An Opportunity

"The pear tree? It was already here when I came to Deer Island."

"The selection? Hahaha, that's all to fool the mortals. If you don't give them something to hope for, they won't put their hearts into their work."

"Read these books in your spare time, so you won't head out someday without even knowing the market for pills and Spirit Plants."

"Alchemy and formation-setting are immensely profound disciplines. I studied them before, but unfortunately, I wasn't cut out for them. If you want to learn, it won't be too late to wait until you reach the late stage."

Ever since taking up the Bright Garment Art, Meng Yuan's progress, if not lightning-fast, was at least seventy or eighty percent faster than when he practiced the Heavenly Cycle Qi Gathering Art, and he had grown closer to Huo Qiushi.

Meng Yuan discovered that whenever he had a question, Huo Old Freak held nothing back and told him whatever he knew.

He even taught him quite a few rules for getting by in the cultivation world. For instance, never casually sleep with female cultivators, and never casually explore ruins with male cultivators.

Huo Old Freak also had Meng Yuan study things like Spirit Plants and mineral encyclopedias.

For instance, the Red Flame Fruit he had eaten back home was actually nothing rare in this world. Refined into pills, it could aid cultivators with fire spiritual roots in their cultivation.

Moreover, it bore fruit every year. The decades between fruitings back home were entirely due to the lack of Spiritual Qi there, which prolonged its fruiting cycle.

In short, he cherished Meng Yuan as though he were his successor, and whenever he saw him frown, he would come over to offer guidance and reassurance.

That year, Old Turtle Island sank entirely beneath the sea.

That year, in the scorching summer, two familiar faces arrived on Deer Island.

"Who's this?" Xin Li stared at Meng Yuan for a while, then seized his arm and reached down for a grope. "Quite a handsome one! And well endowed, too!"

The two visitors were none other than the cultivators who had used mortals as bait to catch Raimei Angelfish when Meng Yuan first arrived.

But Meng Yuan had been in a sorry state back then. Now, with different clothes and having begun cultivating, neither recognized him.

The female cultivator was named Xin Li, and the male cultivator Zhou Xin. They had come from Daimeng to collect the annual tribute.

"Here's the annual tribute. Count it over. This child could be considered my successor. I'll introduce him into the alliance in a few years. Yes, his aptitude is somewhat poor, but he has an excellent disposition and works hard. Please look after him in the future. This old brother thanks you in advance."

Huo Qiushi was all smiles and very amiable, and asked about affairs in the alliance.

"The alliance's futures market is booming these days. It's speculation, buying low and selling high-one Spirit Stone can do the work of ten! With the great war in the West, all sorts of materials have soared sky-high in price. Everyone's making money hand over fist! Even the most devoted secluded cultivators have come out!"

"If I could have turned down this assignment, I really wouldn't have come here. It's costing me so much in missed profits!"

"You don't believe me? The Puppet Fairy sent me a message saying this was the finest spring she'd had since setting foot on the path of cultivation."

"This spring, she earned admission to Hehuan Island through her service and put all her savings in Spirit Stones into the futures market. In five days, she made five years' pay."

"Flying boats are cheap, and traveling between islands for pleasure is very convenient."

"The other day, while she was strolling through Xinyi Ward at the main mountain, everyone suddenly put down what they were doing, gathered together, and bowed and cheered. She even took the opportunity to harvest several male cultivators' vital essence."

"She said she was very happy, with the illusion that the Starsea Alliance was enjoying a revival and the cultivation world had entered a golden age."

"I have to hurry back! Even if I have to smash my pots and sell the iron and borrow Spirit Stones, I have to catch this wave!"

Senior Brother Zhou Xin was in a great hurry and declined Huo Qiushi's proposal to hold a small gathering to discuss the Dao.

Meng Yuan stopped Xin Li, took out a letter, and asked her to pass it on to Li Nineteen.

The letter only said that he had taken a master, without mentioning anything else. He briefly asked how Li Nineteen had been and spoke of their brotherly bond.

"Li Nineteen? Don't know him. His master is Wang Zhinong? All right. But I won't work for nothing. You have to sleep with me!" Seeing Meng Yuan dodge away, Xin Li burst out laughing.

After Xin Li and Zhou Xin left, Huo Qiushi began instructing him. "Outsiders say our Starsea Alliance walks between righteousness and evil, and that's not really wrong. Remember, no one treats you well for no reason. If a beautiful fairy suddenly appears wanting to sleep with you, eight times out of ten she wants to harvest your vital essence."

"What about dual cultivation, then?" Meng Yuan asked.

"Dual cultivation is naturally a legitimate practice. It requires two people to be of one heart and mind, each giving and yielding to the other. But think about it. Can you keep your mind clear the whole time while doing that sort of thing? That's why dual cultivation so easily strays down a lustful, wicked path," Huo Qiushi said with a smile.

