An invitation

When the trading ended, Ke Huai stood up. "It's rare indeed for every fellow Daoist to come away with something from a gathering like this."

"If the opportunity arises, let's meet again for another trade."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, they began leaving.

"Fellow Daoist Wu, Fellow Daoist Rong, this trading session went more smoothly than expected. There are still about two hours left on this private room. If you don't mind, you can stay here and speak at length with Fellow Daoist Tong."

With a word of farewell, Ke Huai left on his own. "May we meet again if fate allows."

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Ke..."

Song Yan stayed behind. Trading those things for three bottles of Yellow Sprout Pills had earned him an enormous profit. Since it was only a matter of chatting for a while, he was naturally willing to do them this favor.

"Why did you two ask to speak with me in private?"

Wu Huaguo was an ordinary-looking female cultivator, without Lin Xiaoyu's alluring manner or flowing, ethereal attire.

She looked at Song Yan, her face filled with a resolve weathered by the hardships of the cultivation world. "Fellow Daoist Tong, you mentioned wanting information about Supreme Spiritual Objects earlier. To tell you the truth... my husband and I do know something about them."

"Oh?"

Song Yan's eyes lit up, and he listened attentively.

The couple told him their story.

As it turned out, the last time they attended the Spirit Source Marsh Night Market, they had happened upon information about the cave abode of a Foundation Establishment Realm rogue cultivator.

That rogue cultivator had risen from humble beginnings. Though his spiritual root aptitude was abysmal, he possessed extraordinary talent for spells. With the addition of some fortunate encounters, he had eventually managed to cultivate to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

In the Chu Kingdom, a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator could already be addressed as a senior, or a True Person.

Even within the six great sects, those at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage were pillars of support and core fighting strength.

Sadly, that senior had ultimately been held back by his aptitude and passed away in meditation within his cave.

Rumor had it that, because he practiced spells, the cultivator had enjoyed collecting all manner of spell manuals during his lifetime. Thus, the cultivators who knew about this planned to join forces and explore the place.

Supposedly, a formation protected the cave abode. It would take at least ten cultivators at the Middle Qi Refining Stage or above working together to slowly break it with spiritual power, which was why they had approached the couple.

"The cultivator who approached us said that the senior's lightning and fire spells had swept unrivaled through his peers. Based on that, there might be lightning- or fire-element Supreme Spiritual Objects in his cave abode."

"But we didn't entirely believe what he said, so we didn't make any definite claims to trade with at the gathering."

"We aren't familiar with them, so we claimed at the time that we wanted to invite a relatively powerful friend. They agreed..."

"Would you be willing to come with us, Fellow Daoist Tong, for the sake of the Yellow Sprout Pills...?"

"You two are acquainted with Fellow Daoist Ke and the others from earlier. Why not invite them instead of a stranger like me?"

Wu Huaguo shook her head. "I don't trust Lin Xiaoyu or Ke Huai. Zhou Jiasheng is straightforward enough, but he's close to Ke Huai. We dare not take the risk."

"You're different, Fellow Daoist Tong. Your status as an Outer Sect Disciple of the Dongyuan Sect alone is reason enough for us to invite you. And killing a devil cultivator and destroying the pill formula speak to your character."

"What if what I said was false?" Song Yan asked.

"No."

"You certainly weren't lying about that, Fellow Daoist Tong."

Wu Huaguo smiled freely.

"From the moment Ke Huai called out to you until now, you've told only one lie."

"Tong Chuping isn't your real name."

"..."

Song Yan fell silent. What the hell kind of secret Dao Hand Seal or treasure is this, something else I've never heard of?

It can actually tell whether someone's speaking the truth or lying!

"All right. When?"

"There's no hurry, fellow Daoist. It's set for a year and a half from now."

"That long?"

It was true that cultivators generally spent long periods in secluded cultivation, but these people were all at the Qi Refining Stage. What need did they have for such lengthy seclusion?

Still, that was fine. He was about to leave on a joint sect mission anyway.

