Deeply Gratified

Why were there Low-Grade Spirit Stones here? Was there only one by chance, or would there be more? Yu Zhi's heart pounded at the thought, fluttering with the anticipation of someone about to win a grand prize. Forgetting everything else, he sent spiritual power flying from his hands and dug through the Corpse-Scented Konjac barehanded, even yanking its enormous buried rhizomes out of the soil.

Zhang Qiling watched the man who had suddenly begun digging like mad and raised an eyebrow. Had he found some treasure? Curious, he walked over.

"What is it?" Zhang Qiling asked.

"Spirit Stones! Treasure, real treasure! Come help dig!" Yu Zhi kept working without looking back.

"I knew there had to be more. Found another one." Yu Zhi wiped the Spirit Stone he had dug up on his clothes.

"What's a Spirit Stone?" Zhang Qiling was very curious now. From the name, it sounded like a treasure.

"Here, this is one. It's the common currency of the cultivation world. You can buy things with it, and you can cultivate with it too. Paired with the right formation, your cultivation speed takes off. If you run out of spiritual power in a crisis, you can absorb it directly. It's like having a second life. Wouldn't you call it a treasure?" Yu Zhi explained as he held up the Spirit Stone for Zhang Qiling to see.

Zhang Qiling looked at the white Spirit Stone shimmering with every color of the rainbow and sensed the powerful spiritual energy contained within. It really was a good thing. He promptly joined the digging, and the two searched so thoroughly they might as well have plowed two li of ground. Fortunately, their efforts paid off: they found five Low-Grade Spirit Stones, a considerable haul. At their current cultivation levels, one Low-Grade Spirit Stone could be used about ten times.

Yu Zhi put the Spirit Stones into his space, only then noticing the filth and stench on the two of them. He threw up with a loud retch, then dashed away in a flash, using the Water Control Technique a dozen or so times to clean himself. He had to admit, it was the fastest he had ever cast it.

Zhang Qiling stared at him, speechless. He had been digging so hard just now, and only noticed? Was his reaction time a little too long? Zhang Qiling then used the Water Control Technique to clean himself, though he was still rather clumsy with it. Yet he wondered if he was imagining things. Why did water-related techniques feel smoother to use than fire techniques? He could use some wood techniques too, but they required more spiritual power and were more strenuous. Using techniques that matched one's spiritual root gave twice the result for half the effort.

"Don't run so fast. You don't know the way," Zhang Qiling shouted.

The sudden call in that cool, magnetic voice caught Yu Zhi off guard, leaving his ears tingling. Sometimes he really was speechless with himself. He had been hard-controlled for another second. Or could it be that Zhang Qiling actually cultivated some kind of charm technique? If they ever fought, he would be utterly done for. It seemed he would have to get Zhang Qiling to talk to him more in the future, so he could get used to it as soon as possible.

At that moment, Yu Zhi had no idea how foolish that thought was. He had handed over his weakness just like that, and every time he was hard-controlled and pinned to the bed, he wanted to cover his face.

Yu Zhi stopped and watched Zhang Qiling approach. "Big brother, should we go to your home for the saber first, or keep looking around the mountains?"

"It won't delay us," Zhang Qiling said mildly, his breathing steady.

"All right. You really are economical with words. What if I don't understand you?" Yu Zhi teased him deliberately.

This time, Zhang Qiling did not even answer. His expression did not change either; he simply turned and walked away.

"Tch, no fun!" Yu Zhi curled his lip and followed him.

On their way to the Zhang Family Ancient Tower, the two carefully sensed their surroundings, checking out any place with strong fluctuations of wood-element power or abundant spiritual energy.

But it seemed their good luck had run out. Or perhaps that Corpse-Scented Konjac was a plant favored by heaven in the plant kingdom? In any case, the two found nothing else useful.

"We're here," Zhang Qiling said.

Yu Zhi looked at the mysterious lake before him. It stretched beyond sight, its surface calm and a deep blue-black that felt oppressive just to look at. "Here? Don't we need to find the key first?"

