Chapter 330: Chapter 328: Ten Years (Seeking Monthly Tickets) _1
White Yuan Market.
This market was situated atop a vast ice vein, its buildings constructed from ice blocks, resembling a cluster of crystal palaces.
It was rumored that the establishment of this market involved shares from nearby Profound Ice Palace, Icefiend Sect, and the foundation establishment family, Zhao Family.
Therefore, it was highly trusted by individual cultivators within a thousand miles, viewed as a transaction sanctuary.
One day, a blue light descended at the market’s entrance, revealing a fierce-looking man whose cultivation had reached the late stages of foundation establishment.
"Greetings to this senior..."
The gatekeeper was merely a Qi refining cultivator, who immediately approached with a smiling face brimming with servility: "Welcome to White Yuan Market, senior. This is your token, please keep it safe..."
"Hmm."
Fang Xi nodded in agreement with an air of indifference toward strangers.
Upon entering the market, he released his divine consciousness, secretly scanning the surroundings and grasping the general situation before he arrived in front of a certain building.
"Sir, are you looking to rent a cave mansion?"
A foundation establishment manager sat cross-legged on a cushion, and as soon as he saw Fang Xi enter, a formulaic smile appeared on his face.
Cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage in Yuan Country were often well-known, but the attention paid to those at the foundation establishment was significantly less, even for those in the late stages of foundation establishment!
"Indeed..."
A trace of a smile squeezed onto Fang Xi’s face: "I do need an excellent cave mansion to polish my magic power to perfection in the late stages of foundation establishment, in preparation for my future core formation... Do you have a third-grade cave mansion available?"
"Of course, we even have a Nascent Soul elder seated long-term in our market, so it’s absolutely safe." The manager’s smile became genuinely enthusiastic; this was a significant business opportunity.
...
After half a day.
Within a cave mansion.
The walls of the cave mansion were semi-transparent, constructed of ice walls inscribed with flickering runes, constantly reflecting a myriad of lights, breathtakingly beautiful.
Fang Xi set up another array to protect the whole mansion before he stood with his hands behind his back, inspecting the cave mansion: "Not bad, not bad... The spiritual energy here is even better than the cave mansion I had in Green Wood Forest... It’s certainly sufficient for cultivation."
While the Mountain Sea Pearl was excellent, unfortunately, the grade of the spiritual vein was too low, hovering around the second grade, and definitely not suitable for a cultivator in core formation.
In the years Fang Xi had been traveling, he had made some gains and naturally wanted to improve himself through diligent cultivation.
Disguising as a foundation establishment cultivator and casually renting a cave mansion with a third-grade spiritual vein in a market seemed somewhat high-profile, but it wasn’t a big deal.
After all, there were only a few Nascent Soul cultivators in Yuan Country, and more importantly, it seemed that both righteous and demonic Nascent Soul elders had been greatly injured recently, unlikely to venture out easily.
Even if core formation cultivators coveted his wealth... It would just be delivering spirit stones to him.
Moreover... Fang Xi estimated that under these circumstances, he might only attract a few foundation establishment robbers at most.
"However... before that, I still need to fully resolve the matter of the ’Vanishing Heart Orchid.’"
After activating another array prohibition to block peeping, Fang Xi’s figure flickered, vanishing from the cave mansion, leaving only a blue bead gently falling onto the cushion.
Inside the Mountain Sea cave mansion.
Daqing looked curiously at Fang Xi, seeing his master choose a corner and continuously set up various array instruments, creating an array filled with chilling cold.
"Based on the array as the foundation, with ten thousand years profound ice as the array eye, in conjunction with skills like ’Ice Breath Skills’... maintaining a spirit plant’s vitality for over a hundred years shouldn’t be a problem."
After placing the Vanishing Heart Orchid’s pot inside the array, Fang Xi began to cast a spell with both hands, infusing magic power into each array flag as if it cost him nothing.
Humm, humm!
A layer of mist rose, and wherever it passed, ice quickly spread, even forming a small ice mountain.
When Fang Xi stepped out of the array, the place where the array had been had turned into an ice peak wasteland, but when he fully activated his Purple Gas Heavenly Eye, he could see a vaguely visible orchid in the center of the ice mountain...
"Not bad, this array turned out just like I imagined, without any mistakes..."
Fang Xi nodded in satisfaction, acknowledging that having learned from many sources, his understanding of arrays had improved even more.
"It’s just... There’s still some distance from setting up a teleportation array... If one day I can set up a teleportation array, even just for short-range ones, then my array skills will have reached at least the third grade premium level..."
He nodded his head, then went under the Demon Tree and began to immutably cultivate the ’Longevity Skills’!
As life vitality was continuously infused into himself, there were moments when Fang Xi almost believed, as long as he had ’Longevity Skills’ and the Demon Tree, he could achieve immortality.
But he knew that this was an illusion!
Even if the Demon Tree could endlessly add to his life span, without the means to protect the path to longevity, he would still be reduced to ashes when faced with strong enemies and irresistible dangers.
That’s why he had to strive to improve his cultivation!
After the ’Longevity Skills,’ Fang Xi routinely checked on Taisui.
The flesh ball was peaceful enough, as long as it was fed regularly, it would continuously produce Monster Beast Meat.
However, Fang Xi had decided to cut Taisui’s flesh less often and increase the feeding, such as adding high-grade Blood of Demonic Beast and spirit medicines, aiming to bring its demon power to second grade peak swiftly, then with his resources at hand, help it advance to the third grade!
What about the Azure horn Fish Dragon?
It was still the same old story; after all, there couldn’t possibly be any external enemies within the Mountain Sea cave mansion.
"Take good care of the Spiritual Medicine Garden as well as that ice mountain; let there be no damage..."
