Draw the fire of the earth veins into the palm; up close, it can purge evil, and at a distance, temper a hundred herbs—the Earthfire Art!
For the first time, Xia Yunzhao realized just how destructive the Earthfire Art could be!
He was still at the second layer of the Earthfire Art and had yet to break through, but he had already accumulated a considerable amount of earthfire. As he blew it out in a single breath, the temperature around him rose rapidly, the air warped from the heat, and even the ground began to smoke.
The insects that had been so aggressive moments before instantly panicked. They let out creaking cries and scrambled over one another in their desperation to escape, while earthfire clung to their jade-green shells and burned unwaveringly, filling the air with the smell of scorched bamboo.
“Ugh, I’m dizzy…” Xiao Xia shook his head. The Earthfire Art was good in every way except for how much spiritual energy it consumed. His spiritual energy was already far more abundant than most, yet that one breath had used more than half of it. An ordinary Qi Refining cultivator might not even be able to use the Earthfire Art after learning it.
He tightened his grip on the spiked club again and watched the swarm warily, batting back any beetle that managed to escape.
He had to admit, it was pretty stress-relieving.
Red flames crackled fiercely. Under Xia Yunzhao’s watch, not a single beetle managed to escape alive. Every one of them burned to death, their bodies reduced to ash, leaving behind only complete hard shells.
Those shells really were unharmed by blades, axes, or fire. The beetles themselves, unfortunately, were nowhere near as tough.
Xia Yunzhao did not act rashly. He checked the surrounding area first and, after confirming that no Hard-Armored Bamboo Borers remained alive, collected the shells—fourteen in all. In other words, one breath from him had killed fourteen Level-One slaughter beasts.
Thinking back to when a single Blackwind Hound had once chased him all over the ground, even he wanted to laugh. It felt like a lifetime ago.
After putting the shells into his storage pouch, Xia Yunzhao turned to leave—then whipped around without warning. Sure enough, he spotted the furry head peeking out from the cliff.
The head jumped in fright and immediately withdrew. A moment later, as if its indignation had gotten the better of it, it popped back out, waved a fist a few times, and squeaked repeatedly.
Xia Yunzhao froze. That… doesn’t look like a person?
He looked more carefully. No, wait—the furry part was not its head. It was its face. Its entire face was covered in fur! That was not a human at all. It was a monkey!
Were there monkey-type slaughter beasts in the outer reaches of Liancui Mountain?
He was still trying to analyze the clues when the furry-faced creature jumped out of the cave and rapidly made its way down the mountain.
It really was a monkey, covered in grayish-white fur from head to toe and only about the size of a red panda. It moved with extraordinary agility, its coat was clean, and two enormous eyes were set in its furry little face. It was kind of adorable.
With several great leaps, it reached Xia Yunzhao. Then it began chattering and gesturing wildly before running to where the Hard-Armored Bamboo Borers had been and jumping up to stomp the ground several times.
For some reason, Xia Yunzhao thought of the eight-hundred-year-old Resilient Vine and guessed, “You had a grudge against those giant bugs?”
The little monkey cried out and nodded. Then it ran back to Xia Yunzhao, tentatively tugged at the hem of his robe, and, when he did not object, happily pulled him up the mountain.
Xia Yunzhao climbed with ease while whispering to Xiao Qing, “Why do I feel like this little monkey isn’t a slaughter beast? It’s way too intelligent. Could it be an ordinary beast? But an ordinary beast would have a hard time surviving on Liancui Mountain too, wouldn’t it?”
Or could it be a spirit beast?
Rattle-rattle. Xiao Qing opened and closed its lid twice in agreement.
“A spirit beast…” Xia Yunzhao fell into thought. He had never seen one before. He wondered whether the little monkey would be willing to go home with him and become a domesticated spirit beast.
The little spirit monkey led him to the entrance of its home and squeaked twice. Another spirit monkey unexpectedly emerged from inside, followed by two even smaller baby monkeys.
The two adults and two babies squatted neatly in a row before him, raised their furry little hands together, and bowed.
