Chapter 5: What Do These Rogue Cultivators Know About Unity? |
The mid-grade magical artifact, the Spirit-Binding Rope, was standard equipment for the Clearbrook Market Security Patrol.
Gao Jian had practiced with it year-round. He was incredibly adept at wielding it; when swung, it moved like a swift serpent.
"Whoosh—Smack!"
Using the rope as a whip, he struck Wu Jinyan squarely across the face.
Because he held back, Wu Jinyan merely suffered torn flesh instead of having his head blown off completely. It showed that Gao Jian still retained a shred of humanity.
"Why are you hitting me?!"
He hastily activated a wooden bowl magical artifact to shield himself, clutching his mangled face as he asked in terror.
Gao Jian's sneak attack had been blindingly fast, succeeding effortlessly, and the people in the hall were thrown into chaos.
Wang Rongyuan immediately stepped in front of the two brothers, Yulou and Yu'an. Zhong Tianshuo circulated his spiritual energy and shoved his daughter, Zhong Ningyao, toward the back hall.
"Why am I hitting you?
"The Unity Fee is collected to make Clear Stream Market a better place. My master spent an entire day figuring out exactly how much each shop should contribute.
"And you actually dare to complain that it's too much? Are you even worthy? Does your Wu Clan even own a shop in Clear Stream Market?
"Or could it be that you're only an independent cultivator on the surface, but secretly a bandit cultivator who wants to sow discord among the cultivators of Clear Stream Market?"
Zhong Tianshuo and Wang Rongyuan had already stepped forward, both possessing cultivation bases roughly equal to his.
Seeing that he couldn't land another strike, Gao Jian was forced to retract the Spirit-Binding Rope, though the accusations he hurled only grew more severe.
In truth, there wasn't a complex reason behind it.
He couldn't afford to offend the Wang family, and he couldn't defeat Householder Redbrow.
So wouldn't it only make sense to hit him?
I might not be able to teach them a lesson, but I can definitely deal with you!
"Brother Gao Jian, Brother Gao Jian. How about this: I'll put up one hundred and twenty spirit stones. Here are the spirit stones, please say no more. Old Wu is definitely no bandit cultivator."
Taking the small pouch handed over by Householder Redbrow, Gao Jian weighed it in his hand, gave it two shakes, and smiled in satisfaction.
"Ah, Fellow Daoist Redbrow. If you had just paid up earlier, none of this would have happened! Hahahaha! Of course, it's not too late now."
As he spoke, he gave the Spirit-Binding Rope in his hand a slight shake.
Seeing Redbrow pay, Tang Nianqiu had no choice but to follow suit and hand over fifty spirit stones—an entire month and a half of Flavorful Bistro's profits vanished just like that.
Gao Jian simply glared at Wu Jinyan before gripping his Spirit-Binding Rope and swaggering out of the hall.
These independent cultivators lacked any sense of the bigger picture. Without a few beatings, what would they know about unity?
For the sake of the many merchants and cultivators in Clear Stream Market, for the sake of Hongdengzhao's properties, did I have it easy? Did my master have it easy?
If they need a beating, they should be beaten. One crack of the whip, and the spirit stones arrived immediately~
What Wang family? In front of Hongdengzhao, let alone a single Wang family, even if you were a dragon, you'd still have to coil up and submit!
"That man is nothing but a scoundrel!"
Zhong Ningyao poked her head out from the back hall. Looking at the silent crowd, she couldn't hold back a furious curse.
Householder Redbrow silently applied medicine to Wu Jinyan's wounds.
Wang Rongyuan simply shook his head and spoke softly to Yulou and Yu'an.
"This is your first lesson."
—
After seeing off Wu Jinyan, Wang Rongyuan, and the others, Householder Redbrow finally turned to look at his disciples and his daughter.
"Father, Forge Peak Residence shouldn't have paid that much! That guy surnamed Gao and his master definitely pocketed a chunk of it secretly!"
Zhong Ningyao genuinely couldn't understand why Householder Redbrow had so readily handed over that blasted Unity Fee.
That was one hundred and twenty spirit stones—Wang Rongyuan only received one hundred a year from his family!
Such a massive sum of spirit stones was forcefully snatched away by Gao Jian's rotten mouth!
Listening to the conversation between Zhong Ningyao and Zhong Tianshuo, Wang Yulou, who was standing to the side, felt somewhat awkward.
It wasn't because Flavorful Bistro had paid less.
Flavorful Bistro sold food and alcohol; its profit margins and revenue were far inferior to Forge Peak Residence.
What Yulou hadn't expected was that Householder Redbrow's daughter was actually the "female cultivator without clothes" that Yu'an had seen yesterday.
That idiotic Yu'an had sneaked over a dozen glances at her today, completely disgracing the Wang family.
"Pocketed a chunk? They took all of it! That guy surnamed Jiang is just a..."
