Flying Swords and Variant Flames (Please Keep Reading)

Land of Ancient Shu.

Fang Qing wore a green robe, looking like a young disciple of an aristocratic clan out for a spring excursion.

"Body Refinement techniques, Spiritual Sense... hard..."

He looked up at the Great Sun in the sky, feeling its dazzling radiance, and suddenly let out a sigh.

Over the past few days, he had asked around about those true disciples of the Hundred Arts and discovered that some had cultivated Spiritual Sense because their cultivation methods were special. Some had stumbled upon rare spirit flowers or fruits and consumed them by chance. Some had encountered life-and-death crises and naturally broken through...

Some might even have made up lies to fool people. There was simply no fixed rule to it.

And Body Refinement techniques?

"There are quite a few body-tempering arts in the Heavenly Books Pavilion... The most famous is the 'Blackwater Dharma Body,' said to possess 'surging black waters that wash the world clean'! Once cultivated to great success, one can even withstand a Second-Order demon beast with the physical body alone! But the exchange price is too steep... and cultivation requires many precious auxiliary materials."

Thinking of what Zeng Shu had said in the Heavenly Books Pavilion that day, Fang Qing's face still darkened. "Are poor bastards unworthy of Body Refinement?"

"Forget it. While I'm not poor, wealth should not be flaunted..."

"I don't need to drill into a dead end, either. The Dao arts of Ancient Shu are wondrous, while the Azure Sea Sect has abundant resources... I need to make proper use of the advantages of both worlds."

This time, he had mainly come to earn a batch of Contribution Points and throw them into alchemy like spending money in a game.

Beyond that, he also wanted to gather some auxiliary cultivation methods, such as Body Refinement arts...

Floating Boat Market.

The mountain peaks towered high, while the clouds drifted like floating boats.

"It's already been... four years."

Setting foot in this place again, Fang Qing could not help but feel sentimental.

Back then, he had merely been a minor cultivator at Early Qi Refinement. And now? He had finally reached Early Qi Ingestion! It did not seem all that different...

Because Ancient Shu had few spirit materials, many markets were not permanently open. There were even merchant caravans like Jade Heaven Market that traveled along waterways.

Therefore, if Fang Qing wanted to conduct large transactions, he had to chase after these markets.

"That Old Blind Man... he really does have some skill at reading faces and judging fates. He's traveled all over and has broad knowledge, so I can ask him about auxiliary cultivation methods..."

Back then, he had used the alias Fang Shui and learned here that he possessed cultivation talent. The Old Blind Man had even given him a Qi Gathering Method.

Now that he had become a Qi Ingestion cultivator and had come to see the Old Blind Man again, it felt rather like the turning of a wheel.

"Still, taking four years to reach the Qi Ingestion Third Layer is normal. If he learns that I immediately advanced two layers after entering Qi Ingestion, that would not be normal... So either I tell him that I directly bought a strand of Earthspring Tempered Essence back then, or I use the Dao-Born Pearl to conceal two layers of cultivation..."

After thinking it over, Fang Qing still chose to conceal his cultivation.

With the Dao-Born Pearl in hand, the mana he hid was practically seamless. Even a Core Formation patriarch would be unable to see through it face-to-face.

And if he claimed that he had bought his Earthspring Tempered Essence, that would reveal far too much wealth.

Since he was going to ask the Old Blind Man for information, it would naturally be better to approach him as an acquaintance, so Fang Qing did not conceal his appearance.

He entered the market and had just been about to seek out the Old Blind Man when he suddenly heard a delighted voice. "Brother Fang Shui?"

"Hmm?"

Fang Qing looked over in confusion and saw a valiant young man whose sharp aura seemed to stab at the skin. He was immediately startled. "Li Rulong... you... have entered the Dao through Qi Ingestion?"

This valiant young man was none other than Li Rulong, the eldest of the Seven Swords of Shu Mountain!

