Shang Shuangze had said that the technique from the draw suited Xia Yunzhao. Xia Yunzhao’s response was to smile and say, “Oh, get lost.”
What sort of technique was it?
It was called the Diting Art. It heightened hearing and perception, allowing its practitioner to catch the faintest sounds from far away and even sense the emotional fluctuations in a speaker’s voice. In short, it was the ultimate tool for eavesdropping.
And since it dared to take the name of the mythical Diting beast, its abilities went far beyond that. At the highest level, the practitioner could hear sounds from ten thousand li away, and could even hear other people’s thoughts!
That was almost on par with the powers of the mythical beast Diting itself. It was an extraordinarily powerful support technique.
Xia Yunzhao put the technique away, determined to train in it properly during this seclusion. But first, he would become a Level-Three alchemist.
The two of them turned to the final sheet of paper. That was the advantage of a ten-pull: you even got one extra.
This last sheet was something new, unlike anything they had drawn before. Xia Yunzhao glanced at it. “Huh? Is this an information transaction?”
It was a record of information someone had purchased. When someone bought intelligence from an information shop, the transaction was recorded on this kind of sheet, listing the client, the matter investigated, the results, and so on.
The difference was that an information shop ordinarily entered every client as simply “Customer.” On this paper, the client was identified as “Source-Seeking Guest.” It was obviously an alias.
Then Xia Yunzhao read what was written below. He shot to his feet. “…”
There were so many astonishing things that he could not decide what to exclaim about first. He simply pointed at the paper and made Shang Shuangze read it.
Shang Shuangze lowered his eyes to it, and his expression turned serious too. “Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin…”
“What’s wrong?” Xia Yunzhao asked. “Have you heard of it?”
Shang Shuangze looked at him for a long moment before suddenly murmuring, “So that’s how it is…”
The sheet recorded an intelligence purchase. The inquiry was: [The precise whereabouts of the complete cultivation method Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin.]
The findings read: [The complete Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin has been scattered. Its first volume, the Qi-Guiding Origin-Connecting Art, was lost in Linxian Prefecture and later appeared at an auction held by Lingxiao Palace. Its middle volume, the Heaven-and-Earth Qi-Governing Treatise, was lost in Wangjin Sea; subsequent reports indicate that it was placed in the Qianyuan Sect’s Scripture Pavilion. The whereabouts of the final volume, Myriad Transformations Return to the Void, are unknown.]
Only now did Xia Yunzhao realize that the Qi-Guiding Origin-Connecting Art he cultivated was merely the first volume of a larger method. He had always thought it was complete. So that was it! Now everything made sense…
The Qi-Guiding Origin-Connecting Art was already a Yellow-grade cultivation method in its own right. What grade, then, was the complete Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin? Earth-grade? Or perhaps… Heaven-grade?
“It’s an immortal-grade cultivation method,” Shang Shuangze suddenly said.
Xia Yunzhao whipped his head around. “You really have heard of it?”
Shang Shuangze nodded. “Do you know which cultivation methods I practice?”
Xia Yunzhao knew that much. “The Biluo Nine-Turn Art and the Fuli Annihilation Sword?”
Shang Shuangze smiled. “The Fuli Annihilation Sword is the sword art created by the founding patriarch of Baiyujing, so quite a few people know of it. The Biluo Nine-Turn Art, however, is not a Baiyujing method. Because of my unusual constitution, my master sought it out especially for me. It, too, consists of three volumes. The first is the Biluo Nine-Turn Art, the middle is the Taihua Spirit-Nourishing Treatise, and the last is the Taihe Supreme Unity Treatise.”
The more Xia Yunzhao heard, the more familiar it sounded. Then Shang Shuangze smiled and asked, “Do you know the name of the complete method?”
Xia Yunzhao had a sudden inkling. “What?”
“Myriad Phenomena Return to Truth.”
Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin and Myriad Phenomena Return to Truth. The names alone suggested a connection. Perhaps the two were complementary cultivation methods!
Shang Shuangze continued, “Myriad Phenomena Return to Truth is immortal-grade, so Myriad Phenomena Return to Origin may well be of the same grade.”
Xia Yunzhao’s heart surged. “Then what are we waiting for? We’re definitely cultivating this! By the way, where is the Qianyuan Sect? Is their Scripture Pavilion easy to get into?”
Shang Shuangze considered. “The major sects probably only allow their own disciples into their scripture pavilions, except in special circumstances.”
Xia Yunzhao hurriedly asked, “What special circumstances?”
