A single lion’s roar had destroyed three rooms. Fortunately, the courtyard they had bought was large enough that it didn’t damage any of the surrounding homes.
That night, he had no choice but to share a room with Ye Xiaohan.
However, Chu Fan didn’t take Ye Xiaohan’s bed. Instead, he hung up the ancestral painting and sat before it all night.
It was a pity, but after staring at the painting for a whole night, it no longer provided much help in increasing his Spiritual Power.
He still entered the same Illusion Realm, saw the same old man and galloping beasts, and heard the same flute melody.
But after the whole night, his Spiritual Power hadn’t even increased by a single level.
However, the Spiritual Power he had consumed by using the Divine Technique had been restored.
One could imagine that while the Inner Lion Seal was powerful, its consumption of Spiritual Power was also immense.
’I’ll have to be more cautious about using it in the future.’
The next day, they found the same brokerage and bought a new courtyard.
Truly, being rich meant you could be willful.
The following days were much more peaceful.
Wang Xing and Qi Wei had average aptitude, but they were diligent. Chu Fan taught them a Sword Technique, and in less than a month, they were wielding their swords with impressive vigor.
As long as they didn’t run into Cultivators, they could be considered experts with that Sword Technique alone.
Against the men in black like Wang Hu, whom they had encountered on Yunmeng Mountain, each of them could take on at least ten.
In one month, with the help of medicinal baths, Ye Xiaohan crossed the threshold of Cultivation and reached the Foundation Establishment Stage.
The Foundation Establishment Stage is extremely important for a Cultivator, as it directly affects their future achievements.
As the saying goes, a ten-thousand-foot tower rises from level ground. The stronger the foundation, the taller the building can be.
After Ye Xiaohan reached the Foundation Establishment Stage, Chu Fan adjusted his medicinal baths. He used precious medicinal materials as if they were free, sparing no expense to buy whatever Spirit Medicine he could find in the city for Ye Xiaohan.
’Ye Xiaohan did more than just save my life. If not for his painting, who knows when I would have understood the importance of Spiritual Power, or when I would have been able to undo the first layer of restrictions on the Juntian Mirror! It’s a matter of returning a favor with a greater one. As long as it’s something Ye Xiaohan needs and I can provide, I won’t be stingy.’
Besides, after spending this time together, Chu Fan found Ye Xiaohan’s personality to be very much to his liking.
The boy was kind-hearted but not pedantic, had his own personality, and was talented.
Moreover, he could endure hardship.
For example, each time he soaked in the medicinal bath, while it was altering his physique, the two-hour sessions were also an ordeal.
Not only was it scalding hot, but it was also incredibly painful.
But the boy never even let out a whimper.
Every day, he would wake up at 3 a.m. to begin his Cultivation without needing to be called.
He would practice his Sword Techniques for several hours each day, persisting even when his whole body ached, went numb, and cramped up.
’Teaching a boy like this is actually a kind of pleasure. It’s like discovering a piece of uncarved jade and, through my own careful craftsmanship, turning it into a peerless work of art. The sense of accomplishment is immense.’
Chu Fan wasn’t sure if it was because the first restriction on the Juntian Mirror had been lifted, but his own Cultivation Realm was advancing much faster than before.
He could advance a tier almost every two days.
But after a month, he was shocked to discover that the Lotus Formation Realm of the Miaolian Celestial Stabilization Technique wasn’t just ten tiers.
He was now at Tier Nineteen of the Lotus Formation Realm, yet Pill Formation still seemed a long way off.
’I can’t figure out how many stages this Lotus Formation Realm is divided into.’
The True Qi Liquid in his Dantian hadn’t changed much. The only thing that had changed was the lotus flower. Its petals had all bloomed, each one crystal clear and translucent. In the center of the seed pod were thirteen rice-sized Lotus Seeds.
But the Lotus Seeds were very shriveled.
Today was already the fifteenth day of the eighth month. There were just over fifty days until the tenth day of the tenth month.
