The Three Heroes

Three months later.

"...Pickaxes... superior-grade Law Artifact pickaxes... only two thousand Spirit Stones apiece..."

"...Pickaxes made especially for mining, capable of greatly improving your mining efficiency..."

"Limited stock, only ten available! Hurry and buy one..."

At a roadside stall in the market, Fang Yu shouted his wares. After only a few cries, he had attracted a crowd of professional miners.

"These are superior-grade Law Artifacts made especially for mining?"

"May I try one?"

"Hmm, this pickaxe really is quite good. It certainly suits mining!"

"Could you lower the price a little? Two thousand Spirit Stones is a bit too expensive!"

"..."

"How is it expensive? I've sold dozens of them in the market, always at this price. Fellow Daoist, you only need to take it down a mine once to earn your money back..."

Fang Yu sat at his stall, dealing with the miners one after another. He had only one attitude toward those who tried to haggle:

Buy it or leave it.

After all, the one thing Autumn Moon Mountain Market never lacked was professional miners.

Several hours later, Fang Yu sold the last pickaxe. He immediately packed up his stall and slipped into the crowd, turning this way and that. After changing his build and appearance, he made sure no one was following him.

Only then did he enter a roadside teahouse called "Listening Wind."

He swept his gaze across the main hall and went straight to the counter, where a woman shopkeeper sat reading. "Shopkeeper, I hear I can ask about anything here. Is that true?"

"Of course it is!" The woman shopkeeper, dressed in palace attire, put down her book and looked at Fang Yu. "What would you like to ask about, honored guest?"

Fang Yu said in a low voice, "A few days ago, I read about a secret art in a travelogue that could peer into heavenly secrets and know everything. It was called the Heavenly Secrets Technique. Do you have a Cultivation Method or secret art for divining heavenly secrets here?"

The woman shopkeeper laughed. "You must be joking, honored guest. How could such a wondrous art exist in this world? The author simply made it up."

"None? Something similar would do," Fang Yu pressed.

The woman shopkeeper shook her head. "Our Listening Wind Pavilion has a Golden Core Ancestor holding the fort and eyes and ears throughout the world, yet even we have never heard of such a wondrous art. If it really existed, what need would there be for informants and hidden agents?"

"Really none?" Fang Yu refused to give up and asked again.

"Really none," the woman shopkeeper said firmly.

"Could everything written in the book be a lie?" Fang Yu murmured, then left the Listening Wind Pavilion.

Over the past few days, he had asked at all the major shops and bookstores in the market, but had found no information about a Cultivation Method for divining heavenly secrets. Today, he had gone to the Listening Wind Pavilion, which claimed to know everything, with only a last shred of hope.

It seems the Dao of Qi Refining in Great Scarlet Heaven really doesn't have a similar Cultivation Method. If I want to practice one for divining heavenly secrets, I'll have to look for it on the Dao of Qi Ingestion side. But I can't go out over there anytime soon, so I can only put this matter aside for now.

Lost in thought, he wandered his way to Spring Revival Hall, the largest pill shop in the market.

Spring Revival Hall was spacious inside, with all kinds of medicine cabinets. Upon entering, one could smell a faint medicinal fragrance that left one refreshed just by breathing it in.

This was not Fang Yu's first visit. He went straight to the counter and took out the twenty thousand Spirit Stones he had just earned. "Twenty Qi Gathering Pills!"

"One moment, honored guest. I'll fetch them for you right away!" The shopkeeper smiled and put away the Spirit Stones.

A short while later, Fang Yu left the shop. Sensing the Qi Gathering Pills in his Storage Bag, each of which had cost a thousand Spirit Stones,

he grumbled, "When it comes to making money, you've got to hand it to the medicine sellers!"

Although the pickaxes he crafted cost him nothing in materials, they still took him several days to make. At two thousand Spirit Stones apiece, it looked as though he made a great deal.

But before he could turn around, the medicine sellers earned it all from him.

For no other reason than that his Spirit Root was too poor. After he advanced to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, his inferior-grade Spirit Root left his cultivation almost completely at a standstill. Only by popping pills could he make any progress.

Fang Yu wandered around the crowded plazas in the market and changed his face and presence before returning to his cave abode.

Once in the secret chamber, he took out a Qi Gathering Pill and tossed it into his mouth.

The faintly sweet pill melted as soon as it entered his mouth. A warm current then rose in his abdomen and spread throughout his body.

Fang Yu took a Spirit Stone in his hand, closed his eyes, and cultivated.

The days passed one by one, and Fang Yu's life became extremely regular.