“So you’re a family of four.” The four adorable creatures were so endearing that Xia Yunzhao could not stop smiling. “No need to be so polite. Come on, get up.”
The four spirit monkeys rose and filed into the cave, inviting Xia Yunzhao to follow.
The baby monkey at the very back suddenly felt someone stroke its back. Suspicious, it turned around and met its benefactor’s perfectly innocent smile. The doubt in the baby monkey’s eyes slowly faded as it flicked its tail. Must have imagined it. How could Benefactor take advantage of the moment to pet a little monkey’s fur?
The instant it turned back around, Xiao Xia chuckled under his breath. “So soft. It feels amazing. Pot, when are you going to grow fur all over? Bronze is too hard on the hands. You’re not comfortable to pet at all.”
Xiao Qing continued stomping on him with its three bronze feet.
The spirit-monkey family’s cave was airy, dry, and remarkably clean. They were living quite well.
The two larger spirit monkeys led him all the way to the back, where dozens of little bamboo jars were lined up in neat rows. Several jars near the outside had been bitten apart, spilling the liquid inside and releasing a strong aroma of wine.
It turned out the spirit monkeys brewed wine inside sections of Thousand-Jointed Bamboo. The Hard-Armored Bamboo Borers had eaten all the bamboo farther down the mountain, then followed the scent here and started chewing through the monkeys’ bamboo jars. That was how the grudge began.
The two monkeys bounced excitedly in front of the jars and tugged Xia Yunzhao forward. Their meaning was obvious: For you! Pick whatever you want!
Xia Yunzhao smiled. “Thank you. Then I won’t be poli—huh?”
He moved one broken jar aside, revealing a small bamboo plate underneath. Calling it bamboo was not quite accurate: it had been polished from bamboo and some kind of hard shell, with slots along the edges that allowed the plates to fit together piece by piece. Familiar gray-white monkey fur was caught inside as well.
The monkey fur was familiar, sure, but so was the hard shell. It was unmistakably the shell of a Hard-Armored Bamboo Borer.
Xiao Xia stared at it for a while before blurting out, “Is this… Thousand-Mechanism Bamboo Armor???”
Thousand-Mechanism Bamboo Armor was a top-tier Level-One defensive magical treasure. Its defensive power was said to be unmatched in the Qi Refining stage, and virtually every Qi Refining cultivator dreamed of owning one.
How did Xia Yunzhao know that? He had read about it in Du Qianshan’s cultivation notes. According to those notes, that Fellow Daoist Xu had owned one as a protective magical treasure. It had cost one hundred thousand spirit pearls even after the seller gave him a discount because he was a pill cultivator. At auction, it might have fetched two or even three hundred thousand!
Xia Yunzhao had always assumed that, like other magical artifacts, such a treasure was refined by an artifact refiner. He had never imagined it was actually woven by spirit monkeys! Even the beast fur inside was simply the monkeys’ own fur!
Seeing him ignore the wine in favor of examining a worthless armor plate, the spirit monkeys reached out with furry hands, tossed the plate away, picked up a jar of monkey wine, and stuffed it into his arms.
Xia Yunzhao put the wine down and crouched seriously. “I don’t want the wine. If you really want to thank me, can you give me something else instead?”
He took out all fourteen hard shells and stacked them on the ground. “Can you help me turn these shells into Thousand-Mechanism Bamboo Armor?”
The spirit monkeys looked deeply troubled and gestured at him: Those broken plates are useless! They’re heavy and take up space! You can’t even climb trees while wearing them! Only little monkeys who can’t climb would wear something like that!
Unfortunately, Benefactor simply would not listen and insisted on having one.
Unable to do anything with him, the spirit monkeys picked up shells larger than their own heads and got to work.
Xia Yunzhao quickly discovered that making Thousand-Mechanism Bamboo Armor was absurdly easy for these spirit monkeys. Even the two little babies knew how.
They licked a hard shell twice, and the rigid carapace immediately softened enough to cut and polish into the proper shape. Once it was finished, they rubbed it a few times against the fur on their chests, and it hardened again, allowing the plates to be fitted together one by one.
