Chapter 56: Azure Ocean
Chapter 56: Azure Ocean
Chapter 56: Azure Ocean
Xu Disheng said, “Thank you for your assistance, Senior Martial Brother. These spirit stones are a small token of my gratitude.”
Meng Yu mused for a moment, then left behind a jade slip before streaking off into the distance. In just a short time, the blazing white sword light disappeared beyond the horizon, leaving only the sound of his indifferent voice echoing in Xu Disheng’s ears. “If you need anything, you can use this jade slip to summon me.”
Xu Disheng took the jade slip. This was exactly the result he was going for when he gave Meng Yu an extra 10 spirit stones, and it paid off. Even though he was just a patrol disciple, he had more assets than most ordinary disciples. These 20 spirit stones were probably just easy cash to him, but with his identity as a peak Sea of Qi stage patrol disciple, it was worth the investment for Xu Disheng to get on his good side.
He turned around and looked towards the busy atmosphere of Mountain Affairs Peak, then landed the Spirit Cloud and walked into Sect Affairs Hall.
Turning in the Beauty’s Demise Herb for the mission was fairly straightforward. However, the mission said that he needed to go to the Botany Hall branch on Mingxin Mountain, but in the first place, he didn’t even know where it was located in the Mingxin Mountain Range. The Mingxin Mountain Range was so vast, with several hundred Peaks, so rather than searching for that branch of the Botany Hall, he might as well turn it in at Sect Affairs Hall. Even though they might charge him a small commission fee just like the Spirit Armament Pavilion had, it was much more convenient for him.
He had over 50 Beauty’s Demise Herb, which was enough for him to complete the mission twice with a surplus of about 10 Beauty’s Demise Herb, and he also had those dozen or so middle-grade spirit fruit and spiritual plants. The Sect Affairs Hall didn’t accept spirit fruits and spiritual plants that weren’t part of the mission, so he could only go to the Botany Hall to trade them in for spirit stones or sell them to other disciples who were interested in alchemy and pill refining. But at the moment, he was just a small, insignificant outer disciple without such means, so he could only store those spirit fruits and spiritual plants in his storage pouch for the time being.
There were over 300 spirit stones in the storage pouch now, which could be considered more than a good harvest. Even Xu Disheng couldn’t help but feel his mood be lifted by this outcome.
As a common saying went, the most important things to the path of a profound cultivator were wealth, relationships, techniques, and land. To say nothing of the other few, the most important of those four was without a doubt, wealth. With enough resources, one would always be able to cultivate well; that was an immutable truth no matter where one went.
Xu Disheng had already once experienced the speed of cultivation that spirit stones could bring, so his desire for resources was even more urgent.
After leaving Sect Affairs Hall, Xu Disheng once again looked towards Spirit Origin Hall. He wanted to go check out the Spiritual Medicine Pavilion, since he had never bothered to go after hearing what Liu Dian had said about it.
Spiritual Medicine Pavilion was extremely luxurious, standing out far more than the Spirit Armament Pavilion and the Cultivation Method Pavilion, which were adjacent to it. The gate to the Spiritual Medicine Pavilion was shaped like the outline of a massive jade bottle, standing centered and tall.
When Xu Disheng stepped into the Spiritual Medicine Pavilion, he heard a gentle, feminine voice. “Senior Martial Brother, what kind of medicines do you require?”
A red-clothed girl approached with a light, graceful smile. There were several other disciples in the hall who were picking medicines, and they were each accompanied by a red-clothed girl.
Xu Disheng was silent for a moment, then said, “This is my first time coming, I want to take a look around.”
The red-clothed girl didn’t seem to mind, as this was probably something that happened quite often. She pulled a jade slip out from her sleeve and said, “Senior Martial Brother, you can take your time with looking through this. If you need any pills or medicines, please feel free to tell me right away.”
The jade slip was a catalog filled with various phantom images of the pills and medicines, slowly rotating on display. On the side of each image, there was an extremely brief introduction and description of their functions.
“Spirit Gathering Pill, 20 spirit stones apiece. A huge volume of spiritual energy is contained within, for aiding cultivation.”
“Qi Gathering Pill, 50 spirit stones apiece. Assists a Cleansed Meridians stage cultivator in speeding up the condensation of their Sea of Qi.”
“Qi Boosting Pill, 80 spirit stones apiece. Aids Sea of Qi stage disciples in cultivation.”
Xu Disheng didn’t bother to continue reading further. These prices were too terrifying! No wonder Liu Dian had that expression when this place was brought up, and told him to not even bother thinking about it.
