"This is a Treasure Bag. I am giving you one!"
"For your everyday use!"
"Go!" Yu Ning waved her horsetail whisk and said, "I will be entering seclusion for the next few months as well!"
"If there is anything about cultivation you don't understand, ask Zhao Ling'er first!"
"You should also ask her about the taboos on Bamboo Peak and in the Great Void Sect. It would be a shame to lose your life for nothing!"
A Treasure Bag was simply a pouch for holding things.
It was similar to an ordinary cloth bag in the mortal world.
The difference was that a Treasure Bag was refined from special materials that could block even the divine sense of a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.
It kept others from seeing what was inside.
"Yes!"
He Pingsheng took the Treasure Bag, bowed respectfully, and left Yu Ning Palace.
That afternoon, He Pingsheng visited each of his senior brothers and sisters, getting acquainted with them all.
The eldest senior brother was Hou Muxian.
The second senior brother was Xiao Xuejian!
The third senior sister was Cheng Siyu!
The fourth senior brother was Yang Qingyun!
The fifth was Wu Zhengyang!
The sixth was Zhao Ling'er, the female cultivator who had brought He Pingsheng over from the outer sect.
The seventh was also a female cultivator, named Tian Xiaoqing. Apparently, she was a younger relative of their master, Yu Ning.
The eighth was a very fat man named Xu Kunlun.
He Pingsheng himself was the ninth.
Although He Pingsheng paid his respects to all his senior brothers and sisters, he did not dare probe their cultivation with his divine sense.
After visiting them, He Pingsheng returned to his little courtyard, took out a sign reading [In seclusion], and hung it at the entrance.
That way, anyone coming to bother him would naturally refrain from knocking.
Night fell.
Only then did He Pingsheng take out the items Yu Ning had bestowed on him that day and examine them.
A book!
It contained a fire-attribute cultivation method called the Blazing Fire Qi Refining Art.
He still needed to practice it.
Why?
Because he needed to understand at least a little of it.
Otherwise, if his master asked him about it later and he hadn't the faintest idea, wouldn't he be bringing trouble upon himself?
Even pretending required knowing how!
After reading through the cultivation method once, He Pingsheng turned his gaze to the spirit stones.
Yu Ning had also given him twenty spirit stones that day as a first-meeting gift.
He Pingsheng had originally possessed around five hundred and fifty.
Now, with twenty more, he had five hundred and seventy.
In truth, He Pingsheng had considered tossing spirit stones into the Treasure-Gathering Basin to enhance them long ago.
But he had never done so.
The reason was simple.
Based on He Pingsheng's experiments and observations over the past two years, if he tossed five hundred-odd spirit stones inside, they would undoubtedly double by the next day, becoming over a thousand.
That wasn't the crucial point.
The crucial point was that, while doubling the items placed inside it, the Treasure-Gathering Basin also enhanced them.
Spirit stones were divided into low grade, middle grade, high grade, and supreme grade.
Judging by his past experience, if he put in five hundred low-grade spirit stones, a thousand supreme-grade ones would surely appear the following day.
What were supreme-grade spirit stones?
What could they do?
Would they shake heaven and earth?
He Pingsheng knew nothing about any of this, so he did not dare rashly put spirit stones inside.
More importantly, if I put them in and they all come out as supreme-grade spirit stones, how am I supposed to spend them?
If a fellow at the fifth layer of Qi Refining went to Horsehead Mountain Market carrying heaps of supreme-grade spirit stones, would he be chopped into eight pieces or sixteen?
Yet, looking at the spirit stones that day, He Pingsheng could not suppress the thought: Why not put just one in first and see what comes out?
Clink! He Pingsheng tossed a small spirit stone into the Treasure-Gathering Basin.
Then he picked up the [Blazing Fire Qi Refining Art] again and began memorizing it. He even made a point of practicing it for a while.
Compared with his [Lihuo True Method], this cultivation method was far inferior.
