With money to be made, Old Dong and Big Stone weren't stingy this time. Though they couldn't afford the absolute top-tier, they still treated their former Chief and self-proclaimed Second Chief to genuinely good wine and dishes.
Recalling past glorious years, some shed tears into their wine, even drinking their snot along with it…
Amidst the endless, vibrant lanterns, encountering who knew whether they were humans, demons, or monsters, Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang, slightly tipsy, returned from eating from day until night. When they sat down in their room, they dared not bend their backs forward, their stomachs were so full.
“Careless, careless, it would be terrible if someone attacked us now.”
Leaning back in his chair, Shi Chun sighed with his bloated stomach.
“Ugh, so good.” Wu Jinliang let out a satisfied burp, exhaling a strong whiff of alcohol.
It wasn't their first time drinking alcohol; Far-Gazing Tower in the Land of Exile also sold it, and they had spent money to taste cheap liquor before. But drinking so heartily was a first, and it was good wine at that.
Both were so stuffed they were reluctant to speak much, fearing they might throw up what was sloshing in their throats.
After a long period of quiet meditation to regulate their breathing, the two slowly recovered.
Opening his eyes again, Shi Chun untied a bulging money pouch from his waist. As he opened the drawstring, a purple flame-like aura immediately emerged.
Inside, besides some Wood Gold, were several small bottles. He took out a small bottle, the size of two thumbs, opened it, and poured out a pea-sized emerald green pill, named Longhua Pill, a common spiritual pill in the cultivation world used to aid in cultivation advancement.
It wasn’t particularly expensive nor cheap, depending on who it was for. The normal market price was ten Wood Gold per pill.
Shi Chun bought twenty pills in one go, which was two small bottles. He gave one bottle to Wu Jinliang, spending two hundred Wood Gold, paid for by Old Dong and the others.
Buying this, naturally, was to try out its cultivation effects.
Sensing the glow of the flame-like aura in the room, Wu Jinliang opened his eyes and chuckled, “Oh yeah, let’s test the spiritual pill’s effect.”
He immediately took off the bulging money pouch from his waist. He opened it, but no purple flame-like aura appeared because he had no money.
It was bulging because it contained some common injury medicines, just in case, all enthusiastically paid for by Old Dong and the others.
He swallowed it in one gulp, then went to his bed to sit cross-legged, his great saber placed close by.
After sniffing the pill’s fragrant aroma, Shi Chun did the same, experiencing his first time refining a pill for cultivation…
Inside the highest floor of Far-Gazing Tower, a group of personnel responsible for local affairs were having their routine meeting. Miao Yilan was among them.
Someone came in from outside and whispered a few words in her ear, and Miao Yilan turned and left, departing temporarily.
At the corner of the connecting corridor outside, Chasi, who had been staking out all day, was waiting.
Miao Yilan approached him and, after listening to his report on the day’s surveillance, said with some surprise, “Cao Puqing’s nephew, Cen Futong, went to see him and even had a secret meeting?”
Chasi: “It should have been a secret meeting. Those accompanying Cen Futong were dismissed, and as they passed me, I overheard their grumbling, something about being mysterious and not knowing what they were up to.”
Miao Yilan: “It wasn’t to teach Shi Chun and them a lesson for offending Lü Taizhen?”
Chasi: “It didn’t look like it.”
Miao Yilan pondered for a moment, then nodded, “Alright, I understand.
You continue to keep an eye on them.”
As night deepened, the singing and dancing in Liyun Tower remained lively.
Madam Feng Chi, ever astute, moved among the distinguished guests.
Meanwhile, in the pavilion by the cliff outside Wuyou Inn, a person in a black cloak, whose face beneath the hood was identical to Madam Feng Chi’s, sat.
Soon after, another mysterious figure emerged from the shadows. With an elegant posture, it was none other than Xiang Lan’er, her hair disheveled and covering her face, looking like a female ghost in the dead of night.
After they drew close, Feng Chi whispered, “The situation in the Living Prison is special; it’s hard to confirm identities quickly. The message has been sent up, and they’ve arranged for people to enter the Living Prison, but it will take time.
The earliest estimation is probably tomorrow morning.”
The breeze rustled the hair covering her face, and Xiang Lan’er said, “It’s certain that this Shi Chun is far from simple; he’s definitely not helping out of pure goodwill.”
Feng Chi uttered an “Oh,” “How so?”
Xiang Lan’er: “He is eager to facilitate Bian Weikang’s return to Wukang Mountain. His target should also be Wukang Mountain.”
Feng Chi immediately looked surprised, “Who could it be? Could it be people sent by the other two branches of the three lines?”
Xiang Lan’er: “No matter who it is, I won’t allow anyone to interfere here. We leave tomorrow morning.
Once we’re out of the city, I’ll find an opportunity to lure Bian Weikang away, and you arrange to eliminate these two uncertain factors.”
Feng Chi: “Their identities are unknown; is it appropriate to act so rashly?”
Xiang Lan’er: “Isn’t it normal for someone who offended Lü Taizhen to disappear?”
Feng Chi: “Alright.
I’ll also urge those above again to see if they can speed up the identity verification.”
Xiang Lan’er said nothing more, turning and leaving.