It was important to note that outer disciples only received 2 spirit stones income every month, regardless of whether they were at the Sea of Qi stage or not. Even if they passed the Mountain Entry Examination and joined a mountain peak, they still wouldn’t earn more than several spirit stones a month.
Even the cheapest of them, the Spirit Gathering Pill, cost 20 spirit stones each!
Xu Disheng pondered, then asked, “How is using this Spirit Gathering Pill different from directly using spirit stones to cultivate?”
The red-clothed girl replied, “Senior Martial Brother, why don’t you buy one and try it out? But I see that you are at the Cleansed Meridians stage and are condensing your Sea of Qi, so this Qi Gathering Pill would be perfect for you too.”
Even though she was calling him Senior Martial Brother, her cultivation was at least at the Sea of Qi stage. This person was extremely clever, not saying too much, but also saying just enough to imply her meaning, and waiting for Xu Disheng to make his own choice.
Xu Disheng glanced down again at the picture of the Qi Gathering Pill in the jade slip, then said, “I want 5 Spirit Gathering Pills and 2 Qi Gathering Pills.”
He considered the Spiritual Medicine Pavilion in the sect to be reliable, in the sense that if the spiritual medicines and pills were priced this way, that was because they actually cost that many spirit stones.
The red-clothed girl wasn’t that surprised. After all, the disciples who dared to enter the Spiritual Medicine Pavilion to spend money either had deep family backgrounds or were the descendants of Deacons and Elders, and they were pretty much all masters of spending money like water.
She immediately replied in a gentle tone, “Senior Martial Brother, that would be 200 spirit stones in total. Please prepare the sum, and I will go grab the medicines for you in the meantime.”
She turned around and walked towards the rear hall, her feminine curves swaying seductively.
Just as Xu Disheng was setting aside the spirit stones in the storage pouch, he heard a clear voice behind him.
“10 Qi Boosting Pills, get me them quickly.”
When he turned around to look, he saw a young man in a white and gold Daoist robe with a haughty expression on his face. As soon as he entered the pavilion, he called out loudly.
Another red-clothed girl immediately went up to welcome him, expertly wrapping herself around his arm as she spoke in a tender voice, “Lord He, why must you be in such a hurry today? I’ll go and get the medicine for you.” A certain look rippled under the surface of her beautiful eyes, as if she inwardly despised sidling up to him like this.
That youth gave a cold snort, clearly finding her unworthy of himself. He smoothly slipped out of the red-clothed girl’s grasp and said, “Hurry and go then. There are other matters I must attend to.”
He flung out a storage pouch, which most likely contained the appropriate sum of spirit stones within.
10 Qi Boosting Pills, that was 800 spirit stones! Even though he casually flung out so many spirit stones, this youth’s cultivation was only at the Sea of Qi stage. This blatant display of wealth left people flabbergasted.
The girl who went to grab the medicine for Xu Disheng came back. She walked up to Xu Disheng and handed two jade bottles to him. “Senior Martial Brother, please confirm the contents,” she said gently.
Xu Disheng briefly checked the contents, then nodded his head. He took out the 200 spirit stones he had counted beforehand and placed them on the table.
The girl confirmed the amount before moving the spirit stones into the storage-type Spirit Tool. Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak, she looked up and suddenly saw that youth standing by the entrance. Her face immediately formed into a smile and she said, “Congratulations, Senior Martial Brother He. The Dao Foundation stage is right within your reach.”
The family background of that youth who was surnamed He was clearly outstanding. When he heard what she said, he only peered at her out of the side of his eye, not even bothering to reply.
Xu Disheng put away the two jade bottles, and was about to leave through the gates. On his way out, he passed by that Lord He, meeting his lazy but intimidating gaze for just a brief moment before walking past.
Lord He waited until Xu Disheng left the pavilion. In a serious tone, he asked the girl who was attending to Xu Disheng just now, “Is that person’s name Qingxin?”
The girl was a bit surprised, and looked down at the record jade slip before saying, “Not Qingxin, but Xu Disheng. He is an outer disciple of the Mingxin Mountain Range.”
Lord He’s brows furrowed, and he muttered to himself in a voice only he could hear, “Many years ago, my father once saved an infant, so that infant had karmic ties with my father. After my father brought him back to the mountain, he changed his name to Qingxin, but my father never really cared much about him. That Qingxin is the only other person who learned my father’s Azure Ocean technique, but why did that person just now have the aura of Azure Ocean on him? After I go back, I need to look into where that Qingxin went.”
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