Little Cloud Terrace Gathering

Morning dew seeped through the gaps between the bluestone slabs. The next day, Lu Zhao walked over slippery moss toward the Nine Abyss Pavilion.

The Mystic Water Tortoise-Shell Shield in his sleeve felt cold against him, but his divine sense sank into the Heavy Water Pearl he had refined not long ago.

That day, only after the Hundred Refinements Pavilion's shopkeeper poured in his magical power had he managed, with difficulty, to lift the fist-sized pearl. The water patterns on its surface suddenly swirled backward. Merely looking at it made the spiritual power throughout Lu Zhao's body turn sluggish, as though something had locked onto him.

"This is the One-Origin Heavy Water Pearl's ability to restrain spiritual power. Demonic beasts and humans within thirty feet, once locked onto, can only withstand it head-on." The shopkeeper's voice was low in his throat. "This pearl weighs three thousand six hundred jin. Hurl it at an enemy, and mountain rock turns to powder; if driven with water spiritual power, it can draw a hundred streams into a whirlpool and trap an enemy in the depths."

After hearing the detailed introduction and experiencing some of the pearl's power, Lu Zhao was immediately tempted. In the end, he endured the pain of the expense and bought it.

As frost gathered on the bronze bells at the Nine Abyss Pavilion's eaves, Shopkeeper Zhou was wiping a blue-jade formation disk with chamois leather.

Seeing Lu Zhao enter, he pressed a withered finger hard against a crack on the disk. "I don't have the spell you want."

Lu Zhao's eyes darkened slightly, but then he saw the shopkeeper draw a blood-patterned wooden token from a hidden compartment in the counter. "But at the Little Cloud Terrace Gathering in three days, someone from the Zhou Household will be selling something that contains what you want."

"The Little Cloud Terrace Gathering?"

"An exchange gathering for the Zhou Household's Qi Refining disciples." The shopkeeper pushed the wooden token across the counter, its bloodlike patterns gleaming in the morning light. "Several are held each year. Pills, magical artifacts, talismans, cultivation methods, and senior cultivators' handwritten notes all appear. Even spiritual treasures rarely seen otherwise occasionally turn up."

Lu Zhao's fingertips touched the token's smooth, warm surface. "Can outsiders enter?"

"Anyone holding a Zhou disciple's token can bring two others." The shopkeeper suddenly raised his eyes, a glint hidden amid his wrinkles. "In three days, I'll go with you."

"And that spell..."

The shopkeeper curled a finger and tapped the blue-jade disk. "Someone who attended last month revealed that a man had obtained part of Heavenly Water Rogue Person's legacy.

"He was selling cultivation insights, with a Thousandfold Overlapping Waves Art appended at the end. When mastered to great accomplishment, that spell stacks nine waves of water, making a single strike more powerful than even a superior-grade magical artifact.

"A pity-" He shook his head with a derisive laugh. "The seller attended three gatherings in a row, offering that volume only in exchange for water-attribute breakthrough pills. He's plainly a veteran cultivator stalled before late-stage Qi Refining, hoping to use someone else's wealth to break through!"

Lu Zhao tucked the token into his sleeve. "Will he still offer it this time?"

"He'll definitely come!"

The shopkeeper spoke with ironclad certainty. "His temples have already gone white, and he's nearly sixty. His vitality is about to decline. He can't afford to wait. If he doesn't come now, he'll struggle to reach even late-stage Qi Refining in this lifetime."

Lu Zhao's voice was calm. "I'll remember your help, Shopkeeper Zhou."

The old shopkeeper's throat bobbed. At last, he said hoarsely, "In three days, I'll bring my grandson Zhou Mo along. That boy... lacks an opportunity to see the world."

Three days later, before the morning mist had dispersed, Lu Zhao followed the shopkeeper out of the Market District.

This time, besides him and Shopkeeper Zhou, one other person accompanied them.

When he first arrived, Lu Zhao saw a boy of sixteen or seventeen beside the shopkeeper. He was tall and slender, slightly thin, wearing a plain blue cloud-brocade robe with a jade belt and hanging green tassels.

Upon seeing Lu Zhao, he lowered his lashes and pressed his lips together, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly. Only when he raised his eyes did his pupils show clear as rain, revealing a limpid bearing nurtured by a sheltered upbringing.

Lu Zhao had not expected someone like this to exist in the cultivation world. But thinking of his Zhou Household background, he understood. Only a Foundation Establishment lineage could produce someone like him. This was the shopkeeper's grandson-Zhou Mo.

