Chapter 131: Condensation of Mysterious Essence

Su Che wanted to stop by “home” on his way mainly for two reasons.

First, the Supreme Patriarch had sent over the first batch of rewards in the form of high-grade pills. Among them were 100 sixth-grade spirit pills and 50 seventh-grade spirit pills. Based on market prices, a sixth-grade spirit pill was worth about 500 spirit stones, while a seventh-grade one was worth around 1,000 spirit stones. The total value of these rewards amounted to 100,000 spirit stones.

Moreover, the elder who delivered the rewards said that there would be 19 more such rewards in the future. This meant that just for that Upper Ancient Town Mountain Talisman, Tianxuan Sect would reward Su Che with something worth 2 million spirit stones in market value.

Of course, this referred to market prices. The actual cost of refining these pills was likely less than one-third of that, perhaps only 600,000 to 700,000 spirit stones. This was because spirit pills above the fifth grade were hard to find in the market, which drove up their prices.

Still, Su Che felt it was worth it. If he had to rely on his own efforts to obtain so many pills, he would be too busy to do anything else, and even then, it might not be possible. For Su Che, time was the most precious thing, while other material possessions could be secondary.

Similarly, for Tianxuan Sect, spending only 600,000 to 700,000 spirit stones on pills to acquire an Upper Ancient Town Mountain Talisman was far more than “cost-effective”—it was almost like finding a treasure.

For such ancient treasures, even if it cost millions or tens of millions of spirit stones, once encountered, one would do everything possible to bid them away, never skimping on expenses.

The protective array of a sect was extremely important—improving its defensive power by 30% was a tremendous advantage.

Therefore, in addition to the pills awarded to Su Che, his contributions were heavily recorded in the sect’s merit book, and he was designated as a key candidate for further cultivation within the sect. This would have a profound impact in the future…

Since Su Che had received his first reward, he should return home and pretend to deliver the pills to his family, making his earlier excuse plausible.

The second reason was that Su Che felt he had used “his family” as a shield many times, even if just verbally. This created a sense of obligation—essentially, he owed the Su family a favor that needed to be repaid.

If one owes something, they must repay it. Living with a clear conscience meant there was no need to fear inner demons.

On this day, Su Che was well-prepared. Stepping onto the jade disc, he transformed into a crimson streak of light and flew out of Tianxuan Sect’s main gate formation. The crimson light emitted a sense of noble righteousness, unlike the blood-red glow of demonic cultivators, which carried an aura of murderous violence. After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, things truly changed. With the power of his vital energy combined with the flying talisman bestowed by his master, Su Che’s speed was now at least four times faster than before—truly a exhilarating experience akin to lightning in motion! The main gate formation of Tianxuan Sect saw many people flying in and out at all times. As soon as Su Che flew out of the gate, he pushed his speed to its limit, eager to fully enjoy this sense of extreme speed. Many others traveling in the same direction were left behind by Su Che, but a female cultivator flying on a sword suddenly accelerated to catch up, unyielding in her pursuit. Her streak of light had a faint green hue, likely due to her focus on wood-related cultivation techniques. Her speed was extremely high, and she caught up to Su Che in just a few breaths. Su Che noticed this and realized his behavior had been reckless, easily provoking others’ competitive spirit or even resentment—such as this female cultivator, who was also at the Foundation Establishment stage. To be precise, she was in the later stage of this phase. Lao He had confirmed that her robes, hidden beneath the luxurious fur cloak, featured three silver threads—she was indeed a true disciple of Xuan Yuan Peak. Su Che guessed to himself, “This is the third true disciple I’ve encountered. But today, my reckless behavior—flying at full speed right after leaving the gate—must have angered her.” Since the two true disciples he had met before were unreasonable, Su Che subconsciously assumed that all true disciples were arrogant and untouchable, leading him to harbor deep suspicion toward them. Unexpectedly, after catching up to him, the woman smiled and transmitted a message, “To reach such speed already in the early Foundation Establishment stage—Uncle Xuanji’s flying talisman is truly remarkable. Come on, let’s compete to see who can fly faster.” “Su Che, an inner disciple of Xuan Qi Peak, greets his senior sister,” Su Che replied with a bow, also transmitting a message, “I was reckless just now. Please forgive me, senior sister.” “It’s fine,” she replied. “I was bored on the road anyway. It’s perfect—we can have a competition to pass the time, right?” Su Che wasn’t afraid of a competition, but he didn’t want to change his route for such a trivial matter. So he replied, “I’m heading to the Eastern Jin Kingdom. Are you going the same way?” “Same way!” the woman said, nodding her chin. “Great!”

