Several Friends

"Qingyun, come over and take a look at these demon vine fragments. Are you satisfied with this distribution?"

At this moment, Wang Muyun called out, beckoning Li Qingyun over.

Before her lay a huge pile of collected demon vine fragments, emanating a ghostly green demonic aura.

Zhao Yifan, the two Attendants from Four Seas Pavilion, and the three Attendants from the Cai Family were all gathered around it. Their gazes burned as they looked at the massive pile of demon vine fragments as though staring at heaps of gold, silver, and spirit stones.

Although Li Qingyun had only just entered the Dao and broken through to Qi Refining Layer One during the battle, his performance had been beyond dispute. Wang Muyun and those elderly heterodox cultivators were willing to hear his opinion on the distribution as well.

Under Wang Muyun's smiling gaze, Li Qingyun rose and walked over.

The instant he stood, he failed to notice that behind the mysterious Daoist effigy in his mind, a third glimmer of light suddenly sprang from the dark wall. Yet after flickering twice, it vanished.

"Demon vine fragments of the Dao Foundation grade, even if shattered into pieces, can still be used as supplementary ingredients for certain pills. They are worth some money."

"My proposal is to divide them into four shares based on everyone's contribution just now. Four Seas Pavilion, Lingbao Temple, the Cai Family, and everyone else will each receive one share. Four Seas Pavilion and Lingbao Temple will take the larger shares. Does anyone have any objections?"

As she spoke, Wang Muyun's expression turned solemn. Authority filled her beautiful eyes as her gaze slowly swept over the crowd.

"Senior Sister, we have no objections here."

Li Qingyun naturally would not embarrass Wang Muyun, and he readily agreed.

After all, Zhao Yifan and he would also be receiving the larger share.

"I just wanted to ask, would Four Seas Pavilion buy the share belonging to my senior brother and me? We are heading to Yinshan Town and it would be inconvenient to carry it..."

"Of course we will. We'll value it at twenty spirit stones. Qingyun, what do you think?"

All parties rejoiced as they divided up the pile of demon vine fragments.

Ordinarily, how could such "pseudo-cultivators" from heterodox paths easily come into contact with the "yield" of something on the level of a Nightmare Deer Demon?

Aside from the Cai Family of Luoshui, who chose to take their share of demon vines with them, everyone else, like Li Qingyun, chose to sell their demon vine fragments to the Four Seas Pavilion caravan.

Those wanderers of the martial world received a small pile worth five spirit stones. Since it was difficult to divide evenly, they took gold and silver instead. In particular, with their companions either dead or wounded, gold and silver were more convenient for treatment expenses, condolence money for family members, and the like.

Li Qingyun and Zhao Yifan exchanged smiles, both quite satisfied with their gains.

The two also split their share evenly, preserving the affection between senior and junior brothers.

Of course, Zhao Yifan felt grateful in his heart. He knew he had benefited from his junior brother's good fortune this time.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yifan could not help sighing. "Junior Brother broke through in battle and has now entered the gate of cultivation. Once we return, I fear all the chief stewards in the temple will try to recruit you..."

"Qingyun, if you have nothing else to do, why not come to my place for a cup of tea?"

Having settled the matter of everyone's shares, Wang Muyun's manner softened considerably as she smiled and extended the invitation.

The night wind blew, making her broad-sleeved Daoist robe flutter. Her tall, graceful figure was like a vivid streak of scenery amid the ruined temple.

"Then I'll trouble Senior Sister!"

Li Qingyun did not stand on ceremony and headed toward Wang Muyun's exquisite carriage.

The terms senior sister and junior brother did not mean they belonged to the same sect. As the saying went, cultivators under heaven were one family; it was merely how cultivators of the same generation who were closer in relationship addressed one another.

After going through this ordeal, the two had acknowledged each other and regarded one another as friends.

Wang Muyun's private carriage compartment was rather spacious, refined and clean. Sandalwood incense burned within, mingled with the faint fragrance of a woman.

The two sat cross-legged opposite each other before a small table, close enough that Li Qingyun could clearly see the delicate texture of her fair face.

A faintly delighted smile rested on Wang Muyun's face. She lightly drew back her sleeves, her jade-white wrist turning the cups as her slender hands brewed tea, every movement gentle and elegant.

Misty steam curled upward and fragrance spread through the compartment, making the atmosphere ever more relaxed and tranquil.

"To have held out against that deer demon's attack until Martial Uncle Mu arrived, Qingyun, your contribution was indispensable!"

