Chapter 127 Daoist Rhyme

On Yingyue Peak, Lin Qiubai strode out of the cave with the stride of a dragon and the gait of a tiger.

He was strong and robust, and his dark Taoist robe made him appear even more upright. His eyes were sharp and piercing.

"Master!"

Ge Luoying and Li Haoran, who were waiting outside, bowed in unison. Yesterday, they received a message from their master, instructing them to wait here after noon today.

Lin Qiubai looked at his two disciples and nodded almost imperceptibly, giving a soft "hmm".

He took in six disciples in total, four of whom died while he was away on training missions. The remaining two disciples were the ones he was most satisfied with, especially Li Haoran.

Sword cultivators do not have high requirements for aptitude; they only need to have a good understanding of swordsmanship and an unwavering will.

Li Haoran possesses both of these qualities, along with the Golden Elemental Body and Heavenly Grade aptitude. He was taken in as a disciple at the age of twelve, reached Foundation Establishment at thirteen, and now, ten years later, he has reached the seventh level of Foundation Establishment.

For this disciple, breaking through to the Chaoyuan stage is not difficult. If he can form a Golden Core, the Golden Spirit Sect should be able to become the strongest sect in the Western Continent.

“Normally, apart from teaching you sword techniques and guiding your cultivation, I have never given you any spiritual items to refine your flying swords.”

Your achievements today are all due to your own hard work.

Today, your master will take you to a place where, if we're lucky enough, we might find some spiritual items to refine our flying swords.

Ge Luoying was taken aback by what she heard. Her master always taught them that sword cultivators could conquer the world with a single sword and break all laws. All external things were earned by themselves, and she knew very well the hardships involved.

Now they're saying they'll take them to collect spirit objects, which sounds a bit like a fantasy.

She automatically ignored the word 'maybe', because her master would never have said it if he wasn't sure.

She glanced at her junior brother, only to see that his expression remained unchanged, as if none of this could move him in the slightest.

'I am not as good as my junior brother,' she sighed inwardly.

"It's not free; you'll have to exchange it with your own contribution points later. Keep up!"

Lin Qiubai summoned his flying sword, and his body merged with the sword as he flew into the air, with a clear, bright light like a pool of autumn water appearing beneath his feet.

Ge Luoying quickly composed herself, summoned her flying sword, and followed her master as they fled.

Li Hao arrived first, gracefully flying to his master's side.

Three sword lights flew out from Yingyue Peak and passed across the sky.

A magnificent flying boat, twenty feet long, moved slowly through the air, with two cultivators standing at the very front.

One was an elderly man with a refined and slender appearance, whose robe with flame and cloud patterns fluttered in the wind like a burning furnace.

The other man was about the same height as him, but he was fat and stout, with messy gray hair and a yellow gourd hanging from his waist.

Behind the two, four disciples stood respectfully.

The stout monk untied the gourd from his waist, unscrewed it, and a strong aroma of wine immediately wafted out.

After taking a swig of wine and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, the cultivator said:

"Hey Lao Zhu, why did you have to drag me into this little thing!"

"You took the things yourself, just report back to me later, do you think I'm afraid you'll embezzle them?"

He took another swig of wine and said:

"How accurate is your prediction? If nothing comes out, the disciples following behind will laugh their heads off."

Zhu Xiangrong stroked his beard and laughed:

"Old Jia, we've known each other for half our lives. When have I ever made a wrong judgment about weapon forging?"

"I'm not 100% sure, but I'm at least 70%. Let's follow the sect's procedures to avoid being lectured by Old Lin later."

He caught a glimpse of three bright lights flying in from afar, and upon closer inspection, his smile vanished instantly:

"This Lin Qiubai, his nose is even more sensitive than a dog's."

Upon hearing this, Jia Yu looked in the direction his old friend was looking:

"Maybe I'm just passing by."

He held his breath for a moment, then laughed so hard his fat jiggled.

"Lin Qiubai is more carefree than you. He won't bother me and has made it clear that he's not afraid of your nagging."

Passing by? It can't be just passing by; there's no way it's such a coincidence.

