That's Very Impressive

Wang Li simply sped forward. A moment later, he stopped and turned around.

He Lingxiu was standing not far behind him.

"Looks like my senior brothers and sisters truly aren't even fit to carry your shoes." He Lingxiu quietly watched Wang Li. Although she had expected this outcome long ago, she was still a Huayang Sect disciple. Seeing Wang Li with both sleeves bulging full, an uncomfortable feeling inevitably began to stir within her.

"Those words are too much." Wang Li said, "I don't even have shoes. How could I have someone carry them for me?"

Looking at Wang Li's bare feet, He Lingxiu said with faint mockery, "Are you really planning to go barefoot all the way to the Seven Treasures Ancient Domain?"

"It doesn't feel bad. By then, people will probably only remember this cultivator's strange habit of going barefoot, and will be even more likely to overlook my true identity." The expression on Wang Li's face actually turned serious. "Or perhaps when I go this time, I'll call myself True Person of Bare Feet Wang Bihui?"

"Hehe."

He Lingxiu smiled without warmth. "Since you're so very clever, remember to conceal my identity properly as well."

As she spoke, clouds churned in the sky, and that Jizhi Azure Bird descended.

"Of course." Wang Li leaped onto the bird's back alongside He Lingxiu, then could not help saying, "But Fellow Daoist Hehe, you really are quite sinister. You even set up your own senior brothers and sisters."

"They were obsessed with dealing with you. I merely lent a hand along the way."

He Lingxiu sneered. "Speaking of being sinister, I fear you surpass even me, don't you?"

Wang Li was slightly stunned. "How am I sinister?"

"I spent a million spirit sand to make my five useless senior brothers and sisters reflect a little, and incidentally gain a better understanding of their fellow Daoist. Was that not extravagant enough?" He Lingxiu said blandly. "Yet you ended the duel so swiftly in such a manner that, aside from the casting speed and methods of using talismans and other magical implements I already knew about, I saw almost nothing new. You were so deliberate about it. Don't you think that wrongs the extra spirit sand I paid?"

"So that was it." Wang Li thought for a moment, then said seriously, "Perhaps it has something to do with habit. But I won't take advantage of you for nothing. Once we enter the Seven Treasures Ancient Domain, I'll do my utmost to help you gain some benefits."

Hearing Wang Li say this, He Lingxiu did not respond.

After a quiet moment, she said, "What I am best at is seeing through concealed things. Even when certain spells capable of controlling spiritual energy fluctuations are cast, I can discern unusual flows of Vital Energy. It can serve to anticipate an enemy's moves. As for treasures that ordinary people cannot see through, I can also spot certain clues."

Wang Li was somewhat surprised, and his expression grew grave. "Heavenly Eye Clarity?"

He Lingxiu nodded. "It is also called a Clarity Spiritual Root. Just as your senior sister is a cultivator with an Innate Immortal Spiritual Root, I am a cultivator with an Innate Clarity Spiritual Root."

Wang Li immediately felt somewhat ashamed. "I'm a cultivator without any spiritual root at all."

"Is that all?" He Lingxiu glanced at him. Seeing that he still had no reaction, she could not help sneering. "I told you such an important secret, yet you have nothing to say?"

"Oh." Wang Li raised a thumb. "That's very impressive."

He Lingxiu laughed, her smile extraordinarily radiant. "Must you really be like this?"

Wang Li's expression turned awkward. He coughed twice, then said, "Other than my casting speed and these methods of mimicking qi and concealing my form being fairly good, my movement technique and Profound Heaven Sword Qi are actually quite good as well."

"Some excel at offense, some at defense. Among those who excel at offense, there are ranged attackers and close-range attackers." He Lingxiu's smile faded as she said calmly, "When we go to the Seven Treasures Ancient Domain this time, should we encounter enemies, they will not be opponents as inadequate as my senior brothers and sisters. If you and I join forces, we should at least have some idea of each other's strengths."

