"Profound Gold Slaughter Array, activate!"
As Qi Ping triggered the Profound Gold Slaughter Array etched into the Primal Stone Armor, a terrifying formation instantly enveloped the mid-stage Foundation Establishment elder.
Using the Primal Stone Armor as its cornerstone, the array drew upon the very power of heaven and earth. The sudden, overwhelming pressure made every pore on the elder's body stand on end.
'An array deployed on the fly like this is significantly weaker than a complete formation established over time in one's own territory,' Qi Ping noted, evaluating the situation with a single glance. 'Not only does it demand more of my soul force and spiritual energy to maintain, but its longevity and ability to channel worldly energy are also vastly inferior.'
For an Array Master, the difference in combat power between an unexpected skirmish, a prepared ambush, and defending one's long-established lair was monumental.
'However, it is more than enough to handle this old man!'
The moment the formation stabilized, Qi Ping ignored the elder's frantic, terrified reaction. He immediately manifested five razor-sharp streaks of Profound Gold Sword Qi. In a flash, they pierced through the heart and skull of the elder, who was still locked in combat with Yaya.
Facing an opponent of a higher cultivation realm, Qi Ping dared not hold back in the slightest.
Once the enemy was slain, Qi Ping snatched the elder's storage bag and beat a hasty retreat. As for the corpse, he left a swarm of bees behind to carry it away for disposal; he hoped this minor distraction might buy him a little more time.
While fleeing, Qi Ping used his divine sense to force open the elder's storage bag. At a time like this, he had to quickly extract anything useful and discard everything that could potentially reveal his location or lacked value.
However, as he peered inside the bag, Qi Ping could not help but frown.
'Why are there so many products made from human remains?'
Judging by the contents, the man had indeed been a rogue cultivator. The items were numerous but chaotic; there was very little of high value. Even the spirit stones totaled less than four thousand. Compared to an early-stage Foundation Establishment disciple from a major sect, this man's hoard was pitifully meager.
There was also a jumbled pile of cultivation techniques. Having slain several sect disciples before, Qi Ping knew this was unusual; sect members were generally forbidden from carrying their techniques outside the sect's walls. Even the pills found within were of the lowest, most inferior quality.
For a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator to be this impoverished spoke volumes of the hardships faced by those who walked the path of cultivation alone.
The only items that gave Qi Ping any sense of significant gain were three Foundation-level techniques and three second-grade spiritual seeds. One of these seeds was even radiating a dense, potent fire-attribute spiritual energy.
He estimated the techniques were likely mediocre, but they would still serve as valuable reference material for his research into the underlying principles of Foundation-level spells.
However, the three second-grade spiritual seeds were a genuine surprise. It was no wonder the old man had attempted to ambush Qi Ping based on mere suspicion; he had clearly been obsessed with collecting these seeds.
What truly unsettled Qi Ping, though, was not the meager wealth, but the items that clearly belonged to various other cultivators. By his estimation, the miscellaneous junk belonged to at least ten different people. Combined with the man's attempt to rob him today, it was easy to conclude that the elder had made a habit of hunting anyone who might possess wealth or opportunity.
Combined with the cultivation tools refined from human corpses, the elder's past deeds and twisted cultivation style were not hard to guess.
'He likely turned to this madness because of a desperate shortage of resources...'
In the Azure Heaven Domain, Qi Refinement cultivators could still earn resources through farming or animal husbandry. But at the Foundation Establishment stage, there was simply nowhere to turn. Whether one could even find a second-grade spirit herb leaked by the Qingyuan Sect—let alone buy it at an exorbitant price—was entirely a matter of luck.
'Is that why he was collecting seeds? Murdering for wealth... and then attempting to use human remains to improve his cultivation and aptitude...'
'No wonder the fiendish qi surrounding him was so heavy!'
The idea of refining corpses to boost one's aptitude was particularly repulsive to Qi Ping.
'The path of the immortal... just how many people have gone mad because of it? How many have died?'
The number of cultivators who had perished at this elder's hands was likely a staggering, horrifying figure.
Qi Ping put himself in the man's shoes for a moment. If he were rejected by the sects and reached the Foundation Establishment stage only to find himself without any resources to advance—knowing his talent could take him further and possessing a burning heart for the Dao—what would he become?
