Courtesy
Several months later.
"Hahaha... I did it..."
Laughing heartily, Fang Yu held a yellow-grade flying sword, the Flowing Flame True Fire Sword, horizontally before his eyes. The sword was dark red from end to end, covered in mottled flame patterns. As true fire flowed through it, it gave off a spiritual glow.
With a gentle wave of his hand, two more identical Flowing Flame True Fire Swords flew out of his storage gourd and floated before him.
After repeated attempts and trial and error, he had successfully forged three flying swords from six sets of materials, wasting three sets. After that, every attempt had succeeded on the first try.
Fang Yu felt that his skill in forging the Flowing Flame True Fire Sword should now be good enough to guarantee a hundred percent success rate.
And all of that was thanks to his Flowing Flame True Fire, which had been purified by the Yuanchen Pearl.
"Of these three Flowing Flame True Fire Swords, I'll give two to Tie Chanyi in exchange for next year's six sets of materials. The remaining one is my own profit. Only a few months of this year have passed, so there's no rush to deliver them. I can go explore Great Scarlet Heaven first."
Putting away the three flying swords, Fang Yu returned to the quiet chamber.
He reached out to the Yuanchen Pearl with his spiritual sense, and his presence immediately changed.
His entire Qi Ingestion Seventh Layer cultivation transformed into Primordial Qi and hid within the Yuanchen Pearl. A wisp of Primordial Qi then turned into Evergreen Law Power and entered his Dantian's Qi sea, instantly turning him into a Great Scarlet Heaven cultivator at Qi Refining First Layer Great Perfection. The next moment, he vanished.
Medicine King Ridge. Cloud Mist Cave.
Stalagmites hung from the roof of the cave, which had been scorched by the fire cloud, and the walls were mottled with cooled lava. It looked as though no one had entered, but a bird's nest had appeared at the entrance.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp..."
Fang Yu looked at the fledglings in the nest, a faint smile appearing on his lips.
The cultivator who had ambushed him appeared to have had no companions, and no one had come looking. With that, he could rest easy.
With a thought, a streak of green light flew from the Storage Bag at his waist and transformed into a small, light boat beneath his feet. It carried him into the air, heading toward the East Spirit Mountain Market.
This flying Law Artifact was quite good. It was hardly any slower than Cloud Soaring, though it fell a little short in immortal style, lacking the immortal air of soaring on clouds and riding the mists.
When he reached the vicinity of the East Spirit Mountain Market, Fang Yu descended and followed the mountain range until he came to a peak outside the market entrance.
"I'll observe from the shadows for a while first. Once I'm sure there's nothing wrong, I'll go in and take a look!"
After all, this was his first visit to a market in Great Scarlet Heaven. It was better to be cautious.
Fang Yu spent five or six days observing. During that time, he saw quite a few cultivators riding Green Leaf Boats in the vicinity, as well as some flying directly on streaks of escape light.
After another five or six days, Fang Yu was sure that this was indeed a market where local cultivators gathered. Only then did he ride the Green Leaf Boat toward it.
Near the entrance stood a massive ceremonial archway bearing the words "East Spirit Mountain Market." It also gave off a faint fluctuation of spiritual power.
Fang Yu landed in front of the archway, put away the Green Leaf Boat, and walked forward. As he passed beneath it, he felt himself cross a barrier. The view suddenly opened up before him, revealing stretches of spiritual fields.
The cultivators here actually farm too!
Although the Flaming Mountain spiritual grounds of the Metal Stone Immortal Sect were filled with fiery heat, they too had vast stretches of spiritual fields where fire-resistant spiritual rice could be grown.
His gaze swept over several cultivators casting spells to rain water on the rice paddies in the spiritual grounds, before his attention was drawn to the concentration of Spiritual Qi here.
The Spiritual Qi here is actually as dense as in the Metal Stone Immortal Sect's secret grounds!
Fang Yu followed the ridges between the fields toward the market on the mountain. The closer he came, the denser the Spiritual Qi became. By the time he stepped onto the market's bluestone road, its concentration far surpassed that of the Metal Stone Immortal Sect's secret grounds.
