Chapter 50: Identity Jade Token

Wang Changsheng was stunned for a moment when he heard Old Mou's words, then his face turned awkward.
“So I was discovered after all…” Wang Changsheng said, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
But Old Mou had already shut the door, and could no longer see Wang Changsheng’s discomfort.
Once Old Mou disappeared, Wang Changsheng clutched the cloth bag and returned to his own room. This time, he didn’t immediately start cultivating, for too many things had happened in the short span of the day, shaking his thoughts. He needed to think carefully.
The first thing Wang Changsheng needed to do was to speculate about Old Mou’s identity.
The events of the day had wholly exceeded Wang Changsheng’s expectations. Old Mou had directly sent off the corpse-refining sect’s cultivators, and those cultivators, upon hearing Old Mou’s name, had fled in terror! Wang Changsheng realized that Old Mou’s claim to protect him might actually be true.
Yet, according to Old Mou himself, he had also arrived at the Servants’ Quarters, and when he came, there were still twenty or thirty people there.
So was Old Mou really a tribute?
Wang Changsheng could not figure it out.
Could Old Mou be some hidden expert?
“Impossible!” Wang Changsheng immediately rejected this suspicion.
After all, this was the headquarters of the corpse-refining sect. Even if Old Mou was powerful and the disciples of the sect were no match for him, the sect still had elders and the sect master—formidable figures! How could they tolerate Old Mou running amok?
Furthermore, in their own sect, who would bear a tribute acting so arrogantly?
The only explanation was that Old Mou was definitely not a tribute.
He was not a tribute, yet Old Mou called the sect’s cultivators ‘rats,’ which meant Old Mou was certainly not one of them either.
Then Old Mou’s identity was even more suspicious.
“What is Old Mou’s background, really?” Wang Changsheng could not unravel this mystery.
The clues were too scarce, so he stopped pondering it.
Then Wang Changsheng reached into his robe and took out an object, smiling bitterly, “Even though it was so well hidden, Old Mou still found it…”
In his hand appeared a storage ring.
Back in the Spiritual Herb Hall, storage rings were strewn everywhere. With Old Mou beside him, Wang Changsheng dared not take any spiritual herbs, so he simply grabbed a storage ring and hid it away.
He hadn’t expected Old Mou to discover it, and then mock him upon their return.
Of course, Wang Changsheng wasn’t interested in the storage ring itself—he already owned one, and another meant little.
What caught his attention was that among the discarded storage rings, some bore traces of blood.
From this, Wang Changsheng speculated that the origins of these rings might not be so simple.
He sank his consciousness into the storage ring—no resistance at all!
“Just as I thought!”
With no spiritual resistance, it meant these were ownerless storage rings, or rather, their owners were dead.
Only when a storage ring’s owner died would the imprint left in the ring vanish.
After rummaging through the ring, Wang Changsheng found two items:
An identity jade token and a manual.