So the monkey fur had not been deliberately added during crafting at all. It was simply left behind accidentally while they rubbed the pieces.
Xia Yunzhao decided that once this magical treasure was finished, he was definitely washing it before putting it on.
In less than two hours, a complete set of Thousand-Mechanism Bamboo Armor was finished.
Xia Yunzhao held the jade-smooth armor plates and stared in a daze. Had he really obtained one of the finest magical treasures available to Qi Refining cultivators this easily?
The spirit monkeys apparently still believed the armor plates were worthless. Wagging their tails, they carried over another two bamboo jars and stuffed them into his arms.
Xia Yunzhao had no choice but to accept them. Unable to resist, he secretly stroked the tails of the two baby monkeys again.
This time the baby monkeys caught him in the act and stared in shock: So he really was the one who touched us earlier?!
Xia Yunzhao regretfully withdrew his hand. “Thank you for the Thousand-Mechanism Bamboo Armor and the monkey wine. Can I come visit you again?”
The spirit monkeys chattered and gestured. Their meaning was: We’re moving! The bamboo here is all gone, so we have to find somewhere else with bamboo.
“I see. Then we’ll meet again if fate allows.” Xia Yunzhao waved freely, turned, and jumped down from the cave entrance.
Even after he landed, he could still hear the spirit monkeys squeaking their farewells.
People often said all living things possessed spirit. Even a few little spirit monkeys knew how to repay kindness.
And yet humans, who called themselves the most spiritual of all creatures, did not necessarily all possess humanity.
Elsewhere in the Liancui Mountain Range, deep in another stretch of wilderness, several low-tier cultivators were surrounding a Stone-Nosed Wild Boar.
This slaughter beast was somewhat weaker in combat than a Mighty Slaughter Bear. Its tusks and hide could be made into defensive magical treasures, while its meat was delicious, so it always fetched a good price. Quite a few cultivators hunted this species specifically.
These cultivators were probably among them. Their cultivation was not especially high, but they were very familiar with the Stone-Nosed Wild Boar’s habits. Before long, they brought the giant beast down and stored it in a storage pouch.
The group relaxed, smiles of satisfaction appearing on their faces. One Stone-Nosed Wild Boar could sell for seven or eight hundred spirit pearls, which was a very respectable profit.
Suddenly, one cultivator’s expression changed. “That’s…”
Before he could finish, a black shadow lunged out without warning, pressed both hands around his neck, and bit down! He did not even have time to scream before his eyes rolled back.
Only then did his companions react. “Who are you?! Let him—ah!”
The black shadow was so fast that no one could see it clearly… In fewer than three breaths, only several blood-drained corpses remained. The shadow had vanished as well.
＊
After obtaining the Thousand-Mechanism Bamboo Armor, Xia Yunzhao already felt the day was complete. Even if he found nothing else, it had been worth coming out.
His luck today, however, was excellent. At the final location marked by the Spirit-Seeking Compass, he found not only a large patch of Dew-Condensing Grass, but plenty of Spirit-Gathering Grass and Qingling Grass as well—even a small patch of Huangjing!
Xiao Xia immediately stripped the entire patch bare. “Not bad, not bad. I didn’t find Thousand-Jointed Bamboo, but with Dew-Condensing Grass and Huangjing, I can refine Dew-Condensing Pills and Fasting Pills.”
The sky was already darkening, and the light rain had continued all day. He did not want to risk spending the night in the wilderness, so he checked his direction and headed back to camp.
When he returned, he discovered that the camp had enjoyed a massive harvest too. Everyone was beaming.
Xiao Qi could never keep this kind of good news to himself. He hurried over and said, “Brother Xiao Xia, guess what? We ran into several herds of lowest-level slaughter beasts today. No idea what got into them, but they were all fleeing outward in groups. Boss had us pick through them, and in the end we chose a herd of Fragrant-Grass Sheep.”
“We dug traps and took the whole herd in one sweep—more than twenty altogether! We brought every one back. There are four more lambs in the sheep pen too!”
Xia Yunzhao was impressed. “That’s a great haul! Nice work!”
