บท 26: From Seeking Wool To Being Shorn
บรรณาธิการ: Nou
‘Hah, trying to con me, a con-artist? Does he really think I have no countermeasures for this?’
Fang Xing sneered while his brows relaxed, as though he no longer attached any importance to Hou Qing. “Don’t you try to play games with me. I may not be as far along in cultivation as you are, but you wouldn’t have the guts to touch me even if I gave you the chance for if you do, you might not live to see the next sunrise! You think you’ve hidden your identity so well? Hah! I knew who you were well before all of this, and I’ve left a letter….”
Drops of cold sweat trickled down Hou Qing’s forehead as he directed his sword to press on towards Fang Xing. The sword itself was embedded with multiple spells and its silver rays pierced through everything in its path with a frigid coldness, an overwhelming sense of spiritual movement surrounding the sword.
“Answer me, how did you know who I am?” While displaying such murderous intent, Hou Qing almost went for the kill only to stop in a slight panic when Fang Xing exposed his true identity. Especially by the sound of it, the man had a backup plan already and Hou Qing began to have second thoughts about the possible consequences.
Fang Xing, on the other hand, had been pressured into revealing Hou Qing’s identity in the first place in the hopes of buying some extra time to come up with a good excuse, just in case Hou Qing had truly wanted to kill him.
“Are you really that stupid? How many people do you know that are in the outer court and also need Ore Essence Powder right now?”
Stumped for words, Hou Qing swayed on his feet in hesitation. He had believed he was absolutely safe from being identified, yet without even realizing it, he had overlooked the basics and left himself exposed.
The entire outer court—aside from the new disciples that had joined the sect recently—was composed of those who had worked hard as a daotong or older disciples from the previous recruitment.
Among the people who had remained in the outer court from the previous recruitment, none were close to breaking through to the fourth tier. As for those new recruits who had been with the sect for less than half a year, there would be at most a handful that had reached the levels where a Poji Pellet would be required.
In fact, Hou Qing knew quite well that among these thousands of disciples, he was the only one so far.
The reason behind his extraordinary feat was that he had already been tier two before joining the sect. By the time he had joined, he had met up with an old friend who had been lending their help by supplying him with an abundance of pills and pellets that boosted his cultivation speed, all the way up until now where he was at the bottleneck between tiers three and four.
There were quite a few people aware of his tier. It had been instrumental in the result of the battle between him and three older disciples at the entrance to Danxia Valley, from when he had wanted to visit Shimei[1] Shu.
Although Hou Qing was quite pleased by this, it was indeed an obvious tell.
‘Wait, but even so, he could only guess who I might be. How was he so sure about who I really am?’ Hou Qing suddenly came to his senses and directed his sword towards Fang Xing once more. With all manner of life experiences under his belt, he wasn’t just any ordinary young master from a wealthy clan.
The situation didn’t allow Fang Xing too much time to reorganize his thoughts. “I did have a good dozen suspects at first, but who do you think I—your grandfather—am? I’ve practically grown up in the outer court. Of the dozen suspects, I know half of them personally. Besides, most people at the Black Market prefer a black veil, yet not only had you worn a white veil, your robes were even freshly cleaned. This could only mean you really like white or you’re just a clean freak. That leaves only a few suspects left. Oh, and… do you know how heavily you smell of musk?”
As if unable to stand the smell, Fang Xing waved his hands in front of his nose. “How can I not know who you are!”
Dumbfounded, Hou Qing lifted his sleeve closer to his nose before taking an awkward half-step backwards.
Fang Xing continued, striking while the iron was still hot, “So when I got back that day, I had people looking for someone that fit these descriptions. Don’t you think it’d be a bit too unreasonable if I still couldn’t find out who you are when I had all of this evidence? I’ve checked you out personally, too; hah, that small mole of yours next to your brow, I knew I wasn’t wrong. Originally, I had only done this for the sake of a safe and smooth transaction. I didn’t want to reveal it to you, but how dare you try to pull a scam on me!”
Hou Qing felt an uncomfortable chill pass down his spine as he was thrown into another panic.
