A fifth-rank spiritual bird sped through the air.
On this trip to the Desolate Snow Icefield, Xu Ziqing had not only found Southern Melting Extreme Water but also reunited with an old friend, putting one long-standing concern to rest. Before he left, Yuezheng Hezhi and Zhuang Wei had presented him and Yun Lie with a storage ring as a wedding gift. Xu Ziqing thought it over and realized that Yuezheng Hezhi was also using the gift to repay him for Flesh Upon Bones, so he accepted.
After their departure, Xu Ziqing extended his spiritual sense inside the ring. He found numerous jade bottles and boxes, each containing seeds or seedlings of different kinds. There was also a booklet identifying their origins and uses as mature plants. A brief look told him that Yuezheng Hezhi had arranged for seeds from nearly every plant species on the icefield to be gathered. The thoughtfulness of the gesture was remarkable.
Several other unusual objects gave off biting cold, apparently rare ice-attribute treasures.
Xu Ziqing suspected that the ice treasures were Zhuang Wei’s original wedding gifts, while the seeds represented what Zhuang Wei had exchanged in return for Flesh Upon Bones.
More than half a month later, Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie returned to the Zhou Tian Immortal Sect.
There were still a few days left before their three-month deadline, so the two visited the Hall of Myriad Treasures and the Hall of Myriad Merits again.
Because Xu Ziqing had collected a fair amount of Southern Melting Extreme Water, he took out a bottle and traded it for rare seeds at the Hall of Myriad Treasures. At the Hall of Myriad Merits, however, he found no new information about the other divine waters. Disappointed though he was, he supplemented the existing information about Southern Melting Extreme Water. If another disciple needed this type of water in the future, the additional details ought to make the search easier.
With that done, the two left the halls.
He now possessed four kinds of divine water. One more would complete the True-One Divine Water, restore vitality to the Sumeru Mustard Seed, and allow him to use their fusion to open the initial form of his Minor Cosmos. Then he could overcome his bottleneck, deepen his accumulated cultivation, and perhaps glimpse an opportunity to form his Nascent Soul.
But he still had no idea where to find the final kind.
While he was thinking, Yun Lie said, “Let’s go over there.”
Xu Ziqing looked up. Beyond the Hall of Myriad Treasures, countless streets filled a deep valley. Where his senior brother pointed, there were markets, shops, and stalls. He suddenly understood.
He had been looking at the problem too narrowly. The Hall of Myriad Treasures and Hall of Myriad Merits had the immense resources of the sect behind them, but that did not mean the surrounding streets held nothing useful. The world was full of treasures, and the Zhou Tian Immortal Sect contained countless people, mountain domains, and factions. Why would all of them hand every resource they obtained over to the sect? Some might possess unusual items they had no immediate use for and offer them privately in trade.
Since the sect’s official channels had yielded nothing, Xu Ziqing could try these less conventional avenues.
And if fortune favored them…
He smiled. “All right. Let’s do as you suggest, Senior Brother.”
Neither was inclined to procrastinate, so they began searching the marketplaces and shops.
Such trading centers often had elders backing them, or were jointly operated by subordinate outer-sect clans and families alongside the powerful mountain domains of the inner sect. Their resources could be rare and varied.
If there was nothing here, they would search elsewhere.
There were more than a thousand marketplaces in the valley and an uncountable number of shops. Finding what they wanted was like searching for a needle in the sea.
Yet there was no other choice. They could only try their best.
Xu Ziqing came up with a method. In each marketplace, he hired a guide to ask at every establishment whether anyone possessed “Five Elements Divine Water.” He promised a generous payment in spirit stones, giving the guides ample reason to be thorough. After a while, the guides returned with the names of shops that had such water, and he and Yun Lie went to investigate each one in detail.
It saved them considerable time, but even after asking everywhere, they came away empty-handed.
Xu Ziqing did not dismiss the guides. Instead, he paid them to make inquiries at all the shops outside the marketplaces, while he and Yun Lie searched the stalls.
After another half day of effort, the result was still disappointing.
Xu Ziqing sighed, feeling rather weary.
The road to immortality was certainly not all smooth sailing.
Just then, someone called softly, “Senior Brother… Senior Brother!”
Xu Ziqing looked up to find a young man in plain blue robes standing before him, looking somewhat nervous.
He recognized the man as one of the guides he had hired at a marketplace. But he had already sent everyone off. Why had this one stayed behind?
Pushing away his frustration at the fruitless search, Xu Ziqing smiled gently. “What is it, Junior Brother?”
The blue-robed young man relaxed slightly. Still wary of Yun Lie behind Xu Ziqing, he did not dare approach any closer. “Senior Brother, are you searching for a type of divine water?”
Xu Ziqing nodded. “Junior Brother, do you have information about it?”
The young man hurriedly shook his head. “Not exactly. It’s just…” He paused. “Senior Brother, you don’t need to search blindly like this. You can post a task here in the outer valley and offer a reward. If someone later obtains what you want, they can come find you. It would save you a great deal of trouble.”
Xu Ziqing was taken aback, then sincerely grateful. “Thank you for telling me, Junior Brother.”
He had known one could accept tasks at the Hall of Myriad Merits but had not realized tasks could also be posted privately in these marketplaces. Without the young man’s advice, he would scarcely have known what to do next.