"That's right... Back then, I was fortunate enough to obtain some Spirit Assets. After entering the market, I discovered that I had cultivation talent... Then, after much scrambling and struggle, I consumed True Qi and entered the Dao..."

As Li Rulong spoke of the past, his face carried considerable wistfulness.

Behind him, Guo Tianhong was also present. She gathered her robes and offered a salute.

Seeing Fang Qing's gaze, Li Rulong explained, "Seventh Sister and I both possess cultivation talent. Alas, only Second Brother and Sixth Brother were unfortunate..."

The Seven Swords of Shu Mountain's Second Brother, Liu Wansu, and Sixth Brother, Zhu Zhenheng, had both been renowned young talents in Shu Land. But cultivation talent was something entirely dependent on fate!

If one did not possess cultivation talent, then one simply did not possess it!

At least, the current Fang Qing could not find a way to make ordinary people develop cultivation talent out of thin air.

"Cultivation talent is hard to come by..."

Fang Qing sighed along with him, but inwardly, he was unsettled.

In his eyes, this heroine Guo Tianhong also possessed spiritual radiance. She had clearly entered the Dao through Qi Ingestion as well!

"Have I been away for a few days, and now True Qi in Ancient Shu is on sale at a huge discount? Why has entering the Dao become so easy?"

After chatting a little more, he learned that Li Rulong had also had his fate read by the Old Blind Man and cultivated Neck Metal!

"Neck Metal is the implement of blades and swords. No wonder, upon seeing you, I felt only a sharp aura rushing straight at my face..."

Fang Qing smiled, his tone sincere as his gift for eloquence came into play.

"Haha... I was lucky as well. After my fate was judged, I had originally planned to gather Qi for several years, but I unexpectedly found an immortal's cave abode. Inside, I obtained a strand of White Within the Sword. This qi suited Neck Metal perfectly, and there was also a flying sword and a sword manual. I've always loved practicing the sword, and after several years of exploration, I found my way in. I'm now at the Qi Ingestion Third Layer, and after saving up some Spirit Assets, I also bought a portion of True Qi for Seventh Sister..."

Li Rulong had already known Fang Qing, and now he unconsciously revealed a little too much. Only when Guo Tianhong tugged at his sleeve did he suddenly stop, offering an apologetic smile.

"Qi Ingestion Third Layer, and a sword cultivator?"

Fang Qing was nearly speechless upon hearing this.

Though Li Rulong had spent four years reaching this point rather than leaping there in a single bound like Fang Qing, they were still on the same level.

"And... a sword cultivator!"

In Ancient Shu, metal and fire were the most prominent Dao lineages. Between Heaven and Earth, there were likewise more spirit materials aligned with Metal Virtue and Fire Virtue.

And in cultivators' eyes, the most formidable practitioners of Metal Virtue were undoubtedly sword cultivators!

With a flying sword in hand, they could break through ten thousand laws. They were the greatest romantics of this world!

All kinds of famous swords had even been compiled into a ranking of the world's ten greatest flying swords, their tales widely sung. Fang Qing had seen them described in countless biographies.

As for Fire Virtue? Variant Flame cultivators reigned supreme.

These Variant Flames were Heavenly Earth Spirit Fires. Fire Virtue cultivators refined them into their bodies, and when unleashed in battle, they were equally sharp and peerless, suppressing water, wood, earth, and more...

The cultivation world likewise had a ranking of Heavenly Earth Spirit Fires. It was said that even the lowest-ranked spirit fire was a top-tier spirit material that ordinary Dao Foundation cultivators might never lay eyes upon.

"This Li Rulong really stepped in dog shit... Wait, could he be one of those chosen sons of heaven from storybooks? Or perhaps a temporary child of fortune?"

If Fang Qing's Plum Blossom Divination had not utterly failed to reach even the beginner stage, he would have felt the urge to calculate Li Rulong's fate right then.

"Though that flying sword of his certainly isn't a famous sword, as long as it's a flying sword, it is incomparably precious. Its value far surpasses a few strands of True Qi..."

