The black-robed Foundation Building cultivator, witnessing his companion fall in battle, hastened to pursue Elder Brother. Simultaneously, he produced a large black bow, slowly drawing it.
Upon the black bow, Spiritual Energy converged, shaping into two black arrows.
With a release of the bowstring, the two black arrows swiftly shot toward Elder Brother.
Elder Brother, fleeing all along, maintained awareness of his surroundings through Divine Sense. Upon seeing the black Spiritual Energy arrows approaching, he hastily summoned a shield that rapidly expanded, reaching nine feet in size.
"Bang, bang!" The arrows were blocked by the shield.
Ignoring the assailant, Elder Brother continued to escape. Gradually, he noticed the absence of pursuit and the silence behind him. His Divine Sense detected no trace of the pursuing cultivator.
Coming to a halt, he scrutinized his surroundings. The Foundation Building cultivator had vanished without a trace.
After a moment, two purple-robed Daoists arrived together.
"Wu Junior Brother, did you seek help from the sect just now? Did you encounter any danger?" The two cultivators, upon seeing Elder Brother, were puzzled. There were no signs of a battle here, and no outsiders were in sight.
"Senior Qi! Senior Lu! I indeed sought help from the sect just now. On my way back, I encountered two Foundation Building cultivators who attacked me. I killed one of them, and the other was chasing me just now."
Elder Brother explained while scanning the surroundings, finding nothing.
"I killed one just now. Let me show you."
Elder Brother led the two back to where he had slain one of the cultivators, but the body had disappeared.
As if the two cultivators had never been there, Elder Brother, feeling helpless, returned to the sect with the two, nursing his injuries.
After they left, the pile of rotten leaves on the ground stirred, and a figure slowly stood up.
It was the black-clad person who had pursued Elder Brother. Draped in a cloak with a hood, it had the peculiar ability to block Divine Sense and change color and shape to blend with the surroundings.
The black-clad person silently departed.
In a secret chamber within Azure Void City, a middle-aged man sat at the upper seat. After a while, the black-clad person who had failed to assassinate Elder Brother entered.
"Reporting to Manager Xing, Si Ling Liu (Code number 406) and Si Er Wu (Code number 425) failed in their mission, and Si Er Wu (Code number 425) is dead."
"Is Si Er Wu (Code number 425) dead?"
As they discussed Si Er Wu's death, there was no emotional fluctuation, as if it were an insignificant matter.
"Do you know how much the organization spent to lure Target Number 106 out of the sect for this assassination? And after failing to assassinate Target Number 107 last time, Target Number 107 has stayed inside the sect ever since. Now, with Target Number 106 alerted, if it follows the path of Target Number 107, what will happen? Your mission failed; go to the Prison and receive your punishment."
Si Ling Liu (Code number 406) trembled at the prospect of going to the Prison, anticipating something terrifying.
When Wang Hong emerged from the Cultivation Room, he received a message from Zhang Chunfeng about Elder Brother being attacked and returning injured.
Upon hearing this news, Wang Hong decided to visit and gather information.
Elder Brother, now in Foundation Building, had been reassigned to a cave mansion with a residence and spirit fields spanning fifty acres. He had also enlisted several Qi Cultivation Disciples to manage the spirit fields.
This was Wang Hong's first visit to Elder Brother's residence after reaching Foundation Building. At a glance, Elder Brother's dozens of acres of spirit fields were planted with Essence Nurturing Grass and other second-tier Spirit Herbs.
Essence Nurturing Grass takes over 150 years to mature for medicinal use. The plants before you seem to be newly purchased seedlings, only about two or three decades old.
Just with these seedlings, they already hold significant value. If allowed to mature, it would become a massive fortune. However, reaching maturity would require at least another hundred years, with a considerable amount of energy and manpower needed for care. Yet, the lifespan of a Foundation Building cultivator is only two hundred years.
"Elder Brother! How's your injury?"
In the living room, Elder Brother and Wang Hong met. Elder Brother's complexion was a bit pale.
"No trouble, Junior Brother. I'll recover in a few days." Elder Brother said, waving his fist to show he was unharmed.
"Do you know who did this?"
"Perhaps it was the work of Shadow Kill. Although I killed one person, I was in a hurry to escape and didn't check the body."
Elder Brother then recounted the sequence of events.
"Ah! I hadn't planned on going out recently. Senior Brother Hong invited me to Azure Void City a few days ago for a trade fair among Foundation Building cultivators. It was said that items enhancing the sea of dantian would appear."
Expanding and enlarging the dantian sea for cultivators was not easy, even more challenging than advancing in realms. One way was through natural growth: at Foundation Building, the dantian sea was about a foot in size, expanding with each tier until reaching a yard in size at Foundation Building Grand Completion.
The second method involved specific cultivation techniques, and the third, rare Spiritual Objects, which were hard to come by.
"Did those items actually appear?"
Wang Hong was now intrigued. Despite having many second-tier Spiritual Herbs in his Space, none could enlarge the dantian sea.
"They did indeed. It's a Blue Beauty Grass, but it came at a hefty price."
Elder Brother didn't hide anything from Wang Hong, partly due to their long association, knowing each other's character. Also, he planned to take the Blue Beauty Grass after his injuries slightly improved. Committing robbery and murder within the sect was not advisable, with several Golden Core real individuals on each peak.
"Can I exchange for a small branch or root? Just a tiny bit would do. You know, I enjoy Alchemy, and I've been researching medicinal properties lately."
"No problem at all, it's a trivial matter. But Junior Brother, you should elevate your cultivation level as soon as possible. Don't spend too much time on Alchemy."
Elder Brother took out a jade box from his Storage Bag. It was over a foot long, covered with several prohibition Talismans.
Carefully opening the jade box revealed a plant about a foot long, entirely blue, with five branches. Blue Beauty Grass grows a branch every hundred years, and this one should be around five hundred years old, truly a rare item.
Elder Brother directly plucked a piece from the top and handed it to Wang Hong.
"It's a gift for you."
"I can't accept this! Such a rare item, how can I take it? I have something slightly lackluster here; let me exchange it with Elder Brother."
Wang Hong took out a flowerpot from his Spirit Beast bag, containing a translucent Jade Marrow Mushroom sapling.
Cultivators often planted precious Spirit Plants, but fearing accidents, they usually carried them. Since Storage Bags lacked Spirit Qi and couldn't support growth, some cultivators devised a method. They planted Spirit Plants in flowerpots, then put them in Spirit Beast bags. Since Spirit Beasts could survive and grow inside, Spirit Plants could as well.
However, Spirit Beast bags were expensive, and Spaces were not particularly large, so only a small amount could be cultivated.
[Read at /shanefreak, and heartfelt thankyou for your support!]