Translated by Moe
Chapter Nine Buying a Weapon
Ten days pa.s.sed in the blink of an eye.
It’s been a month since Ling Xiao arrived in this world. According to his original plan, he would have opened all twelve primary meridians. Unfortunately, breaking through the last few meridians had been extremely challenging. So far, he had merely opened ten meridians.
Tonight, he plans on directly breaking through the eleventh meridian.
All the xuan strength he has gathered formed into a turbulent, warm stream, moving forward unimpeded until it encountered the occlusion.
“Bang.” He used all of his energy to pound against the terminated meridian.
The intense impact caused Ling Xiao to let out a miserable scream from suffering that heart-boring pain. Beads of sweat flowed endlessly until his entire body became drenched. The veins on his body became exposed as specks of blood light seeped from his pores, making his whole person seem incredibly sinister and terrifying.
This is already his fifteenth failure.
“d.a.m.n it. I don’t believe that I can’t break through.” Ling Xiao clenched his teeth and once again restored his strength to launch another a.s.sault.
“Bang.”
“Pfff.” Ling Xiao also failed this time. Instead, his energy backfires and the resulting shock caused internal injury and him to spray a mouthful of blood.
“s.h.i.t! I almost lost my life.” Ling Xiao threw himself on the ground, his body becoming weak and powerless.
Just like that, Ling Xiao closed his eyes and pa.s.sed out for the night.
When he woke up the next day, he became lively and in full spirits, almost as if he hadn’t been injured. This is thanks to Three Parts Return Yuan Qi’s self-healing capability.
Just as Ling Xiao exited the room, he immediately found Bai Yu Xi already prepared a washbasin waiting by the doorway.
Ling Xiao had grown accustomed to her service, smiled at her and said. Yu Xi. You woke up early. It must be hard on you.” Ling Xiao picked up the washcloth and cleaned his face.
An attractive smile bloomed on Bai Yu Xi’s face as she said, “It’s this indentured servant’s duty to serve Young Master. There’s nothing hard about it.”
Just seeing her smile, Ling Xiao can’t help but fall into a daze.
Just like before, there is no makeup on Bia Yu Xi’s beautiful face—naturally bright and exquisite skin, charming crescent moon-like eyes, tender and full cherry lips, and shallow dimples that could easily ensnare people in it.
Being stared at like this by Ling Xiao, Bai Yu Xi’s heart started beating really fast. The young maiden’s heart filled with an ineffably sweet sentiment, causing a light red blush to surface on her face, making her seem even more bashful and attractive.
“S-sorry.” Ling Xiao apologized. He put down the washcloth and ran to the courtyard to begin the day’s morning practice.
While executing “Phantom Cloud Step,” Ling Xiao silently scolded himself for being so shameless; he unexpectedly had a reaction earlier when he was looking at Bai Yu Xi.
Bai Yu Xi watched Ling Xiao move around with that fantastic movement technique, suddenly blossom the flower-like smile once again, causing all the surrounding scenery to lose their brilliance in comparison.
It wasn’t long before a burst of candid laughter was heard coming from one of the rooms, “Haha, I succeeded!”
“Brother Zhan, what happened?” Meng Xi Yun asked with concern after hearing the outburst.
Just as Ling Xiao came to a stop, his father ran out from the room.
The present Ling Zhan looked like a kid in a candy shop, turning toward Ling Xiao and said, “Son, I’ve succeeded. I’ve succeeded!”
Ling Xiao became delighted. “Dad, you’ve opened all your meridians?”
Ling Xiao’s question immediately made Ling Zhan laugh awkwardly and say, “How could it be this fast? I just…just opened the first meridian. Ten days of hard work finally paid off. I believe I can certainly cultivate again within half a year. Haha.”
