Chapter 217: Chapter 216: The Storm is Coming (Seeking Monthly Tickets) _1
Half a month later.
"Sir Yan, go slowly, and let’s keep in touch with more letters in the future!"
Fang Xi, with a smile on his face, saw off Yan Changkong.
This man had stayed on Dragon Fish Island for a few days and had discussed Taoist philosophy with Fang Xi during that time.
The result...
Fang Xi found that this man’s cultivation and knowledge were both mediocre; even the grade of the cultivation technique he practiced was about the same as his own "Green Wood Longevity Skills".
In other words, even when he was at the initial stage of Foundation Establishment, he could easily overpower the other...
’Alas... it seems not every disciple can cultivate the signature cultivation technique of a Golden Core Sect...’
’Now, with my own strength, getting a position like a Law Enforcement Elder in the Mysterious Heaven Sect would probably be easily within my grasp...’
After discussing cultivation experiences, Fang Xi even took out the second-tier talismans he had made and sold a few to the man at a discount. It was a means to open up a sales route while also building connections.
Yan Changkong naturally agreed that, after returning to his sect, the two sides would keep in touch more often, especially since the second-tier talismans and the Little Green Dragon Soup were quite exceptional.
In this way, Fang Xi effectively gained an unreliable connection within the Mysterious Heaven Sect.
But relationships have to be maintained, after all. He wasn’t plotting anything against the Mysterious Heaven Sect, just wanting to keep a general track of its movements.
Since it was all an effortless setup, it appeared very Buddhist in nature.
However, Yan Hongxue, watching as Yan Changkong disappeared into the Escape Light, had eyes full of concern.
She suddenly felt that they had been apart for too long, and that Yan Changkong was no longer the snot-nosed little brat who used to seek her out to play.
The other had his own circle, friends, and mentors...
’Perhaps... it was a mistake for great-grandfather to send Xiao Shiqi and Xiao Shijiu to the Mysterious Heaven Sect...’
Thinking of the deceased Xiao Shiqi and other Qi Refining stage family members, Yan Hongxue couldn’t help but feel even more saddened.
Fang Xi, on the other hand, had a good impression of Yan Changkong: "This man... is truly devoted to the Tao."
He turned around and looked at Yan Hongxu: "What are you still standing there for? Get back to work!"
"Yes!"
Yan Hongxu answered gloomily and returned to the Evergreen Pavilion.
...
Five days later.
"Sister Hongxu, your letter!"
Xiahou Ying handed over a jade slip to Yan Hongxu.
"Is it from Ling Kong Island?"
Yan Hongxu took the jade slip, tore open the secrecy talisman, and attached it to her forehead.
Soon, her eyes reddened, and she almost cried.
"What’s the matter?"
Xiahou Ying quickly approached to comfort her, her mind criticizing: ’Even though our family produced a Foundation Establishment cultivator, wasn’t this already known? Why cry with joy like this...’
With that thought, she also felt distressed.
Previously, she had gone to great lengths to curry favor with the young master, managing to secure a promise to cultivate disciples from the Top Three Families. Unfortunately, the Xiahou Family genuinely lacked talent, and the situation was the same for Taishu and the other families.
Even though for an Immortal Cultivator, middle to low-grade Spiritual Roots were common, and top-grade Spiritual Roots were scarce.
After discussing with her cousin, Xiahou Zun, they didn’t want to waste the chance on middle to low-grade Spiritual Roots but decided to save it for a future family genius.
"I... I..."
Overwhelmed by anger and anxiety, Yan Hongxu suddenly spewed out a cloud of blood mist.
"Young Master!"
Xiahou Ying’s somewhat shrill voice shattered the calm of the Evergreen Pavilion.
Fortunately, Fang Xi was not in seclusion. Realizing something was wrong, he rushed over immediately and channeled a stream of magic power into Yan Hongxu’s body: "Don’t worry, it’s just a bit of anger causing the magic power to deviate from its path..."
"I knew it... It definitely wasn’t me..."
Xiahou Ying was so scared she spoke incoherently.