He couldn't be sure. Without truly experiencing such despair, any answer was just a hollow guess. The possibility of such a hopeless situation driving a man to insanity was simply too high.
After transferring all useful items to his other storage bags and sending his bees to hide them during this dangerous period, Qi Ping discovered one final item: an exquisitely crafted book made from a unique spiritual material.
On the cover were four bold, powerful characters: 'Notes on the Immortal Path.'
'Could this be the cultivation insights of some great master?'
Once he reached a safe location, he set the notebook aside and had his bees open it for him.
'I reached Qi Refinement at twelve! Broke through to the mid-stage at sixteen! This year, at eighteen, I have reached the fifth level. Tomorrow, I shall surely enter the Qingyuan Sect and surge forward on the path of immortality!'
'Because I am too old, I have been rejected by ten sects in a row. Is there truly no hope for me? No, I refuse to accept this! Why should I not be allowed to tread this path?'
'I have finally reached the peak of Qi Refinement, but after decades of searching, I still cannot find a Foundation-level technique. Is my path to end here?'
'Decades of searching, and I finally found a Foundation technique on a mere Qi Refinement brat—the Blood Fiend Art! To use flesh and blood as the foundation? So, the flesh of a genius is the best Foundation Establishment Pill? How cruel! But Foundation Establishment, here I come!'
'I hunted nine sect disciples and refined a Blood-Flesh Divine Pill. I have finally broken through! My fate is mine to command, not heaven's!'
'They say a rogue Foundation cultivator has no future, but I will not yield! Even if I must climb over a mountain of ten thousand corpses, I will ascend! If I lack resources, I shall steal! If my aptitude is lacking, I shall refine flesh and blood!'
'Jie jie jie! I have reached the mid-stage! Next stop: the late-stage!'
'So, these are that man's cultivation notes?'
After finishing the diary, Qi Ping felt a wave of disappointment mixed with a deep, heavy sigh.
The notes had no signature, but Qi Ping guessed their owner was indeed the elder he had just killed; the crucial Blood Fiend Art had also been found in the man's bag.
The notebook consisted of dozens of thick pages, recording every major event from the moment the elder began his journey. The very last entry mentioned his plan to ambush a "fat sheep" who might know the location of a second-grade spiritual vein.
That "fat sheep" was, of course, Qi Ping. In the latter half of the notes, terms like "fat sheep" and "blood food" appeared with increasing frequency.
The diary sketched the transformation of a spirited youth into a maddened rogue cultivator.
'Sigh... I wonder if there will be more madmen as I climb higher?'
Those driven to despair by lack of resources, those broken by bitter cultivation, those whose Dao hearts had collapsed...
Qi Ping suddenly felt that the higher one climbed on the path of cultivation, the more likely one was to peel back the veil on the horrifying side of this world.
From what he understood, it seemed that only Qi Refinement cultivators and mortals lived relatively peaceful lives, protected by the iron-fisted methods of the top sects. At the Foundation Establishment stage, where resources were so scarce, the number of people driven insane must be immense. And ironically, the stronger a person's Dao heart, the more likely they were to snap.
What made Qi Ping's skin crawl even more was the fact that he had seen the Blood Fiend Art on the bounty list of the secret Black Market. It was described as a technique used to "nurture high-quality blood food."
In other words, this elder had spent his entire life in madness, only to work hard at turning himself into high-grade "food" for someone else. It was as tragic as it was absurd.
Thinking of this, Qi Ping felt a chill in his heart.
'Now that I have the spiritual seeds, it's best to stay out of sight. I don't want to run into any more madmen.'
'I should return to my territory as soon as possible and use the spirit herbs to boost the strength of both myself and my animal companions.'
The fire-attribute spiritual seed was actually a mid-tier second-grade seed, though Qi Ping couldn't yet identify exactly what kind of herb it would become. However, based on his Druid senses and the deductions from his Natural Perception, it was clearly something exceptional.
He estimated that with this seed, he would be able to significantly increase his own strength and help Yaya complete its metamorphosis.
Having made his decision, Qi Ping immediately set off for home.