Shang Shuangze shook his head. Baiyujing had kept its mountain gates closed for so many years that neither he nor even his master knew much about the other sects’ current affairs.
In any case, having a lead was better than nothing. Xia Yunzhao had only just formed his Golden Core, and Golden Core cultivators could live for a full five hundred years. They had plenty of time.
Their card draw was over. It was finally time for the two of them to begin their seclusion in earnest.
Xia Yunzhao took out his collection of pill recipes and the notes Xu Ziyu had given him. Something felt forgotten. After thinking for a long time, he slapped his forehead and first pulled out an artifact blueprint.
The Seven-Star Ring.
He had obtained this blueprint ages ago, but without enough materials, it had been gathering dust in his storage pouch. Fortunately, he finally had everything he needed.
Xia Yunzhao brought out the Starfire Iron and the other materials listed in the blueprint. He invoked the Earthfire Art and started refining an artifact before turning to alchemy.
He had refined fewer artifacts than pills, but he had still made plenty. Qingming Pavilion chiefly sold pills, yet a few magical treasures went up for sale each day. Most were side products: whenever Xia Yunzhao became curious about a blueprint or wanted something for himself, he would make a few extras to sell in the shop.
Even so, his artifact-refining skills had grown quite good, and his failure rate was now very low. Well… his first attempt at the Seven-Star Ring failed.
It was a growth-type magical artifact. Although it started at Level One, it was genuinely difficult to refine.
After making a few reassuring excuses to himself, Xia Yunzhao began his second attempt without the slightest burden on his conscience.
This time, he succeeded quickly. Seven rings floated side by side in the air, giving off a faint glow. Each could be used separately or joined with the others.
At Xia Yunzhao’s beckoning, the seven rings flew toward him one after another and struck his forearm with a clear metallic clink.
His physical strength was nothing like it had been before. A year ago, a Level-One magical artifact would have sent him running. Now it felt like a toy in his hands.
After playing with it for a while… no, after inspecting it for a while, Xia Yunzhao brought out the Golden Crow Stone and the Scarlet Sun Star Core and began upgrading the Seven-Star Ring.
The Golden Crow Stone could raise it to Level Two, and the Scarlet Sun Star Core to Level Three.
What else was there to say except thank you to Puppet Gate for its generous contributions?
Xia Yunzhao suspected that there was a fire-attribute spirit mine near Puppet City; otherwise, where had Puppet Gate obtained so much fire-attribute ore? But when he asked Jing Ruyun and the others, none knew anything about one. Even Brother Xing had never heard of it. Either Yan Sikong had kept the secret exceptionally well, or the ore had come from somewhere else.
With a series of ringing blows, the Level-One Seven-Star Ring were soon upgraded to Level Two, then Level Three.
The Level-Three artifact shone brilliantly and looked quite different now. What was more, perhaps because he had made it himself, after he bound it to himself with a drop of blood, controlling it was as easy as moving his own limbs. It felt nothing like using his other artifacts!
He had never used a ring-shaped artifact before, but the moment he picked it up, he instinctively knew what to do. And it worked astonishingly well with his Hundred-Form Palm! It was practically made for him!
The only drawback was how hard the materials for future upgrades would be to find. Reaching Level Four would require three Scarlet Sun Star Cores and one portion of Earth-Core Lava Essence. The star cores were no problem; he still had five. But Earth-Core Lava Essence was a Level-Four material, and much harder to obtain.
Luckily, there was no hurry. Xia Yunzhao made a mental note of it.
With the Seven-Star Ring safely put away, he finally reached the main event of this seclusion: alchemy.
Advancing from a Level-Two alchemist to Level Three required a great deal of practical experience and theoretical knowledge. Why had Xu Ziyu remained at Level Two for so long? Precisely because he had needed to build up experience with pill recipes.
After all, monsters like Xia Yunzhao, who could finish a batch of pills in a quarter of an hour, were rare. For most alchemists, spending several days and nights on a single batch was perfectly normal.
By rights, Xia Yunzhao was already very experienced. Yet he did not immediately start refining Level-Three pills. Confidence was a good thing; blind confidence was arrogance.
He did not even open his Complete Collection of Level-Three Pill Recipes. Instead, he took out the Complete Collection of Level-One Pill Recipes.
That book contained more than three hundred Level-One recipes. He had never learned all of them, only those that interested him or that he could use, perhaps thirty or forty altogether.
Now he started from the first page and learned them one by one.
