Chapter 16: An Unavoidable Favor (Swordsmanship and Kung Fu) - First Release on Jinjiang Literature City

Although all the money was gone, it was different from when I first came into this world. Back then, my pockets were truly empty, or rather, so empty that I didn't even have any pockets left.

Yao Sisi did not put the broadsword back into her storage space. Instead, she carried it on her back. She could feel the temperature of the scabbard on her back. Mystic weapons are different from ordinary weapons. They look cold and sharp, but in reality, the blade is infused with fire essence stone. It is not cold when carried on the back, but when attacking, there is a chance that the wound will be mixed with fire poison.

She wore a black, fitted robe, her long hair tied up high, and a large sword half her height was behind her, making her look like an unruly knight-errant, giving off a feeling of carefree wandering in the martial arts world.

This was the first time she had ever been so flamboyant since she came into this world, and she even felt it wasn't enough; she wanted the whole world to see her knife...

Now I finally understand how Qi Mu felt when he got the sword box. No wonder he didn't even want to touch the dishes back then, his mind and eyes were full of the spirit sword.

Even though her pockets were empty, Yao Sisi still had a faint smile on her face when she returned to the mansion.

She returned early this time and went to the kitchen to find some food. Sure enough, the people inside had prepared spiritual food for her. When she arrived, they had even left her a special food box with excellent heat retention, so the food inside was still warm.

Ordinary servants don't have storage bags or other containers, so they can't guarantee that the food will be as fresh and delicious as when it was first made. They were probably afraid of offending her because they saw that she was highly valued in the mansion, so they were very polite, which was very different from when she first arrived.

Yao Sisi ignored their ulterior motives, took the food box, and went back to her room to eat.

During the meal, a servant came to the door, carrying a stack of brand-new clothes. These were clothes that Qi Mu had ordered to be made for her last time, something she had almost forgotten about.

Handicrafts are generally slow, and custom-made clothes are naturally not as rough as those sold outside, so they take even longer to make.

After seeing the person off, Yao Sisi ate the food in her bowl while looking at the clothes in the wardrobe, her eyes filled with an inscrutable expression.

"I feel like I'm living off a woman..."

That's really strange...

"Crunch!" She bit into a piece of cartilage and crushed it.

"With teeth like mine, it would be such a waste for me to be a kept man..."

She shook her head, dismissing the strange thought, but couldn't resist rummaging through the clothes the servants had brought.

There are three sets in total, and they are all very exquisite.

It's just inconvenient to go out and fight...

She casually put the clothes into her spatial storage, and in a flash, she entered the space as well.

The space remained unchanged; the barren land was devoid of vegetation. The original spring was lower than the surrounding ground, and traces of water flow could still be seen. Now that the spring had dried up, the ground there was riddled with large cracks, as dense as a spider web.

She clicked her tongue twice, and the spirit of the artifact was revealed.

"Master, I'm already like this, please don't be disgusted!"

Yao Sisi didn't speak, and looked around for the Gale Wolf she had put into her space.

But then she saw the beast burrow behind the thatched hut, lying there listlessly. When it saw her coming, it gave her a wary look.

Yao Sisi took out a piece of meat from her storage bag. "Here's some for you to eat so you don't starve to death in this space."

The swift wolf's eyes gleamed with desire upon seeing the meat, but it remained wary and dared not move.

Yao Sisi threw the meat in front of it and went into the thatched hut.

The thatched hut was very simple, even more so than the house she was living in now. Inside, there was a table with a missing leg, a tattered wooden box, and a small stool that looked like a wooden stake.

She moved the small stool next to the box and began searching through the sword technique manuals one by one.

"Spirit, don't you have any time-space arrays in this space? It can't be that basic..."

The spirit: "..."

Master, are you calling me useless?

"Its rank has dropped! Time formations require energy to activate, and Master, you only have very low-level Xuan Pearls, which isn't enough to activate it..."

Yao Sisi interrupted it: "You're wrong. I don't even have the Xuan Pearl right now. Let's not worry about anything else. Tell me how much energy is needed to activate it?"

