When Chu Xingchen returned to his sect's little courtyard, neither of his disciples had come back from shopping.
He had no idea where his eldest disciple had gone to stock up. She had been gone so long, yet still hadn't returned.
Still, he had entrusted the most pressing issue-the Spirit Stones-to his old acquaintance, Yaoqin.
For now, the most important matter had been arranged. It was his main reason for coming to Yuzhou City.
He figured the odds of resolving it smoothly were fairly good.
After all, Chu Xingchen suspected that the entire Bamboo Jade Court was affiliated with a cultivation sect.
Yaoqin had already been at the Golden Core stage when he first met her.
In this remote region, someone with Golden Core cultivation could be hailed as a patriarch and hold an elder's position.
Yet at the Bamboo Jade Court, she was still playing the zither.
With a lineup like that... there was even a good chance it belonged to a sect from Central Province.
So Chu Xingchen was fairly confident that Yaoqin could resolve the matter.
After all, every Spirit Stone in his Spatial Ring was one of these Blood Qi Spirit Stones.
If he tried spending them, righteous cultivators would absolutely kill him on the spot.
What was more, nobody except Evil Cultivators would accept Blood Qi Spirit Stones.
Chu Xingchen seemed immensely wealthy right now, but in reality, he couldn't produce even a single usable Spirit Stone.
He had money, but he couldn't spend it.
Chu Xingchen withdrew the small formation he had set up before leaving.
He walked into the main room his disciples had voluntarily left for him.
His gaze swept over the room. It had indeed been cleaned reasonably well, and there were tables, chairs, and stools inside. Sitting down in a chair, Chu Xingchen took out that Blood Qi Spirit Stone and began studying it.
He had a flawless Golden Core now, after all. He was at least qualified to investigate it.
But the more Chu Xingchen studied it, the more sinister he found this Spirit Stone.
The blood qi actually showed signs of merging with the spiritual energy inside the Spirit Stone.
This... in a certain sense, was honestly rather impressive.
Spirit Stones formed as spiritual energy moved along spiritual veins. Its extremely high density caused it to attract and bind together over long periods, eventually gathering into solid form.
During this process, the spiritual energy gradually stabilized and stopped accommodating anything other than spiritual energy.
Once the spiritual energy fully became a Spirit Stone, this property grew even more pronounced.
As such, tampering with Spirit Stones like this required considerable finesse.
It wasn't impossible, just very difficult.
The level of craftsmanship behind this Blood Qi Spirit Stone... didn't seem like something a remote region like this could produce, either.
Just as Chu Xingchen was frowning over his investigation, his eldest disciple's shout reached him.
"Master!"
Chu Xingchen put away the Spirit Stone, rose, and headed outside. He pushed open the door, then froze briefly.
Li Yingling walked through the gate with a large bundle on her back and a broad smile on her face.
Li Xingtian followed behind her, carrying a gigantic bundle two or three times his own size... strictly speaking, Chu Xingchen felt it had already exceeded what could be called a bundle.
Something that big couldn't fit through the gate anymore.
Li Xingtian glanced around. Finding that nobody was watching him, he suddenly hurled the bundle on his back over the courtyard wall.
Then Li Xingtian darted into the courtyard, ready to catch the bundle he had thrown inside.
Chu Xingchen raised a hand slightly, caught the airborne bundle with his power, and lowered it gently to the ground.
His gaze swept over the huge bundle before him, and he asked Li Yingling in puzzlement:
"Have prices in Yuzhou City gotten that cheap? You bought all this with that little bit of silver?"
Li Yingling proudly lifted her head at his words. After setting down her bundle, she raised her eyebrows at her junior brother beside her-signaling for him to tell their master about her glorious achievements.
"Senior Sister didn't buy these." A somewhat rueful expression crossed Li Xingtian's face. "A new vendor set up on the street. He had a ring-toss game where landing a ring earned you a random prize draw. Senior Sister spent all her money on draws at that stall."
