Chapter 7

Xu Shijie's reputation within the Kaoshan Sect was significant, one could say that no one was unaware of her. After all, there were only two inner disciples in the current Kaoshan Sect.

Apart from Xu Shijie, the other was the man beside Shangguan Xiu.

As a result, the act of Xu Shijie lending her cave dwelling had a strong deterrent effect, allowing Meng Hao to safely carry the spirit stones and Lingling Pills out of the square under everyone's watchful eyes.

It wasn't until he had retreated a considerable distance that Meng Hao's back was drenched in cold sweat. Although he couldn't see the gazes from behind, he could strongly feel as if invisible knives were piercing him, which gradually dissipated as he quickly moved away.

After three incense sticks had burned, Meng Hao did not stop for a moment, and he didn't even return to the outer sect residence. Instead, he used the fastest speed to follow the directions in the jade slip given by Xu Shijie, heading to the southern peak of the Kaoshan Sect. At the foot of this peak, he found the cave dwelling that Xu Shijie had mentioned.

Outside this cave dwelling was a stone platform about two zhang in size, with a green stone door standing at the end, surrounded by vines. It looked quite extraordinary, surpassing the two previous residences Meng Hao had stayed in.

The place was very quiet, with greenery all around. Not far away, a mountain spring flowed, and the mountain breeze brought a refreshing coolness, dispelling the heat.

Meng Hao stood at the entrance of the cave dwelling for a while, his expression gradually showing satisfaction. He was very pleased with this cave dwelling. Now he understood that a cave dwelling was much more precious than those residences, no wonder the outer sect disciples had shown envy and jealousy when they heard that Xu Shijie had lent her cave dwelling.

"This is where immortals should live." Meng Hao waved his right hand, and the white jade slip immediately flew toward the green stone door of the cave dwelling. It landed with a "click," and immediately a humming sound was heard as the door of the cave dwelling slowly opened.

The cave dwelling was not large, with only two stone chambers. One was for rest and cultivation, and the other was sealed with a stone door. When Meng Hao stepped into the cave dwelling, the green stone door slowly closed, and with a "bang," it was completely shut. The white jade slip flew back into Meng Hao's hand, and at the same time, soft light spread from the rock walls at the top of the cave dwelling.

After looking around the cave dwelling, Meng Hao became even more satisfied. Finally, his gaze fell on the sealed stone chamber. After a moment of contemplation, Meng Hao pressed the jade slip in his hand against the stone door. Immediately, the stone door of the chamber slowly opened. In that instant, a dense wave of spiritual energy rushed out, and Meng Hao, looking at the contents of the chamber, was dumbfounded.

"Xu Shijie's cave dwelling, this gift... is too great." After a long while, Meng Hao recovered, staring blankly at the center of the chamber. There was a spring-like object, from which spiritual energy gushed out in waves, surrounded by a dazzling aura, creating a dazzling effect. It was unknown how long it had accumulated in the chamber, but as soon as the stone door opened, the spiritual energy surged out, entering his nostrils and turning into a sweet taste, invigorating his spirit.

"It's actually a spirit spring..." Meng Hao murmured. Even if he had never seen such a thing, he had read about it in the Qi Condensation Scroll. A spirit spring was not water but a natural point of spiritual energy emission, and there were not many in the world, most of which were occupied by cultivators. The value of a spirit spring was determined by the amount of spiritual energy it emitted.

The spirit spring in this place was small and showed signs of depletion, emitting only slightly more spiritual energy than the outside. It was not very useful for those above the third layer of Qi Condensation, as the amount of spiritual energy required was too great, making it of little use.

However, even so, Meng Hao knew that this place was invaluable to him, surpassing even a Drought Spirit Pill. With this discovery, Meng Hao was overjoyed.

Without wasting time, Meng Hao immediately sat down in a meditative posture, closed his eyes, and began to practice. After several hours, the accumulated spiritual energy in the place had dissipated by more than half. Meng Hao opened his eyes, and his gaze was bright.

"Just a few hours of meditation is equivalent to about a month of cultivation in the past. Although this is due to the long-term accumulation of spiritual energy in the chamber, it won't be like this in the future, but for me, the speed of cultivation here is much faster than outside." Meng Hao took a deep breath and his gaze fell on the walls around him, gradually noticing some markings he couldn't understand.

"The reason the spiritual energy in this place can accumulate without dispersing must be due to these markings. Xu Shijie must have used this method to accumulate spiritual energy for a single session of cultivation." After a moment of contemplation, Meng Hao had a guess and felt excited, continuing to meditate.

Soon, the night passed, and the next morning, Meng Hao opened his eyes. The spiritual energy in the chamber had become thin, but with the spirit spring, it would likely become dense again after some time.