After only half a day together, Lu Zhao had coaxed Zhou Mo into calling him Brother Lu. During that same half day, Shopkeeper Zhou sighed more than ten times, yet said nothing.

When they reached a narrow valley entrance thirty li away, Zhou Mo suddenly pointed at a stone tablet. "Brother Lu, look!"

But Lu Zhao had no attention to spare for his words; his mind had already been drawn to the sight before him.

Nine waterfalls plunged from a thousand-foot cliff, their mist forming a rainbow bridge across an emerald pool.

Atop the cliff, where ancient pines entwined their roots, stood a palace pavilion, bronze bells chiming beneath its eaves without any wind. Strangest of all was the frost-covered grass carpeting the ground: milky-white spiritual dew seeped from its leaf tips, brightening and dimming to the rhythm of breathing, like stars strewn over the earth.

"Spiritual energy condensing into dew?!

" Lu Zhao drew a deep breath, circulating the Little Spirit Rain Art within his dantian. He murmured to himself, "If I cultivated here, my progress would probably be over thirty percent faster than at Green Vine Ravine."

Seeing that Lu Zhao did not seem to have heard him, Zhou Mo called again. Only when Lu Zhao came back to himself did he see the words "Perching Cloud" carved into a bluestone tablet.

Leaning on his staff, Shopkeeper Zhou pointed into the depths of the clouds. "This is the Zhou Household's foundation-Perching Cloud Mountain."

His withered palm brushed away the mist clinging to his clothes. "This is merely a fringe of what spills from a second-tier spiritual vein. The real cave abodes are halfway up the mountain and above."

Lu Zhao looked up. At the end of the rainbow bridge, two white-robed cultivators stood in the mist with their hands tucked into their sleeves. The jade tokens at their waists resonated with Zhou Mo's, sharing the same origin and sending out rippling patterns of light.

"Let's go." The shopkeeper stepped through the spiritual dew on the grass tips. "The Little Cloud Terrace Gathering is at the foot of the mountain."

Beneath the pavilion's sweeping eaves, the bronze bells suddenly rang out together, clear and bright. The two followed the shopkeeper inside.

As soon as he entered, Lu Zhao saw nine blue-jade pillars supporting the vaulted ceiling. Bamboo-joint patterns marked their surfaces, and pale green spiritual mist flowed around them like a living thing.

Jade paved the floor. Milky-white spiritual dew seeped through cloud-patterned fissures, and the moment they stepped onto it, a clear chill rose around their ankles.

Over a hundred meditation cushions were arranged on either side. At the far end stood a raised platform, emerald-green and crystalline, gleaming in the sunlight as though carved from green jade...

Fresh spiritual air and the cool fragrance of crackle-glazed porcelain cups drifted through the room. Several dozen cultivators sat upright on the meditation cushions, conversing quietly in groups of three or five.

At the three newcomers' arrival, everyone merely glanced over before quickly returning their attention to their own affairs.

Without speaking, the shopkeeper led the two to sit in a corner. He then explained to Lu Zhao that this pavilion was called the Cold Fragrance Pavilion. The Zhou Household only used it for major events, and the exchange gathering was held here.

Several more quarter-hours passed, and over fifty people arrived one after another.

When the meditation cushions were nearly full, an old man in gray abruptly rose and walked to the front.

"The exchange gathering begins now. You are all either disciples of our Zhou Household or old friends of it, so there's no need for me to explain the rules again. Let the exchange begin."

As the host, the old man took the lead, producing a fist-sized, fiery-red object. "Nine jin and four liang of red-fire spirit iron, a first-tier superior-grade spiritual material. I wish to exchange it for a first-tier middle-grade fire-attribute flying sword."

Several minutes passed in silence, with no response. After waiting a while longer, the old man sighed and stepped down.

A moment later, a young girl went up. "Uncles and brothers, I wish to exchange a first-tier middle-grade wood-attribute magical artifact for some cold iron."

With that, she produced a staff-shaped magical artifact. Several people soon stepped forward; after all, cold iron was a relatively easy spiritual material to obtain in the Zhou Household. Even Lu Zhao still had one liang of cold iron on hand.

After the girl finished exchanging her spiritual material, another seven or eight people went up in succession. Some obtained the spiritual materials they wanted, while others did not. Each person remained on the platform for no more than half a cup of tea's time.

Meanwhile, Lu Zhao was using the Puppet Pearl panel to record each of the materials that appeared:

Icewind stone (first-tier superior-grade)

Cold spirit grass (first-tier middle-grade)

Earth spirit crystal (first-tier middle-grade)

Ice Marrow Pill (first-tier superior-grade)