Chapter 16：I’m Your Old Uncle

Ji Mo's day was ruined. He did not go looking for Huo Lin'er or return to his residence. Instead, he walked out from Tianyuan Academy and headed towards a restaurant in town. He ordered several side dishes and a pot of wine all for himself.

Giving Ji Shan a sound beating today allowed Ji Mo to vent his grievance. Besides that, he learned that it was useless to reason with some people, but a good beating was enough to shut them up. 

After all, in the cultivation world, only the toughest fist ruled.

'The Hunting Competition is ten days away and I want to elevate my strength to the next tier before heading to the hunting ground. I need to progress to the sixth-tier tempered body at the very least to be able to protect myself when confronted with powerful demonic beasts during the hunt,' Ji Mo thought to himself. 

Ji Mo was getting more familiar with the Celestial Devil Tempering Art after having researched it for quite some time. This particular Body Tempering Art was more terrifying than other types of high-grade Body Tempering Art.

With the Dragon Elephant Tempering Art that Nan Hao practiced, each breakthrough to the next tier would yield him over 200 kilograms of strength. At the eighth-tier, he could release over 1,500 kilograms of strength. Even if he managed to break through to the ninth-tier tempered body during this time, he could only release 2,000 kilograms of strength at maximum, and that was only if he performed it with a compatible martial art.

On the other hand, Ji Mo, whose cultivation base was only on the fifth-tier tempered body, had already acquired over 1,200 kilograms of strength. In other words, each mortal body transformation that resulted from performing the Celestial Devil Tempering Art would yield him 250 kilograms of strength, which was 50 kilograms more than Nan Hao. If their capabilities were at the same boundary, Ji Mo would possess enough strength to oppress Hao Nan.

'Spiritual medicine is still of the utmost priority. Ever since the breakthrough to the fifth-tier tempered body, the third-grade spiritual medicine Huo Lin'er gave me could no longer satisfy my body. Although this Celestial Devil Tempered Body is domineering, the amount of spiritual medicine it exhausts is terribly petrifying!' thought Ji Mo in frustration.

In recent years, he had accumulated quite a good amount of wealth, but it was not even sufficient to purchase spiritual medicine. Besides, to purchase spiritual medicine, he would first have to trade the money for the Qi Gathering Pill. 

The Qi Gathering Pill was a common medicinal pill in the cultivation world. It was necessary for assisting cultivators during their cultivation path. Over time, Qi Gathering Pills turned into the commonly used currency in the cultivation world. If Ji Mo wanted to purchase spiritual medicine, he must first convert his money into the equivalent amount of Qi Gathering Pills before he could make his purchase in the chamber of commerce in the cultivation world. 

If the money he acquired from over the years was converted into Qi Gathering Pills, he would not have much left at all. 

Just when Ji Mo was tangled in his thoughts, a wobbly figure appeared in front of him. The figure turned out to be a slovenly old man holding a broken bamboo pole and numerous other things in his arms. He approached Ji Mo with a lewd smile on his face.

"Um…who are you?" Ji Mo asked.

"Go to hell!" replied the old man.

"You go to hell! How can you swear in public?! But it's a good one indeed." Caught by surprise, Ji Mo did not know how to react. Instinctively, he splashed the cup of wine onto the person's face. 

"Go to hell!" repeated the old man.

"You go to hell! I'll be really angry if you keep going on like this." Ji Mo rose to his feet in one swift move.

The old man laughed a couple of times. He looked right into Ji Mo's eyes when he spoke next, "Young man, do you not remember who I am? Take a look at this." With that, the old man placed that broken bamboo pole on the table and grinned at Ji Mo, revealing the yellowed teeth in his mouth.

"This bamboo pole…Ah! You really are my Old Uncle!" Ji Mo's face was washed over with delight as he finally remembered the old man. The old man had visited Ji Mo's clan house before and assisted his father in his cultivation breakthrough. After that, the old man had stayed in their clan house for some time. Ji Mo's father used to address the old man as his brother, hence, technically, this old man was indeed Ji Mo's Old Uncle.

In addition to that, the old man used to tell Ji Mo about fantastic stories and strange tales that happened in the cultivation world. Ji Mo had always regarded him as a mysterious old man. The old man was once neatly clothed, but now, with a face full of dirt, he looked like a complete mess. That was why Ji Mo could not recognize him straight away. 

"Old Uncle, what happened to you? Please have a seat. I'll fill a cup for you right away." Immediately, Ji Mo helped the old man to a stool and served him some wine.

Ji Mo had no clue what the old man's name was because of the latter's mysterious background. He only remembered that back in the clan house, his father had once addressed him as Old Man Qingzhu. 

Old Man Qingzhu was smiling while getting into his seat. He was not polite either as he finished the cup of wine in one go and proceeded to devour the chicken thigh. "I thought I saw you from across the street, and who would have guessed that it's indeed you?"

"Haha! What've you been up to, Old Uncle?" Ji Mo enquired gently.

"Um… You sound like you're relentlessly cursing me. Why don't you just call me by my respected name?" said Old Man Qingzhu while he rolled his eyes. Then, he fiddled with the bundle of things in his arms and explained, "I've been traveling lately and I discovered some good stuff while passing by here, hence now I'm doing some small business."

"Small business? What sort of things?" enquired Ji Mo curiously.

The corner of Old Man Qingzhu's lips turned upward into a peculiar smile. He glanced around to make sure no one was watching before revealing a jade disc in his arms. "Have a look for yourself. Project your consciousness into the jade disc and unexpected things will happen…"

Ji Mo took the jade disc with intense curiosity. He was familiar with this jade disc named the Water Moon Jade disc. This type of jade disc was considered a treasure to cultivators. It could be utilized to record moving pictures and sound. The way to watch these images was to project your consciousness into it. Ji Mo followed the instructions Old Man Qingzhu gave him and projected his consciousness into it.

In the next instant, Ji Mo noticed the moving scene on the jade disc. A lady in revealing clothes appeared vividly in the picture. She fluttered her eyelashes seductively and flirted with him. As she continued to titillate, pieces of clothing slowly fell from her body until she was finally stark-naked. Her silky-white skin appeared almost translucent. The two dark red circles on her chest and that mysterious black triangle were remarkably inviting. 

"Um…" When Ji Mo finally regained his consciousness, he was blushing a little.

"First time? Your cheeks are unbelievably red," said the old man in disdain, "Did you enjoy it?"

"Yes."

"Do you want it?"

"Yes."

"300 Qi Gathering Pills for a disc," Old Man Qingzhu replied.

"F*ck me! That's too pricey. The concept of 300 Qi Gathering Pills is unimaginable." Ji Mo almost spilled the wine from his mouth and was so close to biting his tongue. 

In ancient times, the Chinese term "Old Master" or "Old Grandfather" is used by servants or lower-class people to honor the higher-class ones. However, today, the term is often used by northern Chinese as a swear word that means "go to hell" or "to hell with you".The Chinese term used here "qingzhu" literally means green bamboo, hence the bamboo pole.