Outside the residential complex, Li Ru had just returned to his car.
This was a luxury car worth over a million; not everyone could afford it, but for him, owning several such cars was no big deal. As a cultivator, earning large sums of money through a few spells was all too easy, in his opinion.
Sitting in the back seat, Li Ru let his disciple drive.
It was already getting late; it was time to head back to the temple.
Gazing out the window, Li Ru sighed with a hint of emotion, “The next time I make money this often will be a long while from now.”
A disciple sitting beside him asked, perplexed, “Why, Master?”
The other disciples in the car also looked over in confusion.
However, Li Ru merely shook his head. “I won’t go into details with you. In short, I’ll be going on a trip soon and won’t be back for a while. During that time, just keep a good watch over Cloud Clarity Temple for me.”
Hearing Li Ru say this, the many disciples could only nod.
They all believed Li Ru had genuine ability, so they were completely obedient to his words.
Before long, the car arrived at the parking lot outside Cloud Clarity Temple.
Li Ru got out and looked up.
The grand temple stretched before his eyes, built with great ostentation and embodying the efforts of his entire life. He had once been high-spirited here, and had also been despondent here; his feelings toward it were tangled and indescribable.
Others saw him as a Daoist priest who was doing extremely well, but only he himself knew that everything he had gained were mundane things. The things he truly desired were far, far away from him.
“Alas!”
Li Ru couldn’t help but sigh.
Seeing this, the many disciples were already used to it. Their master often sighed like this—clearly having a wealthy life yet still unsatisfied, though no one knew what he was pursuing in his heart.
Su Xiaoyu arrived at Cloud Clarity Temple in her wheelchair.
The wheelchair’s speed naturally couldn’t compare to a car, but after she enhanced it with spells like the Wind Chant Art, she still managed to arrive in time.
She first looked at the imposing and majestic Cloud Clarity Temple ahead, then glanced around.
Li Ru’s disciples had all returned to the temple after getting out of the car, seemingly not caring that their master was standing alone outside. And there Li Ru stood, gazing at the temple from a distance, lost in some melancholy.
‘Finally alone?’
Su Xiaoyu mused.
At her current cultivation level, using the Soul-Shaking Bell could only affect a single target, so she needed Li Ru to be isolated to strike. And now was the chance.
She picked up the Soul-Shaking Bell resting on her lap and channeled spiritual power into it.
Immediately, the bell began to shake on its own, emitting a ringing sound that ordinary people could not hear. Under Su Xiaoyu’s control, it concentrated and spread toward Li Ru.
While using the Soul-Shaking Bell, Su Xiaoyu controlled her wheelchair to approach Li Ru.
By the time she reached his side, Li Ru’s expression had already turned vacant.
Su Xiaoyu set the Soul-Shaking Bell back on her lap, her lovely eyes fixing on Li Ru as she asked, “You are a cultivator, correct?”
In a daze, Li Ru replied, “Yes, I am a cultivator.”
“What is your cultivation level?”
“Qi Refining 2nd Layer.”
“What spells do you know?”
“Wind Chant Art.”
“Any others?”
“None.”
“…”
Su Xiaoyu looked at Li Ru, unsure what to say. Qi Refining 2nd Layer and only one spell—that would make him the lowest of the low in the cultivation world, yet here in reality he was doing so well.
After a moment of thought, Su Xiaoyu asked again, “Besides yourself, do you know any other cultivators?”
“I do.”
“What’s the highest cultivation level among them?”
“Qi Refining Third Layer.”
“I mean among the cultivators you know of, not just the ones you know personally. Is the strongest one you’ve ever heard of at Qi Refining Third Layer?”
“Yes.”
Hearing Li Ru’s reply, Su Xiaoyu’s expression couldn’t help but turn a bit odd.
She paused before asking, “How many other cultivators do you know of?”
Li Ru answered, “Four more.”
Four?
Only four?
Including Li Ru, that makes five in total?
Su Xiaoyu frowned. Was the state of cultivation in reality truly so desolate and sparse, or was Li Ru’s circle just too small?
Su Xiaoyu asked again, “How did you become a cultivator?”
Li Ru replied, “My family used to sell antiques. I accidentally obtained a cultivation method. After trying to practice it for a while, I entered the path.”
Su Xiaoyu was immediately surprised.
In such a concentration of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy, he could enter the path just by trying for a while?
Could it be that Li Ru was actually a heaven-defying genius?
After some thought, Su Xiaoyu asked, “Do you know what your Spiritual Root is? What is your Spiritual Root Compatibility?”
Li Ru answered, “I have a Primary Wood Spirit Root, with a Spiritual Root Compatibility of forty percent.”
Upon hearing this, Su Xiaoyu frowned.
That level of Spiritual Root Compatibility, while much higher than the initial group from Qixi Festival Sect, was clearly only moderate by cultivation world standards. With such a level of aptitude, he could easily enter the path under these low spiritual energy conditions?
Su Xiaoyu immediately questioned him in more detail, even asking Li Ru to tell her the contents of the cultivation method he obtained.
To this, Li Ru answered everything without reservation.
Soon, Su Xiaoyu understood.
The method Li Ru possessed was just an ordinary one, not much better than the Greenwood Heart Method. The reason he could enter the path so easily was because he had also obtained a jade pendant back then. Wearing it while cultivating could aid his progress.
However, that jade pendant shattered after Li Ru broke through to the Qi Refining 2nd Layer.
Su Xiaoyu suspected that jade pendant might have been made of spirit stones. Spirit stones also assist cultivation, and after the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy stored inside was exhausted, it would naturally shatter.
“Such is fate.”
Su Xiaoyu sighed inwardly.
The cultivation method and the spirit stone—Li Ru had obtained them from different places. Missing either one would have prevented Li Ru from becoming a cultivator, but he managed to get both.
In a way, Li Ru had decent fortune.
Su Xiaoyu continued questioning, “How much do you know about cultivation-related matters?”
In a trance, Li Ru told Su Xiaoyu everything he knew about cultivation. Most of it was of little value, as if the cultivators in this world really were just a few scattered cats and dogs like Li Ru and his acquaintances.
However, one of Li Ru’s statements caught Su Xiaoyu’s attention.
“Wang Ye said he found clues to a Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but Wang Ye is the strongest among us. I plan to explore it with him, and at that time, all the cultivators we know will go.”
Wang Ye was that cultivator at the Qi Refining Third Layer, the strongest among the ones Li Ru knew.
As for what a Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land was, Li Ru also gave an explanation.
