The Dao of Alchemy was profitable, but low-level alchemy apprentices still scraped by, living even poorer lives than ordinary cultivators!
Zhou Yang and Zhang Feihu were well aware of this.
Hearing that Fang Ping barely broke even, the two suddenly felt inexplicably better.
Zhou Yang even turned around and started comforting Fang Ping. “The early stages of the Dao of Alchemy are just like this. The investment is huge and the risks are high. If you can endure this phase, your days will get better. In the future, your Senior Brother might even have to cling to your coattails!”
Fang Ping sighed. “Then Senior Brother Zhou will have quite a wait.”
With that, he took out a bottle of Inedia Pills, separated a few, and handed them to Zhou Yang and Zhang Feihu. “We’re all on the same side. Take these.”
Receiving a few free Inedia Pills gave Zhou Yang and Zhang Feihu a pleasant surprise.
They could not help but praise him. “Good brother!”
Zhang Feihu chuckled twice, already eyeing the next prize. “Junior Brother Fang, when will you be able to refine Origin Condensation Pills?”
Inedia Pills were nothing much, but if they could get some free Origin Condensation Pills, that would be truly wonderful.
“Origin Condensation Pills? You two really dare to dream!”
Fang Ping put on an expression that said he dared not even think of such a thing. Chatting and laughing with the two, he blended into the crowd as they returned to the open grounds outside the courtyard.
At this moment, Zhou Yang suddenly remembered something. “By the way, Junior Brother Fang, I recently heard a rumor circulating in the outer sect. It claims your conduct is improper—that you owe others Spirit Stones and refuse to repay them, that you like to peep at female disciples bathing, and that you even harbor deep resentment and dissatisfaction toward the treatment of outer sect disciples…”
Such a rumor was going around?
Fang Ping frowned. “Who did you hear this from?”
The first two accusations were fine; no one would care about such baseless rumors.
But that last claim of “harboring deep resentment” was a venomous dagger aimed right at his heart.
If an Elder were to take it seriously, he would inevitably be severely punished.
Whoever was spreading this rumor had truly malicious intentions!
Zhou Yang thought for a moment. “More than one person is spreading it, and they make it sound incredibly convincing, as if it were absolute truth. Could you have offended someone, Junior Brother Fang?”
Offended someone?
Fang Ping immediately thought of two names.
Although he had no evidence, he had always kept a low profile and treated others kindly ever since transmigrating. The only ones who seemed to have a problem with him were those two fellows. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
His expression turned cold. “There are two scammers who failed to extort my Spirit Stones. This is them deliberately spreading rumors to ruin my reputation!”
But dealing with this sort of thing was not easy.
Actively refuting the rumors would yield little result. In fact, it might only prompt disciples who previously knew or cared nothing about the matter to actively look into it.
All Fang Ping could do was refuse to respond. They were merely baseless rumors, after all.
Even if an outer sect deacon heard them, there would still be room to explain himself.
Once the rumors circulated for a while without producing any effect, people would most likely lose interest.
Zhou Yang and Zhang Feihu were on fairly good terms with Fang Ping, and neither believed he was that kind of person.
Hearing the truth straight from him, they harbored no doubts. They said in unison, “So it really was petty men causing trouble! Next time we encounter this sort of thing, we will naturally speak up for you, Junior Brother Fang.”
“Then I must thank you both, Senior Brothers.”
An expression of gratitude appeared on Fang Ping’s face, but in his heart, he silently recited the names Lu Shan and Ming Yulou.
They dared to spread such vicious rumors. To use a phrase from before his transmigration, these two had already embarked on a path to death!
He decided he could no longer remain indifferent.
As the preparation time allotted to the disciples drew to a close, a group of inner sect disciples slowly flew over, guiding twenty Cloud-Bearing Beasts.
The Cloud-Bearing Beast was a flying-type Demon Beast at the late Qi Condensation stage.
Huge in size and relatively docile in temperament, it could transport over a hundred people at a time.
Aside from eating a lot, flying slowly, and producing incredibly foul-smelling excrement, they had almost no other flaws. They served as an important means for the Luoyang Sect to transport disciples over long distances.
