When Xia Yunzhao returned to the lakeside camp, someone called to him almost as soon as he appeared. He walked over and saw a basin of clear water placed in front of Granny, with a pile of small white flowers beside it.
Granny beckoned him over. The moment Xia Yunzhao leaned closer, she plucked a flower petal, dipped it in the clear water, and pressed it to his forehead.
An auntie beside her explained, “This is a Youtan Flower, also called a Mind-Settling Flower. You put it between a child’s brows so their soul won’t be frightened away.”
Xia Yunzhao glanced to the side. Sure enough, several children were sitting neatly in a row eating Rock-Crevice Vine Roots, each with a flower petal stuck to their forehead.
So he tore off a petal too, dipped it in the water, and stuck it to Granny’s forehead with a smile. “Granny should calm her mind and settle her soul too. Have a good dream tonight.”
＊
After returning to his little grass shelter, Xia Yunzhao took Xiao Qing out and placed it on the ground.
Xiao Qing knew he was in a bad mood today and behaved unusually well, making no fuss and gently rubbing against his palm.
Xia Yunzhao stroked it for a while and said, “Let’s do a ten-pull today. I’ve heard gacha games all have pity systems. I wonder whether you do too?”
Xiao Qing tilted its lid. Huh?
Xia Yunzhao took out his money pouch. The little pouch was now stuffed so full that it bulged roundly and no longer made any sound when shaken.
Previously, Xia Yunzhao had cleared out a batch of resources in Qingxi City and ended up with more than eight thousand spirit pearls. Then he bought four talismans for three thousand eight hundred, leaving him with just over five thousand. After that, he sold the Wanglai Pavilion proprietor a piece of Level-Two beast bone and earned another one thousand two hundred…
Thus, the number of spirit pearls currently in his possession was exactly six thousand five hundred.
Xia Yunzhao reached into the money pouch again and again, eventually pulling out three thousand spirit pearls and piling them on the wooden board like a miniature mountain.
Xiao Qing had never seen a sight like this before. Its entire furnace body became excited, bouncing nonstop as though asking: For me? All of that is for me?
Xia Yunzhao grabbed a handful of spirit pearls and stuffed them into its belly, then another handful… until the little mountain of spirit pearls was completely gone.
Xiao Qing began trembling violently. The progress bar shot into view and filled at a speed nearly impossible for the eye to follow—filling and emptying, filling and emptying again… Its round belly suddenly shuddered, and with a poof, sheets of paper sprayed everywhere!
Then Xiao Qing rolled toward the bed with a rattle-rattle and fell asleep.
Xia Yunzhao picked it up, wiped its feet, tucked it beneath the blanket so it could sleep properly, then began picking up the papers from the floor one by one.
…There really was a surprise. Instead of ten sets of papers, there were eleven.
Did a ten-pull come with one bonus draw?
Xia Yunzhao instantly felt as though he had missed out on ten billion…
Among the eleven sheets were four pill recipes, three artifact blueprints, one movement technique, one formation diagram, and two culinary recipes…
Wait. Xia Yunzhao thought he had misread them. Why were there culinary recipes?
He picked up the two recipes first. The instructions were quite detailed, especially this Five-Spice Jerky, which looked delicious… Wait, were the instructions seriously this detailed?!
Xia Yunzhao immediately straightened from his previously relaxed posture. There was nothing particularly remarkable about the dish itself, but the recipe explained in detail how to process ingredients, including how to use spiritual energy to break them down and refine their essential substance… If prepared according to these instructions, all that remained from an entire portion of slaughter-beast meat would be its essence.
The more he read, the more he began learning it.
As luck would have it, there was still a dead snake inside his storage pouch.
It was only because slaughter beasts contained so much spiritual power that the carcass had lasted this long. If it had been an ordinary snake, it would have spoiled ages ago. But this little snake was around Level One, and even now it still looked as though it had only recently died. Blood was even dripping from the severed wound.
He placed the snake carcass on the ground in front of him, gathered spiritual energy into his palm, and followed the method described in the recipe, wrapping the carcass in it and circulating—
In only a short while, the green snake had been completely broken down. Its skin, fangs, venom sac, gallbladder, and bones were all arranged neatly to one side. It was far faster than doing it by hand!
