Cultivation Begins From The Desert

As the yellow-faced middle-aged man slapped his storage bag at his waist, Zhouyang knew something was wrong.

He didn't believe that the yellow-faced middle-aged man would make this move unless he had a last resort up his sleeve.

Seeing the determined expression on the man's face, Zhouyang realized that he was most likely trying to destroy his own storage bag to prevent his treasures from benefiting others.

Before he could think further, Zhouyang's expression changed dramatically, and he suddenly opened his mouth, using a trump card he had never used before — the "Netherworld Bone-Eroding Needle" he had acquired from his traitorous Dao companion, Xiao Ying's senior brother.

The characteristic of the "Netherworld Bone-Eroding Needle" was its silent launch and extreme speed, making it difficult for Foundation Establishment cultivators to defend against such insidious attacks.

Even Zhouyang himself had fallen victim to it accidentally in the past.

Now, wielding it with the cultivation of the Seventh-Layer Foundation Establishment, its power surpassed that of Xiao Ying's traitorous senior brother.

A barely visible black shadow flashed, and from several hundred feet away, the yellow-faced middle-aged man let out a scream, clutching his right arm with his left and falling to the ground.

At the same time, Zhouyang's divine sense flickered, and a sword light swiftly flew towards the middle-aged man, cleanly severing his head.

Squeak! Squeak!

The moment the yellow-faced middle-aged man died, Zhouyang hadn't even retrieved his sword when he heard a shrill rat's cry from the man's chest.

Then, he saw the yellow-faced middle-aged man's chest slightly bulge, and a furry white rat head suddenly emerged from inside.

The rat's head was only as big as a common mountain rat, but its eyes were a mesmerizing pure gold, catching all the attention.

When Zhouyang saw those pure golden eyes, his own eyes widened in disbelief.

"Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat! It's actually a Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat!"

"No wonder! No wonder this yellow-faced middle-aged man could find a Spirit Stone mine!"

"No wonder he was so sure I had top-grade Spirit Stones on me!"

Zhouyang looked at the white rat excitedly, as if he had found an extraordinary treasure, his eyes shining.

The "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat" was a well-known treasure-seeking demon beast in the cultivation realm, with its most unique feature being those golden eyes. These eyes allowed the rat to perceive the spiritual light emitted by spiritual objects through storage bags, soil, and rocks.

The reason the yellow-faced middle-aged man discovered the Spirit Stone mine that day was not as he claimed, but rather relying on the abilities of the "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat."

He was able to detect the top-grade Spirit Stones on Zhouyang because the storage bag artifact on Zhouyang couldn't effectively block the rat's divine technique, allowing it to peep through.

The "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat" was extremely rare and could only mutate from ordinary rats. Even offspring from two "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rats" wouldn't inherit those golden eyes, making it impossible to cultivate them artificially.

Because they only mutate from ordinary rats, the "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat" typically didn't rank high in grade, and their lifespan was naturally limited. The highest-recorded grade for a "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat" in the cultivation realm was a Tier Five Lower Grade demon beast.

The "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat" raised by the yellow-faced middle-aged man emitted a spiritual aura only at Tier Two Middle Grade. With such capabilities, its divine technique could only penetrate twenty feet underground to detect hidden spiritual objects.

Thanks to the shallow burial depth of the Spirit Stone mine on Rhino Horn Continent, otherwise, based solely on the capabilities of this "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat," it might not have discovered the Spirit Stone mine.

However, Zhouyang did not underestimate the value of this "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat," as its treasure-finding ability increased with its power.

If he could nurture this "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat" to Tier Three, its divine technique's power would double, and by then, the value this little fellow could create would rival that of a Golden Core Stage cultivator!

"Thank goodness! Thank goodness there is no 'Demonic Soul Contract' in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm, or if that person had used the force of the contract to kill the 'Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat' before dying, I would truly have had no way to stop it!"

Regaining his composure, Zhouyang's eyes flashed with a touch of relief and fear.

If the yellow-faced middle-aged man had killed the "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat," he would have regretted it so much that he wouldn't be able to eat for months.

But now.

He smiled slightly, clasped his hands together to perform an "Earth-to-Steel" magic technique, sealing the ground around the middle-aged man's corpse to prevent the "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat" from escaping underground.

Then he began capturing the little creature frightened by the death of its owner.

The capture process went smoothly, and the palm-sized "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat" was soon caught and knocked unconscious by Zhouyang.

He then stuffed the little thing into his bosom and proceeded to collect the belongings left behind by the goatee elder and the yellow-faced middle-aged man.

A moment later, Zhouyang finished collecting the spoils and casually set fire to the two corpses on the ground, reducing them to ashes, before he left the spirit stone ore by controlling his sword and flew towards the vast desert sea outside Rhino Horn Continent.

Having witnessed the attack on the spirit stone ore by the Golden-winged Thunder Eagle, Zhouyang dared not stay any longer in Rhino Horn Continent.

