A Mortal's Start in the Spirit Beast Mountain

The roar shook the heavens and the earth, and the violent spiritual energy surged in all directions. Under the impact of the aftershocks from the two, Luo Ming's simple cave dwelling collapsed in an instant, almost being razed to the ground.

The low-level cultivators and mortals on the island were terrified and scattered in all directions to avoid being caught in the crossfire and perish.

In a small courtyard, Mingyue clung to the doorframe, gazing at the distant, swirling spiritual light and deafening roar. Her large eyes were wide open, filled with both fear and confusion. She vaguely guessed that this conflict might be related to the departure of her cheap master.

At this moment, Luo Ming was completely unaware of the changes taking place here.

He found a deserted island, sat cross-legged in a cave to meditate and regulate his breathing. After finishing, he began to count the storage bags he had collected from Liu Shi and the others.

Besides ordinary spirit stones, monster materials, low-level magic artifacts, and valuable goods, one item in the bag suddenly caught his eye—a beautifully carved jade box containing a yellowed brocade handkerchief, which was the fragment of the Void Heaven Map that he had heard of in his previous life.

He had already learned from Liu Shi that the purpose of the operation sent by Jiyin Island was to acquire the item from outside the Six-Linked Palace and escorted by Huang Song and others.

Liu Shi and the others only knew that they wanted to seize the jade box, but they didn't know what was inside. However, Luo Ming, based on his memories from his previous life and the appearance of the brocade handkerchief, recognized at a glance that it was the key to opening the Void Heaven Palace.

Luo Ming picked up the handkerchief. It was rough and dull to the touch, with a color as dark as withered leaves. It looked so ordinary that no one would even notice it if it were thrown on the side of the road in the mortal world.

If it hadn't been treasured and placed in an exquisite jade box, and hadn't happened to match the fragmented map of the Void Heaven in his memory, he probably would have ignored it.

"The Void Heaven Palace will take a long time to open, so there's no point in thinking about it now. Let's put it away properly for now." He smiled and carefully placed the handkerchief back into the jade box. He then placed a protective barrier around the box before putting it into his storage bag.

Besides the fragmented map of the Void Heaven, another thing that delighted him was a set of formations—the Profound Wave Spirit Trapping Formation.

This array was obtained from Liu Shi's storage bag. According to Liu Shi, the five of them once used this array to ambush a cultivator who had just broken through to the Core Formation stage. If the opponent hadn't risked his life to detonate a self-destructing treasure to break the array, he would have already perished at their hands.

"Master, this formation requires five people to simultaneously and stably input mana to set it up. You are alone, so I'm afraid it will be difficult for you to perform it." Seeing that Luo Ming was so fond of it, Liu Shi couldn't help but remind him.

Luo Ming remained calm and composed, his fingertips brushing over the profound patterns on the array diagram. A thoughtful look flashed in his eyes as he calmly said, "From what I've observed, the method for setting up this array only requires five stable points of mana output, and it doesn't restrict it to human cultivators. I have four spirit beasts under my command. If I use my divine sense to control them and input mana together, it's not impossible to set up this array."

Luo Ming was indeed extremely concerned about this Xuanbo Trapping Spirit Array.

Such a formation that can threaten a Core Formation cultivator is quite valuable on the market. He had previously used most of his spirit stones to purchase spiritual herbs, demon beast blood essence, and demon souls to sustain his cultivation, and since he had been hiding in a safe area for many years, he had not made any purchases.

But now the road ahead is fraught with danger, and the enemy will only get stronger. Having an extra set of powerful formations will give us more power to protect ourselves, and may even allow us to turn the tide of battle in desperate situations.

"Once we find a safe place, we'll take a few of the little guys for a practice run."

Luo Ming's eyes flashed with anticipation. "If I can successfully set up this formation, I will have the ability to protect myself even if I encounter ordinary early-stage Core Formation cultivators." Of course, he was also aware of his own limitations. Unless absolutely necessary, he would definitely stay far away from those Core Formation cultivators.

