Eternal Life Begins with Learning

Chapter 378: Chapter 348: 1 River Apart, 2 Worlds (Part 2)

"Please, watch your step, Senior."

Chu Mu stepped out of the shop, where the Shopkeeper and a few attendants were respectfully seeing him off.

Only when Chu Mu was a good distance away did they look at each other, visibly relieved.

’Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivation, yet so curious about the path of bloodlines... He must be a senior from the north.’

The Shopkeeper wiped the sweat from his brow, speculating to himself.

Chu Mu strolled down the street. Although he had been in the Cultivation Immortal Realm for many years and was quite worldly, his first visit to the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World and all its peculiarities filled him with a rare sense of novelty.

It was just like when he first entered the Cultivation Immortal Realm, and everything he saw was new and fascinating.

And in fact, it seemed to be the case.

Though it was just a small Marketplace, built on a Tier Two Spiritual Vein at best, it was small but complete.

The Marketplace had essentially everything a Low Tier Cultivator could possibly need.

Different Cultivation Systems naturally gave rise to different associated products.

This was abundantly clear just from looking at the shops along the street.

The street-side shops had an abundance of Demon Beast Bloodlines and Bloodline Techniques for sale. While there were plenty of orthodox Cultivation Immortal Techniques and Magic as well, their sections were practically deserted.

The roadside Magical Artifact shops, Spiritual Materials storefronts, and Talisman sellers also featured items primarily constructed from Demon Beast parts.

Every single one was different from those in the Great Chu Inland Cultivation Immortal World—in fact, they were different down to their very core.

After wandering for a while, Chu Mu entered a tavern and took a seat on the third floor.

The tavern was located in the center of the Marketplace, right by the street. Sitting by the window, he could overlook more than half of the Celestial River Marketplace.

On the table was some prepared Demon Beast Flesh, a Demon Beast soup, and a Spirit Wine brewed with Demon Beast Essence Blood.

A cup of Spirit Wine went down. The surging Qi Blood from the Demon Beast Essence Blood churned within him, but against Chu Mu’s formidable physique, the turbulent Blood Qi couldn’t stir the slightest ripple. It was instantly suppressed and completely refined in the blink of an eye.

With a strange expression, Chu Mu examined an Elixir in his hand. It came from the Marketplace, from a shop just across from the tavern.

Unlike in the Great Chu Inland Cultivation Immortal World where Alchemy primarily used Spirit Medicine, here in the Vast Sea, they seemed to make do with what they had. Most Elixirs he saw were made with Demon Beasts as the main ingredient.

Things like Demon Beast blood, bones, organs, flesh, and Demon Pills could all be used in the pills.

The medicinal properties of the Elixirs were also quite in line with the character of this Marketplace, focusing primarily on physical cultivation.

Yet, the Elixir in his hand was not one refined with a Demon Beast as the main ingredient.

Chu Mu’s expression grew a little dazed. He still remembered a certain Pill from when he first entered the Cultivation Immortal Realm—one that had left a deep impression on him.

It was a pill refined with humans as the main ingredient, called the Qi and Blood Pill!

He had researched it extensively back then, only to find that when humans were used for Alchemy, their residual emotions and desires lingered, making the pills fundamentally unusable for Cultivators.

Later, after he started practicing the Great Sun Scripture, he found a way to purge these effects. But by then his Cultivation was already high and his resources were plentiful, so he had long forgotten about such wicked Elixirs.

Now, upon his arrival in the Vast Sea, this Elixir had appeared before him once again.

’And... this Qi and Blood Pill seems to be quite popular in this Marketplace...’

Chu Mu scraped off a little of the Pill Shell. Under his Divine Sense Perception, he analyzed its medicinal effects bit by bit.

The Elixir was cheap, and its effects were crude.

Its weak medicinal effects could probably only serve as a Support for the Cultivation of those just setting out on the Path to Immortality.

The Elixir was also filled with thick resentment and despair, negative human emotions that saturated the entire pill and refused to dissipate!

’Something’s not right...’