"No need. I am the key," Zhang Qiling answered coldly. He remembered the Mount Siguniang operation and the five years he had spent imprisoned as a subject of human experimentation.

"No need? Then what was the Mount Siguniang operation for? Damn, Zhang Qiling, you're no fool!" Yu Zhi stared at him wide-eyed as he realized that if no key was needed, Zhang Qiling could enter the ancient tower whenever he wanted.

Then, then, then... Zhang Qiling had black sesame filling inside too. Why did that make him feel a little gratified?

"I didn't expect to lose my memory at that time," Zhang Qiling explained.

"Uh, then I can only say you had bad luck. You're not heaven's chosen one!" Yu Zhi let nonsense run out of his mouth like a train, regardless of whether Zhang Qiling understood him.

"Wait here. It's very dangerous inside. Only the Zhang family patriarch with Qilin Blood can enter. If you went in now, you'd definitely die in there," Zhang Qiling said bluntly, looking at Yu Zhi, a complete novice at tomb raiding.

"I may not understand mechanisms, but I have spiritual power and my space to protect myself." Yu Zhi knew the ancient tower was dangerous, but he was a cultivator. He did not believe a mechanism made by someone in ancient times could break his techniques.

"There are layers of mechanisms inside, intricate and complex, each linked to the next. There's sulfuric acid, poison gas, illusion formations, and Miluotuo. I can't guarantee your safety." Zhang Qiling looked Yu Zhi in the eyes, his expression grave.

"All right, I'll wait outside. Come out once you have the saber." Yu Zhi compromised, then asked, "If you're only getting the saber, roughly how long will you be?"

"I'll definitely be out by this time tomorrow. Take out the equipment." Zhang Qiling quickly sorted through the supplies, put on his diving gear, and picked up his backpack, ready to leap into the water.

Yu Zhi suddenly caught him by the arm. Zhang Qiling looked at him in confusion, silently asking what was wrong.

"If you're not out by this time tomorrow, I'm going in to find you. The two of us live and die together, and I don't want to die," Yu Zhi said.

"Mm." No sooner had he spoken than a splash sounded as he entered the water.

"Damn, he's fast!" This was the first time the two had been apart in over a year. Perhaps Yu Zhi had a bit of a fledgling complex and wanted to linger with Zhang Qiling for a moment, but the man had simply turned and gone.

Yu Zhi sat on the shore waiting for Zhang Qiling. Confident in his skills, he did not even pitch a tent. He planned to find a large tree with a view of the lake in a while, climb up to rest, and meditate and cultivate while he was at it. As he looked at the lake, his thoughts wandered this way and that. Then another thought struck him: that was strange. Outsiders were not allowed into the Zhang Family Ancient Tower, so how had Hei Xiazi gotten the Black Gold Ancient Saber out?

Never mind. He could not figure it out no matter how he thought about it. He could only say that Hei Xiazi had a few tricks up his sleeve too? Someone who could be called "the blind man of the south" alongside Zhang Qiling, "the mute of the north," surely had some ability.

Bored with waiting, he took the opportunity to get on with his cultivation. Wood-element spiritual energy was abundant here, and he also needed to think about the direction of his future cultivation. The cultivation methods and techniques he had were limited, and he knew only the bare basics of artifact and pill refinement. A wood spiritual root was not as well suited to refining pills and artifacts as a fire spiritual root, so he could let Zhang Qiling give it a try when the time came.

As he thought, he sighed without realizing it. His pockets were cleaner than his face right now: he had only five Low-Grade Spirit Stones, and he had to give Zhang Qiling half. That left him with just two and a half, nowhere near enough. He did not know whether there were any elsewhere in this world, either. Magic and technology really did coexist here; it still felt a little disjointed.

Meanwhile, Zhang Qiling quickly dove to the bottom of the lake and saw the buildings he remembered. This was not his first visit. Originally, half of the Zhang Family Ancient Tower had stood aboveground and half within the mountain. Later, as time passed, the ancient tower had sunk underground, and water had gradually gathered to form a vast lake, submerging the tower beneath it.