Chapter 00205: Seeking Self Preservation
# Seeking Self-Preservation
Chapter 205
Novel: After the Myth
Chapter 205: Seeking Self-Preservation
"Ding Huan, I know you must have some issues with how the Sect Master handled the matters concerning Dong Lishang and Gong Hua. The Sect Master had no choice. We are bound to clash with the Nine Sound Sect, and Dong Lishang and Gong Hua are the two strongest True Core elders in our sect."
Liu Yinzhu accompanied Ding Huan as they walked out, her tone tinged with guilt.
She knew Ding Huan's temperament well.
He had been openly challenged, and despite being in the right, the Sect Master had only given a slap on the wrist as punishment.
It would be strange if Ding Huan were satisfied with such a light punishment.
Ding Huan, however, seemed unbothered.
"How could I, an outsider, be dissatisfied with how the Sect Master handles sect affairs? I actually need your help, Sister Yinzhu."
Liu Yinzhu naturally didn't believe Ding Huan's words.
She knew that if Qing Yu had schemed against Ding Huan, Ding Huan would seize any opportunity to retaliate.
How could he not care? But since Ding Huan said so, she could only go along with it.
"Why be so polite with me? Just say what you need."
Ding Huan waved the jade token of an honorary elder in his hand.
"Sister Yinzhu, I have 100,000 contribution points here. I want to exchange them for some items. Could you take me to do that?"
Ding Huan had refused the position of Sect Master's heir, but he still needed an identity to obtain the contribution points token.
In the end, he had to settle for the title of honorary elder to get this token.
Such a small matter was naturally not something Liu Yinzhu would refuse.
The area around Purple Mist Valley was rich in resources, so even though the sect's overall strength wasn't impressive, the sect's treasury had plenty of good items.
When Ding Huan followed Liu Yinzhu to the resource exchange hall, he was stunned by the variety of materials available.
There were so many!
Huan Yuan Stones were five contribution points each, Zhen Gold was ten points per piece, a 10,000-year-old ironwood root was fifty points per section...
"Give me a hundred Purple Thunder Crystals, a thousand Huan Yuan Stones... and some Di Iron too, let's take five hundred pieces. The horns of a second-level Two-Horned Leopard? I'll take twenty pairs. Oh, there's Huang Yuan Gold too? Give me ten pieces..."
Seeing Ding Huan indiscriminately picking all sorts of items, even Liu Yinzhu was shocked, not to mention the steward in charge of the exchange.
By the time Ding Huan had almost spent all 100,000 contribution points, Liu Yinzhu couldn't help but wonder: Was Ding Huan planning to leave?
"Ding Huan, why are you exchanging so many materials?" Liu Yinzhu was completely baffled.
The materials Ding Huan had exchanged ranged from first to fourth grade, covering almost everything.
If fifth-grade materials weren't so rare and expensive, she suspected Ding Huan would have wanted those too.
Ding Huan awkwardly replied, "I haven't made much progress in my cultivation, so I thought I'd try my hand at crafting."
He didn't feel the slightest bit guilty about spending all 100,000 contribution points.
After all, he had earned them by saving Gu Mo's life.
They were rightfully his.
Liu Yinzhu knew Ding Huan was a first-grade array master.
Now that he wanted to learn crafting, she couldn't help but facepalm.
Thankfully, Ding Huan hadn't exchanged any spirit herbs for alchemy, or else she might have immediately tried to talk him out of wasting his time.
From the fact that Ding Huan had spent all his contribution points, it was clear he didn't plan to stay in Purple Mist Valley for long.
She had been right about him.
After the Sect Master's slap-on-the-wrist punishment, Ding Huan had been deeply disappointed.
...
"Brother Huan, today someone attacked our protective array, and Elder Jia called you over. What happened?" As soon as Ding Huan returned to Morning Glow Peak, Yan Mei anxiously approached him to ask.
"Someone in Purple Mist Valley wants to kill me. You need to work hard to improve your strength. We might have to leave here at any moment," Ding Huan shared his judgment.
"Ah..."
Yan Mei was a bit panicked.
