Chen Qiu clenched one fist and coughed lightly, somewhat lacking confidence, before speaking softly. "I am not actually a mortal. I am the current young master of a great Lineage beyond Great Xia. I accidentally fell into Great Xia, and all my cultivation fell away."
"This caused the bonded storage ring hidden in my dantian to become completely inaccessible, since I have no spiritual energy to activate it."
"I must use a secret technique to draw the spiritual energy from Spirit Stones, barely opening a sliver in my bonded storage ring within my dantian, so I can retrieve my former wealth."
"It is not much. I only need 100 Spirit Stones."
"You two must have been doing this business here at Heaven-Question Market for quite some time, right? Have you earned 100 Spirit Stones? Could you lend them to me first?"
"Within seven days, I will give you the agreed-upon 3,000 Spirit Stones along with them."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Once his words fell, all three of them, including Fat Dragon, stood there in baffled silence. Even Fat Dragon lowered his head, the corners of his mouth twitching awkwardly. A man as thick-skinned as him felt embarrassed right now.
"Young Master Chen."
After a long silence, Scholar finally said in a low voice, his expression complicated, "You are even trying to swindle a cripple? Even if you are going to swindle someone, could you at least put some effort into it? At the very least, dress up the lie a little. Using such a crude scam makes me feel insulted."
"I am serious."
Chen Qiu knew his words were indeed absurd and that there was no good way to explain them. He could only be as sincere as possible. "I cannot offer any better explanation. You can only judge based on your own past experience."
He truly needed 100 Spirit Stones.
With those Spirit Stones, he could buy two Heavenly Dao Retrospection Talismans, hide in some corner, then choose the two Traits he had previously discarded. By rapidly raising his cultivation and then swiftly falling back to the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm, he could obtain a large number of Spirit Stones.
From the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm to the Eleventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm, there were ten realms. Each realm could give him three Spirit Stones, for a total of thirty.
As long as he kept repeating the process of failing Foundation Establishment and Starting Over, he could obtain an endless supply of Spirit Stones.
As long as he had 100 Spirit Stones as starting capital, he could earn—
1,000, 10,000, or even 100,000 Spirit Stones!
Just like that.
The four of them stood at the cliff's edge, staring at one another in silence for a long while. The atmosphere gradually grew awkward.
Fat Dragon had already begun looking around in despair. The negotiation was clearly about to fall apart. In this situation, there was an eighty-percent chance the other side would simply leave and ignore them. Heaven-Question Market was a full twenty li from here!
There was not even an official road nearby.
Who knew what godforsaken place this was.
Simply walking to somewhere inhabited would be a huge problem for them. They were not going to starve to death in this wilderness, were they?
"Fine."
At that moment, Scholar, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, suddenly nodded. "Young Master Chen, I believe you. I will lend you 100 Spirit Stones."
He did not know why he had suddenly been possessed by a ghost and decided to gamble that these two were not swindlers. Perhaps he had waited several years at Heaven-Question Market without finding hope and had gradually fallen into despair. Now that a lifeline had appeared, even knowing it might snap at any moment, he still wanted to seize it.
Just then—
"Heavenly Dao Blessing": Answering the heartfelt summons of the people, the Heavenly Dao bestows a blessing. Beside the stream three li west of Windward City in the Great Xia Kingdom, a Heavenly Dao Secret Realm shall manifest in this world. Only cultivators at the Sixth Level of the Foundation Establishment Realm and below may enter. This secret realm is of the 'Challenge' type. It will open in five days.
A voice that seemed to ring out above the nine heavens entered their ears.
-
"A Challenge-type Heavenly Dao Secret Realm has actually manifested in Windward City?"
A flicker of astonishment flashed through Scholar's eyes before he calmed down and said thoughtfully, "No wonder I have vaguely sensed quite a few factions sending people to Heaven-Question Market lately. But that is not right. Could there now be a method capable of predicting in advance where a Heavenly Dao Secret Realm will manifest?"
"It is a Heavenly Dao Trait."
Chen Qiu was in quite a good mood as well. He smiled and said, "We received word that a Heavenly Dao Trait was about to appear in the Huang Family of Windward City. Looking at it now, it is probably inside this Heavenly Dao Secret Realm. But with such a huge commotion, I am afraid the Huang Family's secrecy efforts these past days have all gone down the drain."
"A Heavenly Dao Trait?"
Scholar shook his head and denied it. "No, no, no. This is a Heavenly Dao Secret Realm that only cultivators below the Sixth Level of the Foundation Establishment Realm can enter. A Heavenly Dao Trait could indeed appear, but a Heavenly Dao Secret Realm of this level absolutely contains more than just a Heavenly Dao Trait. There will be other valuable treasures too."
