Xiao Qing had changed completely. Originally, it had been nothing more than a rusty, palm-sized old pill furnace that looked as though it had just been dug out of the earth. Now it stood nearly half a person tall, every trace of rust gone, all its inscriptions exposed. Yet if one tried to examine the inscriptions closely, they seemed veiled behind a layer of mist and remained impossible to make out clearly.
Not only that, Xia Yunzhao could sense that some new connection had formed between him and Xiao Qing. With a thought, he lifted a hand. Xiao Qing flew up, shrinking inch by inch until it landed in his palm at its former size.
He lifted his hand again, and Xiao Qing vanished. Inside the qi sea of his dantian appeared a miniature blue-green pill furnace.
Understanding dawned on Xia Yunzhao. “Xiao Qing became my lifebound magical artifact?”
“Exactly.” Shang Shuangze turned his hand over and Mingyun appeared in it. With another motion, Mingyun vanished again. “Only a lifebound magical artifact can be stored within the qi sea. It is nourished by its master’s cultivation and essence blood and grows together with its master. If the lifebound magical artifact is damaged, its master will be injured as well.”
Xiao Qing bounced inside his qi sea, and a vague meaning reached him: A sturdy thing like me won’t get damaged!
Xia Yunzhao thought this was pretty convenient. From now on, whenever he went out, he could simply store Xiao Qing in his qi sea. Before, he could only tuck it inside his clothes and worry about losing it by accident.
Over the next few days, life in the valley settled down.
Well… not exactly settled down.
There was now a Crimson-Cloud Brocadefish in the valley, along with a Level-Four magical treasure spirit, plus Xiao Qing, Xianchan, and Mingyun. From morning until night, peace was almost impossible.
Sometimes Xia Yunzhao felt genuinely sorry for Yun Yi. It now had to care for the spirit plants, break up fights, fish cats out of water, and stop the valley formations from being damaged… especially by a certain unnamed four-pawed furry creature that spent every day tearing around the valley with its tiny tail held high, afraid of nothing. Even getting shocked by the defensive formation disk several times had not taught it a lesson.
Sometimes Xia Yunzhao felt anxious just watching it. How was he supposed to explain this to Xianchan’s mother if she ever came back? He had somehow raised her kitten into a little fool.
On the third day, it was time for the secret-realm core to flare up again.
Xia Yunzhao was already thoroughly familiar with the cold that suddenly flooded through him. He skillfully cast the Earthfire Art, lit a campfire, wrapped himself in the cloak made from Fire Rat King fur, and lay down on the bed.
He waited quietly for the pain to arrive.
Shang Shuangze walked in.
Shivering, Xia Yunzhao still managed to joke, “D-don’t waste this f-fire. We might as well roast a fish while we’re at it?”
Heart aching, Shang Shuangze stroked his forehead and wiped away the cold sweat beading there. Then he opened one hand, revealing a little golden bead in his palm.
Xia Yunzhao laughed. “A g-gift for me? Why are you giving me a g-gold bean…” He reached out with two fingers to pinch it, but missed. The golden bead seemed almost alive as it dodged away.
Xia Yunzhao made a surprised sound. “What is this?”
Wrapped in the furry Fire-Rat cloak, Xia Yunzhao looked like one enormous bundle of fluff. Shang Shuangze embraced him from behind and let him lean back against his chest. Pressing a thumb lightly against his lips, he rubbed them once and said softly, “Open your mouth.”
Xia Yunzhao parted his lips instinctively, and the golden bead flew into his mouth on its own.
At once, spiritual power as gentle as warm water and a spring breeze seeped out from the golden bead in fine strands, gradually spreading throughout his body, soaking into every damaged meridian and slowly nourishing them.
The agony of his meridians being repeatedly ground apart vanished all at once. Before Xia Yunzhao could even ask a question, he slowly fell asleep.
Shang Shuangze continued holding him quietly, as though he were cradling the most precious treasure in the world and could not bear to let go for even a moment.
* * *
With the help of the Nine-Turn Nascent-Soul Condensing Dew, the secret-realm core’s flare-ups were no longer difficult to endure.
