Heng Hua pointed a finger, and the Illusory Spirit Technique shaped three images in the air.
The one on the left resembled ginseng, with a purple stalk and nine golden stripes across its surface.
The middle one was an ink-wash painting: a small herb grew atop an osmanthus tree.
The one on the left was a fist-sized lump of black flint wreathed in flames.
The same heavenly treasure could bear different names in different places; one could only inquire based on its outward characteristics.
Nie Xing studied the three images carefully. After pondering for a long while, his face remained utterly baffled.
Turning his gaze to Liu Xu, he asked, "Junior Brother, do you recognize them?"
Liu Xu thought for a moment. "Darkgold Ginseng is a spirit herb recorded in the Immortal Spirit Compendium, nearly an immortal herb. After cultivating for a thousand years, it can take human form and rival a Great Golden Core Adept.
"Heavenly Moon Grass... we call it 'Heavenmoon Spirit Fungus' in the Central Region. It is a spirit seed scattered into the mortal world by Taiyin, growing attached to osmanthus trees. Only after a thousand years does it become a spirit herb. Fellow Daoist, did you ask us because you thought our Divine Moon Sect possessed it?"
"That was indeed my thought."
"Heavenly Moon Grass ripens only once every thousand years. It is said that our founding patriarch once consumed Heavenmoon Spirit Fungus to break through the Golden Core Realm. But such an opportunity can only be encountered, never sought. Divine Moon Sect once tried cultivating it, but after several failures, we could only abandon the effort."
Heng Hua fell silent.
Liu Xu added, "As for the final Eternal Firestone, I have never heard of it. Fellow Daoist Fu, does it have any other characteristics?"
Heng Hua said, "I only know that the flames around this stone can burn for a thousand years without extinguishing. They should be yang-aspected fire."
Liu Xu pondered for a while longer, then shook his head and gave up.
"My apologies. I truly cannot remember."
"It's fine. Learning Heavenly Moon Grass's other name is already a gain."
The two martial brothers did not linger. After exchanging a few pleasantries, they took their leave.
Watching their retreating backs, Heng Hua sank into thought.
Xiang Feng hopped back onto the boat's roof. "What, do you find it strange? That they came to ask us for help of their own accord?"
Heng Hua shook his head. "The old master always says that one must be upright and honorable, and when traveling abroad, one should draw one's blade to aid those who encounter injustice. I know full well the reputation he has built up for us."
Unfortunately, Fu Henghua was not that sort of person.
Yet coming out to see for himself, and witnessing the Fu Family's standing in these cultivators' hearts, moved him deeply.
Fu Danwei had roamed the Dragonreach Waters for several centuries. The reputation he had amassed allowed fellow cultivators to naturally retain a measure of trust when facing Fu Family descendants.
That was truly precious in this cold and cruel world of cultivation.
Thousand-Coiled Silk lightly hooked, and before the half-box of Bright Moon Pearls in Xiang Feng's hand had even warmed up, Heng Hua had taken them away.
"Third Brother is quite generous. The consultation fee for my diagnosis was waived entirely?"
Xiang Feng said helplessly, "You aren't short on a few pearls. Why haggle with those two over them?"
When traveling abroad, they naturally had to pay even greater attention to the Fu Family's dignity.
"I am short on them. I'm desperately short of money right now."
Heng Hua examined the half-box of pearls.
Mm, there was no hidden true essence imprint. Those two brothers had not deliberately poisoned themselves and used a gift of money to scheme against the two of them.
Heng Hua had many tricks up his sleeve. Only after checking several times did he feel at ease, tossing the pearls back to Xiang Feng.
Xiang Feng waved his hand and passed them on to Xiaoyu beside him.
"Keep them. After all, it was your pill that did the work. But—since when did you know how to treat illnesses?"
"You can always learn a thing or two from reading at home."
Heng Hua sighed.
Why had he studied medicine in the first place, if not for the old man at home?
"Knowledge from books that cannot be put to use is merely tactics on paper. I had thought—you rarely leave the island, so you should know little about matters outside."
With merely a few glances, he had deduced the other party's poisoning and even the region they had traveled through.
Xiang Feng himself spent his days running about outside and risking his life, yet knew less than this boy did.
