"Perhaps We've Met Before"

Chen Qiu was immersed in his fantasies about the future while feeling a little headache coming on.

His Dao Foundation might now be ten thousand li wide, but it was practically empty inside, without a shred of spiritual energy. He simply could not fill it.

If he wanted to rapidly replenish the spiritual energy in his Dao Foundation by absorbing it from Spirit Stones, he would need at least three hundred Spirit Stones.

What the fuck...

Three hundred Spirit Stones were enough to let some First Level of the Qi Refining Realm brat shoot straight up to Foundation Establishment, yet for him, they were only enough to fill the spiritual energy in his Dao Foundation?

For some reason, he had a faintly bad premonition. His unique method of combat as a spell cultivator might be extraordinarily powerful, but it would likely consume an immense number of Spirit Stones.

Just then—

"Fellow Daoist, wait!"

Chen Qiu, who was walking along the main road of Heaven-Question Market with Fat Dragon, suddenly heard a voice by his ear and turned toward its source.

There were not many pedestrians left on the street. An old man with a head full of silver hair sat alone by the roadside, holding up a battered black banner as he rasped with a half-smile.

"Fellow Daoist, after not seeing you for a few days, the wandering souls and wild ghosts around you have become too numerous to count."

"Will you really not let me divine your fortune?"

"One Spirit Stone only."

"Otherwise, within three days, a great calamity will surely befall you."

Two lines of somewhat crooked words were embroidered on the black banner in white thread.

"Dare not calculate the hexagram to its end, for fear of Heaven, Earth, ghosts, and gods."

"Cannot speak all words plainly, for fear the world will fall into great chaos."

"Can you fucking talk properly?"

Fat Dragon expressionlessly walked up to the old man, crouched down, and rasped, "People in your line of work can't get business unless they curse someone, is that it?"

"Not so, not so."

The old man shook his head, lightly stroked his beard, and smiled inscrutably. "Divination is an inheritance passed down for ten thousand years. It is not trickery."

"Fine."

Chen Qiu likewise crouched before the old man, smiling as he tossed over a Spirit Stone. "Then divine for me and see what you can come up with."

This was already the second time he had seen this old man.

A gleam flashed through the old man's eyes. He hurriedly stuffed the Spirit Stone into his robes as though afraid it would be snatched away the next second, then closed his eyes and began pinching his fingers while muttering mysteriously.

Just then—

"Hey! You old bastard, you're fucking scamming people again!"

A voice suddenly rang out by the street. Several dozen Heaven-Question Market guards came running over in great strides, and the old man immediately grabbed the black banner beside him and fled into an alley without looking back.

After running only a few steps, he seemed to remember something. He hurriedly ran back to Chen Qiu's side, rapidly whispered several sentences, then vanished into the alley again.

"Young Master Chen, you weren't scammed, were you?"

"That old bastard has been in Heaven-Question Market for more than ten years. How could he possibly know how to read fortunes? He just spouts nonsense."

"It's you."

Chen Qiu withdrew his gaze from the old man's departing back and looked at the leader of the guards beside him with a smile. "Thanks for the reminder. Are you off duty?"

He remembered this guard. After he had killed the Huang Family's Seventh Elder at the market gate, this guard had collected the corpse.

"Not yet. We're patrolling tonight."

The guard captain said somewhat helplessly, "Whatever that old bastard says, don't believe him. Some time ago, I remember a man being hoodwinked by him into believing that if he kowtowed three times toward the east every morning after waking up, then when his child broke through to the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm, the randomly obtained trait would definitely be a good one."

"Isn't that pure deception? The key is that when I explained it to the man, he refused to believe me. He said the old bastard hadn't charged him a single coin, so why would he deceive him?"

"Why the east?"

"Because where he sits every day is east of that family's home."

"Anyway, just don't believe him. Today, there was even a cultivator in red robes with long hair who came to the old bastard for a fortune reading. He left with a face full of excitement, then flew westward as soon as he left the city. He looked like he'd been fooled badly too."

"Wait."

Fat Dragon's expression suddenly turned strange. "You said it was a cultivator in red robes with long hair?"

"That's the one. You know him?"

"Perhaps we've met before."

Fat Dragon suddenly fell silent. He remembered that demonic cultivator saying something about an old fortune-teller in Heaven-Question Market telling him that today he would receive double happiness. It seemed that old fortune-teller might truly be inaccurate.

They did not continue chatting.

The two groups parted ways. Chen Qiu stood where he was with his eyes slightly narrowed, seemingly lost in thought.

Before the old man fled into the alley, he had returned and whispered several words in Chen Qiu's ear, leaving Chen Qiu uncertain of their weight.

"Kid, I really was talking nonsense about fortune-telling, but this one, I truly know."

"You definitely have the Green Trait 'Vengeful Spirit Summoning.' Don't look at me like that. The resentment on you is nearly ten zhang taller than Heaven-Question Market itself. I saw the resentment over your head before you even entered the city—it was far too conspicuous."

"I have seen someone possess this trait before. It truly is a very powerful trait. It can turn creatures you kill into Wraiths that attach themselves to you and fight for you for one hour."

"But think about it. Wraiths are products that can only be born from extremely deep resentment. Ordinary people will catch colds and fall ill merely by touching them, and if they remain near them for long, they will surely die of grave illness. Yet you have six or seven thousand of the fucking things following you. Are you trying to become the King of Wraiths?"

