Chapter 38

Early in the morning, Hongmei left Qing Xi Fang with his two apprentices.

Unlike when he arrived with Uncle Rongyuan, Hongmei Cultivator was confident and chose to travel with his two apprentices aboard a flying vehicle artifact.

"Master, isn't this too conspicuous?"

Sitting on the flying vehicle, Wang Yulou gazed down at the mountain ranges and plains below, asking with slight concern.

"No problem—even if two or three Qi Condensation stage bandits show up, they can't beat me, and if there are too many, we can just run."

"Foundation Establishment cultivators all left their Dao foundation qi signatures with the Xian Alliance; they'd never become bandits."

Hongmei Cultivator was stout and carefree, clearly not taking ordinary bandits seriously.

"This time, I'm taking you to see the real Cultivation World. Our destination is a thousand li away—flying artifacts are made to be used; if we don't use it, this trip would be a nightmare."

"The real Cultivation World?"

Wang Yulou and Wang Yuan exchanged glances, not understanding what Hongmei meant.

"The Shi Sects rule from above, but above them stands the higher Xian Alliance, and below them lie numerous Purple Mansion clans and sects presided over by Purple Mansion cultivators."

"At the overlapping borders of the Shi Sects' influence, special market towns often exist."

"I leave Qing Xi Fang every two months to transport goods to those markets—without the Hong Deng Zhao's water tax, the profits are much higher."

So it was like this... Wang Yulou suddenly understood.

He had thought Hong Deng Zhao could control everything.

Apparently, there were places even the Shi Sects couldn't reach.

"Do the Shi Sects tolerate this behavior?" Wang Yuan asked.

"The Xian Alliance and Purple Mansion disciples work together—the Shi Sects turn a blind eye, as long as it doesn't go too far."

The wooden flying vehicle artifact flew at great speed; by noon, they had covered six hundred li.

At a scenic mountain hollow, Hongmei halted the flying vehicle.

Below lay two green mountains, thickly forested like coiled emerald dragons, with a small river flowing between their valleys.

With his Qi Gathering fifth-layer vision, Wang Yulou could even see wild deer drinking at the riverbank.

Hongmei pointed down at the valley and spoke to his disciples.

"This place is called Shuang Long Mountain. Though it has no ninth-rank spiritual items, it's still a place rich in spiritual energy."

"Many hermit cultivators have built caves here; your Wang Shi merchant caravans sometimes pass through, doing business."

"Look closely—can you spot any of the hermits' cave dwellings?"

Wang Yulou stared for a long time, his eyes growing weary, yet found nothing.

"Please, Master, enlighten us."

"Hahaha! There's one beneath that giant rock, another behind the waterfall beside that pool, and dozens more scattered around—at least a dozen in total."

"I once stayed here for years; I knew many of these fellow cultivators. Come, follow me down and take a look."

Wang Yulou said anxiously.

"Master, why hasn't anyone noticed we've arrived? Isn't that strange?"

"You don't understand—these hermits sometimes become bandits; they fear being hunted by the Shi Sects or great clans, so they never reveal themselves."

Hongmei explained, then activated his magic power and called out.

"Fellow cultivators, don't run—it's me, Hongmei."

With the power of his magic, Hongmei's voice rang through the valley like a bell—the birds in the trees took flight in panic, and the wild deer at the riverbank bolted away.

Soon, several high-level hermits recognized Hongmei and emerged from their caves.

"Fat bastard, you finally remembered to come back? Did you get caught selling shoddy artifacts in Qing Xi Fang?"

The newcomer was a rough female cultivator with sun-darkened skin and a sharp tongue.

"Third Auntie, what shoddy artifacts? I'm just passing by to see old friends—these two are my apprentices, Wang Yulou and Wang Yuan."

"Greetings, Elder."

Though Third Auntie was unremarkable in appearance, her cultivation was high Qi Condensation; Wang Yulou quickly bowed with his younger brother.

"Hey, Elder Hongmei, can I become your disciple too?"

Third Auntie didn't even glance at Hongmei's cheap apprentices—she wanted to become Hongmei's disciple directly.

Other hermits who had emerged also greeted Hongmei; he waved them off and said:

"Enough idle chatter, Third Auntie and fellow cultivators—please notify nearby friends."

"Tonight, let's gather and catch up—I've brought plenty of artifacts; you can see if anything suits your needs."