Traveling from Yunzhou to Zao Ying Mountain would take at least five days at Chu Fan’s current speed, and that was assuming he wasn’t bringing Ye Xiaohan and the others with him.
He would also need some time to search for the hidden treasure on Zao Ying Mountain, and more time after that to bypass the mechanisms inside.
In other words, Chu Fan had less than a month left to break through to the Pill Formation Realm.
How could Chu Fan not be anxious?
The Mid-Autumn Festival, on the fifteenth night of the eighth month, was an extremely important holiday for the common people of the Eastern Domain.
Early in the morning, Yunzhou City was already bustling with noise.
The city’s market streets were packed with people, shoulder to shoulder.
The number of street vendors was also several times greater than usual.
Ye Xiaohan, being a young man at heart, dragged Chu Fan out to wander around and see the festivities after practicing his Sword Technique for an hour in the morning.
In truth, in all his life, the number of times Chu Fan had gone strolling through a market could be counted on one hand.
After all, to ordinary people, Cultivators were aloof beings who came and went as they pleased, transcending the mortal world—an existence to be admired from afar but never reached.
Disciples from sects like the Lingyun Sect rarely visited mortal towns. Even when they descended the mountain for training, they would go to sparsely populated areas or places where Profound Beasts gathered.
The Sect had dedicated personnel responsible for purchasing daily necessities.
Because of this, Cultivators in the mortal world of the Eastern Domain had always maintained an aura of mystery.
Chu Fan was easily persuaded by Ye Xiaohan, and the group of four left the courtyard.
All four were dressed plainly. The clothes and shoes on each of them cost less than one tael of silver, looking nothing like the wealthy.
Chu Fan had even changed his hairstyle. Back at the Lingyun Sect, his long hair had been meticulously tied into a neat topknot and held with a Jade Crown.
Now, however, his hair was simply tied into a long ponytail at the back of his head with a strip of black cloth, with a stray lock dangling before his eyes.
He was 1.8 meters tall, dressed in a gray Warrior’s short robe, with his cuffs and ankles tightly wrapped in cloth strips. On his feet, he wore a pair of black cloth shoes.
He hadn’t trimmed his beard, and the stubble on his chin was now half an inch long.
If an old acquaintance were to see him now, they might not recognize him. Compared to the refined, jade-faced young master he once was, he now had a rugged, unkempt aura.
Of course, his current attire was a deliberate choice, partly as a way to say goodbye to his past.
Yunzhou City was more than ten times larger than Xingyuan City, so as the former young master of the Ye Family, Ye Xiaohan found there was more to see in the Yunzhou City market than his eyes could take in.
As they were lingering, completely engrossed, the clamor of gongs and drums from within the city drew their attention.
They followed the sound to see what the commotion was about. When they got closer, they learned that the young master of the Lü Family, Yunzhou City’s largest medicine merchant, had been chosen by a Steward Elder from the Red Blood Mansion to be his disciple. The Lü Family was throwing a grand banquet and had hired a theater troupe to perform for the entire city for half a month.
Upon hearing the three words "Red Blood Mansion," a fiery light flashed in Chu Fan’s eyes.
In reality, most disciples of the Six Sects and Eight Gates of the Eastern Domain were recruited from the mortal world. However, the Six Sects and Eight Gates were always very low-key about their recruitment. Even the families of the chosen disciples would not publicize the matter.
At most, the Sect would secretly look after the disciple’s family.
For the Red Blood Mansion to act with such fanfare was a breach of the unwritten rules of the Eastern Domain Cultivation Realm.
Of course, Chu Fan’s fury wasn’t because the Red Blood Mansion had broken the rules. It was because every single person from the Red Blood Mansion was his sworn enemy, an irreconcilable foe.
His master and senior brothers had died at the hands of the Red Blood Mansion, and they themselves had once beaten him into a cripple.
How could he forget the palm strike and kick from Yan Qi nearly two months ago?
"I’ll start with you, Steward Elder. Time to collect some interest," Chu Fan muttered.