"Moreover, where a Heavenly Dao Secret Realm manifests cannot possibly be predicted in advance. Only heaven knows."
"Heavenly Dao Traits are highly valuable, worth at least 1,000 Spirit Stones. They are Traits that can be passed down through blood relations."
"They are passed to sons, not daughters. Only direct male descendants can inherit them; women cannot. This means that, in most cases, a Lineage's Heavenly Dao Traits remain relatively stable. There will not be a situation where they have a daughter, marry her off, and their Heavenly Dao Trait becomes someone else's."
"The effects of Heavenly Dao Traits are entirely random. They are both a curse and an inheritance."
"For example, one might increase the cultivation progress of movement-art techniques by thirty percent."
"Another might double Sword Flight speed."
"Or another might reduce Sword Flight speed by five percent, and so on."
"And so on?"
Fat Dragon asked in confusion, "Are all Heavenly Dao Traits like that? Are there no Traits with other effects? For example... having three heads?"
"No."
Scholar explained calmly, "Heavenly Dao Traits provide beneficial or detrimental effects to the 'cultivation speed' or 'technique effects' of a certain type of cultivation art."
"How much they increase or decrease things is entirely random."
"There are advantages and disadvantages. It all depends on luck."
"Furthermore, Heavenly Dao Traits are independent. They have almost no synergy with other Traits."
"For example, there is a city called Old City three hundred li away, and within it is a Lineage called the Qiu Family. Their ancestors accumulated several Heavenly Dao Traits back then. One of those Traits reduced Sword Flight speed by ninety percent."
"Heavenly Dao Traits are deeply rooted in the bloodline and cannot be removed. This means the Qiu Family relies entirely on flying demonic beasts and official roads when traveling. Not a single one of them cultivates Sword Flight; their Sword Flight is barely faster than taking a few steps."
"They have not produced a sword cultivator in a hundred years."
"Most Heavenly Dao Traits passed down through Lineages have both benefits and drawbacks. Their combat methods and cultivation paths are fixed from the outset, and most direct descendants can basically only follow the old road."
"The advantage is that the Lineage has walked that road countless times and knows it smoothly. The disadvantage is that its weaknesses are far too obvious."
"I remember that Great Xia has only one great Lineage whose Heavenly Dao Traits are all beneficial, without a single detrimental Trait. That Lineage is called the Xia Family, the current Great Xia Imperial House."
"For the Xia Family to have more than ten consecutive Heavenly Dao Traits, all beneficial and not a single one detrimental, can only mean their ancestors were favored by the Heavenly Dao. No other explanation can be found."
"Some small Lineages greatly covet Heavenly Dao Traits."
"Selling one for around 1,000 Spirit Stones would not be a problem."
"Especially for a Foundation Establishment Lineage like the Huang Family of Windward City, this already counts as a tremendous opportunity. The Huang Family's annual income probably does not even reach 1,000 Spirit Stones. Whether they use it themselves or exchange it for Spirit Stones, it would be excellent."
"But—"
After pausing, Scholar spoke softly. "If the information you have is true, then these are two separate matters. The Huang Family did indeed find an opportunity involving a Heavenly Dao Trait that was about to manifest, but the manifestation of a Heavenly Dao Trait causes no disturbance whatsoever."
"Those with affinity may possess it."
"And this Challenge-type Heavenly Dao Secret Realm merely happened to be bestowed upon Windward City."
"In just a few days, two Heavenly Dao Secret Realms have blessed Windward City, and an additional Heavenly Dao Trait is appearing as well. That is rather strange. Could it be that something major is about to happen in Windward City?"
He pondered in confusion for quite a while without finding an answer before continuing.
"Challenge-type Heavenly Dao Secret Realms are checkpoint-based. Each cleared checkpoint grants abundant rewards, and the risk of death is very low. Such Secret Realms can often accommodate a large number of participants."
"Within these five days, many factions across several hundred li will likely send people here, letting their disciples enter to train while competing for opportunities."
"The next five days will be very lively."
"Mm."
Chen Qiu nodded, accepting the storage pouch Scholar handed him. After taking a deep breath, he looked toward the horizon and spoke softly. "Take me back to Heaven-Question Market first."
With his current strength, he was not yet capable of competing for opportunities within this Heavenly Dao Secret Realm.
But this Secret Realm would only open in five days.
What things would look like five days later was hard to say.
Before you continue