Xiao Qi was grinning so broadly that his eyes had disappeared, leaving only two rows of gleaming white teeth. “Deputy Leader says we’re roasting whole sheep tonight—two of them! We’ll use the bones to make soup and noodles and celebrate!”
The moment food came up, Xia Yunzhao became even more enthusiastic. “Great! Wait till I bring water. We’ll cook it with spirit water from the Water-Purifying Gourd!”
Fragrant-Grass Sheep were a type of lowest-level slaughter beast with little combat ability. They loved eating a fragrant grass, which gave their meat the same aroma and made it uniquely delicious. Restaurants in the city loved buying them and paid quite well.
But since these were being eaten by their own people, price hardly mattered. Chang Haiping chose the two fattest, tenderest sheep, cleaned them, hung them on racks, and started roasting.
No matter how many times one smelled roasted meat, its aroma still seized the nose first. It was downright domineering.
Xiao Xia dropped his things inside the grass shelter, wasted no time at all, and ran back out carrying the Water-Purifying Gourd. Glug-glug-glug—he filled the cooking pot, then glug-glug-glug again into the water vats.
The others winced on his behalf. “That’s enough, Xiao Xia. Don’t pour so much! Save some for yourself. People like us can’t make proper use of it anyway!”
“That’s right. All we can tell is that it tastes good. You should keep it for improving your cultivation!”
Only after filling every water vat did Xiao Xia say, “How is it useless? It keeps people healthy. Look—ever since we started drinking this water, haven’t the elderly and children in camp stopped getting sick? Besides, this is a magical-treasure gourd. Any water I put inside turns into water with spiritual energy. It doesn’t cost anything, so Uncles and Aunties, stop worrying about it for me!”
Everyone knew perfectly well it was a magical-treasure gourd, but in their minds, anything involving the words spiritual energy was priceless. Since Xiao Xia said otherwise, though, they stopped mentioning it in front of him and simply kept the knowledge to themselves.
In fact, Chang Haiping had already established a rough rule for distributing the water: everyone still used ordinary water in daily life, while the elderly, children, and anyone who felt unwell drank the spirit water.
That way, they used much less of it.
Xiao Xia had never paid attention to the camp’s water arrangements before he obtained the gourd, so he had not noticed.
Soup made with spirit water from the Water-Purifying Gourd really was delicious. Chicken soup and fish soup had been excellent before, and now the mutton broth was just as extraordinarily fresh and flavorful.
Everyone knew Xiao Xia’s appetite had grown, so they simply split half a roasted sheep off and carried it over for him: one foreleg, one hind leg, and the rich, tender belly meat between them. Fat sizzled through the seasonings on the crisp skin, and the smell was enough to make a person dizzy.
Xiao Xia felt as though everyone was fattening him like a pig, yet he ate with determination—and somehow actually finished the entire half sheep. Xiao Qing did not idle either. It managed to get a huge piece of leg meat and all the leftover sheep bones.
Fragrant-Grass Sheep did not contain much spiritual power, but they tasted wonderful, and Xiao Qing certainly knew how to appreciate good food.
After the lively dinner ended, the camp gradually quieted. Xia Yunzhao began cultivating as usual.
No matter what he did during the day, he cultivated for half the night every single evening without fail, then spent the remaining time resting and recovering his energy. He had never once slacked off. The cultivation world was full of resources and opportunities, but it was just as full of danger. One never knew when something like today’s Hard-Armored Bamboo Borers might appear.
Every bit more practice now meant one bit less danger later.
Xia Yunzhao cautiously took out eight thousand spirit pearls, held down the eager Xiao Qing, and piled the pearls in front of himself. This was a full third of his wealth.
Sitting cross-legged, he slowly circulated his cultivation method. Spiritual energy from all around him flowed into his meridians like a stream.
Then the Spirit-Transmutation Art activated—Xia Yunzhao could almost hear the rushing water in his ears as the smooth little stream was instantly replaced by a roaring river, surging spiritual energy pouring enthusiastically toward him from every direction.
