Wall Water Spiritual Treasure

"One request that isn't too much..."

What request could he, a mere mortal merchant, possibly make?

Xu Bonian pondered bitterly for a long while, unable to stop himself from swallowing. His mouth felt dry.

Ask for wealth?

That would waste an opportunity.

Ask for power?

He knew his own worth well enough.

He wasn't cut out for that.

Then what could he ask for?

Xu Bonian felt exceptionally troubled.

Shen Qingzhou interrupted his thoughts and asked softly, "I don't need you to do anything. You only need to tell me whether the Xu Family has any other immortal treasures."

What a joke. Even geese lost feathers as they flew past—how could he make this trip for nothing?

"N-no, I don't think so."

Though he said that, Xu Bonian's body jerked, and something immediately came to mind.

How could the other man know...

"Immortal Master... Immortal Master, why do you say that? The Xu Family has traded for generations. We're only an ordinary mortal household..." He still forced himself to deny it.

Shen Qingzhou said nothing. He merely looked toward the wall behind the main hall, where a plaque reading "Fortune, Longevity, and Long Years" hung.

The moment he had stepped into this residence, he had sensed an unusual aura.

It was an exceedingly dense water-element Dao resonance.

The feng shui of this residence was indeed excellent—excellent enough to nurture this trace of water resonance for a hundred years without dispersing.

Xu Bonian followed his gaze and gritted his teeth.

"Forget it. A common man commits no crime, but carrying jade becomes his crime... Keeping it will only invite disaster!"

Seeing that he could no longer hide it, he hesitated before walking to the wall and knocking five times in sequence on an inconspicuous brick beneath the plaque.

"Creak..."

The wall split down the middle, revealing a hidden passage.

"Immortal Master, please." Xu Bonian bowed and gestured for him to enter, yet he himself did not dare go inside.

Shen Qingzhou walked in.

The hidden passage was not long. At its end was a small stone chamber.

In the center of the chamber stood a waist-high black stone pedestal. Upon it rested a transparent crystal box, and inside lay a fist-sized piece of deep-blue jade. Waterlight seemed to flow within the jade.

"Good stuff."

[Wall-Water Essence]

Shen Qingzhou recalled the name of this spiritual treasure.

It was said that the conditions for this item's formation were rather demanding. It was generally hidden deep in the mountains, in places where spiritual streams and hidden springs flowed. Once spiritual energy gathered there for several decades, a piece could be produced.

Its texture was hard and carried a faint chill. If mortals encountered it, it would not kill them, but it could easily leave them plagued by ailments such as wind-cold.

For water-element cultivators, this was a rare Qi Refining spiritual item. If it could be refined into the qi sea, it might allow one to use it to break through to the Qi Refining Second Layer, or even the third.

This item was also sold within sects. It seemed to cost several hundred contribution points, making it quite expensive.

Although it belonged not to the Kan Water Lineage but the Wall Water Lineage, it could solidify the foundation of one's qi sea and make spiritual energy tougher. In the future, defensive spells would be much more effective.

Shen Qingzhou looked over and saw a line of small characters engraved on the crystal box:

It roughly meant that after an ancestor of the Xu Family had obtained this item, he realized it was a treasure but lacked the fortune to enjoy it. He would wait for a talented descendant with cultivation aptitude to appear before passing it down to him. If an immortal master came to claim it, they were not to cling to it greedily; treasures had belonged to the capable since ancient times, and so on.

Shen Qingzhou reached out and tucked the crystal box into his sleeve.

When he walked out of the hidden passage, the wall closed automatically behind him.

Xu Bonian was still waiting outside. Seeing him emerge, he wore an expression of relief.

"Immortal Master, this is the Xu Family's final secret."

Shen Qingzhou looked at him and smiled. "Your ancestor had considerable foresight. He was a man who understood the greater picture and knew when to advance and when to retreat."

He paused.

"What do you want?"

Xu Bonian froze, then his face filled with delight.

With a thud, he dropped to his knees and kowtowed three times. "I seek neither fame nor fortune! I only ask that Immortal Master protect the Xu Family bloodline and keep us safe and healthy!"

"Granted."

Shen Qingzhou did not waste words. With a flick of his fingertip, a trace of Jade Well Cleansing Water aura merged into Xu Bonian's body, washing away the hidden illnesses he had accumulated over years of exhausting himself in trade.

He did not mind doing such a convenient little thing.

Then he flicked out two more traces of aura, which floated toward the rooms of Xu Bonian's wife and daughter in the rear courtyard.

Those two traces would keep them free from illness for decades and leave them full of vigor. At the very least, they would live several more years.

When he was done, a jade talisman flew from Shen Qingzhou's sleeve.

"If anyone among your descendants can cultivate, they may bring this talisman to the Profound Heaven Sect and enter its gates. The karma of the Xu Family is settled."

His voice still drifted through the hall, but he had already passed through the main gate.

"Thank you for your grace, Immortal Master!"

Xu Bonian felt his entire body lighten. The aching in his waist and back, the tightness in his chest that had troubled him for years—all of it vanished in an instant. He felt as though he had become ten years younger.

He carefully put away the jade talisman, then kowtowed heavily once more toward the gate.

After leaving Peace River City, Shen Qingzhou did not take the official road. Instead, he chose a remote old trade route that cut through the mountains.

According to his memories, this path was shorter and faster.

Having made a small fortune, he naturally needed to be cautious and slip away quickly.

