Soaring Cloud Sword Son

Inside the temporary Cave Dwelling, Fang Xiao was looking over his Monster Slaying Token. The contribution points displayed on it had astonishingly reached over twenty thousand.

Over this period, he had slain more than a thousand demon beasts of all kinds. Looking at the demon beast corpses piled like mountains in his more than ten Storage Bags, he realized that he had to make a trip back to Linyuan City.

Before that, however, he still had several matters to deal with. First was handling the demon beast corpses. For example, he could use their Essence Blood to brew Essence Blood Wine. In short, he would keep the materials useful to himself. As for the rest, Linyuan City had missions with unlimited purchases of demon beast materials and Demon Souls. When the time came, he would package up everything he did not need and sell it all to Linyuan City.

There was also the Monkey Wine he had obtained from the Second Grade Vajra Ape. When he had first returned to the Cave Dwelling, he had sampled a cup. A powerful surge of spiritual energy had immediately formed within him, nearly bursting his repeatedly strengthened meridians apart. After refining that spiritual energy, his meridians had suffered minor damage, but Fang Xiao discovered that his cultivation speed had taken a tremendous leap forward compared to before.

He roughly estimated that if he disregarded the damage to his meridians, just half a gourd of Monkey Wine would allow him to reach the peak of the Qi Refining Eighth Layer ahead of schedule. He still had three Meridian Protection Pills and two Meridian Nourishing Pills in his Storage Bag, which should be enough to protect his meridians.

Thus, he planned to cultivate here until he reached the bottleneck, then return to Linyuan City to break through it. Once his cultivation reached the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, his strength would rise another step. At that point, even venturing deeper into Yunmeng Marsh would not be too dangerous.

Just as Fang Xiao was using Monkey Wine to raise his cultivation with all his might, his reputation had already spread throughout Tianlan Sect and the various Outer Courts. The Monster Slaying Token was linked to the sect's Monster Slaying List, and contribution points were updated in real time. His more than twenty thousand contribution points had firmly claimed the Qi Refining Stage Top, while second place had only a little over ten thousand.

How many demon beasts would one have to kill for over twenty thousand contribution points? Not only the sect, but most low-level cultivators had heard of his formidable reputation. Tianlan Holy Land had produced a Killing Spree. In demon extermination, he was a monster capable of crushing Heavenly Talents of his generation.

Naturally, once the news spread, some believed it, some questioned it, and others were eager to try their hand. In any case, Fang Xiao had become known to every low-level cultivator in the Eastern Domain Cultivation World. There were even those who loved excitement who gave him a title—Soaring Cloud Sword Son—and the sect tacitly accepted the name.

By then, Fang Xiao had smoothly reached the bottleneck for breaking through to the Qi Refining Ninth Layer. His Meridian Protection Pills and Meridian Nourishing Pills had been completely used up, but the meridians throughout his body were as good as new. In fact, after repeatedly pushing through their limits, they had become broader and tougher.

There was nothing much in the temporary Cave Dwelling that needed taking. After putting away the formation, he left the place where he had lived for half a year. The route back was relatively safe, so he took out the Wind Riding Boat and sped toward Linyuan City at full speed.

He occasionally encountered cultivators and demon beasts along the way, but he ignored them all and flew straight past.

The journey passed without incident. After entering Linyuan City, he planned to first return to the Outer Court's residence in the city and find out whether there had been any recent news worth noting.

Yet on the way back to the residence, people constantly pointed at him and discussed him. Some smiled and cupped their fists in greeting, and several female cultivators even came up to strike up conversations with him. He was completely at a loss.

After dismissing them one by one, he finally returned to the residence. A sharp-eyed disciple spotted him and immediately shouted.

"Senior Brother Fang Xiao is back!"

"???"

Fang Xiao was still utterly bewildered.

Every disciple who saw Fang Xiao respectfully stepped forward and called him Senior Brother Fang.

"Junior Master Fang, it has been a long time."

At that moment, a voice came from nearby. The newcomer was none other than Yan Tingyun.

"Uncle-Master Yan, what exactly is going on?"

"You still do not know? Come with me."

Yan Tingyun led Fang Xiao to a secluded place, explaining the matter of the Soaring Cloud Sword Son to him along the way.

Fang Xiao had not expected it to cause such a huge stir.

"Keep this safe. The Court Master is quite busy, so he instructed me to pass it on to you."

Yan Tingyun handed him a jade bottle.

Fang Xiao pulled out the stopper. A familiar medicinal fragrance spread out, and he immediately plugged the bottle again, sealing it shut.

"A Foundation Establishment Pill?"

"That is right. The sect decided to issue your reward in advance. It is clear that the sect's higher-ups think highly of you."

"No one objected?"