He patted the gunwale of the funeral boat:

"Old Zhu, how does it feel? It's hilarious!"

In the distance, golden-red mist rose, and the destination was clearly in sight.

Lin Qiubai had just shown a slight smile when he glanced at the flying boat in another direction and shook his head with a laugh.

His eyesight was exceptional, like that of a hawk, and he immediately recognized who was standing on the flying boat. He then transmitted his voice to his disciples behind him:

"Come with me to pay respects to my two senior uncles."

The sword light changed direction and headed towards the flying boat. It moved swiftly and soon approached the flying boat, running parallel to it.

Lin Qiubai cupped his hands and said:

"Senior Brother Zhu and Senior Brother Jia, it's been a long time. Where are you two headed?"

"You know perfectly well why you're asking!" Zhu Xiangrong was both amused and exasperated.

"Haha, Lao Zhu doesn't want to see you."

He said that when the spiritual veins are enhanced, spiritual energy will inevitably emerge. Crimson Flame Peak is a place where various earth veins converge, and the earth's lung fire veins will inevitably erupt.

At that time, many high-level fire-elemental spiritual creatures will inevitably emerge, and you might even encounter second-tier top-grade spiritual creatures.

The area is rich in metallic and fiery energy, and when it erupts, it is accompanied by some metallic spiritual objects, all of which are useful to Lao Zhu.

"I was afraid you'd say that he dragged me into this, saying that as long as he got his hands on a high-level spiritual item, he'd just exchange it for it with his own contribution points."

Jia Yu suppressed a laugh and quickly repeated it.

"You fatso, even drinking won't shut you up!"

Zhu Xiangrong spat, "Your little scheme has been discovered by the person in charge, you've lost face."

"Senior brother is not kind. Sword cultivators have no other skills to rely on, and they live a hard life."

"I finally had some luck and caught a once-in-a-millennium opportunity, but my senior brother snatched it away."

Lin Qiubai smiled faintly, as he had anticipated the current situation.

“Old Zhu is a weapon refiner who deals with all kinds of ores every day, so I can understand that he could have predicted that the eruption of Crimson Flame Peak might bring some gains. But Junior Brother Lin is a sword cultivator, so how could he have made such a judgment?”

"Although I don't refine weapons, my understanding of various minerals is not much worse than that of Senior Brother Zhu."

Lin Qiubai spoke calmly, but there was a hint of arrogance in his eyes.

It's quite reasonable that a sword cultivator spends his entire life dealing with spiritual swords, and his understanding of metal-elemental spiritual objects is comparable to that of a weapon refiner.

Zhu Xiangrong waved his hand and said helplessly:

"Let's go together, and each of us can take what we need based on our own abilities."

"I have a favor to ask. If you obtain the metal-elemental spiritual item we need, you should exchange it with us."

Ji An sat cross-legged in the stone house by the cold pool, with a jade slip with a golden and jade-like body pressed against his forehead.

He had already skimmed through it and discovered that the path of body refinement was equally profound and complex; to achieve anything, one had to put in a lot of hard work.

The Golden Jade Bone Body technique is a cultivation method that cannot be rapidly improved using the stone turtle. He skipped those core contents and focused only on the method of refining the skin.

Refining skin is simple; it requires refining metal-elemental spiritual objects and taking a medicinal bath, which can be done quickly.

The skin of a disciple in the weapon refining stage cannot withstand the damage during the refining of spiritual objects. The purpose of the medicinal bath is to reduce the damage suffered by the cultivator and accelerate the repair of the skin.

Ji An is now a Foundation Establishment Level 3 cultivator. Although he is a magic cultivator, his skin, which has been nourished by spiritual energy for a long time, is more resilient than that of many Qi Refining mid-stage body refining disciples, so he does not need a medicinal bath.

He copied the necessary spiritual items onto blank jade slips, intending to have Huang Feihu purchase them when he went out.

He wasn't in a hurry to cultivate the Golden Jade Bone Body. He needed a lot of various spiritual items, but their prices were currently inflated, so he would wait for them to drop before buying.

