Chapter 5: Purple Cloud City and Leiying Sword

Chapter 5: Purple Cloud City and Leiying Sword

A week later, Xiao Hong had completely finished consolidating her cultivation base with the spirit stones earned from exchanging the pills she refined.

Feeling her cultivation base’s revolution slowing down to normal, Xiao Hong’s eye twitched in irritation.

“Dammit, a whole 250 spirit stones and it barely even made a dent!” Xiao Hong felt so frustrated that she almost flipped her cultivation mat! She realised that she needed more than a million spirit stones to reach the threshold of Life Disaster! A goddamn million!

Even reaching the Divine Sea peak would require three hundred thousand spirit stones!

What was even more bullshit was that she consumed spirits stones at an even greater speed! Before one spirit stone lasted 2 hours, now it barely lasted 15 minutes!

She felt like cursing the system. Why did you have to give me such resource blackholes?!

Naturally, the system never responded.

“I need to increase my alchemy rank as fast as possible.

“Umu. Tomorrow I’ll go register for the Grade 2 Alchemy test that is in a month.” she nodded to herself and muttered.

She felt a sense of urgency when she realised the disgusting rate of consumption of spirit stones.

***

The next morning.

Xiao Hong landed on the foot of the mountain-turned-mesa and walked up the stairs.

Walking into the familiar Alchemy Hall, she directly walked over to Deacon Lu.

“Ah, little Hong! Are you here to exchange again? Is it not a little earlier than usual?”

In the past few months, Xiao Hong had built a rather good relationship with him. One should know that people in positions such as Deacon Lu’s meet a lot of people and coupled with his long life he can be said to be a great judge of character. He’s also the kind of person who is quite amiable to people he thinks are talented and does his best to make connections with them. More often than not he was right, resulting in a massive web of connections in both the Inner and Outer Sect. He even has great connections with a few Inner and Core Elders.

Deacon Lu also saw great potential in Xiao Hong, with her pumping out pills like a factory and all of them being high-quality, while also studying alchemy. Thus, a good relationship was built.

“That and I also want to register for the Grade 2 Alchemy test.”

“I see, you want to register for the- wait, what? Grade 2 Alchemy test?! Hasn’t it been only 8 months?” Deacon Lu who was nodding while sagely stroking his beard nearly pulled out a few strands!

“Mhm.” she nodded, enjoying his shocked expression. “I can already refine Grade 2 pills of high quality.”

Deacon Lu was dumbfounded. He carefully looked at her and was shocked again!

Even his extraordinary attainment in Dao of Expressionless was useless at the moment, and his jaw dropped

What was this monster? Why was she already in the Divine Sea realm? The heck?! Wasn’t she busy refining pills?

In his world, people either have time to cultivate or refine pills. Not both! Xiao Hong’s mad refining of pills was already shocking enough! Now she also managed to reach the Divine Sea stage! Looking closer he realised her foundation was also incredibly stable. She had also made time to study the incredibly complex Grade 2 Alchemy!

He really wanted to ask her: how did you cultivate? Can you also teach me? Pretty please?

Then he seemed to have realised something; he looked at her and said in an admonishing tone: “Little Hong, I understand that you are eager to advance your Alchemy and cultivation, but you should know that haste makes waste! Cultivation is all about patience! Running full speed ahead without resting will be detrimental to your future cultivation. You should take time to slow down, take a look at the scenery, rest your mind, meet your friends, have fun with them and enjoy your life in general!

Xiao Hong: “???”

Xiao Hong was struck dumb by Deacon Lu’s sudden outburst. What on earth? I’m just here to get registered! Why are you scolding me? She looked at Deacon Lu in surprise.

But Deacon Lu didn’t let up. He continued forging ahead with his rambling!

“I’m not asking you to stop altogether; that is idiocy. But slowing down and taking some time for yourself will never harm you.

“Even higher cultivators do the same. There were multiple cases of powerful cultivators suddenly receiving enlightenment and ascending on the spot; all when they broke away from arduous cultivation to take some time for themselves. Even alchemists like us!”

She understood that it was for her own good. But she didn’t need it. She had the system! The system cultivated for her! It even learned for her! Even if she went to sleep, it would still cultivate, learn alchemy, and practice Battle Techniques and Spell Arts for her. She was probably the most relaxed cultivator in the world. The only reason she even sat cross-legged to cultivate was because of the habits of the previous owner of the body. If not for that she would be on the couch, dozing off!

