Walking along the post road, ten miles out of the city, Li Yu traveled alone without a shred of fear. Though he might encounter bandits, outlaws, and all sorts of wild beasts, his own supreme martial arts were nothing to scoff at.
As he continued his journey, a figure suddenly walked toward him from ahead, making Li Yu's hair stand on end!
Who else could it be but Guo Yanlin!
"Brother Guo, surely you aren't waiting here specifically for me?" Li Yu asked, his heart drumming as he forced himself to remain calm.
"I wonder where Brother Wu's elders are? Might I meet with them? I've discovered a rare medicinal herb guarded by a monster beast, which appears to be a century old, and I need a senior's assistance," the young man replied coolly.
Having no idea what the other man was talking about, Li Yu had no choice but to bite the bullet and answer.
"My family's elders are still in the town. I've come on ahead, but I'm sure they'll catch up shortly."
"Stop pretending, Brother Wu. Aside from you, is there anyone else? I've scoured the surrounding area these past two days and haven't found a single other cultivator." The young man grinned, a mocking look in his eyes.
Li Yu was greatly alarmed! Guo Yanlin had been so cautious just to ambush him! Yet he was also filled with suspicion—why was this fellow so fixated on him?
"I don't know why Brother Guo is blocking my way. We met purely by chance, and we harbor no enmity whatsoever. Might I ask the reason?"
"What else could it be? I'd wager you're heading for Ning'an City. A cultivator like you who accidentally unlocked the Heaven-Human Pass must either possess special treasures, spiritual stones, or rare medicinal herbs—at the very least, a cultivation manual. Hand them over! If you satisfy me, I might just show mercy and spare your life."
"Brother Guo has misunderstood. I am a cultivator from a family clan, and I have no fortuitous encounters to speak of." Li Yu had no choice but to lie once more.
Just as Li Yu finished speaking, he suddenly felt a ripple of Spiritual Sense.
"Heh, your back-pack surely holds something brimming with spiritual energy. Toss it over!" The young man pointed at the pack on Li Yu's back and barked harshly.
With no other option, Li Yu removed the pack from his back and threw it toward Guo Yanlin.
"The *Manual of Self-Establishment*? You can buy a dozen of these manuals in the Cultivator Market for a single spirit stone. *The Travels of Situ Kong*? Mortals dare to write books? What are these little bottles? Salt? Chili powder?" Guo Yanlin muttered to himself as he inventoried the items in the pack, finally discovering the source of the spiritual energy he had sensed: two spirit stones, and low-grade ones at that!
"Try any more tricks, and I'll make you a ghost under my sword!" Guo Yanlin had originally intended to dispatch Li Yu with a single sword strike, but considering that Li Yu might not have brought his valuables with him, keeping him alive for a thorough interrogation afterward seemed wiser.
It was rare to encounter someone like Li Yu, who had just reached the 1st Layer of Qi Refining and didn't even know the most basic "Wind-Escaping Technique" cultivators used for travel. Guo Yanlin refused to believe for a moment that Li Yu had no fortuitous encounters.
"Brother Guo, please see the truth. I have nothing else of value on me. If you don't believe me, open that travelogue yourself and you'll see why I was able to unlock the Heaven-Human Pass!" Situ Kong's travelogue recounted how he had met a Daoist of the Wang surname, who had then presented him with the *Manual of Self-Establishment*.
"I advise you not to play the clever fool. Two spirit stones and a fake-looking trash book are supposed to dismiss me? That bulging thing at your waist—isn't that a Storage Bag? Hand it over obediently!" The young man refused to believe a word of Li Yu's explanation.
Li Yu was speechless. A cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage could only sense ripples of spiritual energy; they lacked the ability to pierce illusions and see the truth. Guo Yanlin had mistaken the dagger sheath at Li Yu's waist for a Storage Bag.
Though he did not understand what a Storage Bag was, Li Yu knew in his heart that this was his only chance. If Guo Yanlin discovered that he truly had no other treasures on him, Li Yu dared not imagine what Guo Yanlin would do to him—the Mighty Valiant Escort Agency was the best example of that.
"Very well, Brother Guo. I hope that once you get it, you'll spare my life." Li Yu put on a show of despair.