Wang Muyun looked at the handsome youth before her, his face like carved jade. Seeing the calm steadiness so rare at his age, a trace of appreciation passed through her beautiful eyes.

"At such a young age, to possess such temperament and ability—you have made me look at you anew time and again..."

Neither her expression nor tone concealed her praise.

"You overpraise me, Senior Sister. Qingyun is ashamed. In truth, this battle relied entirely on your turning the tide! If every disciple of Biyou Palace possessed Dao arts as exquisite as yours, why would we fear being unable to sweep away all the demons and monsters beneath heaven?"

Li Qingyun became even more modest, praising Wang Muyun in turn.

He felt a touch of emotion. If not for the mysterious Daoist effigy in his mind, how could he have encountered such fortunes today, sitting here drinking tea and laughing with a Biyou Palace disciple like Wang Muyun?

That version of him would likely not even have earned a glance from Wang Muyun, much less crossed paths with her.

As they spoke, their gazes met, and they broke into laughter at the same time.

With that smile, the invisible sense of distance between them dispersed.

"All right, let us stop praising each other! After tonight, who knows when you and I will meet again? The Dao Path is long. Muyun hopes that one day, in the Shadowed Domain, I will hear of your great name, Qingyun!"

At the mention of Dao Path cultivation, the softness on Wang Muyun's face vanished in an instant, and she became valiant and resolute once more.

"This paper crane..." With a flick of her sleeve, a small and exquisite white paper crane flew out and gently landed in Li Qingyun's palm.

"It bears my aura imprint. Keep it, and it will make future communication more convenient. When using it, you need only infuse it with spiritual power and intent. It will fly away on its own and find me. If either of us runs into trouble and we happen to be nearby, we may even be able to help each other..."

"Understood, Senior Sister." Feeling Wang Muyun's goodwill, Li Qingyun solemnly thanked her and put away the paper crane.

He thought to himself, In my previous life, this would probably count as exchanging contact information.

The night wind was intoxicating. Li Qingyun emerged from Wang Muyun's fragrant carriage in high spirits.

At this time, the dark sky was just beginning to reveal the faint light of dawn. He saw the various groups at the ruined temple dragging their weary bodies about as they began packing, setting pots over fires to cook, intending to set out immediately once day broke.

"Junior Brother, you have quite the face. To sincerely befriend a Biyou Palace disciple like Daoist Wang—after we return to the temple, everyone will have to regard you two shades more highly!"

Zhao Yifan was still regulating his breath to recover. When he saw Li Qingyun return, envy was impossible to conceal in his tone and expression.

"Hehe, I was simply lucky."

Li Qingyun smiled, then sat cross-legged to meditate as well, pondering once more the illusion technique of the Nightmare Eye Orb.

Yet with a new day beginning, he had another six hours to meditate and increase his spiritual power. He could not afford to waste them.

Increasing his cultivation was the foundation. Whether he could decipher an illusion technique from the Nightmare Eye Orb was secondary.

Although he lacked the follow-up cultivation method for the fourth layer of Qi Refining, and the spiritual power gained through meditation automatically dispersed into the indistinct void within his body, he vaguely felt that it was not entirely wasted effort.

Perhaps the so-called "Divine Treasury inner landscape" of darkness and emptiness within his body was simply too vast and boundless. The Precious Furnace of his qi sea could not contain the excess spiritual power, and what overflowed had not vanished but instead fallen into corners beyond the reach of his current spiritual perception.

"If the limit of this embryonic Precious Furnace in the qi sea at the third layer of Qi Refining is only twenty furnaces of qi, then when cultivators of the same realm have roughly equal mastery of techniques, how can there be distinctions of superiority and inferiority between them?"

"There is a line of questions and answers in Lingbao Dao Lord's Solutions: Within the same realm, there are differences in cultivation because there are differences in the quality of spiritual power, and differences in the strength of the mind! This shows that every level still has depths to be excavated..."

Li Qingyun narrowed his eyes and meditated, immersing his mind in the emptiness of the Divine Treasury within, doing his utmost to sense where the newly formed spiritual power went after dispersing.

It was hazy and ethereal, impossible to grasp, as though all of it were futile!

Yet cultivation had always been gained from within the "hazy and ethereal."

He did not lose heart. He merely let his mind hang quietly in observation, abiding within the unseen, sensing the minute and visualizing the distant.

Slowly, he felt that his mind seemed to have strengthened by the slightest trace.

"That is an unexpected gain!"