Over the next few days, Shi Yu prepared a generous supply of Dew-Condensing Pills, Rejuvenation Pills, and Detoxification Pills, as well as a stack of various spirit talismans.
To prepare for any potential mishaps on the journey, Shi Yu carefully mixed a dish of earth-attribute talisman ink to try crafting Tier-2 spirit talismans—specifically, Spirit Wandering Talismans.
When activated, a Spirit Wandering Talisman could bypass spatial limitations and randomly teleport the user anywhere within a hundred li.
Since it was random, its effect was inherently uncontrollable. If used to escape a dire situation, it might land the user in a safe spot, but it could just as easily drop them into even greater danger—or even an exotic, isolated pocket space.
Thus, unless forced into an absolute corner, one was best off not using a Spirit Wandering Talisman lightly.
That said, if a life-or-death crisis truly struck, it was undeniably the most effective escape tool among Tier-2 spirit talismans.
Unfortunately, crafting Tier-2 spirit talismans was still rather difficult for Shi Yu at the third layer of the Qi Refining Realm, resulting in a very low success rate. With spatial attributes involved, this Spirit Wandering Talisman was even more challenging than typical Tier-2 talismans.
By the time she exhausted the dish of earth-attribute talisman ink, she had only managed to successfully produce two, and their quality was quite ordinary.
She stowed the two Spirit Wandering Talismans away. “These are meant for emergencies anyway. Two should be enough.”
Aside from alchemy and talisman crafting, Shi Yu spent the rest of her time familiarizing herself with the three new techniques she had acquired.
Once she had fully committed them to memory, three new specks of light appeared around the Yin-Yang Fate-Tapping Bell inside her Purple Mansion, just as expected.
Because interacting with them drained a significant amount of divine sense, Shi Yu did not touch them recklessly. After careful consideration, she entered the light point representing 《No Thought of Return》.
In the re-formed chaos space, the familiar figure of the woman played a mournful, beautiful melody on her flute. Shi Yu immersed her mind, absorbing the artistic intent woven into the music.
Refined and empowered by the Fate-Tapping Bell, the power of 《No Thought of Return》 became even more potent. Even as the listener-performer, Shi Yu could not help feeling her mind sway slightly.
When her divine sense withdrew from the chaos space, Shi Yu raised an eyebrow. She noticed a fine thread of light connecting the light point for 《No Thought of Return》 with the one for 《Lesser Swallow Steps》, displaying a subtle trend toward fusion.
What kind of change would occur once the two merged?
Shi Yu observed the floating, drifting light points for a moment. Seeing that the time was not yet ripe for fusion, she set it aside for now and withdrew her divine sense entirely.
...
On the day agreed upon with Xie Cheng and the others, at noon, Shi Yu tucked the Hidden Hatred Flute into her sleeve and arrived outside the tavern right on time.
By the time she arrived, seven or eight cultivators had already gathered, conversing with one another.
Xie Cheng was waiting there as well, accompanied by a young man—the young master he had mentioned who wished to venture into the mountain range to gather herbs.
This young man was named Xie Zhixun. He possessed no cultivation, wore simple green robes, and had a scholar's square cap resting crookedly on his head. He looked around twenty years old, with handsome, refined features, yet his expression bore a pure, almost bewildered innocence.
Shi Yu glanced at him, thinking, Though he has the appearance of an adult, his expression is like that of a child.
After waiting a short while, three people had still not arrived. Standing under the hot sun, the crowd grew impatient and grumbled for a bit before three figures finally hurried over.
Shi Yu recognized these three as the highest-cultivation individuals among the twenty who had accepted the bounty task. All three were around the sixth layer of the Qi Refining Realm and shared similar facial features, likely brothers.
Sure enough, the burly man leading them—his beard stiff as steel wire—cupped his hands and laughed boisterously. “I am Wu Hao, and these are my brothers Wu Qian and Wu Shi. We were delayed on the road, so please forgive us, everyone.”
Sensing that Wu Hao's group had higher cultivation than themselves, the others muttered a few words, dissatisfied but unwilling to voice it to their faces.
Xie Cheng straightened the crooked square cap on Xie Zhixun's head and addressed the crowd: “Everyone is here. Let us set off.”
The group of twenty-two left the bustling market, departing through the south gate and taking the small path leading toward the mountain range.
A refreshing mountain breeze blew past, rustling the hem of Shi Yu's clothes and a few stray hairs by her ears.
The clamor of the market gradually faded behind them. Vibrant, colorful flowers and plants adorned the roadside, while several green pines sprawled beside the path, full of vitality under the brilliant sunlight.
The Fulong Mountain Range was immensely vast and rich in resources. However, low-cultivation cultivators frequently frequented its outer perimeter, so along the way, most of the valuable spiritual plants had already been picked, leaving behind only sparse, low-grade common vegetation.
Channeling their spiritual power to boost their footwork, the group covered roughly thirty li in just over an hour.
By then, spiritual plants hidden among the trees began to grow slightly more frequent.
Xie Cheng called for everyone to halt and rest.
He was quite generous, distributing a Low-grade Dew-Condensing Pill to each person. Taking the pills, the cultivators sat cross-legged to regulate their breathing. Several could not bring themselves to consume it, quietly tucking it away before closing their eyes to rest.
Xie Zhixun held out both fair palms to Xie Cheng, gazing at him eagerly. Xie Cheng chuckled, retrieved paper and a brush from his mustard-seed bag, and handed them over.
Since Xie Zhixun lacked cultivation, he could not use a storage mustard-seed bag.
Having received the paper and brush, he beamed with joy and looked around. Seeing a spiritual plant hidden among the weeds, his eyes lit up. He trotted over, squatted down, and began writing and sketching on the paper.
Xie Cheng followed close behind him step for step.
Shi Yu looked up and noticed that Xie Cheng's body remained tense at all times, constantly vigilant for Xie Zhixun's safety.
Xie Zhixun stopped and started continuously, sketching the spiritual plant's form, recording the surrounding environment, and then carefully digging the plant out by its roots with a trowel. He placed it into a jade box before handing it to Xie Cheng to store in his mustard-seed bag.
This went on for several hours. The cultivators gradually finished regulating their breathing and sat in place, waiting for the young master to give the word before moving again.
Seeing him drawing and writing around the spiritual plants, the three Wu brothers grew bored of waiting and spoke up toward Xie Cheng: “Brother Xie, your family's young master isn't short on money. These spiritual plants are the most common kind, available anywhere. Why bother coming here to dig them up in person?”
Someone nearby chimed in: “Yeah, after all this fuss, those few plants he dug up aren't even worth enough to pay our bounty.”
Twenty rogue cultivators at fifty spirit stones each came out to a total of one thousand spirit stones.
How much were these plants worth? The vegetation growing on the outer fringes was of the lowest, most common grade—hardly worth such immense effort.
Xie Cheng's gaze never left Xie Zhixun for even a moment. He casually explained, “The young master is obsessed with medicinal properties and wants to personally understand the growth environment and companion flora of these spiritual plants.”
The surrounding cultivators offered a few polite 'ohs,' but their eyes were filled with disdain.
A simpleton, talking about obsession? It's just a child playing house.
Shi Yu was leaning against a dead tree, resting. Right beside this dead tree grew a Three-Leaf Orchid. After digging up a stalk of Qi Gathering Grass, Xie Zhixun ran straight over to her side, squatted down in front of the dead tree, and threw himself into his work without breaking focus.
Xie Cheng naturally followed without leaving his side.
Rate on N.U.