Five Hundred-Compartment Pouches had already been prepared inside the cave residence, each packed with spirit herbs and medicines specifically for his alchemy practice.
Yun Yi had also received instructions: whenever any medicine below Level Three ripened in the spirit herb garden, he was to harvest it and store it in a Hundred-Compartment Pouch, delivering each pouch as soon as it was full.
For young Alchemist Xia, Level-One recipes presented no difficulty at all. Succeeding on the first attempt had become routine.
By the end of the first day of seclusion, he had learned five recipes.
On the second day, he learned seven.
The third day was even more ridiculous: he learned twenty-five recipes in one go!
He was improving so quickly because he had grasped the underlying principle. A Level-One pill recipe simply involved refining Level-One medicinal plants, then combining their medicinal extracts and spirit liquids into pills. The recipes were all different, but the principles behind them were the same.
Once he understood that, Xia Yunzhao felt a great door swing open in his mind.
On the fifth day, he looked at the collection before him and suddenly swept his hand outward. A hundred sets of different medicinal ingredients flew from the Hundred-Compartment Pouches and into the pill furnace. The Earthfire Art flared up with a whoosh. He was actually trying to refine a hundred different kinds of pills simultaneously, and each recipe was one he had never made before!
This was genuinely risky. Even Xiao Qing seemed to send him a faint, questioning thought: Will that work?
Xia Yunzhao grinned. “Don’t worry. Your master never gambles with money.”
The facts proved he meant it. Half a shichen later, he opened the furnace, and the pills were done!
A hundred batches of pills, each with its own fragrance and effects, flew out in an orderly procession before him so that he could inspect them one by one.
Xia Yunzhao smiled. A hundred different batches, all successfully refined at once. Only now did he feel that he had truly stepped onto the path of an alchemist.
* * *
While City Lord Xia busied himself with secluded alchemy, Qingxi City was by no means entirely peaceful.
After the ordinary townsfolk registered their households, the city buzzed with excitement. People walked through the streets with newfound confidence, feeling as though they had finally gone from being ants to being human beings.
Even the news that City Lord Xia had gone into seclusion did not spoil their good mood. Cultivators went into seclusion all the time, didn’t they? And that was fine. Their young City Lord Xia thought of everything. Even while cultivating in private, he would see to it that they were properly looked after.
Just look at that imposing gentleman who spent his days wandering the streets with a huge saber over his shoulder! The City Lord had appointed him to protect them!
Zhong Yundu had no idea what they were whispering about. If he had known, he would surely have charged over and roared, “That little brat tricked me into this!”
Unfortunately, the good times did not last. Before long, sinister rumors began spreading quietly through the city.
“Have you heard? Qingxi City is so good to mortals because the City Lord is an evil cultivator! He uses mortals to cultivate! That’s why he wants more of them to move here!”
“Good heavens! The City Lord is a man-eating monster…”
“They’re registering households? They’re even recording everyone’s age! He’s picking out the tender ones to eat!”
…
When Jing Ruyun first heard those rumors, her scalp prickled with horror. What if the people of Qingxi City actually believed such nonsense?
She hurried to find Zhong Yundu, taking Wei Xuening and Ying Yanyu with her. The moment she entered, she shouted, “Something terrible has happened, Elder Zhong! There are vicious rumors circulating through the city!”
Zhong Yundu developed a headache whenever he saw her these days. He pointed to the space opposite him, signaling that she should stand still and give a proper report.
The three members of the guard detail stood ramrod straight and took turns reporting to him.
Wei Xuening was calmer. She analyzed the situation. “The rumors are spreading so fast that someone must be fanning the flames. It may be the person backing Bu Zuoren.”
Xia Yunzhao had earlier ordered them to interrogate Bu Zuoren about who had sent him. After questioning him all night, they had extracted an answer, but Bu Zuoren knew very little. In fact, had Xia Yunzhao not raised the possibility, he would never have realized he had been sent at all.
According to him, while his companions were discussing ways to cause trouble in Qingxi City, a cultivator had approached them, saying he had a magical treasure but urgently needed money. Did they want to buy it? Bu Zuoren had asked for details and learned that it was supposedly a Level-Two treasure that could teleport someone five thousand li. The price was high, but he decided to buy it. He even made a point of confirming that it would work anywhere, including inside cities protected by formations.
Only after buying it and binding it with his blood did he discover that the treasure was not Level Two at all, but Level Three. Not only could he teleport himself, he could take other people along, and it consumed very little spiritual power. He had been delighted, thinking he had secured an incredible bargain.
