Consuming the Dragon Bamboo Fruit

Far from the noise and bustle, on a quiet, out-of-the-way street, the once-unremarkable shop was no longer as deserted as when she had first seen it.

Stopping a short distance from the mouth of the alley, Shi Yu looked toward her shop. Its appearance had been transformed with a fresh coat of decoration, and a wooden signboard bordered with gold gilding hung above the entrance. Customers came and went steadily; business was clearly thriving.

She waited a moment until the stream of people ebbed before stepping inside.

Mo Tong was tidying the shelves. Hearing footsteps, he turned around, his eyes curving with a smile as he recognized Shi Yu. “Sister, you’re here.”

Shi Yu nodded. “How have things been lately?”

He fetched the account book for Shi Yu to review and explained the month's income and expenses. Afterward, he added, “I was actually hoping to find time to visit you, Sister.”

“Pills and other goods are selling quickly in the shop, and out-of-town customers often come specifically to buy from us. Our stock is running quite low.”

Shi Yu glanced through the account book, closed it, and set it on the counter. From the Fate-Tapping Bell, she retrieved over a hundred bottles of pills and several thick stacks of spirit talismans, along with a few Tier-1 artifacts.

As her cultivation grew higher, her efficiency in crafting these low-grade pills, spirit talismans, and artifacts had risen accordingly. Supplying a small, twenty-foot-square shop was hardly a difficult task for her.

Seeing that the shop’s profits were rising steadily and her monthly income from alchemy commissions was quite respectable, her spirit stones were becoming increasingly abundant. She could finally begin refining the cloud boat she had been thinking about for so long.

Short journeys were fine, but travelling long distances without a cloud boat was genuinely inconvenient.

She had been gathering materials to refine a cloud boat for a long time and had already accumulated most of what she needed. Shi Yu drew up a list and instructed Mo Tong to search for the remaining items.

Mo Tong immediately agreed.

After giving a few more instructions, Shi Yu left the shop and headed back.

Upon returning, she didn't idle. She drew Slaughter Spring water from the Fate-Tapping Bell and soaked the spiritual materials she planned to use, pre-refining them in advance.

She took out a substantial number of Moon-Embracing Kite-Falcon feathers. The Moon-Embracing Kite-Falcon was a relatively rare mutated Wind-attribute spirit beast, making its materials ideal for refining an artifact like a cloud boat.

Mo Tong was clever and extremely efficient. Within a few days, he gathered all the items Shi Yu needed and delivered them to her.

Having split off from Qingzhou, he inherited many traits from the original body. His ability to discern spiritual materials was just as exceptional as Qingzhou's, and all the materials he gathered were of superior quality.

Expending more than half her spiritual Qi, Shi Yu drew out more Slaughter Spring water and immersed these new materials as well.

Materials treated with Slaughter Spring water had their impurities completely dissolved, and both their quality and spiritual glow saw significant improvements, saving her a great deal of effort in purging impurities later.

However, the refining process for a cloud boat was extraordinarily intricate and time-consuming. Even with the aid of Slaughter Spring water, it took Shi Yu many days once she began.

Nearly every piece of spiritual material required meticulous carving to engrave complex restrictions upon it.

“Shape-Shifting, Reinforcement, Spirit-Channelling, Wind-Cleaving...” Because the full structure of the cloud boat was massive, she needed to design a blueprint beforehand to plan the placement of every single restriction.

Shi Yu sketched on paper, gradually refining her plan.

When engraving the restrictions, she used the blood of the Moon-Embracing Kite-Falcon. The Fate-Tapping Bell was profoundly mysterious; after all this time, not only had the spirit beast's carcass suffered no decay whatsoever, but spiritual materials like its blood had lost none of their spirituality.

Without realizing it, twenty days and nights passed before the crude prototype finally began to take shape.

It took another half month before the refinement was finally complete.

The moment the cloud boat was complete, numerous restrictions linked together to form several fully functioning restriction networks. At the same time, treasure Qi surged forth and poured into her body, rapidly converting into vast spiritual Qi.

The higher the quality of an artifact, the more treasure Qi it produced. Cloud boats were among the most difficult items to refine within the same tier, so with an end product of such exceptional quality, the treasure Qi produced was naturally greater than ever before.

With the help of this dense, pure treasure Qi, Shi Yu's cultivation—which had been slightly unstable after having just stepped into the sixth layer of the Qi Refining Realm—instantly solidified.

“My foundation is firm now.” Shi Yu's eyes curved with a smile. “Now I can begin consuming the Dragon Bamboo Fruits.”

If she had cultivated step by step in the conventional way, it would likely have taken her at least another month or more. The benefits of treasure Qi were truly evident.

Her gaze fell upon the newly refined cloud boat. The vessel was roughly fifteen feet long, shaped as though formed from condensed drifting clouds, with snow-white cloud patterns flowing elegantly across its surface like fluid ink. A misty cloud haze floated beneath the hull, emanating an aura of peace and tranquility.

Silk drapes hung light and airy along both sides. When a gentle breeze swept through, the drapes swayed and produced low, melodious tones that sounded like celestial music. Defensive restrictions were drawn upon these drapes; the chime-like tones they produced could deter avian spirit beasts in the air and were effective against cultivators as well.

“I'll name you 'Moon-Embracing.'”

Giving it a name casually, Shi Yu formed a hand seal, triggering the "Shape-Shifting" restriction engraved on the cloud boat to shrink it to the size of a palm before stowing it inside the Fate-Tapping Bell.

By quality, Moon-Embracing counted as a Tier-2 Supreme-Grade cloud boat. In the future, when she could refine higher-tier vessels, putting this retired one up for auction would fetch at least tens of thousands of spirit stones.

Those higher-tier cloud boats featured carved beams, painted rafters, pavilions, and towers inside—veritable immortal abodes in the sky. Riding the clouds and roaming through the heavens, calling it cruising through the vast sky was no exaggeration.

Shi Yu rested for a moment, in no rush to consume the Dragon Bamboo Fruit right away.

Recalling the news about the Nightmare she had asked Master Ji about not long ago, she summoned Qingzhou and instructed him to inquire around the city for any news regarding Changxu Village or Nightmare beasts.

This was the downside of being a rogue cultivator—information was hard to come by. Whatever one wished to know, it always required some effort to glean even a bit of news.

After Qingzhou left, she set the matter aside for the time being and prepared to consume a Dragon Bamboo Fruit.

A ripe Dragon Bamboo Fruit was as bright red as blood. The moment she took it out, it released a rich fragrance that made her mouth water.

Shi Yu took a gentle bite, and sweet juice instantly filled her mouth, spreading a delicious flavor. The flesh melted on her tongue, and before she could savor the taste further, a surge of burning energy rushed down her throat and spread through her body, quickly dispersing into her limbs and bones.

Shi Yu felt her meridians begin to vibrate. Her circulating spiritual Qi instantly condensed, surging like a torrent within her dantian.

She held her breath and closed her nose and mouth to prevent the spirituality from escaping with her breath, throwing her full concentration into refining the medicinal energy.