Only after Shi Xuan had eaten and drunk his fill did he have the leisure to observe this ancient, quaint city, so utterly different from modern society. As he recalled the route to the south of the city, he looked around everywhere. Perhaps because today was market day, the crowds rolled like waves. Small vendors lined both sides, selling daily necessities, and they looked as though they had been here for years. Vegetable sellers were roughly gathered along several streets; beyond those streets, only a scattered few could be seen at street corners in the direction of the south of the city.
It was now June, and there truly were many people in Daoist robes on the streets. Some even wore Daoist robes while waving folding fans, looking utterly neither fish nor fowl.
Shi Xuan arrived at Water Well Street in the south of the city and headed for the largest, busiest-looking pharmacy. At the entrance, he saw three large characters on the signboard, written in something resembling Wei Script—Tong Ren Tang. Shi Xuan was instantly stunned. Tong Ren Tang was truly formidable; it had even opened a branch in another world.
Once inside, he went straight to the counter. The shopkeeper was attending to customers, making it the perfect opportunity. Shi Xuan smiled at the apprentice behind the counter, greeted him, and named several medicinal ingredients from the prescription. Though two of them were precious herbs, the apprentice had plenty in stock, so he did not question Shi Xuan further. He simply gathered the herbs, wrapped them in oiled paper, and handed them over. "That will be four taels and three qian of silver."
Shi Xuan was secretly alarmed by the expense of the prescription's ingredients. And these were only some of them. At this rate, his assets might only be enough to prepare the medicine around fifty times. Each batch of ingredients could probably last three days, for six doses. If his soul had not entered the Soul Strengthening Stage after half a year, he would go bankrupt. Poor scholars, rich martial artists, ruinous Daoists—there really was some truth to that saying. Of course, martial artists did not have such miraculous and precious prescriptions. The prescriptions ordinary martial artists used to temper their bodies cost dozens of taels of silver a year, while more precious ones cost one or two hundred taels. That was already terrifying enough. Shi Xuan's small courtyard was worth only two or three hundred taels of silver.
Though startled within, his face remained impassive. He took out Silver Shards, paid, and left. Then he visited several more herb shops and completed the prescription's ingredients. Buying them separately from several shops could effectively keep others from recognizing the prescription's value through the herbs he purchased, thus avoiding unnecessary trouble.
Afterward, he went to the butcher shop and told the shopkeeper that he intended to treat friends and relatives to a dog meat feast, asking him to deliver four live dogs to his small courtyard west of the city.
Shi Xuan returned to the small courtyard and meditated to regulate his breathing for a while. Once he had regained his calm, he went to the left wing room and found three spare medicine jars. Then he formed hand seals and chanted an incantation, stirring the Five Elements Qi within his body to resonate with heaven and earth. He cast a Dust Removal Incantation and cleaned the medicine jars. Next, based on the differing final ingredient, he divided the medicine into three portions and placed the appropriate amounts of herbs and water into each. He could not use the regularly used medicine jar at this time, because no matter how thoroughly it was washed, it would always retain traces of medicinal properties. Under normal circumstances, that would not matter, but this was a prescription akin to alchemy. Even the slightest excess medicinal property could cause failure.
He carried the Medicine Jars into the kitchen, where there was a row of Small Stoves the old daoist often used for refining medicine. After setting them down, he found some wood and lit it with the Ignition Technique. Shi Xuan began to feel somewhat exhausted. Alas, his soul was far too weak. Although the Qi Nourishing Stage allowed him to mobilize the Five Elements Qi of the fleshly body to cast spells, it still consumed soul power. Naturally, the Five Elements Qi of a Qi Nourishing Stage body was also why Shi Xuan could cast spells with a soul only at the Body Tempering Soul Nurturing Stage.
Shi Xuan roused his spirits and did not dare slacken. After forming the hand seals and chanting the incantation, he used the Fire Control Technique, carefully controlling the heat. Half an hour passed before the most difficult portion was over. Now he only needed to maintain a gentle fire and simmer it slowly for another two hours.
