"Thank you for the help, Brother Ning," a middle-aged man said with a look of gratitude.

"There is no need for thanks. It's my mission, after all," Ning shook his head modestly.

After ferrying the souls present in the graveyard, Ning set his sights on other graveyards present all over the area.

For this, he took quite a lot of missions to roam around. Just like this one, he only needed to get rid of a blood-sucking loach that was troubling them.

"Now that the mission is over, I would like to get going. Thank you for the hospitality these past few days," Ning bid his farewell in an elegant manner.

"You embarrass me, Brother Ning. Take care on your journey," the middle-aged man sighed, still feeling that this disciple of a great sect was a well-learned man.

If only his prodigal son could have an ounce of the demeanor that this disciple has, then he would be satisfied.

The middle-aged man couldn't help but feel that his son could not compare with the son of others. So, he decided to punish his son a bit more after returning.

Unknown to the consequences of his actions, Ning vanished from the spot, running quickly as if wanting to catch up to the wind.

[Shadow Steps]

"Well, the gains were within my expectations," Ning thought as he carefully traversed the land.

These missions he took were only a side quest for him. The main quest was to go to the various graveyards present all over the land.

So, for the last two weeks, Ning has been playing the real-life version of Tomb Raiders.

But instead of raiding tombs to steal stuff, he raided them to ferry the soul away.

But the gains were lower than he expected.

The other graveyard could naturally not compare to the graveyard back in the sect. Except for the occasional soul of a Qi cultivator, Ning ferried the souls of normal humans along the way.

Ning only had a single thought regarding this.

It's not much, but it's honest work.

So, with that, Ning had no intention of despising these mortal graveyards, as he raided each of them with great care.

To be honest, Ning still had a hope of encountering some kind of great treasure left behind by the cultivators on the graveyards he had raided, but ultimately, all that ended with naught.

Ning knew that there were various instances of people leaving legacies for the destined people to encounter, so while he did not show much outwardly, he still had an ounce of hope.

Of course, the end result was he was not the destined one by any means.

"Still need to rely on myself. At least now, my spiritual sense can already last almost 28 seconds. It's time to stop." Ning gradually realized his limit in mental expansion.

In this world, cultivation was the tie that bound the body and the soul together. His fourth stage of qi cultivation could not bear his mental strength that had already touched the realm of the sixth stage of Qi condensation. So, it was unwise to push any further.

With that thought, Ning leisurely ran towards the Pure Qi sect.

...

It was raining that day. A heavy rain, as if promising to flood everything. Occasionally, streaks of lightning would flash across the sky, bringing a period of brightness to the darkness present.

Ning stood beneath a ginormous tree, shielded from the rain and the wind. Well, not completely, but it was enough.

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Ning was currently on top of a cliff in the Black Snake Forest. It was one of the high vantage points he had found. Especially, this large tree whose branches seemed to be stretching outwardly like outstretched arms.

Truly, everything was bigger in the cultivation world.

Greyfield Land where the Pure Qi sect was located was considered a remote area in this region but it was almost as large as one of the largest countries on Earth. Who knows how big the entire world was?

Such thoughts flashed through Ning's mind before he shook them off.

Today, his purpose was very simple: comprehending the artistic conception of lightning, or in simple terms, cultivating the Lightning Qi.

Ning had been greedy for this Qi for a long time. But the reason he had been holding off from attempting to comprehend it ultimately came down to the Red Lightning Carp.

"What are the chances that all the carp I got were male? It's like the world doesn't want me to farm them and get easy resources..." Yes, after searching all over the market about this rare extinct fish to try and rear them, he finally obtained a piece of devastating information.

Red Lightning Carp could only be bred with Blue Lightning Carp. They were like a duo, the red lightning carp being the male ones, and the blue the female ones.

Ning's dream of monopolizing the damn fish and selling them ended before he even had a chance to begin. His inner capitalist died a little hearing that news.

Although it made sense, since if Xiao Fan was destined to get the fish, then he would certainly eat them right then and there without a second thought without considering the notion of breeding them.

It was a heartwrenching piece of information. It truly was as if the gods above didn't even want him to profit from these fish like any normal person with common sense.

If only Li Tianhe had found the blue lightning carp in the ruin, it would have been perfect.

"Only if I was strong enough to visit that ruin..."

While ruins were not commonplace, they weren't very rare either. Cultivators in this world paid special attention to their inheritance, considering it a way to leave their mark on the world. Occasionally, news about the discovery of an undiscovered ruin could still be heard.

However, not all ruins were created equal. A ruin that could easily challenge a foundation-building cultivator was obviously a high-grade ruin, especially with the presence of ancient relics like the Red Lightning Carp, believed to be extinct.

For Ning, this represented an opportunity—a chance that could only be observed from a distance, not approached.

Let's be realistic, shall we? A ruin that could easily defeat a foundation-building cultivator would have no trouble overpowering a small Qi cultivator like him.

Ning didn't want to be like those headstrong protagonists who charged into danger like a deer running into headlights. It might seem timid, but that's just how it is.

While Ning didn't mind taking a gamble now and then, the risks he took needed to be within his capabilities.

So, he decided to visit the ruin only after reaching the completion of the foundation-building realm, or maybe even the golden core realm.

After all, from what he had seen in the memory, the ruin was truly bizarre.

...

"Enough of this depressing thought. At least I finally found the correct timing."

While Ning delayed the matter of the thunder qi primarily due to the red lightning carp, it was also because he never found a suitable place to cultivate. After waiting for months, there was finally a small thunderstorm in the area.

Among the various books he had read in the sect, there was no mention that selecting a suitable place raises the chance of cultivating specific Qi. But with the insights of his previous life, Ning still had a fluke mentality.

So, he persisted for so long. But not anymore.

Ning looked at a line in the panel.

[Lightning Palm (Great Accomplishment: 508/800)]

Normally, without a specific soul attribute of lightning, his five elemental soul attributes should not have been suitable for cultivating this lightning technique.

But after practicing this technique, Ning found an interesting thing about his five elemental soul attributes. His soul attributes restrained and balanced each other perfectly.

What did that mean?

Normally, when a person has a single or double soul attribute, it would restrain them from progressing in techniques that were outside of their innate attributes.

Ning did not have such a problem.

His five elemental attributes balanced and restrained each other, so he could progress in techniques outside of his elemental attributes. Granted he would not gain the innate soul attribute bonus when practicing such techniques, but there was not much restraint as well.

So, with the remnant memory of Li Tianhe's cultivation, his 'shock therapy,' and his genius, Ning quickly cultivated this technique to great accomplishment.

"Five elemental attributes..." Ning sighed.

Five elemental attributes were rare but not unseen in the world. Ning had seen the records of a monk who possessed all five attributes.

But unlike him, the monk was born with a spiritual body of five elements. His cultivation speed was not only comparable to the earth-grade spiritual roots, but he also possessed supernatural power that far surpassed his own realm.

Besides that, Ning could not find other extra records regarding his specialty.

Of course, Ning had his own speculation in this regard.

'Ning' only had two attributes of fire and wood, but he had all five attributes. That meant that his original soul attribute was metal, earth, and water, and only after assimilating with 'Ning', he was able to possess all five attributes.

Or he was just born with the five elemental soul attributes? There was no other reason, except he was slightly lucky.

Such thoughts revolved around his mind, but he quickly snuffed them out. Ning slowly calmed down his breath and closed his eyes.

After returning to peace, he opened his blue eyes that seemed to shine in the dark.

"Let's begin."