Fang Yu's breathing gradually quickened, and a faint regret rose in his heart.
If he had known that the Spiritual Qi in the market was comparable to that of the secret grounds, why would he have dug out a cave abode in Medicine King Ridge? He had truly wasted more than ten years.
If he had spent those years cultivating in a market with such abundant Spiritual Qi, he would probably have reached Qi Ingestion Seventh Layer long ago.
"Come take a look! First-Tier Inferior-Grade Law Artifacts, just 100 Spirit Stones!"
"Attention, fellow body cultivators! Fresh first-tier Demon Beast meat, going cheap!"
"Hundred-year-old wild mountain ginseng, just ten Spirit Stones..."
"..."
As Fang Yu entered the market, cries from vendors rang out from time to time. His gaze swept over the roadside stalls, which resembled a flea market, and he pricked up his ears, watching and listening as he quietly gathered all kinds of information about the market.
After making several rounds, he had gained a fairly good understanding of the market.
No formalities were needed to set up a stall in the East Spirit Mountain Market; anyone could find an empty spot and start selling. Stalls only had to be packed up after nine at night.
Anyone who rented a cave abode in the market or worked as one of its spiritual farmers could stay overnight. Otherwise, they had to leave before then, or the market's enforcement team would drive them out.
The cheapest grade-C cave abode here cost twelve Spirit Stones a year to rent. Cave abodes with more abundant Spiritual Qi cost even more; for example, the grade-A cave abode closest to the first-tier Spirit Vein cost over a hundred Spirit Stones a year.
Those without so many Spirit Stones could also apply to become spiritual farmers for the market. As long as they planted twenty mu of spiritual fields, they could earn the right to live in a grade-C cave abode.
"Sure enough, no matter what world you're in, you can't escape a cave abode mortgage!"
Fang Yu sighed, counted the seven Spirit Stones in his Storage Bag, and looked at a superior-grade Law Artifact on a roadside stall.
"May I ask how much this Law Artifact costs, fellow cultivator? May I feel it?"
The stallholder glanced at Fang Yu and waved him away dismissively. "A mere Qi Refining First Layer cultivator wants to buy a superior-grade Law Artifact? Can you afford it? Get lost!"
The smile froze on Fang Yu's face. Feeling the powerful presence of the Qi Refining Middle Stage cultivator, he walked away without a word.
"These local cultivators are far too rude."
He had wanted to handle the First-Tier Superior-Grade Law Artifact to personally confirm how much of a gap there was between it and the yellow-grade Flowing Flame True Fire Sword he had forged, and whether he could sell his spare sword for Spirit Stones to rent a cave abode here.
Although he had already reached Qi Ingestion Seventh Layer and no longer needed to cultivate a Qi Ingestion Cultivation Method, he still needed to cultivate the Everlasting Spring Technique to raise the upper limit of his Qi Refining Cultivation Method. Only then could he better blend into Great Scarlet Heaven's world of immortal cultivation.
Who would have thought the local cultivators would be so rude and look down on others so much? A dog's eyes truly looked down on people!
He immediately lost interest in browsing, turned, and headed out of the market.
Several hours later, the sky grew dark. Cultivators left through the entrance from time to time, heading off in every direction and vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
There he is!
From behind a mountain peak, Fang Yu watched the stallholder who had looked down on him earlier come out. He immediately mounted the Green Leaf Boat and gave chase.
The stallholder sped along, flying over thirty li in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, he stopped in midair, turned to look behind him, and shouted angrily:
"Who dares follow me... It's you... Ah... a great cultivator at Qi Refining Late Stage..."
The stallholder's face drained of color. The next moment, he spat out a mouthful of Essence Blood and transformed into a streak of blood-red escape light that shot into the distance. He was so fast that he became a red speck in the space of a breath.
Just as the red speck was about to disappear, a red line stretched toward it from behind. It looked slow, but was actually incredibly fast. Like a red snake, it swallowed the speck in one bite.
Fang Yu's figure appeared, the Flowing Flame True Fire Sword in his hand. He grabbed the stallholder's corpse and headed toward Medicine King Ridge, vanishing over the horizon in the blink of an eye.