Xia Yunzhao then wrapped the snake meat and blood in spiritual energy and refined them—
Another moment later, seven or eight jin of snake meat had been refined down into a fist-sized lump of red meat. Xia Yunzhao could sense the abundant spiritual power contained within it, and its spiritual energy was even richer than that of the Mighty Slaughter Bear meat! After all, this tiny lump consisted entirely of concentrated essence.
The snake blood, meanwhile, had been refined into three drops of essence blood.
Xia Yunzhao took out an empty porcelain bottle and caught the drops. Then he made a surprised sound. This little snake was actually wind-attribute?
No, that was not right. The green snake itself was not wind-attribute. Perhaps it had been evolving toward a wind attribute, and its body contained that attribute, causing its blood to become wind-attribute blood after refinement.
Now that he had wind-attribute slaughter-beast blood, didn’t that mean he could make the Azure Cloud Shoes? No rush, no rush. He should look at the rest first.
He had never expected such ordinary-looking culinary recipes to bring him such a huge gain. Xia Yunzhao’s expectations for the remaining papers immediately rose.
He first examined the formation diagram, something he had never drawn before: Low-Level Defensive Formation Diagram. As long as he arranged a formation according to the diagram, he could create a defensive formation. However, setting it up required spirit items, and the greater their spiritual power, the stronger the defense. If he had none, spirit pearls could be substituted instead. He could use five hundred, one thousand, or five thousand spirit pearls. The more spirit pearls used, the stronger the formation’s defensive effect, with the highest level capable of blocking one strike from a cultivator at peak Foundation Establishment!
Five thousand spirit pearls to block one strike from someone at peak Foundation Establishment—he had to admit, that was excellent value!
For now, Xia Yunzhao hurriedly memorized the formation diagram without trying to fully understand it. He could study it properly later.
Next came the movement technique. Like the Lightness Technique, it was a thin booklet filled with both illustrations and text, written with the same thorough detail as always.
【Yellow-Grade Movement Technique: Hundred-Form Palm: This movement technique is not a fixed palm technique, but a method for applying force. Once mastered, understanding one principle will illuminate the rest, allowing you to learn methods of attacking with spiritual energy. Whether you use a saber or a sword, you can wield it as you please. Such a good cultivation method. What a pity.】
Xia Yunzhao: ?
Wait, what’s a pity? Explain yourself!
Xiao Qing: Zzzzz…
Xia Yunzhao was so annoyed that he wanted to dig Xiao Qing out of the blankets and give it a beating. After thinking about it, he let the matter go. After all, the Hundred-Form Palm really was exactly what he needed right now.
Since beginning cultivation, Xia Yunzhao’s greatest weakness had always been offensive power. He had equipped his arm with a concealed weapon, bought the Short Blade and Vinewood Shield, and purchased talismans for protection. When all was said and done, it was because his own offensive ability was lacking.
Now things were different. With the Hundred-Form Palm, his own strength would finally have some assurance behind it. The fact that it was not limited to any particular weapon suited him perfectly too, since he had not yet decided what weapon he wanted to use in the future.
He continued on to the three artifact blueprints. Surprisingly, all three were quite good:
【Level-One Magical Artifact: Water-Purifying Gourd: Can purify ordinary river water and rainwater into clean drinking water. Purified water contains a faint trace of spiritual energy. One gourd can hold ten shi of water. Required materials: one section of Thousand-Jointed Bamboo, one bowl of Purified Sand, ten pieces of Ironwood Charcoal.】
Elio’s Notes: Shi (石) is a traditional Chinese unit of capacity whose exact volume varied by period.
【Level-One Magical Artifact: Spirit-Seeking Compass: Can locate spirit items within thirty li, up to a maximum of Level Two. Required materials: one piece of Star-Pointing Wood, one magnet, ten drops of Spirit-Gathering Grass juice.】
【Level-One Magical Artifact: Protective Vine Armor: Can withstand attacks from cultivators below the fifth layer of Qi Refining. Required materials: thirty pieces of Ironwood, ten Earthvine Roots, thirty drops of Ironbone Flower juice.】
Xia Yunzhao let out a quiet breath of relief. He had finally drawn what he wanted. Protective Vine Armor… Ordinary people could not use Level-One magical artifacts, but if he lowered the grade of the raw materials, could he turn a Level-One magical artifact into a lowest-grade one? For example, replacing Ironwood with ordinary wood, or replacing Earthvine Root with ordinary vines?
