“Be more careful in the future.”
Li Shuo patted his shoulder, offering a comforting word.
“But Shuo-ge, unless I stop sleeping at night forever, I can’t defend against it anyway. My family is so poor we can’t even afford the lowest-grade warning formation.” Mu Jiuxiao looked up and said.
Seeing his pitiful expression, Li Shuo also felt a pang in his heart. He sighed deeply, “I can’t afford it either!”
After many years on Luoxia Mountain, all the spirit rice he earned was exchanged for cultivation resources. He himself was now dirt poor. At least Mu Jiuxiao could afford a Cold Iron Sickle, but he couldn’t even afford that!
“By the way, Xiao Jiu, to save you today, I used a Lightning Bolt Talisman. This talisman costs three Spirit Stones each.” Li Shuo added.
“Ah?”
Mu Jiuxiao felt as if struck by lightning. Damn it, just after barely escaping death, he now owed a huge debt of three Spirit Stones.
“Brother.”
Li Xinyue looked at Mu Jiuxiao, then at Li Shuo, unable to bring herself to say the words that would exempt him from the debt.
“Shuo-ge, I’ll find a way to repay your Spirit Stones. I have a request-could you teach me this Fireball Technique?”
Hearing Mu Jiuxiao’s request, Li Shuo was momentarily stunned, then his eyes lit up, “You’ve broken through to the first layer of Qi Condensation?”
“Yes.” Mu Jiuxiao nodded!
“Congratulations.”
A faint smile appeared at the corner of Li Shuo’s mouth. He glanced at Li Xinyue before saying, “I never expected you to become a Qi Condensation cultivator so quickly. It seems your persistence was correct, and we were too foolish!”
Sighing softly, he continued, “However, I can’t teach you this Fireball Technique. Luoxia Mountain has rules-if you want to learn any techniques, you must go to the Secular Affairs Hall yourself.”
“Does the Secular Affairs Hall teach for free?” Mu Jiuxiao asked.
Li Shuo smiled without answering, and Mu Jiuxiao understood. Where in the world is there such a thing as a free lunch? In the cultivation world, even less so.
If there were, Luoxia Mountain wouldn’t have deliberately erased the few minor techniques that originally came with the Everlasting Spring Technique.
Mu Jiuxiao asked again, “Then roughly how much does it cost to learn a technique?”
“For a lowest-grade Fireball Technique like this, ten Spirit Stones.”
“Ten Spirit Stones?”
Hearing Li Shuo’s words, Mu Jiuxiao was immediately dumbfounded, “Why is it so expensive?”
“The Dharma cannot be lightly transmitted. Otherwise, do you think even though I’m at the second layer of Qi Condensation, why would I be this poor?”
Apart from cultivation resources, he still had to spend money to buy technique learning methods. Otherwise, as a proper Qi Condensation cultivator who couldn’t cast a single technique, wouldn’t that be worse than a mortal?
“Alright.”
Mu Jiuxiao looked down sadly at the Cold Iron Sickle in his hand: Good companion, I’m afraid I’ll have to part with you for now.
He didn’t have that much money, but he absolutely had to learn techniques. A Qi Condensation cultivator without learned techniques is like a toothless tiger, a winged eagle with broken wings.
“Thank you, Shuo-ge, for the guidance. I will definitely find a way to repay the Spirit Stones I owe you, Shuo-ge, but I’m afraid it will take some time. Please forgive me.”
“No problem.”
Mu Jiuxiao stayed at Li Shuo’s house until dawn before returning home. After returning, he brought the half pot of spirit wine he hadn’t finished drinking to Li Shuo, thanking him for saving his life. Then he took the Cold Iron Sickle and headed toward the Secular Affairs Hall.
Hearing that he had actually broken through to the Qi Condensation layer, Manager Meng also found it surprising. Mu Jiuxiao told Manager Meng about his encounter last night, looking utterly terrified, “Between life and death, I broke through in a daze. If I hadn’t broken through to the first layer of Qi Condensation, I probably wouldn’t be alive.”
“So that’s how it is. There is great terror between life and death-this matter truly does not deceive me. Also, since Little Friend Mu has broken through to become a Qi Condensation cultivator, from now on we can interact as equals. No need to call yourself a humble servant anymore.”
Manager Meng smiled as he spoke, his attitude much better than before.
“Manager Meng, I heard that after becoming a Qi Condensation cultivator, one can come to the Secular Affairs Hall to receive a free technique, is that true?”