Xia Yunzhao knew that this had to be an extraordinarily precious spirit medicine. So the last time Shang Shuangze returned to his sect, he had actually gone there to obtain medicine for him.
Xia Yunzhao did not know what Shang Shuangze had needed to give his sect in exchange for it. Perhaps his elders doted on him and had asked for nothing. But this medicine had been used on Xia Yunzhao, so naturally he would not treat it as something he was simply entitled to receive.
Love extended to everything connected with the person one loved. Since he loved his Dao companion, he naturally had to consider how his Dao companion’s elders might feel. At the moment, however, his cultivation was still comparatively low, so there was only so much he could offer in return.
And so he began seriously studying the materials Xiao Qing had produced in its ten-pull.
He could not cultivate right now, nor could he refine pills or artifacts. In short, aside from fighting, it was better not to use spiritual power for anything else.
That left studying.
The more he studied, the more he realized once again that Xiao Qing was absolutely no ordinary thing.
Take the complete pill-recipe collections from the latest pull. Complete Collection of Level-One Pill Recipes alone contained three hundred recipes. Complete Collection of Level-Two Pill Recipes contained two hundred. And Complete Collection of Level-Three Pill Recipes was even more outrageous, containing a full one hundred and fifty Level-Three pill recipes!
The number did not sound enormous at first glance, but these were Level-Three pill recipes, meant for Golden Core and above. One hundred and fifty of them?
There might not even be one hundred and fifty commonly known Level-Three pills in the entire cultivation world!
And that was not even counting Essentials of Pill-Art Cultivation, Miscellaneous Talks on Artifact Refining, and the rest…
It was practically an entire custom-made curriculum designed just for him.
Xia Yunzhao studied and studied until he buried himself completely in it, drifting through an ocean of knowledge and unable to pull himself free.
Conveniently, Yunjiangguan’s kill order against him had not yet been withdrawn, and his physical condition did not suit traveling anyway. So he stayed home and went into proper seclusion for several months.
After those months passed, the Nine-Turn Nascent-Soul Condensing Dew had been completely used up. Fortunately, the spiritual power of the secret-realm core had been exhausted as well.
The torment that had returned every few days finally ended, and Xia Yunzhao’s meridians and constitution had been transformed completely.
At dawn, the valley, quiet through the night, could hardly wait to become lively again.
Xianchan stood beside the pool, both eyes fixed brightly on the water. Suddenly, a red fish tail surfaced. It instantly swiped at it with one paw. Naturally, it failed to catch anything and instead got sprayed full in the face by the splash from the fish’s tail.
The Crimson-Cloud Brocadefish turned around beneath the water, lifted its head, and rolled its eyes at the kitten in open disdain.
Elsewhere, the magical treasure spirit was obediently spreading spiritual energy through the spirit field. Xiao Qing, newly awake from a satisfying sleep, bounced out from who knew where and headbutted it aside. The spirit floated down with a plop, while Xiao Qing puffed out its round belly and stretched: Refreshed!
Treasure spirit: QAQ
Yun Yi dried the kitten, soothed the Crimson-Cloud Brocadefish, propped up the spirit plants that had been knocked over, then fished the magical treasure spirit back up… the only member of the household that actually worked.
At that moment, a wind began blowing through the valley. It was no ordinary wind. What it swept up was not air, but spiritual energy. Then the wind grew stronger and stronger, taking the form of a tornado that continued expanding.
The spiritual energy of the entire valley, even the entire mountain range, was drawn toward this place!
Countless clouds of spiritual energy surged into the valley like a whale swallowing the sea, then poured into the cave residence nearby.
White clouds churned overhead, actually twisting into the shape of a vast vortex.
Inside the cave residence, Xia Yunzhao sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, surrounded by dense spiritual energy.
The very last trace of spiritual power from the secret-realm core had been absorbed. His meridians were now broad as great rivers. Endless spiritual energy flowed into him like ten thousand streams returning to the sea, while the qi sea in his dantian had widened into something like a deep ocean, vast beyond measure.
The spiritual power stored in his dantian was so abundant that any cultivator of the same realm would despair at the sight.
The five hundred thousand spirit pearls he had prepared in advance had long since been consumed, leaving only a trace of powder, yet spiritual energy from the outside world continued pouring toward him.
