"Alright, I'll let you go once I confirm my own safety," Leo nodded in agreement, then added, "But regarding the questions I ask, you'd better answer truthfully. If I ever discover discrepancies between your answers and the facts, your fate will be the same as that man's earlier."

  Through Vesper's account, Leo learned that the Draper family had been a cultivation family residing in Arn over a hundred years ago. The Draper family consisted of five people. The head of the family was Arthur Draper, at Qi Refining Level Four, the highest cultivation level in the family. Another person was the deceased Wynn Draper's clan uncle, his cultivation level unknown, but certainly not exceeding Qi Refining Level Three. There was also a younger member, Louis Draper, only at Qi Refining Level One.

  Later, the Draper family moved their entire clan to a distant immortal city, Moonwatch Immortal City, where there were thousands of cultivators. Countless individuals were at the mid, late, and great perfection stages of Qi Refining.

  This was also the first time Leo learned that above the Qi Refining stage was the Foundation Establishment stage. Those who reached Foundation Establishment could control flying swords, split mountains and stones, fly through the sky and burrow into the earth. Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage had lifespans of two to three hundred years.

  Leo listened, his heart soaring with longing. No one had ever taught him this before. Now he finally knew that cultivators also had their own gathering places—Moonwatch Immortal City! Besides Moonwatch City, there were other major cultivation sects in other places. Those sects were the true rulers of the cultivation world.

  Families like the Drapers, entrenched in a single region of a secular nation, could only be considered minor, insignificant forces in the cultivation world, too numerous to count.

  Leo asked another question, "These Draper family members are cultivators. Why would they interfere in the affairs of secular people? What benefit is it to them?"

  "Secular, mortal lands rarely produce spiritual items. If it weren't for offending the wrong person in Moonwatch City, the Draper family wouldn't have fled in disarray back to their old nest in Arn. Their family has limited members and simply doesn't have the time to search for spiritual items themselves. So, they control these martial world gang forces to search for spiritual herbs and spirit stones to supply their own cultivation," Vesper explained.

  "So, the deceased Wynn Draper rushed over as soon as he learned I bought three stalks of Purple Spirit Grass from Mystic Herb Pharmacy?"

  Leo suddenly understood. It made sense now. The Drapers controlled martial world forces, with many eyes and ears. If he appeared in Nordgard County, he would easily be discovered.

  Vesper nodded, "Exactly!"

  "Are these 'spirit stones' you mentioned referring to these? What are their uses?" Leo thought of the stones with spiritual energy in the storage pouch and took out a red one to ask.

  "Correct, that's a low-grade fire attribute spirit stone. When engaged in battle, if your mana depletes too quickly, you can hold it in your hand and absorb its spiritual energy to replenish your mana consumption. Also, crafting some spiritual tools and setting up formations require spirit stones," Vesper said with a bitter smile.

  She could now be certain that this youth before her was just an ordinary loose cultivator. He didn't even know the most basic thing about spirit stones. She truly wondered how he had become a cultivator. What was even more bizarre was that he had somehow subdued a formidable leopard spirit beast. It was truly unbelievable.

  "Essence Energy Pills!" Immediately after, something even more unimaginable happened, leaving her mouth agape for a long time.

  Leo touched his nose. By now, he had figured out what some of the items on his body actually were. Essence Energy Pills were pills used during cultivation by late-stage and great perfection Qi Refining cultivators. Early-stage Qi Refining cultivators typically didn't carry many Qi Gathering Pills. Yet he could produce pills used by late-stage Qi Refining cultivators. For Vesper, this was naturally shocking enough. If this woman knew his storage pouch contained two other bottles of Essence Energy Pills, he couldn't imagine what expression she would make.

  "Last question, how do I get to Moonwatch Immortal City?"

  The red-dressed woman said, "From Arn, head west continuously. You must pass through the Weir Kingdom, Wun Kingdom, Northern Mercia Kingdom, and over a dozen other secular nations. The journey is extremely distant, tens of thousands of miles. However, I must remind you, Moonwatch Immortal City is not a place everyone can go to."

  "Why? Is Moonwatch Immortal City very dangerous?" Leo asked, puzzled.

  "Moonwatch Immortal City is a gathering place for loose cultivators, and there are also some cultivation sect branch offices there. Tens of thousands of loose cultivators reside there permanently, and the cultivators entering and leaving the city number several times that. A cultivator like you at Qi Refining Level One can at most do the lowest-level jobs in the city, with a status only slightly higher than secular martial artists. Unless you possess outstanding aptitude and are noticed and taken in by a major sect, the spirit stones earned from doing menial labor would probably not allow you to cultivate to a high realm even if you saved for a lifetime."

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  "But Moonwatch City has so many loose cultivators who haven't joined sects either. Can't loose cultivators make something of themselves without doing menial work?" Leo asked.

  The red-dressed woman sneered, "Of course, there are powerful figures among loose cultivators. Many loose cultivators gather in Moonwatch Immortal City because the nearby Moonwatch Mountain Range contains endless spiritual items. Many loose cultivators search for spiritual items in the mountains to aid their cultivation. However, the mountain range is teeming with demon beasts, and other treasure-hunting cultivators often engage in ripping each other off. A cultivator like you at Qi Refining Level One would probably turn into a pile of bones within a few days."

