For the space of two hours, Meng Bai remained immersed in comprehending the sword rhyme of the Shanhai Spirit Sword before him.
When it finally ended, Meng Bai sighed, "If only I had encountered this sword sooner."
Meng Bai left the Sword Tomb and returned to his small cabin.
Then, he lay down on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.
In his dream,
Meng Bai returned to the courtyard in the middle of the lake.
By now, the spiritual vein of the dream world had been upgraded by Meng Bai to a rank-four spiritual vein.
The spiritual Qi had turned into white mist, almost visible to the naked eye.
If a Qi Condensation Cultivator were to cultivate here, they would burst apart and die within a quarter of an hour.
Only a Foundation Establishment Cultivator could cultivate atop a rank-four spiritual vein.
With a single thought, the courtyard in the middle of the lake vanished, replaced by a vast Sword Domain.
Countless spiritual swords stood upright across the earth, their sword Qi soaring into the sky.
Although each spiritual sword possessed only a single share of sword rhyme—not even one ten-thousandth of the Taixu Sect's Sword Tomb—Meng Bai could slowly simulate them, and the sword domain in his dream at this moment was more than enough for him to comprehend the Sword Dao.
Meng Bai sat at the center of the Sword Domain, settling his mind to quietly comprehend the Sword Dao.
Ten days later.
Meng Bai abruptly snapped awake from his dream.
His eyes flashed with a fierce sword light before instantly fading away.
Meng Bai had already comprehended the Shanhai Sword Heart.
On the path of the Sword Dao, mastering sword intent first and then realizing the Sword Heart was already enough to be considered a master of the Sword Dao.
Now, Meng Bai was only in the Foundation Establishment Realm, and his comprehension of the Sword Heart would bring him a tremendous boost.
Once the Sword Heart manifested, it could suppress a region of a hundred miles; within that hundred miles, Meng Bai could observe the minute and discern the profound.
For an ordinary cultivator, achieving a hundred-mile suppression and minute perception would require reaching the Spirit Nourishing Realm.
If he were to encounter Situ Hao again now, Meng Bai would have the strength to put up a fight.
Inspecting his own condition, Meng Bai sighed, "The Sword Heart is comprehended, but for now I should focus on cultivation. Matters regarding the Sword Tomb can wait until I reach Mid Foundation Establishment."
Presently, Meng Bai was only at Level 2 Foundation Establishment, while Mid Foundation Establishment was at least Level 4 Foundation Establishment.
According to Meng Bai's calculations, it would take him fifteen years at the absolute fastest to enter Level 4 Foundation Establishment.
There was no help for it—the cultivation speed of the *Great Dream True Scripture* was simply slow, and even with the bonus of a top-tier spiritual vein, it could not be rushed.
When he returned to the sect a few days ago, Qin Yu had already stepped into Level 4 Foundation Establishment, which made Meng Bai sigh that the gap in their realms would likely grow wider and wider in the future.
Fortunately, he had a good mindset and felt no jealousy just because someone else cultivated faster than him; after all, no one could outlive him.
Still, fifteen years was a bit long; it was about time to acquire some medicinal pills to speed things up.
If he had a rank-two Xuanyuan Pill, it could shave off a considerable amount of time.
A single Xuanyuan Pill could swiftly propel Meng Bai to advance to Level 3 Foundation Establishment within a month.
Such was the wondrous property of medicinal pills—they defied all reason entirely.
However, the Xuanyuan Pill cost 700 contribution points, and since Meng Bai currently lacked sufficient contribution points, he might need to take on a few sect missions.
Inside the Contribution Hall.
The senior brother in charge of the Contribution Hall looked at Meng Bai and said, "Junior Brother, you're here again. Surely you aren't here to exchange for entry qualifications to the Sword Tomb again, are you?"
Over the past few days, Meng Bai had been coming every three days, dumping a total of 5,000 contribution points into the Sword Tomb. Just looking at it made the senior brother's heart ache terribly.
Many disciples in the Contribution Hall had already heard of Meng Bai's "extraordinary feats."
"Junior Brother, take this older brother's advice: stop wasting contribution points in the Sword Tomb."
Meng Bai smiled faintly. "Senior Brother Liu, I am not exchanging for Sword Tomb entry qualifications today. Today, I am exchanging for some contribution points."
With that, he produced 500 spiritual stones.
In the Taixu Sect, one contribution point was equivalent to one spiritual stone.
500 spiritual stones equaled 500 contribution points.
