by Gore, A. P.
“A cursed item.” Her face turned stiff. “Where did you find it?”
“I found it on a cultivator’s body. That cultivator had just died in a battle.”
“How can that be true? A cursed dagger shouldn’t appear in the Mortal Realm.” Carefully, she picked the dagger up with a cloth and placed it inside a wooden box. It was crafted of Ten Perseverance Wood used to store precious objects. “Junior, this dagger is not something you can handle with your powers. I’m taking this away, so take this as compensation.” With a flick of her palm, a red bean-sized fruit appeared on it. It looked like a dragon’s mouth. “This is a Jade Red Dragon Fruit. A priceless object in this world. Your dagger is a complete waste in front of this fruit. This has enough energy for you to jump to the peak of the Refinement Realm or even reach the Foundation Realm. Now if you can do it or not, that depends on your efforts and destiny.”
Wei disdained, but maintained a shocked expression on his face. This was a common high-tier Bronze Grade fruit raised in every sect in the Mortal Realm. It had a very low chance of aiding one in breaking through the Foundation Realm. If one wanted to depend on this, he might only obtain success after eating dozens of these fruits.
But this was enough for one to break through minor tiers of the Refinement Realm. With his Yin Yang Liquid, he might reach the peak of the Refinement Realm by relying on this fruit alone. After all, he could make copies of this fruit easily.
“Ha ha. What a pleasant surprise.” A man stepped out of bushes and drew his sword. “Girl, give that dagger and that fruit to me, and I might let you live as my maid.”
Chapter 16
One finger to kill a person
Tian Wu watched Du Sung dying to a Ferocious Beast from afar. That guy deserved it. He was too boastful of his ferociousness.
However, something irked him. How had Li Wei, a mysterious brat, remained safe in the same area, and what was this thunderous energy cracking around the area. It must be something that brat Li Wei had obtained from the Ancient Ruins.
Again, the desire to kill that brat grew in his heart, and he prepared to launch a surprise attack. Li Wei’s cultivation had dropped to layer one of the Refinement Realm again, so this was the perfect chance.
But then everything went quiet and a fairy-like girl came out of the woods and appeared in front of Li Wei. They talked a bit. Because of the distance, he couldn’t hear what they were saying. He was about to rush ahead when Li Wei pulled something out of his pouch.
It was a shiny green artifact. He handed it to the fairy lady, and in return, she pulled out a fruit.
Tian Wu gasped hard when he got a good look at the fruit the white-clothed fairy girl held out. It was a precious fruit that every clan wanted but none could have. Only Tier 4 clans or sects had access to those fruits. Although it wasn’t useful for Foundation Realm experts, he could still use it on his son and help him reach the peak of the Refinement Realm.
The dagger changed hands. They would both be his.
“Ha ha. What a pleasant surprise.” Drawing his sword, he stepped out of the bushes he’d been hiding in. “Girl, give that dagger and fruit to me and I might let you live as my maid.” She was too beautiful to die. He would use her as a bed-warming maid.
The woman wore a peculiar expression while Li Wei looked relaxed, like he didn’t care for him at all.
Why wasn’t Li Wei afraid of him?
A premonition struck Tian Wu. Had he missed something? What could it be?
“You want to take me as a maid?” A cold glint flashed in her deep gray eyes, and Tian Wu felt a chill deep in his bones.
“Yes.” He pushed frightening thoughts away and gawked at the girl. She was a top-class beauty from head to toe. She had nice perky breasts, firm hips, and a slim waist. She was too beautiful to pass on.
Reaching out, he tried to touch her jade-like skin, but a huge pressure swept over her and pushed him back.
And then he realized why Li Wei had a relaxed look on his face. That motherfucker knew that the girl was a supreme cultivator. She was at least in the Bone Baptization Realm.