Chu Xingchen was taken aback. Was his disciple's strong fortune taking effect?
Li Yingling proudly pulled a clean, luxurious set of white men's clothing from the bundle behind her.
"Master, I specifically traded for this for you. That outfit you're always wearing is far too shabby."
As she spoke, Li Yingling spread out the garment. Fine gold threads adorned the cuffs, while pale blue trim lined both sides of the collar, embroidered with gorgeous, elegant patterns.
"This was the vendor's top prize! He said it adjusts to fit you automatically. An artifact refiner made it, and it repels dust and removes dirt all by itself."
Smiling, Li Yingling folded the outfit again and handed it to Chu Xingchen along with the matching trousers.
Chu Xingchen accepted the outfit and ran his fingers over it, finding it exceptionally soft and smooth.
"Lovely..." Chu Xingchen smiled and nodded gently. "Thank you, my eldest disciple."
Meanwhile, Li Xingtian opened his enormous bundle.
Its contents were a bewildering assortment of things... there hardly seemed to be anything sensible among them.
Fortunately, he could still spot three sets of bedding. Li Yingling hadn't forgotten the most important items.
They wouldn't have to sleep on bare wooden beds tonight.
With a puzzled expression, Chu Xingchen stepped forward and examined the pile.
It included pots, bowls, ladles, and basins they already owned, only with extremely unusual designs. There were also oddly shaped old copper coins, talismans, and a shattered longsword.
A pellet drum, a large drum, a sword woven from copper coins-even a whole set of the wooden fish percussion instruments monks played.
Chu Xingchen picked up the wooden fish mallet beside it and examined it closely for a while, but found nothing special.
Was this a consolation prize?
"Master! This wooden fish is special!"
Li Yingling came over in two strides and explained, "According to the vendor, before an enlightened, eminent monk passed into nirvana, he infused all the merit he had cultivated into this wooden fish. It's an extraordinary treasure!"
Holding the wooden fish mallet, Chu Xingchen turned and gave Li Yingling a tap on the head with it, saying irritably:
"What's so extraordinary about it? It doesn't even sound as loud hitting your head as it does hitting the wooden fish."
That was clearly just a line the vendor had used to fool people!
His eldest disciple didn't seem that stupid. How could she believe something like that?!
Although the light tap from the wooden fish mallet didn't hurt, it was still insulting. Li Yingling pouted and said angrily:
"If you don't believe me, ask Second Junior Brother!"
"...This... this really is a wooden fish that an eminent monk infused with his own merit when he passed into nirvana."
Li Xingtian confirmed Li Yingling's words, but looked as though he had something more to say. Then he seemed about to explain something, only to shake his head helplessly.
Chu Xingchen gave his second disciple a strange look. Had this second disciple lived his previous life for nothing? How was he just as naive as his eldest disciple?
"How do you know that vendor was telling the truth?" Chu Xingchen demanded of them both.
"We both saw that eminent monk pass into nirvana on the spot..." Li Xingtian's tone remained steady, but his expression suggested that he, too, had been deeply shocked.
Li Xingtian had never imagined that such an outrageous maneuver even existed.
Chu Xingchen stared blankly. "Passed into nirvana on the spot?!"
"Yes... he was a Qi Refining monk who practiced ascetic meditation. After Senior Sister drew that wooden fish, he ignored her attempts to stop him, practiced Karmic Dharma, and passed into nirvana right there, infusing all the merit he had cultivated into the wooden fish. In the end, he even entrusted Senior Sister to make good use of it... and insisted that she possessed a great destined opportunity and would surely take the cultivation world by storm someday."
"What kind of vendor pulls stunts this wild?! Take me to have a look!"
"There's no need to go, Master... after Senior Sister finished her draws, they packed up everything and ran toward the gates of Yuzhou City, cursing their rotten luck the whole way."
"By now, they've probably already left Yuzhou City."
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