Chapter 38: The Opportunity to Refine the Heavenly River Kui Water Sword

The Tongtian River, a great river next to the Lishui Tribe, had been spoken of since ancient times.

Its vast light soaked the moon, its mighty shadow floated in the sky. Its spiritual flow swallowed majestic peaks, its long course pierced through a hundred streams!

There were even rumors that this great river originated from the Heavenly River of the Heavenly Court.

It had been nearly several hundred years since the Lishui Tribe moved next to the Tongtian River. Originally a relatively sizable small tribe, it gradually declined after several generations of chieftains.

If nothing unexpected happened, the Lishui Tribe would eventually disappear completely or be absorbed into another tribe.

But in recent years, many human tribes were surprised to find that this small tribe was changing almost daily.

First, some tribesmen learned the art of weaving nets from a human sage by the riverbank. Using many jade bamboos, they created many strange and wonderful fishing tools, solving the tribe’s most difficult winter survival problem in a very short time.

The survival rate of the tribe’s people greatly increased.

Because of this, this tribe became famous overnight among the many human tribes along the Tongtian River. Its chieftain was even summoned by the Human Sacred Land and granted an audience with many ancient sages for guidance.

This made many tribal chieftains envious, secretly sighing at the good fortune of the Lishui Tribe’s chieftain.

Not long after, someone in the tribe discovered the art of animal husbandry. They could purposefully pen and domesticate edible beasts with weak bloodlines, providing the tribe with a sufficient source of meat even during the harshest seasons. This caused a sensation at the time.

These two innovations saved countless tribesmen. For this, the Human Sacred Land personally bestowed a surname upon the Lishui Tribe.

These two innovations also made the Lishui Tribe begin to gain fame along the banks of the Tongtian River. The tribe began to grow and rise.

However, recently another piece of news spread from the Lishui Tribe, causing much discussion among many tribes.

The Lishui Tribe established a market. Every thirty days, a trading market was held regularly in the Lishui Tribe for bartering. This allowed many human tribes to freely trade for what they needed.

Various exotic beast furs could be exchanged for different foods, or strange objects obtained from the mountains and wilderness could be traded for desired items.

This newly emerged model made many tribal cultivators curious and also felt novel to them.

It happened to be the Lishui Tribe market day, held every thirty days.

On the river valley plain leading to the Lishui Tribe, a long line could be seen from afar. Tribespeople from surrounding tribes, carrying or hauling the goods they wanted to trade, came from various major tribes.

Xiong Shan was a young cultivator from the Giant Bear Tribe. The Giant Bear Tribe relied on the vast mountains, which were rich in products. The boundless mountains produced many spiritual objects and strange stones. But the only problem was that deep within the vast mountains, fearsome fierce beasts often charged out. Every time a fierce beast emerged, it always caused some casualties.

This time, he heard that occasionally high-quality magical artifacts were sold at the Lishui Tribe’s market, so he came to try his luck.

What surprised the youth was not only his presence as a cultivator from the Giant Bear Tribe, but he also saw many familiar figures from other tribes’ cultivators, such as cultivators from the Kunwu Tribe and the Xuanyan Tribe, located hundreds of miles away.

A cultivator from the Kunwu Tribe rode a huge ferocious beast, dismounted sideways, and spotted Xiong Shan from a distance. His eyes lit up, and he called out in a loud voice. “Isn’t that the young chieftain of the Giant Bear Tribe, Xiong Shan? I never expected, even from so far away, the Giant Bear Tribe’s nose is still so sharp?”

This immediately caught the attention of many surrounding tribal groups on the road.

The Giant Bear Tribe was quite famous among the many surrounding human tribes.

“Naturally, we had to come. If the Kunwu Tribe can receive news, our Giant Bear Tribe is no worse than you!” The tall youth snorted lightly.

“It seems this time, everyone has brought many good things!”