Fang Xi felt somewhat speechless and, noticing the jade slip beside Yan Hongxu, scanned it with his Divine Consciousness and understood the reason.
This time, when Yan Changkong returned to Ling Kong Island, he didn’t even stay for three days!
After paying respects at his parents’ graves, he didn’t deal with the family’s affairs or face the various powers, nor did he hold any Foundation Establishment celebration. He just left behind a bag of Spirit Stones and returned to the Mysterious Heaven Sect.
Mmm, his parents had died in the chaos the night the old ancestor of the Yan family passed away. Now he was emotionally detached from the remaining members of the Yan Family on Ling Kong Island, even less so than with Yan Hongxu!
Therefore, the head of the Yan Family, Yan’s seventh son, was so frustrated that he vomited blood and then took to his bed...
Although he was a late-stage Qi Refining expert, he had been seriously injured while helping Yan Changkong accept his mission. Not only did he lose a great deal of Primordial Energy, but he had also contracted a lingering illness.
Now, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment... and he was bedridden due to his illness.
"Young Master..."
A moment later, Yan Hongxu regained consciousness a bit and spoke with a miserable expression: "Did Hongxu do something wrong?"
"You did nothing wrong. It’s just that placing hope on someone else is ultimately a foolish and helpless act..."
Fang Xi stood with his hands behind his back, speaking indifferently: "Placing hope on anyone else is never as good as placing it on oneself!"
"On myself?"
Yan Hongxu’s eyes showed a trace of bewilderment.
"Although you have average talent, with the second-grade top-tier spiritual energy of Dragon Fish Island... your cultivation progress isn’t slow, and with my help, you’ve reached the seventh layer of Qi Refining. In Thousand Island Lake, you can already be considered a local expert and compete for the position of Island Master of a first-grade spirit island!"
Fang Xi calmly said, "If you continue to cultivate diligently, in the future, once you reach the Great Perfection of Qi Refining’s tenth layer... in Thousand Island Lake, you will be powerful enough to be a king, and it will be more than sufficient to protect Ling Kong Island..."
After all, he and Ruan Xingling wouldn’t go out of their way to pick a fight with the Yan Family over nothing.
"Yes... I’ve made a mistake... wuuu..."
Yan Hongxue thought about the sacrifices her family had made over the years, her youngest sister who was used as a furnace for others, and the many mid-stage Qi Refining practitioners who had died, and couldn’t help but let her tears roll down.
Fang Xi didn’t offer more consolation but merely stepped out of Evergreen Pavilion and then sighed.
The people of the Yan Family were indeed dreaming a bit too beautifully.
Perhaps it was because they were too anxious for quick success early on, too eager to regain the prestige of a Foundation Establishment Family, that they neglected many things.
That led to the current outcome, but no one else could be blamed.
"I must take this as a warning. In my future actions, I cannot be impetuous, I must not be in a hurry to achieve success at any cost..."
...
Time passed like a fleeting white steed.
In the blink of an eye, several years had gone by.
Inside the training room.
Fang Xi was enveloped in a halo of green light and suddenly opened his eyes:
"I am one hundred and twenty years old now, with one hundred and five drops of liquid magic power in my Dantian Qi Ocean, still not meeting the minimum requirement for a breakthrough to the later stage of Foundation Establishment... but my life span has increased by a hundred years, I can now live up to six hundred years, outliving an ordinary Core Formation ancestor is no problem..."
"If it weren’t for nurturing the Green Barley Sword, my magic power could actually progress even faster... but now this Green Barley Sword can already be considered a proper magical treasure, right?"
"Unfortunately... even though it’s more powerful and faster to activate, it consumes more magic power."
Fang Xi pushed open the door, walked out of the training room, and went to the top of Evergreen Pavilion to quietly watch the world outside, as the tides rose and fell and the flowers bloomed and withered...
From the outside, the colors of the Profound Wood Formation seemed to have become more profound.
’Hmm... the Monster Tree Demon Realm has matured further, the ’Nine Nether Profound Wood Array’ is now genuinely a third-level array, and my Array Taoist skills have reached the third level as well, right?’ he thought.
