Chapter 40. Imperial Treasures.

After explaining to Zark where they would meet in a few hours, Rand left the shop and soon the city, exiting through the same gate he had entered a few hours earlier. He then took the same road he had walked about two weeks ago, back when he was still a mortal, heading to the Fire Dragon Sect trial.

While walking, Rand occasionally switched the vision of his right eye to Zark, who was still sitting in the shop. Thanks to the fact that the Mist Kingdom Crown, a mid-grade Heavenly Rank treasure was connected to him, Rand could easily monitor Zark from a great distance. Although this wasn't entirely necessary, as the treasure could do it independently. The crown possessed the rudiment of a soul and even some semblance of consciousness, and although her mind was full of restrictions and prohibitions, she could evaluate what was happening around her and execute not too complicated commands of the owner without problems. So even if Rand doesn't personally keep an eye on Zark, he still won't be left unattended even for a second.

Initially, Rand was a bit worried that Zark wouldn't believe he could be watched even through protective formations and might try to escape or tell someone about what happened, hoping to remove the crown. This would force Rand to eliminate Zark and find someone else. But so far, Rand's observations suggested this wouldn't happen. Most of the time, the young man sat in a room on the shop's second floor, banging his head against the wall and crying bitterly. Such behavior could mean almost anything, but not that he had the courage to risk his life going against Rand's will.

Switching his gaze back to the road, Rand felt a slight emptiness from the absence of the Mist Kingdom Crown. He had worn it most of his conscious life since it was bound to him at the age of five through a secret technique. Considering his lack of cultivation at the time, he shouldn't have been able to handle and control such a high-grade treasure. Normally, attempting to bind a Heavenly Rank treasure without at least Core Formation cultivation would result in being torn apart by the treasure's overwhelming power.

But Rand quickly dismissed these thoughts of the past and his old companion, focusing again on the well-trodden road in front of him, illuminated by moonlight. Once he was far enough from the city, he resumed running to save time. The run along the road took about two hours, covering a distance that had taken two days during his previous journey. This was due not only to his significantly increased speed but also to the exceptional stamina granted by the Mythic Blood cultivation method, almost negating the need for any rest.

Spotting a familiar tree line, Rand veered off the road and headed into the forest flanking it. Alternating between running and walking based on the terrain, he continued for another forty minutes. Along the way, he encountered small animals that didn`t have any Qi in their bodies and fled upon sensing him. And Rand stopped only when he saw, deep in the thicket of the forest, a small moss-covered rock protruding from the ground.

As soon as he noticed this unremarkable rock, Rand immediately headed for it.

After that, coming close to the rock, he looked up, and through the thick canopy of leaves, he could just make out the full moon nearly at its zenith. Seeing the moon in this ideal position made him smile and think, "Made it in time. Given the moon's current position, activating the formation should be no problem even with my insignificant cultivation. But I must hurry."

Finishing his thoughts, Rand took out a knife and made a deep cut on the index finger of his right hand. He used the flowing blood to draw twelve moon phase-like patterns on the rock.

After doing all this, Rand said quite loudly:

"Imperial Formation of the Twelve Dark Moons."

At his words, the rock darkened sharply, and twelve tiny flags depicting darkened moons appeared where Rand had drawn the patterns. For Rand to be able to control such a powerful formation without spiritual sense or external controlling artifacts, he had to resort to several tricks, such as gaining control through blood and using voice commands for operation. Additionally, due to his insufficient cultivation, Rand had to tie the formation's activation to a specific time when the concentration of the required type of Qi was at its peak, allowing the formation to draw all the necessary energy from the surroundings. Unfortunately, spirit stones alone were not enough to sustain the active operation of such a formation, although it could function in stealth mode using only high-quality spirit stones.

Thanks to these tricks, Rand, being merely a weak cultivator at the Qi Condensation stage, was able to control a powerful Earth Rank formation capable of performing a variety of functions, from concealment and detection to defense and attack. By using this formation, he could even potentially overpower a Core Formation stage cultivator with some luck.

"First, let's see if anyone followed me. Formation, show me all that is hidden and unseen."

The space within a few hundred meters around the rock darkened abruptly, plunging into a twilight where Rand immediately saw a translucent figure a hundred meters away, trying to retreat slowly. Upon closer inspection, the silhouette resembled an elderly man in simple clothing with a long spear in hand. He was only at the eighth level of the Qi Condensation stage, though he knew a rather unusual concealment technique. Most likely, he was an ordinary experienced hunter who happened to be nearby and decided to observe the strangely behaving novice of the Fire Dragon Sect out of curiosity.

"So, I wasn't mistaken about being followed. Not a bad concealment technique. I must admit, you managed to fool my eyes and ears. However, unfortunately for you, it wasn't enough. I see you don't want to say anything and are already planning to leave, but I can't let you go since you saw what you shouldn't have. So goodbye, old hunter. Formation, I order you to kill the intruder."

The man, who had stopped when Rand started speaking to him, realized as soon as he heard the words "I can't let you go" that the matter couldn't be resolved through conversation. Trusting his instincts, which had been screaming about mortal danger since the formation's activation, he turned and ran away, not even considering trying to fight the novice. However, he didn't make it ten steps before he was enveloped by the surrounding dark moonlight, in which he silently dissolved, unable to say or do anything. Within a few seconds, the light returned to normal, but no trace of the old man remained.

