Chapter 21: Liu Yunxuan's Opportunity

Liu Yunxuan sneered, "Nonsense! I've been chasing this beast through the forest for a long time. It forced me back when it was on the verge of death, which is why it escaped."

"All these injuries on it were caused by me. Do you think you can just take it with a few words?"

Shen Mo glanced at the sword at Liu Yunxuan's waist, sensed the icy spiritual power flowing within him, and then looked at the knife wounds and fire burns on the beast. He fell silent.

Ah, right, you've been chasing this beast for a long time.

"I made a mistake. This indeed belongs to Senior Brother Liu." He smiled and tossed the monster core over.

Liu Yunxuan caught the fist-sized third-rank monster core, nodded in satisfaction, and said, "You're a smart person."

With that, he quickly walked away.

Shen Mo glanced at his life panel from a distance.

[Name: Liu Yunxuan]

[Realm: Foundation Establishment Great Accomplishment]

[Fate: Lucky Star, Handsome and Graceful, Turning Misfortune into Fortune, Smooth Sailing, Lesser Yin Profound Ice Body]

[Destiny: Stopped at the peak of Core Formation Realm, serving as the deputy sect master of the Divine Sword Sect. Died fifty-nine years later during the Divine Sword Sect's external campaigns.]

[Recent Opportunity 1: Today, while heading to Xishan City to meet the granddaughter of the Grand Elder of the Divine Sword Sect, he discovered Shen Mo encountering a dying beast and forced Shen Mo to hand over the third-rank monster core.]

[Recent Opportunity 2: Five days later, while passing by the Sword Cliff of Qingxuan Sect, he will experience a sudden downpour, and the movement of bamboo leaves will lead to an epiphany, comprehending the first level of the Thunder Shadow Sword Technique.]

[Recent Opportunity 3: Ten days later, while executing a task from Liu Yuanfeng to kill the Striped Tiger, he will discover a naturally formed underground ice lake, containing a supreme-grade profound treasure, the Profound Yin Ice Essence. After refining it, his physique will be enhanced, and he will reach the peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm.]

[Lucky Star: Orange Fate. Your luck is always excellent. Encountering dying beasts or randomly obtaining earth-grade cultivation techniques and martial skills is just commonplace for you.]

[Handsome and Graceful: Orange Fate. You are very handsome and always attract the attention of the opposite sex. Visiting the brothel, you not only get things for free but can also make money.]

[Turning Misfortune into Fortune: Orange Fate. Every time you encounter danger, you can turn it into an opportunity.]

[Smooth Sailing: Orange Fate. Your life is extremely smooth, rarely encountering setbacks, and you always end up on the winning side.]

[Lesser Yin Profound Ice Body: Orange Fate. Middle-grade earth physique. Your ice spiritual root talent is exceptional, and you cultivate ice attribute techniques and martial skills faster than others.]

After reading, Shen Mo rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"No wonder I didn't have an opportunity here. This opportunity was his, and I was just a background character in it..."

"This guy's fate is quite different from Xiao Fan's. Xiao Fan's fates are all red, while his are all one level lower, all orange."

"But what's going on with him meeting the granddaughter of the Grand Elder of the Divine Sword Sect and eventually becoming an inner sect elder of the Divine Sword Sect?"

Shen Mo thought about it and quickly figured it out.

Either the Qingxuan Sect was destroyed, and Liu Yunxuan joined the Divine Sword Sect, or Liu Yunxuan betrayed the Qingxuan Sect and joined the Divine Sword Sect!

"He looks like a gentleman, but he's actually a traitor."

Thinking about his third-rank monster core being taken, Shen Mo added, "A greedy traitor!"

This small episode didn't anger him much.

Although the third-rank monster core was precious, it was nothing compared to the Profound Yin Ice Essence.

"Since you took my third-rank monster core, I'll reluctantly take your Profound Yin Ice Essence."

Shen Mo snorted and continued towards the nameless valley.

The process of killing the Green Forest Python was not full of twists and turns; in fact, it was rather uneventful.

The Green Forest Python was only a second-rank great accomplishment beast, equivalent to a Qi Condensation Great Accomplishment cultivator.

Shen Mo, however, was at the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm.

Realm suppression, strength suppression.

With just three strikes, he killed the Green Forest Python.