If someone in the sect wanted to kill them, wouldn't that mean they couldn't leave the sect?
"Don't worry. The person who wants to kill me has been confined. Although they could come out at any time, for appearances' sake, they'll probably be confined for at least a year or so."
Ding Huan knew Yan Mei was a bit of a nervous wreck.
Yan Mei quickly said, "Can we leave now?"
Ding Huan shook his head.
"Leaving now would be suicide. Just focus on your cultivation. Don't worry about anything else."
Dong Lishang and Gong Hua had too many allies, and they were definitely keeping an eye on him.
If he dared to leave Purple Mist Valley now, he would be surrounded by True Core elders in no time.
At least on Morning Glow Peak, he would be safe for about a year.
After a year, things would be uncertain.
In Ding Huan's judgment, neither Dong Lishang nor Gong Hua would be confined in the Abyssal Cliff for three years.
Even if they were supposedly confined for three years, they would find a way to come out sooner.
Once they were out, Gong Hua would definitely come straight to Morning Glow Peak to kill him.
Given Gu Mo's nature, if Ding Huan were killed, the most Gong Hua would get would be a slap on the wrist—maybe a fine of a cup of wine and some side dishes.
"Brother Huan, I'll go cultivate right away."
Yan Mei didn't dare to delay and hurried off to seclusion.
Seeing Yan Mei go into seclusion, Old Six also grew anxious.
It couldn't build its foundation, so what was it supposed to do here? Just wait around?
"Brother Huan, what about me?" Old Six scratched its head in frustration.
In West Wind City, it had been strutting around, forgetting about other matters.
Now that it no longer had the chance to show off, it could only think about building its foundation.
Ding Huan patted Old Six's head.
"You keep trying to build your foundation. Don't be afraid of failure. When my cultivation improves a bit more, I'll help you solve this problem."
Old Six's inability to build its foundation wasn't due to a lack of ability but rather its innate limitations.
"Yes, Brother Huan."
Old Six perked up.
In its mind, Ding Huan's strength was average, but he had plenty of ideas.
Otherwise, how could it, one of the mighty Chaos Four Monkeys, become Ding Huan's spirit beast?
After Old Six and Yan Mei went into seclusion, Ding Huan began studying arrays.
He had already reached the level of a second-grade array master, but he hadn't been able to set up second-grade arrays before because he lacked the necessary tools.
Now that he had crafted his own array flags, Ding Huan easily set up a second-grade array.
After becoming a second-grade array master, Ding Huan didn't modify the protective array around Morning Glow Peak.
Instead, he set up a trigger array at the edge of the protective array.
As long as someone entered Morning Glow Peak, he would definitely notice.
After finishing this, Ding Huan continued to set up second-grade trapping, killing, and defensive arrays around his cave.
A few days later, after completing these arrays, Ding Huan began studying crafting.
Ding Huan's talent was average, but the knowledge about alchemy, crafting, talismans, and arrays in his mind was vast.
With Ding Huan's relentless studying, he quickly connected the dots in his crafting knowledge.
Two months later, Ding Huan could craft third-grade mid-tier magical tools.
Being able to craft third-grade mid-tier tools was more than enough for him.
He then turned his attention back to arrays.
In the short term, he definitely couldn't break through to the Star Cloud Realm.
To ensure his survival, he could only rely on arrays.
Gu Mo's way of handling things was essentially enabling Dong Lishang and Gong Hua.
The reason Dong Lishang and Gong Hua were so brazen wasn't just because of Gu Mo's leadership but also because they had the backing of Elder He, who was at the peak of the Soul Formation Realm.
Five months passed, and Ding Huan could now easily set up third-grade arrays.
He had even crafted a pile of third-grade array disks.
Ding Huan wanted to continue studying fourth-grade arrays, but he knew that in the short term, it was impossible for him to set up a fourth-grade array.
Unless he broke through to the Star Cloud Realm or spent another ten years studying array theory.
After replacing all the protective arrays around his residence and locking them down with a concealment array, Ding Huan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Now, even if Gong Hua or Dong Lishang came to his place, he wouldn't be afraid.
