Purple Wing Scorpion (Please Bookmark)

"Brother Wan, why is this happening?"

The visitor was no longer young, and more importantly, Fang Xing recognized him. He was none other than Chen Yi, eldest of the Five Heroes of Cangshan.

Seeing Ten Thousand Pill Master's expression, he could not help finding it strange.

The pill master surnamed Wan merely snorted. "Today, you saw that kid searching all over the market for Mind Calming Pills and reported it to me. I sent him an invitation as you said, yet that brat ignored me completely and made me lose a great deal of face. Tell me, how should you compensate me?"

Chen Yi was rendered speechless, but he knew that Great Pill Master Wan of Thousand Peaks Forest was miserly by nature and loved taking petty advantages.

More importantly... he truly could not afford to offend a pill master. He immediately gave a bitter smile and cupped his hands. "Consider it my fault. I will definitely make amends to Brother Wan another day..."

"No need for apologies. But the share of spirit herbs from this operation will have to be adjusted..." Thousand Peaks Forest finally revealed his true intentions.

"This... I'll need to discuss it carefully with my four sworn brothers."

Chen Yi showed a trace of hesitation.

"Hmph. What I still don't understand is why you wanted to recruit a brat who's only a Postnatal Martial Artist... He doesn't look like any sort of gifted Cultivator either..."

Thousand Peaks Forest was somewhat curious.

"Sigh... his origins are mysterious. I originally had no wish to provoke him, but he recently moved in beside my fourth brother and Fifth Sister, so I had no choice but to test him. Brother Wan, you must not underestimate him. He has at least one Blood Refined Magic Item on him!" Chen Yi sighed. "That is precisely why I thought he could be of great use in this operation. Yet I never expected... he apparently does not care much about Mind Calming Pills..."

"A Blood Refined Magic Item?" Greed flashed through Thousand Peaks Forest's heart before vanishing. He then said, "That is indeed rather unfortunate. He should have been of great help in dealing with the Purple Wing Scorpions."

As for whether he wanted to befriend Fang Xing or kill him for his wealth, that was impossible to know.

Thousand Peaks Forest even believed Chen Yi was thinking the same thing.

Anyone who had survived this long as a Rogue Cultivator was no fool.

If that brat truly had a powerful background, they would treat him with reverence and curry favor with him... hoping some benefit might slip through his fingers.

But if he had no one to rely on and fell into danger while hunting Demon Beasts, they would not hesitate in the slightest to kick him while he was down!

"It seems Brother Wan is prepared to make a move soon?"

Chen Yi's eyes brightened when he heard that.

"Of course. Not only is the flowering season for those Illusion Heart Orchids about to pass, but even the scorpion venom produced by Purple Wing Scorpions is excellent material for pill refinement. How could I, Wan, possibly give that up?"

Thousand Peaks Forest gave Chen Yi a deep look. "I have long heard of the Five Heroes of Cangshan. This time, I'll be relying on you."

"Of course, of course..."

Chen Yi agreed and turned to leave.

Thousand Peaks Forest watched Chen Yi depart, then slowly sat down and savored his Spirit Tea.

The beetle remained completely motionless, like an inanimate object.

Fang Xing was not afraid of losing it anyway, so he directly ordered it to remain hidden.

Half an hour later, another figure pushed open the door. "Immortal Master Wan..."

A smile immediately appeared on Thousand Peaks Forest's face when he saw the visitor.

"These cultivators—six people with seven schemes between them..."

Inside the shack.

In the Basement.

Fang Xing looked at screen after screen of surveillance footage, his face showing a speechless expression.

Besides that pill master, Thousand Peaks Forest, plotting in secret, Chen Yi had immediately gone elsewhere after leaving Thousand Peaks Forest's residence. He was clearly conspiring with other Cultivators!

Afraid that the Cultivators would notice them, Fang Xing had ordered the surveillance hummingbirds not to get too close, but he could guess what they were plotting just by thinking about it!

"Good thing I didn't agree to go. If I had to play mind games with a bunch of old geezers like them, I might not even outplay them!"

"As for now? Every last one of you better drop some gold coins for me!"

Fang Xing felt that he had always acted cautiously. Most importantly, he knew his own limits.

At least there was some Order in the market. With the Golden Finger that allowed him to travel between two worlds, he would eventually make it if he patiently worked at it!

Going outside the market to risk his life for a single bottle of pills would be downright idiotic.

A rich man's son does not sit beneath a crumbling wall!

A white dragon in a fish's garb is asking for trouble!

Therefore, he was completely unmoved.

For Fang Xing, the worst-case scenario was simply failing to obtain the pills and being unable to reach Beginner level in the Ghost God Blade.

If that happened, he would merely slow down some of his plans and wait until the next semester began. Then he could learn Crazy Eighteen Strikes from Xia Long Teacher. It was still A-Rank Martial Arts!

At worst, it would delay his cultivation a little. He could still get into a good university in the future, and that was enough!

If he encountered danger while going out this time—or even died—that would be the true loss!

"This pill master, the Five Heroes of Cangshan, and the people behind them are really interesting... They can scheme to this extent over a few Demon Beast materials and several Illusion Heart Orchids. Cultivators in this world truly have it hard..."

Fang Xing sighed and prepared to enjoy the show.

Though he would not leave the market himself, he still had the nerve to arrange for several Drones to secretly follow them.

The next day.

Fang Xing stood in the courtyard enclosed by a fence, silently practicing the Military Body Boxing Twelve Forms.

At some point, a little boy had leaned over from next door, his eyes shining brightly. "Uncle... are you practicing martial arts?"

"Zi Jin, how can you be so rude?"