"Good thing I was prepared for the possibility of being followed, but next time I visit this place, I need to be more careful. However, these thoughts are pointless right now, and if I don't want to be late, then it's time to start what I came here for. But first, I need to secure this place a bit," Rand thought, then gave a voice command:

"Formation, conceal the area."

At his order, a nearly transparent membrane enveloped the rock and the area around it, distorting and altering what was happening behind it. When the changes in the membrane were complete, both Rand and the formation's flags became invisible to any outsider's view behind the membrane. If another hunter passed by, he would only see an ordinary moss-covered rock. Ensuring that the reflective membrane had stabilized and no one else could see what was happening there, Rand gave the formation a new command:

"Formation, open the entrance."

Moonlight flared up again, this time concentrating on a spot on the ground to the right of the rock, where a stepped passage leading deep underground appeared a moment later. Descending several dozen meters, Rand found himself in a small, unlit room measuring ten by ten meters. The room was nearly empty, except for a skeleton in the center, clad in a golden robe with a shining dark moon at its center, and a ring encrusted with precious stones on one finger. Ignoring the remains and the ring, Rand approached one of the walls and touched several points in a specific sequence. This caused a deep chasm to slowly form on the opposite side of the room, leading even further down.

Rand proceeded through this passage into a second room of similar size. Unlike the first, this room was furnished with a bed, table, chairs, a meditation area, and a low, circular stone platform about one and a half meters in radius. The platform was covered in symbols, with eight brightly shining stones in recesses along its edges, resembling normal spirit stones but much more luminous, illuminating the room like daylight.

This platform was a teleportation formation, capable of transporting its activator to any unprotected point within a hundred kilometers. It was similar in design to the portal arches in the sect but did not require another formation at the exit point.

After a brief glance at the formation, Rand approached the bed and drew a square beside it with his still-bloodied finger. A small box appeared where he had drawn, containing his old artifact ring.

"Great, no signs of intrusion on either floor. The trap with the ring on the skeleton wasn't triggered either. My precautions worked as expected, and none of that bastard's seekers found this place. But I must hurry, Zark has already left the city."

Without further thought, Rand picked up the ring and channeled a stream of Qi into it. The ring immediately recognized its old owner, and even the changes that occurred in Rand could not deceive him, and allowed him to use it.

The ring contained a vast internal space exceeding a cubic kilometer. Compared to this, his current ring, a gift from Byron, was insignificant trash that even his subordinates would not wear. Without spiritual sense, Rand couldn't fully inspect the ring's contents, but even with his ordinary sight, he saw several real mountains of spirit stones, each containing at least a hundred million stones. Nearby, he noticed small lakes made up of pills and potions. He also barely discerned several radiant sacred spiritual artifacts in the distance, including armor rather similar to what he received in the Outer Sect Treasury. But most striking was a twenty-meter tower Rand once used as a mobile home.

From this abundance, Rand took only a few million spirit stones to buy needed items in the city, one of the spatial pouches he found, into which he placed the stones, a plain black robe, and a low-grade sacred spiritual artifact in the form of a fox mask. He took the artifact mask for its useful feature, which he might need soon. While wearing it, he would be protected from almost any type of scanning or external examination, making it impossible for anyone below the Nascent Soul stage to discern his cultivation or identity.

Rand limited himself to these items. He could have taken more, like pills for future cultivation, but such actions would create unnecessary risks for his identity as a sect novice. After all, if a person's talent and the amount of his resources are known, then it is possible to calculate with a small error the maximum speed of cultivation that a person is capable of. And if Rand unexpectedly develops much faster than this "maximum" thanks to pills from old stocks, then this will cause serious questions from the sect, to which Rand will not have good answers.

Moreover, at any moment, his home and everything happening in it could be under surveillance, which Rand even wouldn't be able to notice. If he were caught consuming expensive pills one after another, he might have to flee the sect and try to start all over again next year.

Of course, Rand could take resources from the ring and consume them sparingly with utmost caution. But after brief consideration, Rand deemed this a pointless risk with little benefit, especially since he wasn't in a hurry to advance his cultivation, having centuries ahead of him.

After transferring spirit stones from the ring to the pouch, Rand stood in the teleportation formation. Before activating it, he changed into black clothing, donned the mask, and touched his chest, where his second and final Heavenly Rank treasure appeared. This treasure ensured that Rand was never afraid to get into a dangerous situation and always knew that he could retreat. It looked like an ordinary round amulet shaped like a darkened full moon.

Its name was the Ninth Moon Step, crafted personally by his father. Unlike most Heavenly Rank artifacts, it had only one ability but excelled in it. It allowed the wearer to use the Dark Moon Step technique once a day with the power of the amulet's creator, requiring no Qi from the wearer. And Rand's father could traverse several hundred kilometers in a single step using this technique.

Wow, 40 chapters already behind us; time really flies. I want to thank everyone who continues to read my book, vote with Power Stones and comment. Your support means a lot to me.

Now, a bit of sad news. As I mentioned before, after Chapter 40, the daily release of chapters will end, and now chapters will be released every other day. I don't like this either, but since the book brings me zero income, I can't dedicate enough time for daily releases.

Most solve this by signing a contract with webnovel, but I don't want to do that because I really don't like their terms.

If the number of subscribers on Boosty increases, the release rate might change. However, judging by the current situation, this is unlikely to happen.