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I have really good intuition. Something is off....

The Captain then started thinking back to all the things he’d done recently.

Did the eye I left at the Ghost Emperor mountain get discovered? Were my informants in the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society discovered? Did the clone I left behind at the Three-Spirits Dao-Suppressing Mountain get found out? Did my agent in the Church of Departure turn on me? Could Flame Phoenix have found out that I planned to raid his nest? Did my archenemy in Forbidden by the Zombie finally wake up?

After a lot of thought, something occurred to him.

Did Arch-Immortal Plumdark respond?

All of a sudden, the Captain felt a headache coming on. He wasn’t sure exactly what the problem was, but the lingering fear within him kept getting stronger. Finally, he cautiously left the crowd. Even after changing his aura and disguising his physical appearance, though, he still felt uneasy. Therefore, he made his way further from the pillar and found a rather remote tent to rent. Inside, he cautiously continued to seek enlightenment. Yet he still felt strange, so he performed a double-handed incantation gesture and used a secret magic to make his disguise even better.

Eventually, Xu Qing appeared. He searched near the pillar, but found no traces of the Captain. His shadow could aid to an extent, but there was a lot of area to cover. Unless Xu Qing actually went through the entire city, he would have a hard time succeeding.

After finding nothing, Xu Qing left.

A few days passed in which nothing happened. Seeing that, the Captain calmed down a bit. Although he kept his disguise up, he began to focus more deeply on seeking enlightenment.

Xu Qing didn’t give up, though. He also continued to seek enlightenment, causing more of the battle spirit symbols to appear in his sea of consciousness. But he also spent time exploring all of the countless tents that made up the city. Because there were so many cultivators here, there were all sorts of markets that sold just about everything. Having seen many such markets during his time searching for the Captain, Xu Qing had an opportunity to buy some poisonous plants.

Every time he went out, he made sure to do so in disguise. In the days that had passed, he had received dueling challenges sent by chosen disciples from all over Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. News of his presence here had spread already. As the only person in the Eight Sect Coalition with dao child remuneration, his name was well known in a lot of sects. After all, he had two life lamps, an imperial-class technique, and he had killed Master Shengyun. Because of that, he was considered a force to be reckoned with among this generation of disciples.

The Swordsage Court’s recruiting event was about to begin, and many people thought that they could attract attention by crushing chosen disciples from the big sects. Because of that, Xu Qing wasn’t the only one to receive dueling challenges. All of the coalition chosen were dealing with the same thing, as were disciples from the other major sects.

There was only one person who didn’t receive a single challenge, and that was the dao child Zhang Siyun from the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society. He was considered the top disciple of the generation in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture. Everyone was saying that he already had six-palace battle prowess. For him to have accomplished that at such a young age ensured that everyone feared him and no one dared to fight him. That said, he wasn’t even in the city. He had gone out to the tundra, reportedly to take advantage of the harsh environment to train.

Given that most people thought Xu Qing had three- or four-palace battle prowess, he was the obvious second choice to challenge. Even people from the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society issued challenges. However, Xu Qing had no interest in accepting any such pointless brawls.

At the moment, he was in a rather large market, browsing the stalls in the hopes of finding some special poisonous plants. There were a lot of people present, including local rogue cultivators as well as disciples from all sorts of sects. It was a bustling place.

At a certain point, Xu Qing stopped walking and looked at one particular stall. It specialized in materials for pill concocting and equipment forging, and they had some unusual medicinal plants.

That included one stalk of fivecord goldbug fungus. In Xu Qing’s medicinal codex, that plant was described as being perfect for mixing poisons with other medicines. What was more, it had a unique property in that, after being harvested, it required golden energy to survive. [1]

As he approached the vendor stall, he heard someone mention his name in conversation.

“Did you hear? Li Ziliang from the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society accepted nine challenges. And he came out victorious in all nine! With a four-palace cultivation base, he’s the most prominent person in the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society other than their dao child.” [2]

“He’s an extraordinary person. Not too long ago, he climbed to the 1,500-meter mark on the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar, but apparently that’s not his limit.”

“He was just born at the wrong time. If Zhang Siyun wasn’t around, Li Ziliang would definitely be the current dao child of the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society.”

“I heard that he already sent three dueling challenges to the quasi-dao child Xu Qing from the Eight Sect Coalition. That Xu Qing is obviously afraid of him. Most people from backwater places are like that. They don’t dare show their face and actually fight. People from just about every sect are laughing about it.”

Xu Qing expressionlessly looked over his shoulder to see three disciples from one of the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society’s subsidiary sects. The strongest among them was in the Foundation Establishment level.

Xu Qing had seen a lot of disciples like this. They only had middling cultivation bases, but they liked to go around commentating about the top experts. It was only by sarcastically critiquing superiors that they could feel a sense of self.

Looking at all three of their faces, Xu Qing then turned back to the vendor stall and the fivecord goldbug fungus.

The proprietor was a bald cultivator with one missing eye. His remaining eye pulsed with a cold light as he sized up Xu Qing. After wrapping up the medicinal plant, he said, “That’ll be 2,000 spirit stones.”

Xu Qing inspected the bug fungus, then nodded and handed over the spirit stones. “Got any more?”

“Sure!” the proprietor replied, his single eye lighting up. With that, he produced a clay bottle that he carefully opened. Inside were three additional goldbug fungi that he gave to Xu Qing.

However, what attracted Xu Qing’s attention even more than the medicinal plants was the clay bottle. Most commonly, cultivators would use bottles made from jade, metal, or sometimes even wood. Clay bottles weren’t exactly common. Given that fivecord goldbug fungus required golden energy to stay fresh, Xu Qing was somewhat surprised. After studying the bottles, he noticed an incisive aura coming off of it.

