"Six great mountain strongholds, huh."
Wu De took a sip of cheap wine and spoke carelessly, "The six great mountain strongholds are White Sun Stronghold, Drifting Snow Stronghold, and Bright Light Stronghold in the northern mountains, as well as Earth Tiger Stronghold, Wandering Dragon Stronghold, and Heavenly Wolf Stronghold to the south."
Hearing this, Lu Li wondered why Water Cloud Stronghold-the one currently hunting him down-was missing from the list. He couldn't help but ask, "What about Water Cloud Stronghold?"
"Water Cloud Stronghold? Where is that?" Wu De looked confused at first, then realization dawned on him. "You must mean one of those newly risen little strongholds. There are simply too many of those tiny factions in the Thunder Fire Mountain Range..."
Water Cloud Stronghold was actually just a small force? Then how powerful was White Sun Stronghold? The thought of having secretly harvested herbs from their territory filled Lu Li with unease. He asked, "Brother, do you know where White Sun Stronghold is located?"
"White Sun Stronghold?" Wu De raised an eyebrow. "What are you plotting?"
"Er... haven't they already got their eyes on me? I'm planning to stay as far away from them as possible."
Wu De's expression instantly turned incredibly strange. "When you entered the town, didn't you see the three words 'White Sun Town' written above the gates?"
"What do you mean?"
"What do you think? Let me tell you, this very place is White Sun Stronghold's main lair. White Sun Town."
"What!" Lu Li jumped to his feet in shock. It had been too dark outside, and he simply hadn't looked. To think he had actually run straight into their nest! How could this be good?
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?"
"Running for my life, of course." Lu Li didn't even look back as he turned to leave.
Wu De hastily stood up and blocked him. "Don't panic... When this old man arrived, I just happened to see the people of White Sun Stronghold swarming out in full force, all rushing into the mountains. If you run out there now, aren't you just courting death?"
"Swarming out? And they didn't spot you?"
"All thanks to you." Wu De shot Lu Li a resentful glare and tugged at his tattered robes. "If this old man looked in a mirror right now, I probably wouldn't even recognize myself."
Hearing this, Lu Li chuckled and sat back down, though the lingering worry in his heart refused to fade.
He had now acquired three of the four ingredients required to refine the Piercing Acupoint Pill. He was only missing the final one-Earth Milk Essence. If there was no Earth Milk Essence in the Thunder Fire Mountain Range, it would be best for him to leave early. If he were caught by the people of White Sun Stronghold, the loss would far outweigh the gain.
Thinking of this, he asked again, "Brother, have you ever heard of Earth Milk Essence?"
Wu De froze, his expression growing even stranger. He wondered to himself: Is this kid a roundworm in my stomach? He stared suspiciously at Lu Li, then suddenly had a thought. Grinning, he said, "Brother Qin, you've asked the right person."
"You really know?" Lu Li was overjoyed.
"Of course." Wu De nodded, leaning in mysteriously. "You don't know this, little brother, but this old man came here precisely for that Earth Milk Essence. I just plucked a few Lightning Fire Orchids along the way."
"Oh?"
"I won't hide it from you, brother. I've obtained reliable word that there's a sinkhole on the main mountain vein called Shiri Pit, and the Earth Milk Essence is inside. Furthermore, this old man personally went down to scout it out. The depths are overflowing with chilling air-it is absolutely a breeding ground for Earth Milk Essence..."
"You went down to scout? Brother, have you already obtained the Earth Milk Essence?"
"No." Wu De sat back down, looking a bit sheepish. "There's a little guy at the sixth level of Qi Refinement standing guard down there. This old man didn't want to clash head-on with him, so I avoided him for now."
"A little guy at the sixth level of Qi Refinement? Brother's cultivation is..."
"Hehe, this old man is currently at the fifth level of Qi Refinement."
Lu Li: ...
After their exchange, Lu Li finally had news of the Earth Milk Essence. However, according to Wu De, there was a second-in-command of White Sun Stronghold presiding over the depths of the Shiri Pit. That second-in-command's cultivation was at the sixth level of Qi Refinement.