As for the miscellaneous items inside the ring, they were of no use to Wang Changsheng.
“Heaven’s Heart Sect…”
On the front of the jade token were the words ‘Heaven’s Heart Sect’ and a symbol.
On the back, the characters ‘Jin Yuan’ were carved.
Clearly, the owner of this ring was Jin Yuan from the Heaven’s Heart Sect.
Wang Changsheng took out the manual, whose cover read ‘Heaven’s Heart Art.’
From these clues, Wang Changsheng was now certain that the ring’s owner had been Jin Yuan of the Heaven’s Heart Sect.
He had never heard of the Heaven’s Heart Sect, but was sure it was a sect in the Divine Sky Realm.
“Just as I thought…” Wang Changsheng muttered.
He could now roughly guess the origin of these spiritual stones and herbs.
Over the years, the corpse-refining sect had abducted countless cultivators from the Divine Sky Realm to fuel their own cultivation. Most of those cultivators owned storage rings, inside which were spiritual stones and herbs.
After these cultivators were persecuted, their spirit stones and herbs remained.
For the sect’s peculiar cultivators, these resources were of little use, so they were simply kept.
Thus, the origin of all these spiritual stones and herbs was revealed.
“This corpse-refining sect…” Wang Changsheng’s eyes grew solemn.
Now that he was in the sect, he no longer knew how to conduct himself. Old Mou clearly held a special position here, one that allowed him to remain unhindered.
Now, Old Mou had openly stated his intention to protect Wang Changsheng, so for the time being, Wang Changsheng was safe.
This was his greatest gain on this journey.
But knowing so much now, Wang Changsheng felt that he might never leave the corpse-refining sect alive.
He put away the storage ring, and holding the Heaven’s Heart Art, began to read.
He did not intend to cultivate this art—not yet, at least. He believed his own Longevity Technique was likely far more powerful. Wang Changsheng only wanted to see what kinds of techniques cultivators in the Divine Sky Realm practiced.
Half a day passed before Wang Changsheng finally put the manual away and closed his eyes to contemplate.
Soon after, he opened his eyes and murmured, “The Heaven’s Heart Art is indeed profound.”
Though he hadn’t practiced it, Wang Changsheng had cultivated long enough to judge the quality of techniques. In his opinion, the Heaven’s Heart Art was indeed marvelous, more so than the arts his second uncle had passed to Fang Qing.
Yet compared to his Longevity Technique, Wang Changsheng felt his own art was slightly superior.
The superiority lay in the density of true qi produced after cultivation—far greater than that of others at the same level.
“It seems the mysteries of the Longevity Technique are even harder to fathom…” Wang Changsheng said in a deep voice.
After pondering, he put everything away, took out spiritual stones and herbs, and began to cultivate once more.
For now, he need not worry about his safety, so Wang Changsheng could devote himself to cultivation.
He had already reached the sixth layer of the Vein-Opening Realm. When he left the courtyard earlier, he felt true qi surging, with signs of an impending breakthrough. Wang Changsheng believed that once this session ended, he would most likely advance to the seventh layer.

Spiritual energy from herbs and stones was absorbed by Wang Changsheng, this time even more fiercely.
A month passed, and Wang Changsheng was still cultivating. Though his resources were nearly depleted, he did not seek Old Mou.
He was at a crucial moment for breakthrough, and wouldn’t waste the opportunity.
Otherwise, who knew how long it would be before he encountered such a chance again?
With a sweep of his hand, all remaining herbs appeared before him—Wang Changsheng swallowed them all at once, piling the spirit stones around himself. Fearing it was not enough, he even took out five hundred stones from the five thousand he’d previously acquired, placing them in front of him.
All this preparation was for advancing to the seventh layer of the Vein-Opening Realm.
This layer was fundamentally different from the sixth.
The sixth was only the mid-stage, but reaching the seventh meant entering the late stage. With late-stage mastery, one’s accumulation at this realm was nearly complete.
At that point, he could begin striving for the Transforming Origin Realm.
Only when true qi transformed into true essence could one be considered a true cultivator.
Of course, after the seventh layer came the eighth and ninth. Only at the ninth layer could one attempt to break through to the Transforming Origin Realm.
The Vein-Opening Realm was merely a threshold into cultivation.
Transforming Origin, with all true qi converted to true essence, marked the true start of a cultivator’s journey.
Without true essence, could one dare call themselves a cultivator?
Vast spiritual energy raged throughout Wang Changsheng’s body. Even with true essence guiding and absorbing, much of it still ran rampant inside him.
If seen from outside, one would witness streams of energy surging beneath his skin.
Spirit stones around him were absorbed, and above his head even formed a tiny vortex of spiritual energy.
Boom boom boom…
Thunderous sounds echoed from his dantian as true qi and spiritual energy battered its walls, widening it. Wang Changsheng knew he was ever closer to his breakthrough.
“Now’s the moment!”
He channeled all his true qi and spiritual energy in a rush into his dantian, the roaring almost enough to knock him unconscious.
Spurt!
He coughed up a mouthful of blood, slowly opened his eyes, and smiled.
“Such forced breakthroughs are best avoided… too reckless…” Wang Changsheng’s face was bitter.
Though he’d sensed the opportunity, he ultimately forced the breakthrough, suffering some injury.
Luckily, his cultivation was still low. If he were stronger, such methods might risk his body bursting apart.
“Still, I broke through and feel so powerful!” Wang Changsheng stood, excited by the surging true qi.
In three months, Wang Changsheng had advanced from the fifth to the seventh layer of the Vein-Opening Realm and was quite satisfied. Of course, without these cultivation resources, such rapid progress would have been impossible.