Sweat broke out over his whole body, but before he could even apologize, she had raised her finger and a ray of light shoot out of it, bursting his brain into pieces. There wasn’t even time for regret before he died. The girl was way out of his league. She was a fucking top level expert.
Li Wei watched Tian Wu’s corpse fall with a shocked expression hung on Tian Wu’s face. It dropped to the ground with a dull thump and destroyed a patch of pale yellow grass around it.
Sooner or later, he would reach his previous cultivation level, and then killing a mere Foundation Realm cultivator would be as easy as drinking tea.
“Junior, you seem unfazed,” Wang Zia said, knitting her brows. Her eyes screamed curiosity, and that was bad for current Wei with no powers. A low-level cultivator shouldn’t be unfazed when someone as strong as Tian Wu died in front of him.
“Senior. Even your killing is majestic. When you lifted your finger with such grace, I almost lost control of my mind, so I closed my eyes and let the moment pass.” He let a fake fear occupy his face.
Wang Zia rolled her eyes and then pointed at the pouch attached to Tian Wu’s waist. “Take that as additional compensation, and don’t speak of this to anyone.”
Wei nodded, understanding the reason behind her condition. A half-step Houtian Realm expert was supposed to ascend to the Martial Realm as soon as they touch the barrier of Houtian Realm. It was a rule formed by mighty sects governing the Martial Realm, and no one dared to break it. If anyone found out about it, the rule-breaker would suffer a heavy punishment. They didn’t want that.
However, many cultivators remained in the Mortal Realm and roamed the world before ascending to the Martial Realm, as it would be almost impossible to come back and visit their birthplace afterward. Those who did linger in the Mortal Realm had to do it in utter secrecy or face constant trouble. So, her presence couldn’t be exposed. If someone found out, an expert would choose to kill her decisively.
Another bout of complex emotion rose in his heart. She didn’t show any killing intent toward him, and that bothered him. Another reason not to take revenge on her. Not crossing paths at all had been the best choice for him, but destiny had defied his expectations.
Sighing inwardly, he picked up the pouch attached to Tian Wu’s corpse and stored it inside his large gray robe. There was nothing more he could do here, so he would just let things unfold as they would.
But as soon as the pouch touched his hand, he received a strange message from the system.
System: Power source detected.
“Touch this stone for me,” Wang Zia said, pulling Wei out of his distraction.
She had taken a purple stone out of her storage ring and held it in front of him.
For a moment, he stared at the stone and the ring on her middle finger. That ring brought a memory back to him. When he’d reached the half-step Houtian Realm himself, he too had received one from the sect. Only half-set Houtian Realm experts were treated as real prodigies by the sect and received a storage ring from the sect. If Tian Wu had had better judgment, he would have recognized Wang Zia’s ring. It bore the symbol of a nine-headed beast carved on it. It was the sigil of the Heavenly Firmament Sect, an array that allowed elders to keep track of their disciples. If some mishap occurred to a disciple, one of the sect elders would receive the news.
Sighing in his heart, he placed his hand on the Root Apprehension Stone. It was used by sects to test a person’s Root quality.
A stream of pure qi rushed into his body, refreshing his mind. It moved through his dantian and vanished a moment before reappearing and going back to the stone. It was a mysterious artifact, and Wei didn’t know how it worked. When it was finished, the Root Apprehension Stone pulsed twice with bright color.
Holy heavens. How could the Root Apprehension Stone pulse twice? Did that mean . . .?
“Low-tier Silver Grade Root. Not bad.�
�� Wang Zia smiled. “Let’s check your Physical Root now.” She tapped on the stone, and a pure stream of essence energy shot into his body. It was the purest form of essence energy, and his body swayed like a child given a candy. His body was about to absorb the energy when the worms in his dantian pulsed and a strange power emitted from them and rejected the essence energy entering his body.
Wei frowned. What the heck was going on?