Wu De's proposal was for the two of them to go together. Lu Li would lure the man away, Wu De would retrieve the Earth Milk Essence, and then they would split it equally.
Naturally, Lu Li didn't believe a word of Wu De's nonsense. But the opponent was at the sixth level of Qi Refinement; it was clearly unrealistic to snatch the Earth Milk Essence on his own. After turning the matter over in his mind, he feigned agreement.
Seeing Lu Li agree, Wu De was utterly thrilled. He thought to himself: A brat is still just a brat. His worldly experience is far too shallow.
Since the men of White Sun Stronghold had all mobilized into the Thunder Fire Mountain Range, the two decided to stay in the town and cultivate for a while, waiting for the commotion to die down before heading to the Shiri Pit.
After finishing his meal, Lu Li found the shop assistant to book a room.
The assistant vehemently recommended that Lu Li stay on the fifth floor, claiming the rooms there were exceptionally lavish and came with special services.
Lu Li had already suffered one loss and naturally wouldn't fall for it again. He bluntly asked for an ordinary room. The assistant thus led him to a room on the third floor facing the street.
The room's layout was extremely plain, and the clamor from the streets outside could be clearly heard. Lu Li didn't mind; in fact, he found it rather welcoming. More importantly, this place took silver taels. Staying for a month cost only thirty taels of silver.
Lu Li had killed quite a few men and was certainly not lacking in silver. With a grand wave of his hand, he tossed a hundred taels to the assistant. "Book three months first. Keep the change."
This assistant had no cultivation base. He had tried so hard to upsell a better room purely in hopes of earning a bit more silver for his cut. Seeing Lu Li act so generously, he immediately bowed and voiced endless thanks.
After the assistant left, Lu Li locked the door from the inside.
Then, he sat down at the table, pulled out two brown Storage Bags, and began eagerly taking stock of their contents.
Both Storage Bags had come from Dharma Protector Wang of Water Cloud Stronghold. That man had run a general store, so there were bound to be plenty of goods inside.
He opened the first Storage Bag.
Joy instantly bloomed in Lu Li's heart. Inside sat neat stacks of jade bottles-a full one hundred and fifty large jade bottles.
He chanted silently in his heart: True Essence Pill, True Essence Pill...
With eager anticipation, he opened one bottle. Seeing it filled to the brim with dark green pills, he immediately burst into booming laughter. "Struck it rich, struck it rich! They actually are True Essence Pills!"
He pulled out several more in a row and popped them open. Without exception, every single one contained True Essence Pills. By his calculations, there were over fifteen thousand pills in total.
Factoring in the one hundred and fifty he already had on him, his stash of True Essence Pills now reached a staggering fifteen thousand, five hundred.
Even if he cultivated continuously without stopping, it would be enough to last him over three years inside the Time Hall.
After transferring all the True Essence Pills into the Space Hall, Lu Li impatiently opened the second Storage Bag.
Sweeping his Divine Sense inside, he found it packed to the brim with beast skins of all shapes and sizes. It looked like there were no fewer than two thousand pelts.
"This many beast skins... they should be worth quite a few True Essence Pills, right?"
Thoughtfulness flashed in Lu Li's eyes. He swept the Storage Bag and all its contents into the Space Hall, musing that this Dharma Protector Wang truly was a wealth-delivering boy. Now, all this fortune belonged to him.
What he didn't know was that at this very moment, the Grand Chieftain of Water Cloud Stronghold, Xu Shan, had gone completely mad with rage over Dharma Protector Wang's death, and was currently leading a gang of brothers to scour the mountains for any trace of him.
After tidying everything up, Lu Li first entered the medicinal garden to take a look. He discovered that the garden's space had expanded to a circumference of two li. Inside, there were a total of one hundred and thirty Lightning Fire Orchids, sixteen stalks of Emerald Bamboo Grass, as well as the Scarlet Flame Fruit tree and a single stalk of Mystic Pearl Grass.
"Huh? How did it fall?"
Lu Li suddenly noticed that on the red soil beneath the Scarlet Flame Fruit tree, there lay a single, crystal-clear red fruit.