Halfway through his sentence, Zhong Tianshuo caught sight of Yulou and Yu'an and immediately stopped talking.
"This is my daughter, Zhong Ningyao. You can just call her senior martial sister.
"Ningyao, teach them the basic Fire Control Spell. I'm heading out for a bit."
Householder Redbrow seemed to have matters to attend to; he simply assigned them some coursework and strode straight out of Forge Peak Residence.
Zhong Ningyao looked at Yulou, then at Yu'an, feeling somewhat nervous.
She really wanted to grab her father's hand and ask him why he was so confident that his daughter could properly teach these two new apprentices of his.
"Uh... you two don't seem very old?"
"Thirteen. Ningyao Shijie, I'm thirteen this year."
Yulou calmly shifted a step to the left, maintaining a subtle distance from Yu'an—just enough to seem aloof, but not enough to completely cut ties.
Zhong Ningyao was only fifteen, a girl still in her prime youth. However, having received her father's orders, she tried her best to feign a mature and steady demeanor in response to Yu'an's answer.
"Hmm, thirteen. That's a good age to study the Fire Control Spell."
As soon as she said it, she felt that her words sounded incredibly stupid.
So stupid...
She was clearly imitating her father's tone, but it felt like she had failed to draw a tiger and instead drew a dog.
At that thought, her fair cheeks immediately flushed red with nervousness.
Yu'an didn't understand why his senior martial sister was blushing. He just asked in a fawning tone,
"Ningyao Shijie, is there a difference between the Fire Control Spell and the Fire Shot Spell?"
Yulou knew of the Fire Shot Spell. It was similar to the fireball spells in xianxia novels, a common spell used by Qi Induction and Qi Refining cultivators.
But the Fire Shot Spell was more refined, emphasizing the use of minimal spiritual energy to achieve maximum offensive effect.
Its raw power wasn't important; what mattered was pairing it with other magical artifacts and spells to execute a systematic magical combat style—relying purely on brute force was a dead end for ordinary cultivators.
Ordinary independent cultivators lacked the heritage of a sect or family, so their use of the Fire Shot Spell tended to be very crude.
Even though they both had cultivation bases at the second layer of Qi Induction, Yulou could currently fire over a dozen Fire Shot Spells in a row.
In contrast, an ordinary independent cultivator at the second layer of Qi Induction might exhaust their spiritual energy after casting just three to five.
"The Fire Shot Spell is used for magical combat; it becomes useless once you reach the Foundation Establishment realm.
"The Fire Control Spell is the introductory technique for the fire-elemental cultivation system, primarily used for the artificing path.
"The Wang family sent you here to learn the artificing path, didn't they?"
Yu'an wanted to continue fawning over her, but Yulou couldn't wait any longer.
"Please instruct us, Senior Martial Sister," Yulou said.
Cultivation required seizing every single moment. He didn't have the time to watch Yu'an spout nonsense.
"Alright, follow me."
Shooting Yulou a grateful look, Zhong Ningyao led the two young men into the back hall of Forge Peak Residence.
In the center of the back hall sat a massive artifact refining furnace. Its entire body was a deep red, and silvery-white light flowed over the engraved designs on its surface, giving it an incredibly extraordinary appearance.
Flanking the furnace on one side was a pile of charcoal taller than Yulou, which appeared to be some kind of spiritual material.
On the other side stood a table crafted from refined iron, likely where Householder Redbrow placed his materials while refining artifacts.
"There are water basins over there. Go draw two basins of water from the well, and we can begin practicing the Fire Control Spell."
Pointing at the basins in the corner of the back hall, Zhong Ningyao finally found the feeling of teaching others Daoist techniques.
"Practice the Fire Control Spell using water?"
Yulou didn't know if Yu'an's brain had short-circuited or if he just wanted to chat up their pretty senior martial sister, but he actually asked such a silly question.
"Yes, hurry up and go."
In truth, Zhong Ningyao preferred Yulou a bit more. Yulou didn't ask pointless nonsense. Yu'an not only spouted nonsense constantly, but he also liked to stare straight at her like an idiot.
Soon, under Zhong Ningyao's guidance, the two placed their hands into the water basins. They then stared blankly at her, waiting for their senior martial sister's next instruction.
The young girl clasped her hands behind her back, pretending to be an adult. She paced around the artifact refining furnace, recalling the words her father had spoken when he taught her back then.
"The first step of the Fire Control Spell is generating fire in water. Without relying on any external ignition, you must use your own spiritual energy to spark a flame.
"Fire is ferocious by nature. Even my father often struggles to control the flames when he reaches a difficult point in his artifact refining.
"I had you fetch water because we need it to suppress the influence of the world's fire-attribute spiritual energy on the Fire Control Spell, allowing you to gradually achieve control over the flames step by step.
