Chapter 6 Arrival at Rock City
It had been half a day since Bai Qingchen left the caravan, and he had not stopped on the way. This distance was nothing for a cultivator. Even the little fox was tired and lay on the ground, insisting that Bai Qingchen hold it.
He was basically being relied upon by this little thing.
The sun was about to set, and the forest was dappled with light and shadow.
The white fox in his arms suddenly moved restlessly, its little ears erected alertly, and a very low whimpering sound came from its throat.
Bai Qingchen also immediately sensed a fishy-smelling pressure coming from a nearby valley.
He stopped and concentrated his perception.
An adult red bear was wandering not far away. This kind of beast was extremely fast, cunning and ferocious. It would be very difficult for him to get entangled with it with his current level of cultivation.
Bai Qingchen's eyes narrowed slightly. He didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble and would avoid it if possible.
"Don't be afraid." He stroked the white fox's back and retreated quietly behind some large rocks.
Bai Qingchen carefully put the white fox down and signaled it not to make a sound.
The white fox curled up into a ball, covering its mouth with its little paws, leaving only its pair of round eyes looking out nervously.
Bai Qingchen quickly took out four spirit stones, and with the spiritual power flowing through his fingertips, he placed the spirit stones in specific corners of the ground, outlining the rune trajectory.
The last bit of spiritual power was injected into the center of the formation, and an extremely thin, almost transparent halo instantly enveloped the area where they were hiding.
The breath of Bai Qingchen and the little fox disappeared, as if they had merged into the surrounding stones and plants, becoming undetectable.
Almost at the moment the formation took effect, a sturdy red bear with blood at the corner of its mouth quietly poked its head out from the valley.
Its dark green eyes scanned the surroundings vigilantly, and its nose twitched vigorously in the air, apparently catching a trace of the scent that had distracted it before.
It hovered around where Bai Qingchen was hiding for a long time, its sharp eyes sweeping through every shadow, and its heavy breathing almost sprayed onto the halo.
The white fox in the formation was so frightened that its body stiffened and it dared not breathe.
Bai Qingchen held his breath, his fingertips clasping a stone engraved with a simple explosive rune, his eyes as cold as ice.
If the ferocious beast doesn't leave for a long time, he is not without a way to deal with it.
The red bear anxiously dug the ground with its claws, but found nothing. It growled, turned around in confusion, and disappeared into the depths of the dense forest, its footsteps fading away.
Only after the fierce aura completely disappeared did Bai Qingchen disperse the formation, his face turning a little pale due to the consumption of spiritual power.
He picked up the still trembling little fox and said softly, "Let's go."
The little fox rubbed its head against the palm of his hand, and the fear in its eyes gradually gave way to a deeper dependence. Bai Qingchen's heart moved slightly. This little creature's intelligence seemed to far exceed that of ordinary beasts.
Continuing to move forward, bypassing the dangerous area, Bai Qingchen keenly smelled a hint of clear medicinal fragrance beside an inconspicuous shady crevice.
Following the scent, I found several good quality Qi Condensing Grass and Guyuan Flower. Although they were not very old, they were good at pure spiritual energy.
This is the main ingredient for refining the Foundation Establishment Pill. In a place like Yancheng where low-level cultivators gather, this kind of pill will surely have no trouble selling.
Bai Qingchen's eyes lit up slightly. He carefully collected the herbs with skillful techniques without damaging the roots.
Looking at the extra gains in his bag, a hint of self-mockery appeared on his lips.
"I never thought that I, Bai Qingchen... would fall to the point where I would be happy about these few Qi Condensation Grasses." He whispered to himself, with a complex and indescribable emotion in his tone.
In his previous life, he had mountains of spiritual stones and medicines, but now he had to carefully calculate these few resources. The gap made him feel a little sad, but it also ignited his desire to become stronger.
The little fox seemed to sense the change in his mood and gently swept his wrist with its furry tail.
The man and the fox walked for another two days, and finally in the evening of the third day, a city gate made of huge brown rocks appeared in their sight.
Rugged and heavy, it carries the tough atmosphere unique to border areas.
Two large, weathered characters are carved above the city gate: Yancheng.