On the Dao of Qi Ingestion side, he studied, practiced, and delved into the Notes on Heavenly Craft. In his spare time, he crafted pickaxes to sell on the Dao of Qi Refining side.

He was not greedy, selling only ten each month. The Spirit Stones he earned were just enough to meet his daily cultivation needs.

In the blink of an eye, more than two years passed.

One day, he came to Autumn Moon Mountain Market as usual, planning to find a place to set up a stall and sell his pickaxes.

"Pickaxes... pickaxes... only one thousand Spirit Stones!"

Fang Yu's ears twitched. He followed the voice to a stall, where he saw a Qi Refining Middle Stage cultivator selling pickaxes.

Judging by their appearance alone, the dozen or so pickaxes laid out on the stall were identical to the ones he sold.

Another imitator selling pickaxes!

A faint smile touched Fang Yu's lips. He shook his head and continued looking for a suitable vacant spot.

Ever since he had started selling pickaxes, copycats had quickly appeared in the market, selling first-tier inferior-grade, first-tier middle-grade, first-tier superior-grade, and even first-tier supreme-grade ones.

They came in every grade, with all sorts of prices and wildly varying quality, throwing the market into a smoky mess.

Still, it had not affected him much. Whenever he set up his stall, he could always sell out quickly.

Before long, he found an empty spot and put out his sign, which read, "Pickaxes: two thousand Spirit Stones each."

The next moment, miners crowded around him.

"That's Master He's sign!"

"One for me!"

"I want two!"

"Master, here are my Spirit Stones!"

In just a few moments, the ten pickaxes Fang Yu had brought out were snapped up.

He packed up his stall and, as on previous days, strolled around while changing his appearance, clothes, and Law Power signature.

After making several rounds, he was just about to head to Spring Revival Hall to buy medicine when a thought stirred in his mind:

That presence has appeared near me three times. Is someone following me?

Fang Yu kept his face impassive, walked past the entrance to Spring Revival Hall, then mounted his movement light and headed out of the market.

His movement light was not very fast at the moment, proceeding at a leisurely pace. Even after he left the market, he no longer sensed the presence that had been following him.

Could I be too sensitive? Was that presence appearing repeatedly just a coincidence?

Fang Yu thought to himself and decided it would be best to leave for a while. He immediately picked up speed, turning into a red streak as he sped away.

He crossed a hundred li in the blink of an eye. Just as Fang Yu was about to find a place to return to the Dao of Qi Ingestion side, three yellow streaks appeared on the horizon. In the span of a breath, they drew near and took positions on three sides of him, surrounding him.

Sensing the Qi Refining Ninth Layer presences of the three, Fang Yu showed shock and anger. "Who are you?"

"Hahaha!" One of them burst out laughing.

"We are the Three Heroes of the Wang Household. You're Master He, aren't you? To find you, we've waited bitterly for more than half a year. Today, we finally tracked you down. Be good and hand over the artifact-refining inheritance for the pickaxes, or don't blame us three brothers for being ruthless."

Fang Yu's face twitched. "I... I was already so careful. How... how did you find me?"

"What's so difficult about that?" Eldest Wang laughed and flipped his hand, revealing a black caterpillar in his palm.

"This is a Scent-Detecting Insect. It can remember a person's scent. No matter how you disguise yourself or change your appearance, it can easily find you."

"Such a spirit insect actually exists in this world!"

Fang Yu exclaimed.

He had changed his appearance, clothes, cultivation presence, and even his Law Power signature, but had forgotten to mask his own body odor. Even with a hundred precautions, one detail had slipped through.

The next moment, the Yuanchen Pearl in his sea of consciousness spun, and his cultivation transformed into a Molten Edge Flow Dao Foundation.

As he spread his palm, three streams of flame turned into red light and shot out.

"Master He, as long as you obediently hand over the pickaxe inheritance and come back with us to craft pickaxes, we can guarantee you'll be safe and sound..."

Eldest Wang looked at Fang Yu smugly as he spoke, teasing the long antennae of the insect in his palm.

Suddenly, the insect's antennae drooped, and its entire body curled into a ball.

A terrifying presence emerged. Eldest Wang's eyes flew wide, and he cried in utter terror:

"Foundation Establishment Ancestor..."

The thought of fleeing for his life had just entered his mind when he discovered that he and his two brothers had been enveloped in red light at some unknown point.

Their bodies melted like candles and turned to ash in just a few breaths, leaving only a few fragments of bone and three Storage Bags.

Fang Yu gently closed his hand, and the red light formed by the scorching streams of flame dissipated. With a light beckoning gesture, he collected the fragments of bone and the Storage Bags, then turned into a red streak and disappeared.