By that point, not only Jing Ruyun and Wei Xuening but even Yu Fanyang and Xue Lingtao could tell that Bu Zuoren had been set up. Unfortunately, he had no idea who the seller was. The person wore a black magical robe that completely concealed their spiritual fluctuations and aura. He could not even tell whether they were a man or a woman.
Ever since that interrogation, the group had been on edge, afraid that the hidden figure would strike again. To them, the present rumors were surely another of that person’s schemes.
When Zhong Yundu said nothing, Jing Ruyun hurriedly suggested, “Elder Zhong, why don’t you set up a Heart-Discernment Dharma Seal around Qingxi City? Then we’ll detect anyone with evil intentions the moment they enter!”
Zhong Yundu: “…”
He raised his head in disbelief. “Do you have any idea how big a circuit around Qingxi City is? Why don’t you just put a plow on me and make me till the fields while you’re at it?”
Ying Yanyu laughed. “You even know about plows and tilling fields? I only learned about those things from Fanyang.”
Zhong Yundu pointed at her indignantly. “Learn something decent from your City Lord for once! All you ever pick up is his smart mouth!”
Ying Yanyu stuck out her tongue and did not dare say another word.
Wei Xuening asked, “Then what do you think we should do?”
Zhong Yundu thought for a moment. “What are the townspeople saying?”
The townspeople?
The three exchanged glances. What else could the townspeople be saying? The rumors were vivid and detailed. Surely they believed them?
Zhong Yundu shook his head. “That little rascal Xia Yunzhao is wicked, but he’s clever. Haven’t you noticed? He’s hardly been City Lord for any time at all, yet the mortals of Qingxi City are already nothing like the mortals in other cities. Rumors like these might work elsewhere, but here? Not necessarily…”
The three guards were quick-witted, and they nodded. “To be fair, if it were another city, no one might even bother spreading rumors like this.” Other city lords did not care what mortals thought. If rumors started, they could simply kill the people repeating them.
Zhong Yundu laughed heartily. “Exactly! This is a case of someone outsmarting themselves. They know Little Xia values mortals, so they spread rumors among mortals. But what do the mortals think of Little Xia? Will they really believe this stuff?”
Now the three women were curious. Could it be that mortals would refuse to believe the rumors simply because they trusted their City Lord? They could hardly wait to go out and see for themselves.
They hurriedly took their leave, only for Zhong Yundu to call after them, “Oh, and tomorrow I plan to sleep. Don’t come looking for me. If anything happens, find Du Yan.”
Jing Ruyun turned back at once. “But what if Senior Du is sleeping too…?”
Zhong Yundu stared up at the ceiling. “Tell him Little Xia has been set up. I guarantee he’ll get up before taking another sip of wine.”
Jing Ruyun: “…” To be perfectly candid, Senior Du was the one who had taught them to shout “Something terrible has happened!” whenever they came to find Zhong Yundu. Perhaps they should suggest that, next time the City Lord secluded himself, he leave someone a little more diligent in charge…
After leaving the City Lord’s residence, the three women exchanged looks and realized they were thinking the same thing. They headed straight for a teahouse.
Deep down, they remained doubtful. It was not that they looked down on mortals. But mortals were timid, that was a fact, and they knew very little about the affairs of cultivators, which was another fact. How could they distinguish rumor from truth?
Take the Demon-Warding Pills, for example. The story about them was true, yet plenty of mortals had never seen one for themselves. They had merely heard about the pills and believed the reports without question. There was another consideration too: in the eyes of mortals, the “great lords” who cultivated really were capable of atrocities like these!
Xia Yunzhao had been City Lord for only a few months. Could that truly overcome the fear and distrust of cultivators that mortals had carried for countless generations?
“Out! We don’t want your business! Get lost!”
The three had barely reached the entrance to a modest teahouse when they encountered a commotion. Its usually friendly, portly proprietor looked positively ferocious as he drove a stranger out. Other people on the street had noticed, too, and a crowd was gathering to watch.
One glance made the three women frown. This stranger was no mortal. He was a cultivator! Only barely at the first stage of Qi Refining, admittedly, but if a fight started, the proprietor would be in serious trouble.
They quickly pushed their way through the crowd.
The cultivator was shouting, “You’re nothing but a mortal, and you dare throw me out? I’ll…” He raised a hand, ready to strike!
