Chapter 318: Chapter 316: Green Fire Luan (Please Subscribe)_1
The phoenix’s cry was loud and resonant, carrying with it a force that could shake the divine soul.
The four-armed monkey was stunned, the blood in its eyes quickly dispersing as it let out a loud yell, dropped its flying sword, and fled deep into the primordial jungle.
The Gong surnamed female cultivator who had escaped death didn’t have the slightest intention to give chase; instead, she looked towards the direction from which the phoenix’s cry had come.
There, it seemed, was there a silhouette... of a person?
"Damn that... Green Fire Luan... I will remember you."
A green shadow flashed, revealing a somewhat disheveled figure.
That figure cursed angrily, then a powerful divine consciousness swept around, and with a surprised "hmm," it flew towards the Gong surnamed female cultivator.
The woman became as stiff as a wooden chicken, ’Such divine consciousness and magic power... a Core Formation elder?’
While she was still in shock, a green shadow flashed in front of her and a person appeared.
This figure was a young man who looked to be only seventeen or eighteen years old, handsome with refined features, dressed in a bambooshoot-green robe, with gentle eyes that seemed to have experienced the vicissitudes of life, yet oddly also carried the vivacity typical of youth, creating a complex and unique temperament.
More crucially, the magic power emitted from his body was unfathomably profound, even appearing to be several notches mightier than the sole Core Formation elder of the Star Pointing Sect.
This person was naturally Fang Xi!
After nearly three years of travel, he had finally left the mountains and arrived here.
"Where... is this place? And who are you?"
Fang Xi asked casually.
"Reporting to the elder... this place is the northern border of Yuan Country, at the edge of the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range, close to ’StarMoon Market’ ... This lowly female disciple, Gong Ling, belongs to the Star Pointing Sect. I am grateful to the elder for the earlier assistance in saving my life..."
"Really, we’ve reached Yuan Country?"
A hint of joy appeared on Fang Xi’s face, "As for saving your life, haha... the one who saved you wasn’t me... but..."
Thinking of the Green Fire Luan, Fang Xi’s expression once again darkened.
For the past two years, his journey had been smooth sailing, but just during the last part of the trek, somehow, he had been targeted by a third-tier Green Fire Luan!
He guessed it had something to do with one of the feathers he had acquired.
This Luan was extremely formidable, already a top-tier third-tier monster beast, not only with immeasurable demon power, but it had also awakened its innate Spiritual Flame divine skill.
Its ’Azure Luan Fire’ was incredibly sharp, even specifically countering wood-attribute techniques like those used by Fang Xi.
Legend had it that Azure Luan was born of the phoenix and was an extremely powerful True Spirit, only found in the Earth Immortal Realm.
Even though this Green Fire Luan had inherited only the tiniest bit of the Azure Luan’s True Spirit bloodline, it was enough to make it dominant among Core Formation monsters.
Fang Xi, if he utilized all his tricks, could indeed subdue the creature.
Although the ’Kuyong Mysterious Light’ was not very effective against spirit birds with such long lifespans or ghost cultivators, he was wealthy, with plenty of magical treasures at his disposal.
The problem was... the location was wrong.
Fighting a Green Fire Luan within the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range was not something Fang Xi was prepared to do on a whim.
It could end up attracting a large audience of third-tier Monster Kings, or even lure out a fourth-tier Transformed Great Demon.
Thus, he could only pretend to be outmatched, fighting and retreating, planning to lure the Green Fire Luan out of the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range, where he could unleash all his techniques and slash it down!
By then, he would surely turn it into a wood puppet, pairing it with the Demon Blood Flood Dragon to form a Dragon and Phoenix Carriage!
But unexpectedly, just as he was about to act upon leaving the mountain range, this spirit bird seemed to sense a threat. After emitting a sky-piercing, cloud-splitting cry, it just flew back into the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Range...
This left Fang Xi speechless and extremely frustrated.
"StarMoon Market, is it? Do you have a nearby map?"
Fang Xi recalled the past, his face changing several times before finally speaking to inquire.
"Of course..." Gong Ling immediately presented a jade slip, secretly speculating about the origin of this Core Formation elder.
He didn’t seem to look like a high-level cultivator from this country.
Fang Xi received it, let his divine consciousness enter it, and casually asked about the issue that concerned him the most: "Did the great battle of the Mixed Origin Sect end? What was the outcome?"
"Reporting to the elder... the great battle between Mixed Origin Sect and the Blood Sect ended ten years ago... The sides agreed to use ’Mid-Air Mountain’ as a boundary, and the high-level cultivators from both sides signed a pact..." Gong Ling answered cautiously.
Mixed Origin Sect was a Nascent Soul sect, but decades ago, another major faction in Yuan Country, a Supreme Elder of the Blood Sect, had secretly succeeded in forming a Nascent Soul, leading to immediate hostility and a subsequent great battle between the two.
It is said many Core Formation cultivators died, and only after considerable casualties did they manage to reach a compromise.
"Oh?"
Fang Xi responded with a hint of joy at the news.
He had not waited decades in vain; he had managed to survive through the war: "I wonder about the casualties on both sides?"
"Numerous low-level cultivators and subsidiary sects suffered countless deaths and injuries. It is said that even the famous Core Formation cultivators have fallen quite a few... There are even rumors..."
Gong Ling lowered her voice a few notches: "The Nascent Soul elder of Mixed Origin Sect and the Supreme Elder of the Blood Sect fought a battle, both sustaining considerable damage to their primordial energy. After returning to their respective sects, both announced they would be in long-term seclusion..."