The Kunwu Tribe cultivator was not bothered by this remark and laughed heartily. His gaze lingered for a moment on the bundle behind Xiong Shan, his eyes gleaming slightly. The Giant Bear Tribe, backed by the vast mountains, was always quite well-off. They had many rare medicinal herbs and forging materials in their hands, all good stuff that could be exchanged for some rare magical artifacts at the market.

Beside them, another sturdy figure chuckled lightly. “Naturally, we need to bring out good things. It’s rare for the Lishui Tribe to open a market, just convenient for us to exchange what we have and lack!”

“This time, I brought a dual cultivation method our tribe obtained.”

“I also brought many good things, and a few spirit pearls collected from thousand-year river clams in the river!”

“Those are truly good items!”

…

Many tribal cultivators had excitement in their eyes.

Seeing this, Xiong Shan felt it was strange yet also novel. He was even more filled with anticipation for the Lishui Tribe’s market trade. With so many cultivators coming, perhaps there really was hope of finding the magical artifact his tribe needed.

For this market trade, he had made full preparations. He even had a treasure in his possession, something he risked his life to snatch from the maw of a top-tier great Demon King!

…

In the Lishui Tribe, on a cliff very close to the Tongtian River, a cave dwelling had been opened in the rock face. A figure sat cross-legged on the cliff, absorbing the abundant innate water spiritual energy of the Tongtian River.

A clear, spiritual immortal light flickered over his body, making him seem like a water deity or demon. With every breath, he could stir up wind and waves.

Lin Yuan looked inward. The faint innate water spiritual energy merged into his body and was instantly swept away by the Innate Twenty-Four Dao Diagrams within him, then quickly expelled to nourish his Dao Body.

Having reached the Jade Mystic twelfth layer in cultivation, he was already touching the gate of longevity. The next step was the Five Qi Converging to the Origin.

This Five Qi Converging to the Origin did not mean absorbing and refining the innate Five Elements.

The Five Elements and the Five Qi were not the same.

The Five Qi Converging to the Origin meant achieving inner and outer perfection, reaching the moment of unity between inside and outside. In the orthodox Mystic Gate Immortal Path, one must find a way to refine the Primordial Spirit into the Innocent True Infant. The Innocent True Infant was incredibly profound; even if the physical body was slain, one could calmly reincarnate and start over.

The liberation of a Scattered Immortal was this kind of situation; such beings were also called Corpse Liberation Immortals.

Cultivating to this stage was not something that could be achieved simply by relying on the Primordial Divine Demon Dao Body; it required more accumulation.

This was not accomplished in one step.

But Lin Yuan had far more advantages than ordinary Primordial Spirit Great True Lords, especially possessing the Innate Yin-Yang Dual Qi within his body.

Thinking of the Innate Yin-Yang Dual Qi being refined by his magic power within his body, Lin Yuan frowned slightly.

The refinement speed of the Innate Yin-Yang Dual Qi was too slow.

Looking at the Tongtian River before him, he thought of a good method: using the river’s essence to enhance the power of the Water trigram (Kan) within the Innate Twenty-Four Dao Diagrams, thereby boosting his magic power to refine the Innate Yin-Yang Dual Qi.

Specifically, he wanted to become the river god of this Tongtian River.

The Tongtian River was so vast, and it seemed no deity or demon occupied it yet. If he could seize its fortune, it would certainly be a great good thing.

In the Main World, there were no such good opportunities!

Just then, Lin Yuan’s gaze shifted slightly. He opened his eyes as a figure approached along the nearby cliff.

It was Feng Bo, the chieftain of the Lishui Tribe whom Lin Yuan supported.

Feng Bo strode over, his face full of delight. “Elder Taiyuan, the material you needed to collect has appeared?”

Facing this elder of the Lishui Tribe, Feng Bo was extremely respectful. He had personally witnessed Lin Yuan suppress a great demon that terrorized the area with casual movements. His strength was terrifying.

“Has the Southern Brightness Departing Fire been found?”

Lin Yuan looked up, a trace of surprise showing on his face. This market trade was more useful than he had imagined!

It had only been held a few times, and there was already news!