Forget it. I won't practice it anymore!
Understanding it would suffice.
It was only to satisfy his master, after all. He couldn't be utterly clueless when she asked him about it, could he?
Early the next morning!
At the first light of dawn, He Pingsheng sprang out of bed.
"Heh..."
He Pingsheng drew a deep breath. "Such dense spiritual energy!"
He hurriedly crouched down, reached under the bed, and pulled out the Treasure-Gathering Basin.
Two spirit stones lay right there inside.
Ordinary low-grade spirit stones in the Cultivation World were about the size of a jujube, but these two clearly were not. They were larger, roughly the size of chicken eggs.
"These are..."
He Pingsheng reached out and picked up the two spirit stones.
He had never seen higher-grade spirit stones before, so he could not confirm whether these were supreme grade.
But there was no doubt that the vast, dense spiritual energy filling the room was emanating from these two spirit stones!
"Store!"
He Pingsheng did not dare leave the two spirit stones exposed for too long and hurriedly stored them in his dantian along with the Treasure-Gathering Basin.
After washing up, he waited in the room for a long while, until the dense spiritual energy inside slowly dissipated.
As the morning sun rose, He Pingsheng opened his courtyard gate and stepped outside.
"Senior Sister Zhao!" He Pingsheng found Zhao Ling'er.
Zhao Ling'er smiled. "What is it, junior brother?"
He Pingsheng said, "Master told me to come ask you about anything I don't understand!"
"Of course!" Zhao Ling'er's smile deepened. "What don't you understand, junior brother? Tell me!"
"Oh!" He Pingsheng said, "Actually, I don't understand much of the basic knowledge of the Cultivation World, but I can't ask you about everything one question at a time. So I was wondering whether there are any books about the basics of the Cultivation World!"
"Then I could get one to read!"
Zhao Ling'er said, "Heh... you've come to the right person..."
"Our Great Void Sect has a Scripture Repository Hall, and it has exactly the sort of book you're talking about. I even borrowed it back then... what was it called..."
"Let me think!"
"That's right... it's called [Cultivation Miscellany]. It covers plenty of basic knowledge about the Cultivation World!"
"You can borrow it, or you can buy a copy, of course. It isn't expensive!"
"Yes!" He Pingsheng said, "Thank you, senior sister. Where is the Scripture Repository Hall?"
"Hehehe..." Zhao Ling'er chuckled and said, "The Scripture Repository Hall is right here in our Great Void Sect, on Jade Dragon Peak farther back!"
"Go to the square up ahead and take the Teleportation Array to the Great Void Hall first. Then take another Teleportation Array from the Great Void Hall to Jade Dragon Peak!"
"Remember, it's Jade Dragon Peak!"
"Once you get there, just ask someone and you'll find it!"
"Yes!" He Pingsheng cupped his hands in thanks, then set off on foot toward Bamboo Peak's square.
There were two Teleportation Arrays there.
He Pingsheng had been here several years before.
Back then, Linglong, a disciple under Jade Virtue, had been serving her Reflection Punishment here for killing someone.
So, when He Pingsheng stepped onto the square, he could not help remembering Senior Brother Hao Yun from those days.
That familiar face still seemed to flicker before his eyes.
"Senior brother!" Upon seeing He Pingsheng, the Outer Disciple guarding the Teleportation Arrays bowed respectfully, his head nearly touching the ground.
Back when He Pingsheng had still been a Servant Disciple, this Outer Disciple guarding the Teleportation Arrays had shouted orders at him.
With a different status, the treatment he received truly was as far apart as heaven and earth.
"No need for such formality!" He Pingsheng looked calmly at the man before him.
Unless he was mistaken, this was the same fellow from three years ago.
"I want to go to the Great Void Sect. Help send me over!"
"Yes!" The Outer Disciple was instantly overjoyed. "This way, senior brother... I'll activate the Teleportation Array right away!"
Before you continue