Chapter 22

As for alchemy—talking about it now was indeed still a bit early.

Chun Chou carefully read through both the Yellow-rank and Profound-rank Marrow-Cleansing Pill formulas, memorizing the names, types, and required ages of the various spiritual herbs and demon beast cores. Only after committing them to memory did he set the jade slip aside and begin examining the others.

Some of the slips were somewhat useful—containing common minor spells that still required spirit stones to purchase, or travelogues about the Guiyuan Continent.

Others resembled storybooks from the mortal world—tales meant purely for entertainment.

Under normal circumstances, Chun Chou might have enjoyed them. But at the moment, though he forced himself to appear calm, his insides felt as if they were burning. With his heart so unsettled, he simply couldn’t bring himself to read leisurely cultivation novels.

After some thought, he sorted the jade slips and stored them away. He did not intend to have Ling Wuji sell them. Perhaps one day, when he had the peace of mind, he would read them carefully.

Having gone through today’s “great harvest,” Chun Chou ate lunch and then stored the little donkey in its spirit beast pouch.

It was time to head to the Spirit Bamboo Garden.

The ten mu of spirit bamboo had only just sprouted. Tender, green shoots stretched upward, fresh and vibrant—quite pleasing to the eye.

Unfortunately, the City Lord of Canglan City had set a rather lofty requirement.

He wanted bamboo fruit.

Chun Chou thought to himself: if he used his “golden finger,” perhaps he really could grow the phoenix-favored bamboo fruit.

But if that happened, he likely wouldn’t be leaving Canglan City anytime soon.

Instead, he would probably be treated like some rare treasure himself—captured and interrogated under torture to reveal his “secret.”

Chun Chou shook his head, thinking to himself that he was just a “wage earner”—there was no need to risk his life for some “capitalist.”

He then activated the recording stone and, in four separate rounds, cast the Cloud and Rain Technique, the Geng Metal Technique, and the Growth Acceleration Technique over the ten mu of spirit bamboo before him.

After each round, he had to sit and recover his spiritual power for half an hour before getting up to cast the spells again.

After repeating this four times and finishing his meditation, Chun Chou realized it was almost time to get off work.

He switched off the recording stone and, riding a flying paper crane, carefully inspected the entire Spirit Bamboo Garden. Once he confirmed that all the bamboo was growing well, he descended and practiced a round of basic body-tempering techniques in an open area.

Soon it was quitting time. Chun Chou left without the slightest reluctance.

He handed in the day’s recording stone. Mission complete.

Just as he stepped out of the City Lord’s residence gates, he saw Ling Wuji waiting for him beneath an apricot blossom tree, seated in his wheelchair.

The young man was dressed in white, elegant and refined, cool and aloof.

Yet the moment he saw Chun Chou, delight flashed through his eyes.

Chun Chou’s own eyes sparkled as he looked at the youth, thinking to himself: As expected, I really do have good taste. Look how wonderful the one I chose is!

Handsome, a great cook, and even comes to pick me up from work!

Just don’t know whether… ahem, in certain aspects, he’s any good.

Presumably not bad.

Chun Chou shook his head to dispel his less-than-pure thoughts and jogged over.

“What brings you here?”

Ling Wuji smiled. “A single day without seeing you leaves me thinking of you, so I came to fetch you.”

Chun Chou: “…” His earlobes reddened slightly. He coughed and walked beside Ling Wuji. “And how was your day? Did you run into any danger?”

As he spoke, he remembered what had happened that morning and lowered his voice to recount it. “They say Canglan City’s rules are strict—no fighting within the city. But when profit is involved, someone will always find ways to evade the City Lord’s patrols. You must be careful walking around alone. And as for picking up storage pouches and demon beast crystals… stop doing that starting tomorrow.”

Ling Wuji pushed his wheelchair himself. “Mm, I was thinking the same. Talisman prices have doubled lately. Just drawing and selling talismans is enough to support us. Though today was fortunate—I picked up over a dozen storage pouches and several dozen demon beast crystals after selling my talismans and going to find someone to slaughter chickens and pigs. Selling them in a few days will fetch a decent sum.”

Chun Chou nodded. “Exchanging them for spirit stones is good. At this point, improving our cultivation is what matters most.”

Ling Wuji glanced at the youth walking beside him. He knew Chun Chou still worried about his younger siblings, but it wasn’t something he could easily console him about. Instead, he silently resolved to earn more spirit stones and reach Foundation Establishment as soon as possible.

They returned home together. Ling Wuji had already cleaned the house. The spirit pig and spirit chickens had been prepared and stored in storage pouches—after all, those were what they had most of now—waiting for when Chun Chou felt better so he could cook them for him.

Chun Chou told Ling Wuji about his plan to gather materials for the Profound-rank Marrow-Cleansing Pill and the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Ling Wuji agreed deeply. “It’s best to prepare early. Even if we could buy them later with spirit stones, the price would be steep and the supply uncertain. Better to be prepared on both fronts.”