Then, Shen Mo took out a small knife and cut open the python's belly, finding a section of blood-red tree heart.

This was the supreme-grade profound treasure, the Dragon Blood Tree Heart!

It contained immense and pure wood spiritual energy.

Shen Mo took a water bag from his storage ring, washed off the mucus from the tree heart, and then held it contentedly.

"This can serve as one of the foundations for my Dao foundation."

Shen Mo nodded with satisfaction.

Body Refining and Qi Condensation realms were not very different as long as one had the right pills and practiced diligently.

The only difference lay in the levels of techniques and martial skills, which determined the strength disparity.

However, for a Qi Condensation peak cultivator to enter the Foundation Establishment Realm, they needed to condense a Dao foundation within their spiritual power vortex.

The quality of the Dao foundation marked the first significant divide among cultivators.

"Dao foundations are classified into ordinary, traceless, and perfect."

"By refining and absorbing five lower or middle-grade profound treasures corresponding to the five elements, one can establish an ordinary Dao foundation."

"By refining five upper-grade profound treasures of the corresponding five elements, one can establish a traceless Dao foundation."

"If one refines five supreme-grade profound treasures of the corresponding five elements, one can establish the most powerful perfect Dao foundation!"

"This step is where many Qi Condensation cultivators get stuck."

Shen Mo sighed.

Ordinary Qi Condensation cultivators couldn't intercept opportunities everywhere like him.

Their only option was to save up spirit stones desperately to buy profound treasures to build their Dao foundations.

But the price difference between lower-grade and supreme-grade profound treasures was enormous.

A lower-grade profound treasure usually required only three hundred low-grade spirit stones.

But a supreme-grade profound treasure required three thousand low-grade spirit stones!

This disparity caused many to get stuck at this stage, not because of their lack of talent, but because of financial constraints.

By the time they saved enough for the required materials, their prime years for cultivation would have quietly slipped away.

"Dao platform, also known as Dao foundation, is the root of the Great Dao."

"Since I have such a golden finger, I must pursue the perfect Dao platform!"

Shen Mo set a small goal.

Before becoming a Divine Transformation Realm powerhouse, he aimed to first forge a perfect Dao platform!

Shen Mo placed the dragon blood tree heart into his storage ring and then headed towards Ironwood Town.

The bandits harassing Ironwood Town were relatively weak.

Most of them were only at the minor or major accomplishment stage of the Body Tempering Realm.

Even the leader of the Black Wind Bandits was only at the peak of the Body Tempering Realm.

With such strength, Qingxuan Sect could sweep them away with just one or two disciples at the major accomplishment stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.

The reason why no one had taken action yet was simply due to the lack of money and too many affairs.

One or two Body Tempering Realm disciples couldn't handle the Black Wind Bandits.

If more Body Tempering Realm disciples were sent, there wouldn't be enough reward to go around.

As for the Qi Condensation Realm disciples, they had enough strength but didn't care for the meager reward of clearing out the Black Wind Bandits.

Therefore, the Black Wind Bandits could rampage for a long time, making the surrounding ordinary people suffer greatly.

Shen Mo quickly slaughtered everyone in the Black Wind Bandits.

Then, he went straight to the treasure vault of the Black Wind Bandits to search.

Before long, he found his target.

Half of a calligraphy scroll.

The scroll was rolled up.

Shen Mo carefully opened it.

There was only one word on it: "Forest."

It was written very carelessly, like wild grass swaying in the wind.

"Is this an earth-grade spiritual weapon? It doesn't seem very impressive."

Shen Mo tried to refine it with a drop of blood, but there was no response.

Then, he injected spiritual power into the scroll.

The scroll started to vibrate.

Shen Mo suddenly felt a pang of fear and quickly turned his head aside.

Whoosh!

A sharp sword aura suddenly shot out from the scroll, slicing the hard rock wall behind Shen Mo into two!

The cut surface was incredibly smooth.

As if cutting through snow.

Shen Mo's eyes widened.

If he hadn't turned his head just now, his head might have been split in two!

"This strike definitely has the power of the Foundation Establishment Realm!"

Shen Mo was overjoyed and immediately put it away.

Now he understood why this item was called the "Forest Sword Art."

{I will do a mass release tomorrow with 4 chaps. Today only one chap, as i have work to do}