After giving instructions, Fang Xi left the Mountain Sea cave mansion.
Within the Ice Cave Mansion, streams of spiritual energy mixed with chills hit him in the face, making Fang Xi feel a burst of refreshment, and his mind became much clearer.
"Cultivating in such a place, the likelihood of facing a Heart Demon should be less, right?"
"Traveling these few years, added to disposing of stolen goods and major auction meetings... I haven’t had a proper solitary cultivation session yet."
Fang Xi sat cross-legged on the cushion, forming the Kuyong Seal with his hands, and entered a deep state of cultivation.
...
Ten years later.
Inside the Ice Cave Mansion.
Fang Xi was intently gazing at the alchemy cauldron in front of him.
This particular alchemy cauldron, which he had moved from the Saint’s alchemy chamber, had carvings of myriad beasts on its surface, faintly emanating a ferocious aura. It was indeed a third-rank magical artifact!
At the moment, Fang Xi stared unblinkingly at the cauldron, occasionally breathing out a wisp of blue Core Fire.
Enveloped by the Core Fire, the carved myriad beasts on the surface of the cauldron seemed to come to life, becoming more vivid by the moment.
Purple light flickered in his eyes as he suddenly struck the cauldron.
Hum hum!
With the cauldron’s resonant roaring, three purple pills bearing wondrous patterns flew out.
As he executed the pill-collecting magic spell, the patterns on the surface of the pills became incredibly distinct, and they landed in Fang Xi’s hands.
"Golden Source Pills... three pills formed, each a genuine product."
After examining the properties of the pills, Fang Xi nodded slowly, "In light of this... my Alchemy Skill must have reached the standard of third-rank medium grade, right? It wasn’t in vain that I spent so many materials previously..."
To enhance his Alchemy Skill, he had purchased spirit medicine from various markets at great expense, investing a substantial portion of his fortune.
Despite the hardship of ten years of arduous cultivation, he mainly focused on Alchemy Skill, and indeed, the gains were substantial.
"Now at 227 years old... the Kuyong Skills have progressed further. Presumably, after another ten or twenty years, I should be able to perfect the fifteenth layer of the Kuyong Skills and attempt to advance to the later stages of Core Formation. Of course... that is predicated upon finding a better Spiritual Vein."
Fang Xi frowned.
He had recently felt that the spiritual energy in this mansion was somewhat insufficient for his cultivation.
Naturally, it wasn’t an issue with the Spiritual Vein, but rather with himself!
"The main issue is the speed increase in cultivating the Wood Law Body... otherwise, the spiritual energy here should be sufficient for my use."
"Fortunately, lacking some spiritual energy can be endured... merely delaying ten years of effort, changing from ten or twenty years to about thirty years, I should still be able to cultivate to the peak of the mid-Core Formation stage."
"Then there are the large batches of Spiritual Pills accumulated over the past ten years... I should find an opportunity to sell them."
Although the pills that could boost cultivation levels were consumed by Fang Xi, there were still plenty of others that needed to be exchanged for Spirit Stones, then collecting higher-grade spirit medicine to forge his Alchemy Skill... forming a kind of virtuous cycle.
If he couldn’t be self-sufficient, then no matter how abundant the Saint’s inheritance was, there would come a day when it would be depleted by Fang Xi.
After packing the pills away, Fang Xi put on a human skin mask and transformed into a fierce and sinister figure, leaving the mansion.
...
Wind Hearing Tower.
This tower was an information agency in White Yuan Market, famous for its timely news.
Fang Xi, with a specific purpose in mind, walked straight into the tower.
"Sir, may I know what information you seek?"
The Foundation Establishment-stage shopkeeper brightened up upon seeing Fang Xi.
"I have been in seclusion for many years and am not well-informed about the major events in the Cultivation World... Let me have it all."
Fang Xi tossed a few mid-grade Spirit Stones and said with a cold voice.
"So it is... Esteemed guest, please follow me to our top-grade private room!"
The shopkeeper’s face was alight with a smile.
By the time Fang Xi entered the top-grade private room, spiritual tea and pastries were already prepared.
Not long after, the shopkeeper personally came in with a tray: "Sir, would you like to know about the major events of the past five years, ten years, or fifty years in the Cultivation World? Our establishment has records of all, each at a different price..."
"Just ten years, give me a detailed one."
Fang Xi said, unconcerned.
"Very well, please!"
The shopkeeper picked up a white jade slip and handed it to Fang Xi.
Fang Xi casually took it, and his Divine Consciousness probed into it.
Countless dense texts, some accompanied by images, flooded in like a deluge, which he sorted out with his powerful Divine Consciousness.
In the ten years of his seclusion, nothing major happened in the Cultivation World of Yuan Country.
The Nascent Soul old monsters of Mixed Origin Sect and Blood Sect were still in seclusion, as for beings of their stature, a single session of seclusion could normally span five to six decades.
However, there was talk of a notorious demon from Blood Sect, ’Elder Yin’, dying unexpectedly.
This demon had a notorious reputation; it was said he practiced arts of essence plundering, and back in the day, there was no telling how many fairy maidens had fallen victim to him. Suddenly dying, Blood Sect couldn’t find any clues; indeed, this was cause for celebration among many cultivators in Yuan Country’s Cultivation World.
Below the Nascent Soul powers were the various Core Formation forces, some undergoing ups and downs, others decline.
For instance, ’Golden Sword Gate’, having lost its sole Core Formation ancestor, was annexed by ’Righteous Qi Sect’ a few years ago.
"Eh?"
Fang Xi was slightly surprised by a piece of news.
In the latest piece of intelligence, it was mentioned that the Supreme Elder ’Mu Yu’ of Profound Ice Palace was also suspected to be missing, even possibly having passed away in meditation!