Flying Sword and Exotic Flame (Please Read On)

Land of Ancient Shu.

Fang Qing wore a blue robe, looking like a young aristocrat out for a spring stroll.

"Body-tempering techniques, divine sense... difficult..."

He gazed at the blazing sun in the vault of heaven, 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. He discovered that some had cultivated divine sense because their techniques were unusual; some had stumbled upon strange flowers or spirit fruits and consumed them; some had encountered life-and-death crises and naturally broken through...

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

And body-tempering techniques?

"There are quite a few body-forging arts in the Heavenly Books Pavilion... The most famous is the 'Blackwater Dharma Body,' said to be capable of 'raging black waters sweeping clean the world'! Once cultivated to great completion, it can even let one resist a second-rank demon beast with the flesh alone! But the exchange cost is too high... and cultivation requires many precious supplementary materials."

Thinking of what Zeng Shu from the Heavenly Books Pavilion had said that day, Fang Qing's face darkened again. "Are poor ghosts unworthy of body tempering?"

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

"I needn't drill into a bull's horn. The Dao arts here in Ancient Shu are mysterious, while the Azure Sea Sect has abundant resources... I should make proper use of the advantages of both worlds."

This time, he had mainly come to earn a batch of contribution points and pour them into alchemy.

Beyond that, he wanted to gather some supplementary techniques, such as body-tempering formulas...

Floating Boat Market.

The mountains towered high, and the clouds drifted like floating boats.

"It has already... been four years."

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

Back then, he had been a minor cultivator at the early stage of Qi Refining. And now? He had finally entered the initial stage of Qi Ingestion! It did not seem all that different...

Since spiritual items were scarce in Ancient Shu, many markets were not open year-round. There were even merchant caravans like Jade Heaven Market, which traveled along waterways.

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

"That old blind man... He truly has some skill in reading faces and judging fates. He has also traveled far and wide and seen much of the world. I can ask him about supplementary techniques..."

Back then, under the alias Fang Shui, he had his immortal cultivation aptitude appraised here. The old blind man had even given him a Qi-gathering method.

Now that he had become a Qi Ingestion cultivator and had returned to see the old blind man, it felt rather like a cycle coming full circle.

"Still, reaching the third layer of Qi Ingestion in four years is normal. If he learns that I reached the third layer immediately 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 some thought, Fang Qing still chose to conceal his cultivation.

With the Dao-Born Pearl in hand, the mana he concealed was practically seamless. Even a Core Formation patriarch standing before him would not be able to see through it.

And claiming that he had bought his Earthspring Tempered Essence would flaunt his wealth too much.

Since he needed to ask the old blind man for information, it was better to deal with an acquaintance, so he did not conceal his appearance.

He entered the market, and just as he was about to look for the old blind man, he suddenly heard a delighted voice. "Brother Fang Shui?"

"Hm?"

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, eldest of the Seven Swords of Shu Mountain!

"Correct... Back then, I was fortunate enough to obtain some spiritual funds. I entered the market and discovered that I possessed immortal cultivation aptitude... After struggling and scraping my way along, I consumed True Qi and entered the Dao..."

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

Behind him stood Guo Tianhong as well. She gathered her robes and gave a salute.

Seeing Fang Qing's gaze, Li Rulong explained, "Seventh Sister and I both possess immortal cultivation aptitude. Alas, it is only a pity for Second Brother and Sixth Brother..."

Liu Wansu, the second of the Seven Swords of Shu Mountain, and Zhu Zhenheng, the sixth, had both been renowned young talents of Shu Land. But cultivation aptitude was entirely a matter of fate!

If one lacked the aptitude for cultivation, then one simply lacked it!

At least, Fang Qing as he was now had no way to make an ordinary person develop aptitude out of thin air.

"Immortal cultivation aptitude is hard to come by..."

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

In his eyes, this Heroine Guo Tianhong also bore spiritual radiance around her. She had clearly entered the Dao through Qi Ingestion as well!

"Did True Qi in Ancient Shu go on some massive clearance sale during the days I was gone? How has entering the Dao become so easy now?"

After exchanging a few more words, he learned that Li Rulong had also had his fortune read by the old blind man. What he cultivated was [Kangjin]!

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

Fang Qing smiled, his tone sincere as the gift of Eloquence's Edge took effect.

"Haha... I was simply lucky. After my fate was judged, I had planned to gather Qi for a few years, but instead I found an immortal's cave abode. Within it, I obtained a strand of 'White Within the Sword.' This Qi perfectly suited [Kangjin], and there was also a flying sword and a sword manual. I have always loved practicing the sword, and after feeling my way through it for a few years, I found the path. I am now at the third layer of Qi Ingestion. After saving up some spiritual funds, I even bought a portion of True Qi for Seventh Sister..."

Li Rulong already knew Fang Qing, and before he realized it, he had said rather too much. Only when Guo Tianhong tugged at his sleeve did he suddenly stop, offering an apologetic smile.

