Chapter 85: 85. Opening the Storage Bag (In Celebration of Chu Ding, Alliance Master)

85. Chapter 85: Opening the Storage Bag (In Celebration of Chu Ding, Alliance Master)

After opening the storage bag, Fang Xing was in high spirits and thoroughly enjoyed himself.

After soaking in the hot spring, he set up the Great Dragon Stake and began his daily cultivation.

“Wu Gong practitioners of the Courage Stage open the Niwan Palace; their spiritual will becomes immensely strong, immune to contamination by ordinary demonic sects…”

“And the cultivation of the Courage Stage lies in the martial realm!”

Fang Xing glanced at his attribute bar:

【Great Dragon Stake: 102/400 (Master）】

The proficiency of the Great Dragon Stake was not increased in vain; each point raised strengthened the Dragon Realm slightly.

This sensation became even more pronounced after reaching the Courage Stage!

“As the realm grows stronger, it eventually forms a domain… allowing spiritual influence over matter, inner scenes manifesting as outer scenes… Achieve this, and you become an Outer Scene Wu Gong practitioner.”

“But knowing is easy, doing is hard… countless Wu Gong practitioners have been stymied trying to elevate their realm into a ‘domain.’”

“Even in school, most of the Wu Gong instructors are stuck at the fourth stage; only Xia Long has broken through to the fifth stage, Outer Scene…”

“But I’m different. As long as my proficiency slowly rises, one day I’ll elevate the Dragon Realm into the Dragon Domain! Then one palm, one dragon—I’ll be the man who walks in with his own BGM! No one can defeat me within my BGM!”

Fang Xing glanced again at the “Proficient” tier of the Dragon-Elephant Art.

“At this point, I should be able to fight Foundation Establishment cultivators… uh, as long as they don’t fly…”

“But it’s still not safe enough… When I reach ‘Master’ tier, and my body can ignore top-grade magical artifacts, rivaling second-rank body cultivators, should I go challenge a Foundation Establishment cultivator or a second-rank beast? Wait—there’s actually a target I could test…”

“Too bad, the Great Vajra Prajna Divine Power still won’t let me enter its threshold!”

Even after advancing to the Courage Stage, Fang Xing still found this martial art extraordinarily difficult to comprehend.

“Feeling frustrated… want to go out and hit someone to clear my head… Hmm, I’ll go find Su Ye.”

This female Foundation Establishment cultivator had just advanced and was still trapped in Qinglin Market; most of her techniques, spiritual powers, and magical artifacts were likely still first-rank.

She was essentially a blank slate among Foundation Establishment cultivators!

She might even be weaker than a beast of the same rank—perfect for me, Fang Xing thought.

With this thought, he wiped his face, his bones cracking loudly as he transformed into the fearsome persona of ‘Fang Yun.’

…

Outside Qinglin Market.

“Fang Daoist, you’ve made me search hard…”

Su Ye wore a green cultivation robe, her face still veiled, faint spiritual light shimmering around her; her gaze toward Fang Xing held a trace of uncertainty.

She had just advanced to Foundation Establishment; with liquid spiritual power supporting her, even without practicing second-rank Spirit-Eye techniques, she was confident she could see through the disguises of Qi Condensation cultivators.

Yet… in her eyes, Fang Xing remained an ordinary mortal!

This made her wonder whether this ‘Fang Yun’ possessed some special artifact to conceal his aura.

“Looking for me? Did you finally master Boiling Blood?”

Fang Xing’s eyes lit up; though he still had plenty in stock, more would be welcome.

He had originally avoided draining the source completely, splitting the supply evenly each time and buying the rest with spiritual stones.

“Not that… I’ve prepared to leave this place with others. Per our spiritual contract, I must inform you…”

Su Ye delivered news that surprised Fang Xing.

Had it not been for the contract’s constraints, she would have left long ago.

“The journey to the Wild Wastes is long—I won’t go. Just give me the map, and your obligation is fulfilled.”

Fang Xing had already made up his mind.

“You plan to stay here?”

Su Ye was unsure of Fang Xing’s cultivation, but she quickly recovered, pulling a jade slip resembling jadeite from her storage bag and handing it to him.

Fang Xing took it, projecting his spiritual force inside, then frowned: “The journey is this far?”

“Opening new wastelands has always been this dangerous…”

Su Ye sighed, yet didn’t find it odd that Fang Xing could read the jade slip.

After all, he was a body cultivator with spiritual awareness—she just couldn’t fathom why he insisted on pretending to be an ordinary mortal martial artist!

“Then your obligation is fulfilled.”

As soon as Fang Xing spoke, Su Ye smiled, feeling part of the second-rank spiritual contract’s restraint dissolve.

They exchanged a few words about recent market gossip, then Fang Xing issued a challenge.

“Very well…”

Su Ye’s beautiful eyes flickered, and she accepted at once.

“Go!”

Fang Xing’s body was covered in a silvery nanofiber suit, like a silver armor, and he slapped a Vajra Talisman onto his chest.

Hmm—since awakening his spiritual force, he’d made progress with talismans and could now barely activate top-grade first-rank talismans.

This was beyond what most martial artists of this world could ever hope for. The Vajra Talisman, a top-grade first-rank talisman, offered far superior defense to the Golden Bell Talisman, forming a thick, dense golden light that enveloped Fang Xing entirely.

He stomped the ground, his body becoming a blur, instantly appearing before Su Ye, and struck with a palm!

Ssssh!

Around Su Ye, a thick emerald glow erupted, forming a spherical shield, faint ancient runes flickering across its surface.

Fang Xing’s palm struck the emerald barrier, causing countless runes to flash wildly before finally calming.