At first, he had thought of the man as nothing more than a spoiled, incompetent child of someone who held a position of power within the sect. Hou Qing despised people like these. Never in his dreams would he have expected the man to be so calculating and cautious, especially the fact that this man had observed him in advance, all without Hou Qing ever knowing. In the meantime, Hou Qing had begun to look closely at the man’s physical features, trying to remember if it had been someone he had met in the past nine days.
Fang Xing saw that—despite Hou Qing’s mixed expressions—the sword still hung mid-air. He knew this could only mean one thing: he needed to add a bit more detail to spice things up a bit and clear away any remaining doubt.
Fang Xing unexpectedly pulled off his black veil. “All I want today is to have a smooth transaction; I don’t want to turn this into a scene. If you’re afraid of me taking revenge on you, the fact you’ve now seen who I am is more than enough to ensure your own safety. So, give me the real Demon Pellet as you’ve promised, and after today we will be total strangers.”
“You…” shocked at the sight, Hou Qing couldn’t help but to take another alarmed step backwards.
SWOOSH
Along with an eye-blinding flash of gold, a sword flew out of Fang Xing’s pocket. A total of nine snakes danced excitedly around the entire sword, its grandeur ten times greater than Hou Qing’s own silver sword.
Hou Qing was immediately surprised by the sight but still strictly controlled his mind, “Are you going to fight me?”
Fang Xing sneered once more, “Like I said, I only wanted to do business. I will also let you know, although your tier might be higher than mine, Spirit weapons are the things I lack the least. If we were to really battle this out, you might not have the upper hand.”
Hou Qing looked at the golden sword and nodded in agreement. This sword was of extremely high quality; if they were to fight each other, even if he could win, it would not be without losing an arm or a leg. Moreover, he could even feel a strong sense of threat from the nine snakes around the sword.
Unfortunately, the most annoying thing about the children of those in power was the fact they would usually have a vast selection of high-quality spirit weapons and tools.
“Since all Shixiong wanted was to do business… please accept my sincere apologies.” Hou Qing slowly but carefully drew back his sword, then bowed towards Fang Xing.
“Don’t give me this bullsh*t! I only want the Demon Pellet!” Fang Xing impatiently demanded.
With an awkward smile, Hou Qing dug his hand deeply into his pocket before a small vase was seen hurled towards Fang Xing.
Once Fang Xing had caught the vase, he pretended to smell the pellet inside after uncorking it, and upon its confirmation he let out a heartfelt smile. “How simple was that? Why did you have to make it so complicated? Let me tell you something, Shidi, you’ll only get yourself in over your head with troubles if you keep up your little smart-a** attitude. Oh, and let’s not see each other again.” Even as Fang Xing continued to speak, his [Nine Snakes’ Sword] was still in mid-air.
“Please, take my apologies once more.” Hou Qing again bowed in a polite manner. He did not wish to get on the bad side of someone like the man before him, and in fact Hou Qing had already started to regret the fact that this man might use his connections within the sect to suppress him at a later date.
Those thoughts had vanished quickly once Hou Qing had memorized the physical features of this man, and now neither of them had any advantage over the other. Besides, he himself had his own connections within the sect as well, or how else would he have been able to join the sect after he was already in the second tier? With the last of his doubt cleared away, Hou Qing put away his sword before leaving the hilltop in a hurry.
A breeze of wind caressed Hou Qing’s skin, drying up his cold sweat as he hastily walked away from the hilltop, his eyebrows still locked as his mind wandered. ‘Who is that person? I’m sure I’ve never seen that face before. I’ll ask Shimei Shu to keep an eye out for someone like that for me. Hm… he’s arrogant, skinny, tall, and has a golden Flying Sword…
‘Hold on a minute. A golden Flying Sword, nine snakes…
‘Why does that all sound so familiar…?’
Immediately—as if something had finally clicked—Hou Qing slowed down. He had just remembered a rumor about a stolen [Nine Snakes’ Sword] at one of the previous Black Markets. Then, acting purely on instinct, he opened his bag of “Ore Essence Powder”.
The closer he looked, the more he felt that something was wrong with it.