The spirit said, "At most, we can activate a formation with a one-month time difference, which is one day in the outside world and one month in the space. It would take about ten Xuan Stones! Only Xuan Stones will do; no matter how many Xuan Pearls you have, it won't work."

Yao Sisi did the mental calculation: ten Xuan Stones equaled one thousand Xuan Pearls, but when it came time to exchange them, no one was willing to trade Xuan Stones for Xuan Pearls, so she wanted to get more money in return.

Considering that we need to explore the senior's cave at the end of the month and we don't know what dangers we will encounter, it would be best if this time formation could be activated.

"I'll think of a way, and then you can activate the formation."

She lowered her head and continued searching for the manual. The broken box didn't look big, but it could hold a lot of things. She estimated that there were hundreds of books inside. Before she transmigrated, she had sat inside and looked through some of them. She vaguely remembered that there were basic sword techniques and the like inside.

She flipped through the books one by one until she had finished reading them all. She found three books on knife techniques and two books on sword techniques.

Each book had a brief introduction, and she selected one of them, finding the first volume of the Blazing Blade Technique.

"Although there is only one volume, it is enough to practice until the end of the Qi Refining stage."

She glanced at the two sword manuals again, then found one that seemed more suitable for Qi Mu and took it with her.

"Hmm, now that I have swordsmanship skills, I guess I could borrow some money from him..."

Although she knew he would definitely lend it to her, or even give it to her directly, it didn't mean she was willing to be a freeloader for no reason...

She could sell him the sword technique, which would give her a legitimate reason to use the money. But if she did that, the calculations would be too clear, and their relationship would be too explicit. If she wanted to use his spiritual spring again in the future, it would be difficult to find a reason to do so.

Giving him the sword technique would be a great favor, much more valuable than the mystic stones needed to activate the formation.

It was an open and obvious scheme, and she was certain that Qi Mu would not refuse.

"I'm going out. Spirit, get ready to activate the formation!"

It was getting dark when Yao Sisi went out, and it wasn't a good time to look for the young master. Fortunately, she had a lot of things to do and was about to go into seclusion to cultivate, so she needed a spirit-gathering talisman.

She calmed herself down and picked up her brush to draw a talisman. In the past, she could only draw low-quality spirit-gathering talismans. Now that her cultivation had broken through and her spiritual power was more refined, she wondered if she could draw a medium-quality spirit-gathering talisman.

For example, a mid-grade Spirit Gathering Talisman can be used by high-level Qi Refining cultivators and even Foundation Establishment cultivators.

If it is a high-quality spirit-gathering talisman, anyone with the Golden Core cultivation level can use it.

Each stroke drew upon her body's spiritual energy, the vibrant beast blood dancing on the tip of her brush, carrying with it the mystical energy in the air. The talisman gradually came to completion. She drew several talismans, still of low quality, only slightly better than the previous ones. She exhaled, her body's spiritual energy completely drained. She took out a futon and sat down to meditate and recover.

After repeating this process over and over again, she had a premonition around midnight. She closed her eyes and tried to recreate the feeling of drawing talismans in her mind, even though she had almost succeeded several times before but had failed each time.

The reason for the failure was that the spiritual energy easily dissipated when finishing the stroke, turning what could have been a mid-grade talisman into a low-grade one.

Yao Sisi closed her eyes and felt the trajectory of the spiritual energy as she finished writing. When she operated the brush again, the tip of the brush was neither hurried nor slow, and the finishing stroke was continuous with the previous one. In fact, in the parts that were easy to dissipate, a few more strands of spiritual energy were added to the circulation. After polishing two pieces like this, she finally drew a mid-grade spirit gathering talisman!

Unlike low-quality ones, mid-grade spirit-gathering talismans don't lose their effect after half a day, and the range of gathered profound energy is also very limited.

If the previous spirit-gathering talisman could only gather the profound energy within a few acres, then this one can gather the profound energy within a radius of ten miles.

It's an exponential increase!

The next day, Yao Sisi was worried that Qi Mu wouldn't come to the private residence, so she asked the housekeeper to pass on a message. The housekeeper also took the opportunity to give her a key to the side door.