As he finished counting, a black, spindle-shaped object caught his attention. "Hmm, this spirit boat looks pretty good."

Luo Ming picked up the palm-sized black boat. Its hull was streamlined and faintly glowed with a spiritual light. It was clearly a high-speed flying shuttle-type spirit boat. He couldn't tell which cultivator had left it behind.

However, Luo Ming still couldn't find the body cultivation technique the other party was practicing, so he asked in confusion, "You must have practiced some kind of body refining technique, right? Isn't it recorded in the jade slip?"

"This Vajra Skill is recorded on a broken stone tablet. Because the tablet was too heavy, I put it in that hidden cave. When you get there, you will naturally see it." Liu Shi's calm voice came from his waist.

"Oh! Is that so?" Luo Ming said no more.

He immediately sat cross-legged, his fingertips forming a refining incantation, and strands of pure spiritual energy were injected into the flying boat, officially beginning the refining of this black jade flying boat.

Liu Shi watched this scene from his sea of ​​consciousness, feeling a mix of emotions. These were all the treasures they had accumulated over the years, and now Luo Ming had accepted them all. What made him even more aggrieved was that some of the top-tier magic artifacts they regarded as precious treasures were casually tossed into a storage bag by Luo Ming, who simply said that they would deal with them together when the opportunity arose.

After a long silence, Liu Shi finally couldn't suppress his curiosity and cautiously asked, "Master, if I may be so bold as to ask, what is your background?"

In his view, Luo Ming's foundation was far beyond that of ordinary rogue cultivators. Whether it was the magical artifacts and talismans in his hands or the four spirit beasts full of spiritual energy, they all exuded extraordinary qualities. He must be a direct descendant of a Nascent Soul expert who had come out to gain experience.

Luo Ming abruptly stopped refining the flying boat, raised his eyes to look at the void outside the cave, his gaze instantly becoming unfathomable, a cold glint flashing in them, and retorted, "My origins? Aren't you afraid you know too much?"

Liu Shi's heart skipped a beat, and he instantly recalled how they had tried to eliminate Luo Ming by using the excuse that Luo Ming knew about their stronghold, but instead they were subdued and had their life-bound restrictions placed on them. He immediately fell silent and dared not ask any more questions.

A moment later, Luo Ming had completely refined the black flying boat. He stood up and stepped out of the cave, tossing the flying boat into the air. With a spell, the flying boat instantly grew to two zhang in length and hovered steadily in front of him.

Luo Ming sat cross-legged on the flying boat. The Bloodthirsty Blade flew to the core of the flying boat's control. Liu Shi's divine soul power overflowed from the blade, taking over the control of the flying boat.

The flying boat is powered by spirit stones, and Liu Shi only needs to use his divine sense to control the direction and speed, which is not too strenuous.

Luo Ming never kept useless people around. Letting him control the flying boat was making the best use of him. Besides, Liu Shi was more familiar with the route to that hidden cave than he was.

"Let's go!" Luo Ming gave the order, and the black flying boat transformed into a streak of light, piercing the sky and speeding eastward. Its speed was more than twice as fast as the previous flying boat, and of course, the consumption of spirit stones also doubled.

His plan was to go to the secluded cave that Liu Shi had sealed away to cultivate in seclusion. According to Liu Shi, the cave was not only secluded, but also contained a spiritual spring with a quality sufficient to support a Foundation Establishment cultivator to reach the Core Formation stage.

Luo Ming naturally wouldn't miss such a perfect place for secluded cultivation.

As time passed, the flying boat continued to fly away from Kui Xing Island. According to Liu Shi, that place was located in a very remote area between the inner and outer seas.

The journey was quite smooth, thanks to Liu Shi, who was a living map, and they avoided some places where high-level monsters might exist.

half a month later.

A jet-black flying boat slowly came to a stop in front of a dense sea fog.