Calamity Cultivator (Seeking Collection)

"Ah... Without spirit stones, I entered a treasure mountain and returned empty-handed. What a lamentable tragedy..."

After the exchange meeting ended, Fang Xi left the marketplace together with Nine Profound Venerable and Di Qi.

Nine Profound Venerable stroked his beard, his face full of sighs.

It had to be said that Lu Zhi had been clearing out her stock at bargain prices. Many of the items were good stuff, and they were at least twenty to thirty percent cheaper than those in the marketplace!

Even Di Qi could not help buying several talismans normally made by Master Zong.

Only he and Fang Xi were truly penniless, able only to stare at them longingly.

"Ah... What am I compared to him? Fellow Daoist Chen Ping is the impressive one. He actually secured Master Zong's inheritance outright!" Di Qi sighed as well, unwillingness showing on his face. "Master Zong's talisman-making skills were incredibly refined. I even suspect he obtained a second-grade inheritance... I wonder how much he revealed in his notes?"

"There's definitely no such thing. How could a second-grade inheritance be worth only two hundred spirit stones? Did Fellow Daoist Lu look like a fool to you?" Fang Xi laughed helplessly.

According to his estimate, if the jade slip notes contained the crafting methods for several first-grade high-rank talismans, that already meant Lu Zhi had treated him sincerely.

"That's true... But Fellow Daoist Chen still has a chance." Nine Profound Venerable put on a solemn expression. "As long as he can become husband and wife with Fellow Daoist Lu, wouldn't that kill two birds with one stone? He could embrace a beauty while also obtaining a talisman master's true secret trove!"

"Haha! Let's hope so."

The three men laughed knowingly, in a way all men understood.

The next day.

Fang Xi went down the mountain to buy provisions, then returned to the Great Liang World. He fed a large amount of Taisui and then cut off its flesh.

After several days, he had accumulated nearly four hundred jin of Taisui Meat.

Hundred Skills Tower.

Bang!

Four hundred jin of Yao Beast Meat slammed heavily onto the ground, making shopkeeper Qi Liu grin from ear to ear.

His honest business practices had indeed paid off.

See? Hadn't this Rogue Cultivator brought him all his Yao Beast Meat?

"Fellow Daoist, it is truly the honor of our Hundred Skills Tower that you chose us. Ying Song, why haven't you brought the tea yet?"

Shopkeeper Qi smiled extremely amiably.

After all, the several dozen jin of Yao Beast Meat from before had been bought at a high price by a Body Refining Cultivator, allowing him to make a tidy profit.

"Please!"

Ying Song hurriedly brewed a cup of Spirit Tea, but Fang Xi merely raised the cup and did not drink.

After all, surviving in the Cultivation World required keeping several more eyes open, and one had to be even more careful about anything that went down one's throat.

"The quality of this Yao Beast Meat is the same as before. It should have come from the same Yao Beast... Hm?"

Qi Liu inspected it for a while, then suddenly looked uncertain. "Could this Yao Beast have had no bones? Yao Beast bones are good stuff. The marrow can serve as an auxiliary ingredient in alchemy, while the bone itself can be used in artifact refinement..."

"Shopkeeper, you have a keen eye. This Yao Beast was indeed as soft as if it had no bones, extremely strange. Unfortunately, it was the only one..."

Fang Xi put on an act of sighing regretfully, while secretly swearing that he would never sell Taisui Meat in this marketplace again.

In any case... once he left Black Stone City, he could hunt other Yao Beasts to sell.

There were plenty of Yao Beasts in the Great Liang World, and they were generally weak. They were perfect targets for grinding monsters!

"This four hundred jin of Yao Beast Meat comes to forty spirit stones in total. What do you think, Fellow Daoist?"

Qi Liu quickly calculated the weight and even rounded the sum up slightly in Fang Xi's favor.

"Shopkeeper, you are generous."

