Although the Wind-Riding Art was a Qi Refining Stage spell, it was far harder to cultivate than ordinary spells, especially for those without a wind spiritual root.
Lu Zhao still vividly remembered the first time he had entered the Zhou Household's library three years ago.
Back then, he had just become a guest retainer of the lowest rank, with only two Spirit Stones left in his pocket. When the steward quoted the prices-"Five Spirit Stones for the Wind-Riding Art, three for the Fireball Technique, four for the Earth Armor Technique..." -he fell silent for a long time and ultimately exchanged for nothing.
Returning today, his state of mind was entirely different.
He took a Jade Slip from the stand. It was snow-white throughout, half a foot long, with the three small ancient seal-script characters for "Wind-Riding Art" engraved on its face.
When he approached the counter, the steward yawned. "Are you sure you want to exchange for it, fellow cultivator? This spell is no easy thing to cultivate. Last month, a fellow cultivator forced his practice and reportedly even injured his meridians..."
"Yes." Lu Zhao pushed five Spirit Stones across.
The instant the Jade Slip touched his forehead, azure runes poured down like a torrential rain.
The figure of a Zhou Household ancestor treading the wind appeared in his sea of consciousness. The intricate methods that required instantaneous changes in the flow of spiritual energy now felt like countless steel needles piercing his soul.
Lu Zhao frowned and pressed his temples. The Little Spirit Rain Art circulated of its own accord, slowly easing the stabbing pain.
Everything about imparting techniques through Jade Slips is good except how much divine sense it consumes, he thought. Even now that I'm in the middle stage of Qi Refining, it's still a strain.
After putting down the Jade Slip, he suddenly understood why the Zhou Household disciples always seemed sluggish when using the Wind-Riding Art-the spell had been tailor-made for cultivators with wind spiritual roots.
For those with other spiritual roots, cultivating it took twice the effort for half the result, and its power fell far short of what wind-root cultivators could achieve.
Of course, the Wind-Riding Art was not the only escape art available in the library.
Lu Zhao had chosen it because water-based escape arts were already scarce, and those suited to his current cultivation were fewer still. Moreover, the library held only ordinary Qi Refining Stage spells, with no superior spell inheritances.
In the end, after turning it over in his mind, Lu Zhao still found the Wind-Riding Art the most suitable. Even with the mismatch in attributes, once cultivated deeply enough, its power would be no weaker than an ordinary first-tier water-based escape art.
Besides the Wind-Riding Art, he also exchanged for the "Water-Nurturing Art," a water-based spell that combined healing and detoxification. It was well suited to Green Vine Ravine's environment.
The two spells cost eight Spirit Stones in total. This was already his third visit.
When he had first become a guest retainer and heard he could freely exchange for spells, he had been delighted for a time, praising the Zhou Household's generosity and saying they did not treat guest retainers as outsiders.
Only after experiencing it himself did he learn that, although the library had a broad collection, it contained neither texts on the hundred cultivation crafts nor precious cultivation methods, and even copying was restricted.
Moreover, exchanging for any spell required a Heart Demon Oath not to pass it on. Otherwise, the cultivation method would backlash, damaging one's divine sense in mild cases or causing cultivation deviation in severe ones.
Even so, such generosity was rare in the cultivation world.
After leaving the library, Lu Zhao decided to try his luck at the market's major shops-he intended to find a shop willing to cooperate steadily with him and sell puppets on his behalf.
"Not buying." The fat cultivator behind the ironwood counter did not even raise his head. Twirling his ratlike whiskers between his fingers, he spoke bluntly. "Your puppets are certainly intricate, Fellow Cultivator Lu, but demon hunters want shield puppets that can withstand a Black-Tusk Boar's charge."
"What use are these flashy things?" He flicked the puppet away, and the Azure-Patterned Rat Puppet's fangs scraped sparks from the blue bricks.
Lu Zhao silently retrieved the puppet. This was already the fifth shop, and the shopkeepers all gave the same answer.
Shopkeeper Wang of Cloudlink Tower in the eastern market had shown interest, but offered only sixty percent of the market price; the old cultivator at the Artifact Refining Workshop on South Street had studied the puppet core for an hour, only to shake his head in the end.