"Third layer of Qi Ingestion, and a sword cultivator?"

Fang Qing was nearly speechless.

Though Li Rulong had spent four years reaching this point rather than vaulting there in one step as he had, their realms were the same.

"And moreover... a sword cultivator!"

In the Land of Ancient Shu, metal and fire were the most prominent Dao lineages. Between heaven and earth, spiritual items of metal virtue and fire virtue were also more plentiful.

And in the eyes of cultivators, the most formidable path of metal virtue cultivation was undoubtedly that of the "sword cultivator"!

With a flying sword in hand, one could break through ten thousand methods. It was the foremost elegance of this world!

The various famed swords had even been compiled into a register of the world's ten greatest flying swords, their tales passed down far and wide. They appeared in every biography Fang Qing had read.

As for fire virtue? Exotic flame cultivators reigned supreme.

These exotic flames were spiritual fires of heaven and earth. Fire virtue cultivators refined them into their bodies, and when unleashed in battle, they were equally sharp and fierce, overcoming water, wood, earth, and more...

The cultivation world also had a ranking of spiritual fires of heaven and earth. It was said that even the flames at the bottom of the list were first-rate spiritual items, things that even ordinary Dao Foundation cultivators might never see.

"This Li Rulong has truly stepped in dog shit... Wait, could he be a chosen son of fate, like the protagonists in storybooks? Or perhaps one favored by fortune for a time?"

If Fang Qing's Plum Blossom Divination had not been utterly entry-level, he would have felt the urge to calculate Li Rulong's fate right then and there.

"His flying sword is certainly not a famous sword, but any flying sword is incomparably precious, worth far more than a few strands of True Qi..."

Fang Qing had to admit that he felt the urge to rob the other man.

But he quickly calmed that impulse. I can't do that... I still have some bottom line. Besides... I have the Dao-Born Pearl. So long as I advance steadily, my future will be boundless. If I grow accustomed to taking risks, making huge profits once or twice, can I keep profiting every one of ten or a hundred times? The moment I encounter a single fatal danger, I'll be dead for certain... As long as I don't gamble, I'll never lose!

Li Rulong had inadvertently revealed his own foundations, and his expression became somewhat uneasy. With his sworn younger sister signaling him from beside him, he chatted with Fang Qing for a few more moments before hastily taking his leave.

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

Fang Qing politely bid them farewell and turned into a herbal medicine shop.

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

A cultivator dressed like a shop assistant immediately came forward.

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

"Do you have any Dark Jade Ginseng?"

Fang Qing asked.

So-called Dark Jade Ginseng was the local name for Jade Qi Ginseng, which was the main ingredient in Ginseng Green Spirit Water.

If he could obtain it here at a lower cost, he could drive down the price of the materials for the entire pill formula. Then he could refine pills in large quantities, gaining alchemy experience and cultivation.

"That... depends on what Fellow Daoist has to exchange. Generally speaking, fifty jin of spiritual grain can be exchanged for one ten-year Dark Jade Ginseng!"

The shop assistant quickly replied.

"Using spiritual rice as a general equivalent? That works well enough."

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

He tossed out a bottle of pills—the Blood Pills seized from bandit cultivators last time. "How about these pills?"

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

The shop assistant pulled out the stopper and sniffed at the bottle. His eyes immediately lit up. He swiftly glanced around before lowering his voice. "If you exchange them through the shop, you can get five Dark Jade Ginseng. If you exchange them with me, you can get six..."

"So this is... a private deal?"

Fang Qing laughed soundlessly. Sure enough, everyone had private interests; no place was exempt from such worldly ways.

And for cultivators whose mana was this impure, pills that increased mana might show immediate effects even more readily.

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

Fang Qing spoke meaningfully.

A moment later, he left the herbal medicine shop, patting the storage pouch at his waist with satisfaction.

"Though many spirit herbs in these two worlds have different names, they are actually the same..."

"Then perhaps I can collect some pill formulas from this side and try refining them over there?"

"Or... could pill formulas on Jade Island whose raw materials have run out find their extinct main ingredients here?"

The more Fang Qing thought about it, the more he felt there was much to be done.

Compared with the profits from trade between the two worlds, even Li Rulong's great fortune 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 froze, then broke into a grin that revealed a mouthful of chipped yellow teeth. "Who would have thought... This old blind man has read faces and judged fates for so many years, and though I have judged the immortal fates of quite a few people, very few have truly entered the Dao through Qi Ingestion. Yet today, I have seen two in a row..."

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

Fang Qing sighed and placed a spirit fish, skinned and descaled, on the stall's table.

"We cultivators recognize people by their 'Qi.' Fellow Daoist, your body is full of [Ji Water] mana. In this old blind man's eyes, it is far easier to distinguish than beauty or ugliness..."

The old blind man's two pitch-black eye sockets stared at Fang Qing, his words carrying a deeper meaning.