The giant formation over the Mysterious Domain made it so whenever someone inside looked towards the moon, it often seemed dyed with a bit of blood-red. The nights with such a filter were extra quiet and eerie, and there were instances where the mysterious mountains and spiritual valleys would be littered with the growls of zombies and laughter of demon spirits.

　　Such sounds might be extremely terrifying for an ordinary person, but for people like Fang Xing, they were nothing more than the calls of insects. A person’s battle prowess determined their courage, and although an ordinary zombie might be able to destroy an entire village or murder an entire town of normal people, if the same zombie met Fang Xing, it wouldn’t be too hard for Fang Xing to kill it and the entire zombie nest like smashing some bird eggs. Fang Xing naturally wasn’t afraid of them at all.

　　Beneath a moss-covered stone cliff, a black horse carriage had parked next to an old tree. The tree had once been withered for who knows how long inside the Beast Exhausting Range, yet after the Mysterious Domain had formed, a few young leaves peeked out with a single white flower at the end of one of its branches to create quite the peculiar sight. A blue-clothed bandit was seated beneath this tree meditating with their eyes closed shut.

　　Inside the horse carriage, Chu Ci had fallen asleep satisfied after having just listened to the Peng King boast about his great achievements across all four continents during his youth. Her wounds had nearly recovered completely by now; Fang Xing had managed to plunder a rather generous amount of healing medicines that proved to have huge benefits for her wounds, and it turned out the blue-clothed bandit was in fact someone well-trained in medicine, speeding up Chu Ci’s recovery even further.

　　Amidst such an eerie silence, Fang Xing took shelter inside a stone cave and placed a formation at its entrance. His expression was serious, and over a dozen different spirit herbs were placed in front of him in a small and messy pile like a clump of leaves. In front of these spirit herbs were three round, dark-red pellets on a small stone plate—the Dragon Blood Pellets from the Chu royal court.

　　‘It’s best I increase my cultivation level as soon as possible. This crying-faced bastard won’t be easy…’ Fang Xing thought to himself while quietly looking at his storage ring with a devious smile on his face.

　　Fang Xing wasn’t an honest person. After he found out this blue-clothed bandit wanted to teach him a lesson, he’d been particularly alert during their cooperation and had taken extra care to find the three spirit herbs the blue-clothed bandit was seeking while they robbed the other cultivators. With the ability of his Book of Revelation, his searches were far faster than the blue-clothed bandit, and he’d actually found one through his hard work.

　　Except… even after he found it, he didn’t speak up and instead sneakily hid it for himself.

　　The reason was simple. Fang Xing first wanted to closely observe what kind of hatred and grudge this blue-clothed bandit had towards him, and if there really was some kind of terrible grudge that couldn’t be resolved, he’d rather destroy the herb right in front of him than hand it over. Second, because of how much battle prowess this bandit had, they might not always be sincere and listen to Fang Xing. If the bandit tried to leave the alliance at a crucial moment and abandon Fang Xing, he could use this herb to threaten them.

　　As for now, Fang Xing was preparing to use these resources to improve his cultivation level. Although he was already in Foundation Stage and each increase in tier wouldn’t be quite as large a difference as it was in Spirit Stage, his battle prowess was only perhaps slightly higher than the blue-clothed bandit right now, perhaps dead even—even the slight increase of a single tier could be a huge help.

　　After forming the alliance, he’d spent around four hours each day consuming large amounts of spirit herbs for his cultivation. This period of accumulation allowed him to reach the midpoint of Foundation Stage tier two, and today he planned to use some of the herbs alongside the three Dragon Blood Pellets to form the third tier of his Tower of Dao in one go.

　　While looking at the spirit herbs and Dragon Blood Pellets, Fang Xing cleared his mind and began to take slow breaths.

　　This Dragon Blood Pellet had been crafted using a secret recipe from the Chu royal court, making it extraordinarily rare. Although the number of resources he’d need to break through from tier two to three would also be extraordinary, these three Dragon Blood Pellets would be able to make up for a huge amount. Furthermore, although the spirit herbs he’d taken from so many people might not be the best quality and only be a thousand years old or so, the sheer quantity at his disposal made up for it—there shouldn’t be a problem!

　　” Aiii , I’m becoming more and more like a rabbit. All these leaves and roots, so worrisome….” Fang Xing hardened his heart before gulping down a large mouthful of his spirit wine, then he grabbed a large handful of spirit herbs and shoved them into his mouth. As he began to chew, a mix of bitter, sweet, sour, and tart filled his mouth, creating a unique experience of its own. The medicinal properties of these herbs were just as extremely varied as their tastes, too; some were used to increase Qi, others were used for detoxification, and there were even some used to extend lifespan. Fang Xing didn’t care about these other purposes, however, and had simply picked out anything that could help improve his cultivation.

　　As the spirit herbs entered his stomach, Fang Xing began performing the Scripture of Revered Spirit to absorb it all. The spirit essence started to flow through his meridians, and from there he converted the spirit essence into Qi and incorporated it into his own cultivation. This process was like a stroll on a familiar path for Fang Xing, and there truly was no difficulty in it. After studying the Scripture of Revered Spirit, his body was like a huge cauldron that was able to refine and absorb anything and everything, so these spirit herbs with such diverse properties were naturally no problem at all.

　　Of course, the manner in which he used these herbs—simply chewing them up like some old cow—would have likely caused a large number of master alchemists to spit up blood and call him a wastrel in rage.