Su Che suddenly accelerated, leaving her far behind in an instant. If there’s a race, who’s afraid of whom?
“Are you cheating? I haven’t even started yet!” The woman also sped up to chase after him.
Su Che kept accelerating and even took the time to ask via telepathy, “May I ask, what’s your name, senior sister?”
“Ning Lu from Xuan Yuan Peak.” She was almost catching up.
Su Che’s heart skipped a beat—“It’s her!”
There were only a hundred true disciples in the Tian Xuan Sect, so their names were widely known; even an outer sect disciple could recite them. Of course, Su Che had heard of “Ning Lu” before.
Ning Lu ranked fifth among the true disciples of Xuan Yuan Peak. She was said to be a very fierce woman who would draw her sword at the slightest provocation, which was quite inconsistent with her Wood-type Tian Ling root…
Among the hundred true disciples of the Tian Xuan Sect, more than half had Tian Ling roots. It wasn’t because there were many Tian Ling roots, but because in the entire cultivation world, almost all such talents were claimed by the powerful sects of immortals and demons.
Even if a large sect was lucky enough to recruit a disciple with a Tian Ling root, it would soon be snatched away by those powerful sects under various pretexts. It was better to “sell” such a disciple to them and still receive a considerable reward.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two streaks of light—one red, one green—rapidly cut through the sky. In less than fifteen minutes, they had traveled hundreds of miles.
So far, Su Che still had a slight advantage, leading by dozens of feet.
This showed just how excellent the flying talisman crafted by Venerable Xuan Ji was. Even though Su Che’s cultivation level was two ranks lower than Ning Lu’s, his flying speed was comparable to hers.
Because Su Che had cheated by taking a slight head start, Ning Lu couldn’t close that small gap.
However, Ning Lu wasn’t in a hurry. She believed that since Su Che was only at the early stage of Foundation Building, despite having an advantage in magical artifacts, his endurance was far inferior to hers. Such extreme flying couldn’t last long before his vital energy ran out.
By then, she could leave him far behind…
Ning Lu’s guess was spot on. After flying for half an hour, Su Che’s vital energy was severely depleted, and its regeneration rate couldn’t keep up with the consumption.
No problem!
Snap—Su Che put a sixth-grade spirit pill into his mouth. It should be enough to sustain him for two more hours.
“Taking medicine?”
Ning Lu didn’t need to use her eyes. With her consciousness covering a range of nearly a hundred feet, she clearly detected Su Che’s action.

“Hmph, will this really work? The medicinal energy doesn’t even have time to transform,” Ning Lu said with a scornful laugh.
Unexpectedly, over the next hour, Su Che remained full of energy, his speed not slowing down at all, while Ning Lu, who was chasing behind him, had already used up most of her vital energy.
“How is this possible? Did this guy take an elixir?”
Ning Lu tentatively sent a message, “It’s Su Che, right? I ask you, how much longer can you keep flying like this?”
Su Che turned around and smiled, “As long as the heavens and earth last.”
“Damn it!”
Ning Lu gritted her teeth in frustration. Yet, intuitively, she felt that even if his answer was an exaggeration, it showed enough confidence.
So, she sent a message, “Forget it, I give up. I admit defeat.”
Su Che smiled silently, immediately slowing down, and replied, “Senior sister, actually, you haven’t really lost. I just took an elixir to replenish my vital energy; otherwise, I would have run out of strength long ago.”
“I know,” Ning Lu shook her head. “Anyway, it’s you who won.”
Huh? Su Che was slightly surprised, thinking, “As expected, rumors can’t be trusted. She’s described as a fierce tigress, but she turns out to be reasonable.”
At that moment, Ning Lu waved her hand, “Go down, I need to rest for a while.”
Su Che thought to himself, “If you want to rest, what does it have to do with me? I still need to keep moving.”
But out of courtesy, he couldn’t say that, so he accompanied her to the ground, found a sheltered spot, and they both took out cushions to sit in seiza position.
Ning Lu also took an elixir to slowly restore her vital energy, but she still didn’t delay in speaking.
“What kind of elixir did you take that allows you to generate vital energy instantly?” Ning Lu asked curiously.
“The Eighth-Class Wind God Elixir,” Su Che made up casually.
“Wind God Elixir?” Ning Lu thought for a while and murmured, “I’ve never heard of that name…”
Then, she gave him a strange look and said, “It was just a small game. You’d rather waste an Eighth-Class elixir than lose. Should I say you’re wealthy and extravagant, or competitive?”
“Both,” Su Che smiled faintly. “I have both traits.”
“So young, yet such thick skin!” Ning Lu muttered under her breath.
To be honest, though Ning Lu looked like a young girl, her actual age was 35. In the mortal world, a woman of this age would give birth to a son around Su Che’s age.
But in the cultivation world, age differences were long ignored. It was completely normal for someone 300 years old to call someone 200 years old “Elder Ancestor.”
Power prevails; cultivation is supreme!

At this moment, Ning Lu spoke softly, “Since you won, then do me a favor.”
What?
Su Che was instantly stunned; his mind couldn’t process this at all… How could it be that since I won, I still have to do you a favor?
If winning requires helping you, then what would happen if I lost—wouldn’t I deserve to be tortured to death?
“I thought she was a reasonable person just now. Now I see that each true disciple is more extreme than the last…”