The Monster Tree requires very little spiritual energy, even situated above a second-grade Spiritual Vein, it feels like a mouse that has fallen into a rice bin.
Using this as the core, the ’Nine Nether Profound Wood Array’ Fang Xi had set up requires very little spiritual energy, and even if there aren’t enough Spirit Stones, it can be maintained by consuming the flesh and blood of enemies or even allies...
"Island Master..."
A graceful figure appeared outside the door, bowing in greeting: "There are two letters from Mysterious Heaven Sect!"
"Is that you, Hong Yu? Come in!"
Fang Xi smiled.
Twenty years have passed since his hundredth birthday.
The passing of a decade and more years, enough to turn a young girl into a beautiful young woman with almond eyes and rosy cheeks.
Zhong Hongyu stepped in gracefully, performed a courtesy towards Fang Xi, and then presented two jade slips.
Fang Xi did not immediately check the letters but instead glanced at Zhong Hongyu’s cultivation level: "Not bad... you’re at the sixth layer of Qi Refining."
"Yes, I’ve just recently broken through the bottleneck."
Zhong Hongyu replied. In truth, if she had a real Five Elements Spiritual Root and was not hindered by her cultivation technique, focusing on cultivation above a second-grade Spiritual Vein, she might have been able to break through to the later stages of Qi Refining by now!
"Good. The ’Flash VoidSkills’ I taught you are quite potent spells for both preserving life and killing enemies, which you need to cultivate well!"
Fang Xi advised her, then picked up one of the jade slips.
This jade slip was from Zhan Tu, who was now in his early twenties. Ever since he got apprenticed into Mysterious Heaven Sect and cultivated hard, and with good Spiritual Roots, he caught the eye of a Pill Concoction Elder, who took him as a disciple and nurtured him carefully. After fifteen years of hard cultivation above a third-grade Spiritual Vein, he had surprisingly reached the eighth layer of Qi Refining.
This letter, aside from thanking Fang Xi for his ongoing support, also implicitly asked for help.
When in the later stages of Qi Refining, sect disciples typically begin to consider the Foundation Establishment process.
Even though his master is an Elder of the Pill Concoction Hall, assisting a disciple in establishing foundation would require expending his own vitality.
But Zhan Tu’s master had many disciples and descendants with direct bloodlines, and it was impossible to help him fully.
In terms of circumstances, his situation was even worse than Yan Changkong’s back in the day.
After all, his family were all mortals, unable to provide the slightest aid.
At the end of the letter, Zhan Tu asked Fang Xi to look after his parents as usual and mentioned a few minor matters.
But Fang Xi felt that something was not quite right.
"Fluctuations in the prices of talismans and magical tools... war preparations... could it be, there’s going to be a war?"
He didn’t ponder for long, instead picking up the second jade slip.
This jade slip was from Yan Changkong.
Since establishing his foundation, this Mysterious Heaven Sect cultivator had secured a position to oversee a marketplace. Though entangled in worldly affairs and unable to cultivate on the sect’s third-grade Spiritual Vein, he quickly accumulated merits.
Moreover, he often traded with Fang Xi, buying second-grade talismans, elixirs, and even Little Green Dragons to sell at a higher price in the marketplace, which was a nice additional income.
His sending a message now obviously meant there was important news.
Fang Xi immersed his divine consciousness into it and saw several lines of text, and his expression subtly changed: "Baize Immortal City’s Master Bai Feng went hunting for a Monster King in the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range but returned with serious injuries... It is said that his lifespan has greatly diminished, and he is on the verge of Sitting and Transforming?"
In the entire tri-state area, there were only four major Core Formation powers.
The physical condition of Master Bai Feng would not only profoundly affect Baize Immortal City but also the other three states!
"Thirty-plus years, half a Jia Zi..."
Fang Xi stood up and looked out the window, his mood somewhat melancholic: "The thirty-plus years of peace on Dragon Fish Island is about to be broken, isn’t it?"