　　The spirit herbs within the Mysterious Domain were mostly extinct or had never even existed within the land of Tianyuan. If they’d found their way into the hands of an extremely powerful old alchemist and had been carefully studied, there was even the possibility for new pellet recipes to be discovered. It might be possible for some of the herbs to be replanted outside the realm, allowing them to be cultivated and used for many generations to come. Yet in the end, Fang Xing had simply swallowed them all like that, simply for the sake of the Qi contained within them—wasteful to the extreme. The least he could have done was craft them into a pellet first, right? At least that way it wouldn’t be quite as much of a waste, right?

　　Of course, everyone valued things differently. Those alchemical masters might see these spirit herbs as extremely valuable, but to Fang Xing, they were nothing more than some leaves that tasted a bit sour or tart. If it weren’t for the fact it could increase his cultivation, he probably wouldn’t have bothered chewing them in the first place….

　　After some time of this, all three piles of spirit herbs had wound up in his stomach. He took out his spirit wine for a few more mouthfuls before picking up a Dragon Blood Pellet and flicking it into his mouth. After chewing for a bit, he was finally satisfied. “This is sweet….”

　　A shine began to appear in his pupils, and a flame began to burn on his skin….

　　Fang Xing let out a deep, long breath. He crossed his hands in front of his lower abdomen, slowed down his breath, and began the ancient technique.

　　……

　　……

　　After four hours had passed, Fang Xing strolled out of the stone cave with his hands folded against his back. He was filled with satisfaction, and when he saw the blue-clothed bandit sitting beneath an old tree while staring at the southwest, he swaggered over and plopped down before setting his arm on their shoulder. “What are you doing, my brother?”

　　With the blue-clothed bandit’s cultivation level, he of course wouldn’t have been caught unaware by Fang Xing’s arrival, but he hadn’t expected Fang Xing to sit down so casually or place his arm around his shoulder as though they were close. The blue-clothed bandit moved himself a bit to the side, and although his mask was designed to look like a crying face, the eyes behind it seemed to be smiling. “You’ve finished cultivating?”

　　Fang Xing had gone into seclusion for four hours every night for the past few days. The blue-clothed bandit knew, of course, but he hadn’t dwelled on it; he believed Fang Xing was simply studying some kind of skill he didn’t want others to know about, so he didn’t bother asking about it.

　　“I’m finished. What’re you looking at? Are there flowers up there?” Fang Xing followed the bandit’s gaze up into the sky.

　　The blue-clothed bandit smiled without answering and instead asked, “The number of people we’ve robbed these couple of days hasn’t been on the small side, yet we still haven’t found even a hint of the herbs. Perhaps there’s something wrong with our method? Maybe we should think of another plan?”

　　Hearing this, Fang Xing immediately became interested and took a drink from his wine gourd. “We still need to continue the robberies. Those we robbed the past few days were all bastards with guardians. Those guardians are all Foundation Stage elites below forty years of age, yet they don’t go seeking their own fortunes amidst the other Foundation Stages and simply stay behind to bully the Spirit Stages. This is bastardly to the extreme, and it only serves them right to be robbed clean! Even if we don’t find those three herbs, it can still be considered helping the heavens enact justice….”

　　The topic alone had caused Fang Xing to become agitated. He’d always hated those guardians who used their cultivation level as a method of suppression. These had originally been the fortunes and opportunities for Spirit Stage cultivators to be fought over by them fair and square, yet these people just had to butt in and add such an unfair advantage—detestable. As far as Fang Xing saw it, those Spirit Stages were like the kids from small villages he’d fought against in the past who’d go crying to their daddies after he’d beaten them. Their dads would then bring their vicious hounds to chase after him—utterly shameful….

　　“They might have brought along guardians, but that doesn’t mean they deserve to have us rob them clean…” The blue-clothed bandit, on the other hand, actually didn’t feel this was a problem at all and simply laughed before explaining, “This is the second time the mysterious coffin has fallen, and the rules have always been there for us cultivators to slowly seek and find out.

　　“When the mysterious coffin first landed, the people in Videha didn’t know any of its rules. When they realized Golden Cores couldn’t break the formation and enter, some Budding Soul Stage or even Tribulation Stage cultivators forcibly broke the outer area’s formation to do so instead. Yet before they gained anything, they were simply devoured by the mysterious coffin, causing a large number of deaths and injuries. Ever since then, all the cultivators knew the grand opportunities within the mysterious coffin couldn’t be forced. After a few more trials and tests, they found out the rules about bone age and have been changing their methods ever since….

　　“However, the mysterious coffin isn’t a living thing and only has basic rules. It will stop everyone over the age of forty from entering, but it cannot stop more powerful cultivators from guarding outside the formation pivots. It might be able to allow only Spirit Stage cultivators to enter mysterious mountains and spirit valleys, but it cannot stop Foundation Stage cultivators from guarding the entrances to prevent other Spirit Stage cultivators from entering inside…. Or maybe it was something the mysterious coffin accepted from the very beginning. Earlier cultivators proved the mysterious coffin seems to be seeking a successor. It considers innate talent, age, cultivation level, and even aspects like formations, alchemy, spells, and strength. Perhaps in the eyes of the fallen grand opportunity of these coffins, clan and background is also a criteria to be tested….”

　　Fang Xing couldn’t help but to be surprised when he heard this. “Oh yeah? Having Foundation Stage cultivators bully others in Spirit Stage? Adults bullying children? You’re calling this reasonable?”

　　The blue-clothed bandit smiled. “As long as it does not cause the formation of the mysterious coffin to devour them, it can be said it is reasonable!”