"If you successfully achieve Foundation Establishment, would you still fear such idle gossip? Or do you lack confidence in succeeding?"

"Martial Uncle is right. It is merely a small Foundation Establishment bottleneck. I can break it with a flip of my hand."

"...I hope that the next time we meet, we can address each other as fellow senior brothers."

Yan Tingyun drifted away, leaving Fang Xiao alone there.

He fell into thought as well. The sect clearly wanted him to enter the Foundation Establishment Realm as soon as possible, but he did not know why. There was no use thinking too much about it. So long as his strength was sufficient, everything would naturally become clear.

Since that was the case, he needed to make new plans. Demon extermination would have to be set aside for now. Everything came second to breaking through to Foundation Establishment.

With Monkey Wine, it would take less than half a year for his cultivation to reach the Qi Refining Peak. After stabilizing it for a while, he could attempt Foundation Establishment.

Before cultivating, however, he needed to settle his many affairs. Fang Xiao first went to the Mission Stone Tablet, canceled his original reconnaissance mission, accepted the mission to purchase demon beast materials, and arrived at the mission submission point.

"I am here to submit a mission. I am submitting demon beast materials."

"Mm, then take out the materials. I need to appraise them first."

"Here? I have quite a lot of materials."

"How much could there be? Put them here."

This person clearly had not realized the severity of the situation.

Fang Xiao took out more than a dozen Storage Bags. With a slight activation of spiritual energy, the Storage Bags opened at once, and more than a dozen mountains of corpses piled higher and higher.

The cultivators present were all stunned. They had never seen such a scene before. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators were alerted and hurried over. After recognizing Fang Xiao as the Soaring Cloud Sword Son, they said that the appraisal volume was rather large and that the Spirit Stones from the exchange would be delivered to him afterward.

Fang Xiao nodded in agreement and handed over the Soul Storage Banner as well. The Foundation Establishment Cultivator looked at the Demon Souls within the banner and secretly clicked his tongue. For this Soaring Cloud Sword Son, killing First Grade demon beasts was probably as easy as slaughtering chickens. There were even nearly ten Second Grade demon beasts. The rumors that his strength rivaled the Foundation Establishment Realm truly had not arisen from nothing.

After dealing with the demon beast materials, Fang Xiao went to Myriad Treasures Pavilion. This time, he needed to prepare a considerable number of Meridian Protection Pills. Especially for breaking through to Foundation Establishment, First Grade Meridian Protection Pills would likely prove inadequate. He also needed to prepare several Second Grade Meridian Protection Pills.

The Myriad Treasures Pavilion clerk was as courteous and hospitable as ever. Regarding Fang Xiao's request to purchase Second Grade Meridian Protection Pills, he said he would need to ask the shopkeeper. After all, Fang Xiao was only in the Qi Condensation Stage, while Second Grade pills were available only on the second floor, which only Foundation Establishment cultivators could access.

"Then go ask the shopkeeper."

A moment later, a Foundation Establishment female cultivator dressed in revealing attire returned together with the clerk.

"I did not expect you to be Tianlan Sect's Soaring Cloud Sword Son. Our pavilion has truly been neglectful."

He had recently become quite famous, and this scantily clad shopkeeper recognized Fang Xiao's identity at once.

"How could that be? I merely wish to purchase Second Grade Meridian Protection Pills. Would that be possible?"

"Sword Son already possesses the strength of the Foundation Establishment Realm. Myriad Treasures Pavilion thinks highly of Sword Son's future. This is a Myriad Treasures Pavilion guest credential. At any Myriad Treasures Pavilion, you will permanently receive a five percent discount."

The scantily clad shopkeeper handed Fang Xiao a Purple Jade Token engraved with the words Myriad Treasures.

"Thank you, Shopkeeper. I will have an opportunity to go to the second floor another time. This time, I only need Second Grade Meridian Protection Pills."

"Very well, no problem. I will have someone fetch them. Please wait a moment."

During that brief wait, the scantily clad shopkeeper asked Fang Xiao all sorts of strange questions, such as what kind of female cultivators he liked.

Fang Xiao dealt with her awkwardly, wondering why that clerk was taking so long.

Before long, all the pills he needed were delivered. After paying the Spirit Stones and thanking the shopkeeper, Fang Xiao fled Myriad Treasures Pavilion in a panic. Even from far away, he could still hear the shopkeeper's coquettish laughter.

What a joke. He was destined to become a Pure Yang Sword Immortal. How could he allow female cultivators to harbor improper designs on him? Female cultivators would only affect the speed of his sword. They were absolutely unacceptable.

Casting aside those chaotic thoughts, everything was now prepared. Once he returned to the residence, he would begin closed-door cultivation.