Wang Zia stared at the Root Apprehension Stone and shook her head. “Low-tier Bronze Grade Physical Root. It can’t get worse than that.” She shook her head. The Heavenly Firmament Sect gave priority to body cultivators, so her reaction was normal. “But you can still participate based on your Spirit Root.” She paused, considering. “Junior, if you break through the Foundation Realm before reaching eighteen years of age, come and participate in the Heavenly Firmament Sect’s entrance exam. You might break through to the Marrow Cleansing Realm in this lifetime. Farewell then.” Tucking the stone away, she left like a gust of wind, leaving a familiar scent behind her. She didn’t even pick the Two-Colored Poison Repelling Flower, like it meant nothing to her.
Taking a deep breath, he reminisced about her one more time before letting the thoughts drift away. She was a dark star in his fate’s constellation, and entangling with her would only invite trouble.
Long after she left, Wei stood there thinking about one strange thing: How had his Spirit Root advanced in quality? In his previous life, he had undergone Spirit Root tests multiple times, and the result had always come back as low-tier Bronze Grade. How could the result change this time? He could accept the strange divine worms rejecting the Root Apprehension Stone’s essence of energy, though. Those divine worms must be blocking anyone from guessing his body cultivation level. Did they have some sealing ability? They were strange creatures, and he didn’t understand what they were doing in his dantian. So, it was okay if they blocked his Physical Root examination.
However, he couldn’t wrap his head around the phenomenon of his Spirit Root improving by a whole grade. That was unheard of and impossible even in the Martial Realm. It could change only when one reached that behemoth realm.
He shook his head. How could he think about that realm? After so many years, he hadn’t even reached the realm before that in his previous life. It was an impossible task, and many people had died in pursuit of that realm.
No. Just because he’d failed in his previous life didn’t mean he would fail this time.
His fingers clenched tight. This time he would reach that realm in body and qi cultivation and break through the limits of the Martial Realm.
After a while, he gazed off in the direction Wang Zia had vanished and then looked at the pouch he’d gotten from Tian Wu’s body. It called to him.
Chapter 17
Demon Killing Crossbow
When two girls arrived at the location of the Gall Poison Plant, the thunder had settled down and the foul smell of the poisonous plant had vanished from the vicinity. If someone hadn’t known there was a plant there, it would’ve been impossible to know this location.
Those two girls wore bright red dress that reached below their toes, but they didn’t interfere with their fast running speed nor bother them while walking. They moved gracefully, as if they floated in the air.
Sun Nuan frowned, seeing the location and the mess around the place. While she observed everything clearly, Hua, her younger sister, roamed around like she had come along to see the sights.
Sun Nuan set down her spear next to a small crater and inspected it. A crack had spread out from the crater, and it looked like a huge animal fought with someone around it.
“A vicious fight took place between a Blood Vulture Python and a cultivator,” she muttered to herself.
Hua squatted down like a servant, placing her bone bow next to the crater. “Elder sister Nuan, which do you think who won the fight?”
Sun Nuan glanced at the way Hua’er sat, and her frown deepened. So many times, she had told Hua’er to sit properly. The way she sat, she looked like she came from a servant family instead of their royal family. But no matter how many times she scolded Hua’er, she never listened.
“Hua’er, how many times do I need to tell you to not sit like that? Show some grace for heaven’s sake.”
“Aiya, our flower is missing.” Hua’er panicked. “Mother needs that Two-Colored Poison Repelling Flower. If we don’t bring it back she will be in trouble.” Her face turned grim, like someone had stolen something precious from her.
In fact, they had lost something precious. “Someone has taken it.” Getting up, she reached for a nearby tree. “Look, my marker is gone. This person must be very powerful. Maybe in the Marrow Cleansing Realm.” This was bad, very bad.
Hua’er dropped on her butt, forgetting all the manners taught by their royal teacher. “Then how can we get it back?”