Hou Qing noticed some light shade of yellow on his hands. He was sweating so it was only natural for the powder to be slightly damp, but for it to lose color at the onset of moisture was a completely different matter.
If the man was who he said he was, then why would he rob the Black Market? Similarly, if he was the culprit behind the robbery, why would he be who he said he was?
“I’m going to kill you!” It took only a single thought before Hou Qing realized what had really happened.
Hou Qing was so infuriated that his veins could be seen popping from his neck. After releasing a howl of anger—audible even some four miles away—he turned back towards the hilltop in a mad dash.
Fang Xing, on the other hand, had already left through a less direct path using his fastest speed possible. Hou Qing stood no chance of catching up.
In a way, all of this had been the result of Hou Qing’s own carelessness. If he hadn’t wanted to so desperately swindle Fang Xing, he would have paid more attention in examining the powders as soon as he’d received them. Unfortunately, he had been too focused on worrying about the second-rate pellet to closely look and feel these “Ore Essence Powders”.
To put it simply, it was the perfect example of trying to go for wool but coming home shorn.
—
NOTES
[1]Shimei: 师妹 (shi1 mei4); younger martial sister.
บท 27: Descent of the Mysterious Coffin
บรรณาธิการ: Nou
‘Haha! You’re lucky I didn’t want your clothing, or I’d have taken that too!’
By now, Fang Xing had already arrived at the foot of the mountain after taking a detour from the forest and changed his appearance once more so that even if Hou Qing were to somehow find him, Fang Xing would not be recognizable. As for the treasures within his pockets, they had all been transferred into his storage ring. Once all of this was done, Fang Xing could hear a muffled howl from Hou Qing some distance away and—overjoyed—he hummed a light tune as he headed back to his cottage.
As soon as Fang Xing reached his cottage, he fell asleep as though nothing had happened at all.
Four hours had passed before Fang Xing suddenly sat up from his bed and began to quietly listen to make sure nothing unusual was happening. Confirming that the area surrounding his cottage was as quiet as it should be in the middle of the night, Fang Xing released a sigh of relief before taking out the Demon Pellet for a closer look. At the hilltop, Fang Xing had only been able to check its legitimacy due to the circumstances at the time.
While Fang Xing focused on the pellet in his hands, the [Book of Revelation] activated within his mind.
‘Third tier Demon Pellet. Crafted from nine sources of raw materials. Stores Qi inside. Suitable for Spirit Stage cultivators. Methods of use:
Circulate the Qi for absorption.
Soak in wine for consumption
Place under tongue while practicing Qi fluctuations.’
On top of the basic description of what the pellet was and its quality, there were even details as to its purpose and methods of use. These specific methods, however, were not limited only to this Demon Pellet specifically, and many other pellets with a similar purpose could also be used in the same way.
‘This sure is some good stuff! No wonder a single one of these pellets is worth a hundred Spirit Stones on the sect’s Exchange Bulletin,’ Fang Xing mentally exclaimed in approval. Under normal circumstances, items as expensive as this couldn’t be enjoyed by an ordinary outer court disciple and were usually reserved for those in the sect’s inner court.
Even for Hou Qing—who had only obtained the pellet by chance—it was extremely valuable, enough so that he had been willing to risk offending someone with powerful connections within the sect in order to keep it for himself.
It was in fact simple math: one hundred Spirit Stones were equivalent to twenty thousand taels of gold, the same as the worth of the [Nine Snakes’ Sword]. The difference, however, was that the sword could be used repeatedly, whereas the Demon Pellet was a consumable with a single use. If the raw materials for the Poji Pellet weren’t so hard to come by, who in their right mind would want to trade anything for it? It could even be said that while Fang Xing’s second trip to the Black Market had only involved scamming one person, the resulting profit was much greater than his first had brought.
‘For an ordinary disciple, even if they have plenty of resources, it would normally take about three months to go from tier one to tier two, then a year from two to three. By the time they are ready for the breakthrough at tier three, a lot more time would have gone by, three years or even longer. Or they might never even reach tier four…. I’ve only just stabilized myself at tier two. I wonder how much time I’ll save reaching the next tier now that I have such a pellet!’
