Spirit Desert, Spirit Ruins

Zhu Yu looked toward the sound.

A broad-faced, round, fat youth grinning and waving, along with a thin young man who looked sneaky and shifty, came into view.

"Why is he here again?"

When he came close, before he could speak, Zhu Yu broke into a brilliant smile and beat him to it. "Senior Brother Liang, could it be that you came to give me yesterday's lesson fee?"

As he spoke, he unceremoniously held out his hand.

Meditation Fluid? Was that something a person could drink?

To his surprise, Liang Kuan was thick-skinned as well. He stepped forward and grabbed Zhu Yu's arm, acting as though they were friends of many years, then enthusiastically introduced him to Xiang Sui. "Senior Brother Xiang, this is my good brother Zhu Yu, Junior Brother Zhu—the peerless genius who cultivated the Basic Visualization Diagram to minor success."

"Who's your brother?"

Zhu Yu frowned and was about to shake him off when Liang Kuan's voice suddenly sounded by his ear. "Junior Brother Zhu, let me introduce you to a big business opportunity!"

"This is Senior Brother Xiang Sui. He has connections everywhere. If Senior Brother Xiang helps out, once you start teaching, even if you don't get a hundred or eighty students, you'll have at least a dozen or so."

"Hm?"

Zhu Yu's eyes immediately lit up. Forgetting to shake Liang Kuan off, he clasped his hands politely toward the somewhat lecherous-looking young man before him.

"Zhu Yu greets Senior Brother Xiang."

Xiang Sui furrowed his brow as he examined the handsome youth before him. He could not see any extraordinary bearing of a genius. Though he was somewhat disappointed inwardly, he remained courteous on the surface.

"Junior Brother Zhu, no need for formalities. Let's cut the unnecessary nonsense. Junior Brother Liang says you've cultivated the Basic Visualization Method to minor success. Could you explain it to me?"

"Alright."

Knowing that Xiang Sui was testing whether he truly had what it took, Zhu Yu did not waste words. After a brief moment of thought, he began explaining at an unhurried pace, just as he had explained it to Liang Kuan yesterday.

"The Basic Visualization Diagram..."

His words were clear and easy to understand. He spoke from visualization to deep meditation, then moved on to the difficulties of constructing the Three-Ring Pattern. He did not hold back the little tricks he had realized day after day, explaining every one of them clearly...

At first, Xiang Sui did not pay much attention. He had long since cultivated the Basic Visualization Method to proficiency, and he understood many of the things Zhu Yu said. Yet as Zhu Yu delved deeper, some of his words actually gave Xiang Sui insight, leaving him with a sudden feeling of enlightenment.

Zhu Yu spoke for a full half hour.

His mouth had gone dry from all the talking, and figures had begun appearing outside the stone tower. Xiang Sui waved with a broad smile. "That's enough, that's enough. Junior Brother, you truly have the real deal."

After saying that, he glanced around and smiled.

"This isn't a place to talk. Shall we find somewhere quiet and discuss it?"

"Discuss it, discuss it..."

Before Zhu Yu could speak, Liang Kuan nodded repeatedly with his huge grin. As though something had occurred to him, he hurriedly added, "Why not go to Junior Brother Zhu's stone house and discuss it there? We can get familiar with the place too. It'll be convenient once classes begin, won't it?"

"Alright. Junior Brother Zhu?"

Xiang Sui did not think much of it. He nodded and looked at Zhu Yu.

"Please, Senior Brothers."

They were practically delivering Spirit Stones to his doorstep. How could Zhu Yu refuse? His face brimming with a smile, he stepped forward to lead the way.

The three chatted as they avoided cultivators who had completed Qi Refining.

Through their conversation, Zhu Yu learned the following.

Liang Kuan came from Xiangyun Market. His family had a grandfather at the middle stage of Qi Refining. Though his cultivation was low, he had cultivated the path of a Spirit Planter. He could be considered to possess modest assets.

Xiang Sui was even more impressive. Not only did he come from a Foundation Establishment Lineage, but his Lineage's foundation and inheritance lay in the path of alchemy—the most valuable among the hundred arts of cultivation. Though he belonged to a collateral branch, that identity was still formidable.

What startled him even more was this.

The Meditation Fluid Liang Kuan had paid him with, the kind that would bring endless future trouble, had actually been concocted by Xiang Sui before he had even entered the Dao, based on an ancient family recipe.

He was a genius—and an absolute madman.

Unable to sell the Meditation Fluid he had brewed by pouring all his resources into it, Xiang Sui had actually ignored the pill toxins and drunk more than half of it himself.

"Hiss..."

Upon learning this, Zhu Yu secretly sucked in a cold breath. Only then did he understand why Xiang Sui looked like such a lecherous, overindulgent wretch. So he had cultivated by consuming Meditation Fluid.

That made Zhu Yu resolve never to consume it before the toxins had been removed.

Though Zhu Yu wanted to inquire about the prescription for the Meditation Fluid, he also knew that rashly asking about such a precious inheritance would likely make Xiang Sui dislike him.

He could not obtain the prescription, but merely associating with someone of such deep family learning proved immensely beneficial to Zhu Yu. Even the information Xiang Sui inadvertently revealed during conversation gave him much to gain from.