Only then did Shi Xuan let out a long breath. He felt dizzy all over and hurriedly sat cross-legged, exhaling and circulating his qi. It took quite some time before he regained the strength to move. By the time the butcher shop shopkeeper, Zheng Sunan, delivered four dogs—two black and two yellow—Shi Xuan's complexion had finally returned to normal.
After tying up the four dogs, Shi Xuan drew a bucket of well water from the Small well and drank deeply to his heart's content. Then he went inside and began sorting through the old daoist's belongings.
This was the first time Shi Xuan had entered the old daoist's room since the old daoist's death. The room was very tidy. Shi Xuan searched it all over and found, apart from some clothing and commonly used items for Daoist magic, only a gray bundle. Those clothes were of little use to Shi Xuan; they did not fit his build, and he did not know needlework to alter them. It seemed the old daoist had had some premonition of his death and had packed everything into the bundle.
When he opened the bundle, there were three items inside. One was an ancient book, the "Returning to Truth Scripture," the old daoist's true transmission and also the cultivation method this body had practiced before. But Shi Xuan already possessed the "Supreme Clarity Yu Yu True Transmission Treasure Record of Attaining the Dao and Overcoming Calamities," a Fundamental Great Law that pointed directly toward the Great Dao, so the cultivation method in this scripture was of little use to him. However, the Daoist magic in the Treasure Record was all derived from the Fundamental Great Law. Aside from several divine abilities that required external objects to cultivate, most were Daoist arts that could only be practiced at the Golden Core Stage and beyond. The Returning to Truth Scripture, on the other hand, contained many more usable Daoist arts. Though they were all mere techniques and their power was limited by one's realm, techniques were wondrous and always had all manner of uses.
When Shi Xuan thought of limited power, he thought of a divine ability in the Treasure Record that required external objects to cultivate: the Great Yin Lung Yang Geng Metal Sword Qi. This divine ability required one to find a piece of Geng Metal, use a secret method to absorb its qi and store it within the lungs, then temper it day and night with that secret method until it finally took shape. According to its description, its power was immense. Unlike spellcasting, it required no time to form hand seals and chant incantations, making it incomparably swift to use. Even cultivators at the Spirit Soul Stage might not be able to withstand its edge. Of course, whether he could hit anyone was another matter entirely, since this divine ability had limits on both range and number of uses. Naturally, as he slowly nurtured the Sword Qi in the future, both its power and range would grow greater.
But it was only a passing thought. This divine ability required at least the Soul Departure Stage to cultivate. Without fine control over one's own soul, what could one use to control Geng Metal qi? Without powerful Internal Energy, how could the lungs withstand the razor-sharp edge of Geng Metal qi? Besides, where could Geng Metal be so easily found?! Of course, it did not have to be Geng Metal. Great Unity True Gold, Western Metal Essence, and Taibai Essence—those legendary materials used to forge immortal swords—would all do. The divine ability would merely need a different name. But those, too, were things one could encounter but never seek.
What was strange was that Qingyunzi had said in the Treasure Record that one must cultivate this divine ability, along with four others—Lesser Yin Heart Yang True Fire of Virtual Reality, Jue Yin Liver Yang Green Wood Genesis Art, Great Yin Spleen Yang Mountain Suppression Form Technique, and Lesser Yin Kidney Yin Ice Soul Divine Light—before reaching the Golden Core Stage. Entering the Golden Core Stage afterward would bring immense benefits. As for what those benefits were, Qingyunzi had kept everyone guessing.
Returning to the matter at hand, the "Returning to Truth Scripture" was likewise only the fundamental portion of a Daoist magic true transmission. It lacked even the foundations of artifact refining and alchemy, which was truly regrettable.
Shi Xuan set the "Returning to Truth Scripture" aside and suddenly realized that he would cultivate the Treasure Record as his primary path in the future. Would not Old Daoist Xu's Daoist lineage then be lost? Though he and Old Daoist Xu had not truly shared the bond of master and disciple, Shi Xuan had seen through fragments of memory how Old Daoist Xu had cared for Du Bai. Since this body was now his, he would certainly repay that grace and sentiment. It seemed he could only wait until he traveled the world in the future and find another fine piece of jade, a worthy talent, to pass the Daoist lineage on to.
