After a full and satisfying meal.
“What did you say?” Watching the boy pull the remaining silver banknotes from his pocket and hand them back to him, Xuan Qing dug into his ear, wondering if he had misheard.
“You heard right, Young Master. That meal cost five hundred taels,” Huo Xuanwu answered guiltily. Although it was the young master’s order, he really should have exercised a bit of restraint.
Back in the day, his young master’s food, clothing, housing, and transportation were always of the highest quality in the entire estate; there was never any need to worry about such trivial matters of expense.
“…”
Five hundred taels could be considered a hefty sum of money to an ordinary peasant family.
While practitioners existed in this world, ordinary mortals still made up the vast majority of the population.
For instance, the circulating currencies of the Kingdom of Xiao included silver banknotes and taels, alongside spiritual pearls and spiritual stones.
A single low-grade spiritual stone was worth a thousand spiritual pearls, and a single spiritual pearl equaled one hundred taels.
The Marquis Estate issued monthly allowances to its young masters and misses, and each person only received two spiritual pearls to begin with. Today’s single meal alone had cost a full five spiritual pearls.
Xuan Qing shook his head and sighed. It turned out the Wuyang Marquis Estate was also just a collection of paupers.
The fox in question seemed to have forgotten that he was now also a poor fox not just poor, but a prodigal one at that.
Before Lady Bai passed away, she had left the original owner a bit of wealth; had the boy chosen to live as an ordinary mortal, that sum would have been enough to let him live out his days in peace and comfort.
Still, for the Xuan Qing of the present, it temporarily resolved his urgent crisis.
Carrying on like this was no long-term solution, however. Once this body’s condition improved somewhat, he would need to brainstorm some ways to make money.
That evening, Xuan Qing still instructed Huo Xuanwu to purchase food from Yunxi Pavilion, and another massive chunk of silver flowed outward, leaving Huo Xuanwu’s heart bleeding.
He wanted to persuade the young master otherwise, but was blocked by various reasoning from the other side: “We can skimp on anything, but never on our own stomach,” “Out with the old, in with the new,” “Money is merely an external possession, health is what matters most,” and so forth.
After finishing dinner, Huo Xuanwu went off to clean the bowls and chopsticks while Xuan Qing remained in the room.
Yunxi Pavilion was the largest restaurant in the capital of the Kingdom of Xiao, highly favored by high-ranking officials and nobles.
There was a good reason why their cuisine sold at exorbitant prices: the ingredients they utilized were entirely fresh spiritual beast meat and spiritual plants.
These contained abundant spiritual energy and nutritional value, offering a gentle, nourishing tonic effect for practitioners’ bodies.
Xuan Qing sat cross-legged, closing his eyes to center his mind as he sensed the spiritual energy flowing through his channels.
Across from him, the stubborn, long-hidden evil poison sensed the spiritual energy. Like a pack of wolves and leopards that hadn’t encountered prey in ages, it began rampaging excitedly within his body, frantically devouring the spiritual energy in huge gulps.
Noticing the abnormality in his body, Xuan Qing felt a pang of heartache lasting a full few seconds what it was devouring wasn’t just spiritual energy, it was cold, hard cash!
With a dark expression, he channeled the anomalous fire. A cluster of ice-blue flames blazed into existence, racing like lightning straight along his meridians toward the evil poison.
The Netherworld Cold Flame naturally suppressed evil poisons. In an instant, the poison acted as though it had encountered its natural predator, fleeing in panic across all directions; yet it was still brutally torn apart and devoured by half.
Xuan Qing instantly felt vastly more comfortable all over, his mood improving considerably as well.
Seeing that the remaining evil poison was about to be completely devoured, Xuan Qing hurriedly recalled the anomalous fire.
Reluctant to let go, the ice-blue flames extended tiny tendrils of fire that wrapped around his fingertips, swaying back and forth like a baby acting spoiled.
“Master, it’s delicious! I want more!” A soft, milky doll-like voice echoed within his sea of consciousness.
Anomalous fires were fire seeds born of heaven and earth. After weathering tens of millennia of time, they managed to gather spirituality and give birth to intelligence.
Anomalous fires possessing intelligence possessed formidable strength while remaining exceedingly cunning.
When Xuan Qing had originally subdued the Netherworld Cold Flame, he had suffered quite a few setbacks.
Xuan Qing let out a light hum of amusement, tapping the little flame with his fingertip. “You certainly know how to enjoy yourself. The rest is useful to your master; I’ll find you something else next time.”
The milky doll voice expressed disappointment: “Oh, alright then.” With that, it retreated back into his sea of consciousness.
Xuan Qing pulled his focus back. Currently, he possessed merely the fourth level of the Mortal Realm in cultivation. The cultivation realm levels in this world were divided into eight stages: Mortal, Profound, Earth, Heaven, King, Emperor, Sovereign, and Divine.
Each stage was subdivided into several minor realms: the Mortal stage had nine tiers, while all other stages were divided into Early, Middle, Late, and Great Perfection phases.
It was said that upon cultivating to the Divine stage, one could shatter the void and ascend to become a deity.
The original owner happened to possess an ice spiritual root as well, sparing him the trouble of re-cultivating a cultivation method.