Among the five great immortal sects in the State of Liang, the Spirit Beast Sect was the most skilled at rearing this kind of large Demon Beast.
For this purpose, they had specifically cleared out a separate cliff outside their sect just to raise Cloud-Bearing Beasts.
And in the cultivation world of the State of Liang, that Cloud-Bearing Peak had another widely known alias: Shit Mountain!
“Disciples, heed your orders! Move out at once!”
Seeing that many outer sect disciples were witnessing such a scene for the first time and were staring in ceaseless wonder, Deacon Zhao felt rather embarrassed. He could not help but loudly urge them forward.
Under his orders, the disciples quickly chose the nearest Cloud-Bearing Beasts and utilized their lightness spells to ascend onto the creatures’ broad backs.
A moment later.
One Cloud-Bearing Beast after another rose into the air. They bypassed the various peaks of Mount Cangyue, carrying the first batch of disciples toward the depths of the southern mountains.
If they were riding a flying boat with its own built-in barriers to block the wind, it might have been a pleasant aerial journey. Visit novelping.com for the full chapter.
But Cloud-Bearing Beasts possessed no such defensive measures. Once up in the sky, everything depended on the outer sect disciples using their own Spiritual Power to resist the elements, making the experience utterly miserable.
Fortunately, the Cloud-Bearing Beasts flew slowly and maintained a limited altitude. Otherwise, the rushing cold winds alone would have been enough to freeze some early Qi Condensation disciples with meager Spiritual Power until they fell ill.
After a day of flight.
Having casually slaughtered a few Qi Condensation demon birds encountered along the way, the Cloud-Bearing Beasts finally carried the outer sect disciples to the skies above a steep cliff. Stretching for dozens of li and rising hundreds of zhang high, it was nestled deep within the mountains south of Mount Cangyue.
According to the senses of Elder Wang’s granddaughter, the White-Feathered Spirit Crane was hiding somewhere within this cliff.
Following the arrangements of Deacon Zhao and the others, the Cloud-Bearing Beasts landed in sequence, touching down at key points along the cliff’s outer perimeter.
Thousands of disciples would advance toward the center from all directions, eventually tightening their net around the mountain to ensure the White-Feathered Spirit Crane had nowhere to hide.
As for the deacons, they took turns patrolling the skies on flying-type Magical Artifacts.
This not only prevented the White-Feathered Spirit Crane from fleeing if it was startled, but also allowed them to rush over to provide immediate reinforcement whenever a disciple set off a signal firework.
“Alright, Junior Brothers, you may begin your search!”
The inner sect disciple responsible for guiding the Cloud-Bearing Beast set the creature down steadily in an open forest clearing before signaling to Fang Ping and the others.
Lacking any real enthusiasm, the outer sect disciples formed small teams of three to five with familiar faces. They collected their signal fireworks and dawdled as they climbed off the Cloud-Bearing Beast’s back.
Picking their own routes into the mountain, they began a slow, unhurried search.
A few solitary disciples who rarely mingled had no choice but to recruit people on the spot to form a temporary team.
As for Fang Ping, he naturally traveled together with Zhou Yang, Zhang Feihu, and Su Lingyun.
Due to the deacon’s arrangements, each team was required to have a mid Qi Condensation cultivator leading them to ensure basic safety.
As a result, an outer sect disciple named Yan Xu, who was at the fourth level of Qi Condensation, was added to Fang Ping’s small team.
In truth, if the deacon had not explicitly capped the group size at five, Fang Ping would have loved to recruit another eight or ten people just to guarantee the team’s safety.
Right after dismounting from the Cloud-Bearing Beast, there were enough outer sect disciples crowded nearby that they did not have to worry about Demon Beast attacks.
But as Fang Ping and the other small teams gradually penetrated deeper into the woodlands at the foot of the mountain, the distance between the groups widened, making the situation far less certain.
The area they were searching was still within the Luoyang Sect’s sphere of influence. Foundation Establishment Demon Beasts would almost never appear here, and even late Qi Condensation Demon Beasts were exceedingly rare. However, early and mid Qi Condensation Demon Beasts could still be spotted from time to time.