Seeing that she was truly serious, Wang Li did not dare spout nonsense. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Actually, I don't have any particular specialty. In all the areas you mentioned, I seem to be fairly decent. If I had to name a strength... perhaps I'm good at hiding my own power?"

"If you put it that way, then this is truly no fun." He Lingxiu chuckled.

Wang Li also chuckled. "Fellow Daoist Hehe, you should be able to tell that I really wasn't lying."

Most place names in Lesser Jade Continent were named with simple, brutal directness.

This included blessed grotto-heavens, markets, and even the origin of the name Lesser Jade Continent itself.

What set Lesser Jade Continent apart from other cultivator continents was its production of large quantities of spiritual jade.

Most of this spiritual jade came from certain low-level demonic beasts within Lesser Jade Continent.

Now, more than half of the low-level demonic beasts in Lesser Jade Continent had gone extinct. Yet even so, there were still more than one hundred and thirty species of low-level demonic beasts that produced useful demon crystals.

Quite strangely, among these more than one hundred and thirty species, only the demon crystals produced by a little over thirty species were rich in the heaven-and-earth spiritual energy needed for cultivation and could be dissected into spirit sand. The demon crystals of the remaining hundred-odd species could only be cut and roughly refined into spiritual jade for artifact forging.

Thus, Lesser Jade Continent did not lack artifact-forging spiritual materials, and for the vast majority of cultivators below the Golden Core realm, its living environment was friendlier as well.

Low-level spiritual materials were easy to obtain, so low-level cultivators could more easily acquire low-level magic treasures and magical implements.

The spiritual jade cut and roughly refined from the demon crystals of these low-level demonic beasts was generally small in size, so it was called lesser jade.

Lesser Jade Continent was named for this reason.

As for the Blackwater Market that Wang Li often visited before, black water truly surged there without cease. The Scorched Wood Market where He Lingxiu was located was truly surrounded by a scorched-wood wilderness.

White Grass Market, however, was not named because white grass grew everywhere. Rather, it had originally been a distribution center for hut-building white grass.

Hut-building white grass was also called Pure White Grass in Lesser Jade Continent. This white wormwood was used by many sects to build cultivation huts for outer sect disciples to sense qi.

Huts built from it had a certain effect of calming the mind and purifying the qi. They could also block out external noise, allowing people to better enter meditation and examine themselves inwardly.

At the end of the day, it was merely the lowest-grade spiritual material.

Thus, just as Bai Shuilán and Kong Mengzhu, who had been captured by two mysterious black-robed cultivators, had said, White Grass Market was not a famous market in Lesser Jade Continent. Its spiritual-material trade could only be described as very weak. Its true specialty was the trade of information that could allow certain people to profit.

When buying and selling information, what mattered was that speed was the soul of war. One step ahead, and the information was useful; one step behind, and it became a joke.

White Grass Market was filled with furtive figures, and even more hurried passersby.

There were not many people in White Grass Market with the leisurely elegance to stop and linger.

But there were always exceptions to everything.

At this moment, two people sat quietly atop a pile of white grass in White Grass Market, watching the clouds.

One was a refined scholar; the other, a slovenly drunkard.

The scholar appeared to be in his thirties, with a face like white jade. The drunkard, however, looked to be at least sixty, his face covered in ugly red blotches, as though his drunkenness had congealed into ringworm.

Both were looking toward the west.

By all reason, a patch of black cloud should have drifted over from that direction long ago.

Yet the black cloud that should have arrived had still not come.

"Looks like it is all Heaven's will." The scholar spoke with some emotion.

The drunkard with muddy yellow eyes smiled. "Heaven's will, human will—aren't they the same in the end?"

The scholar pondered for the span of a breath, then rose to his feet. "Then begin."

As soon as those four words left his mouth, his body vanished as though into thin air.

The drunkard with muddy yellow eyes tipped back his head and took a great swallow of wine. He exhaled in extreme contentment, and his entire body immediately vanished into the wine vapor he had breathed out.