"Next, I will teach you the incantation for the Fire Control Spell—this is a secret transmission, so you are not allowed to reveal it to anyone else!"
"This is my daughter, Zhong Ningyao. You can just call her Senior Martial Sister.
"Ningyao, teach them the basics of the Fire Control Spell. I need to go out for a bit."
Householder Redbrow seemed to have urgent business. After briefly assigning their coursework, he walked straight out of Forge Peak Residence.
Zhong Ningyao looked at Yulou, then at Yu'an, feeling a little nervous.
She really wanted to grab her father's hand and ask him why he was so confident that his daughter could properly teach his two new bargain-bin disciples.
"Uh... you guys don't look very old."
"Thirteen, Ningyao Shijie. I am thirteen this year."
Yulou discreetly shuffled a step to his left, maintaining a subtle distance from Yu'an—far enough to feign aloofness, but not quite enough to completely sever ties.
Zhong Ningyao was fifteen, right in the prime of her youth. However, having received her father's orders, she tried her best to appear mature and steady in the face of Yu'an's response, saying, "Mhm, thirteen. That is a good age to study the Fire Control Spell."
As soon as she spoke, the young girl felt her words were incredibly foolish.
'So stupid...'
She was clearly trying to mimic her father's tone, but it felt like an attempt to imitate something grand that only ended up as a poor imitation.
At that thought, her fair cheeks flushed red with embarrassment.
Yu'an didn't understand why their senior martial sister was blushing. He just asked in a sycophantic tone, "Ningyao Shijie, is there any difference between the Fire Control Spell and the Fire Shot Spell?"
Yulou knew the Fire Shot Spell. It was similar to the fireball spells in cultivation novels, a common magic technique used by Qi Induction and Qi Refining cultivators.
However, the Fire Shot Spell was more refined, focusing on achieving the maximum offensive effect with the least amount of spiritual energy.
Raw power wasn't important; what mattered was using it in conjunction with other magical artifacts and spells to achieve systematic magical combat. The 'brute force conquers all' approach was a dead end for ordinary cultivators.
Ordinary rogue cultivators lacked the heritage of a sect or family, so the Fire Shot Spell they used tended to be crude.
Despite being at the second layer of Qi Induction, Yulou could now cast over a dozen Fire Shot Spells in a row.
But an ordinary rogue cultivator at the second layer of Qi Induction might exhaust their spiritual energy after just three to five casts.
"The Fire Shot Spell is used for magical combat. Once you reach Foundation Establishment, it becomes useless.
"The Fire Control Spell is the introductory technique for the fire-elemental cultivation system, primarily used for the artificing path.
"The Wang family sent you here specifically to learn the artificing path, didn't they?"
Yu'an wanted to keep kissing up, but Yulou couldn't wait any longer.
"Please enlighten us, Senior Martial Sister."
Cultivation required seizing every passing moment. He didn't have time to watch Yu'an babble nonsense.
"Alright, follow me."
Casting a grateful look at Yulou, Zhong Ningyao led the two young men to the back hall of Forge Peak Residence.
In the center of the back hall sat a massive artifact refining furnace. It was crimson all over, with silvery-white light flowing across its engraved surface, making it look extraordinary.
On one side of the furnace was a pile of charcoal taller than Yulou, which seemed to be some kind of spiritual material.
On the other side was a table crafted from refined iron, clearly the station where Householder Redbrow placed his materials when refining artifacts.
"There are water basins over there. Go fetch two basins of water from the well, and we can begin practicing the Fire Control Spell."
Pointing to the basins in the corner of the back hall, Zhong Ningyao finally found the feeling of teaching others magical arts.
"Use water to practice the Fire Control Spell?"
Whether his brain short-circuited or he just wanted to chat more with the pretty senior martial sister, Yu'an actually asked such a question.
"Yes. Hurry up, go, go."
Zhong Ningyao actually preferred Yulou a little more. Yulou didn't ask pointless garbage questions. Yu'an not only talked nonsense but also liked to stare straight at her like an idiot.
Soon, under Zhong Ningyao's guidance, the two of them placed their hands in the water basins and stared blankly at her, waiting for their senior martial sister's next instruction.
The young girl clasped her hands behind her back, putting on a mature front. She paced around the artifact refining furnace, recalling the words her father had spoken when he taught her.
"The first step of the Fire Control Spell is generating fire in water. Without relying on any kindling, you must use your own spiritual energy to summon a flame.
"Fire is a fierce element. Even my daddy often struggles to control the flames when artifact refining reaches a difficult stage.
"I had you fetch water because we need it to suppress the influence of the world's fire-attribute spiritual energy on the Fire Control Spell, allowing you to achieve control over the flames step by step.
"Next, I will teach you the incantation for the Fire Control Spell. This is a secret transmission, so you are not allowed to reveal it to anyone else!"
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