Seeing Ling Wuji take it seriously, Chun Chou went to tend his spirit herb garden, spirit fruit trees, and the five pots of herbs on the roof. After finishing, he returned to his room to cultivate, only going to sleep after midnight.

At dawn the next day, he woke early and went to meditate in Ling Wuji’s room.

Ling Wuji hadn’t slept—he had grown accustomed to alternating nights between sleep and meditation and talisman drawing.

Chun Chou couldn’t quite match him in that regard, but he was cutting back on sleep as well. With the pressure of rescuing others hanging over him, he had to be ruthless with himself.

When Chun Chou sat beside him, Ling Wuji began drawing space talismans—something he could only accomplish when Chun Chou was nearby. For reasons unknown, without Chun Chou’s presence, he simply couldn’t produce space-type talismans.

After an hour, Ling Wuji went to prepare breakfast. Chun Chou watered his five spirit herbs personally and cast a growth spell. After breakfast together, Chun Chou left for work.

Ling Wuji went out to sell talismans, check for demon beast crystals, and gather alchemy materials Chun Chou needed. He usually returned home in the afternoon to cultivate. Around that same time, Chun Chou’s work would finish, allowing him to cultivate in the Hundred Herbs Garden, rich with wood spiritual energy.

Half a month passed like this. Chun Chou felt his seventh-layer Qi Refining cultivation becoming increasingly solid—eighth layer wasn’t far off.

Ling Wuji’s eighth-layer cultivation also stabilized. Chun Chou suggested using spirit stones to set up a Spirit Gathering Array to break through faster, but Ling Wuji felt the breakthrough wouldn’t be difficult and didn’t want to waste the stones.

Chun Chou: “…”

Hadn’t they agreed on this before?

He decided he had to head to work now—but after he got back, he’d force Ling Wuji to agree!

Yet when Chun Chou returned that evening, there was no need to persuade him.

Ling Wuji had already set up a Spirit Gathering Array and advanced to the ninth layer of Qi Refining.

Before Chun Chou could celebrate, Ling Wuji stabilized his new cultivation and told him something else.

During the day, he had run into Liu Ting’er and Qiao Linglong.

Both had advanced—Qiao Linglong was now at the seventh layer of Qi Refining, Liu Ting’er at the eighth.

They had sought Ling Wuji out for a reason.

The two survivors who had once targeted their group at the teleportation array outside Canglan City were now targeting them again. Somehow, those men had marked the two women so that whenever they left Canglan City, they would be hunted.

Unwilling to wait for death, Liu Ting’er and Qiao Linglong wanted to strike first. But those two men were already at the ninth layer of Qi Refining—one nearly at the tenth. The women lacked absolute confidence, so they sought Ling Wuji’s help.

They wanted him to join them in killing the two men.

Qiao Linglong said, “There are only thieves who steal for a thousand days—never those who guard for a thousand days. We must eliminate them to remove this threat once and for all. Of course, Fellow Daoist Ling and little brother Chun Chou are different from us. You can earn a living drawing talismans, and Chun Chou works in the City Lord’s residence. You don’t need to risk yourselves outside the city. But we still hope at least Fellow Daoist Ling will accompany us. Everything those two possess will belong to you.”

Ling Wuji remained indifferent.

Seeing this, Liu Ting’er knew that without sufficient benefit, this cold-hearted man wouldn’t be moved.

She sighed and took out a worn, dirty-looking book resembling a mortal text.

She handed it over.

Ling Wuji raised a brow and accepted it.

On the first page were the words: “With my blood, I command all spiritual plants under heaven!”

His heart stirred.

After skimming several pages at the beginning and end, he closed the book and looked at Liu Ting’er. “In that case, you’re the ones at a disadvantage.”

She knew it well. But she had no other leverage.

This book, Blood Servant Technique, had been one of the reasons the man who destroyed her homeland had once been invincible. Having been reborn, she retrieved it before he could. Yet though she had memorized every word, she could not cultivate it.

Both she and that man possessed chaotic five-element spiritual roots—yet he mastered it instantly, while she could not.

So she used it as bargaining currency.

The technique was incomplete. Even in its original form, it was most effective before the Golden Core stage. The copy she offered had several pages torn out—if Chun Chou cultivated it, he could at most use it effectively until mid–Foundation Establishment.

From that perspective, she wasn’t losing too much.

Ling Wuji did not understand wood-element techniques, but he was extremely intelligent. He sensed Liu Ting’er was withholding something—but that didn’t matter.

Everyone had weaknesses.

He would make her reveal the rest in time.

This Blood Servant Technique was perfectly suited for someone cultivating wood-element arts.

No matter what, he had to obtain it for Chun Chou.

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