Several days later.
The cultivators around the Thunder Fire Mountain Range were once again driven into a frenzy. After more than three months, Bai Ri Stronghold not only did not give up on hunting down those two people, but instead increased the bounty amount.
Eight thousand Qi Condensing Pills for the young one, three thousand True Essence Pills for the old one.
This amount not only tempted those rogue cultivators without backing, but even people from several other strongholds secretly sent out agents, wanting to get a share of the pie.
Of course, what they wanted to know even more was why these two people were worth so many True Essence Pills.
However, these strongholds that sent out agents did not include Dihu Stronghold located in the eastern section of the southern part of the mountain range.
The people of Dihu Stronghold were also going crazy, because their Lightning Fire Orchids had been stolen clean by someone unknown, and like Bai Ri Stronghold, they were frantically investigating the culprit.
These past few days, the outside world was very turbulent.
Lu Li hid inside the cave, from time to time hearing the sounds of footsteps passing by outside, as well as waves of Divine Sense scanning. Fortunately, he had the God-Concealing Jade; otherwise, even if he hid in the cave, it would be difficult to evade such intensive Divine Sense probing.
On the fifteenth day, just when Lu Li was feeling unbearably hungry.
A golden giant snake thicker than an adult's arm slithered in through the cave entrance. Lu Li's heart filled with joy. After confirming no one was around, he summoned the black axe and chopped down at the giant snake's head.
This giant snake didn't even seem to be a Demon Beast, and without even a chance to react, its head was chopped off by Lu Li. The remaining body twisted wildly on the ground.
After the giant snake stopped moving, Lu Li grabbed the snake corpse and stuffed it into his mouth.
As waves of a foul, fishy smell entered his mouth, Lu Li forcefully suppressed the urge to vomit, pinched his nose, and chomped down audibly.
It must be said, although this giant snake wasn't a Demon Beast, nourished by Spiritual Qi, the flesh and blood energy in its body was quite substantial. After eating only about half a foot, Lu Li felt his body warm and cozy, recovering a good amount of strength.
After finishing, Lu Li glanced at the remaining snake corpse again. After some thought, he stored the snake corpse into the Space Hall.
Lu Li discovered that the Space Hall was different from ordinary Storage Bags; it seemed to be able to completely preserve the freshness of items. Even spiritual herbs inside could maintain their Spiritual Qi without dissipating, more useful than jade bottles.
Truly heaven-defying.
After finishing all this, Lu Li once again immersed himself in cultivation.
And those cultivators who passed by outside from time to time had absolutely no idea that Lu Li was hiding right under their noses.
Summer passed, autumn came; autumn came, winter arrived; winter passed, spring came again...
In the blink of an eye, it was June of another year.
The incident that happened last summer was no longer the focus of everyone's attention. The Thunder Fire Mountain Range returned to its usual calm. Those who gathered herbs gathered herbs, those who hunted Demon Beasts hunted Demon Beasts.
The two medicine thieves, one old and one young, also completely lost any news. Some said the two had already left the Thunder Fire Mountain Range, some said the two had already perished in the mouths of Demon Beasts, and others said the two had already been killed by Bai Ri Stronghold...
In short, all this no longer had anything to do with them.
On this day.
At the small cave entrance located at the junction of the western main ridge and a side ridge, a head slowly poked out. After tilting to look around, it continued crawling out. Only after completely emerging did one realize it was a teenager about eighteen or nineteen years old, wearing dark cyan martial attire.
The teenager stood about seven or eight feet tall, with a tall and straight figure, slightly dark skin, and three feet of black hair draped over his shoulders. Not exactly handsome, but definitely not unattractive. His eyes rolled around, and then the teenager leaped down the slope.
His movements were light and graceful, his aura extraordinary.
Lightly landing in the crimson-red jungle below, the teenager then let out a long breath: "I didn't expect one session of secluded cultivation to last a whole year. This has really delayed the timing."
Remembering the agreement he made with Chen Zhong over a year ago, Lu Li couldn't help but slightly furrow his brows.
During this past year.
Apart from occasionally coming out to hunt for some food, he spent all his other time cultivating. The fifteen thousand plus True Essence Pills he had were now all gone.
What was worth celebrating was that his achievements this time far exceeded expectations, breaking through to the fifth layer of Qi Refining in one go.
Although only one acupoint in the fifth Qi meridian had been opened, he was still a genuine fifth layer Qi Refining cultivator. It was precisely because he was holding onto that drive to break through to the fifth layer in one go that he secluded himself for cultivation for so long; otherwise, he would have come out much earlier.
"Never mind, I've already missed the timing anyway. I'll go find a pill furnace to refine the Piercing Acupoint Pills first before going back."
Lu Li thought to himself as he rushed down the mountain.
As his cultivation level improved, his movements became much more agile than before. With just a light tap of his foot, he could leap ten to twenty zhang. Although his speed couldn't compare to using Gale Steps, at least it didn't require consuming True Qi.
Approaching afternoon, Lu Li arrived at the mountain's base.
As expected, there really was a town here, and judging by its scale, it wasn't much different from the previous Bai Ri Town. The stone stele at the town's north entrance had three large characters written on it: Dihu Town.
"Dihu Town."
Lu Li silently recited it and stepped inside.
Dihu Town also had quite a few people. Walking on the streets weren't just cultivators, but also ordinary mortals, presumably working here to make a living.
After glancing around, he directly walked into a shop called Jubao Hall.
Behind the counter, a middle-aged man in a dark golden robe was reading a book. Seeing Lu Li enter, he quickly stood up to greet him, "Lit..." He had just uttered one word when he suddenly stopped, respectfully saying, "Senior, what do you need?"
Because he discovered he actually couldn't see through this teenager's cultivation, and didn't dare utter the words 'little friend' that were just on the tip of his tongue.
In this world, age didn't represent anything; having strength made one a senior. This was Ding Wei's life-preserving secret after mixing in rogue cultivator circles for several decades.
Lu Li casually scanned the shelves, shook his head, and said, "I want to sell some beast hides. Do you accept them here?"
He hadn't yet disposed of the over two thousand beast hides he obtained from Water Cloud Stronghold's Protector Wang last time. This time, wanting to buy a pill furnace would definitely cost quite a bit of money, so he wanted to sell them off.
"We accept, of course we accept!" Ding Wei quickly nodded, simultaneously asking, "How many beast hides does Senior want to sell?"
Lu Li didn't waste words, directly tossing out a Storage Bag: "They're all inside, you count them yourself. If the price is suitable, I can sell them all to you."
Beast hides were generally used to make cultivators' clothing and armor. Of course, some people also used beast hides as medicinal materials. Their uses were still quite extensive in the cultivation world, not lacking in market.
Ding Wei carefully picked up the Storage Bag, scanned it with Divine Sense, and immediately exclaimed, "S-Senior... you!"
"What's wrong?" Lu Li frowned, thinking, did he discover something?
"N-no, nothing, it's just... I've never seen anyone sell so many beast hides at once before."
"Oh, well now you've seen it. So... can you handle it?" Lu Li said, relieved.
"I can handle it, it's just... Senior might have to wait a bit. I need to go report to the hall master, is that okay?"
"Hall master?"
"Senior might not know, this Jubao Hall is not my private property, it's a Dihu Stronghold enterprise. I can't come up with this many True Essence Pills all at once here..."
Another stronghold.
Lu Li slightly furrowed his brows, "First tell me, how many True Essence Pills are you planning to offer."