"Naturally. As long as the things inside the Storage Bag make up for my two days of bitter waiting, I'll spare yo—"
With three rapid *swish-swish-swish* sounds, before Guo Yanlin could finish his sentence, he fell backward.
He had taken a Flying Dagger each to his face, his neck, and his heart.
In his wildest dreams, Guo Yanlin never imagined he would die such a miserable and humiliating death!
He hadn't had time to raise his protective spiritual shield, nor had he managed to summon his Spirit Sword. He possessed all sorts of talismans on his body—any single one of which would have reduced Li Yu to ashes. Most infuriating of all: you were an immortal cultivator, yet you fought with flying daggers?
He had only himself to blame for his cultivation being too low; otherwise, how could flying daggers forged from ordinary iron have injured a cultivator in the Mid-Stage Qi Refining?
Li Yu strode forward, pulled out the flying daggers that had driven Guo Yanlin to his resentful end, wiped the blood from the blades using Guo Yanlin's own clothes, and thrust them back into his dagger sheath. Then, he dragged Guo Yanlin's corpse away from the post road and deep into the dense forest.
He fished two small pouches from Guo Yanlin's person.
Judging from what Guo Yanlin had said, one of them should be the Storage Bag. After tossing Guo Yanlin's body into a tree hollow, Li Yu employed his lightness skill and quickly vanished deep into the forest.
A day and a night later, Li Yu was hiding in a cave whose entrance was shielded by a giant tree. The cave's original owner, a massive cyan-green python, was currently lying motionless not far from Li Yu, dead beyond a doubt.
In his hands, Li Yu held the two small pouches, their mouths tied with cords made of an unknown material.
One was overall black with golden cloud patterns, while the pure grey front of the other bore a blood-red character: "Beast". Looking at the pouches, Li Yu stroked his chin in thought.
Naturally, what Li Yu was pondering was how to open these two small pouches.
As for his first time killing a man, Li Yu felt not a single ripple in his heart.
Years of begging had long since inured him to the sight of frozen skeletons by the roadside. Later, when Situ Kong instructed him, he was frequently sent into the mountains to hunt large wild beasts. This had already forged Li Yu's heart as hard as iron, making him practically indifferent to life.
Besides, Guo Yanlin had brought this upon himself by courting death; had Li Yu not made a move, he would have been the one dead.
Brute force would not open a Storage Bag. Li Yu tried many times; even with all the strength he could muster, he could not untie the cord binding the mouth of the bag. Spiritual power? He had just tried that, and it still didn't work. That left only his Spiritual Sense to give it a try.
When Li Yu concentrated his Spiritual Sense on the mouth of the bag, inspiration struck like a flash of divine insight, and he silently chanted "Open". Within his Spiritual Sense, the scene inside the bag appeared. The internal space of the bag was not large—about three feet square.
The most eye-catching item was a treasured sword with an ornate scabbard. Silently chanting "Out", the treasured sword immediately appeared in Li Yu's hand—or more precisely, right above the small pouch in Li Yu's hand.
He chanted "In" once more, and the treasured sword instantly vanished from the pouch and reappeared inside the Storage Bag. Sensing the contents of the bag once again, Li Yu silently commanded, "All out!"
*Clatter!* Because the space in Li Yu's hands was limited, the items spilling from the bag tumbled all over the ground.
Looking at the pile of goods, Li Yu gave a low chuckle and excitedly began to tally his harvest.
First were the spirit stones. Aside from his own two spirit stones, which were now recovered, another five had rolled out onto the ground.
Then came the Spirit Sword with its ornate scabbard and a palm-sized small silver shield, the back of which bore the three characters: "Silver Light Shield".
A Jade Slip, a book, several talismans whose purpose he couldn't discern, and three black porcelain bottles labeled "Qi Refining Powder".
Finally, there were some dry rations, a waterskin, a meditation cushion for sitting cross-legged, and a large heap of gold, silver, and bank notes.
For Li Yu, his most urgent lack right now was all manner of knowledge regarding the realm of cultivation, so he impatiently picked up the book and began to read.
It was a very thick book titled *An Introduction to Five-Element Spells*.
This was a spell-introduction manual that practically every Qi Refining Stage cultivator owned. Unlike spells specific to particular cultivation manuals and Spiritual Roots, these introductory spells could be cast by anyone possessing spiritual power, though their power was minimal.
