Primordial Spirit Spring

"Yunxiaozi, the Peak Master of our sect's Carefree Peak, is an old friend of your mother's. Would you be willing to become his disciple?"

Feng Zhuo froze. In his previous life, he had never heard his mother mention that she knew the Peak Master of Carefree Peak.

Seeing Feng Zhuo remain silent, Lingxiaozi assumed he was unwilling.

Naturally, of the Supreme One Divine Sect's six main peaks, who wouldn't seek out a powerful master when looking for one?

But Feng Zhuo's Spirit Root and spirit body were unusual.

Most cultivators like him went to the Great Void Five Elements Sect, or, failing that, the Purple Yang Pill Sect. Few sought a master in the Supreme One Divine Sect.

Sending Feng Zhuo to Carefree Peak was, at best, a middling option.

It was only because his junior brother had artifact cultivators and body cultivators among his disciples, in addition to sword cultivators, that taking on a pill cultivator or spell cultivator would be perfectly natural.

Lingxiaozi wasn't worried that Yunxiaozi couldn't teach him. Even gravely injured and left with less than a tenth of his cultivation, an Integrated Body Realm Cultivator was still a mighty True Venerable!

If not for that incident a thousand years ago, even Lingxiaozi would have had to step aside before his junior brother's edge.

But it wasn't appropriate to tell Feng Zhuo that.

"How about adding one drop of Primordial Spirit Spring every year to your personal disciple's allowance?"

Since Feng Zhuo was unwilling, Lingxiaozi could only sweeten the deal.

As for placing Feng Zhuo in the inner sect or letting him leave, neither was remotely acceptable.

How would the former build goodwill with the Feng Household? That would be asking for a grudge.

And the latter?

Who would complain of having too many geniuses among their disciples and push one away instead?

"Still unwilling?"

Seeing that Feng Zhuo hadn't spoken, Lingxiaozi asked, "Is it because you don't know what Primordial Spirit Spring is?"

Feng Zhuo simply nodded.

In truth, he was only a little surprised.

Not only had he gotten his wish so easily and joined the Carefree Peak he had longed for,

but Lingxiaozi was also so kind to him and had even offered him a benefit unprompted.

And the Primordial Spirit Spring?

Feng Zhuo knew what it was.

As Peak Master of Pill Peak, Primordial Lord Chixiao received three drops of Primordial Spirit Spring in his monthly allowance.

At Chixiao's level of cultivation, the Primordial Spirit Spring was of little use to him, so he gave it to his personal disciples as a reward for making progress in the pill arts.

Su Ruanruan received the most, almost always getting one or two drops a month, while Feng Zhuo had never seen any.

In his previous life, Feng Zhuo had wondered whether his progress in the pill arts had been too steady, with improvements almost every month, which was why his master never rewarded him.

Only after his death did he learn from the storybook that the Primordial Spirit Spring's greatest use was to cleanse a cultivator's tendons and marrow. It wasn't that Chixiao had been unwilling to give him any; Su Ruanruan had simply interfered.

The grains cultivators ate every day and the commonly used pills that were not of the highest grade would all leave a certain amount of impurities in the body, hindering their cultivation progress.

At such times, they needed to take Marrow-Cleansing Pills to wash away the impurities. But Marrow-Cleansing Pills were only second-tier pills and ceased to be effective once a cultivator reached the Golden Core Realm.

Although cultivators could practice Grain Avoidance after Foundation Establishment, no one could guarantee that every pill they took thereafter would be of the highest grade.

Primordial Spirit Spring, however, was a marrow-cleansing spiritual substance suitable for cultivators of every realm.

Its uses were even broader.

Not only could it replace Marrow-Cleansing Pills, but the spiritual power contained within the Primordial Spirit Spring itself was also immensely beneficial to the cultivation of low-level cultivators.

In the storybook, Su Ruanruan had experienced the enormous benefits of Primordial Spirit Spring for herself, so naturally she was unwilling to let anyone else take a share of her fortuitous opportunity.

Especially Feng Zhuo, who had a Heavenly Wood Spirit Root, a Wood Spirit Body, and a contracted Divergent Flame.

Su Ruanruan wished for nothing more than for Feng Zhuo to make no progress in his cultivation. How could she possibly want him to receive the spirit spring?

So Su Ruanruan played the victim before Chixiao several times, telling him that even though she took the spirit spring every month, her cultivation progress was still slower than Feng Zhuo's. She also showed just the right amount of insecurity, and Chixiao gave up the idea of giving Feng Zhuo any spirit spring.

Meanwhile, Lingxiaozi began explaining the uses of Primordial Spirit Spring.

Besides cleansing the impurities from a cultivator's body, a single drop was equivalent to a second-tier spiritual substance that a Qi Refinement cultivator could consume directly. But the Primordial Spirit Spring's greatest use was actually improving Divine Sense.

"Divine Sense?!"

Feng Zhuo hadn't read in the storybook that Primordial Spirit Spring could improve Divine Sense as well.

No wonder Su Ruanruan's pill arts had clearly been inferior to his at first, yet her progress later had been far faster than his!

To an Alchemist, Divine Sense was even more important than cultivation.

If Su Ruanruan took Primordial Spirit Spring over a long period, even if a single drop brought only a limited improvement, the cumulative increase in her Divine Sense month after month would be considerable!

Realizing he had lost his composure, Feng Zhuo hurriedly bowed and apologized.

Lingxiaozi was good-natured and chuckled. "I know you Alchemists value Divine Sense. As a cultivator of the Feng Household with a Wood Spirit Root, even though your mother isn't a pill cultivator, you're certain to enter the Dao through pills."