After hurrying nonstop through five shops, he had found only two willing to accept them, and their terms were truly harsh.
Shopkeeper Wang of Cloudlink Tower had offered the most, but even he would pay only six Spirit Stones for an Azure-Patterned Rat Puppet, considerably below the price Lu Zhao had in mind.
He decided to visit the last shop-the Nine Abyss Pavilion.
He still held some hope for this negotiation.
He pushed open the Nine Abyss Pavilion's doors. Frost flowers clung to the bronze bells beneath the eaves at noon.
The old shopkeeper was moving abacus beads with an azure jade pipe. Seeing him enter, he suddenly pressed his withered fingers against the rolling black jade beads. "Did you find last month's batch of wind-pattern stone offcuts useful, Fellow Cultivator Lu?"
"You have a keen eye, Shopkeeper." Lu Zhao's heart tightened slightly, but his expression remained unchanged as he placed the puppet guard and Azure-Patterned Rat Puppet on the counter.
The puppet guard suddenly trembled on its own. As it turned its head, pale azure mist seeped from the gaps in its joints.
"This is the 'Puppet Mist Warning' function I developed over the past few days."
"Please excuse my humble efforts, Shopkeeper."
The old shopkeeper's cloudy pupils abruptly contracted. He lightly tapped a depression in the puppet guard with his pipe, shaking loose three crumbs of wind-pattern stone. "Using offcuts to improve its agility. Clever, and it saves on costs."
With that, he opened a hidden compartment in the counter and took out a Soul Contract.
"If you are willing to sign a three-year exclusive contract, I will buy these inferior-grade puppets for eight Spirit Stones each, with a guaranteed minimum of five per month."
Lu Zhao took the contract and examined it closely. It was a first-tier superior-grade Soul Contract. Although its terms were not especially harsh, it was more than sufficient to bind a Qi Refining cultivator.
"If I occasionally sell them myself..."
"Your price must not be lower than the Nine Abyss Pavilion's."
Amid the crisp tapping of his pipe against the blue bricks, the shopkeeper raised his eyelids slightly. "Of course, if you refine puppets that can fly, there may be room for discussion."
The cinnabar seal on the contract glimmered blood-red. Lu Zhao paused his brush at the clause stating "priority supply to the Nine Abyss Pavilion."
After reading it, he had made his decision: the terms were fairly generous. As long as he did not sell puppets to other merchants for three years, he would not be in breach.
The old shopkeeper murmured with seeming casualness, "The Zhou Household has been searching for flying puppets lately." His bony fingertip traced the formal numeral "two" on the tabletop, then swiftly erased it.
After leaving the Nine Abyss Pavilion, Lu Zhao entered Fuyang Studio-the largest talisman trading establishment in the Zhou Household's market. Supposedly, even second-tier talismans had appeared there.
He did not go to the rogue cultivators' stall area. They mainly sold first-tier inferior-grade talismans, while he needed first-tier middle-grade ones.
"Ten first-tier middle-grade Wind-Riding Talismans, ten first-tier middle-grade Vajra Talismans, and two first-tier superior-grade Firebird Talismans."
"Three Spirit Stones altogether."
After paying, he had only seventeen Spirit Stones left in his storage pouch.
Next, he still had to buy medicine at the Zhang Family's Alchemy Chamber. He did not know how much he would have left.
After a day of rushing about, he returned to his little courtyard with quite a few more things in his storage pouch:
Three first-tier middle-grade Detoxification Pills, worth two Spirit Stones;
One first-tier middle-grade Spirit-Restoring Pill, worth three Spirit Stones.
As its name suggested, the latter could instantly restore thirty percent of a middle-stage Qi Refining cultivator's magical power upon being swallowed.
Entering the cellar, he found the air thick with the rank smell of azure marrow and rat blood, yet it made him feel utterly at ease.
The Zhou Household had given him seven days to prepare for the journey to Green Vine Ravine.
For the next six days, apart from his daily cultivation, he intended to do only one thing:
-Devote all his efforts to hunting Spirit-Devouring Rats and Rat Kings, killing as many as there were.
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