The book covered various introductory spells usable by Qi Refining Stage cultivators, divided into three major categories: offensive, defensive, and auxiliary. Among the offensive ones were: Sharp Sword Technique, Fireball Technique, Hailstone Technique, and Bolder Technique; among the defensive ones were: Sturdy Armor Technique, Wooden Stake Technique, Water Shield Technique, and Earth Wall Technique; and among the auxiliary ones were: Rejuvenation Technique, Wind-Escaping Technique, Fire-Control Technique, and Water-Gathering Technique.
Li Yu forgot about sleep and food, reading continuously for eight hours before he finally managed to skim through it once.
Though possessing Spiritual Sense allowed one to remember things after a single glance, keeping them memorized in one's mind versus holding the book and pondering every word word-by-word were two completely different concepts.
Therefore, Li Yu would undoubtedly be reading this book often in the future.
Closing the book, Li Yu stroked the uncreased cover and placed it aside with utmost care.
Once he had put the book away, he picked up the Jade Slip. Compared to the paper material of *An Introduction to Five-Element Spells*, this Jade Slip was evidently extraordinary.
Just as he had opened the Storage Bag, Li Yu focused his Spiritual Sense on the Jade Slip, and its contents flooded into his mind.
This was a manual for beast-taming titled *The Taiyuan Beast-Taming Canon*. The opening chapter first recounted how magnificent the Guo clan's founding ancestor—a Golden Core Stage True Person—had been, how he had painstakingly poured his heart and blood into founding the Guo family cultivation clan, and how extraordinary this treasured canon was...
After reading through the entire text, Li Yu's face beamed with joy. That other small pouch must contain a living spirit beast.
For the *Beast-Taming Canon* recorded that if the character "Beast" on a Spirit Beast Pouch appeared blood-red, then there was definitely a living spirit beast inside. If it was absent or the spirit beast had died, the "Beast" character would turn white.
There were also higher-grade purple and golden Spirit Beast Pouches, which contained three or six beast spaces respectively. These spaces were isolated from one another, allowing different species of spirit beasts to live within them in peace.
Expectant, Li Yu picked up the Spirit Beast Pouch. Having read the *Beast-Taming Canon*, he knew this was a primary-level Spirit Beast Pouch; it could only house a single spirit beast, and the beast's rank could not exceed Earth Grade, otherwise the pouch would fail to bear the strain and be utterly destroyed.
With a surge of excitement, he focused his Spiritual Sense into the Spirit Beast Pouch. Inside was a spirit beast curled up into a ball, possessing a cyan back, a white belly, a thick tail, and sharp claws, its scaly hide gleaming with an oily luster.
"Isn't this an armadillo?" Li Yu thought to himself.
He took the Little Armadillo out of the Spirit Beast Pouch. Cool to the touch and only the size of a pear, Li Yu cupped it in both hands and raised it to his eyes, feeling its faint breathing. At that moment, it was fast asleep.
This was a newly born monster beast. Once it grew a bit larger, it would possess strength comparable to a cultivator at the 1st Layer of Qi Refining—meaning it would be a low-grade mortal-rank monster beast. At that time, he could use the methods in the *Beast-Taming Canon* to forge a contract with it.
Carefully, Li Yu placed the Little Armadillo back into the Spirit Beast Pouch, watching the character "Beast" on the pouch transform from white back to blood-red.
Heaven had mercy; for Li Yu, who had been completely clueless about the world of cultivation, his heart was now filled with boundless gratitude toward Guo Yanlin.
Though Guo Yanlin had harbored evil intentions and committed wrongdoings first, he simply gave away far too many things, every single one of which was profoundly important to Li Yu.
Li Yu even felt like visiting the tree hollow where Guo Yanlin's corpse was hidden to properly and personally thank his "enlightenment teacher" of the cultivation world.
Of course, that was just a fleeting thought. Those who kill others must be prepared to be killed themselves; presumably, Guo Yanlin down in the netherworld would understand.
Besides, what if the Guo family possessed some method unknown to him to trace Guo Yanlin? Wouldn't walking right back into that be walking into a trap?
Afterward, Li Yu sorted all his items and stowed them back into the Storage Bag. Seizing the opportunity while the python's flesh was still fresh, he began carving the meat, roasting it, and making jerky.
Li Yu decided to master a few spells in this cave before heading to Ning'an City.