Shi Xuan looked at the second item. It was a bundled stack of talismans, around ten or so, defensive items Old Daoist Xu had prepared for his disciple during his final year. Though one could use Daoist arts upon entering the Qi Nourishing and Soul Strengthening Stage, the arts at that stage required many steps and took a long time. Thus, people often drew talismans in advance; when the time came, they only needed a single incantation, or even a trace of soul power, to activate them. And as an expert at the Soul Departure Stage, the talismans Old Daoist Xu left behind would certainly surpass those of Shi Xuan, his disciple, by far.
Shi Xuan carefully examined the talismans. There were seventeen in total, with four each of four kinds: Invisibility Qi Concealment Talismans, Earth Armor Talismans, Qi Induction Thunder Talismans, and Golden Light Soul Breaking Talismans. The remaining one was a talisman written in Ancient Cloud Seal Script—the Treasure Record contained Primordial Thunder Patterns and Ancient Cloud Seal Script—called Great Unity Sky Thunder. Faint lightning flickered across it, and its strokes were ancient and unadorned. It did not seem like something Old Daoist Xu could have drawn. Either he had inherited it when obtaining his true transmission, or he had acquired it through a fortunate encounter while traveling.
The final item was a mirror and a sheet of paper Old Daoist Xu had attached to it. The paper said that the old daoist had found it in an abandoned temple on Old Mountain west of the lake. This mirror had held down a hundred-year Old Ghost within the temple for an unknown number of decades. When the old daoist passed by in those years, he had not understood what was happening and moved the mirror, allowing the Old Ghost to escape. A fierce battle followed, and the old daoist had nearly died. In the end, he used one of the two Great Unity Sky Thunder Talismans he had obtained with his true transmission to destroy that hundred-year Old Ghost. The mirror had also been caught in the blast and shattered. Although Old Daoist Xu could not identify the mirror's material, he had still picked up its largest fragment and brought it back, remaking it into a mirror. It no longer possessed its former power and could not even be considered a Dharma Artifact, only able to suppress some weak ghosts due to its innate spirituality.
Precisely because the material was so fine, Old Daoist Xu had intended to leave it to his disciple. Given the chance, it might yet be reforged into a Dharma Artifact. As mentioned earlier, before the Golden Core Stage, spellcasting involved all manner of steps. Though advancing realms greatly shortened casting time, some people still found spells too slow, and so devised various alternatives, such as talismans and Dharma Artifacts. Cultivating divine abilities through external objects, as described in the Treasure Record, also counted as one such alternative.
A Dharma Artifact was a spellcasting object refined over time from suitable materials and suitable restrictions. It was powerful and convenient to use, making it the most favored kind of item among cultivators. Naturally, it was also exceptionally precious. Dharma Artifacts were divided into four levels: Dharma Artifacts, Spirit Artifacts, Dharma Treasures, and Spirit Treasures. Dharma Artifacts were refined using corresponding Earthly Fiend Restrictions. Once the Earthly Fiend Restrictions of a Dharma Artifact were perfected and merged into a Heavenly Dipper Restriction, it advanced into a Spirit Artifact, at which point one could continue refining Heavenly Dipper Restrictions. The restrictions of Dharma Treasures and Spirit Treasures were respectively called Treasure Restrictions and Spirit Restrictions. Overall, Dharma Artifacts and Spirit Artifacts were items of the Qi Refining stage, while Dharma Treasures and Spirit Treasures were items of the Nascent Soul Stage.
After inspecting the old daoist's relics, Shi Xuan tucked the scripture close to his body. He placed the talismans in hidden pockets at his belt and within his sleeves for easy access. Only the mirror went into his bundle. He had neither other suitable materials nor the methods to refine it, so drooling over a Dharma Artifact was useless.
Shi Xuan rested briefly, and then the time for the medicine to finish simmering arrived.
Before you continue