She just put on a guilty expression and listened quietly.

Deacon Lu looked at Xiao Hong’s obviously fake guilty expression and sighed inwardly. Shaking his head he said somewhat wearily, “I know you don’t really care about this old man’s words - young people rarely do -, but just give it a little thought. Perhaps, sometime in the future, it will help you...”

Xiao Hong flinched slightly.

“I will advise you again. I’ll register you for the assessment, but I hope that you will heed my advice and take this month off and enjoy yourself a bit.”

The surrounding melon seed eaters also listened to Deacon Lu.

“Hey, hey, since when did Deacon Lu become so talkative? He doesn’t even a shit when we come over to exchange.”

“Tsk, he even tells us to get off our lazy asses and refine more pills!”

“Well, if you think about it, it really applies to Junior Sister Xiao Hong.” After a pause, Melon Seed-Eater No.3 continued, “She exchanges at least 200 bottles of grade 1 high-quality pills every week. Plus she seems to have also reached the Divine Sea realm. The only people she interacts with are Senior Sister Qiao and that bastard Chen Yu... and that too not very often.”

“Besides, I also heard from Teacher that Deacon Lu had a daughter some centuries ago...”

“Eh? Really?”

“Yeah... and she was super-talented too! She had a great chance of joining the Inner Sect! Unfortunately, she was claimed by the Life Disaster. Apparently, she was too hasty.”

“I see... So, Deacon Lu sees his daughter in Junior Sister Xiao... That makes sense!”

“Ah! And here I was thinking Deacon Lu had ulterior motives. Shame on me! I shall punish myself by drinking 9 cups of Lost Immortal Wine at Gentle Flowers Pavilion.”

“... Scram! You just want to enjoy yourself!”

After calming Deacon Lu down, she flew back to her home.

Inside, she was somewhat touched. Although she knew that the concern was not completely separate from benefits, she also felt sincerity from Deacon Lu.

This also reminded her that she was too fixated on cultivation, alchemy and her plans, and needed to take a proper look at the new world she’d found herself in. Well, she needed to take a look at the Jade Beauties at least!

“I wonder if Sister Guiying is free...?”

In the past eight months, she’d met her four times. Twice at her own home, and twice at Qiao Guiying’s.

The girl was exactly what you’d call a social butterfly. Talented, smart, beautiful, overall had a great personality and was from a powerful Cultivator family with members in the inner sect to boot! She also has one of the sexiest bodies in the entire Outer Sect, contrasting her almost pure Saint-like innocent image. Many, many men dream of taking her as their Dao Companion. Unfortunately, this girl was crooked. According to Xiao Hong, she could be classified as a Jade Beauty Variation I-2 - Special: Innocent on the outside and perverted inside. The special indicated her special interests; in this case: girls. Xiao Hong also found it cute how easy she was to read.

She had also met the other girl who was with Qiao Guiying: Jiang Xinyue. This girl was a total cultivation maniac, spending most of her time cultivating or practising battle techniques. Jade Beauty Variation C0: Cold Beauty; this was the conclusion that Xiao Hong had come to. Variations C1, C2, and C3 were Ice Queen and Ice Empress and Indifferent Goddess, respectively; with increasing degrees of ‘Coldness’.

Anyway, Jiang Xinyue was orphaned in a mortal war and an Outer Sect Elder took pity on her when he sensed she had a talent for cultivation and gave her his surname. Xiao Hong only met her once when she was in Qiao Guiying’s house and she’d come over.

As she was reminiscing, she took out a grey-coloured token and pushed her Qi and Divine Sense into it. This was a Communication Jade that could communicate over millions of metres and it was fairly expensive at almost 900 spirit stones.

She soon got a reply.

Entering the Pavilion, a particularly handsome young man dressed in an attendant’s uniform walked over, his badge showing the characters for Song Lian.

“How may I serve you two beautiful ladies?” He bowed slightly while cupping his hands to show that he was ready to serve.

Qiao Guiying took out a token from her space ring and showed it to him, “Show me and my sister around. Are there any good treasures recently?” she demanded like a young master, only female.

The young man’s eyes flickered as he scanned the token in Qiao Guiying’s hand, “Of course, Young Miss! It would be my honour!” his bow deeper than the last.