The phenomenon had already drawn the attention of the entire Liancui Mountain Range. A few ill-intentioned cultivators rolled their eyes and started toward the valley, but in the next instant the phenomenon disappeared.
Xia Yunzhao opened his eyes. They were bright and lively. A faint seven-colored radiance surfaced within them before gradually fading away without anyone noticing.
He opened one hand, clenched it into a fist, then opened it again. Amazed, he said, “I feel like my spiritual-power recovery speed is ten times faster than before!”
A hand reached over beside him, caught his pale fingertips, and enclosed them within a larger palm. Feeling the immense spiritual power surging beneath that seemingly delicate skin, Shang Shuangze sighed. “At least all that suffering wasn’t for nothing.”
Xia Yunzhao laughed. “This is such a good thing. How did it turn into ‘suffering’ the moment you said it?”
He stood up and glanced outside. The spirit plants beyond the cave were coated in thick frost. “Whoa. It’s winter already? What month is it now?”
Cultivation knew no passing years. Naturally, cultivators were not in the habit of knowing such things offhand… Fortunately, everyone knew how to calculate them. Shang Shuangze counted on his fingers. “It’s already the eleventh lunar month.”
“Time really passed fast.” Xia Yunzhao thought about it. When he had first arrived in this world, it had been early spring. Now nearly an entire year had gone by. He was about to celebrate his first New Year in this world.
“Come on, come on, let’s go out and see if anything interesting happened!” Xia Yunzhao grabbed Shang Shuangze and ran outside. This seclusion had lasted longer than any before it, and he was nearly going stir-crazy.
Shang Shuangze let himself be pulled to his feet.
Xia Yunzhao even complained that he was too slow. “Hurry up! Look at you. If you don’t love this teeming mortal world, what’s the point of cultivating immortality? Are you going to hide in the wilderness forever, drinking wind and eating snow?”
Shang Shuangze stood, his snow-white robes falling smoothly around him. He smiled. “I do love it.”
Perhaps he had not before. But now, through one person’s eyes, he had already seen the countless colors of the mortal world and all the people living within it.
Neither man’s cultivation could still be compared to what it had once been, and their speed was much faster now. Shang Shuangze in particular could make it from the valley to Qingxi City in less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea if he went all out.
They reached Qingxi City very quickly. The city was lively today as well.
What was different from before was that there were noticeably more cultivators in the city.
Everyone knew that a new shop had opened in Qingxi City, right where Fangcun Pavilion used to be. Compared with the old Fangcun Pavilion, the range of pills and magical artifacts it carried was simply heaven and earth apart.
The pills were especially impressive. Not only were there many varieties, their quality was exceptionally high. The shop sold only mid-grade and low-grade pills, yet their medicinal effect was stronger than other pill cultivators’ high-grade pills.
Quite a few cultivators had come to Qingxi City specifically for this shop. Unfortunately, purchases of both pills and magical artifacts were limited, and the quantity released each day only ever seemed to go down, never up. Many people had been forced to hire someone to keep watch at the shop for them.
Xia Yunzhao had disguised himself before entering the city, so he was not worried about Yunjiangguan’s kill order. But once inside, he discovered that hardly anyone was discussing the kill order anymore. Instead, everyone seemed to be talking about the new shop.
He suddenly made an “ah” sound, slapped his hands together, and groaned in annoyance. “I forgot to make a signboard for the shop!”
Seeing how foolishly he had managed to slap his own forehead red, Shang Shuangze rubbed the spot for him. “Shall we go back, make one, and return?”
Xia Yunzhao thought for a moment. “That’s not worth another trip… Come on, let’s go order one from the carpenter’s shop!”
With that, he dragged Shang Shuangze toward the west side of the city.
Fangcun Pavilion’s old signboard had naturally been taken down, but no new plaque had been hung in its place, so the shop still did not have a name.
At present, people simply called it “that new shop.” The locals of Qingxi City called it “Lord Xiao Xia’s place.”
It was rather strange. Mortals and cultivators lived in the same city, yet there was a chasm between their lives. Forget friendship; even news rarely passed between the two groups. Mortals did not even know how cultivation realms were divided. As far as they were concerned, every cultivator was simply addressed as “lord.”