Chu Mu was a bit puzzled. The medicinal effects were clear: it was obviously refined with a human as the main ingredient. And this human probably hadn’t even stepped onto the Path to Immortality, but was just a mortal with relatively strong Qi Blood.

But within the Elixir, besides human desires, there also seemed to be a hint of a Demon Beast Bloodline aura...

’They added a Demon Beast as a supplementary ingredient?’

Chu Mu fell into thought, looking at the Elixir before him, rendered speechless.

The negative emotions of a human, plus the innate tyrannical evil of a Demon Beast Bloodline...

An Elixir with such a combination would be a potent poison to any ordinary Cultivator, if not instantly fatal upon contact.

However, what was a negative influence for a regular Cultivator...

...was likely trivial for a Bloodline Cultivator.

The Demon Beast Bloodline was an extremely domineering force.

’But... refining pills from mortals...’

With a flick of his fingertips, Chu Mu turned the Elixir to dust. He frowned, the image of the desolate, uninhabited lands he had just crossed for a thousand li floating into his mind.

The main reason the Qi and Blood Pill was not popular in the Great Chu Inland Cultivation Immortal World was simply that those who could use it had no way to avoid its negative side effects.

The only ones who could resolve the negative effects of the Qi and Blood Pill were Alchemists like him, who possessed a special True Flame, or those with certain special Secret Skills.

And for him, the Qi and Blood Pill was obviously of no use.

But here in the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World, that didn’t seem to be the case...

Chu Mu looked out at the street below. Most of the people he saw were Bloodline Cultivators, and most of them were leading Spirit Beasts.

Bloodline Cultivators were not afraid of the Qi and Blood Pill’s negative side effects, and it clearly had no effect whatsoever on Spirit Beasts, or for that matter, Demon Beasts.

Moreover, with bloodline cultivation having been passed down in the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World for tens of thousands of years, the so-called mortals here had probably long been tainted by Demon Beast Bloodlines after generations of procreation.

Under the influence of the Demon Beast Bloodline, their Qi Blood would inevitably be potent.

The more potent their Qi Blood, the more suitable they were for refining into Qi and Blood Pills, and the greater the pills’ effect on Low Tier Bloodline Cultivators and Low Tier Demon Beasts...

A chain of speculative connections formed in his mind. Though it was only a guess, Chu Mu knew there was a high probability it was the reality.

He let out a long breath.

He took a deep breath, trying to exhale the strange gloom in his heart. After downing a cup of Spirit Wine, he stood up, walked out of the tavern, and immediately ducked into a shop. When he reemerged, he had an extra map scroll and a Jade Scroll in his hands.

He unrolled the map. Made from Demon Beast Hide, it displayed a miniature, holographic diorama of the mountains and rivers, encompassing the entire Southern Border of the Vast Sea. He could examine the finest details with just a touch of his finger.

The Jade Scroll recorded detailed information about the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World.

He sent his Divine Sense into the scroll, and a massive flow of information surged into his mind. After nearly fifteen minutes, Chu Mu finally put down the Jade Scroll, his gaze fixing on the map.

The situation in the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World was not much different from what he had heard back in the Righteous Alliance.

The Vast Sea Chen Family was the undisputed apex power. The entire Southern Border, and even the coastal islands, fell within the Vast Sea Chen Family’s sphere of influence.

And below the Vast Sea Chen Family, just like in the Righteous Alliance’s territory, were countless clans and factions of all sizes.

These clans and factions bowed their heads and paid tribute to the Chen Family, surviving by clinging to the Vast Sea Chen Family. The entire Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World had effectively become its own self-contained system.

As for this Celestial River Marketplace, it belonged to a Foundation Establishment Clan. According to the records, this Clan had a legacy stretching back more than a thousand years.

It was worth mentioning that the Righteous Alliance’s policy of enfeoffing Spirit Veins and granting lands and titles had long been practiced in the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World.

The Vast Sea Demon Beasts were endless, and all the Spirit Vein Lands were unclaimed.

The expansion of the Cultivation Immortal Realm, under the leadership of the Vast Sea Chen Family, was more inclined toward enfeoffment.

Therefore, those clans and factions, large and small, were mostly located overseas.