While Fang Xing thought to himself, a sense of hope formed within him. Without further ado, he sat cross-legged on his bed and immersed himself deeply into the fluctuations of Qi. This time, the Spirit Stone that would normally be floating in midair was replaced by the Demon Pellet.
After spending some time trying to absorb some of the Qi from the pellet, Fang Xing could feel that even though it was faster than using a Spirit Stone, it was still at a much slower rate than it had been rumored to be. Pausing the fluctuations, Fang Xing recalled the wine gourd given to him from his eighth uncle that still had quite a bit of homemade calabash wine left inside.
Without even sparing a second thought, Fang Xing decided to try the second method instead and threw the whole pellet right into the gourd.
After shaking the wine gourd lightly for a few moments, Fang Xing opened its lid to see if the pellet had started to dissolve. To his surprise, the pellet was still there, and although there were no changes to its size, the wine had become irresistibly delightful in its scent.
‘Oh wow! It’s like getting some free spirit wine right there…’ Fang Xing thought to himself with pleasure as he took a large gulp of the wine. A lukewarm gush surged down his throat and into his stomach and a pleasant warmth spread out over his entire body. Fang Xing hastily activated his fluctuations in an attempt to capture and convert this warmth of Qi into his meridians, similar to the method he had used with the Hwa’jin back when he was a daotong.
Quite a while later, the single mouthful of wine had finally been fully converted. Fang Xing estimated that even using this method, the process was not much faster. To be fair, however, a single mouthful had already left Fang Xing with a sense of lightheadedness; normally even two full gourds of the same wine would have no effect on him.
‘Let’s try the third method, then.’ Since the gourd’s opening was rather small, Fang Xing found himself a pair of chopsticks to try retrieving the pellet without pouring the remaining wine out of the gourd at the same time, but even the chopsticks proved to be too large to be of any help. In a fit of exasperation, Fang Xing tilted the gourd right into his mouth, guzzling down the entire bottle.
Including the entire Demon Pellet.
The original plan had been to curl up his tongue at the exact moment the pellet reached his mouth to secure it inside, but the flow of wine was so quick that the pellet had only followed along faster. Before he had even realized what had just happened, the pellet was already well on its way to his stomach. Horrified, Fang Xing threw the gourd aside.
‘Did I… just swallow it?’ Although the pellet surely could not be poisonous, no one had heard of swallowing it whole. Not knowing whether to laugh or to cry, Fang Xing sat on his bed and held on to his stomach as he tried to think of something quickly.
It didn’t take too long before the alcohol hit him. Not sure what was going to happen to him, Fang Xing decided he might as well go to sleep.
‘At least it’s better to be in my stomach than in someone else’s…’ he consoled himself, his body relaxing and curling up into a land of dreams.
—
Soaking the Demon Pellet in wine would have magnified the alcohol’s strength over tenfold, plus there was the entire pellet itself as well. As Fang Xing slept on, streams of Jing were released from the pellet in waves that spread all throughout his body, saturating even into his bones. He was gradually beginning to fill with an abundance of Qi within while grime could be seen oozing out of his pores on the surface of his skin, filling the room with an unbearable stench.
The concentration of Jing continued to flow and steadily forced Fang Xing’s meridians to stretch beyond their maximum capacity. Even though he was sound asleep, Fang Xing could not help but to unconsciously turn his body over, the discomfort difficult to bear.
Though he did not know it, swallowing the entire pellet was a dire mistake on its own.
The [Book of Revelation] had described three different methods to make use of the Demon Pellet, yet the most direct path of swallowing the pellet itself was not included and this omission alone would be enough grounds for concern. It had to be understood that one such pellet contained the entire Qi of a third-tier beast, whereas Fang Xing had only just stepped into the second tier; the Demon Pellet on its own contained more Qi than Fang Xing had ever had, and much, much more.
To look at it another way, it was akin to the difference between a man and an elephant. Could one person consume an entire elephant? Perhaps it was possible, but even then it would take an excessively large amount of time before that man could digest it entirely.