After putting the jade slip back into his storage bag, Ji An took out the Qingyang Talisman and lightly affixed it to his forehead.

As soon as he extended his divine sense, he heard a sound that pierced through gold and split stone echoing in the stone house.

"I am Lin Qiubai from Yingyue Peak. Whose cave is this? Come out and let's talk!"

What's going on?

Ji An was startled; the jade slip slipped from his forehead, and he quickly caught it.

Uncle-Master Lin Qiubai is a late-stage Chaoyuan cultivator from the sect's sword cultivation lineage, and is known as the strongest combatant in the Chaoyuan stage of the Western Continent.

Without having time to ponder the other party's intentions, he hurriedly stepped out of the stone house and saw a flying boat and three sword lights parked outside the magic array.

He boarded the flying shuttle and went to meet him, only to find his Uncle-Master Zhu, whom he had met once before in the Hall of Transmission of Skills, standing on the flying boat.

He activated the hand seals to break the restriction, flew out of the magic array, and bowed respectfully:

"Greetings, Uncle Lin, Uncle Zhu, and this Uncle. I am Ji An, a disciple of the Ningcui Cliff lineage. May I ask where you are this time, Uncle?"

"With the sect's spiritual veins about to be upgraded, we believe that the Crimson Flame Summit will usher in a major eruption."

At that time, many high-level spiritual objects will likely gush out, and the sect will collect them.

You're in luck, kid. You've picked a good spot; you can get a taste of the good stuff.

Jia Yu patted his gourd-shaped magical artifact and continued:

"Also, my surname is Jia, and I am in charge of the sect's secret treasury."

I remember that Xiao Ge had a famous disciple named Liu Yu, who made many contributions and exchanged a magical artifact for it in the secret vault.

You're not bad either, reaching the third level of Foundation Establishment at such a young age.

There aren't many disciples who can obtain spiritual weapons in the early stages of Foundation Establishment; they are all elites, so he had some impression of them.

Hearing that it wasn't aimed at him, Ji An felt relieved.

"Please come in, fellow disciples. I always keep some spiritual tea and light wine here."

Jia Yu urged, "It's good that there's wine, let's go."

The group landed near the cold pool, and Ji An greeted Liang Qiu and the other two:

"Quickly find some tables and chairs, take out two jars of each kind of spirit wine, pick some ripe spirit apricots, pine nuts, dried meat, and bring up anything edible."

After setting out the table, chairs, and food, Ji An solicitously invited his teachers to take their seats. Everyone in this group had a higher cultivation level than him.

Jia Yu ate a few pine nuts and said:

"I'm familiar with the taste of these pine nuts. Sometimes when I'm drinking alone, I eat them as a snack with my drinks."

He tasted each type of wine and nodded slightly.

"The taste is a bit bland, but it's quite good for a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the early stages."

As the sun set, Liangqiu cooked a large amount of spiritual food, which everyone praised as delicious.

Jia Yu patted his belly and laughed:

"I'm very satisfied with this meal. You'll get your share of the benefits tomorrow, kid."

As the moon rose, mist still billowed over Crimson Flame Peak, much like when the eruption was about to occur.

Nothing was said that night.

At dawn the next day, a pillar of fire shot straight into the sky, the restless spiritual energy surged like a raging storm, and the spiritual wood swayed like grass in the wind.

"Senior Brother Zhu, it's all up to fate now. Let's go our separate ways and leave!"

Lin Qiubai, riding the sword light, took the lead and flew away with his disciples.

Zhu Xiangrong waved his hand and said to his disciple:

"Let's go in another direction, keep your eyes peeled."

The five of them each flew away on their magical artifacts.

Ji An felt the ground beneath his feet begin to shake, and the water in the cold pool seemed to boil and surge incessantly. An even richer spiritual energy spread out, carrying with it all sorts of indescribable mystical aura.

The stone tortoise in the dantian began to move wildly, emitting a sense of longing.

He focused his mind on his dantian for a moment, and was immediately overjoyed.

[Tao Yun: Gold 0.2, Water 0.1, Wood 0.1, Fire 0.3, Earth 0.1]

(End of this chapter)