The blue-robed young man smiled and pointed. “If you want to post a task, you can go to the Hall of a Hundred Ancients.”
Xu Ziqing thanked him again and gave him several spirit stones and medicinal pills as a reward.
The young man brightened and finally took his leave.
He had stayed to warn the two partly because they were generous and of decent character, and he hoped for an additional reward. But Xu Ziqing had also treated all his hired guides courteously, and the young man could not quite bear to see him so dejected. Thus he had gone out of his way to help.
As it turned out, both sides benefited.
Xu Ziqing glanced at Yun Lie. “What do you think, Senior Brother?”
Yun Lie nodded slightly. “We can go.”
Xu Ziqing smiled. “Then, Senior Brother, help me think of what we should offer as a reward.”
As they spoke, they soon reached the Hall of a Hundred Ancients.
It looked rather small from outside, but the interior opened into a surprisingly spacious hall.
A young-looking Golden Core cultivator sat at the back. He was the establishment’s manager. Several others wearing matching robes worked in front of him as attendants.
As Xu Ziqing entered, his gaze fell on a high wall at one side.
Countless words, each tiny as a mosquito or fly, covered the wall, recording numerous tasks. A cultivator needed only to sweep it with spiritual sense to remember everything written there.
This was the task wall. Every task and its offered reward were recorded on it.
After a little thought, Xu Ziqing approached the manager.
Stopping before him, he asked, “Manager, may I ask how one posts a task here?”
The manager looked up. Sensing the strong aura around Xu Ziqing and the even more formidable presence of the man beside him, he dared not be negligent. “You need only tell me what you seek, the time limit, and what reward you are offering, honored customer.”
Xu Ziqing nodded. “I seek extreme-yang water of the metal attribute, one of the Five Elements Divine Waters capable of forming the ancient True-One Divine Water.”
The manager hastened to write down the information.
Xu Ziqing continued, “There is no time limit. The task remains in effect until it is withdrawn.”
The manager noted that too.
Xu Ziqing hesitated. “As for the reward…”
Yun Lie spoke. “Sword talismans containing perfected sword intent, objects of extreme cold with the ice attribute, supreme-grade spirit stones, second-grade spiritual veins, Southern Melting Extreme Water of the fire attribute, and ancient spiritual herbs.”
Xu Ziqing smiled at the list and added many other objects in his possession. Then he said, “Whoever provides metal-attribute divine water may choose any one of these rewards. If they have something else they wish to trade but none of these items interests them, we can negotiate.”
The manager listened in amazement, hurriedly adding each item to the list.
As he wrote, he thought to himself: What astonishing wealth… And that man in white is plainly a sword cultivator. Could those talismans with perfected sword intent contain his own comprehension? If so, his talent in the sword Dao is simply terrifying.
The task was soon posted. Xu Ziqing paid the manager one hundred middle-grade spirit stones as the commission.
Rather than wait around, he and Yun Lie headed back to the Wuling Mountain Domain.
From now on, they could only cultivate while waiting for news.
The inner sect’s territory was vast. Even riding their usual fifth-rank flying demonic beast, the two took some time to reach their destination.
As soon as the mountain domain came into distant view, Xu Ziqing paused in surprise.
Several strangely shaped magical treasures were hovering in the air outside the domain. Cultivators stood on them with aggressive bearing, evidently not intending a friendly visit.
Looking from afar, Xu Ziqing saw that the treasures were level with the Heaven Pillars. The cultivators had their backs turned, staring toward the pillars.
He understood immediately. Another mountain domain had come to challenge Wuling in a Heaven-Pillar Contest!
After a moment’s thought, Xu Ziqing directed the flying beast upward until it reached the same height as the pillars.
Sure enough, a single glance showed him that one of his senior brothers was fighting on each Heaven Pillar!
The cultivators standing on the strange treasures noticed their approach. Several turned to look, and when they saw a Nascent Soul cultivator and a Golden Core cultivator riding a flying beast, contempt appeared in their eyes. They had challenged Wuling several times and naturally knew who the two men were.
One of them sneered, “I heard you two juniors went off on some task. What, you actually managed not to die out there?”
The malice and mockery were unmistakable.
Yun Lie remained expressionless, as though he had heard nothing.
Xu Ziqing looked at the man once, then turned away as though he had not seen him either.
Neither gave him any attention.
Feeling that he had lost face, the man was about to lash out.
A cultivator beside him pulled him back. “Don’t cause trouble during a Heaven-Pillar Contest!”
The first man said angrily, “They’re just two wet-behind-the-ears brats! How dare they act so arrogantly? I won’t be satisfied until I’ve taught them a lesson!”
The other cultivator frowned, displeased by his attitude.
His fellow disciple had never witnessed Yun Lie fight, but he had. Although Yun Lie was only at Nascent Soul, he was a sword cultivator whose attacks were the most formidable in that realm. His sword intent seemed close to perfection, making him extraordinarily difficult to handle. In previous contests, he had repeatedly defended his pillar successfully.
In the man’s estimation, Yun Lie might not be any weaker than this late-stage Nascent Soul fellow disciple.
To provoke trouble so rashly was frankly contemptible.
After thinking it over, he said to forestall further conflict, “If you want to teach them a lesson, then in the next contest choose the pillar he defends.”
The first man’s face twisted with resentment. “That’s exactly what I intend to do!”