Like the typical Xianxia trading institution, the treasure house was divided into different levels depending upon the rarity and power of the treasure on display. Without bothering to stop at the lower floors, Song Lian brought them to the highest floor where the most precious of treasures were kept.

This floor was much more sparse than the lower ones; both in people and in treasures.

Song Lian then turned towards Xiao Hong and queried, “Is there anything specific you want, miss?” He did not ask Qiao Guiying as it was clear that she had come here for Xiao Hong. Besides the owner of this place was none other than her grandfather, if she wanted something, the treasure pavilion wouldn’t even see it.

“Hmm, do you have any good Flying Swords around here?”

“Of course, miss.”

Song Lian led them to the Weapon Artefact area, where there were dozens of weapons of different kinds ranging from the normal swords, sabres, spears and axes, to the somewhat rare scythes, to non-mainstream weapons like the kusarigama were displayed each radiating their own powerful aurae. Obviously, every weapon here was incredibly powerful. Any Artefact here would cost almost two thousand spirit stones.

Don’t look at how Xiao Hong devoured thousands of spirit stones to barely reach the Divine Sea realm; the purchasing power of even low-grade spirit stones is nothing to be scoffed at. Just a little more than two thousand spirit stones are enough to cultivate a mortal all the way to the Nirvana Realm - even if they would be completely average in every way. Meaning each weapon here is almost equivalent to a Nirvana realm cultivator.

And dozens of weapons of this level were on display.

Xiao Hong’s eyes sparkled as she looked at them, ‘Treasures! So many treasures! If I could make every one of them into spirit stones, I would probably be able to reach the peak of the mid-stage Divine Sea!’

Her eyes almost turned into the shape of spirit stones!

At the side, Qiao Guiying looked at her obvious reaction and felt quite amused. This was the first time she had seen a girl like Xiao Hong: a girl who got excited upon seeing weapons. Normal girls would get excited at the sight of beautiful things, cute things or new dresses and accessories.

‘As expected! Sister Hong is truly different!’

Sister Qiao had brought her rose-tinted glasses with her today!

Song Lian on the other hand was looking at Xiao Hong strangely,

‘... Why does this lady’s expression feel so strange? It almost feels as though she wants to gobble up these treasures?!’

His expression became stranger as he saw her pick up a particularly large spear which had the name “Black Dragon Spear” carved on the bottom of its spearhead.

‘Oh my! Is this Core-forged Dark Iron? And it’s so pure too! This thing is worth a fortune!’ Xiao Hong was almost drooling at the sight of it.

Song Lian broke out of his daze and realised that he’d neglected his job for a moment there. He hurriedly went up to her and said, “Did this spear catch your fancy, miss?”

“Mhm.” she nodded.

“Young Miss's sight is extraordinary! It is quite the masterpiece, actually; it was one of Master Jin’s last works before he became one with the Way. It was made for his nephew, who unfortunately also died before he could even cherish it.

“The material of this spear is a very high purity Core-forged Dark Iron which was forged in Ocean Spirit Flame, evident from the pattern resembling the waves of the ocean on its body...”

As Song Lian introduced the spear to Xiao Hong, she finally rid herself of her intrusive money-grubbing thoughts and gave the spear a test swing. Immediately, she understood it was not for her.

Xiao Hong simply shook her head and passed it to Song Lian who had just finished introducing the spear; he immediately understood and placed it back. He didn’t even try to market it.

This was because cultivators, especially those that have achieved Sky Spirit, have a special intuition that is like a sixth sense. This kind of sense is truly mysterious in that it gives the cultivator a very strong indication of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ and when it comes to things like selecting weapons or something similar or when encountering danger, they get an unmistakable feeling of ‘right’ when they lay their hands on the weapon that is, well, right for them.

And thus the trio proceeded, with Song Lian introducing the flying swords, Xiao Hong testing them and Qiao Guiying quietly fangirling inwardly.

After trying dozens of swords, Xiao Hong’s arm was getting sore - metaphorically - from all the swinging. Just when she wanted to give up and go back, they came across a beautiful purple flying sword exuding an aura that made the very air crackle with power. Small arcs of purple lightning jumped from it and to the spherical force field that contained it, causing small ripple-like distortions on the otherwise invisible field.

Xiao Hong immediately felt drawn to it and Song Lian, who noticed, introduced, “That’s the Leiying Sword. One of the pieces that we are most proud to present. With Tribulation Thunder Steel making its body and Thunderstruck Purple Willow making its hilt, it is one of the most powerful weapons available to those between the Divine Sea and Fusion Stage. It also has the chance to grow stronger given the right materials.”

