Cultivating Immortality Starts with Planting Techniques

"Here are the medicinal ingredients and tools you asked for, fellow Daoist. Please take a moment to verify them." 

Li Ye carefully inspected the items in front of him one by one. Once he confirmed everything was in order, he handed over the corresponding amount of spirit stones, stored the goods, and walked out of the shop named Herbwood Pavilion. 

"With that, I've pretty much bought everything I need…" 

He muttered to himself after a quick mental calculation. 

After leaving Hundred Treasures Pavilion, he had visited several more reasonably priced shops to stock up on things like talisman paper, auxiliary tools for alchemy, practice-grade herbs, firewood, and so on.

In total, he'd spent nearly eighty spirit stones. 

Combined with his other recent expenses, he was now down to just a little over one hundred spirit stones. 

"This feeling of suddenly having your wallet cut in half isn't pleasant…" 

He patted his storage pouch and gave a bitter laugh. 

Especially since he was still planning to repair his Blackwood Sword and purchase a defensive artifact it seemed unlikely he'd have much left afterward. 

"Forget it. Better to wait until I refine my first batch of pills and have a steady income before thinking about that…" 

"Or maybe I can grind some experience points and level up my artifact refining skills… then just repair everything myself!" 

The thought made him smirk a little he wasn't too keen on letting others profit off him. 

He looked up at the sky, and without further delay, headed straight out of the marketplace. 

As usual, he moved with caution switching routes multiple times and even changing his clothing to throw off any potential pursuers.

But today, he had a vague sense that someone was following him, sticking close without ever being seen. 

"Can't catch a glimpse of them at all… how are they tracking me so tightly from such a distance?" 

"The marketplace isn't even that far from the Purple Profound Sect's mountain gate. Would someone be desperate enough to ambush a sect disciple on the open road?" 

Li Ye's thoughts churned. 

Aside from the pill furnace, he hadn't spent enough spirit stones to make him a worthwhile target. 

Cultivator bandits weren't idiots. 

The risk simply didn't match the reward… unless someone like the shopkeeper or the attendant from Hundred Treasures Pavilion had tipped off the bandits, leading to this trouble.

A flash of killing intent passed through his mind, but he quickly suppressed it. 

Without showing any reaction, he continued at full speed. Though he still used the terrain to obscure his path, he no longer slowed down or stopped. As long as he reached the sect safely, everything would be fine. 

In his hand, he quietly readied a Golden Bell Talisman and a Cold Breath Talisman. 

After traveling some distance and crossing a low ridge, a dark ravine loomed ahead the perfect spot for an ambush. 

Buzz buzz buzz 

A faint insect sound reached his ears, and Li Ye's expression changed. He immediately activated the Golden Bell Talisman. 

A pale golden light shield enveloped him in an instant, and his Blackwood Sword appeared in his hand. 

The next moment, several pitch-black insects slammed into the light barrier. 

Li Ye glanced at them. They looked hideous despite hitting the shield, they still tried to chew through it with relentless aggression. 

If he hadn't reacted in time and let them get close crawling into his ears or other weak points the consequences would've been unthinkable! 

Without hesitation, he immediately activated his Greenleaf Boat and took to the air.

Just then 

A flash of dark light erupted behind him, followed by the sharp whistle of something slicing through the air. It barely missed him thanks to his sudden ascent, striking the Greenleaf Boat instead and slicing off a small piece.

The impact threw him slightly off balance. 

Whoosh 

Li Ye steadied himself midair and turned in the direction the attack had come from finally catching sight of his attacker. 

It was a burly figure with their face wrapped in cloth, hiding their identity. Their cultivation wasn't particularly high only at the fifth level. 

Seeing Li Ye dodge the strike, the masked man let out a sinister laugh and charged forward with his longsword raised high. 

Li Ye remained expressionless and immediately fell back, raising his hand to unleash several talismans. 

Swish swish swish 

Waves of icy cold air burst forth. 

Although each talisman wasn't particularly powerful on its own, together they formed a near-overwhelming blast. 

The swarm of gu insects that had begun to close in were instantly frozen mid-flight and dropped like dead leaves. 

The masked attacker charged in with no time to dodge, and was forced to activate his own Golden Bell Talisman to resist. 

But Li Ye had used four Cold Breath Talismans at once not something easily countered. 

The wave of cold surged forward, quickly freezing the attacker's golden shield, causing it to dim, crack, and shatter. 

The remaining chill air immediately seeped into the masked man's body, covering him in frost. He began to tremble violently, his vision clouded by a layer of icy haze. 