"Within three days, get rid of all these Wraiths as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the consequences will be unimaginable. I once saw someone with this trait. After merely half a year, he went completely mad, neither god nor ghost. Another half year later, he was mysteriously found hanging in an abandoned temple outside the city. By the time they found him, his corpse had rotted and was crawling with maggots."

"You carry far more Wraiths than he did. When using this trait, do your best not to store too many Wraiths on your body. And remember this well: the stronger a Wraith is compared to you, the faster it will erode you."

"If you can find a way to remove this trait, get rid of it as soon as possible. Otherwise, no matter how carefully you use it, the Wraiths will still erode you. The only difference is the speed. Of all the people I have seen with this trait, not one died a pleasant death."

"Take care of yourself. I truly did not earn your Spirit Stone for nothing."

"Brother Qiu, what are you thinking about?"

"Nothing."

Chen Qiu shook his head. After frowning in thought for a long while, he turned to Fat Dragon. "Have you felt that the weather has gotten colder?"

"Of course. Winter's almost here, so naturally it's getting colder."

"I mean, have you felt that kind of icy cold?"

"What icy cold?"

Fat Dragon scratched his head in confusion and touched the back of Chen Qiu's hand. Then he jolted violently and sprang up. "Brother Qiu, why is your body so cold? It feels like a fucking dead body."

"..."

Chen Qiu said nothing more. He merely shook his head and headed straight for the guest rooms. He had felt chilled these past few days, but it had never occurred to him that it could be related to this. After all, the weather had also been cooling. Now that the fortune-telling old man had pointed it out, he did feel that something was vaguely wrong.

He had stored more than six thousand demon beast Wraiths, including the Wraith of that Seventh Level of Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator. They had all been his trump cards, meant for gradual use in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm that was about to open in Windward City.

Carrying so many Wraiths around really was somewhat excessive.

So be it.

Once he entered the secret realm tomorrow, he would release all those Wraiths first. Better that than truly letting them erode him. Releasing so many Wraiths at once, he only hoped they would not frighten the other cultivators entering the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm.

Tsk.

That night, Chen Qiu used the "Enlightenment Stone" to raise the cultivation level of the Lightning-Channeling Art to its highest level, Great Perfection. A vague insight suddenly emerged in his mind.

The three words Lightning-Channeling Art carved upon his Dao Foundation also became more profound.

The Lightning-Channeling Art he could now unleash was as thick as a century-old tree and could strike enemies within a hundred zhang. Ordinary Foundation Establishment First Layer cultivators would already find it difficult to withstand such a method.

And he could cast it four or five hundred times.

That was the power of the Pink Trait "Dantian Expansion (Unique)."

But before going to sleep—

Chen Qiu sighed softly and took out a great pile of Spirit Stones from his robes, arranging them on the bed as he prepared to absorb enough spiritual energy to fill his Dao Foundation. Even with the Supreme-Grade Foundation Establishment cultivation technique "Seven Lamps Descend," this was an extremely time-consuming task.

One hour had eight quarters, and one quarter was roughly the time it took to drink three cups of tea.

Last time, it had taken him the time to drink one cup of tea to fill his Dao Foundation. This time, it took him... less than half an hour to fill it.

Because he had used a Mid-Grade Foundation Establishment Spirit-Absorbing Talisman. Otherwise, it would have taken at least four hours.

Not only would he not sleep tonight, he would miss the secret realm as well.

This was only ten thousand li. What the fuck was he supposed to do if it became a hundred thousand li later?

Amid his wild thoughts, Chen Qiu drifted into a muddled sleep. A great battle awaited tomorrow, so he needed to rest early today and prepare himself for it.

The next day, dawn broke.

Chen Qiu and Fat Dragon left Heaven-Question Market early, bringing Scholar and the other with them as they returned to Windward City.

The last time they had left Windward City, they had escaped. Now that they had returned, he wondered where those people who had pursued them were. If fate let them meet again, he could let them understand what it meant to look at someone with new eyes after three days apart.

Windward City was extraordinarily lively today because the secret realm was about to open.

The city streets were filled with hawking vendors. Foundation Establishment cultivators, who were usually difficult to spot, could now be seen almost everywhere. Those young masters of Foundation Establishment lineages who normally acted so arrogantly were nowhere to be found today. Who knew which corner they had crawled into to play turtle hiding in its shell.

The moment they stepped through the city gates—

A ragged servant saw the luxurious robes worn by Chen Qiu's group and his eyes immediately lit up. He ran over with a face full of anticipation, his voice tense and hurried. "Greetings, four immortals. In one hour, at the city plaza, a Foundation Establishment cultivator with the traits 'Strength of Nine Oxen' and 'Self-Severing Root' will publicly chop apart eight oxen to see what traits he can randomly obtain."

"Would the immortals be interested in going to watch?"

"For only one Spirit Stone, you can watch from up close. All randomly obtained traits will be publicly displayed for everyone to see."

"Many disciples from great lineages and sects have gone. There are tons of people—it's very lively."

"Oh?"

Fat Dragon's expression gradually turned strange. A public execution?

Could this be the fellow from the auction who had spent fifteen hundred Spirit Stones to buy the Green Trait "Self-Severing Root"?