More time would let him improve his strength further and give him a little more confidence in his ability to protect himself.

"We're simply waiting for that person to notify us of the meeting time and arrangements."

Song Yan nodded.

After the three discussed the matter in detail for a while, Song Yan rose and left.

By then, the lights at Spirit Source Marsh were sparse, and the night market was gradually dispersing.

Having traded away his goods, Song Yan had no reason to stay any longer and headed straight back to his Outer Sect Disciple cave abode.

Three bottles of Yellow Sprout Pills sat before Song Yan. This might have been the wealthiest he had ever been.

According to his original plan, he would first sell one bottle of Yellow Sprout Pills to make up for the Spirit Stones he had spent on this trip to the night market.

But on second thought, there was less than a month before he left on his mission. Why expend more time and effort refining Qi-Nourishing Pills?

He might as well improve himself in every respect.

"It really is difficult to make a breakthrough in spiritual power cultivation in such a short time..."

Song Yan decided that over the next few days, aside from his basic spiritual power cultivation, his daily practice would focus on cultivating his Divine Sense.

Though the Five-Star Pulse-Seizing Mnemonic had no continuation, it was, in fact, a method for training Divine Sense. Thus, continued practice could still strengthen his Divine Sense, albeit slowly.

Finally, there was the method for "condensing Sword Essence" mentioned in the Sword-Planting Technique.

Song Yan carefully took out a Yellow Sprout Pill. It was pale yellow, with a delicate medicinal fragrance.

Once the pill entered his stomach, a stream of pure spiritual power flowed through his limbs and bones.

The Dongyuan Immortal Sect's seven main peaks encircled the great Spirit Source Great Marsh, with three mountains to the south and four peaks to the north.

Lianyou Peak accepted only female disciples.

"Oh? Qingqing, Xiaoyun, what are you doing?"

As inner disciple Liu Yuechan passed Lotus Blossom Terrace, she caught sight of two young girls in the outer pavilion, furtively holding a small booklet and whispering to each other from time to time.

"Senior Sister Liu, Qingqing is going on that joint sect mission thing in a few days."

A petite girl sat barefoot in a peach tree beside the outer pavilion, snickering mischievously as she swung her fair feet.

"It's her first time leaving the sect. They're looking up the male cultivators going with her to find Qingqing a sweetheart!"

"Zhaozhao, what nonsense are you talking about!"

The two female cultivators below immediately blushed and ran beneath the peach tree to shake its branches together.

They seemed very displeased with this "traitor" who had sold them out.

The girl in the peach tree was named Xiang Zhaoling. When she joined the sect, her exceptional natural talent-a single fire spiritual root-had earned her direct admission to the inner sect to cultivate.

A single spiritual root was commonly known as a heavenly spiritual root.

It had caused quite a stir at the time. Several other great sects had made roundabout inquiries to learn more.

"Hey... hey... I was wrong... I was wrong... stop shaking it! Any more and I'll get dizzy!"

"Oh?"

Liu Yuechan grew interested. "Let me have a look..."

"Which fellow disciples are lucky enough to go sightseeing with our Qingqing?"

"Lu Ziye..."

At the very first name, Liu Yuechan frowned.

"What's wrong, Senior Sister Liu?"

"Ah... nothing. This Senior Brother Lu..."

"He's rather... rather... amusing."

"If he says anything that upsets you, tell me when you come back. I'll give him a beating."

"All right."

"Shao Sichao... joined the sect a little over two years ago, Qi Refining Sixth Layer. Passable, I suppose."

In truth, Liu Yuechan had barely heard of most of these Outer Sect Disciples.

"Song Yan..."

"Joined the sect a year and seven months ago, Qi Refining, fifth layer. His aptitude is a little lacking."

He does look rather handsome and refined... hmm?

A puzzled look suddenly appeared on Liu Yuechan's face.

"That name sounds a little familiar..."

Am I remembering wrong?

She seemed to have heard Senior Sister Qin of the inner sect mention it.

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