Third Auntie pouted but stopped her outburst.

"Still at your cave?"

"Yes, thank you."

Hongmei now had deep cultivation and thrived in Qing Xi Fang.

His old friends naturally gave him face.

The hermit friends went to notify others; Hongmei Cultivator led Wang Yulou and Wang Yuan down to the junction of the two mountains.

"Look—this is where the earth vein concentrates; the two mountains meet and the water dragon emerges."

"Without exception, in a few hundred years, a new ninth-rank spiritual item will form here."

"The method of cultivating artifacts by drawing spiritual energy from heaven and earth is similar to the method of gathering spiritual energy for talismans."

"High-grade spiritual artifacts require spiritual resonance and are more complex; ordinary artifacts are simpler—just store them in a suitable place for years, and their power greatly increases."

"I've hidden one artifact here—over three years now—it's long since reached the upper limit of this place's artifact cultivation capacity."

Saying this, Hongmei formed a hand seal; soon, a small white shield flew up from below.

"This is also a Mirror-Silver Gold-Thread Shield, but inside it uses two pieces of Black Steel, with twenty-nine sealing arrays."

"Use your magic power to activate it and see if you can sense anything different."

Taking the Mirror-Silver Gold-Thread Shield, Yulou was startled by the dense spiritual energy naturally emanating from it.

His waist sash was a spiritual artifact, and a mid-grade one at that, bestowed upon him by the clan chief, yet the spiritual resonance on that sash was not much greater than that of this superior-grade Mirror-Silver Shield.

"Is the spiritual-energy nurturing method really that powerful?"

Hongmei smiled, shook her head, and said.

"Not at all. Nurture it for three years, and the empowered might only lasts three days; once a fight begins, it only lasts half a quarter-hour at most, and within that half quarter-hour it keeps decaying.

The spiritual-energy nurturing method has its pros and cons; even if nurtured with Qin-Yun Clear Stream, the duration won't be much longer.

It's only when great clans build their foundations on spiritual objects and nurture them within their clan lands that it has practical value; loose cultivators can't make use of this nurturing method.

I brought you here to make you understand that when refining artifacts in the future, you must consider the spiritual-energy characteristics of the refining site.

Artifact refining doesn't fuss over such things, but spiritual artifacts must take these into account; as for refining treasure artifacts, even the season must be factored in.

For instance, there was once a Purple Mansion who refined a water-attribute treasure artifact in the sands of the Eastern Desert during midsummer, and the result was that hammer became a joke passed down by refiners for thousands upon thousands of years."

Yulou nodded thoughtfully; this was the benefit of having a lineage.

Where Hongmei's refining lineage came from didn't matter, but his lineage was truly extraordinary.

From the foundational lineage of fire-method artifact refining, to the lineage on Jin Shi artifact prohibitions, to the present lineage on spiritual-energy amplification nurturing—though not deeply specialized, it was complete.

"Come, take out your artifacts. I'll teach you the art formulas; go in and nurture them for a few months and try."

Yulou asked in surprise.

"This... can our artifacts be nurtured here?"

The five elements intermingle between heaven and earth, yet each of the five elemental attributes has its own distinct nature. The Mirror-Silver Gold-Thread Shield could be nurtured here, but could their artifacts?

"Artifacts are all Consumables; no need to be so particular. It's spiritual artifacts that require this consideration."

Such was the tone of a grandmaster refiner. Artifacts that ordinary cultivators—even many clan cultivators—treasured as priceless were, in Hongmei's eyes, nothing but Consumables.

"If we put the artifacts down, what if those loose cultivators come to dig them up?" Wang Yuan, for his part, was sharply alert.

What he was most pleased with about his two disciples was their caution; Hongmei explained with a smile.

"Hahaha, don't worry. I know those loose cultivators—they're all wild practitioners; what do they know about spiritual-energy nurturing?"

Under Hongmei's guidance, Yulou and Wang Yuan quickly mastered the art formulas of the spiritual-energy nurturing method and buried their artifacts at the site.

Yulou buried the Ink Jade Hand-Staff; Wang Yuan buried his Jade Axe Blade.

In the evening, the two of them had a small gathering with Hongmei and his old loose-cultivator friends at Twin Longshan, and Hongmei took the opportunity to sell three artifacts.

However, they did not linger long at Twin Longshan, but left that very night.