Fang Xi split his mouth into a grin. "However, I would like to purchase a talisman. I wonder if the Hundred Skills Tower has one?"

Compared to the Heavenly Talisman Hall and the Pill Cauldron Pavilion, the Hundred Skills Tower was more like a general store, which was why he had asked.

"Oh? What kind of talisman?" Qi Liu asked in surprise.

"A Forbidden Breaking Talisman. A first-grade one will do." Fang Xi emphasized his words.

"A first-grade Forbidden Breaking Talisman?" Qi Liu thought for a moment, then smiled. "Fellow Daoist, your luck is excellent. This kind of talisman is exceedingly rare. Our tower originally had none, but yesterday a customer happened to sell us one. It is in perfect condition, and very little of its Spiritual Energy has dissipated. Please take a look!"

He lightly slapped his waist and pulled a wooden box from a brocade pouch, one that looked faintly familiar to Fang Xi.

After opening it, a Forbidden Breaking Talisman exactly like the one from that day appeared before Fang Xi.

Could this really have been part of Master Zong's collection, with the buyer then reselling it to the Hundred Skills Tower?

A thoughtful look flashed through Fang Xi's eyes.

But whether this talisman was or was not, it had little to do with him.

After carefully inspecting it, Fang Xi asked for the price. "Not bad. It is indeed a first-grade high-rank Forbidden Breaking Talisman. How much are you asking?"

"Hehe... The Heavenly Talisman Hall would sell this Forbidden Breaking Talisman for at least thirty-five spirit stones. This old man won't even charge a finder's fee. Fellow Daoist, just pay the original price."

Qi Liu took a sip of tea and spoke with complete sincerity.

But I clearly remember Lu Zhi selling this talisman for thirty-one spirit stones back then... Forget it, forget it. There's no way I can say that.

Fang Xi maintained the aloof persona of a Yao-hunting cultivator and nodded. "Shopkeeper, you are fair!"

Inside, however, he felt as if he were vomiting blood.

This one transaction had practically wiped out all his savings from the past two years.

Only after Fang Xi left did Qi Liu rub his chin, looking somewhat dissatisfied. "I misjudged him... This kid might really be nothing more than a low-level cultivator who happened to get lucky. With that little experience, he still wants to fool this old man? Hmph!"

Fang Xi was, after all, merely a minor cultivator. Even with the memories of his predecessor, his limited experience made some matters difficult to conceal.

After chatting a few more sentences with Shopkeeper Qi, his flaws had been exposed.

"A few dozen spirit stones... Forget it..."

Shopkeeper Qi sighed, then leisurely returned upstairs to meditate and drink tea...

Ying Song, who had heard his sigh, rolled his eyes and went to the shop's back courtyard. A Sound Transmission Talisman was pinched in his hand as he muttered to himself, "Sixth Uncle, Sixth Uncle... It's not that I don't want to listen to you, but a few dozen spirit stones are no more than a drop in the ocean to you. To me, that's a huge sum..."

His magic power surged. The Sound Transmission Talisman transformed into a streak of fire, shot away in an instant, and vanished without a trace...

Fang Xi left the marketplace and habitually took a roundabout route.

"Hm? Something's wrong?"

At that moment, the Heavenly Sight Earthly Hearing Skill he was circulating detected something amiss. He hurriedly lay down, pressing his ear to the ground.

With True Energy bolstering it, he heard an extremely faint tremor beneath the earth.

"Someone's following me... There should be two of them!"

He quickly changed direction and increased his speed.

But no matter how many directions he changed, the two people behind him still managed to follow. Their distance even drew closer and closer. Clearly, after discovering that something was wrong with him, they had sped up as well.

Soon, two figures—one tall and one short—appeared in Fang Xi's field of vision.

One is at the early Qi Refining stage, and the other is at the middle stage!

Fang Xi sensed the other party's undisguised spiritual power and malice. His heart relaxed slightly, but his face remained wary as he shouted, "Who are you? Why are you following me?"

