DIV Chapter 32: Obtaining Precious Armor

Hearing the shouts from behind, the puppet body didn't stop but instead quickened its pace, appearing quite fearful.

Seeing this, cruel smiles appeared on the faces of several robber cultivators, like wolves that had spotted their prey.

"Hehehe, Fellow Daoist, why are you running? I'm not a villain."

The leading middle-aged cultivator cackled strangely.

The two sides maintained their distance, one chasing and one fleeing, with the gap never widening.

Before long, they had moved far from the black market.

About a quarter-hour later, the puppet body ahead suddenly slowed down, as if it had exhausted its spiritual power.

This scene was completely expected by the robber cultivators, as this wasn't their first time doing such things.

"Don't worry, Fellow Daoist, we won't harm you."

The middle-aged cultivator's eyes gleamed with greed as he rapidly closed in.

The others did likewise, seeming confident of victory.

However, at this moment, sudden change occurred!

"Whoosh whoosh!"

Endless yellow sand suddenly rose from the earth, forming a terrifying sandstorm that instantly swallowed the several robber cultivators.

They were caught completely off guard.

The next moment, agonized screams echoed from within the yellow sand.

"Ahhhhh—"

Each grain of sand was like a sharp blade, howling around their bodies, shredding their flesh inch by inch.

In an instant, the screams ceased.

Those several third-layer Qi Refining robber cultivators were scraped down to white bones in the blink of an eye!

Only the middle-aged cultivator remained alive.

His face was deathly pale, equally unable to react in time.

However, the soft armor on his body flickered with faint light, automatically releasing a shimmering spiritual power shield the instant he was attacked, keeping the yellow sand at bay.

This temporarily preserved his life.

"Oh?"

Li Chang'an, hiding in the shadows, stared at that soft armor, his eyes slightly brightening.

"What fine armor!"

To block Big Yellow's attack, it had to be at least first-tier superior-grade armor.

Moreover, it could automatically release a protective shield upon being attacked, which made Li Chang'an quite excited.

He was currently lacking a superior defensive magical artifact.

At this moment, the middle-aged robber cultivator's face was deathly pale as he threw out several first-tier superior-grade talismans and shouted loudly, "Fellow Daoist, spare my life! Spare me!"

He was both shocked and terrified, filled with regret.

This yellow sand technique was so powerful that the caster was either a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator with earth spiritual roots, or a late first-tier earth element spiritual beast.

Either way, it wasn't someone he could afford to provoke.

Had he known this, he shouldn't have been greedy today.

Things had come to this point, and regret was useless.

After just a few breaths, the spiritual power shield was worn away, and the talismans crumbled one after another in the howling sand.

"I'll fight!"

The middle-aged cultivator gritted his teeth, planning to use every means to break out of this sandstorm, which might give him a sliver of chance at survival.

But suddenly, an almost imperceptible large net descended from above.

By the time he noticed, his entire body was already trapped by the net.

"Shadowless Net!"

The middle-aged cultivator cried out in shock, despair filling his heart.

This type of magical artifact was extremely expensive and unsuitable for direct combat, few proper cultivators would buy it.

Clearly, he had also encountered a robber cultivator, and an experienced veteran among robber cultivators at that!

"This junior has eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai, I beg senior to spare my life!" Trapped in the net, unable to move, he had become a lamb awaiting slaughter!

Any means were now useless. Only begging for mercy remained!

But there was no response from the rolling sand, only a large hand reaching out.

The next instant, he felt everything go dark as he was thrown into a spirit beast bag.

"Whoosh..."

The sandstorm dispersed, leaving only a few broken bones on the ground.

...

Deep underground, Li Chang'an held the spirit beast bag and concentrated his thoughts.

The terrified middle-aged cultivator was thrown out!

"Senior, sen—"

He was about to beg for mercy, but Li Chang'an's appearance before him made him pause.

Why was he so young?

Li Chang'an didn't care what he thought, reaching out to take the storage bag from his body.

Then he stared at the soft armor on this person, his eyes flickering.

The middle-aged cultivator sensed his intention and hurriedly spoke.

"Senior, this soft armor was given to me by my uncle for protection. Perhaps you know him, he's the third leader of Black Wind Mountain."

"Black Wind Mountain?"

"Yes, yes!"

The middle-aged cultivator nodded repeatedly, as if grasping a final lifeline.

Among the robber cultivator community, Black Wind Mountain had quite a reputation.

Perhaps the other party might spare his life for Black Wind Mountain's sake.

But Li Chang'an remained cold, casually flicking a finger of spiritual power at his throat.

"Crack!"

His whole body shuddered, his face filled with despair.

That finger of spiritual power shattered his throat, making even breathing a luxury.

"Though cultivators' spiritual power is strong, their bodies are too fragile and must rely on various spells, armor, talismans, and other protections, unless they've practiced body cultivation techniques." Li Chang'an pondered.

In the cultivation world, body cultivation techniques were rare, and not many people practiced them.

This was because body cultivation required massive amounts of resources.

Most cultivators, like Li Chang'an once was, had few channels for obtaining cultivation resources.

The spirit stones earned each year weren't even enough for basic daily cultivation, let alone body cultivation.

"I need a suitable body cultivation technique." Li Chang'an thought to himself. Now that he wasn't lacking cultivation resources, he should quickly convert resources into personal strength.

Then he removed the soft armor from the middle-aged cultivator and began refining it.

After a moment, Li Chang'an's face showed joy as he examined the armor.

"It really is a first-tier superior-grade magical artifact of extremely high quality!"

He estimated that such a suit of soft armor would cost over a thousand spirit stones!

"Saved another sum on buying armor!" Li Chang'an was extremely satisfied.

He then took out the storage bags of several robber cultivators and searched through them carefully.

The contents were conventional, mostly regular pills, talismans, and such.

Nothing particularly outstanding, but still a small harvest.

Li Chang'an threw out a Fireball Talisman, burning the middle-aged robber cultivator's corpse to ash.

"Big Yellow, take us out and fill this underground space."

Having done all this, Li Chang'an instructed Big Yellow.

Afterwards, the man and dog returned to the area near the black market.

They still hid in an underground space, using the puppet body to enter the black market.

"I need to buy some treasures that enhance my personal strength."

Li Chang'an walked through the black market, his gaze sweeping over stall after stall.

Before long, he purchased a first-tier superior-grade magical artifact called "Green Light Sword" for five hundred spirit stones.

To prevent accidents, he still followed his previous pattern, leaving after the transaction and returning to the black market with a new disguise.

"Now I have both offensive and defensive magical artifacts, I still need some spells." Li Chang'an pondered.

Spells in the cultivation world also had different grades, classified the same way as spiritual roots.

They were divided into inferior, low, middle, superior, earth, and heaven grade spells.

Common spells like Fireball Technique, Rockfall Technique, Golden Light Technique, and so on were all low-grade spells with mediocre power.

Of course, most rogue cultivators could only access inferior and low-grade spells.

Better spells, such as middle and superior grades, were basically all stored in the libraries of various families and sects.

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