At dusk, the sun stretched the shadows of the mountain forest long and thin.

Shen Qingzhou was walking through a narrow valley.

Steep stone walls rose on both sides, while only a small path washed out by rainwater ran along the valley floor. The wind howled through it.

He stopped.

"Hm?"

There was an earthy stench in the air, mixed with a faint ripple of spiritual power.

Shen Qingzhou's expression did not change. He continued forward as though he had noticed nothing.

Just as he reached the narrowest part of the valley, several enormous rocks weighing thousands of pounds suddenly fell from the cliffs on either side, roaring through the air as they smashed toward his head!

At the same time, the ground beneath his feet shook violently. Streams of earthen-yellow light surged up from underground and transformed into sharp earth spikes, sealing off every route of retreat.

The rocks crashed down.

Shen Qingzhou had long been prepared. His reaction was lightning-fast; he ducked low and slid close to the ground, narrowly evading them.

Boom!

A huge rock smashed into the spot where he had just been standing, blasting out a deep pit.

"Good brat, hand over your life!" someone shouted from the cliff. A man leaped out from behind the rocks.

The man was thin and wiry, his face black as charcoal and his cheekbones high. His hands were unusually large, their knuckles covered in calluses.

Qi Refining First Layer.

Shen Qingzhou narrowed his eyes. The other party was a Rogue Cultivator, seemingly one who cultivated the Wèi Earth Tradition.

Seeing that the rocks had failed to hit their target, the gray-clothed man pressed both hands against the earth.

Earth Dragon Overturning!

As the spell activated, the valley floor swayed along with it. Force from all directions tugged at Shen Qingzhou's legs and feet.

Water vapor rose around him. Shen Qingzhou circulated the Abyss-Sinking Formula. The force brushed against him but found nowhere to exert itself, slipping away beneath the soles of his feet.

"Huh?" The gray-clothed man was somewhat baffled.

His Earth Dragon Overturning relied entirely on weight to suppress people. Cultivators of the same realm would have their movements hindered when struck by this spell and could only suffer a great loss, yet this young man in green robes was as slippery as an eel. The force could not land solidly on him.

"Which sect's disciple are you?"

The gray-clothed man stopped casting and stared at Shen Qingzhou.

This kid's cultivation method was orthodox. A Rogue Cultivator could not cultivate such a style.

With that thought, he withdrew his killing intent and felt some apprehension. If he casually killed this fellow and the elders behind him came knocking, would he not be dead for certain?

"Friend, you've ruined the good work of our Yellowstone True Person. We should settle this debt, shouldn't we?" The gray-clothed man rubbed his hands together, changing his tone.

Killing a disciple of a major sect could easily invite trouble. Extorting a sum was far more practical.

Sect disciples all had money, and they cared about face. A few casual threats would make them willing to pay to settle matters.

"Yellowstone True Person?" Shen Qingzhou raised a brow and asked in return.

He secretly thought that this man was likely the cultivator backing the prefect.

"That's right."

The gray-clothed man straightened his back, his face full of pride.

"Our True Person is a Mid Qi Refining Stage cultivator. His Turning Stone to Gold spell is unfathomable as ghosts and gods. Peace River City is part of True Person's arrangements. You brat didn't know the height of heaven or the depth of earth. You killed the prefect and ruined his plans. This won't end so easily."

The gray-clothed man raised three fingers, opening his mouth like a lion.

"Three hundred low-grade spirit stones. Hand them over, and I'll pretend I never saw you today and let you leave. Otherwise... in these wild mountains, even if you're a sect disciple, if you die here, who will know?"

"Heh... A Qi Refining cultivator dares call himself a True Person? He truly has no shame."

Shen Qingzhou stared at him. He had already chosen his path to death.

Uncomfortable under that gaze, the gray-clothed man could not help shouting, "What are you looking at? Hand over the spirit stones! Don't refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit!"

"I don't have three hundred spirit stones." Shen Qingzhou shook his head.

"You don't? Then don't blame me for being ruthless! Kill you, search your storage bag, and I'll still make a fortune!"

The gray-clothed man laughed loudly and began mobilizing spiritual energy.

"However, I can point you toward a faster road to riches."

"What road?" the gray-clothed man replied without thinking.

Shen Qingzhou raised his hand and curled a finger. A droplet of black water gathered on its pad, looking utterly ordinary and devoid of any discernible spiritual power.

"The Yellow Springs Road."

Star-Felling Gold-Shattering Blade.

It was too fast. The gray-clothed man had no time to dodge. His forehead took the blow, and the sharp gold energy churned the flesh and brain within his skull into a mass of mush.

He fell backward onto the ground, throwing up a spray of dirt, and died in an instant.

"With that little strength, you dared imitate others and lie in wait for a kill?"

Shen Qingzhou walked to the corpse and searched it. He found a tattered cloth bag containing five low-grade spirit stones, several bottles of poorly effective pills, and a cultivation manual called the Mountain-Shifting Formula.

A poor ghost, but better than nothing.

Shen Qingzhou put away the spirit stones and kept the cultivation manual and pills to look through later. He dragged the corpse into the large pit, used an earth-element spell, and filled it with broken stones.

After burying the man, Shen Qingzhou brushed the dirt from his hands and walked out of the valley. The sun had just set.

Yellowstone True Person...

He committed the name to memory. When the young one was beaten, the old one came out—it was truly annoying. Later, he would find an opportunity to visit and uproot this trouble, man and nest alike.