Having exchanged for the contribution points, Meng Bai now had 600 contribution points, which was still 100 points short of what was needed to trade for the Xuanyuan Pill, so he promptly asked, "Senior Brother Liu, are there any good missions recently for earning contribution points?"
Meng Bai was quite familiar with this Senior Brother Liu, so he simply asked offhand.
Senior Brother Liu smiled mysteriously and said, "Junior Brother, you haven't been back from garrison duty for very long, have you? I wonder if you've ever been to Plum Blossom Peak."
Meng Bai replied, "Plum Blossom Peak? Isn't that an Inner Sect domain?"
"Hehe, that's where you don't understand, Junior Brother. Recently, this Plum Blossom Peak has been opened up to Outer Sect disciples, and it's hailed by many Outer Sect senior and junior brothers as the 'Outer Sect Disciple Beginner Care Package Distribution Center'."
"Oh? Could Senior Brother elaborate?"
Senior Brother Liu said, "Why not? It's not much of a big secret. There is a group of peak spirits on Plum Blossom Peak that can gather Hundred-Flower Dew, which is deeply cherished by the female disciples of Plum Blossom Peak."
"After all, Hundred-Flower Dew is one of their cultivation resources."
Meng Bai asked, "What does this have to do with us Outer Sect disciples?"
Senior Brother Liu continued, "The Hundred-Flower Dew is located inside the nests of the peak spirits. Now, peak spirits are spiritual beasts, and they possess an ability to remember a person's aura; once you appear within a mile of them, you will be detected."
Meng Bai said in astonishment, "You mean steal the Hundred-Flower Dew?"
Senior Brother Liu retorted, "How can you call it stealing? Plum Blossom Peak is sect territory to begin with, and those peak spirits live on Plum Blossom Peak. What's wrong with us Taixu Sect disciples collecting a bit of sect upbringing fees from them?!"
"However, this can only be done once. Once you do it, your aura will be marked by the peak spirits, and if you try a second time, you'll be swarmed and attacked by the entire pack of peak spirits."
"Don't underestimate the peak spirits; although they are only at the Qi Condensation Stage, there are quite a lot of them. If you grow careless, you'll suffer."
......
After listening to what Senior Brother Liu from the Contribution Hall had to say, Meng Bai prepared to head toward Plum Blossom Peak.
A single bottle of Hundred-Flower Dew was worth 50 spiritual stones.
If he could steal enough Hundred-Flower Dew all at once, then his Xuanyuan Pill would be within reach.
Oh no, wait—he couldn't call it stealing. To use Senior Brother Liu's words, they were simply collecting sect upbringing fees.
On the way from the Contribution Hall to Plum Blossom Peak, one had to pass through a barren wasteland.
This wasteland had once been an Inner Sect peak long ago, but following a great battle between high-level immortal cultivators of the sect and demonic path experts, its spiritual vein had been ruined. The soil was barren, spiritual Qi was weak, and resources were exceptionally poor, causing it to be abandoned by the Taixu Sect.
Upon entering the barren land,
Meng Bai distinctly felt the drop in spiritual Qi, and the environment was wretched beyond description.
"The spiritual Qi here is even worse than the mortal realm. I'd better hurry through!" Meng Bai lamented.
As he walked and looked around, he noted that apart from the destruction of the spiritual vein, the wasteland was formed because the vicious methods employed by the demonic path experts back then had left indelible scars upon the earth.
Not a blade of grass grew here, leaving only black, scorched earth.
Suddenly, Meng Bai halted his steps and said, "Will the few of you who have been tailing me all the way please show yourselves."
"Oh, we've been discovered. Junior Brother is truly vigilant."
Three Outer Sect disciples suddenly appeared one mile behind Meng Bai.
"Invisibility talismans?" Meng Bai said.
The leading Outer Sect disciple, Lin Feng, replied, "What we used were rank-three invisibility talismans. Logically speaking, Junior Brother shouldn't have been able to perceive us."
A rank-three invisibility talisman was already capable of operating completely silently; logically speaking, Meng Bai should not have been able to detect them.
However, Meng Bai had comprehended the Sword Heart, and the power of the Sword Heart could suppress a hundred miles, naturally allowing him to monitor a hundred miles as well. Thus, Meng Bai had easily spotted the three sneaky figures.
Meng Bai asked, "Do the three of you have some purpose in following me all this way?"
Lin Feng sneered coldly, "Junior Brother has been throwing around money quite lavishly at the Contribution Hall lately, so we thought we'd borrow a few spiritual stones from Junior Brother to spend."
So he had been targeted. Meng Bai smiled faintly, "And what if I refuse?"