During this time, Gu Mo had been busy trying to reclaim Purple Mist Valley's Purple Garden Heavy Mountain and hadn't had time to look for Ding Huan.
Liu Yinzhu, as Gu Mo's right-hand woman, was also very busy.
Ding Huan decided to take this opportunity to cultivate for a while.
The conditions on Morning Glow Peak were excellent, and he had spent half a year crafting and setting up arrays.
It was a bit of a waste.
As soon as Ding Huan began cultivating, Yan Mei and Old Six noticed.
Thick spiritual energy was drawn over by Ding Huan, and in a short time, it once again enveloped Morning Glow Peak.
Thankfully, the concealment array hid the spiritual energy fluctuations from the outside.
Feeling his cultivation rapidly increase once more, Ding Huan thought to himself, "So what if my talent is poor? I have top-tier cultivation techniques. Besides, I have a genetic spiritual root. Can that really be considered poor talent?"
With such dense spiritual energy being drawn over, Ding Huan was 100% certain that there was a spiritual vein beneath Morning Glow Peak.
He didn't know what grade it was, and he didn't need to know.
In less than ten days, Ding Huan's fourth star cloud had formed, and the outline of a fifth star cloud appeared.
A few more months passed, and Ding Huan had already condensed ten star clouds.
This made Ding Huan a bit uneasy.
It seemed that as long as he kept absorbing spiritual energy, he could continue to condense new star clouds in his dantian.
According to the principle of nine being the ultimate number, he should have stopped at nine star clouds and sought to break through to the next realm.
However, Ding Huan quickly calmed down.
For ordinary cultivators, the Foundation Establishment stage was the late stage of refining essence into qi, while the True Core stage was the beginning of refining qi into spirit.
From Foundation Establishment to True Core, even the most talented cultivators needed about ten years, right?
If you excluded the time he spent cultivating the Luo Shi Scripture on Earth, how long had he been cultivating now? Just over a year.
How could he possibly break through to the next realm so quickly?
He might as well continue condensing star clouds.
As time passed, when Ding Huan condensed his twelfth star cloud, he felt that he couldn't condense a thirteenth one.
Was twelve the ultimate number for the Star Cloud stage of the Great Universe Technique?
If that was the case, then he would need to continue deducing the cultivation method for the stage after the Star Cloud Realm.
Calculating the time, he had been here for over a year.
But why hadn't Gong Hua come yet? Had he misjudged the situation?
Just as Ding Huan was pondering this, he felt the protective array of Morning Glow Peak being triggered.
Someone had arrived.
Soon, Ding Huan's spiritual sense detected Liu Yinzhu rushing up the peak in a hurry.
"Ding Huan!" Liu Yinzhu and Ding Huan were old friends, so she didn't need to announce her arrival.
Ding Huan walked out.
Liu Yinzhu looked somewhat haggard, and her cultivation hadn't improved much.
This made Ding Huan sigh.
These sect affairs should have been handled by the elders who had supported Gong Hua back then.
Gu Mo had piled all the sect affairs onto Liu Yinzhu, which Ding Huan found utterly ridiculous.
Liu Yinzhu was at the best time to improve her cultivation.
Instead of secluding herself to cultivate, she was running around dealing with trivial matters every day.
It was a bit too much.
Did Gu Mo really need Liu Yinzhu to personally handle everything?
"Sister Yinzhu, come in and sit."
Ding Huan invited Liu Yinzhu into the reception room.
Liu Yinzhu noticed that Ding Huan's cultivation didn't seem to have improved much, but she couldn't be sure.
After all, when Ding Huan had built his foundation, she hadn't been able to tell.
The higher Ding Huan's cultivation, the less obvious it seemed on the surface.
"Ding Huan, I came today to warn you to be careful. I think Dong Lishang and Gong Hua will be out soon," Liu Yinzhu said helplessly.
The Sect Master needed the strength of these two elders, so she couldn't say much, especially since her own strength wasn't great.
What surprised her was that Ding Huan didn't seem the least bit surprised by her warning.
Instead, he asked, "Is it because we're about to go to war with the Nine Sound Sect?"
(That's all for today's update.
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(End of Chapter)