Meng Yi pulled his son aside. The boy had initially been terrified, but ever since he had eaten the other man's grilled meat, he had wanted to run over to the neighbor's house every day. It was truly enough to worry a man to death.

He looked at Fang Xing and gave him an apologetic smile.

Fang Xing acted as though he had not seen it. Qi-Blood circulated through his entire body, and every move seemed to carry immense force.

His Qi-Blood circulated throughout his body, gradually reaching from his Skin and Flesh into his Bone and Tendon.

After finishing the set, he finally glanced at the status panel:

Military Body Boxing Twelve Forms: 61/100 (Proficient)

My proficiency has improved again. Not bad...

Ever since the Ghost God Blade had proven difficult to reach Beginner level in, Fang Xing had still devoted most of his energy to the Military Body Boxing Twelve Forms.

By now, his progress in this martial art could be called astonishing.

This might have been because he had advanced to the second realm of martial arts. Many of the obscure parts of the Military Body Boxing Twelve Forms that had once baffled him now seemed perfectly clear.

The higher one's realm, the easier it naturally became to cultivate martial arts.

As for being seen?

Not to mention how lightly martial artists here regarded martial arts, if martial arts from the Blue Star Federation could be fully comprehended just by watching someone practice them a few times, teachers like Xia Long would have been out of work long ago...

"Brother Meng!"

When Fang Xing saw Meng Yi, he greeted him. "Heading out?"

"No, I'm just going out to set up a stall..."

Meng Yi waved his hand and said casually, "My wife is looking after Zi Jin. As the head of the household, I have to go earn some Spirit Sand..."

"I see. I wish you thriving business."

Fang Xing offered his sincere wishes, though inwardly he mocked the man for lying through his teeth!

According to the surveillance outside his house, Shen Yuxin had sneaked out in the middle of the night.

Clearly, the Five Heroes of Cangshan and that pill master were preparing to set out in full force to harvest the Illusion Heart Orchids!

Yet Meng Yi was deliberately putting on an act to deceive him. Clearly, he did not trust Fang Xing, his neighbor!

But that's normal. In a world where everyone is a scheming bastard, if you aren't careful, you'll die so thoroughly that not even your bones remain...

Fang Xing understood this and watched Meng Yi leave.

Meng Zijing returned home and shut all the doors and windows, behaving exceptionally well.

He's so sensible it makes one feel sorry for him!

Fang Xing sighed inwardly, then returned to his own Basement and looked at the surveillance screens.

Out in the wilderness, beetle-, Lizard-, and hummingbird-type Drones stood ready to move.

I may not be going, but I'll watch the whole battle and cheer you on...

Deep in the wilderness.

Several hummingbirds flitted through the forest.

Through their tiny eyes, a team of Cultivators could vaguely be seen advancing ahead.

Watching the footage on the surveillance screen, Fang Xing silently nodded. "They're all a bunch of amateurs. They can't even detect my hummingbird Drones... But I can't blame them. This is simply a method of reconnaissance beyond their understanding!"

People could not earn money beyond the limits of their understanding, and naturally could not discover enemies beyond the limits of their understanding either!

From what he had seen while mingling around the cultivation market, Fang Xing now had a deeper understanding of Cultivators.

The vast majority of Qi Refining Stage cultivators did not possess Divine Sense. They could not project their Divine Sense outward or lock onto enemies.

What they possessed was Spirit Sense, which could only be used to observe themselves inwardly and read things such as Jade Slips.

Although this ability of Spirit Sense was already enough to make struggling martial artists like Fang Xing green with envy.

Being able to observe one's own body inwardly and see everything clearly represented absolute control over one's body.

For a martial artist, that was the mark of an unparalleled genius!

Even so, Spirit Sense could not be projected outward, making it difficult to detect tiny enemies in the distance.

Not to mention that in a Cultivator's understanding, even the smallest puppet should be controlled by magic power and carry fluctuations of magic power.

Yet the simulated machines of the Interstellar Age obviously had no magic power fluctuations. They did not even carry the slightest trace of presence, making them easy to overlook.

"Their destination..."

Fang Xing ordered a hawk-shaped Drone to fly high into the sky and saw a valley more than ten li ahead.

The valley was surrounded by sheer cliffs. The black Stone on the cliff faces gleamed with a metallic luster, as though they had been carved by blades and axes. Only one rugged path led inside.

Calling it a path was generous. It was really just a gap in the gorge, and it was full of dangerous terrain.

"This should be the place..."

A hawk descended and saw thin mist shrouding the valley.

Just as it was about to approach, it suddenly heard a rustling sound.

Then...

A purple shadow flashed, and the hawk-shaped Drone fell from the sky.

Sizzle! Sizzle!

The Drone wreckage hit the ground and immediately began to sizzle as it was corroded.

All of its simulated feathers fell away. Even the Machine framework emitted clusters of tiny sparks and began to dissolve...

The final image transmitted to the screen showed only a purple scorpion shadow!

"A Purple Wing Scorpion? What terrifying venom!"

Fang Xing used the computer's processing power to restore the blurry image, revealing a purple scorpion the size of a washbasin.

A pair of wings grew from its back, and its whole body seemed covered in a layer of purple armor. Its flight was incredibly swift.

"Purple Wing Scorpion: a First-Grade Mid-Rank Demon Beast. An adult can rival a Qi Refining Middle Stage cultivator. It possesses deadly venom and prefers living in groups. Once encountered, even Qi Refining Late Stage cultivators would not dare provoke it lightly..."

Fang Xing recited the Purple Wing Scorpion's basic information, anticipation appearing on his face. "Ten Thousand Pill Master, Five Heroes of Cangshan... do your best."