He flew all the way and only after leaving Rhino Horn Continent and traveling several thousand miles did he land on a high sand dune to rest from the sword light.

This break was mainly for checking the spoils he had gathered.

Upon discovering that the yellow-faced middle-aged man had actually tamed a "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat", he knew that this person must have also unearthed top-grade spirit stones in the ore.

It was just that he was afraid of lingering there for too long, that an unexpected event might occur, thus he resisted the temptation and didn't open the storage bag on the spot for inspection.

Now that he was in the vast desert sea, having reached a safe place, there was no need to endure and restrain himself any longer.

Since no intense magical combat had occurred, the storage bags on the goateed elder and the yellow-faced middle-aged man were well-preserved. Adding them together, there were six storage bags, each with a capacity of three zhàng.

Zhouyang searched through the storage bags of these two, and indeed found the top-grade spirit stones he had anticipated, and not just one piece, but three pieces.

These three top-grade spirit stones had not been cut at all; one was about the same size as the piece he obtained, one was slightly smaller by a third, and another was as large as two palms!

Adding to the top-grade spirit stone he had, he now had a total of four uncut top-grade spirit stones in his possession—with two Earth Attribute spirit stones, and one Fire Attribute and one Gold Attribute spirit stone each.

Besides these top-grade spirit stones, Zhouyang sorted through the belongings of the two others and also acquired three Tier Three High-grade Spiritual Artifacts, six Tier Three Middle-grade Spiritual Artifacts, two Tier Three Lower-grade Spiritual Artifacts, one Tier Three High-Grade Spirit Talisman, four Tier Three Middle-Grade Spirit Talismans, and two sets of Tier Two High-grade Arrays.

Judging from the different cultivator auras remaining on those artifacts, it was evident that before reaching Zhouyang, quite a few cultivators had been killed by these two.

Additionally, in these storage bags, Zhouyang also acquired a large pile of artifact refining materials harvested from Tier Three Demon Beasts, about five to six Tier Three Spirit Elixirs, and a small pile of other artifact refining and alchemy materials.

In the goateed elder's storage bag, Zhouyang also discovered three Tier Three High-Grade Spirit Pills that could enhance the magical cultivation of Late-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Meanwhile, in the yellow-faced middle-aged man's storage bag, he found two sets of Tier Two High-grade Arrays and a formation insights notebook that included methodologies for setting up two kinds of Tier Three Lower Grade Arrays.

However, the most numerous items in the storage bags were still the spirit stones.

After a rough evaluation, Zhouyang found that he obtained nearly three hundred middle-grade spirit stones from just these storage bags, while the number of low-grade spirit stones was between forty and fifty thousand.

Most of these spirit stones originated from the output of the spirit stone ore, while a small portion was carried by individual Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Thus, not even considering the invaluable "Golden-Eyed Spirit-Seeking Rat", Zhouyang's total estimated value of the various treasures and spirit stones collected from the goateed elder and the yellow-faced middle-aged man surpassed twenty thousand low-grade spirit stones!

"No wonder the ancients often said, 'A person can't get rich without ill-gotten gains, and a horse won't grow fat without night grazing!'

"Without experiencing it firsthand, who would have thought that the treasures and spirit stones carried by mere two Foundation Establishment stage cultivators could exceed twenty thousand low-grade spirit stones!"

"With such a gain, it's not just me—even a Purple Mansion stage cultivator would be envious to see it!"

After tallying his gains, Zhouyang's expression changed several times, and he couldn't help but exhale deeply and make a quiet exclamation.

After calculating his haul, he almost considered returning to Rhino Horn Continent to do a few free transactions like those of the goateed elder and the other man.

With his strength, unless encountering Purple Mansion Cultivators, he could basically kill whoever he wanted after returning.

Moreover, if he murdered and robbed in Rhino Horn Continent, there wouldn't be any fear of being discovered and tarnishing his reputation, as there were no concerns whatsoever.

But if he did this, what difference would there be between him and those he had slain, or those sand bandits he always despised and loathed?

Thus, he eventually restrained such impulses, suppressing the wicked thoughts that had surfaced in his heart, adhering to his true self.

He returned to his senses and couldn't help but let out a long sigh with a bitter smile, saying, "Money makes people's eyes red; wealth stirs people's hearts. This saying is truly not deceiving me!"

This person, who had witnessed large-scale transactions involving millions of spirit stones in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, nearly lost himself and violated his principles, which shows how great the temptation of 'money' is.

"Adhering to one's true self," these four words are easy to say, but when it comes to action, only then does one know how difficult it truly is.

After this incident, Zhouyang's disposition was tempered and sublimated, ensuring that he would no longer experience such hesitation and struggle when encountering similar situations in the future.

This is undoubtedly a great benefit for his future cultivation.

After all, cultivators have long lifespans and face many more temptations than ordinary mortals. If one's disposition isn't strong enough and they lack resistance to temptation, they will eventually suffer a big setback.