Sun Nuan ignored her ways for the time being. The matter of the Two-Colored Poison Repelling Flower was more important than Hua’s lack of manners. “That person is headed toward Black Alley Town. If I had to guess, they’re probably planning to sell it in the auction house. Anyway, we have to visit Black Alley Town before heading toward the Alchemy Comprehension Tower. Let’s go and see if we can find the person who took the flower. If we can’t take it back, then we will buy it. There’s no one in this area that refuses to give face to Sun clan.” A half bright red sun flashed in the middle of her brows, and they dashed toward Black Alley Town.
An hour after the girls vanished, Li Wei emerged from the bushes, frowning. His gaze was fixed on the direction the Sun clan girls went. The Sun clan was the State of Zin’s royal clan, and they controlled everything. If they needed Two-Colored Poison Repelling Flower, why did two young girls come to pick it?
Well, it was none of his business. Since his clothes smelled like charred meat, he changed into a new blue robe carved with a personification array.
Suddenly, he remembered their conversation. The girls were heading for the Alchemy Comprehension Tower, so he might meet them again. If they found something good in there, he might trade the flower with them.
But that was for the future. Right now, he had to find a new Qi Stone, as his existing one had already turned pale. A few more uses and it would be depleted. He had to buy a few more for his arrays, or he had to push his cultivation to the Bone Baptization Realm quickly so he could use his own qi to activate a Silver Grade array comfortably.
With his divine sense spread around, he noticed a new marker array disk hidden on a nearby tree. This marker array would capture the essence of any cultivator passing through this area, and the owner would get a vague sense of the identity of the cultivator after performing a ritual.
This was a costly artifact. Only government officials had access to them. Of course, one could buy them at exaggerated prices on the black market, but that would be a complete waste.
“Why did they leave another marker? Such a waste of money.” Muttering, he went back into his concealment array. He’d been waiting for the last hour for the bodies of the black-robed man and Tian Wu to burn to ash. He had foolishly left corpses behind in the Ancient Ruins, and it had almost cost him his life, so he would not repeat that mistake. It was too bad he lacked any cultivation fire that could burn bodies in seconds, so he had to employ the mundane method of burning bodies with normal fire that took ages to turn people to ashes. But it was a good thing that he’d set up a Lesser Isolation Array before he began, otherwise he would’ve been in trouble. The girls had cultivation of layer four qi Foundation Realm.
He sighed and reinforced his concealment array. No wonder the Sun clan was a royal clan of the State of Zin. Those girls had already reached layer four of the qi Foundation Realm at the age of fifteen, and they would reach the Bone Baptization Realm before they turned eighteen. Next to them, he was nothing. But again, this was a top clan, and they had resources equal to big sects of other empires. The Heavenly Firmament Sect and the Divine Fragrance Palace were j
ust branches of their counterparts in the Martial Realm, so this was a normal thing.
But if these girls were searching for Two-Colored Poison Repelling Flowers, he couldn’t take them out for selling. In fact, he couldn’t even store them inside his normal pouch. Those royal clan girls might have an artifact to detect the proximity of the flower. If they sensed it, he might get in big trouble.
Anyway, pushing those thoughts away, he opened the two pouches he’d obtained from the black-robed man’s body and Tian Wu. Tian Wu had been the Tian clan’s head, so he’d recognized him easily, but he hadn’t been able to make out other person’s identity.
Was he an assassin? There was nothing inside his pouch other than a martial skill called Mad Elephant Stomp. This was the same martial skill he’d used to attack the Blood Vulture Python.
It looked good, and Wei might have a use for it, so he put it aside and then opened Tian Wu’s pouch and pulled out a small foot-long wooden crossbow. A dark blue shell was embedded in the center of the crossbow that looked like an egg. When he touched that shell, he again received a message from the system.
System: Power source detected.
But there was no other message about absorbing it, or an interface found, etc. So, this blue shell must be hiding a Soul Stone inside. There was a strange array carved on the body of the crossbow. If it was connected to a Soul Stone, it must be a Soul Array.