Monks entering the city needed to pay a low-grade spirit stone, while mortals only needed ten taels of silver. Bai Qingchen gave the spirit stone to the monk guarding the gate. The monk looked at Bai Qingchen twice and said, "Those who bring spirit pets need to pay an additional ten taels of silver."
Bai Qingchen opened his mouth to argue that it was just an ordinary fox, not a spiritual pet. However, the people in the queue behind him kept urging him to pay, so he had no choice but to pay.
"You little thing are so good at spending money, I might as well just call you ten taels."
The little fox squeaked to express his dissatisfaction, but his protest was ineffective.
Bai Qingchen walked around Yancheng. It was indeed a big town. Many things that were not available in Linshan City could be bought here. After purchasing what he needed, Bai Qingchen found an inn to rest.
After paying for three days' room in one go, he walked into the simple but clean room with ten taels of silver in his arms.
Feeling his wallet was empty, Bai Qingchen sighed helplessly and couldn't help but lament that he really didn't have enough money to spend.
Shiliang squeaked at the side, thinking that it was not enough to spend. As soon as he entered the city, he bought a broken stove for thirty spirit stones, and also bought a lot of spirit herbs and a storage bag for fifty spirit stones.
Bai Qingchen's wallet was half empty from the expenses of the day. Humph, this little human only knows how to spend money. How much money will he have to earn after he transforms to be able to spend enough!
Shiliang became angrier and angrier as he thought about it, and started rolling around on the bed.
Bai Qingchen ignored Shiliang and told it not to run around, then went downstairs to the lobby of the inn. Since his body had not yet gone through the fasting phase, he planned to eat something and bring some food for Shiliang.
It was dinner time and there were many people eating in the lobby.
There was a small platform in the center, and a storyteller with white hair and beard, who was in good spirits, was telling a story with saliva flying, attracting many people to listen attentively.
"It is said that four hundred years ago, there was a great war between immortals and demons. The sky collapsed and the earth split, and the sun and moon lost their light! The demons from outside the domain came like a tide, the immortal monks were defeated one after another, and all the lives were lost. The world of cultivation was in danger!" The storyteller's voice was ups and downs, with sadness.
Bai Qingchen found a corner to sit down and listened quietly. Was this battle between immortals and demons the same battle between immortals and demons in his memory?
"At this critical moment!" The storyteller slammed the wake-up stick, his voice rising and full of admiration.
"It's that Sword Master! The pillar of Lingxiao Sect, the world's number one immortal master, taking action!"
"He was alone, wielding a sword, his white robes as white as snow... oh no, I heard they were black as black? Ahem... Anyway, the Sword Master stepped forward, and wherever his sword flashed, the demons retreated! With one man and one sword, he forcibly cut through the demonic tide, driving the Demon Lord back into the Demonic Realm and sealing the junction between the two realms! He turned the tide and saved all living beings!"
There was a sound of awe-filled gasps in the hall, and Bai Qingchen was also slightly moved. To be able to save the world with the power of one person, what kind of cultivation and courage did this require? This immortal was truly a peerless figure.
However, the storyteller's voice suddenly dropped, filled with deep regret. "What a shame! Although Sword Master won, he paid a terrible price... His most cherished Taoist companion, Fairy Zihe, perished in that tragic battle."
He sighed deeply, "Alas! Heroes are short-tempered, and young people's love is long-lasting. Since then, the old Sword Master has lived in seclusion and rarely shows up. It's a pity that such a great Immortal Master has become... a lonely man."
There was a sigh in the lobby. Some people lamented the cruelty of war, while others sighed at Jian Zun's infatuation and misfortune.
Bai Qingchen listened quietly, and a ripple of emotion also arose in his heart.
Although he hadn't recovered all his memories, he instinctively felt a sense of heaviness. That brilliant sword master, who hadn't gotten over the loss of his Taoist partner for four hundred years, was also a pitiful, infatuated man.
His mind was blank, wondering whether his Taoist partner was still alive or had forgotten him... Bai Qingchen quickly collected his thoughts and didn't dare to think about it anymore.
At this moment, a discordant voice suddenly rang out: "Stinky old man! Didn't I say before that I would give you 5 taels of silver and then say that I, the Fairy Mulian, was the Taoist partner of the Sword Master! Where did this little demon Zihe come from?"