Yet news about Xia Yunzhao spread through Qingxi City remarkably quickly.
Previously, Xia Yunzhao had fought those wicked outside cultivators precisely so the townspeople would not be forced to swallow pills that “cost thirty years of lifespan.” Word of that incident had spread through the entire city almost immediately.
The common people did not understand much else, but they had personally witnessed the enormous Kunyuan Xutu Seal hanging over the city and nearly crushing them all beneath it.
Storytellers had even turned the event into tales, and the stories were quite popular. Even children had heard them.
So although most residents of Qingxi City could not name other cultivators, they had definitely heard the names “Xia Yunzhao” and “Lord Xiao Xia.” It was fortunate Xia Yunzhao had disguised himself today, or he would probably have received a few “surprises.”
Xia Yunzhao and Shang Shuangze reached the carpenter’s shop in the west of the city. The carpenters inside were still working with their heads down in complete silence. Xia Yunzhao walked toward the back as though he knew the place by heart and soon found a familiar-looking attendant.
The attendant jumped when he saw him, only relaxing after Xia Yunzhao introduced himself. Then he went inside to report his arrival.
Before long, Qiu Cang emerged wearing that same gloomy face that made him look like a villain at first glance. A tiny wooden person was sitting on his shoulder, beating a little drum in time with each step he took.
Once Qiu Cang entered the room, he stared at Shang Shuangze for several moments, then looked at Xia Yunzhao. His brows rose. After a pause, he slowly said, “That talent really is enough to make a person jealous.”
Xia Yunzhao waved at him. “Old Qiu, long time no see. I came to order a signboard.” His hands, naturally, refused to stay idle. He plucked the little wooden person off Qiu Cang’s shoulder and began playing with it.
Qiu Cang gave an “oh,” then asked about the dimensions, lettering, and other details. At moments like this, it was easy to remember that he truly was an experienced carpenter. He was quite professional.
Xia Yunzhao answered each question. When they reached the shop name, he glanced back at Shang Shuangze. “What should we call it? I want both your name and mine included somehow.”
The corners of Shang Shuangze’s mouth curved slightly, sweetness entering his smile.
In one breath Xia Yunzhao came up with names like “Xia-Shang,” “Cloud-Frost,” and “Zhao-Ze,” but none sounded very good. After thinking a little longer, he said, “How about Qingming Pavilion?”
Qing from Xiao Qing, and Ming from Mingyun. They were the lifebound magical artifacts of the two of them.
Elio’s Notes: The shop name 青明轩, Qingming Pavilion, is built from the Qing in Xiao Qing (小青) and the Ming in Mingyun (明云), not from the Qingming Festival.
Shang Shuangze was hardly going to object. He immediately nodded.
And just like that, the shop finally had a name.
Qiu Cang wrote out the order and sent someone to make it. Then he stared at Xia Yunzhao again. He stared long enough that Xia Yunzhao was starting to feel uneasy before suddenly giving a wicked grin. “Want to see a letter?”
Xia Yunzhao realized that the staring just now had apparently been another one of Qiu Cang’s “jokes.” Speechless, he asked, “What letter?”
“My letter.” Qiu Cang unfolded a sheet of paper and slid it across the table.
Xia Yunzhao picked it up and moved closer to Shang Shuangze so they could read it together.
He did not know who had written the letter to Qiu Cang, but it was extremely detailed and recorded exactly what Xing Wenyu had been doing over the past few months.
Xia Yunzhao read it from beginning to end, then exchanged a look with Shang Shuangze. Both saw the same confusion and surprise in the other’s eyes. “Brother Xing attacked the small families subordinate to the Puppet Gate?”
The Puppet Gate had once been a Nascent Soul-level power. Although not as large as Yunjiangguan, it had still been formidable. At its peak, more than ten small sects and families had been subordinate to it. Later, when Yan Sikong’s cultivation fell to Golden Core, the Puppet Gate’s power naturally shrank step by step until only three subordinate factions remained.
Over the past few months, Xing Wenyu and Zhong Yundu had taken down two of those three.
According to the letter, neither of the two small families had been anything good. Relying on the Puppet Gate’s backing, they had tyrannized others and committed every kind of wrongdoing. Mortals hated them, and even the cultivators nearby despised them to the bone.