Xia Yunzhao felt both heartache and bliss at once… He hurriedly gathered his thoughts and began reciting the Earthfire Art.
His progress with the Earthfire Art had always been slow, not because Xia Yunzhao was lazy or had failed to grasp the trick, but because the technique itself worked that way. Earthfire was dangerous by nature. Even with a complete cultivation method guiding him, advancing too quickly would let the earthfire grow too powerful to control. At that point, burning himself to death while playing with fire would be the least of his problems.
A tiny flame appeared in his palm and, nourished by the abundant spiritual energy, grew little by little.
In terms of speed alone, this was far faster than before… The Spirit-Transmutation Art really was something to love and hate!
After the cultivation method completed seven great cycles, Xiao Xia opened his eyes. He did not even dare look at the empty ground. He hugged Xiao Qing, fell over, and went straight to sleep.
The next two days were peaceful. Xia Yunzhao went out during the day to search for spirit items and cultivated at night. His cultivation shot upward while his spirit stones vanished at an equally alarming speed. Every day was pain and happiness mixed together.
Elio’s Notes: The raw uses 灵石 (“spirit stones”) here, although Xia Yunzhao has been using 灵珠 (“spirit pearls”) to fuel the Spirit-Transmutation Art. The wording has been preserved as written.
On the third day, he did not enter the mountains. Instead, he fired up the furnace first thing in the morning, refined a batch of Dew-Condensing Pills and a batch of Fasting Pills, tucked them away, and went to Qingxi City.
Today was the day he had arranged to meet Du Yan. Besides that, he had two other things to do: ask Zhong Kai about selling the horse, and sell the pills at the underground market.
After entering the city, he first headed north. Before he even turned into the cramped little alley, he happened to run into Zhong Kai coming from the opposite direction.
The moment Zhong Kai saw him, he hurried over. The honest man was not much for pleasantries and got straight to the point. “My lord, I asked a few brothers about the matter you wanted me to look into. There are three buyers in the south of the city who want that white horse. One is my employer, who wants it to pull carts. Our dye workshop delivers cloth to the Wang family’s clothing shop every three days, and that’s what the horse would be used for.”
“There’s also a merchant caravan that used to travel between Forsythia Mountain and Qingxi City. For some reason, they want to open a new trade route now and travel to other cities, so they’re looking to buy horses.”
“The last is a wealthy household. I heard their young master recently took a liking to horses, and they want to buy one for the child to play with. They said that if they like it, they’re willing to pay thirty percent above market price.”
Xia Yunzhao asked, “How old is the young master?”
Zhong Kai replied, “I heard he’s three.”
Xia Yunzhao eliminated the wealthy household immediately. A three-year-old had no fixed interests. He liked horses now, so they would buy him one—but what if he stopped liking it later? Would they simply kill it for meat? No amount of extra money was worth that. Besides, buying a small pony for a three-year-old would be one thing, but this white horse was even larger than an ordinary horse. If it accidentally hurt the child, the horse itself would probably meet a bad end too.
He compared the dye workshop and the caravan and leaned toward the dye workshop as well. The horse’s previous owners had already run into danger outside the city and been rescued by Shang Shuangze. Following a caravan would mean running around beyond the city every day. What if it ended up in a slaughter beast’s stomach?
So he said, “Take me to the dye workshop. I want to see the cart used for hauling cloth. If it’s suitable, your employer can have the horse.”
Zhong Kai immediately smiled. “All right! My employers used to keep horses. They have a proper stable. I’ll show you.” With that, he took the reins of the large white horse and led the way.
Compared with the poverty of the northern district, the southern part of the city was much more prosperous. The streets were paved with bluestone and so clean that not a trace of dust could be seen.
Xia Yunzhao followed Zhong Kai along a long stone wall for quite a while. Only after they turned a corner did he realize it was not a city wall at all, but the outer wall of a private residence.
It did not belong to the dye workshop, either—it belonged to the Fang family. It was not even the main Fang residence, merely a secondary residence reportedly occupied by collateral members of the family.
Xia Yunzhao looked at it a few times before following Zhong Kai onward to the dye workshop’s back entrance.