Meng Hao felt his cultivation, which was equivalent to about two months of cultivation.

"If I can cultivate like this a few more times, I can break through the first layer of Qi Condensation and enter the second layer!" Meng Hao took a deep breath, feeling excited. He longed to break through to the second layer of Qi Condensation, as only at the second layer could he practice the first immortal technique in the Qi Condensation Scroll.

Thinking about the immortal technique, Meng Hao left the chamber, carefully closing the stone door to wait for the spiritual energy to accumulate. He had decided to adopt Xu Shijie's method, not staying by the spirit spring all the time but waiting for it to accumulate sufficiently.

Sitting in the cave dwelling, Meng Hao touched his stomach, thinking that he hadn't seen the little fatty for some time and hadn't eaten wild game for over half a month, only wild fruits. He thought that after becoming an outer sect disciple, he was actually less well-fed than when he was in the miscellaneous service area. Unless he had enough spirit stones to exchange for some spirit pills or food pills from the sect's spirit pill shop, which could keep him from feeling hungry for several days, he would have to find a way to solve his hunger.

After a moment of thought, Meng Hao walked out of the cave dwelling, his figure merging with the mountain forest in the cool breeze. As he walked, he habitually took out the bronze mirror from his storage bag.

Now he was certain that he had been deceived by the senior disciple from the treasure pavilion. This mirror had no use at all, and despite his research over the past half a month, he had found nothing special about it.

Playing with it in his hand, he occasionally glanced at it, but it still showed no signs of being extraordinary.

"What a waste of half a spirit stone in my storage bag. I probably need to bribe someone to get other treasures from the treasure pavilion." Meng Hao reached into his storage bag, and a flash of light appeared as he took out the half spirit stone, feeling a bit pained.

As he was walking, Meng Hao suddenly stopped, looking up at the nearby forest. A flash of color caught his eye, moving not very fast. Meng Hao's eyes lit up, and with his experience of catching wild chickens over the past few months, he recognized it as a wild chicken.

Without time to put the bronze mirror and spirit stone back into his storage bag, Meng Hao quickly put them in his pocket and leaped forward. Since the appearance of spiritual energy in his body, Meng Hao had found himself more agile than before, though still slender, he seemed to have some explosive power.

Especially now that his cultivation had reached the first layer of Qi Condensation, his leap was faster, and in just a few breaths, Meng Hao grabbed the panicked wild chicken. Once the chicken's wings were caught, it stopped flapping.

"I wonder how the little fatty is doing." Meng Hao, holding the wild chicken, thought of the little fatty and considered finding him to eat some wild game together. Just as he turned around, he suddenly felt something in his pocket heat up.

Immediately, the wild chicken, which had been quiet after its wings were caught, suddenly let out a piercing scream and began to struggle fiercely, almost making Meng Hao lose his grip.

The wild chicken's struggle was extremely intense, and its scream was incredibly shrill. In the midst of the struggle, the chicken's buttocks exploded with a "bang," splattering blood everywhere.

This scene happened so suddenly that Meng Hao was completely stunned. In nearly four months on the mountain, he had caught many wild chickens, but this was the first time he had encountered such a situation, especially seeing the exploded buttocks of the now dead chicken, Meng Hao was full of surprise and quickly looked around, but the surroundings were quiet, with no signs of anything out of the ordinary.

"What's going on?" Meng Hao's body shuddered. The wild chicken's death was too tragic, especially the bloodied buttocks, which indicated the immense pain it had endured before dying.

Meng Hao took a deep breath, suppressing his inner tension. The wild chicken's death was too strange and tragic, and Meng Hao even felt a chill down his back.

"Something's not right." Meng Hao threw the chicken with the exploded buttocks and quickly took out the mirror and spirit stone from his pocket. He remembered that before the wild chicken's abnormal behavior, something in his pocket had heated up.

"It can't be the spirit stone..." Meng Hao's eyes fixed on the bronze mirror, his heart racing, and his eyes shining brightly.

"Could it be..." Meng Hao's hand holding the bronze mirror trembled. At this moment, he couldn't care about the wild chicken or finding the little fatty. Instead, he held the mirror and ran as fast as he could into the forest, determined to find another mountain beast to see if the culprit that caused the chicken's buttocks to explode was the same.

As he ran, not long after, a deer appeared in front of Meng Hao, staring at him blankly. It soon showed a fierce look, and Meng Hao immediately used the mirror in his hand to shine at it.

The deer's originally blank expression suddenly changed, and its entire body jumped up, letting out a piercing scream as it tried to escape. The scream was indescribable, like a heart-wrenching cry, making one imagine the extreme pain it must have been experiencing. As the deer jumped, an invisible force seemed to strike its buttocks, and after two strikes, the deer's scream intensified, and before its body could land