After Xing Wenyu destroyed them, no one dared say so openly, but many people celebrated in secret.
Xia Yunzhao felt delighted and worried at the same time. “Brother Xing has no cultivation right now, and Zhong Yundu is only one person. Won’t the Puppet Gate retaliate against them?”
“The Puppet Gate doesn’t have the attention to spare.” Qiu Cang brought over another sheet of paper, densely covered in tiny writing. “No one dares drag their feet under the Wentian Order. The Puppet Gate is busy dealing with demonic qi appearing again and again.”
Xia Yunzhao took the paper and looked it over. He exclaimed, “Your information is really detailed! Before, whenever I wanted information I had to go to the information shop. If I’d known you had all this, I would’ve come straight to you. Where did you get it?”
Qiu Cang said, “Bought it from the information shop.”
Xia Yunzhao: .
After reading the rest, Xia Yunzhao frowned. “Demonic qi keeps erupting? There have been more than forty incidents near the Puppet Gate in just the last two months?”
Shang Shuangze remembered the gray mist rolling beneath Baiyujing’s front hall. His voice grew grave. “A demonic-qi tide is coming.”
Xia Yunzhao froze. “A demonic-qi tide?”
Shang Shuangze nodded and thought about how best to explain it. “Demonic qi comes from the desires, distracting thoughts, and malice of living beings. As long as life still exists in this world, demonic qi will never disappear. It only recedes and returns like the tide, again and again. Now is the time for demonic qi to surge back once more.”
“So that’s how it works…” Xia Yunzhao nodded.
Qiu Cang had lowered his head and was writing something. He muttered, “First time I’ve heard that explanation…”
Xia Yunzhao was absorbed in thought and had grown absent-minded even while playing with the little wooden person. The tiny figure quietly climbed down from his palm and tried to sneak back toward its owner. Shang Shuangze caught it by the scruff of its neck, brought it back, and placed it into Xia Yunzhao’s palm.
Little wooden person: QAQ
Only when the attendant ran in to announce that the signboard was finished did Xia Yunzhao come back to himself. “That fast?”
The attendant smiled. “You said you needed it urgently, so we made yours first. Take a look and see if anything needs changing.”
With a gesture from him, two wooden people came in carrying a thick, imposing signboard.
Xia Yunzhao thought, No wonder I only ever see one attendant in this whole residence. So all the rest have been replaced by wooden people.
He looked at the signboard. Three large blue-green characters were carved across a black background. The cuts were obviously fresh, yet the overall effect was elegant and antiquated. Xia Yunzhao was beyond satisfied. Good thing they had come here to have it made. If he and Shang Shuangze had tried doing it themselves, it definitely would not have turned out this beautiful. At best, they could have claimed it was “meaningful.”
After paying, they stored the signboard and hurried toward the shop.
Before they were even close, they saw a crowd gathered outside the entrance. Xia Yunzhao was startled at first and thought something had happened, but once he approached he realized everyone was simply standing in line.
The queue twisted and wound like the flowing strokes of cursive calligraphy, yet somehow remained orderly. Everyone was a cultivator, after all. They all knew perfectly well who had arrived first.
Xia Yunzhao wondered why everyone was lining up outside instead of going in. He looked through the doorway and saw Xiao Li diligently wiping things down inside, yet refusing to let anyone enter.
A tall, thin cultivator near the front noticed that the two of them had just arrived. He yawned and said, “Here to buy pills? Wait. They’ll open in another two hours.”
Xia Yunzhao calculated the time. That would already be afternoon. “Why do they open so late?”
The tall cultivator immediately became furious, then lowered his voice warily. “It’s all Wandan Hall’s fault!”
Xia Yunzhao listened with great interest.
The tall cultivator glanced around and whispered, “Ever since this shop opened, Wandan Hall’s business has gotten worse and worse, so they started sending people over every day to cause trouble. They never actually got the upper hand, mind you… Later, the shop announced that it would only sell a limited number of pills each day, but Wandan Hall still wasn’t satisfied. After that, the owner of this nameless little shop probably got fed up, so they limited both quantity and hours. Now they only sell for four hours every afternoon.”
