Chapter 44: Gu Zun

Li Zhen remained in place for a considerable time, surprisingly encountering no immediate dangers.

The absence of spiritual energy within him left his body feeling utterly hollow.

This rendered even talisman spells uncastable, let alone any learned magical techniques.

His swordsmanship was significantly weakened; without the boost of spiritual energy, he could only rely on the blade’s sharpness for attacks.

Thus, his most potent weapon became the rune dart, with 186 shots remaining.

As this thought crossed his mind, inspiration struck—perhaps there was yet another possibility.

He retrieved the rune dart and the martial fighter armor. Removing the spiritual energy block from the rune dart, he activated Tai Chi to open the energy slots on the fighter armor.

To his relief, the energy used by the fighter armor matched the type of the spiritual energy block in his hand. However, the armor boasted four full energy slots.

Carefully, he removed one of the armor’s energy blocks and replaced it with the charged spiritual energy block.

“Current Energy: 21%!” After swapping the energy blocks, the display appeared directly on his retinal interface, indicating the fighter armor’s power level.

He let out a long sigh of relief. Even without access to his spiritual energy, controlling the martial fighter armor was akin to being in the Late Qi Refining Stage as a cultivator. This instantly multiplied his combat capabilities many times over.

As for the rune dart, he still had the original set of spiritual energy blocks, with eight bullets remaining.

In fact, once he found the spirit veins, all his spiritual energy blocks could be recharged.

The martial fighter armor came with its own charging system; by inserting an energy block into the designated slot, it would automatically recharge within range of a spirit vein.

Li Zhen then stored the martial fighter armor and rune dart back into the Dragon Heart Space. This space was more convenient than a simple storage pouch, allowing him to freely summon the rune dart into his hand or wear the martial fighter armor at will.

After this lengthy delay, he was ready to explore this new world.

Glancing at the position of the two suns, he deduced that it must be around noon—though this judgment was based on his previous life experience in the Xian Nation and might not be accurate here. He knew nothing about this realm yet.

The grasslands were roughly shoulder-high, making navigation challenging. As Li Zhen ventured through them, he relied solely on the positions of the twin suns to maintain his chosen direction.

To escape the grassland, Li Zhen needed to walk in a straight line.

After ten minutes of walking, he stopped in his tracks.

He sensed the presence of a spirit object—an inferior first-rank one, to be precise.

Following its aura, he found an unknown spirit herb ten meters away.

Crouching down, Li Zhen unsheathed his Xingrui E07 longsword, ready to dig up the spirit herb.

Though inferior first-rank spirit herbs were relatively less valuable, their worth depended on what they were being compared to.

Being able to casually unearth such a spirit herb was more than satisfying enough for him.

Just as he was about to start digging, something green shot towards him from within the grass.

His quick reflexes proved advantageous once again; with a gentle flick of his wrist, the longsword created a flurry of blade flowers that intercepted the projectile.

The green object struck the shimmering barrier and fell to the ground.

Li Zhen finally got a clear look at it—it was a small green snake, now cut open near its middle by the sword.

“How could I have forgotten what we learned in class?!” he scolded himself, shaking his head.

In his excitement—the thrill of discovering and personally harvesting his first spirit herb—he had momentarily overlooked the potential dangers associated with them.

Spirit medicines themselves were rarely dangerous; the peril usually came from their surroundings.

In the wild, once a spirit beast discovered a spirit medicine, it would guard it until maturity.

Thus, when harvesting spirit medicines in the wilderness, one must be wary of these protective spirit beasts.

Li Zhen was quite fortunate this time—the green snake wasn’t even classified as low-tier rank 1, barely qualifying as a monster.

Had it been a low-tier rank 1 spirit snake, his ordinary longsword, lacking any spiritual enhancement, wouldn’t have sufficed to slay it with a single strike.

After careful examination, he finally unearthed the low-tier rank 1 spirit medicine, applying the knowledge he’d learned at school to preserve its integrity as much as possible.

He chose not to let the Dragon Heart Space consume this low-tier spirit medicine. With his Wood 21.22 innate talent for wood elemental spirit roots, even high-grade first-rank spirit medicines would struggle to enhance his spiritual root aptitude, let alone inferior ones.

Next, he approached the green snake and extracted its gallbladder. The rest of the snake, due to its low cultivation realm, held little value.

This successful harvest significantly lifted Li Zhen’s spirits.

In the Xian Nation, wild spirit medicines were on the verge of extinction.