"Heh heh, kid, hand over all the valuables on you!"

The short early-stage Qi Refining Cultivator was around thirty, with a face covered in freckles. He sneered and held several talismans in his hand as he circled around from the side, intending to cut off Fang Xi's escape route.

"Robbing Cultivators!"

Fang Xi's expression turned exceedingly ugly. With a flick of his hand, the Green Grain Sword rose into the wind, transforming into a streak of emerald sword light that shot toward the short cultivator.

"An artifact! Big brother, save me!"

The short cultivator first slapped a Golden Light Shield Talisman onto his body. A layer of golden light immediately protected him, and only then did he cry out in panic.

"Haha... Even your artifact is this battered. You really are a paper tiger!"

Seeing the notch in the blade of the Green Grain Sword, the tall cultivator laughed instead of becoming angry and slapped a certain drab little pouch at his waist.

A pitch-black Ghost Head Saber artifact appeared and transformed into a streak of dark light. It tangled with the Green Grain Sword's Azure Sword Light, even easily suppressing it.

"A Low-grade Magic Tool!"

Seeing this, Fang Xi felt even more certain.

His Green Grain Sword was merely a defective Low-grade Magic Tool. It being easily suppressed by the Ghost Head Saber was understandable.

"How did you find me?" he shouted fiercely but weakly, fleeing in blind panic.

"Haha... Big brother, leave this kid to me. He's only at the third layer of Qi Refining. He'll be easy to kill."

The short cultivator grew incredibly excited. His eyes fixed on Fang Xi as he muttered under his breath, clearly casting some kind of spell!

As the final syllable of the incantation fell, two bright-yellow earthen spikes formed before him.

"Go!"

The short cultivator pointed at Fang Xi, and the earthen spikes immediately shot out.

Fang Xi rolled like a donkey, dodging in a sorry state. His dusty, disheveled appearance made the short cultivator even more excited. "You have 'Three-Day Fragrance' on you. You can't escape. Just die!"

Before his words had even finished, another earthen spike had already pierced into Fang Xi's back.

"Ah!"

Fang Xi let out a miserable cry and fell to the ground.

However, he seemed to have fled in such blind panic that he had fallen extremely close to the tall cultivator.

"You talk too much!"

The tall cultivator said this to the short cultivator and walked to the front of Fang Xi's "corpse," where he suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

Without its master's magic power supporting it, how could that sword-shaped artifact still be entangled with the Ghost Head Saber? It was not some sentient artifact!

"Not good!"

After realizing this, the tall cultivator immediately tried to retreat.

But it was already too late!

Fang Xi, who had originally been lying dead on the ground, chased after him at a terrifying speed, arriving before him almost in the blink of an eye.

At this critical moment, the tall cultivator hurriedly tore open a Water Shield Talisman, causing a ring of water to envelop his entire body.

In the next moment, Fang Xi's fist smashed into the water shield!

Pop!

The water shield bulged inward with a terrifying dent, but did not break. Its radiance merely dimmed considerably.

"A Body Refining Cultivator—and at the middle stage!"

When the tall cultivator saw this, fear immediately surfaced on his face. "Fellow Daoist... this is a misunderstanding..."

"Primordial Chaos Energy!"

But Fang Xi no longer wanted to waste words with him. He raised his right hand high, terrifying force gathering at his fingertips before crashing viciously down upon the water shield!

Bang!

He unleashed all his strength. The Primordial Chaos Energy, carrying several kinds of force, erupted violently against the water shield, tearing it apart and revealing the tall cultivator behind it, his face filled with despair.

He still wanted to say something, but Fang Xi's finger had already pierced into his throat.

Bang!

Fang Xi casually threw aside the corpse of the tall Robbing Cultivator, then looked toward the short cultivator running over. "Just now... you were enjoying yourself beating me, weren't you?"