Fang Qing had to admit that he felt an impulse to rob the man.

But he quickly calmed that impulse. I can't do that... I still have some bottom line. Besides... with the Dao-Born Pearl in hand, as long as I advance steadily and surely, my future will be boundless. If I get used to taking risks and making huge profits once or twice, can I really profit every time across ten or a hundred attempts? As long as I encounter one fatal danger, I'll be dead... As long as I don't gamble, I'll never lose!

Li Rulong had inadvertently revealed his own foundations, and his expression became somewhat unnatural. With his sworn younger sister giving him meaningful looks beside him, he exchanged a few more words with Fang Qing before hurriedly taking his leave.

"No matter what, this man carries trouble with him... Better not get mixed up with him."

Fang Qing politely bid them farewell, then turned into a herbal shop.

"Welcome, Fellow Daoist. What kind of spirit herbs would you like to purchase?"

A cultivator dressed like a shop assistant immediately came forward.

Fang Qing sensed that although this man had some mana, its quality was impure and mixed. He had likely entered the Dao by consuming low-grade Third-Order True Qi.

"Do you have any Dark Jade Ginseng?"

Fang Qing asked.

The so-called Dark Jade Ginseng was the local name for Jade Qi Ginseng, and Jade Qi Ginseng was the primary ingredient for refining Ginseng Green Spirit Water.

If he could obtain it here at a lower cost, he could bring down the price of materials for the entire pill formula, then refine it in large quantities to gain alchemy experience and cultivation.

"That... depends on what you have for exchange, Fellow Daoist. Generally speaking, fifty jin of Spirit Grain can be exchanged for one ten-year Dark Jade Ginseng!"

The shop assistant hurriedly answered.

"Using Spirit Rice as a general equivalent? That's not bad."

After making the conversion, Fang Qing learned that the price here was even higher than at the Azure Sea Sect. However, he happened to have something he did not want and could sell it here.

He tossed out a bottle of pills—the Blood Pills seized from the cultivator bandits last time. "What about these pills?"

"These are... pills that increase mana?"

The shop assistant pulled out the stopper and sniffed it. His eyes immediately lit up. He rapidly glanced around, then lowered his voice. "If you exchange them through the shop, you can get five Dark Jade Ginseng. If you exchange them with me personally, you can get six..."

"So this counts as a private deal?"

Fang Qing laughed dumbly. As expected, everyone had selfish motives; nowhere was free of such worldly ways.

And for cultivators with impure mana like this one, pills that increased mana might have an even more immediate effect.

"I don't care. As long as you can get me more Dark Jade Ginseng, I'll trade."

Fang Qing spoke pointedly.

A short while later, he left the herbal shop and patted the storage pouch at his waist with satisfaction.

"There are quite a few spirit herbs in these two worlds that have different names but are actually the same..."

"In that case, I can gather some pill formulas from this side and try refining them over there?"

"Or... can I find here the extinct primary ingredients for certain pill formulas whose raw materials have been cut off on Jade Island?"

The more Fang Qing thought about it, the more he felt that his prospects were vast.

Compared with the profits of trading between two worlds, even Li Rulong's incredible luck in obtaining a flying sword was nothing much!

Before the Old Blind Man's stall.

Fang Qing sat down. The Old Blind Man across from him was startled for a moment, then smiled, revealing a mouthful of incomplete yellow teeth. "Who would have thought... This old blind man has read faces and judged fates for many years, and I've assessed the cultivation destinies of quite a few people. Yet very few ultimately managed to enter the Dao through Qi Ingestion. Today, however, I've seen two in succession..."

"Old sir... you aren't blind."

Fang Qing sighed and placed a skinned, scaled spirit fish onto the table of the stall.

"We cultivators recognize people by their 'qi.' Fellow Daoist, your Winnowing Basket Water mana is as clear to this old blind man's eyes as the difference between beauty and ugliness..."

The Old Blind Man's two pitch-black eye sockets stared at Fang Qing, his words carrying a deeper meaning.