“Oh, that’s good. I hope Dad can regain his strength as early as possible.” Ling Xiao congratulated. His father had entered closed-door cultivation the past ten days. When his father came out just now laughing with so much joy, he thought his father had opened up all the meridians. He didn’t expect he had only broken through one meridian, but he can’t help but felt slightly disappointed.
Ling Zhan can sense Ling Xiao wasn’t entirely sincere, and couldn’t help but ask, “Xiao’er, how long did it take you to break through the first meridian?”
“I also used a very long time.” Ling Xiao said after some thought; he did not want to attack his father’s confidence.
Hearing this, Ling Zhan straightened his back and said, “Don’t lose heart; father also had to cultivate day and night to break through in such a short time. As long as you keep working hard every day, I’m certain you can achieve the same kind of speed as your father.”
Ling Xiao was speechless. He didn’t want to attack his father’s confidence and decided to return to his room.
However, Ling Zhan let his excitement get to his head, and self-a.s.suredly asked, “Xiao’er, you’ve been cultivated for a month now; how many meridians have you opened?” He had already thought to himself that his son had probably only opened one or two at best, since breaking through a meridian was such a painful experience. He wasn’t sure if his son was able to endure through it all!
“I still need two more to break through all twelve primary meridians.” Ling Xiao said this sentence, turned around and returned to his room.
“Two isn’t bad…what, two more to completely break through?” Ling Zhan said to himself, and then shouted in shock.
“He had arduously spent ten days to break through his first meridian and had considered this amazing. But it turns out that his son had spent just one month and broke through ten meridians. This was several times faster than him!
Instantly, Ling Zhan felt like a basin of cold water had splashed him from head to toe; his ego had deflated.
Meng Xi Yun came from behind and patted on Ling Zhan’s shoulders and asked, “Brother Zhan, why did you foolishly yelling this early in the morning?”
“No, I can’t lose to my son.” Ling Zhan said as he ignored his wife and shook his head, resolve flashing in his eyes. He then turned and ran back to the study and entered closed-door cultivation.
“What is going on? Why is he acting like a kid all of a sudden?” Meng Xi Yun resentfully glanced at her husband as he ran back in the study.
Ling Xiao did not cultivate today. He failed to break through the eleventh meridian last night, and know that his meridians may have suffered too much damage. Therefore, he planned on making a trip to the Desolate Chaparral Mountains to find a second-grade Crow King Ginseng. Crow King Ginseng can be taken directly and help in clearing meridians, increase strength, and prolong life. Although the use of Crow King Ginseng cannot directly break through meridians, it can relax the meridians, expand previously opened meridians, enhance xuan strength, and help him break through the occluded meridian in one go.
Crow King Ginseng is available for purchase at the Spirit Gra.s.s Hall but costs 1800 gold coins. This sum isn’t something ordinary people can afford. If his father can get access to the family’s funds, this would not be an issue. But they have currently lost their status and only receive a thirty gold coins stipend. For them, these 1800 gold coins could be considered an astronomical figure.
Therefore, Ling Xiao can only acquire Crow King Ginseng by looking for it at the Desolate Chaparral Mountains.
However, before Ling Xiao can head to the Desolate Chaparral Mountains, he must make a trip to the market to prepare some field supplies and look for a suitable hand-held weapon. Besides his most powerful martial arts like Sky Frost Fist, Cloud Parting Palm, and Wind G.o.d Kick, he still had even more formidable killing techniques that he hasn’t revealed yet.
After bathing, Ling Xiao put on a long white gown and his hair was made incredibly stylish by Bai Yu Xi. This coupled with his handsome face gives him a n.o.ble young man’s demeanor.
“Yu Xi, I’m going to the market today. Do you want to go together?” Ling Xiao asked.
Bai Yu Xi quietly replied, “This indentured servant will listen to Young Master.”
“I’ve already told you before; don’t ever use the two words “indentured servant” or I won’t let you serve me.” Ling Xiao said with a straight face.
“This indentured…Yu Xi understands.” Bai Yu Xi’s eyes were slightly red and gripped the side of her dress as she said aggrieved.