For Fang Xing, it was as though he had just swallowed the entire elephant in one go. The only outcome for this should have been for him to explode from overeating. As it happened, the alcohol had sent Fang Xing into a deep sleep and he had no idea what was currently happening to his body.
Fang Xing’s meridians gradually swelled up while his tiny face colored an unnatural tone of red.
As Fang Xing tossed and turned in his sleep with great difficulty, he saw that he was the eight-year-old Fang Xing again. The group of enemy bandits of the Guiyan Valley had caught him and were hanging him upside down, trying to drown him by submerging his head in a lake.
“I… I’m going to kill all of you!” Fang Xing waved his fist fiercely in the air. The air was empty, yet in his dream there were countless malevolent faces laughing cruelly towards him.
As the Jing and Qi both reached the absolute maximum of what Fang Xing’s body was able to handle, the [Book of Revelation] automatically activated itself. Millions of meaningless facts passed through his brain as it absorbed the overflowing amount of Qi and eased the pain Fang Xing was experiencing. As the Jing continued to be released, however, the matter was only worsening.
The [Book of Revelation] was an enormous library of information. Most of it consisted of different spirit weapons, tools, treasures, and a variety of other things. It was like the memory bank of an extremely powerful cultivator, and the reason Fang Xing was able to appraise various items and the cultivation levels of some people was all thanks to the existence of this vast, ocean-like memory bank.
Finally, at the last moment right before his meridians exploded, the [Book of Revelation] activated itself to its maximum potential and suddenly absorbed a large chunk of both Jing and Qi. In a flash, a speck of twinkling light rose from the top of Fang Xing’s head and ascended into the highest of the heavens.
With a span of time that couldn’t be measured, the twinkling light had escaped from all forms of worldly restrictions and dived right into the vastness of the heavens.
Stars flickered within the vast, boundless galaxy.
Within this starry realm stood an enormous black coffin. It floated unmoving amongst the stars, its presence sealed for all eternity.
That single sparkle of light dived straight towards the coffin the moment it had drawn close. Some time later, the lid of the coffin opened ever so slightly, releasing a ray of splendor of its own.
It was the first time in thousands of years since the mysterious coffin had moved.
That ray charged straight to a planet with an average saturation of Qi, breaking through the barriers of the atmosphere and magnetic fields as it headed right towards South Zhanbu Continent, Chufung Kingdom, and then finally arrived at the Qing-Yun Sect.
In this entire land that housed hundreds of thousands of cultivation masters, the handful of cultivation freaks—those who had lived more years than anyone could count—opened their eyes in astonishment, their gazes locked towards the heavens.
Within this same starry realm, for the past ten thousand years there had been a total of nine mysterious coffins suspended in nine different directions.
‘If only…’
Upon second glance, the mysterious coffin had returned to its deathly stillness.
As though nothing had changed.
As though nothing would ever change.
At this very moment, an extremely difficult to translate excerpt had appeared in Fang Xing’s mind… but for some reason, it was then translated into words that had grown much easier to understand, as though the passage was made for him and him alone. It poured into his heart and bathed his meridians until his Qi began to work autonomously.
“Mom…” softly, Fang Xing spoke an unfamiliar word. A word he had never used before.
Fang Xing was still bound within his dreams, but the cunning faces and cruel laughs were no more. Instead, it was replaced by the warmth and tranquility of a sweet dream.
In a flower garden, Fang Xing laid his head quietly upon the legs of a white-robed woman, her face unclear. She gently stroked his tiny, aching body, her voice mellow as she sang the lines of an ancient script...
“With hair of white spanning three thousand yards
a revered spirit's scripture through which to know
the spirit veins shift and defy their course
through the refining of spirit, life does flow
consuming the earth and plundering the heavens.”
“Mom!”
Awaking with a sudden jerk, Fang Xing desperately tried to grasp on to something in front of him… but there was nothing but air.
Fang Xing only truly came to his senses later on due to the violent sensation of the forces within him. It was then then that he involuntarily recalled the ancient script from his dreams.
“With hair of white spanning three thousand yards… a revered spirit’s scripture through which to know…” Fang Xing repeated the lines to himself, sitting cross-legged as he started to convert the remaining Jing into Qi.
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