“That has golden energy in it?” he asked, pointing at the bottle.

The bald cultivator grinned. “What’s inside this bottle, Fellow Daoist, is no ordinary golden energy. It’s septenary goldmetal energy from the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar. I just happened to strike it lucky when I was climbing the pillar.

“You can only store that kind of energy in a bottle like this. Normally speaking, it’s considered a disposable material used in equipment forging. However, I don’t have any equipment I need forged at the moment, so for the time being I was using it to keep the bug fungus fresh. Interested in buying it? It’s expensive. 500,000 spirit stones!”

The bald cultivator licked his lips. He was convinced that Xu Qing was a cultivator from a big sect. After all, he had purchased the bug fungus for a hefty sum, so he obviously had money.

Xu Qing thought for a moment. The Captain had explained a bit about the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar’s energies to him, and he remembered one called the septenary goldmetal energy. It made him think of his iron skewer. After mulling the matter over, he took out a jade slip and pretended to send and receive some voice messages.

Then he said, “After asking around, I confirmed that this kind of energy isn’t exactly rare. I can give 50,000. Take it or leave it.”

The bald cultivator really wanted to get his hands on some spirit stones to buy the medicinal pills he needed to break through from the three-flame Foundation Establishment level into Gold Core. Having assumed that Xu Qing had a lot of money, he’d named a very high price.

That said, the price Xu Qing came back with seemed laughable. Before he could say anything in response, though, Xu Qing continued speaking.

“I also have a palace-forming pill.” As the words left his mouth, he took out a medicinal pill bottle, which contained one of the pills he’d purchased before attempting his Gold Core breakthrough. He ended up never needing that pill, which was worth about 300,000 spirit stones. It would be very helpful to someone trying to reach the Gold Core level and form heavenly palaces, and was the type of thing you could normally only get in a big sect. To rogue cultivators, it was virtually priceless.

The bald cultivator’s expression turned serious. Opening the bottle, he inhaled, and then his eyes lit up. Nodding enthusiastically, he said, “Deal!”

After handing the clay bottle to Xu Qing, he closed his shop.

Xu Qing put the bottle away and turned to head back to the garrison and see if the energy would be useful for his iron skewer. Along the way, he noticed a hubbub coming from the direction of the Supreme Beginning Netherflight Pillar.

Looking over he saw that the crowds were all focused on someone who had climbed past the 1,500-meter spot on the pillar.

It was the very same chosen from the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society who he had previously seen climbing in that position. And it was the same person the other cultivators had been talking about earlier, Li Ziliang, who had challenged Xu Qing several times, only to be ignored. He had passed his previous limit, and was now at the 1,800-meter mark. That, of course, caused the cultivators below to buzz with conversation.

As for Huang Yikun and the chosen from Seven Blood Eyes, none of them had passed 600 meters. Whether it was disciples from the Eight Sect Coalition or other sects, Li Ziliang had surpassed them all, and earned himself a lot of recognition in the process.

Xu Qing looked away without batting an eyelid. He couldn’t care less what was happening with Li Ziliang. Leaving the market, he was nearing the Eight Sect Coalition’s garrison when he noticed a daoist altar.

There were many such altars around the Supreme Beginning Netherflight City. They were locations set up by the Swordsage Court where swordsages would occasionally give lectures on various subjects. The lectures weren’t technically free, as it was customary to give a spirit stone tip to the lecturer. At the moment, there were a few dozen rogue cultivators gathered around the altar, listening to a lecture, not about cultivation, but rather, about the dao of plants and vegetation.

Xu Qing could hear an old, grizzled voice.

“Blue lotus flower syrup, also known as blue lotus syrup, is derived from the flowering buds of water lilies. It is an aromatic liquid created by a unique heating technique. It can stabilize the lungs, help control bloody coughing from fire-related techniques....

“Golden twistgrass, also known as....”

Xu Qing stopped in place. The descriptions of the two plants were very familiar to him. In fact, they were the same as the description in his own Classic of Plants and Vegetation. Word for word. [3]

Shaken, he turned.

The sight that met his eyes caused a tremor to pass through him, and his eyes to light up.

He was looking at an emaciated old man in a gray robe. His face was very wrinkled, but his eyes glittered. There was something profoundly wise in his gaze, and his voice was gentle and kind. He looked very similar to Grandmaster Bai, although he was obviously a different person.

The light in Xu Qing’s eyes faded a bit. Standing there, he listened to the lecture for a short time, then left.

1. The ‘fivecord goldbug fungus’ is based on a real-life fungus called cordyceps, which is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Among other things, this fungus is known for being able to parasitically grow on insects and bugs. I created a gallery showing the fungus both harvested and while growing parasitically. Be warned, it’s nightmare fuel! Click here to see it. Also, remember that the version in this story is a fantasy version. ☜

2. Li Ziliang: Li is listed #2 on the top 100 most common Chinese surnames. It also means “plum.” The Zi character is a very common character that has no real meaning in the name. Liang is the name of a few different important states and dynasties in ancient Chinese history. It also means “bridge, roof beam, handle.” Madam Deathblade says it sounds like a name a mom would give a kid who she hopes will become an extraordinary person when he grows up. Also, this name is very close to the name of Xu Qing’s old sect companion Li Zimei, who ended up joining the Supreme Arbiter Immortal Society, and whose parting letter to Xu Qing was in chapter 287. The first two characters are the same. The third is different. When I was reading this for the first time, I read Li Ziliang as Li Zimei, which led to some confusion on my part. They are two different names. ☜

3. Blue lotus flower syrup was originally described in chapter 23. Golden twistgrass was mentioned in chapter 21 and 207. ☜