“Where did you hear that?” Manager Meng’s pupils jumped slightly, though his expression remained unchanged.
“My father told me before.” Mu Jiuxiao replied.
He was no fool. Although Li Shuo told him he had to pay, in Mu Jiuxiao’s view, although Luoxia Mountain treated tenants like beasts of burden, wouldn’t they show some preferential treatment and cultivation toward outstanding ones?
Furthermore, Manager Meng, as the manager of the Secular Affairs Hall, was not a clean person. There must be some grease in this matter, so Mu Jiuxiao deliberately tested the waters.
“Free-that was ages ago. Now learning a technique costs at least eight Spirit Stones.”
Manager Meng gently stroked the beard on his chin, his expression extremely natural. Seeing Mu Jiuxiao stunned, he added, “Of course, Little Friend, being so young and able to break through to the Qi Condensation stage, you must have extraordinary qualities. I’ll make a decision-you only need to pay five Spirit Stones to learn a technique.” Find the original chapter at g.com.
Seeing Manager Meng so accommodating, Mu Jiuxiao knew his guess was right. Perhaps the matter of learning a technique for free was true.
But he didn’t argue with Manager Meng. Instead, he handed over the Cold Iron Sickle in his hand, “Manager Meng, this Cold Iron Sickle in my hand is worth ten Spirit Stones. Can it be exchanged for two techniques?”
“Little Friend, I know you spent ten Spirit Stones to buy this Cold Iron Sickle. But once something is bought and you want to sell it again, you can’t get that price anymore.”
“Then… how about exchanging it for one technique and the crafting method for a Lightning Bolt Talisman?”
“Little Friend, you’ve just become a Qi Condensation cultivator and don’t yet know the prices of these things in the cultivation world. Talisman crafting methods are several times more expensive than techniques, especially the Lightning Bolt Talisman, which has extraordinary power and is even more expensive!”
“But back then, my father received the crafting method for the Water Cloud Talisman for free?” Mu Jiuxiao scratched his head and said.
“A Water Cloud Talisman can be exchanged for three low-grade spirit stones fragments, while a Lightning Bolt Talisman costs three Spirit Stones to buy. The difference between them-I don’t need to explain, Little Friend surely understands.”
Mu Jiuxiao’s father became a Qi Condensation cultivator ten years ago. It wasn’t Manager Meng on duty back then, and he didn’t know how his predecessor managed things. Afraid of being exposed, he hurried to send Mu Jiuxiao away, saying, “At most, I can promise you one technique and one Lightning Bolt Talisman. If you think it’s acceptable, exchange it. If not, forget it.”
“Exchange, of course exchange! To be honest, since last night’s encounter with bandits, I’ve been restless all night. Originally, I was thinking of relying on this Cold Iron Sickle to earn more spirit rice. Now, for my own safety, I can only reluctantly exchange it for techniques.”
Mu Jiuxiao looked utterly terrified. Manager Meng comforted, “What you’re doing is right. Nothing brings peace of mind like strength.”
After speaking, Manager Meng led him through a corridor to an ancient stone room. In the middle of the stone room was a disc-shaped formation, carved with intricate patterns.
Manager Meng had him place his hand on it. After a moment, one of the squares on the formation emitted a dim, earthy yellow light. If you didn’t look carefully, you might not even see it.
Seeing this light, a flicker of disappointment flashed in Manager Meng’s eyes.
He thought this young man, able to become a Qi Condensation cultivator at eighteen, might have something special. Turns out, he just had dumb luck.
On the formation, the other spirit roots didn’t light up, meaning he couldn’t cultivate other techniques. The Earth Spirit Root only glowed faintly, meaning his Earth Spirit Root barely met the cultivation threshold.
This kind of Qi Condensation cultivator was even worse than the five spirit roots of the cultivation world-just a false spirit root!
Because he could only cultivate earth-attribute techniques for life, his combat methods were limited. Moreover, the Earth Spirit Root’s dim light indicated his spiritual Qi sensitivity was insufficient. Even breaking through to the mid-stage of Qi Condensation would be a hurdle for him!
If he could cultivate to the fourth layer of Qi Condensation in this lifetime, that would already be great fortune!
Wasting that kindness just now, seeing his youth, he had actually given him such favorable conditions!
Manager Meng couldn’t help but feel regret, and his attitude toward Mu Jiuxiao subtly changed once more.