The proprietor did not even try to dodge. Instead, he bellowed, “So what if I throw you out? I refuse to serve you! You came into my shop to slander our City Lord. The only reason I haven’t beaten you senseless is that you’re a cultivator and I can’t win! Bah! I feel dirty just letting you through my door! What, you’re going to hit me? Slap me today, and tomorrow the officers of our city guard will chop off one of your hands! Who’s afraid of you?”
Despite the tense atmosphere, Jing Ruyun nearly laughed. She called out, “We’re not quite that terrifying.”
Ying Yanyu was livelier and knew the mortal residents better. Most shopkeepers in the marketplace recognized her, so she raised her voice too. “You won’t have to wait until tomorrow. We’re already here! What’s going on?”
Wei Xuening gave her a look, and Ying Yanyu understood immediately, stepping between the proprietor and the cultivator. Behind her, Wei Xuening and Jing Ruyun seized and twisted the man’s arms, pressing him to his knees before he could resist. He opened his mouth to shout, but Wei Xuening stuffed a mass of spiritual energy into it. His mouth and throat were packed so tightly that he dared not open his jaws again for fear his head would explode.
Judging by their practiced movements, they had done this many times before.
Only then did the gathered mortals react, cheering, “Our city guard officers really are amazing!”
“Of course they are! When it comes to catching wicked cultivators, nobody beats Qingxi City’s guards!”
Their praise left the three women a little embarrassed. They waved it off, and someone called out, “Old Fatty, what’s this about slandering our City Lord? Tell us what happened. Is it that rumor that’s been going around?”
Seeing that Ying Yanyu and the other townspeople wanted to know, the proprietor cleared his throat and shouted, “This stranger was yelling those rumors in my teahouse! Saying our City Lord cultivates with mortals and eats human flesh! Pah! Listen here. Last month, my old mother fell gravely ill. I went all over the city with fistfuls of silver, begging every physician to save her, and they all told me there was nothing they could do! At last an elderly physician said that if there was truly no other way, I ought to go to Qingming Pavilion and beg for an immortal pill!”
Cries of sympathy rose from the crowd. Someone whispered that they had indeed seen the proprietor crying several times the previous month, though they had never imagined the reason was so dreadful. Others remembered that there had been no funeral at his home and knew the story must have more to it. They urged him to go on.
“Of course I wanted to! But this isn’t some grand teahouse. Cultivator lords don’t come here for tea! I earn silver and copper coins, not spirit pearls. How could I buy an immortal pill? Still, I thought I’d make one last desperate try. If I could buy even a little residue from an immortal pill, it would be worth something. So I swallowed my pride and went into Qingming Pavilion.”
The listeners were riveted. An older woman clapped her hands in surprise. “My goodness! You actually went inside Qingming Pavilion?”
“Sure did!” The portly proprietor was practically spraying spittle. “And do you know what young Shopkeeper Li told me? He said, ‘Our City Lord has given orders. If common folk come seeking medicine for an illness, we accept gold and silver, and we accept copper coins too. We can even barter goods for medicine. If you don’t have the money, write an IOU. Treating the illness comes first!’ Listen to that, neighbors! I started crying right then and there. ‘Treating the illness comes first!’ Have any of you ever heard another City Lord say a thing like that?”
The proprietor was an emotional fellow, and tears gathered in his eyes as he went on. “I traded for two immortal pills for my mother. She took them, and today she’s well enough to get out of bed and sit in the sunshine! You rotten cultivator!” He spat at the man kneeling helpless and silent on the ground. “And you say our City Lord uses people to cultivate? That he eats humans? Pah! If the City Lord ate people, I’d be the first to offer myself up for him to eat!”
The cultivator shrank back sharply. He had actually been cowed by a mortal’s glare. Not that anyone could blame him: the man looked ready to come over and take a bite out of him…
The crowd burst into laughter, and someone joked, “Our City Lord wouldn’t eat you! You’re far too greasy!”
“Exactly! Ha ha! I’ve seen our City Lord. He’s practically an immortal descended from heaven! Even if he doesn’t subsist on flowers and dew, he surely has delicate tastes. Why would he eat a person?”
The three guards exchanged glances, remembering how their City Lord had spent New Year’s clutching a pork hock and gnawing it with grease all over his mouth. All three fell silent.
Well… he certainly didn’t eat people. But as for meat, he ate plenty of that!
The residents began cheerfully inviting one another into the teahouse to continue chatting. The proprietor even announced that tea would be free today, all in the hope that their City Lord would emerge from seclusion soon and teach those ill-intentioned scoundrels a lesson.
The three women exchanged another look. So the people of Qingxi City really hadn’t believed the rumors…