It was almost noon when Qi Mu finally arrived.

He said, "I had some things to do this morning, so I was delayed. What can I do for you, Miss Sisi?"

Yao Sisi took out an ancient book from her storage bag. It was a thin book with about thirty pages, but it contained some impressive sword techniques.

"Take a look, is it suitable for you?"

Qi Mu was taken aback. When she mentioned finding him a sword technique, he thought she was just saying it casually and would look for it if she came across one. He didn't expect her to deliberately look for it for him, let alone find it in such a short time.

He opened it and saw that it was a pretty good sword manual, of a high grade.

He glanced at the sword manual, then at her, and was at a loss for words. He had never known that his vocabulary was so limited.

Yao Sisi said, "This sword technique is quite powerful, but it's a pity that it only has the most basic chapters. If one's cultivation level is high, then there's nothing that can be done about it."

She searched through the space for a long time but couldn't find the later content; it was only suitable for those who had reached the Qi Refining stage.

Generally, cultivation techniques are sealed in jade slips; books contain very little, so it's normal that they don't contain the more advanced parts.

If it weren't for the fact that one's spiritual sense is weak during the Qi Refining stage, using books made of animal hide would have been troublesome if a bunch of jade slips had been placed in them.

Qi Mu: "The basic level is already quite remarkable. Although I don't have any sword manuals to refer to, I can still sense that this is an excellent technique, Miss Sisi..."

Yao Sisi: "Hmm?"

Qi Mu said somewhat apologetically, "You gifted me a precious sword and a sword manual, both of which are extraordinary. I... feel unworthy of receiving them..."

Yao Sisi: "So what? You saved me back then. Otherwise, if I had been left unconscious by the river, I might have been carried off by some wild beast. Besides... didn't you also give me a dagger, young master?"

"When I was in a lowly position, you didn't look at me with a materialistic eye. Isn't that remarkable?"

Qi Mu: "I..."

Seeing his hesitation, Yao Sisi comforted him, "Young master, don't be too modest. When you're successful, there are many who fawn over you, but when you're down on your luck, there are very few who will lend a helping hand. I know how to be grateful. Besides, sword techniques are hard to find. To encounter a set is an incredible stroke of luck. In addition, I don't practice swordsmanship. If it were in my hands, it would only gather dust. The fact that you can see it is your good fortune."

This opportunity was sown the moment you first helped them; now that it has borne fruit, it's only natural.

Qi Mu smiled with relief: "I used to think you were not good with words because you were never very talkative, but I didn't expect you to be so eloquent."

Yao Sisi raised an eyebrow: "Perhaps it's because we get along well, young master, but I feel... I'll be leaving this place soon. If you need anything then, just let me know, young master. Please don't find me annoying."

Qi Mu paused, a nameless emotion welling up inside her. "How could I find it troublesome? Miss Sisi, please just ask if you need anything! Otherwise... I'll feel bad about it."

Yao Sisi: "Speaking of which, I have a request now..."

Qi Mu tensed up, feeling nervous about the unknown request. He tried his best to hide his emotions, but Yao Sisi still noticed them.

"I need Xuan Stones for cultivation recently, but the energy in the Xuan Pearl is too little. I don't know the market price when I go out to exchange them, so why don't you help me, young master?"

Qi Mu relaxed; it turned out to be just a black stone.

"How much does Miss Sisi need?"

Yao Sisi: "Fifty should be enough."

Qi Mu: "I don't have many Xuan Stones on me. I'll give you twenty for now, and I'll have someone fetch some more for you later."

After bidding him farewell, Yao Sisi decided to cultivate in the space. Once inside, she wouldn't easily come out, and fearing that he would waste the formation's time when sending someone to deliver her, she said, "I have something to do tomorrow, so please send it the day after tomorrow!"

Qi Mu nodded, not thinking too much about it. After all, cultivation doesn't consume that many Xuan Stones instantly, so a couple of days later wouldn't make a difference.

He also wanted to collect more for her, and although fifty was a lot, how could that be enough?