Ling Xiao’s heart softens as he gently caressed Bai Yu Xi’s face and said, “Obediently do what you are told from now on. You have to remember that you are a member of our Ling Family; not an indentured servant or servant girl but my parent’s adopted daughter. You have to live with your chest out and your head held high. Got it?”
Bai Yu Xi blinked with her long eyelashes, her bright and delicate face was especially endearing. She sensed Ling Xiao’s gentle caress and felt as if Ling Xiao has thawed her heart. She softly replied at once, “I’ll listen to Young Master. I’ll only serve Young Master, father, and mother from now on.”
“Good, that’s how it should be. Come with me to the market.” Ling Xiao nodded and said. He had said these words to establish Bai Yu Xi’s confidence so that she can later lead a strong and independent life.
The two left the house a quarter of an hour later, once again heading to Falling Stone City’s market.
“Yu Xi, do you know where there is a weapon store?” Ling Xiao turned his head to ask Bai Yu Xi.
Bai Yu Xi seemed to be lost in thought at that moment, stared blankly for a second before replying, “Young Master, what did you ask me?”
“Do you know where there are weapons for sale?” Ling Xiao asked again.
“I know a place in the east side of the city.” Bai Yu Xi answered.
“Good. Show me the way.” Ling Xiao said.
After walking for a while, the two arrived outside the door of a weapon shop with all sorts of weapons hanging on display.
Ling Xiao looked around for a moment and then walked inside.
“Please feel free to have a look to see if there are any hand-held weapons you desire.” A roughly fifty years old elderly man came forward and said.
Ling Xiao nodded at the old man and then went directly to the area where an a.s.sortment of swords was stored.
These swords’ designs were all extravagantly showy and lacked substance. One glance was all it took to know that these were the average commonplace weapons.
However, finding a good weapon in this kind of place won’t be easy.
Ling Xiao picked up a huge dazzling sword to test it out. This sword’s exterior appearance creates an exceedingly imposing atmosphere; a dragon head serves as the sword hilt and the blade was engraved with various spiritual inscriptions. This should be a decent sword.
“Young Master, you have quite the discerning eye. This is a first-grade, intermediate-level Colossal Dragon Sword. It is forged with a rare, mysterious iron, weighs forty-eight kilograms, and can even wound a second-grade Mountain Boring Beast.” The old man immediately introduced.
Second-grade Mountain Boring Beast is a type of spirit beast with a particularly strong defense; conventional weapons will not be able to leave a wound.
“How much is this sword?” Ling Xiao asked.
“It only costs seventy gold coins, but for you Young Master, I can let you have it for sixty-eight gold coins.” The old man said.
“Sixty-eight gold coins?” Ling Xiao heard the price and his eyes went wide. He only managed to steal twenty-five gold coins from Pock last time. Therefore, he couldn’t afford this expensive first-grade, intermediate-level weapon.
“I’m going to continue looking to see what other quality weapons are available.” Ling Xiao naturally cannot expose a dest.i.tute appearance. He’s a guy that cares about face, so he responded pretentiously.
The old man’s eyes flashed, and then he smiled at Ling Xiao and said. “My shop has an additional selection of quality weapons in the rear court. I invite Young Master to have a look.”
Ling Xiao and Bai Yu Xi followed the old man to the shop’s rear court and then proceeded to enter another building.
“There was only first-grade, high-level or better weapons inside here. There are also quite a few second-grade weapons. Young Master, have a look and see if it’s to your satisfaction.” The old man presented.
Ling Xiao began sizing up his surroundings; the swords, sabers, spears, and hook swords were all weapons of decent quality. But when he looked at the clearly marked prices, he was alarmed that even the lowest price had exceeded one hundred gold coins and went as high as five thousand gold coins. He couldn’t help but silently sigh; it turns out that he was indeed a poor wretch.