Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Fang Qing gazed at the spring water before him, faintly turning black, his face full of gloom. “It’s going to fail…”
To be honest, the first failure in refining spiritual water had been entirely within his expectations.
But not knowing where he had failed was what truly made his head ache.
“Fire’s nature changes in a thousand ways, so controlling fire is difficult… But water’s nature shifts in hidden ways. By the time you realize something is wrong, it’s like a dam collapsing—too much has accumulated to reverse. In truth, the mistake was buried long ago… The key is that I don’t even know where.”
Fang Qing scratched his hair in distress. This was the pain of not having a teacher constantly guiding him in person.
Next, he either had to spend a large sum to invite some ranked alchemist to give him a few pointers, or burn through money himself, buying more materials to pile up proficiency.
Unfortunately, he could do neither.
“Sigh… One ruined refinement, and all my savings have gone up in smoke.”
Fang Qing sighed, but his gaze gradually grew resolute. He took the flying boat from his storage pouch and headed straight for the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall of Wanbao Island.
Inside the bronze hall, many disciples came and went, as noisy as ever.
After circling around a few times, he began searching for a suitable task.
“Junior Brother Fang?”
Just then, a gentle male voice sounded.
Fang Qing looked over and saw that it was Senior Brother Hua Lian. Yu Taohua was standing beside him.
These two had also entered the inner sect, though one was on Wanbao Island, and the other on Formation Island.
“Senior Brother Hua, Junior Sister Yu…”
Fang Qing greeted them.
“What is it? Junior Brother is preparing to take on a task? Would you like to join my fishing team?”
Senior Brother Hua smiled. “I rented a large double-tusked ship. It’s enough to enter the deep sea.”
If Fang Qing had no other plans, joining the fishing team would indeed have been a decent idea.
Not only could he temper his ability in magical combat, he would also have a steady supply of demon beast fish meat to eat.
Even if its effect was a little worse than medicinal pills, accumulated over time, it would still be no small matter.
“Thank you for your kind intentions, Senior Brother, but I still prefer acting alone.”
Fang Qing refused directly, accepted a task that required leaving the sect, and hurried away.
Watching his departing figure, Yu Taohua was somewhat indignant. “He’s merely lucky enough to have latched onto a disciple with hopes of becoming a true disciple… Senior Brother Hua, didn’t we already inquire about it? That Junior Sister Zha Zhu has gradually grown distant from him, hasn’t she? Why are you still being so polite?”
“It’s only superficial courtesy. It doesn’t cost any actual benefits, so what’s a few polite words?”
Senior Brother Hua’s smile was quite meaningful. “Who knows… perhaps this Junior Brother Fang might turn himself around in the future. After all, he has medium aptitude. He’s not comparable to those with lower aptitude…”
……
Fang Qing casually accepted a task to purchase treasure fish, then left the mountain gate of the Bihai Sect.
This sort of purchasing task required running around to many fishing villages. It was extremely tedious, and the returns were not great. It had always been something tasteless and troublesome.
But to him, having an open and aboveboard excuse to leave was the best kind of task.
Fang Qing piloted the Green Leaf Boat and flew for a day and a night before finally landing in a stretch of wilderness, where he found a cave to rest.
With a thought, heaven and earth changed in an instant. He had already arrived in the lands of Ancient Shu!
“Rather than risk my life capturing demon beasts in the sea, I might as well explore the Ancient Shu world… After all, the returns here are clearly greater!”
His gaze darkened as he began taking stock of his possessions.
“Cultivation: newly entered the third level of Qi Refining… I’ve mastered Water Control, Water Arrow, Wind Riding Art, and Heavenly Eye Art…”
“One storage pouch. Inside are still two bottles of fasting pills, one ‘Golden Blade Talisman’ with the strongest offensive power, and one ‘Earth Wall Talisman’… As for magic artifacts, I still only have the Green Leaf Boat for travel.”
“No matter how I look at it, I seem miserably poor. I don’t even have an offensive magic artifact or a defensive magic artifact…”
Fang Qing sighed.
Even if he had not chosen to squander everything on alchemy, his savings still would not have been enough to purchase a low-grade offensive magic artifact.
Moreover, taking the risk to refine pills had been for the sake of obtaining a stable life.
If he had a choice, he would definitely choose to stay safely in the Bihai Sect, cultivate all the way until he hit a bottleneck, and only then come to this world to seek opportunities.
But now, he was already more or less in dire straits.
If he continued staying in the Bihai Sect, he could already see the trajectory of his future: repeated failures in pill refinement, total bankruptcy, even delays to his cultivation, and in the end, no hope of Foundation Establishment…
For the hope of Foundation Establishment, he had to take a gamble!
“What’s more… I’m only doing an initial exploration. As long as I can find cultivators, or even trade channels in a market, and act with enough caution, I can use the two worlds to obtain enormous wealth!”
……
“Go!”
In the mountain forest, Fang Qing pointed casually. A water arrow flew out, swift as lightning, and sank into the forehead of a great white-foreheaded tiger with hanging eyes.
The great beast fell to the ground without a sound.
“The spells from the Bihai Sect can actually be used here…”
Fang Qing withdrew his hand seal, slightly surprised. “That makes things much more convenient… I can also sense spiritual qi in the void, but for some reason, it just feels a little off.”
In his perception, the spiritual qi here was thin, and faintly different from that on Biyu Island. Metal and fire spiritual qi were especially abundant.
“Could it be because Ancient Shu is inland? Or is it because they are two different worlds?”
“Forget it… There’s no way I can figure out such a high-level question. I should first make contact with the cultivators of this world. Before that, I need to disguise myself properly.”
