“Karmic connection?”
Fang Qing’s expression grew extrely grave. He knew the old blind man was right.
However, the karmic burdens he himself carried were far too many and far too great. Leaving aside everything else, the karmic weight of the Great Sun Empowernt Secret Art alone outweighed everything the old blind man bore combined.
His ties with the Secret Treasury Domain were even more impossible to sever. He was already in a state where his debts were so nurous that one more made no difference.
Thus, a trace of ease appeared on his face instead. “If in the future I establish my Dao Foundation, perhaps a Great Snow Mountain lama will co to deliver into the Buddhist path? That wouldn’t be so bad… We loose cultivators have suffered enough from having no techniques and no backing. Even if I enter the Secret Treasury Domain, at least I might seek a life of unrestrained freedom there, right?”
“You… enough. I have already told you of the terror of that Secret Treasury land. If you insist, this old man has nothing more to say.”
The old blind man was instead rendered speechless. After a long silence, he stroked the bone bowl in his hand. “Our Land of Shu is protected by the Mountain-Covering Cloud Orthodoxy; the secret monks dare not cross eastward… but the affairs of the world are unpredictable. If in the future you establish your Dao Foundation and are willing to shoulder karmic ties, co to ‘Small Chamber Mountain’ to find this old man. I shall gift you this bowl!”
Fang Qing looked at the dark yellow bone bowl, feeling sowhat uncomfortable yet also tempted. If he were to refine this artifact using the Great Sun Empowernt Secret Art, what kind of reaction would it produce?
Still, he could not bring himself to rob a blind man of his broken bowl. That matter could only wait until he established his Dao Foundation in the future.
After thinking for a mont, Fang Qing asked again, “May I know whether the Horse-Headed Vajra Guardian Divine Art in your possession has any continuation?”
This was his main purpose today!
This guardian divine art of the Secret Treasury Domain had aided him greatly. It had even granted him divine sense and a Second-Tier body refinent while still in the Qi Refining stage. Naturally, he could not easily give it up.
“You… you really cultivated it?”
The old blind man looked at Fang Qing as though he were staring at a madman. “Hahaha… you truly have affinity with the Buddha. But this old man indeed does not possess the latter half of that technique. If in the future you go to the Secret Treasury Domain, you may visit ‘Horse-Headed Vajra Temple.’ Although that temple is not the direct lineage ‘Temple of the Origin of All Dharmas’ of the Great Snow Mountain, it is still highly esteed. Rember to be extrely cautious…”
Fang Qing was not overly disappointed with this result.
After all, the Secret Treasury Domain lay there waiting—for him, it was practically a land filled with treasures!
He simply needed to proceed more cautiously. Ideally, he would wait until reaching Foundation Establishnt, then send a disciple to seek the scriptures on his behalf.
Although… he currently had no disciple.
“I understand the dangers. But across the world, are all places like the Land of Shu and the Secret Treasury Domain?”
Fang Qing voiced his doubt.
The lands of the Qi Ingestion Path seed rather unstable everywhere.
“This world has been like this ever since over eight thousand years ago, when the last cultivator attained that fruit.”
The old blind man muttered, “To the north of our Land of Shu, barbarians wreak havoc, demons and fiends run rampant. To the east lies the territory of the Joyful Union demonic path. To the south, demonic sects delight in playing with corpses… and to the west, it goes without saying.”
“Over eight thousand years ago? The last Golden Core True Monarch? Does that an in these eight thousand years, no one has ascended to that golden position again?”
Fang Qing suddenly caught a point. “What does this have to do with the Near-Ancient Calendar?”
The Near-Ancient Calendar also seed to span only a little over eight thousand years. Could it be…
“Heh heh… This matter is sowhat secret, but this old man happened to hear of it. The first year of the Near-Ancient Calendar was the year that True Monarch attained the Dao… It is said that before that, in the Ancient Era, many True Monarchs manifested upon the earth. But after the Near-Ancient Era began, many Great Powers withdrew into hidden grotto-heavens for secluded cultivation, not erging. Only Purple Palace cultivators wielded authority.”