There was no need to rush. He could experiment slowly later.
He picked up the final four pill recipes: 【Aura-Concealing Pill】【Mountain-Opening Pill】【Fasting Pill】【Dew-Condensing Pill】.
Xia Yunzhao first picked up the famous Fasting Pill and read it: 【Level-One Fasting Pill: After consumption, the user will feel neither hunger nor thirst for three days and three nights. Required materials: one jin of Level-One spirit rice, one piece of Level-One Huangjing, three stalks of Spirit-Gathering Grass.】
“Uh…” Xia Yunzhao felt as though he had just discovered some kind of cultivation-world scam. If you refined the essence of one jin of spirit rice, one piece of Huangjing, and three Spirit-Gathering Grass stalks into a pill, then of course you would not be hungry or thirsty after eating it. You were full!
It was like a friend he once had who said he wanted to lose weight and stopped eating dinner. He kept it up for ages without losing anything. Then Xia Yunzhao visited his house and discovered that yes, the guy really did skip dinner—but he ate three jianbing for lunch…
Elio’s Notes: Jianbing is a popular Chinese savory street-food crepe, typically folded around fillings and a crisp fried component.
Still, Xia Yunzhao put away the pill recipe. It was not as though the Fasting Pill was completely useless. It could probably be sold for money, and if something urgent happened and he had no time to eat, popping one would be extremely convenient. He decided to refine a batch someday and try it.
As for the remaining three, the Aura-Concealing Pill could hide one’s presence; the Mountain-Opening Pill made the user’s hands extraordinarily tough and happened to suit his newly acquired Hundred-Form Palm perfectly; and as for the Dew-Condensing Pill…
The primary ingredient of the Dew-Condensing Pill was Dew-Condensing Grass, but the pill itself was Level One because it could relieve the discomfort caused by polishing acupoints during the Qi Refining stage.
Xia Yunzhao immediately decided that tomorrow he would gather Dew-Condensing Grass and refine a batch!
He had recently needed to endure itching and pain whenever he polished his acupoints. It was not unbearable, but if he could be comfortable, why suffer?
Early the next morning, Xiao Xia did exactly what he had said. He ran straight into the mountain, even bringing breakfast along to eat on the road.
According to the Compendium of Liancui Mountain Spirit Items, Dew-Condensing Grass preferred damp locations, especially valleys and crevices. Xia Yunzhao immediately remembered the enormous patch of exceptionally high-quality Dew-Condensing Grass he had found in the valley before.
Clearly, the information in this compendium was very reliable.
Now that he knew exactly where to look, Xia Yunzhao gathered more than sixty stalks of Dew-Condensing Grass in only one morning. He had probably stripped nearly the entire surrounding area clean.
He searched around again but found no more Dew-Condensing Grass. Instead, he discovered one stalk of Thousand-Jointed Bamboo.
This was actually the first time Xia Yunzhao had seen Thousand-Jointed Bamboo anywhere on Liancui Mountain. He had thought there was no bamboo nearby at all. Unfortunately, this stalk had not yet matured, and there was only one.
Still, the compendium said Thousand-Jointed Bamboo was merely a lowest-grade spirit plant and matured quickly. So Xia Yunzhao memorized the location and decided to return once it ripened.
Since it was still early, he continued searching for the materials required to make Protective Vine Armor.
He had already decided to try replacing the Ironwood with ordinary wood, leaving only Earthvine Root and Ironbone Flower to gather.
Neither material was difficult to find. Xia Yunzhao was already familiar with both, and before long, he had gathered more than a hundred plants.
He really did seem to have some talent in this area. Someone else might not have learned nearly as quickly even with the compendium in hand. Who knew how long Du Qianshan had stayed on Liancui Mountain, yet even by the time of his death he had carried only a few hundred spirit plants.
Xia Yunzhao was happily digging up an Earthvine Root when he suddenly heard the sound of people arguing. In the next instant, he had vanished, leaving behind only a half-dug hole.
A few breaths later, a sneaky little catlike head poked out from a tree dozens of meters tall nearby.
Xiao Xia craned his neck and looked around. Who was arguing?