  After hearing the red-dressed woman's words, Leo had made up his mind. From the implications of the black-robed old man and this red-dressed woman, along with his own experiences along the way, everything pointed to the survival of the fittest in the cultivation world, likely even fiercer than the competition among secular mortals. However, this did not affect his determination to pursue the path of transcendence.

  "Earlier, your spirit beast seemed to come out from a storage pouch on your body. That pouch belongs to me now."

  Leo reached out and took the small brocade pouch from the red-dressed woman. The previous two times he entered Nordgard County, it was inconvenient to bring the leopard, so he had left it waiting in the wilderness. However, after the battle with the golden-robed youth, he understood his own combat deficiencies. Without the leopard, encountering the golden-robed youth in the city, he could only flee in panic, probably unable to do anything against him. Moreover, without knowing spells, he also couldn't escape the other party's clutches.

  Seeing Leo only take her spirit beast pouch, the red-dressed woman actually sighed with relief. If she had encountered a truly ruthless person, her life might have been hard to preserve. The youth before her, though decisive in killing, at least seemed to keep his word and didn't appear to have intentions of going back on his promise. That Scent-Tracking Mouse had run off somewhere and, apart from occasionally finding people, had no combat power. Losing the spirit beast pouch to this youth wasn't a significant loss for her.

  "When do you plan to let me go?" the red-dressed woman asked the question she cared about most.

  "When I consider myself sufficiently safe, I will naturally let you go. For now, please endure staying in this cave for a while."

  Leo smiled faintly. According to the woman's words, Wynn Draper was dead. The Draper family would surely search everywhere for the Culprit. His father, at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, was an expert. Even with the leopard, Leo was no match for him. It was better to stay in the mountain forest for a while and wait for the situation to calm down. Now that he had obtained the information he wanted, the previously mandatory Martial Arts Conference was no longer important to him. As for letting this woman go, she might reveal his whereabouts. In short, it was best to be cautious.

  Leaving the girl inside, Leo walked out of the cave with great enthusiasm. He carefully took out the Compendium of Basic Spells and began studying it intently. Ever since he started cultivating The Primordial Chaos Scripture, he had longed to learn spells. It had taken nearly a year and a half to finally get his hands on them.

  According to the introduction in the spell compendium, any Qi Refining stage cultivator could learn low-level spells. However, cultivating spells corresponding to one's own elemental attribute would be relatively faster. The problem was, Leo didn't know which of the Five Elements he belonged to.

  Since the spell compendium says cultivating corresponding spells is faster, I'll try learning one from each element. That should help me figure it out, Leo pondered for a moment and thought this way.

  A short while later, a short, golden spear appeared in front of Leo. It wobbled unsteadily and moved quite slowly as it shot towards a large tree several meters away.

  With this speed, forget hitting an enemy, even hitting a stationary target would be difficult. Leo frowned, realizing the Golden Spear Technique he had cast was much weaker than the spells used by the golden-robed youth or the black-robed old man.

  Puzzled, he ran back into the cave to ask Vesper. He learned that spells also required practice to become proficient enough for combat. Leo's face flushed slightly, thinking to himself that he hadn't even considered this most basic principle. Even martial artists had to practice a martial skill hundreds or thousands of times to become more familiar. Spells were naturally the same.

  Leo repeatedly used the Golden Spear Technique several times. Although his accuracy was still off and the time to accumulate mana was quite long, compared to the first time, he had made significant progress. Getting carried away, he prepared to try other spells but discovered the energy in his elixir field was nearly depleted.

  Spells consume energy this heavily? Leo was startled. Remembering what Vesper said about spirit stones helping recover mana, Leo took a metal spirit stone from his storage pouch and held it in his hand. A stream of pure metal spiritual energy indeed flowed continuously from the stone into his body.

  Feeling invigorated, Leo couldn't stop himself and repeatedly used the powerful Golden Spear Technique.

  Crack! A soft sound came from his left hand. He looked down. The spirit stone, which had been shimmering with golden light moments before, had now turned into dull powder spilling from between his fingers. A low-grade metal spirit stone was used up. Leo felt a pang of heartache. It seems I'll have to rely on meditation to recover energy in the future. Otherwise, using spirit stones like this, they'll be gone soon. Spirit stones have such significant uses; better save them for more critical times.

  Over the next few days, Leo practiced using spells with great enthusiasm. However, he found it strange that his speed in learning Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth element spells was actually the same. Only spells for Ice, Wind, and Thunder were slower. When he told this result to Vesper, she was extremely surprised and looked at him with sympathy, saying this kind of aptitude was the lowest-grade, Five-Element Mixed Spiritual Root. Even with great effort in this lifetime, reaching the late stage of Qi Refining would already be considered quite an achievement.

  Only now did Leo recall what the black-robed old man meant by his "poor aptitude." It turned out the old fellow had known all along, just hadn't told him.

  Leo felt somewhat discouraged, but he did not give up. His passion for cultivation remained as high as before. Every day, he practiced various spells, depleting the energy in his elixir field almost completely before meditating to recover, day after day.