A female cultivator in green clothes slammed the table and stood up suddenly, angrily asking for an explanation from the person on the platform.
The storyteller was startled. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, his eyes darting around. This... this...
A gentle female voice rang out from the private room upstairs: "If you don't have money, don't come out and embarrass yourself. Sister Zihe, I gave you twenty taels~"
The fairy in green clothes was furious. "How dare you challenge me?"
Seeing that the situation was escalating, Bai Qingchen didn't want to watch the show anymore. It turned out that the story could be customized, and he took the story seriously.
He sighed softly, the meal seeming bland. He called the waiter over to settle the bill and asked, "Brother Waiter, I have a question for you. Do you know how to get to Medicine King Valley?"
As the waiter collected the dishes, he enthusiastically replied, "Sir, you're going to Medicine King Valley? That's quite far! I heard it's in the Far East."
"The most convenient way to get from our Rock City is to go to the Sifang Pavilion in the city center first. There is a teleportation array leading to Yunmengze there. Once you get to Yunmengze, you can take a flying boat and cross the Chenxing Abyss to reach Lingdu, which is under the jurisdiction of Yaowang Valley."
"But..." The waiter rubbed his fingers together and chuckled, "The cost of this teleportation array is not cheap, at least twenty or thirty low-grade spirit stones. The cross-sea flying boat is even more expensive, I'm afraid it will cost at least a hundred low-grade spirit stones!"
Twenty or thirty teleportation arrays? A hundred or more flying boats? Bai Qingchen began to have a headache. His entire fortune was barely enough to afford a teleportation array. It seemed he had to earn spirit stones quickly.
Returning to his room, Bai Qingchen pulled out the simple alchemy furnace from his storage bag. In his previous life, he had used top-tier furnaces, furnaces of this quality that even the outer disciples of Medicine King Valley would look down upon. But now, this was the only one he could afford...
But it's fine as long as it can be used. With his experience in his previous life, it's more than enough to refine the foundation-building pill, but it wastes a bit of spiritual energy.
Now he could finally relax and start thinking about how to cultivate in the future. Five spiritual roots... the weakest spiritual roots, cultivation is slow, and most cultivators with five spiritual roots stop before the foundation.
The skills he practiced before were obviously no longer suitable, so Bai Qingchen searched through his sea of consciousness to find a technique that suited him.
A martial arts book called "Taixu Yanxing Jue" appeared before his eyes. This was... a fragment he found in a secret place. It only had the upper part. It conflicted with the martial arts he was practicing at the time, so he had never practiced it.
He recalled the "Taixu Yanxing Jue" again. This is currently the most suitable method for his five spiritual roots cultivation. Although it is only the upper part, subsequent breakthroughs may reach a bottleneck. At this moment, he has no choice.
Practicing this technique requires more spiritual power than ordinary techniques. Fortunately, he has a jade pendant to assist in practice. The formation on the jade pendant can be improved, but his current cultivation level is too low to draw it, so he can only improve it later.
He sat cross-legged and began to practice. It was three days later when Bai Qingchen finished his meditation.
During these three days, Shiliang saw that Bai Qingchen was obsessed with cultivation and could not be awakened, so he sneaked out and wandered around in Yancheng. He lived a very happy life. He also accepted more than a dozen younger brothers, all of whom were stray animals in the city.
Seeing that Bai Qingchen finally woke up, he lay on his legs and acted coquettishly. Damn human, he starved the fox so much in the past three days. How should he compensate him!
Bai Qingchen then realized that he had not prepared food for Shiliang. He apologized to Shiliang and promised that he would not treat it badly in the future. Only then did Shiliang give up.
Bai Qingchen went downstairs to renew the room fee for a few more days and brought a roast chicken for Shiliang, who ate it with his mouth full of oil.
Seeing that the little fox was eating happily, Bai Qingchen also started to get down to business. He took out the alchemy furnace to refine the foundation-building pills. After a few hours, Bai Qingchen got twenty freshly-baked foundation-building pills.
After finding out where the trading place frequented by monks from Yancheng was, Bai Qingchen put on his bamboo hat again and said to Shi Liang, "Let's go."
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