The owners were an elderly couple around fifty, both dressed very simply. The old woman gave a delighted cry when she saw the white horse, immediately came forward to rub its nose, and even pulled out a handful of malt candy to feed it.
Judging from her movements, she was much more experienced with horses than Xia Yunzhao.
Xia Yunzhao gave a slight nod. They really did look like people who had kept horses before.
The old man could hardly take his eyes off the horse either. Lost in thought, he said, “If our daughter were still alive, she wouldn’t be able to tear herself away from a white horse like this.”
The old woman sighed. “That’s right. She loved swords and weapons from the time she was little. Barely grown and already insisting on riding great big horses.”
After a few words about that, the old woman smiled and asked where the white horse had come from, roughly how old it was, and whether it had ever been ill. Xia Yunzhao answered everything he knew and said plainly when he did not know.
Once they had finished asking questions, Xiao Xia said he wanted to inspect the cart used for hauling cloth.
The cart stood in the back courtyard. It was not large, only about the size needed to seat three people, and even piled with cloth it would not be especially heavy. On the way past the stable, Xia Yunzhao saw that high-quality feed had already been prepared inside: tender green grass and even a small basket of fresh fruit.
The large white horse saw the food and refused to go any farther, pulling on the reins as it tried to enter the stable.
Xia Yunzhao let it go in, laughing as he patted it. “All right, then. You can stay here and enjoy yourself from now on. Make sure you work properly for them!”
The white horse snorted. It had never once listened to Xia Yunzhao before, but this time it rubbed its enormous head against him.
The elderly couple paid Xia Yunzhao. He immediately grabbed a handful of the money and stuffed it into Zhong Kai’s hands, saying only that it was his commission.
Zhong Kai wanted to refuse, but in the time it took him to blink, the person in front of him was already gone! He rubbed his eyes, his expression shifting from shock to awe and then to distress. His father was going to scold him again when he got home.
Xia Yunzhao had not expected selling the horse to go so smoothly. It saved him quite a lot of time, so he headed straight for the underground market.
He had shamelessly kept the black robe Du Yan lent him last time, so now he only had to throw it on. He paid the stall fee with practiced ease and walked inside.
Last time, he had been in a hurry and focused entirely on selling his things, so he had not properly explored the market. This time was different. He knew the pills would sell without any need to hawk them, so he could take his time looking around.
The underground market was actually quite large, laid out like the Chinese character 回: four outer streets lined with stalls and shops occupying the center.
Xiao Xia circled the outer stalls. Most of the spirit items were low-level things found on Forsythia Mountain. As for the handful he did not recognize, judging only by the amount of spiritual energy they contained, they were nothing special either.
Sure enough, finding a hidden bargain was not that easy.
Xia Yunzhao was just considering visiting the shops in the center when a commotion suddenly broke out ahead and the crowd began surging toward it.
The moment Xiao Xia realized there was excitement to watch, he adjusted the mask on his face and followed.
The farther he went, the more familiar the place looked. When he spotted the stall selling miscellaneous books, he recognized it instantly. Isn’t this where I set up last time?
Looking again, he saw that his former stall had been taken. The stallholder looked rather familiar too—a bark mask and a pitch-black robe covering him from head to toe. Isn’t that my outfit?
Xiao Xia narrowed his eyes. This person is impersonating me!
He looked again and noticed another cultivator standing in front of the stall. The man wore a gilt mask and a white embroidered cloak made from expensive cloth, with his hood pulled down to conceal him completely as well.
Both men had hidden their faces, but this cultivator’s posture was outrageously arrogant. Arms folded, he looked sideways at the stallholder in a way that made his contempt obvious even without seeing his expression. Xia Yunzhao heard him say, “A toad propping up a table—nothing but stubbornly putting on a show. These days, any random person dares impersonate a pill cultivator. Smear a little powder on a few donkey droppings and you dare call them pills? I was firing up alchemy furnaces before your father even figured out how to play with fire. Understand?”
Xia Yunzhao: …
Fellow Daoist, what a vicious tongue!