The tall cultivator held up two fingers, his expression full of regret and pain.
The “owner of this nameless little shop” took on a complicated expression.
Xia Yunzhao genuinely had not known that the shop had limited both quantity and hours, but it was probably Xu Ziyu’s or Du Yan’s idea.
As for the reason… it definitely had nothing to do with Wandan Hall.
Three Yunjiangguan cultivators had come to the city and all three had been killed. It would have counted as courageous if Wandan Hall’s Shopkeeper Zhao had merely refrained from dropping to his knees and begging for mercy. Xia Yunzhao did not believe he would still dare come after him.
The real reason was probably much simpler: the shop was running out of pills.
Xia Yunzhao had been unable to refine pills during this period. Aside from the portion supplied by Xu Ziyu, most of what the shop was selling came from Xia Yunzhao’s old stock.
He refined pills quickly, but they sold quickly too. He had never built up an enormous reserve to begin with. After selling for several months, the stock had naturally hit the bottom, so of course they had been forced to restrict both quantity and hours.
If he still had not recovered, then after a little while they would probably have had to lower the daily quota again. Maybe eventually they would only sell for one hour each day.
Fortunately, he had recovered now. And after being tempered over and over by the secret-realm core, both his meridians and constitution had improved enormously. Although he had not tested it yet, Xia Yunzhao had a feeling that not only had his cultivation speed improved, his pill-refining speed must have increased too… Of course, the rate at which he burned through spirit pearls had probably increased right along with it.
Sigh!
Fortunately, he owned his own shop now and could earn money directly. No middleman taking a cut!
Thinking that, he patted the tall cultivator he had been talking to and consoled him. “Don’t worry. In a few days, the shop won’t have purchase limits anymore.”
The tall cultivator looked at him weakly and pointed at his own face. “Brother, I thought the same thing a month ago. But look at these dark circles under my eyes. I’ve been lining up for a whole month! I just want to buy a Dew-Condensing Pill. Why is this so difficult?!”
Xia Yunzhao thought, Sorry, brother. Tomorrow I’ll refine Dew-Condensing Pills!
Behind him, Shang Shuangze let out a quiet laugh.
Xia Yunzhao shot him a look. “No laughing!”
Shang Shuangze hurriedly schooled his expression, though his eyes were still full of amusement.
Xia Yunzhao huffed and turned to walk forward. The tall cultivator, who had just been calling him brother, immediately blocked him. “No cutting the line!”
The phrase “cutting the line” was evidently extremely sensitive to everyone nearby. All at once, every head turned in their direction.
Xia Yunzhao said helplessly, “I’m not cutting… No, I’m not even lining up. Let me through. I’m the owner of this shop!”
The tall cultivator shook his head. “That won’t work, brother. I tried that trick before. Don’t be fooled just because the shop attendant is a mortal. He knows who his owner is.”
Xia Yunzhao: “…” You’ve got quite a repertoire of tricks.
He said, “I really am… Forget it. Looking at you, I can tell you won’t believe me.” With a shift of his feet, he slipped cleanly past the man’s attempt to block him.
The tall cultivator froze. He was at the tenth layer of Qi Refining himself. How had the other man vanished from in front of him in the blink of an eye?
He blinked again. The white-robed cultivator behind them had vanished too.
The tall cultivator stared, rubbed his eyes, and only then realized belatedly that both cultivators were probably far above him in cultivation.
He was still feeling uneasy when a commotion rose from the front. Buying pills was more important than anything else, so he craned his neck to look.
He saw the person he had just blocked raise a hand. In the blank space above the entrance to the nameless shop, a signboard appeared, bearing three large characters: Qingming Pavilion.
The cultivator whose face was ordinary except for an unusually lively pair of eyes cupped his hands toward the visitors on all sides and smiled. “Today Qingming Pavilion hangs its signboard and formally opens for business. Thank you all for coming to support us.”
The tall cultivator sucked in a sharp breath. He really was the shop owner!
Tears immediately streamed down his face. Damn it! He had stood there chatting nonsense with the shop owner for ages and never once thought to beg him for a bottle of pills! What a wasted opportunity! Heaven had wronged him!