Cursing through chattering teeth, he spat: 

"Damn you!" 

He reacted quickly, immediately diving into the forest below according to his memory of the terrain. 

At the same time, he activated another Golden Bell Talisman to guard against further attacks and buy himself some time to recover. 

Boom! Boom! Boom! 

Just then, the cold air dispersed only to be replaced by scorching heat. 

Several fireballs came crashing down from above. The masked man managed to dodge two, but the third struck him squarely. 

A burst of flames exploded on impact. Screaming in agony, the man tumbled down the hillside, rolling frantically in an attempt to extinguish the fire. In mere moments, his clothes were scorched to tatters, his body covered in burn marks. 

Whoosh 

A sword flew down and stopped at his neck. 

The searing pain had nearly driven the masked man mad, but the sharp chill of the blade at his throat snapped him back to reality. He didn't dare move. 

Instead, he shouted desperately: 

"Spare me, Daoist friend! Please, spare my life!" 

Hovering midair on his Greenleaf Boat, Li Ye looked down at him coldly and said, 

"If you want to live, then tell me who sent you."

"I'll talk, I'll talk!" 

The masked man immediately stammered, 

"It was your... cough cough -no, I mean" 

Before he could finish, his eyes suddenly bulged, his voice distorted, and he let out a final, blood-curdling scream then dropped dead on the spot. 

"What kind of technique is this…" 

Li Ye frowned deeply. 

It wasn't that he was disturbed by the killing. 

Having died once himself and inherited the memories of his predecessor, he was already numb to such things. 

But for someone to die so abruptly just as they were about to reveal information without any sign or struggle… This kind of deadly and covert method clearly shouldn't be in the hands of a mere Qi Refining stage cultivator!

The next moment, something seemed to occur to him. 

He channeled his spiritual power and tore open the man's clothing, revealing something squirming beneath the skin at his heart. 

With a single stroke of the Blackwood Sword, he cut through the flesh.

As blood flowed, a small worm crawled out, wriggled briefly… and then stopped moving entirely.

"A Gu worm?" 

Li Ye narrowed his eyes, recalling records he'd read in ancient texts. He had a vague idea now. 

"So even slightly revealing information causes the Gu worm to chew through the heart and kill instantly… This kind of method isn't something just anyone can get their hands on. Could it be Hundred Treasures Pavilion behind this?" 

That was the only explanation he could think of. Who else would go so far as to send a fifth-level Qi Refining cultivator to assassinate him? 

And if it was them… well, he would certainly remember to return the favor one day. 

With the masked man dead, the swarm of tiny black insects that had been secretly attacking suddenly dispersed and vanished. 

He tested the larger worm briefly. It was still alive but completely inert, so Li Ye safely bottled it in a jade vial. 

Pulling off the man's face covering, he saw a rough, pockmarked face he didn't recognize. 

Since there was no point in lingering, he gave the body a quick search, collecting a few fallen magical tools and the man's storage pouch. Then, taking out a Fireball Talisman, he incinerated the corpse and continued on his way. 

This time, the rest of the journey went smoothly no more incidents. 

..... 

Back at his residence, in a quiet underground chamber 

"A fifth-level Qi Refining bandit and this is all he had?" 

Li Ye cursed out loud as he dumped out the contents of the man's storage pouch. 

Other than some scattered junk, there were only about a dozen spirit stones, a few pounds of spiritual rice, a couple of jade vials filled with bugs, and a battered, widely circulated manual of the Rushing Stream Technique. 

The only item of real value seemed to be the man's low-grade black longsword. 

"Hmm… now this is interesting." 

But Li Ye's expression turned serious as he pulled out a small booklet with no cover. 

Inside were various records about Gu worms! 

For example, the small black bug with sharp fangs was called the Iron-Eating Gu. Judging from its effects, it was still an incomplete specimen not fully refined. 

There was also the Scent-Seeking Gu, which could trace someone from afar by locking onto their spiritual aura. 

And finally, the worm that killed the masked man in an instant was a Heartlink Gu…

It required two people to refine a pair by feeding them with their blood essence. Each person would then swallow one, letting it attach to their heart meridians. 

If either of them ever betrayed the other, the worm would instantly retaliate devouring their heart and killing them on the spot. 

"It was traditionally used in the southern regions by couples to seal their marriage vows…" 

Reading this, a cold gleam flashed through Li Ye's eyes. 

If that were the case… he had offended a certain woman recently! 

-support me on Patreon for more chapters, 55+ chapters in there

patreon.com/LordoftheReader