“So that’s how it is…”
Fang Qing had long known that Golden Core True Monarchs in this world were nearly immortal. After all, many nas of the Wardens of the Year had been passed down from the Primordial Era to the present. Though so positions might have changed hands, they had at least road freely for ten thousand years.
Yet the Near-Ancient Calendar beginning with the attainnt of the final True Monarch was sothing he had not known.
‘Could it be that the reason the Dao declines and the demonic rises in this world is because the last True Monarch who attained the Dao was a demonic cultivator?’
A thought surfaced in his heart, though he dared not voice it.
……
After bidding farewell to the old blind man, Fang Qing wandered casually through the Floating Boat Market.
“Eh? This person is here as well?”
The Floating Boat Market was not large. Only a handful of cultivators had set up stalls along the main street.
With a sweep of his gaze, Fang Qing spotted a familiar stall owner!
It was the Lou tal cultivator who looked like an old farr—the very Old Tian from the previous exchange gathering who had sought to trade for a Lou tal Dao Foundation technique.
At this mont, Old Tian had set up a stall selling Spirit Grain. The grains were plump and full; clearly, he was a highly skilled spirit farr.
From ti to ti, several cultivators paused before his stall, seemingly bargaining.
“Old Tian, you think this little bit of Spirit Grain can exchange for a sword art?”
A loose cultivator sneered. “You cultivate Lou tal. Lou tal is the tal of the Western Extre, the proper position of tal Virtue. Paired with a sword art, it would complent perfectly… You’ve got quite the imagination. Unfortunately, this bit of spiritual resources isn’t even enough for half a sword art. Your Old Tian family is suited to farming Spirit Grain. Holding a hoe, and you still want to produce a sword cultivator who holds a sword?”
“Lou tal is the tal of the Western Extre, the proper position of tal? Which Dao scripture says that?”
Fang Qing halted mid-step, intrigued.
As for tal-attributed sword arts? He knew quite a few. Not to ntion the treasured collections in the Heavenly Book Pavilion on Jade Island, even Li Rulong cultivated the Minor Geng tal Sword Art.
“This old man rely seeks a slim chance. If not possible, then a tal-attributed technique would also suffice…”
Old Tian forced a smile, appearing extrely humble.
“A tal Virtue technique won’t do either… At most, a tal-attributed talisman. No more than that.”
The cultivator continued haggling.
‘This Old Tian’s asking price is truly outrageous… Last ti at the exchange gathering, he also tried to trade Spirit Grain for a technique…’
Fang Qing felt speechless. Either Old Tian was deeply concealing himself, or he was simply a complete fool!
Just as he continued watching the show, distant cries suddenly rang out.
The voices grew nearer and louder.
Several cultivators drenched in blood rushed into the marketplace, amplifying their voices with spells so all could hear: “To the east… To the east, an ancient cultivator’s cave dwelling has appeared, suspected to be the trove of a Dao Foundation great cultivator!”
“Cultivators who went to investigate were slain by sword light swift as a roaming dragon… Within that cave dwelling, there must be a flying sword!”
“A flying sword?”
Upon hearing this, none of the cultivators present could remain seated.
A proper flying sword was worth even more than an ordinary strand of True Qi.
Even if one could not use it, selling it would provide enough spiritual resources to cultivate and break through.
Not to ntion, in the hands of a sword cultivator who cultivated tal Virtue, how elegant and unrestrained a fine flying sword would be!
“A flying sword? A tal Virtue Dao Foundation cultivator’s cave dwelling… There might even be a sword art!”
Old Tian stopped selling Spirit Grain, packed up his stall, and prepared to explore the cave dwelling.
Upon hearing this, Fang Qing felt a strange sensation. ‘Back then… wasn’t Li Rulong’s immortal opportunity found like this? Perhaps it was a cave dwelling near this very market. And now another appears? What is this? Straight hook and salted bait? The willing take the bait?’