In particular, he gained a more direct understanding of the world, the Heavenly Dao Sect, and the Yin-Underworld Grotto.

This world was divided into Spirit Desert regions and Spirit Ruins regions.

Spirit Desert regions were severed from spiritual energy and suited for ordinary mortals to multiply and survive. If cultivators stayed there for too long, all the spiritual power in their souls would gradually degenerate into that of mortals.

Thus, other than the immortal ferry boats sent by the great Sects, few cultivators ever set foot in Spirit Desert regions.

Spirit Ruins regions were places where spiritual energy gathered and spirits were born.

The Heavenly Dao Sect was situated within a Spirit Ruins region that rose ten thousand zhang high and stretched an unknown number of li in length and width. Because it resembled a Graveyard Mound in shape, it was called the Immortal Tomb Domain.

Whether it was the white tower from the previous owner's memories, the Yin-Underworld Grotto, or the market where Liang Kuan's Lineage resided, they were all actually located inside a colossal mountain resembling a Graveyard Mound.

As for the Heavenly Dao Sect—

It had no distinction between Outer Sect and Inner Sect. Its system was built around mansions and towers.

Mansions were the abodes of Foundation Establishment True Persons, while towers were the abodes of Golden Core True Lords.

The Yinming Mansion where Zhu Yu and the others cultivated was the abode opened by the great Foundation Establishment cultivator, True Person Yin Underworld. According to Xiang Sui, the Yin-Underworld Grotto belonged to one of the great towers, Godfall.

As for how many great towers the Heavenly Dao Sect possessed, or whether there were even stronger beings above those towers, Xiang Sui did not know.

The three arrived at the stone house where Zhu Yu lived.

Looking around the empty room, which did not even have a place to sit, Xiang Sui nodded in praise. "No wonder Junior Brother's visualization method has improved so greatly. You are clearly a cultivator of our kind, one devoted to the Dao."

"Yes, yes." Liang Kuan gave a perfunctory agreement, then coughed twice. "Senior Brother Xiang, when do you think we should organize the classes? And... what would be an appropriate fee for Junior Brother Zhu?"

At that, Zhu Yu looked over as well.

Xiang Sui pondered for a moment before giving an exact answer. "Three days. Three days from now, I'll contact some people and bring them here for Junior Brother's trial lesson. If they are all greatly satisfied, then the fees need not be discussed..."

After a pause, he looked at Zhu Yu solemnly.

"Let me state the ugly words first. If the teaching succeeds, I will take seventy percent..."

But before he could finish, Zhu Yu was not in a hurry, while Liang Kuan became anxious first. He shook his head repeatedly. "No, no. Senior Brother, you're only moving your lips. Junior Brother Zhu is the one who'll be busy teaching. I think that seventy percent ought to go to Junior Brother Zhu."

He had his own little calculations for saying so.

If Xiang Sui took seventy percent, what about him? Even if he took a ten-percent share, would Zhu Yu only get twenty percent after working so hard? Judging others by himself, if it were him, he definitely would not agree.

If they argued it out in the end, there was a very high chance he would be kicked out. Xiang Sui could then symbolically offer Zhu Yu another ten or twenty percent to placate him, and the two of them would each be happy—creating a world where only he suffered a blood-soaked loss.

"Oh? Junior Brother Liang isn't stupid..."

Xiang Sui looked at Liang Kuan in surprise. He had indeed considered kicking him out, but it appeared that idea had now fallen through.

Remembering how Liang Kuan had said yesterday that he would take the larger share, only to turn hostile at the drop of a hat now, Xiang Sui glared at him fiercely and pretended to be angry.

"Only moving my lips? If Junior Brother Liang can bring people in just by moving your lips, I won't take even a single percent."

Seeing Xiang Sui grow angry, Liang Kuan hurriedly stepped forward, supporting his arm with a placating smile. "Senior Brother, seventy percent really is too high. How about this? Senior Brother takes thirty percent, Junior Brother Zhu takes fifty percent, and twenty percent is enough for me."

"Heh..."

Hearing that, Xiang Sui seemed to have been angered into laughter. He turned and started to leave.

Liang Kuan hurriedly reached out and grabbed him. "Ten percent! I only want ten percent! Junior Brother Zhu gets fifty percent!... Senior Brother, you get forty percent!"

Xiang Sui paused slightly, his brows knitting together. Reluctantly, he nodded. Then he turned to Zhu Yu, who stood to one side, and said amiably, "What do you think, Junior Brother Zhu?"

"That works."

Zhu Yu did not haggle too much and nodded in agreement.

Teaching to earn Spirit Stones was merely a temporary measure. Once he completed Qi Refining, with the True Sight Eye, he would not have to worry about lacking ways to earn Spirit Stones.

All three were delighted.

After a brief discussion, Xiang Sui and Liang Kuan took their leave one after the other.

"Things are finally on the right track..."

Watching the two disappear at the end of the path, Zhu Yu let out a soft breath. Looking at the clumps of grass outside that gave off a faint glow, and the stone houses shaped like coffins, he smiled and turned back inside.

"Hm?"

"Why is there such a strange smell?"