“After Foundation Establishment, cultivators gain spiritual awareness and can convert liquid spiritual power into a True Yuan Shield—this is a basic spell every Foundation Establishment cultivator must master…”

Su Ye smiled faintly; Qingdan Market had deep roots, and she still had a few second-rank spells and even a spiritual artifact in reserve.

With liquid spiritual power, the True Yuan Shield was nearly impervious to Qi Condensation cultivators.

This ‘Fang Yun’ had made the shield tremble violently—his attack must rival or even exceed Qi Condensation peak.

“Please don’t hold back, Daoist.”

Fang Xing let out a long roar, fists and palms flying in rapid succession, blows raining down on the True Yuan Shield until it groaned under the strain.

He had already held back considerably; this fight was to test his strength—he wouldn’t use the laser gun or the second-rank Green Rainbow Sword.

“I didn’t expect… Daoist, you favor mortal martial arts so much! But mortal martial arts may help in Qi Condensation—once you reach Foundation Establishment, they’re useless… Watch out!”

Su Ye’s bright eyes flickered as she summoned a green spiritual pearl.

It was a second-rank low-grade spiritual artifact—the Green Wood Spiritual Pearl—which could slightly gather spiritual energy to aid cultivation.

It could also assist Foundation Establishment cultivators in forming three ‘Green Wood Sword Qi.’

From her dantian, a drop of liquid spiritual power was consumed; the green pearl blazed with light, and a green rainbow shot forth like a coiling dragon, radiating unbearable sharpness!

Shhh!

Fang Xing had seen many Qi Condensation cultivators launch flying swords, but compared to this Foundation Establishment-level Green Wood Sword Qi, they were nothing but fireflies.

Puff!

The green blade, like a dragon and a rainbow, arrived before him in an instant—the golden light from the Vajra Talisman tore apart like paper.

The Green Wood Sword Qi weakened by about thirty percent, yet remained razor-sharp—it sliced through the nanofiber armor, then struck the Dragon-Elephant Art’s Dragon-Scale Elephant-Armor.

A sharp pain surged through him; he looked at his right arm and saw a crimson sword wound, blood slowly seeping out.

Under the attack of a second-rank spiritual artifact wielded by a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he still… broke through!

“You’re a quasi-second-rank body cultivator?”

Unaware, Su Ye’s eyes widened; she silently thanked fate she hadn’t turned against him during the Qingyan Ox hunt.

Otherwise, Fang Xing back then could have easily overwhelmed her.

She didn’t know Fang Xing hadn’t been this strong back then!

“Impressive, Foundation Establishment cultivator!”

Fang Xing knew Su Ye could unleash more than one sword qi.

He’d barely survived one—another few would seriously wound or even kill him…

With a sigh, he said: “Next, I’ll use my strongest strike. Watch out.”

As he spoke, Fang Xing threw a punch.

It looked ordinary, but as his blood surged, the air echoed with dragon roars and tiger howls!

—Dragon Realm!

—Tiger Subduing Realm!

The strongest weapon of a Courage Stage martial artist was, of course, attacks infused with martial will!

Su Ye’s brilliant eyes glazed over, then she saw her True Yuan Shield shatter under Fang Xing’s fist.

She instinctively leapt skyward, the Green Wood Spiritual Pearl flaring into a protective aura that shielded her completely—only then did fear creep in: “Daoist, you also master spiritual attacks? If I hadn’t already cultivated spiritual awareness, I’d have been helpless…”

Su Ye began to suspect Fang Xing was actually a second-rank body cultivator!

Otherwise, how could his spiritual attack be so powerful?

Fang Xing, seeing this, made his judgment: ‘So, Foundation Establishment cultivators with spiritual awareness have stable Purple Mansion and far stronger defense than Qi Condensation cultivators… Without the second-rank Green Rainbow Sword, I can’t break through and kill her during her moment of shock…’

“Thank you, Daoist—today’s fight was truly satisfying…”

He had no intention of continuing; he called for a halt.

Su Ye landed, still shaken: “Daoist, your strength is astonishing—if you joined me, our chances of escaping the Wild Wastes would greatly increase…”

“No need. I believe major sects won’t abandon this place—I’ll wait here, even if it delays my cultivation.”

Fang Xing waved his hand, appearing calm and composed.

“Is that so?”

Su Ye felt a hint of regret, but her beautiful eyes suddenly sparkled: “Would you be interested in exploring that hidden realm with me?”

“The Ten Thousand Methods Hidden Realm? Isn’t that place occupied by beast beasts, possibly even a third-rank great demon lingering there?” Fang Xing’s interest stirred.

“After the hidden realm vanished, the third-rank great demon that dwelled in the Five Scorpion Valley has already left…” Su Ye shook her head. “I suspect that third-rank great demon was drawn by the aura of a Golden Core cultivator; once the Golden Core cultivator departed, it naturally left too… If you join forces with me, we can surely enter the hidden realm and gain something.”

For an instant, Fang Xing was tempted—but quickly suppressed the urge.

The reason was simple: even though he now possessed spiritual prowess, the number of cultivation items he could actually use was still very limited.

Most cultivation items held no meaning for him.

It would not be worth risking his life for items of such low value.

“I have no interest in the Ten Thousand Methods Hidden Realm…”

He shook his head, but his gaze shifted slightly. “Have you ever heard of the Nine-Eyed Bodhi Seed, or the Jin Gang Fruit, and other spiritual items?”

“The Nine-Eyed Bodhi Seed is merely legend…” Su Ye, as a pill refining master, naturally knew much about spiritual plants, and spoke with ease: “But the Jin Gang Fruit might still exist in the wild wastelands—though it is a third-rank item, and must be guarded by powerful beast beasts…”

Hearing this, Fang Xing let out a long sigh.