Within his Sea of Consciousness, he quietly cast a hexagram. Several plum blossom phantoms descended, forming a divinatory sign.
As expected, it was ‘inauspicious’!
‘Not “greatly inauspicious,” so it’s likely not a Purple Palace sche. Then perhaps a Dao Foundation cultivator is behind it?’
‘For , a flying sword and sword art, though precious, are not essential… Better not join this commotion.’
Knowing it was dangerous and still rushing in—that would be sheer foolishness.
“Still… how long has Ba Commandery of the Land of Shu been stable? Is trouble about to arise again?”
……
“The most suitable candidate to beco my disciple… cough, cough!”
After leaving the Floating Boat Market, Fang Qing’s restless heart persisted. He cast another hexagram, and his face instantly turned pale, nearly spitting out a mouthful of essence blood.
“As expected, still a cesspit… My heavenly secret arts have not improved much.”
“Or perhaps the Plum Blossom Divination is too low in grade? Do I need a new thod of calculation?”
Thinking of how, on Jade Island, he could barely divine even the secrets of a Core Formation Ancestor, then comparing it to his treatnt in the Land of Shu, Fang Qing felt like vomiting blood.
“As expected, Jade Island’s people are simple and honest. It’s more suitable for my cultivation.”
He swallowed a dicinal pill, and his complexion improved considerably. His gaze turned toward a certain direction.
That was where Tianshui of Ba Commandery lay—the direction of Three Waters Hollow!
‘Uncle should already have perished… Only a few scattered mbers of my Fang Family bloodline remain, being raised in Three Waters Hollow. Now that the Luo Family has been destroyed, who knows what changes may have occurred?’
‘This body is a reincarnation. Where blood ties remain, I should at least go take a look.’
Previously, he had worried that the Purple Palace cultivator, having suffered losses and exterminated the Luo Family, might still be waiting nearby.
But so many years had passed—surely they had given up by now?
Purple Palace cultivators were not as long-lived as Golden Core True Monarchs. Even a few years were precious.
Fang Qing silently took out the previously ridiculed Plum Blossom Divination and calculated the fortune of traveling to Three Waters Hollow.
“Auspicious?”
“Looks like nothing major will happen… Then I shall go take a look.”
……
Ba Commandery, Tianshui.
This land had originally been ruled by the Luo Family of Tianshui. Five years ago, for unknown reasons, the Luo Family was exterminated by a Purple Palace cultivator, causing a great stir. Cultivators regarded it as forbidden ground.
Only in the past year or two did people discover that the Pu Family Ancestor did not care about this place. They then sward in, scrambling over the Luo Family’s remaining techniques, treasures, and spiritual lands…
Among them, the Luo Clan of Kuian and Yunyan Sect, both Dao Foundation forces who occupied advantageous terrain, acted the most ruthlessly. Yet wary of the Purple Palace, they operated under the guise of loose cultivators, plunging Tianshui into chaos. Killings and treasure snatching occurred from ti to ti.
Three Waters Hollow.
This place belonged to Tianshui, a small mountain village encircled by several great mountains.
Three streams flowed gently past the village, hence its na.
At this ti, most of the village had fallen into ruin. Only the ancestral hall at the center remained relatively intact. Several half-grown children gathered together around a broken iron pot.
“Brother… I’m hungry!”
A skinny little girl with large eyes spoke.
“Wait a bit longer. Brother Jingchun went out to find food. He’ll be back soon.”
Another half-grown boy comforted her.
He himself was still confused about everything. He only rembered that his family had fled from disaster and famine… then they were found and sent here, where Brother Jingchun took care of them.
At first, that Luo Family or whatever family had provided so relief.
Later, it all stopped. If not for the small amount of grain they had previously saved, and for Brother Jingchun’s efforts, they might have already starved to death!
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