"If you have never seen a pig run, have you not at least eaten pork? The remedy for Peacock Fire is mentioned by predecessors in books. Without taking pills, you could also help him circulate his power for three days and force out the poison. But that would leave too many variables."
It was Heng Hua's first time traveling abroad, and his guard was exceptionally high. He simply did not trust cultivators outside.
"Right, those three medicinal ingredients you asked about just now?"
"The primary ingredients for refining the Essence-Urging Elixir."
Xiang Feng frowned deeply. "They sound like medicinal ingredients requiring a thousand years of growth. In this Netherworld Realm of ours, I'm afraid they will be hard to obtain, no? And this medicine of yours—is it a spirit pill?"
"A fourth-grade one, the kind that is nearly an immortal pill." Heng Hua said wistfully, "This is the formula Immortal-Retaining Elder gave me. This life-forcing medicine can restore Grandfather to his peak condition and increase his chance of Soul Formation by ten percent."
Ge Liu was Fu Danwei's close friend and a renowned alchemist of the Dragonreach Waters. Ninety percent of Heng Hua's medical knowledge came from this Golden Core Realm senior.
"But even with the old immortal's methods, I fear this great medicine will not be easy to refine?"
"That is why the family must also invite several other alchemists. Living Yama, Heavenly Marvel Hand, and Tou Ling'er. All three must be invited."
Heng Hua was very helpless. There was no helping it—the alchemists cultivated by the Fu Family were not skilled enough. He was a master at calculating cultivation arts, but when it came to alchemy, he was utterly at a loss.
Even with Immortal-Retaining Elder's painstaking instruction, he had studied far too broadly and devoted less than a tenth of his attention to medicine.
He could translate some ancient pill formulas for the family and make small, simple medicines. Beyond that, he could not help at all.
"Will the family really spend its favors for Grandfather's sake and invite all those people?"
Of the five great alchemists of the Dragonreach Waters, they would be inviting four in one breath. How much would the Fu Family have to spend?
"When there is an elder in the family, it is like possessing a treasure. Grandfather was chivalrous and righteous in his youth, and his connections run wide. While he lives, his connections and favors remain. If he dies, those favors will be severed. That would not be good for the Fu Family."
The simplest example was that Immortal-Retaining Elder and Fu Danwei were friends. As long as Fu Danwei lived, asking him to refine pills was convenient, and he would not fuss over compensation. Indeed, for Fu Danwei's sake, Ge Liu was willing to teach Heng Hua medicine without asking anything in return.
But once Fu Danwei was gone, it would be difficult for the family to ask him for help again. Even if he were willing to refine pills, he would demand appropriate payment.
Moreover, if Fu Danwei could truly break through, the Fu Family would gain another great Soul Formation cultivator to stand guard, bringing even greater benefits.
"What about White Elm Hall? Will they agree?"
Heng Hua glanced toward the side boat beneath his feet, where Fu Heyi slept, and laughed. "Everything is for the Fu Family's interests. Isn't it?"
Xiang Feng opened his mouth, then reconsidered. Yes. They had used the family's greater interests to force them away. Now, if they could help Grandfather break through, they could in turn force those people to yield.
"The matter of manpower is still far off. Third Brother, while traveling abroad, pay close attention to these three millennium-old heavenly treasures." Heng Hua let out a long sigh. "The Two Modes Darkgold Ginseng Pill requires more than three hundred medicinal ingredients. It also needs the troublesome Cosmic Splendor Jade Dew as a decoction catalyst. I have calculated that our family can gather the remaining supplementary ingredients. Even if anything is lacking, Immortal-Retaining Elder will help. But as for these three millennium-old spirit ingredients, even the old immortal has never encountered them."
"Understood. When I travel outside later, I'll investigate carefully. But Cosmic Splendor Jade Dew—should we start collecting that early?"
Heng Hua looked at him with disdain. "The flower gardens around Langhuan Hall were not planted solely for my enjoyment. I prepared that stuff long ago."
Cosmic Splendor Jade Dew was an especially troublesome medicinal jade dew.
At the Beginning of Spring, it was spring dew gathered from the fresh buds of winter jasmine.
During Rain Water, it was rootless water from heavenly rain falling upon cherry blossoms before touching the soil.
During Awakening of Insects, it was clear dew upon rose blossoms, unstained by dust.
At the Beginning of Summer, it was dew upon lily-of-the-valley flowers.
