now on, just do your work earnestly," Chen Li said.

"Yes, Master!"

...

After stowing away the Spirit Wood Flying Shuttle, Chen Li instructed Zhou Hong and Shu to keep an eye on their surroundings before striding towards the mountainside. At this moment, he was worried about the safety here and also distracted because he was controlling the illusory body at the Returning True Sect’s gate, which left him with little desire to talk.

He chose a spot where the vegetation was lush. After using the Insect Repelling Skill to clear the surrounding insects and rodents, he used the Traction Skill to carve out a cave in the rocks which would serve as a temporary shelter. The dense vegetation here could be arranged to effectively conceal the entrance.

Chen Li didn’t dare to lay out any formations in this place.

The Yin Yang Five Elements Gathering Spirit Array might fool those at the Foundation Establishment level, but he doubted it could hide them from a third-order Demon Beast’s sight. In fact, the presence of the array might even draw the attention of Bai Niao to this place. For safety’s sake, he decided it would be best to set up nothing at all.

His party entered the cave dwelling and sat down against the wall, each showing signs of fatigue on their faces.

Inhaling the fresh earthy scent inside the cave, Chen Li couldn’t help but feel a sense of desolation and loneliness, as if he was a stray dog, utterly abandoned by the world.

"While it’s calm now, eat something and rest well. Tonight we must travel through the night. As long as we get through tonight, we will be truly safe, and then it’s a clear path ahead," Chen Li eventually broke the silence.

He took out water and food from his storage bag and passed them to Zhou Hong, indicating her to distribute them among the party.

...

After settling down for a bit,

the illusionary body he had left at the gate of the Returning True Sect had also disappeared with the expiry of the spell.

But this was of little consequence.

Chen Li had cast two illusionary bodies in succession and then, using his spiritual power, each picked up a Ten-Directional Storage Bag. He cast an Invisibility Technique and quickly left the cave dwelling, flying towards Luanluo Mountain.

Compared to an ordinary invisibility technique, a max-level Invisibility Technique had a much more stable mana structure. Although it was still easily disturbed, as long as he refrained from using magic artifacts and other spells, the use of regular spiritual power was practically unhindered.

At the foot of the mountain, the crowds of fleeing people were still densely packed, but fortunately, Bai Niao, now satiated, showed no interest in these people for the time being.

Perhaps in the eyes of a demon beast, the flight of humans was no different than startled herds migrating from one place to another.

If it wished, the entire thousand miles around were its hunting ground.

Based on the information scouted by the previous illusion,

Bai Niao was busy.

It was engaged in massive construction at the Returning True Sect.

The entire cave dwelling of the Golden Core Ancestor had been flattened, and then, Bai Niao intermittently transported huge logs from the Barbaric Wilderness Forest to build its own nest, bustling with activity.

One must say, the appearance of Bai Niao was truly in line with the name of Luanluo Mountain, as if it was all preordained.

Seizing the moment Bai Niao left again for the forest, Chen Li’s two illusionary bodies split in two directions, swiftly sneaking into the gate of the mountain.

The place was in ruins, with collapsed buildings, broken trees, fallen rocks, and corpses strewn about everywhere. Just a day ago, it used to be a flourishing place with cultivators coming and going, but now, it was a desolate scene akin to hell.

It all seemed like a nightmare.

Chen Li stretched out his hand, summoning a storage bag from the corpse of a young and handsome Qi Cultivation disciple.

The bag, embroidered with the words "Returning True Sect," typically belonged to an Inner Sect Disciple within the sect.

Chen Li sighed.

With a slight input of spiritual power, the storage bag opened.

Inside were some low-value odds and ends. Including the value of a single storage bag, it was worth around a hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones in total.

Chen Li used a Traction Skill, quickly burying the body, and continued on.

Storage bags, magic artifacts, they were everywhere.

Although most contained low-level items, and almost none were of the second order, the sheer volume still constituted considerable value.

And to the overall wealth of the Returning True Sect, this was but a drop in the ocean. Not to mention anything else, the seven gigantic Flying Boats hovering atop the mountain peak alone were worth a fortune. Unfortunately, these massive flying boats couldn’t be shrunk down, and he didn’t know how to operate them.

If only he could get his hands on one,

the costs from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core would likely be covered.

If he could find the storage bag of a Golden Core Ancestor...

Chen Li shook his head, dismissing the jumbled thoughts, and continued his wide-ranging search for valuables.

The other illusionary body, meanwhile, was headed straight for the library pavilion.

ps: Sigh, nothing more to say!