With a thought from Fang Qing, all the magic power within his dantian vanished without a trace. Most of it transformed into “primal qi” and was stored away, while only a few wisps descended, becoming “Divine Martial Force.”
This “Divine Martial Force” came from the “Divine Martial Secret Codex.” It was a peerless martial art that Fang Qing had casually looked through during his studies over the past three years.
At this moment, even if he faced a Foundation Establishment cultivator, the other party would only be able to see that he was a mortal—a Xiantian grandmaster—with not the slightest trace of magic power on him.
“Mm… As a mortal martial expert, this is enough to roam the jianghu.”
Fang Qing touched his own face.
If three years ago, he had still been a youth, then now he had become a young swordsman with a tall, elegant bearing, sword-like brows, and starry eyes.
Even if the Luo family had issued a wanted order for him three years ago, the portrait definitely would not resemble him now.
……
“Why is Ba Commandery in such chaos?”
Fang Qing casually struck out with a palm, killing a rebel soldier who had wanted to rob him, and frowned.
Ever since he had disguised himself as a green-clad swordsman and set out on the road, this was already the third wave of bandits he had encountered.
From the mouths of the other party, he had also learned quite a bit of news.
Ever since the plague broke out in Ba Commandery three years ago, the region had never settled down. No one knew where a band of rebel soldiers had come from, but they had been attacking cities and seizing territory everywhere, creating countless refugees and leaving bandits rampant.
Even “Tianfu City,” which Fang Qing had visited before, had already fallen into ruin, almost becoming a dead city.
“Three years of plague, and now military disaster too… The great plague was the work of the Black Chong Sect. What about the military disaster?”
Just as he was thinking, clamor came from up ahead again.
Fang Qing strode forward and ascended a hillside. Below, he saw a group of riders surrounding a convoy and attacking fiercely.
Although the convoy had few people, most of whom were women and children, there were several young martial heroes with fairly decent martial arts protecting them with swords. For a time, the bandit riders could not take them down.
“These bandits look like they were also routed soldiers… Their movements faintly carry military discipline… They’re dividing into several waves to wear down the strength of those martial experts. Once the other side’s inner force runs low, I’m afraid they’ll suffer.”
As a bystander, Fang Qing could be said to have seen the situation clearly.
“Ah!”
Sure enough, in less than a moment, a cold arrow passed through the sword light and pierced through the chest of a young swordsman.
The young swordsman spat bloody foam from his mouth and collapsed unwillingly to the ground.
“Third Brother?”
Seeing this, the young swordsman at the head of the group looked as though his eyes would split apart. “Hold them off… I’ll go assassinate the enemy leader!”
The three-foot sword in his hand danced, faintly giving off a dragon’s cry, defending his entire body so tightly that not even wind could pass through. He actually charged into the enemy formation alone!
“Mm. Faced with a desperate situation, he didn’t flee, but instead chose to fight to the death? He can be considered a real man!”
Fang Qing nodded inwardly. Out of caution, he converted a trace of magic power and silently activated the “Heavenly Eye Art.”
This was a spiritual eye spell that all cultivators of the Bihai Sect practiced. It could observe fluctuations of spiritual energy and magic power.
Of course, before high-level cultivators, it was actually not of much use.
But at this moment, he let out a soft sound of surprise. Within the convoy, he actually saw a few faint points of spiritual light!
“There are spiritual energy fluctuations, but not from cultivators. Are they spiritual objects?”
“At last… I’ve found a clue.”
His heart rejoiced. Then he saw that swordsman let out an angry roar and had already charged to where the leader of the mounted rebels was.
“Good swordsmanship!”
The leader gave a long howl, and the ghost-head saber in his hand swept across.
Clang!
Blade and sword struck each other. The swordsman was immediately startled. “Not good… This man’s skill is actually greater than mine!”
“Haha, little brat, your martial arts aren’t good enough, yet you still imitate others and meddle in injustice… Now you’ve gotten yourself dragged in, haven’t you?”
The leader laughed loudly, the ghost-head saber flashing with black light.
After only a dozen or so moves, he sent the long sword in the swordsman’s hand flying.
“My life is over…”
The swordsman’s face was bleak. Just as he was about to accept death, a tremendous sound suddenly rang beside his ear.
Bang!
The ghost-head saber crashed to the ground. Beside it was a pinecone still spinning nonstop.
“This…”
The swordsman looked toward the direction from which the pinecone had flown, and saw a scene that left him in disbelief.
A young man wearing a bamboo hat was strolling leisurely toward him.
All around, the rebel bandits shouted and bellowed, but whether blades, spears, or feathered arrows, none could approach within three feet of him.
It was as though within three feet around him, there was a “wall of qi”!
“An immortal?”
The rebel leader’s expression also changed drastically, then he quickly shook his head. “No… It’s a martial grandmaster whose brilliance shakes the ancient and modern ages… Damn it, even if this man started practicing martial arts in his mother’s womb, could he really have trained to this level?”
Without even thinking, he turned and fled in panic.
Unfortunately, Fang Qing only tapped his foot lightly and caught up behind him. His right hand bent, and he flicked a finger.
Rip!
A stream of astral force shot out straight as a spear, striking the leader squarely in the back and blasting open a bloody hole.
“The leader is dead!”
“Run!”
“That’s not a man, that’s a monster!”
When the surrounding cavalry saw that their leader was dead, and that Fang Qing was also “invulnerable to blades and spears,” they were so frightened that they fled in disarray.
“Are you all right?”
Fang Qing looked at that swordsman. His impression of this person was fairly good.
Although he did not claim to be any good person himself, when he saw such a chivalrous sort, he still admired them greatly and liked making friends with people like this.
After all, even a petty villain hoped that all his friends were good people.