The map was quite clear on this point. The coastal region was dotted with islands of all sizes, like stars in the sky. Apart from a few obviously vast islands owned by the Chen Family, the remaining islands were all home to factions of varying sizes that depended on the Chen Family for their existence.

These factions had carved out their living space by fighting with Demon Beasts, and though they were under the Chen Family’s protection, the records showed that they were by no means completely safe.

Until a Demon Beast reaches Tier Four and develops Spiritual Wisdom, it acts purely on instinct.

In the Vast Sea, which teemed with Demon Beasts, a place where Cultivators gathered was, in the eyes of the beasts, undoubtedly a walking buffet.

Whether it was attacks by lone Demon Beasts or the outbreak of a Beast Tide, these were frequent occurrences in the overseas territories.

If they could hold on, their legacy would naturally continue.

If they couldn’t, their foundations would be destroyed and their lineage would end.

Reading through the records, the whole thing seemed to be a story written in the blood and fire of Cultivators fighting Demon Beasts for survival. The long years of their legacy were built upon long years of slaughtering Demon Beasts.

The information swirled in his mind as Chu Mu gazed at the map, thinking silently.

He had come to the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World for two reasons. The first was for bloodlines—for Wangcai and for Xu Yuan. The second was to avoid the chaos of war in the Cultivation Immortal Realm and seek opportunities, mainly for his own Cultivation Progress.

Chu Mu took a quick mental inventory of the Spiritual Elixirs in his Storage Space.

He still had a decent amount of Spirit Materials and Spirit Medicine, but it was difficult to assemble any complete Pill Recipes, as many key ingredients were missing.

As for his elixirs, the most valuable were the Spirit Milk Pills, which he had conceived and refined with Bell Stone Spiritual Milk at their core.

After years of consumption, while his Cultivation Progress had been significant, his supply of Spirit Milk Pills was running low.

Chu Mu glanced at the Cultivation Progress Skill Level for his Great Sun Scripture on the Light Curtain Panel, then compared it to his remaining Spirit Milk Pills.

The reality was clear: his remaining Spirit Milk Pills were definitely not enough to help his Qi Cultivation break through to the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment.

’Using Demon Beasts as the main ingredient for Alchemy...’

Chu Mu recalled what he had seen and heard in the Marketplace. The Alchemy System of the Vast Sea Cultivation Immortal World, though it had many drawbacks, made sense. Given the vastness of the Vast Sea, finding a Demon Beast was obviously much easier than finding a several-hundred-year-old Spirit Medicine.

And his Great Sun True Flame happened to be perfect for removing the negative effects of using Demon Beasts in Alchemy. Moreover, the existence of his Sword Intent was a near-perfect counter to these kinds of Divine Soul-related side effects.

’This elixir system is suitable for Bloodline Cultivators, but it seems to be quite suitable for me too...’

"It’s pretty suitable for you, too..."

Chu Mu chuckled, ruffling Wangcai’s head.

He had experimented countless times with Wangcai’s growth, after all.

Cultivator flesh, various Elixirs, Demon Beast Flesh—of all the things he’d tried, the most effective for Wangcai’s growth was devouring other Demon Beasts. In other words, cannibalism.

The Blood Qi of a Demon Body is formidable. Add to that the effect of a Demon Beast Bloodline, and when one beast devours another, the combination makes one plus one far greater than two.

After thinking for a moment, a clear plan for his trip to the Vast Sea had already formed in Chu Mu’s mind.

However, as a newcomer, he felt it was best to be cautious, even though his Cultivation was impressive.

He went to the housing rental area of the Marketplace, rented an ordinary house, and temporarily settled down in the Celestial River Marketplace.

The house was not large and faced a rushing river. Fortunately, an Array Prohibition provided insulation, so it wasn’t a bother.

Inside the house, Chu Mu sat cross-legged. Before him sat a Jade Bottle containing his few remaining Spirit Milk Pills.

After taking a Spirit Milk Pill, he slowly closed his eyes. As his Magical Power began to circulate, in this strange and foreign land, a session of secluded Cultivation began...

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