"Excellent, excellent... Only one more thing left to do."
Fang Xi looked at Gong Ling with a somewhat strange gaze, then with a motion, transformed into a green shadow and vanished without a trace.
Before Gong Ling could react, her protective spiritual radiance was pierced by a Yi Wood Divine Light sword, and then Fang Xi’s right hand appeared at the back of her neck, tapping it lightly.
The woman’s eyes immediately rolled back as she lost consciousness and was caught in Fang Xi’s embrace.
"Since you said I saved your life... then it isn’t too much for a savior to ask for something in return, right? Hehehe..."
Fang Xi’s smile took on a strange quality.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen a beauty in three years and suddenly became lustful or anything like that; he was merely preparing to subtly alter the young woman’s memory with a certain Divine Consciousness Secret Skill.
"After all... I left in such a hurry that I didn’t have time to change my appearance."
"When you’re away from home, you must be careful to protect yourself."
"Altering short-term memory with this Secret Skill shouldn’t cause any harm to the body either..."
Fang Xi released Daqing, the protector, to help the woman up, then from his eyes shot two beams of light—one green and one yellow—straight into the Sea of Consciousness of the woman.
This secret method could only modify recent memories, and the changes couldn’t be too absurd, otherwise they would easily be detected as false.
Therefore, he only altered the woman’s memories of that day, changing his own appearance into that of a mysterious high-level Monster Beast, which had scared away the Four-armed Monkey.
The woman had simply fainted from a lack of magic power, and that was all.
After casting the spell, Fang Xi immediately used the Skill of Concealing Breath, and with a flash of blue light, his figure disappeared without a trace.
A moment later, Gong Ling, who had collapsed on the ground, opened her eyes with a look of vigilance. "Where’s the Four-armed Monkey?"
She looked around to find the monster monkey was long gone and touched her aching head, "It seems like it was that Monster Beast that scared the monkey away... Lucky that the creature didn’t care about a small fry like me..."
Gong Ling quickly picked up her Flying Sword and Spiritual Instrument cloth and turned into a streak of Escape Light, heading towards the Star Pointing Sect, "Those little creeps... I’ll make them pay when I get back!"
...
Watching the woman leaving, Fang Xi reappeared, "Seems like the secret method worked well..."
He pondered for a moment and took out the Mirage Bead.
A layer of mirage mist emerged, shrouding his entire body.
In the blink of an eye, Fang Xi had transformed into an ordinary-looking Cultivator around his late thirties, early in his Core Formation stage.
"Yuan Country’s Cultivation World is rich in resources, with several Nascent Soul Sects... and even more Core Formation Sects and families... Being in the early stage of Core Formation is neither too conspicuous nor too low, earning respectful treatment everywhere, which is sufficient..."
Murmuring to himself, Fang Xi rode a streak of green radiance, disappearing into the sky at the speed of an ordinary Core Formation Cultivator.
...
StarMoon Market.
This market was established through the joint efforts of several cultivating immortal families and sects nearby, having been established for hundreds of years, and held a good reputation among the local individual cultivators.
One day, a streak of blue light landed at the entrance of the market, revealing an ordinary-looking Cultivator.
"Is this place... the StarMoon Market?"
With a glitter of purple light in his eyes, Fang Xi noticed that the entire market was enveloped in a third-order Array, which somewhat startled him.
The strength of Yuan Country’s Cultivation World was indeed far superior to the Three Kingdoms.
A mere cultivation market could compete with Baize Immortal City.
"Reporting to this senior, this is indeed StarMoon Market," one of the Cultivators at the entrance said after noticing Fang Xi. He held a jade plate artifact that suddenly glowed red, recognizing the arrival of a Core Formation Cultivator. They did not dare to neglect him and bowed respectfully, "May I inquire about what the senior needs? Our market will do our utmost..."
"Since I’ve come to the market, naturally, I am here to buy and sell Spiritual Objects... Which store in this market is the best for pills and potions? And where can I get the best information?" Fang Xi casually asked.
"If it’s about buying and selling pills, ’Pill Furnace Store’ is certainly the place to go. As for information trading, it’s ’Xue Family Old Store’..." One of the gatekeepers replied immediately without hesitation.
"Good, lead the way!"
Fang Xi smiled faintly, and the gatekeeper immediately straightened up, "Please follow me, senior..."
Around him, many other Cultivators cast envious and jealous glances his way.
’It seems... whether it’s the Three Kingdoms or Yuan Country, the Cultivation World is still the same Cultivation World...’
With this thought in mind, Fang Xi followed the gatekeeper to a shop exuding a faint scent of medicinal herbs.
"Reporting to senior, this is Pill Furnace Store. I shall wait here for your return..." the gatekeeper said, bowing deeply.
"Hmm."
Fang Xi responded and walked into the Pill Furnace Store.
A maid was about to step forward with a charming smile to greet him, but the manager, who was dozing behind the counter, suddenly got up, "Lv’er, step back. I will personally receive this senior!"
"Yes!"
Lv’er stepped back, deeply shaken.
Her manager was only a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, yet he was referring to him as a senior; could this person be a Core Formation ancestor?
With this thought, her gaze towards Fang Xi grew even warmer.
"This senior, my surname is Ying, and I am the manager of this store. It’s truly my fortune to be able to serve a senior like you. Please, come to the second floor!" the Manager Ying said with a beaming smile.
"Very well..."
With measured steps, Fang Xi followed the manager up to a private room on the second floor.
After the maid brought up the Spiritual Tea and Spirit Fruits, Manager Ying cautiously inquired, "May I know what kind of pills the senior is planning to purchase?"