Demon Weapon (Please Bookmark, Please Follow)

At the start of Wang Ping's eleventh year of Foundation Establishment.

Liu Shuang and Yang Ziping had reached Qi Refining Completion before the New Year. During the first month, Wang Ping had made a special trip to the Prefecture City's Daoist Scripture Hall to ask about the conditions for improving one's Spiritual Root in the Shangdan Sect, only to be told that no such transaction existed.

He had not asked Daoist Yucheng directly because Daoist Yucheng and Daoist Gu Heng spent every day at the Strange Pavilion helping people clear their Spiritual Roots. Wang Ping did not want to trouble his Master over something before even trying it himself.

After returning to the Daoist temple, Wang Ping wrote another letter to Cheng Ji at White Crane Mountain to inquire about it. Today was the day the reply arrived.

In his letter, Cheng Ji told Wang Ping that only Cultivators in the Shangdan Sect who had successfully opened the furnace within their bodies and advanced to the Second Realm could help others improve their Spiritual Roots. Moreover, it consumed a certain amount of lifespan each time. Sometimes, even Personal Disciples might not receive such treatment.

"Ah!"

"There you go again..." Yulian, sunning herself on the eaves, heard Wang Ping sigh and controlled a pebble to fling at him.

Wang Ping lightly caught the pebble. After suppressing all his negative emotions, he walked to the Huai Tree and sat down to guide the Wood Spirit Qi. When he finished, he nourished the Huai Tree with his own spiritual energy. Usually, he would continue until dark, but today he stopped early and returned to the small courtyard to wait for his two disciples.

As usual, Liu Shuang and Yang Ziping returned to the small courtyard before dinner.

After dinner, Wang Ping stopped Yang Ziping from clearing the dishes. "You have both attained Qi Refining Completion for over a month now. Tonight, your Master will teach you the Marrow Cleansing Chapter of the Returning Origin Art."

Liu Shuang and Yang Ziping's eyes both lit up at those words. They were adults now and knew that the Qi Refining method they cultivated was the finest in Thousand Wood Temple. They usually carried a trace of pride, but after reaching Qi Refining Completion, their Master had delayed in teaching them a Marrow Cleansing method, and they could not help but grow somewhat worried.

Now, the worries in their hearts were swept away in one stroke.

Wang Ping taught his two disciples Marrow Cleansing according to the guide given to him by the Light Screen Panel. They began with ten times a day, but the two showed obvious discomfort. It was only after reducing it to five times daily that they improved.

In other words, the time they needed merely to complete the foundations of Marrow Cleansing would be twice Wang Ping's, and when the quality of their Spiritual Roots was added in, it might take at least twenty years. By then, they would be forty.

But they still had hope of reaching Foundation Establishment before the age of one hundred, and hope of cultivating Secret Methods as well.

Wang Ping cast divinations for this several times, and each yielded a favorable Divination Sign.

At the same time, seeing his two disciples grow older by the day—especially Liu Shuang, now slender and graceful—Wang Ping began to consider having them establish separate Daoist sites. He also wanted them to go out and gain experience for a time.

Yet he had never been able to make up his mind.

Until the middle of June, when Su Dun arrived at the Mountain Top Garden wearing the official robes of a sixth-rank military officer.

Wang Ping had someone bring up a jar of Yellow Wine from his cellar. The two chatted idly for a while, and the conversation naturally turned to Wang Kang.

"Junior Brother Wang placed sixth in the palace Martial Arts Examination and was appointed Imperial Feather Forest Captain. Rumor has it that he is skilled in military strategy, won several simulations, and has earned His Majesty's deep trust... When did he learn military strategy? How come I never knew?"

Su Dun looked at Wang Ping. "Don't tell me you played favorites and taught him but not me."

"You left early. Later, the temple built a scripture repository, and there were military manuals inside. He probably found time to read them himself." At that moment, Wang Ping could not, no matter how he tried, equate the junior brother in his mind with a general.