"Well? With terms like these, why haven't you accepted yet?"

Lingxiaozi had no intention of pressuring him. As he spoke, he deliberately waggled his eyebrows at Feng Zhuo, looking utterly comical.

Feng Zhuo had been ready to agree all along, but...

"Senior Brother always says I'm a shameless rascal, but if you ask me, he's the one who shows no dignity for his age."

His voice reached them before he appeared.

Feng Zhuo turned and saw an old man with a white beard just like Lingxiaozi's walk in.

Lingxiaozi wasn't angry. Instead, he laughed. "Look, I knew that chill down my back meant someone was thinking of me."

"Hmph!" Ignoring Lingxiaozi, the old man walked straight up to Feng Zhuo. "Although Senior Brother never acts his age, the disciple he's found for me is quite good. He can be mentioned in the same breath as my youngest disciple."

"But Senior Brother really isn't being fair." The old Daoist raised a hand, signaling that Feng Zhuo needn't stand on ceremony. "The sect's practically overflowing with Primordial Spirit Spring, yet Senior Brother has the nerve to use it to recruit someone from the Feng Household."

"That would be fine, but he's so stingy about it. One drop a year? You may not be afraid of that woman Feng Qingge coming after you, but I am."

Why did he make his mother sound like an utterly unreasonable shrew?

Granted, his mother was rather overbearing, but she was in the Late Void Refinement Realm. Surely that was normal for her?

But the old man before him was Yunxiaozi, the Peak Master of Carefree Peak whose entire peak had died miserable deaths in the storybook?

Hadn't the sect master said he was an old friend of his mother's? Feng Zhuo had assumed they were of the same generation, so why was he so old?

Or was it because his cultivation had been damaged?

Feng Zhuo grumbled inwardly.

"You, honestly!"

After all, Lingxiaozi, his fellow disciple and senior brother, had watched Yunxiaozi grow up.

How could Lingxiaozi fail to understand that his junior brother was trying to secure benefits for his disciple?

Besides, although Lingxiaozi was a generation removed from Feng Qingge, he had a general idea of what she was like. She was certainly not the unreasonable woman his junior brother made her out to be.

Lingxiaozi was exasperated at his incorrigibility. "Three drops a year. Surely that's enough this time?"

Feng Zhuo wasn't even his disciple yet, and he was already siding with an outsider!

"Five drops. No room for negotiation."

Yunxiaozi's tone was firm.

Lingxiaozi thought for a moment, then agreed helplessly. "All right, all right, five drops. Five drops a year."

The sect owed his junior brother a great deal. Since it couldn't heal his injuries, it would be good to make it up to his junior brother's disciple a little more.

Satisfied, Yunxiaozi produced a full tea set in the blink of an eye and motioned for Feng Zhuo to serve tea to the Peak Masters. "Come, my good disciple, step forward and serve your senior martial uncles some tea."

He meant to collect gifts.

"Hmph!"

This time it was Lingxiaozi's turn to snort.

The other four Peak Masters couldn't leave even if they wanted to. They hadn't yet taken on the disciples they had their eyes on, and Yunxiaozi had gone and pulled this stunt.

The other five disciples watched the whole affair unfold, dumbfounded.

They had thought that after offending Primordial Lord Chixiao, Feng Zhuo was certain to come to a bad end.

Instead, the sect master had spoken kindly to Feng Zhuo and sent him to another peak to become its Peak Master's personal disciple.

Afraid he wouldn't agree, he had even offered him better terms.

He had even offered him something called Primordial Spirit Spring, which they had never heard of, and now Feng Zhuo was already paying his respects.

If they said they weren't envious, even they wouldn't believe it.

For all his snorting, Lingxiaozi was still generous, giving Feng Zhuo twenty drops of Primordial Spirit Spring.

Seeing this, Yunxiaozi rolled his eyes, thinking no one noticed.

But he also knew that sword cultivators poured all their wealth into their bonded swords.

And since Feng Zhuo liked it, he said nothing more.

The other four Peak Masters weren't about to be stingy in front of the younger generation, and each tossed Feng Zhuo a Storage Bag.

Though curious, Feng Zhuo didn't look inside them on the spot. He thanked each of them in turn, then looked at his newly acquired master.

Yunxiaozi thought his disciple wanted to leave and grinned, signaling that there was no hurry.

"Senior Brother, where's that old bastard Chixiao? I've finally managed to take on a disciple of extraordinary talent, and that old bastard hasn't even thought to give him anything."

Yunxiaozi looked like an old man himself, yet he called Chixiao, who looked like a young man, an old bastard. It sounded strange any way one heard it.

The five disciples other than Feng Zhuo kept their eyes on their noses and their noses on their hearts, looking up at the sky or down at the ground-anywhere but ahead-terrified that they would know too much and be silenced.

"Enough, enough!"

Lingxiaozi truly had to hand it to his junior brother. With so many disciples still present, couldn't he have waited until he was back on his peak with the door shut to say such things to his own disciple?

Outwardly, he continued to coax him gently. "I'll help you get Martial Nephew's gift later. Hurry and take Martial Nephew Feng back first."

Yunxiaozi was completely satisfied. "Come, disciple, let's go home."

Home?

Feng Zhuo stared at Yunxiaozi, stunned. His mind, which had been working beyond its limits since his rebirth, finally came to a stop.

Exhaustion swept over his entire body. Feng Zhuo's vision went black, and he pitched forward into Yunxiaozi's arms.

Just before he lost consciousness, he faintly heard, "Thank goodness, he's only tired. If anything really happened to that savage girl Feng Qingge's son while he was with me, she'd skin me alive!"