Song Lian swiped a token over the pedestal below the floating spherical force field releasing the sword. Immediately, the aura intensified immensely and spread through the Weapon Artefact area, almost suffocating the people who were under its influence.

Xiao Hong, who seemed completely unfazed, walked up and grabbed a hold of it. Instantly, a powerful current swept throughout her being, as if assessing her, to know if she was worthy of wielding it. It swept through her body, her meridians, her Dantian and finally it moved towards her head as if to reach her Soul Gate.

“Hmph!” Xiao Hong was slightly irritated at the rather brazen behaviour. If it weren’t for the fact that its degree of sentience was rudimentary, she would have destroyed it for trying to reach her Soul Gate. After all, the Soul Gate was one of the most vulnerable points on a cultivator’s body as it was the Gateway to the Sea of Consciousness.

She pumped a massive amount of Zhenqi into the sword and scattered its resistance instantly. After which she gave it a swing.

And there it was. An incredible sense of ‘rightness’ swept through her mind. Her Qi, Body and Soul harmonised with the swords' power, smoothly transferring her Zhenqi to the swords and then to the surroundings, letting out a light purple Sword Qi that swept out for several feet before dissipating.

“Perfect!”

Xiao Hong was very pleased with the sword. “How much?” she turned to Song Lian, who was looking somewhat surprised.

‘She subdued it so easily! Few people were able to escape it unscathed, let alone subdue it! This young lady isn’t simple. As expected of the young lady’s friend, I suppose!’

Instantly, he made a decision.

“This sword, while powerful, is very feisty and hard to subdue. And while it is made of very precious materials, the fact that it’s not suitable for most people to wield reduces its price significantly. Taking a few other factors into consideration, this sword would cost 2,700 low-grade spirit stones.

“However, since you are our young lady’s friend, I will give you a discount and round it up to 2,500 low-grade spirit stones.”

Actually, this sword would cost a lot more and 2700 was already very close to the cost price. He had to basically give up his commission and some more to sell this piece at such a low cost. However, to make a good impression on this lady, who obviously had a lot of potential, it was a bearable loss; both to him and Purple Cloud Treasure Pavilion. And what happened next made him overjoyed with his decision.

“Sister Hong, how about I pay for you? Your alchemy studies will also require tremendous amounts of resources, after all. All you have to do is help me refine a very special pill for me later on when your Alchemy has reached a high enough level.”

Just as Xiao Hong lamented the fact that she didn’t have enough spirit stones as she wanted to save some for the auction later on, Qiao Guiying gave her a way out.

Xiao Hong pondered for a few moments before tentatively asking, “What pill?”

“Nine Revolutions Flood Dragon Pill.”

On the side, Song Lian’s eyebrows shot up so high they almost disappeared under his hair.

He knew this pill. The Nine Revolutions Flood Dragon Pill was only a high-grade 4 Pill, corresponding to the Nirvana Realm. It was an auxiliary resource to the Nirvana Chapter of the Azure Dragon Scripture; the Qiao family’s most treasured technique. Legend has it that, with this pill and the said scripture, one can undergo a second or a third Nirvana, further increasing the benefits.

And with a large enough quantity of the said pill, one can undergo multiple Nirvana and forge the legendary Azure Dragon Physique. Which in turn is the most suitable physique for the cultivation of the forbidden chapter of the Azure Dragon Scripture. It is said that those who can fully cultivate the Forbidden Chapter will be unrivalled in their respective cultivation realm.

Of course, such an overpowered Scripture has its disadvantages. For the Azure Dragon Scripture, it is the fact that the pill is insanely difficult to refine and the ingredients are just as hard to acquire.

The only ones who could refine it were Master Su, and possibly Master An. Forget Master Su, who even the Sect Master had to butter up for a year to have him refine a pill; even Master An, this little godling, was too much for the Qiao Family!

The last time the Qiao Family tried to enlist his help, they were ignored!

Anyway, the fact that Qiao Guiying wanted to enlist this young lady’s help meant that, according to her, this young lady had talent on par with Master An!

Even if Qiao Guiying was overestimating her, it would not be much; and Xiao Hong would be vastly superior to most Alchemists in the sect!

Song Lian patted himself on the back for a job well done.