With this realm brimming with spiritual energy, coupled with his cultivation experience from his past life, Xuan Qing was overflowing with confidence, determined to become a fox with aspirations of ascension.
The ice-attribute cultivation technique he practiced, The Annihilation Frost and Cold Technique, was a Heaven-grade high-tier cultivation method left behind by his predecessor as master of the Netherworld Cold Flame, the Venerable Xuanming, at the moment of his demise.
Mutated ice spiritual roots were relatively rare, and corresponding techniques were scarce. Huo Dehai had once spent a massive sum at an auction to purchase a low-tier Profound ice-attribute technique for the original owner.
Naturally, Xuan Qing held it in utter disdain. His mind recorded tens of thousands of cultivation methods across all attributes, none of which ranked lower than the Profound tier.
His past life’s experience allowed Xuan Qing to practice with effortless ease. As the mental incantation circulated, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth rushed in like a tidal wave before being absorbed into his body. The circulating spiritual energy completed a full macrocosm cycle, continually refining and nourishing his internal organs, blood vessels, and muscles.
The first step of The Annihilation Frost and Cold Technique was to gather spiritual energy and refine it into cold frost, drawing ambient spiritual energy into the mortal flesh to be refined bit by bit, thereby catalyzine frost turning spiritual energy into frost.
Xuan Qing silently recited the incantation in his heart, operating the technique with both palms as he repeated the process of drawing in and refining spiritual energy over and over again, quickly plunging deep into meditation.
The next day.
A white halo washed over the eastern horizon, morning light piercing through the window lattice into the room.
The youth upon the bed possessed a peerlessly handsome visage, his facial features sharply defined.
His skin was fair, delicate enough to rival a peeled egg membrane, and his eyelashes resembled two long, dense little brushes.
Dark side-burns framed his temples, fluttering slightly with the movement of spiritual energy. White mist wreathed the youth’s entire body, wrapping the bluestone paving and the bed frame in a layer of crystalline frost.
Withdrawing his palms to halt the technique, the frost seemed conscious as it burrowed back into Xuan Qing’s body until it faded completely. Xuan Qing opened his eyes slowly and exhaled a turbid breath.
The first layer of The Annihilation Frost and Cold Technique had reached Great Accomplishment.
Following a night of spiritual refinement, Xuan Qing had broken through two minor realms consecutively, reaching the sixth level of the Mortal Realm.
As expected of a Heaven-grade high-tier cultivation method! Xuan Qing was exceedingly pleased.
Knock, knock—
“Young Master, are you awake?” Huo Xuanwu’s call came from outside the door.
“Come in.” Xuan Qing got up and tidied his robes.
Receiving permission, Huo Xuanwu pushed the door open. The moment he crossed the threshold, he couldn’t help shivering. Hiss, why is it so cold?!
“Young Master, it’s all my fault. I should have brought you an extra quilt last night.”
Huo Xuanwu scratched his head in self-reproach, failing to anticipate that the room would be this frigid; his young master had just recovered from illness, what if he caught another chill?
Xuan Qing cast a look that clearly said: This subordinate seems slightly lacking in the intelligence department.
“Go fetch a tub of hot water.”
After a night of cultivation, his physical body had expelled a considerable amount of impurities, leaving him sticky all over and emitting an unpleasant odor.
This was entirely unacceptable for a fox! Xuan Qing found the mere thought deeply distressing.
“Oh, oh, right away, Young Master.”
The young master seemed to have grown quite fond of cleanliness lately, Huo Xuanwu thought to himself, before turning and scurrying off.
Steaming heat filled the room, wreathed in billowing mist.
Soaking in the hot water, Xuan Qing squinted his fox-like eyes in comfort.
Speaking of which, during the days since his transmigration, he hadn’t yet ventured out to take a look around.
“What have those people in the estate been up to lately?” Xuan Qing asked.
Startled for a few seconds by the sudden question, Huo Xuanwu processed the words, his anger meter instantly spiking to the max.
“The Marquis promoted Concubine Liu to a legal co-wife. Now everyone outside is saying the estate has gained another legitimate young master and legitimate miss, and they’re even planning to host a family banquet today to celebrate! It’s utterly infuriating!”
The more he spoke, the angrier he grew, feeling a profound sense of injustice for his young master as his eye rims reddened involuntarily.
Huo Dehai had knocked his legitimate son unconscious, dumped him in this backward corner, and completely washed his hands of him fearing not a soul would know even if he died which he practically had.
They were living it up in comfort, though—Hmph!
“Such a waste of breath! Help me dress!”
Huo Xuanwu wiped away a tear and turned to assist his young master in dressing.
The youth was attired in a cyan long robe, understated yet possessing an air of grandeur.
A cascade of raven-black hair fell to his shoulders, while a pair of long, alluring peach-blossom eyes possessed enough magnetism to capture a soul. His high-bridge nose and full, well-proportioned red lips curved into a dazzling smile capable of causing momentary dizziness, drawing anyone who looked closely straight into an inescapable abyss.
“Where are we going, Young Master?”
Xuan Qing touched his chin, smiling amiably: “To stir up trouble!”
Leaving behind a dashing, carefree back as he strode away.
“Young Master, wait for me!”
Crying out, Huo Xuanwu hurried to keep pace right behind him.