The nation’s extensive culling of powerful monsters had paradoxically allowed small, rapidly reproducing creatures and spirit insects to flourish unchecked, disrupting the natural balance within their world.

While the Xian Nation frequently organized cultivators to clean up these small, fast-breeding beasts and spirit insects, no amount of effort could completely stem the destruction of their ecosystem’s equilibrium.

With fewer strong monsters around to protect them, any spirit medicine that appeared would be devoured by spirit insects before it even ripened.

Li Zhen continued his journey for some time until he discovered another spirit medicine. This time, there were no monsters in sight.

Once again, it was a low-grade tier-one spirit medicine. As he walked, he encountered more spirit medicines along the way, but his enthusiasm waned with each one he dug up.

Due to the lack of spiritual energy here, higher-grade spirit medicines simply couldn’t grow.

Similarly, none of the monsters in this area were high-tier; all the ones he’d met so far were low-grade tier-one creatures, posing little threat to him.

“Something’s happening!” As he walked, Li Zhen suddenly looked intently towards something in the distance.

Far away, about ten meters above ground, a celestial crane flapped its wings, carrying a person on its back.

The person also spotted Li Zhen and guided the immortal crane towards him.

Li Zhen tightened his grip on the Xingrui E07 longsword in his hand. He didn’t presume luck was on his side; encountering a talkative cultivator seemed unlikely.

“Child, what brings you here? Where are your family?” The cultivator asked as the crane halted before Li Zhen.

This cultivator appeared to be in his early twenties, with an aura indicating he was at the third level of Qi Refinement.

“I got lost!” Li Zhen replied after a moment’s thought.

Surprisingly, Li Zhen found that the language spoken here was not much different from the Immortal Nation.

However, judging by the cultivator’s attire and use of an immortal crane for transportation, it suggested this world’s technology remained stuck in ancient times.

“Fear not,” Gu Zhun said with a smile, “I am Gu Zhun, a cultivator from Ten Directions Valley!”

Upon seeing Li Zhen, Gu Zhun had immediately sensed the boy possessed minimal spiritual energy. If not for the first-grade inferior longsword in Li Zhen’s hand, he might have mistaken him for an ordinary mortal.

Considering Li Zhen was just a child, coupled with the fact that the Xingrui E07 longsword held no allure for him, Gu Zhun decided to play the role of a benevolent stranger.

Gu Zhun looked down on the Xingrui E07 longsword because, in his eyes, its spiritual affinity was far too weak.

This low-grade first-rank longsword seemed like a beginner’s work from some artificer, using minimal spirit materials and poorly inscribed runes.

By revealing Ten Directions Valley’s name, he was signaling to Li Zhen that he hailed from a righteous sect.

Unfortunately, this information went over Li Zhen’s head; how would he know anything about Ten Directions Valley?

Li Zhen kept quiet, striving to embody the demeanor of a twelve-year-old child who had become separated from his family.

“In ten miles lies a market town,” Gu Zhun continued. “Your family might be waiting for you there. Stick with me, and we’ll find them!”

“Thank you!” Li Zhen murmured softly.

“This is demon-repelling powder. Apply some to yourself, and those brainless low-rank monsters won’t bother you!” Gu Zhun took out a porcelain bottle and tossed it to Li Zhen.

Li Zhen caught the bottle carefully and applied a small amount to himself.

He wasn’t worried about Gu Zhun poisoning the powder because he wasn’t afraid of poisons—a lesson learned from many past encounters.

The dragon heart could resist poison; none of the poisons he had encountered thus far could harm him.

Moreover, given his demonstrated strength, if Gu Zhun truly harbored ill intent, he would have no need for such subterfuge and could attack at any moment.

Gu Zhun waved a hand dismissively. Instead of inviting Li Zhen onto the immortal crane, he slowed its pace so that Li Zhen could keep up.

Li Zhen sprinted across the ground, maintaining a respectable speed.

The Demon Repellent Powder proved highly effective. As he ran, he sensed numerous spirit medicines, but no monsters emerged to attack even as he passed close by them.

Only now did Li Zhen get a chance to scrutinize Gu Zhun properly. The “immortal crane” he rode seemed not to be an actual immortal crane.

Just moments ago, the crane had hovered in mid-air—a feat beyond the capabilities of ordinary cranes. He surmised it must be some form of flying magical artifact.

If true, this world’s resources must be incredibly abundant.

In the Xian Nation, even cultivators at the middle stages of Qi Refinement rarely possessed personal flying artifacts. It would make more sense for them to use technologically advanced aircraft instead, thereby conserving precious cultivation resources.