Feng Chi then called out softly, “When that bond of sale was registered at the Heavenly Court’s Yamen, it couldn’t be falsified, and your true form’s traces were used. Remember to destroy it, lest anything unexpected happens.”
Xiang Lan’er, walking with her back to Feng Chi, replied indifferently, “It’s already destroyed.”
The night flew by, and the sky already showed faint signs of dawn.
Shi Chun, sitting cross-legged, opened his eyes, picked up the small bottle of pills beside him, opened the lid, and sniffed the refreshing herbal scent within, his eyes filled with deep doubt.
Generally, cultivation at the same realm is also divided into three grades: lower, middle, and upper, commonly known as Minor Attainment, Major Attainment, and Grand Attainment.
His cultivation was at Early Martial and had reached Grand Attainment two or three years ago. The strange thing was that after a period of reaching Grand Attainment in Early Martial, there had been no further progress, no matter how diligently he cultivated.
He had thought that coming out and using cultivation resources would solve the problem, but to his surprise, after a night, he was still in the same place, showing no signs of progress.
One Longhua Pill didn’t work; perhaps the efficacy wasn’t enough, so he took two.
He ended up consuming three pills throughout the night, yet still, nothing. Could he have bought fake medicine? If so, that would be far too audacious.
He thought about it again and felt the possibility was slim, as he had brought people from Far-Gazing Tower to buy it.
He got up and opened the window to look outside; it wasn’t daylight yet.
He had intended to wait until dawn, but clutching the medicine bottle, he sniffed it repeatedly. In the end, his anxiety became unbearable, and he couldn’t resist.
He went to Wu Jinliang and called out twice, “Jinliang, Jinliang, Jinliang…”
He casually pulled out a Wood Gold, illuminating the room.
Wu Jinliang slowly finished his cultivation and opened his eyes.
Seeing Shi Chun, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
Shi Chun asked, “How was the Longhua Pill for you?”
Seeing him ask this, Wu Jinliang realized something, “No way, you used the pill and still got no effect?”
Shi Chun had asked him about similar things many times when they were still in East Nine Plains.
Shi Chun questioned, “Did you get an effect?”
Wu Jinliang nodded, “Yes, and it’s pretty good.
It’s at least three times faster than simply absorbing and converting the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. You didn’t get any effect at all?”
Shi Chun shook his head, “I ate three Longhua Pills and still no effect.
Oh, right, how many did you eat?”
Wu Jinliang’s eyes widened, “Three pills were useless? I only took one, and it’s still working now. The seller wasn’t lying.
No, Chuntian, what’s going on with you? Is there a problem with your cultivation method?”
Shi Chun turned and sat on Wu Jinliang’s bed, shaking his head with a hint of weariness. “I don’t know what’s wrong.
When I was little, I heard people say Eighth Uncle was the best fighter, and all us kids pestered him to learn his cultivation method. Later, I was the only one who mastered it; all of you switched to other methods.
Eighth Uncle never mentioned any problems back then. He had an accident later and is no longer around, so now I can’t even ask him.”
Wu Jinliang stroked his chin and mumbled, “That’s not right. Logically, it shouldn’t be a problem with the cultivation method.
If there were a problem with the method, it shouldn’t affect the absorption of spiritual energy. If it could, then why wasn’t it affected before? I say, did you eat something wrong? Think carefully, did you secretly eat some good stuff before?”
“Go, go, go.” Shi Chun waved his hand, signaling him to get lost. He was already annoyed, and this matter was truly upsetting, so he wasn’t in the mood for jokes.
He put away the Wood Gold, and the room immediately plunged into darkness again. He also got up and returned to his own bed, lying down with his hands clasped behind his head, his legs crossed, full of worries.
There was no choice; he couldn’t help but be bothered. The thing he feared most had still happened.
Clearly, it wasn’t a lack of cultivation resources; something was wrong with his own cultivation. This problem, which had lingered for two or three years, remained unsolved.
What could he do? He couldn’t just abandon this cultivation method and start a new one, could he? He felt that his method was quite potent, and fighting with it was exhilarating. The more ferocious the opponent, the stronger their killing intent, the more excited he would become in the midst of battle, feeling as if his pores were breathing freely.
He felt that each time he fought an opponent with surging killing intent, his physical resistance to strikes would also strengthen a little.
At least in East Nine Plains, no one had stronger physical endurance or better self-healing abilities after injury than him.
If opponents didn’t use weapons and resorted to a group brawl with fists and feet, he dared to charge into a crowd and fight to the death.
Although his cultivation progress had stopped, the gradual strengthening of his body during combat had not.
He felt this cultivation method was quite good, which was why he hadn't switched to other cultivation methods for the past two or three years; he was genuinely reluctant to give it up.
Perhaps he should find a suitable master to analyze his cultivation method?
In the darkness, Wu Jinliang watched him vaguely, knowing he had encountered a particularly major obstacle.
He didn't know what to say, as he had no solution to this matter and couldn't offer any help. Seeing that it wasn't yet dawn, he couldn’t be bothered to overthink and continued to close his eyes, refining the spiritual pill’s medicinal power, enjoying the bliss of having cultivation resources.
Shi Chun, however, lying there, couldn’t stop himself from overthinking. There was no need to waste any more spiritual pills.
Unconsciously, dawn arrived.