During White Dew, it was morning frost upon night-blooming cereus.
At the Winter Solstice, it was snow upon wintersweet blossoms.
In short, one had to use twenty-four kinds of flowers to receive dew, rain, frost, and snow during the twenty-four solar terms. Passing through all seventy-two seasonal phases and spending a full year, one could refine a single drop of Cosmic Splendor Jade Dew. If one collected one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred drops of Cosmic Splendor Jade Dew, one could condense a single drop of Cosmic Radiance Divine Water.
Heng Hua had begun preparing several years ago. Twenty-four varieties of flowers were planted outside Langhuan Hall, and at every solar term, he had Xiaoyu and the gardeners store the frost and dew, to be ritually refined into Cosmic Splendor Jade Dew at year's end.
Hearing that Little Six had prepared long ago, Xiang Feng felt somewhat relieved.
But upon further thought, his younger cousin was running himself ragged for their grandfather—collecting frost and dew, calculating cultivation arts, and searching for millennium-old spirit ingredients. Yet he himself had done nothing useful, and he could not help feeling ashamed.
"All right, Third Brother, get some rest. At dawn, we should set off."
Suddenly, Xiang Feng flicked his finger. The lanterns on both sides of the spirit vessel emitted rainbow light, which intertwined in the air and formed the shape of a Coiling Dragon.
"What's the rush? This is your first time traveling outside. Third Brother will broaden your horizons. While we're at it, we can ask more people. Perhaps someone knows the whereabouts of those three spirit ingredients."
Seeing the Coiling Dragon image rise into the sky, Heng Hua tugged at the corner of his mouth. "You're opening a vessel market? Do you think anyone at a vessel market would carry those three spirit herbs? If they were truly so easy to find, Grandfather's problem would have been solved long ago."
West of Immovable Reef.
A young man in golden robes gazed at the shining Coiling Dragon pattern in the air, deep in thought.
"Qingxi, you come from the Dragonreach Waters. Do you recognize this image?"
Two cultivators stood to the young man's left and right. The cultivator on the left said, "The Fu Family's Coiling Dragon Seal. It should be disciples of Cypress Sovereign Hall."
"So it truly is the Coiling Dragon Seal? Before I came to the Dragonreach Waters, Father repeatedly warned me. If I saw the Coiling Dragon Seal, I was to take a detour and avoid conflict with it. Do you know why?"
Qingxi said, "When the master was young and came to the Dragonreach Waters to do business, he received help from the Fu Family's old master and owed them many favors."
Lu Xin asked curiously, "If that is so, why did we not include the Fu Family among our considerations when coming to the Dragonreach Waters to seek an agent this time?"
"Because the Fu Family's old master is about to die."
Qingxi looked at Cypress Sovereign Hall's mark, his emotions complicated.
Back then, in the Dragonreach Waters, he had received care from the Fu Family.
Unfortunately...
The candidates the master had chosen as agents this time were the Wei Family and the Cheng Family.
Qingxi felt a faint unease in his heart.
With Jadeflame Trading House's support, these two families would likely grow still stronger, leaving the Fu Family in an even worse position.
Lu Xin asked, "Do you know what the Fu Family is doing here?"
"A vessel market. Using ships as the ground, they invite cultivators on Immovable Reef to exchange what they have for what they need."
"A vessel market?" Lu Xin shook his folding fan, his face full of disdain. "Such a low-grade method of trade—does the Dragonreach Waters not even have a fixed trading house?"
"The great clans open spirit islets and Spirit Islands, establishing immortal market districts, but taxes are required there. One to thirty percent of all transaction gains goes to the island lord. The ship markets around the reefs are different—scattered and random. Once dawn arrives, trading ends, and everyone goes their separate ways."
"But with such trade, are they not afraid of being cheated? If someone set a trap aboard a ship and swept up all the cultivators who came over in one net, then wouldn't that..."
"That is why there are few who can host vessel markets in the Dragonreach Waters, and the Fu Family is among the fewest of the few. Young Master, would you like to take a look?"
Supplementary entry,
Flora Catalog: Flowers correspond to the four seasons, and seasonal timings differ. Twenty-four varieties take turns corresponding to the solar terms. Gather and purify their flower dew, and it can be made into Cosmic Splendor Jade Dew or Hundred-Blossom Jade Dew.
Before you continue