Su Dun wore an expression of disbelief, then gave a mysterious smile. "There is one more important matter. We have news of Second Senior Brother. He passed the imperial examination three years ago and even became Chancellor Zhao's disciple. In the future, he may become the head of one of the Six Ministries, or perhaps enter the Central Secretariat."

Hearing this, Wang Ping was momentarily dazed. Thinking back, it had already been more than ten years since his three senior brothers had formally gone down the mountain, while he himself had cultivated the Dao for over twenty years.

"Junior Brother Wang wrote to tell me about this. Second Senior Brother seems unwilling for anyone to know that he once cultivated the Dao, so..." Su Dun did not finish his sentence.

Wang Ping nodded. Silently, he raised his wine cup and clinked it against Su Dun's, then... drained it in one gulp.

"You came to find me over something, didn't you?" Wang Ping set down his cup. Perhaps unwilling to continue the small talk, he directly asked Su Dun why he had come.

"Nothing gets past you, senior brother... I came mainly to purchase a batch of Power Pills!"

Su Dun slowly stated his purpose, then explained at a rapid pace, "I have been ordered to train six thousand new recruits in Shang'an Prefecture. After much thought, I decided that while drilling the troops, I would equip all my Military Officers with Power Pills as standard weapons."

"You can look for Junior Brother Zhao Qing. I still have some stock left from my previous refining..."

"The quantity I need is enormous!"

Su Dun interrupted Wang Ping.

At this, Wang Ping's hand paused slightly as he poured the wine, because Su Dun was clearly not telling him the truth.

"How enormous?"

"Fifty thousand pills!"

Wang Ping pondered instinctively. At his current refining speed, fifty thousand Power Pills would take two months. If he refined them at full capacity, he could finish in one month.

Su Dun added, "My budget is ample. I am willing to buy them at four taels of silver apiece!"

The current market price for Power Pills was three taels, half what it had been when they first appeared on the market.

Just as Wang Ping was about to decline politely, Liu Shuang and Yang Ziping happened to return from the Mountain Foot. Seeing the two of them, Wang Ping's heart stirred. "I will probably need three months to refine them. Also, I happen to have something to ask of you..."

At this point, he called to his two disciples. "Shuang'er, Ziping, come quickly and greet your Martial Uncle Su."

"Greetings, Martial Uncle Su!"

"Good. You've both grown up in the blink of an eye."

"I plan to let the two of them go out and gain experience for a while. Once they make a name for themselves and return, they can establish their own Daoist sites. I was never very reassured before, but now that you are in the Prefecture City to look after them, I can rest much easier."

Beside them, Liu Shuang and Yang Ziping could barely suppress the delight on their faces, but with Su Dun present, they did not show it too openly.

"For such a small matter, put a hundred hearts at ease!"

The little interlude ended pleasantly.

Liu Shuang and Yang Ziping went down the mountain on the Third Day after Su Dun left. They were going to report to the Prefecture City's Daoist Scripture Hall, taking on its missions to accumulate exchange points while slowly cleansing their marrow.

Three months later.

The handover of fifty thousand Power Pills was completed. Su Dun sent someone to deliver a Demon Weapon, saying it was a reward from the Governor-General's Yamen.

Demon Weapons were not common, but neither were they rare. They were not forged by human hands, but naturally born from different environments. Every year, many places in Central Province had tales of Demon Weapons emerging.

Yet not every Demon Weapon could be used. The cost of using most was far too steep. Their wielders either went mad or were drained dry of blood. Sometimes, they were even controlled in turn by the Demon Weapons themselves. Added to that, some Demon Weapons possessed powers that were too evil or utterly useless, so most had to be destroyed.

Still, Qi practitioners flocked to them one after another, because Demon Weapons had a chance of transforming their wielders into Secret Method Cultivators. Though most such transformations were fixed and would also cause the wielder to lose some rationality, for Qi practitioners with exceptionally poor Spiritual Roots, it was undoubtedly a path.

Moreover, some powerful Demon Weapons could even contend against Cultivators of higher major realms. Of course, such things remained legends for now.