"Does Fairy Xin Li want to harvest me too?" Meng Yuan asked curiously.

"She isn't skilled in that practice, but she knows how. Still, from what I can see, she just has a huge appetite." Huo Qiushi was utterly disdainful. "Someone like her probably won't establish her foundation in this lifetime."

In his second year as a disciple, his fourth year on the island, Du Yueyi, for some unknown reason, took the Du Household away, abandoning their holdings on Deer Island and moving to Longstone Island.

Xin Li came to collect the annual tribute again, but Senior Brother Zhou Xin was nowhere to be seen. An unfamiliar male cultivator accompanied her instead.

"He ran. The war over there stopped, and the price of Soul-Nourishing Grass plummeted. Senior Brother Zhou lost everything and ended up owing a great deal besides. His creditors blocked his door, and after they caught him, he somehow escaped. But they hold his source Essence Blood. He won't get far!"

"The Puppet Fairy? Don't ever put her name alongside mine again!"

"She lost everything in one go, and her hair turned completely white overnight. Now she takes anyone, and it's others harvesting her instead. Having seen fast money, she has no mind for honest work. She sleeps with people for ten days or half a month, saves up a few coins, then goes prowling around the futures market again."

"Lots of people are in debt. The moment they hear of ruins somewhere, they scramble to go, never mind how dangerous it is. All they want is one big haul."

"The atmosphere's gone rotten!"

"You're at the Qi Refining Second Layer? Come, let your big sister measure you!"

"Come on! Inside with me!"

One moment Xin Li was sighing with emotion; the next she had grabbed Meng Yuan, a ferocious look appearing on her innocent face.

Fortunately, Huo Buzhi was there to get Meng Yuan out of trouble, barely preserving his chastity.

That year, Meng Yuan finally received Li Nineteen's reply. The letter said nothing about what he was doing, only that things within the alliance were not very peaceful.

In his sixth year as a disciple, his eighth year on the island, Meng Yuan reached the Third Qi Refining Layer.

Over these years, Meng Yuan had found that Huo Qiushi cared for him in every possible way. He never neglected their monthly session to help him draw in Qi, and even gave him pills that aided cultivation.

Whenever cultivators came to visit, Huo Qiushi always introduced him and never excluded him from their conversations. Meng Yuan heard a great many strange tales and anecdotes.

He did not treat Meng Yuan as an outsider at all.

Moreover, he had reached the Third Qi Refining Layer in six years of cultivation. It could not be called fast, but with his aptitude, it was not slow either.

But what put Meng Yuan on his guard was that after reaching the Third Qi Refining Layer, the spiritual power in his Dantian grew increasingly substantial, yet he could not command it smoothly, and it felt increasingly sluggish and obstructed.

Others could ride flying swords at the Third Qi Refining Layer. Though they could not sustain it for long, they already had the bearing of immortals.

Yet at the Third Qi Refining Layer, Meng Yuan still struggled somewhat to conjure a flame or summon a gust of wind. He was only a little better than before he began cultivating.

It was as though ropes bound his body, as though cobwebs wrapped around him. His cultivation rose year by year, but the ropes tightened year by year, and the webs grew denser year by year.

This was absolutely not normal, and only one person could have done such a thing.

Meng Yuan sought advice from Fairy Xin Li, but she was an utter ignoramus who had never even heard of the Bright Garment Art and only wanted to sleep with him for free. Meanwhile, Li Nineteen had not replied for two years, and Xin Li could not find him or his master either.

"This is your spiritual root slowly growing stronger. Once all the dust and impurities in it are gone, everything will be fine." Huo Qiushi said this every time, still smiling just as he had when they first met.

Meng Yuan had also considered changing cultivation methods, but whether he switched to the Circulating Heaven Qi-Gathering Method or the Azure Wave Qi Gathering Art, his cultivation would not advance in the slightest. Yet as soon as he returned to the Bright Garment Art, his whole body felt at ease.

To break free of Huo Old Freak, he had to raise his cultivation, which meant practicing the Bright Garment Art. But the more he practiced the Bright Garment Art, the more he had to depend on Huo Old Freak.

It was just like Chen Yuyin, whom he had held in the palm of his hand during his third life. That moment then, this moment now.

Meng Yuan did not try to bring about mutual ruin. Even if he could disgust Huo Old Freak, he still could not escape the Soul-Tracking Thread's ten-year limit.

All he could do was remember as much useful information as possible to prepare for his next life.

"Do you know why I remain in this remote place?" In his tenth year on the island, with the peach blossoms below the mountain already in bloom and Meng Yuan's ten-year limit fast approaching, Huo Qiushi came to him.

He took Meng Yuan by the arm, abandoning his usual smiling manner for a deeply serious expression. "You are my successor. It's time you learned Deer Island's greatest secret."