Chapter Forty-Four: Treasures

A group of people clashed, fighting fiercely. One side sought “Li Lin,” the other searched for Lu Qian. Though both were after the same person, each believed the other had sent reinforcements. So the two factions battled to the death. Both sides possessed considerable cultivation. Ma Heng’s group had experts at the late stage of Qi Refining, while Li Lin’s side wielded Daoist temple artifacts. Neither would yield; the scene was extraordinarily bloody.

Of course, Lu Qian knew nothing of this. Since that day of escape, he had hidden atop the flying bird’s back. Later, he took the Natural Powder and forced himself to soar a hundred miles. Now, he rested in a mountain cave. Thick black clouds hung overhead, mist swirling. A man clad in green robes and a Daoist crown sat cross-legged on the ground. His face was golden, his skin sprouting green hair, looking as bizarre as a demon.

Suddenly, Lu Qian opened his eyes. The sound of a tumultuous wave echoed as his golden skin and green hair faded away. After three days of recuperation, he had finally purged the side effects of the Natural Powder.

On the day he left, he glimpsed two groups battling below. One seemed to be Ma Heng’s men, the other looked somewhat like Li Lin’s? “Could they have mistaken each other for my allies?” Lu Qian mused with a smile. He had used the false name Li Lin when visiting Nightfall City. Who would have thought that, by accident, he had provoked a brutal conflict between two factions? The more deaths, the better… Lu Qian thought to himself.

He then took out two jade bottles from his cloth bag. One contained flames, the other held fire dates. “Wonderful treasures!” Lu Qian gazed at the crimson fire date. Fire dates condensed the essence of sun and moon, the breath of mountains and rivers. If he were now at the late stage of Qi Refining, he could instantly complete the transformation of Qi Refining to spirit, his soul would depart the body, and he would formally enter the Spirit Nourishing stage.

At the stage of Spirit Nourishing, the Yin Spirit undergoes transformation, possibly allowing one to master the art of multitasking. Then, by projecting his spirit into several paper dolls, each could cultivate different techniques, greatly increasing his training speed.

Lu Qian possessed the advantage of the mysterious Golden Mirror, a benefit that would only manifest then. Ordinary cultivators, constrained by limited time and the need to practice many techniques, rarely see significant results. They usually have only a handful of specialties—one or two powerful spells and several minor ones. If he used the fire date now, once it was fully refined, he would immediately reach the late stage. Yet such treasures must be reserved for critical moments; now was not the time.

The Netherworld Fire Seed was pure white, of excellent quality. Thinking of this, Lu Qian silently recited the absorption formula taught by Daoist Li Du. He refined the fire seed, channeling it into the qi sea three inches below his navel. This fire depended on true qi, endlessly nourishing itself. As long as true qi endured, the yin fire would not extinguish. Thus, it was named Netherworld Qi Fire. The flame’s nature was slightly yin, delicate and enduring, making it ideal for alchemy and forging.

Another three days passed, and Lu Qian once more woke from meditation.

Primary Alchemy Technique (mastery: 1040/2000)

After absorbing the fire seed, his primary alchemy technique surged by a thousand points. The essence of alchemy lay in the flame; now that the quality of his flame had improved, everything else rose accordingly. He could now refine higher-grade potions.

“If I train for another half month, I can return.” Lu Qian exhaled a deep, turbid breath. In half a month, he doubted the pursuers would still be lurking. Perhaps they had already perished in the previous bloodshed.

Just then, a wave of howling sounded in his mind.

“Hm?” Lu Qian’s heart stirred, and he looked inward to his sea of consciousness.

In the dark, shadowy world, a creature resembling a fish yet not a fish—a yellow-scaled flood dragon—was stirring up chaos, visibly excited.

“What’s happening?” The flood dragon in the Diagram of the Flood Dragon Hidden in the Yellow Springs seemed unusually animated today.

Lu Qian had always been perplexed about the flood dragon’s origins. The current explanation was that, when he first absorbed the Fish Dragon Herb, he had imprinted the true meaning of “the carp leaping over the dragon gate” onto the visualization diagram. Ever since, it had dwelled in the diagram within his mind.

Thanks to this transformation, Lu Qian’s cultivation speed in the Lunar Essence Channeling Method—condensing true water—was several times faster than other practitioners.

Why was the flood dragon now so excited?

Lu Qian closed his eyes, attempting to understand its intent.

In the sea of consciousness, a human figure suddenly appeared. The flood dragon’s golden vertical pupils revealed a hint of interest, finding this tiny figure oddly familiar.

The flood dragon nodded its head to the side, as if signaling that something lay in that direction.

“You mean there’s something outside?”

The flood dragon nodded.

“What sort of thing? Treasure?” Lu Qian asked.

The flood dragon nodded vigorously, seeming impatient.

Hearing this, Lu Qian emerged from his reverie, gazing southeast.

The southeast was deep forest, where night brought impenetrable darkness, heavy with yin energy and biting cold.

Lu Qian slowly rose, concealed his form, and moved toward the direction indicated by the flood dragon.

His cloth shoes rustled over piles of dead leaves.

A spider, the size of a washbasin and mottled in color, spotted its prey and lunged, spitting silk.

Crash!

The spider turned to ash three inches from Lu Qian.

Lu Qian himself became a shadow, melting into the night.

Ahead stood a towering banyan tree, its crown stretching for miles. Countless birds and beasts thrived in its branches, forming a miniature ecosystem. The tree’s roots hung down in tendrils, resembling a dense forest. Below, daylight never reached; it was damp and quiet, overgrown with unknown weeds.

“Found it!” A gleam flashed in Lu Qian’s eyes, and a force of pitch-black true water exploded forth.

Boom!

The soil overturned, and something was blasted out, flailing wildly on the ground.

“So it was you…”

(Thanks to the gravely ill, the one who has seen all the blossoms, and Daw for your generous rewards.)