"Little Grand-Uncle, the transaction is complete. Safe travels!" The middle-aged disciple presented the items with both hands.
Xu Xian took them and offered a word of thanks.
"Thank you."
"It’s only my duty."
Xu Xian turned to leave, but after a few steps, he doubled back.
"By the way, let me ask you something."
Having barely sat back down, the middle-aged disciple shot up like a spring.
"Yes, Little Grand-Uncle?"
Xu Xian gestured for him to relax and asked, "I have a friend who has the skin of an ancient beast, a snake. He asked me to check how many merit points it could be traded for?"
The middle-aged disciple gave Xu Xian a peculiar look.
A friend?
After a moment of thought, he said, "A lot!"
"Oh?"
The middle-aged disciple quickly added, "I don't know the exact amount since I've never traded one. However, a tier 6 beast king skin goes for at least ten thousand spirit stones on the market. Converted to merit points, that's over a million. If it’s actually the skin of an ancient beast, I’d estimate it’s worth several dozen millions."
"Oh, I see," Xu Xian nodded thoughtfully, then casually asked another question. "What about the snake bones?"
"The bones should be worth a bit less."
"And the meat?"
"Even less."
"Mhm, I understand!"
The middle-aged disciple interjected, "However, if you—I mean, your friend—truly intends to sell, I can consult an Elder. I'd wager that all together, trading them for tens of millions of merit points wouldn't be a problem."
"We'll see," Xu Xian replied dismissively as he strode away.
He was in high spirits.
He doubted that white snake had ever imagined its own body would be his ultimate treasure.
Tens of millions of merit points.
That was hundreds of thousands of spirit stones.
Even in the oil-rich Central Plains, that was a massive fortune.
After all, Xu Xian had heard that many inner disciples in various sects only received a few spirit stones as their monthly salary.
From the looks of it, he already had the foundation to build his Sword Tower.
Even if he moved on to building the second floor, as long as the materials existed in Fanzhou, his merit points would be sufficient.
However, Xu Xian only planned to sell the snake skin at most.
He intended to keep the meat and bones. Once he finished his business with the first floor of the Sword Tower, he planned to return to Houdao Village and treat the whole village to snake meat and snake bone soup.
The nourishment from an ancient beast's flesh was superior to any spiritual elixir.
Why snake bone soup?
Because there wasn't enough meat; the total amount didn't even reach a hundred pounds.
'If I'd known, I would have raised it to be bigger before killing it.'
As for the two million top-grade spirit stones, Xu Xian had no intention of touching them. In present-day Fanzhou, reserves of top-grade spirit stones were extremely scarce, and building the Sword Tower would consume them at an alarming rate. He had to save them.
While walking, Xu Xian pulled out his dao jade to take a look.
[Name: Xu Xian]
[Status: First-generation disciple]
[Peak: Zhijian Peak]
[Position: None]
[Merit Points: 653,457]
[Current Realm: Initial core formation stage]
He took a deep breath, his brow relaxing.
"I've finally made something of myself!"
Recalling two months ago, he was just a penniless boy. Now, he had transformed into a wealthy man with tens of millions of merit points and over two million spirit stones.
Life was truly full of wonders.
Looking toward the horizon, the setting sun melted like gold and the evening clouds merged into a seamless tapestry. It was breathtakingly beautiful.
"Keep up the good work!"
He summoned Wait and leisurely drifted away.
It was true that he was rich now. However, his future cultivation would begin to burn through money. His current net worth was only enough to build two floors. There were still ten floors to go.
It was destined to be an astronomical figure. The road was long and the burden heavy...
...
Two days later.
The Wendao Sword Sect's recruitment ceremony officially began. The bustle and excitement that day surpassed previous years.
The Spirit Inquiry formation opened at dawn and lasted until the afternoon. Then came the Heart Inquiry and the Sword Inquiry, just like in years past.
However, this year's Sword Inquiry didn't encounter any unexpected incidents. All was calm.
A group of young boys and girls still gathered before the sword stele, but they weren't studying how to solve the puzzle. Instead, they were listening to an insider recount a glorious tale belonging to Xu Xian.
Solving the endgame!
The journey to Yecheng!
An Elder boasted, "Our Little Grand-Uncle spent four years comprehending the sword stele, achieved foundation establishment in ten months, entered the Sword Mound for four months, and returned with an immortal sword. Now, at less than eighteen years old, he is already a core formation cultivator. You all should follow his example, cultivate diligently, and never slack off."
At that moment, the eyes of those youths were filled with unspeakable admiration and worship.
A seventeen-year-old in the core formation stage.
In all of Fanzhou, how many such people existed?
Xu Xian had become a legendary figure in the eyes of these new disciples—a role model on the path of cultivation!
Of course, as the subject of these stories, Xu Xian wasn't interested in any of it. He spent his days shut in his room, practicing cultivation techniques and secret arts.
On the third day after returning to the Wendao Sword Sect, Xu Xian went to the Dao Pavilion early in the morning.
He spent exactly forty thousand merit points to enter and exit the Dao Pavilion twenty times, selecting twenty cultivation manuals and memorizing them all.
The disciple guarding the pavilion was stunned. Having worked there for most of his life, he had never seen anything like it. Entering the pavilion twenty times in a single day was surely a record.
The battle in Yecheng had made Xu Xian fully realize his shortcomings. He had too few skills.
Although he had already comprehended three strikes of the Green Lotus Sword Song, it was an immortal grade sword art after all. While its power was immense, its energy consumption was equally heavy.
One can never have too many skills.
Telekinesis, summoning fire, calling the wind, bringing rain, lightning strikes, formations, and curses—Xu Xian picked them all.
In the future, his realm would only need to be elevated through the construction of the White Jade Capital. Simply put, he just had to throw money at it. However, his natural talent and comprehension couldn't be wasted.
Therefore, he planned to use his startling comprehension to learn as many skills as possible while waiting for the materials to be gathered.
People often said that learning too many disparate things would lead to a lack of purity. Xu Xian only wanted to say that such people simply hadn't learned enough.
He set a small goal for himself: before the twelfth floor of the Sword Tower was built, he would learn every single technique in the Dao Pavilion.
The first book he studied was the top-tier telekinesis technique of the Wendao Sword Sect.
[Telekinesis Immortal Art · Mid-tier Earth Grade]
Control all things with qi; invert yin and yang with a single thought.
There were three layers in total.
On the first day, he comprehended the first layer: Lifting the Heavy as Light.
On the second day, he comprehended the second layer: Lifting the Light as Heavy.
Now, he was comprehending the final layer: Spirit Control.
Once mastered, one could use spiritual qi and mental power to control living spirits, making them shut up or kneel at will. When practiced to great completion and paired with a powerful cultivation base, one could even suppress tens of thousands of people simultaneously in an instant.
Of course, Xu Xian had currently only grasped the surface. To reach that level, he needed repeated refinement. A cultivation base was the foundation, and the true meaning required careful contemplation.
It was also on that day, as the sun began to set, that the sect recruitment ceremony concluded as scheduled. The dust had settled.
Every peak welcomed new blood, including Zhijian Peak.
And Xu Xian's door was finally knocked upon.
Knock, knock, knock!
"Who is it?"
"Little Grand-Uncle, it's me..."
A familiar voice drifted in. Xu Xian stood up and pushed open the door.
"Xiao Ning..."
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