18 Preparation Before the Annual Hunting Festival
Lu Yi was cultivating on his usual corner inside Qin Lan's sleeping chamber. As for Qin Lan, he was still deeply engrossed with the piece of Essence Metal he's trying to shape into an armlet decoration.
Lu Qing Yun has returned to her room to tend to her physical injury that was caused by a single hit of Huo Zunjie's palm attack.
(Between the four of us, Qing Yun's physique is the weakest, although her martial comprehension is considered excellent. Lu Yi's body is powerful, but unfortunately, too inexperienced and dull. Huo Zunjie's physique is the greatest amongst us, but had his weakness as well...)
(Three weeks... The time might be a little tight for me to refine enough Protective Treasures for each of us. I'll have to find a way to make up for this before the Annual Hunting Festival start)
Qin Lan whispered to himself as he kept up with his work.
Whenever he started to feel a hint of exhaustion, he'll swallow a Flesh Foundation Pill into his mouth to take advantage of the spiritual energy inside of that pill to recover his stamina. So far, half of the 200 Flesh Foundation Pills he concocted has been used up this way.
That's equivalent to 1,000 pieces of gold coins used to create a half-completed armlet-type Protective Treasure.
"Huh..." Qin Lan released the breath of stale, spoilt air that's been held in for quite long. With a hand still holding on the armlet, Qin Lan made his way up over the roof to enjoy the beauty of the moon.
(I wonder how advanced has this era become after the disappearance of the Kuangshan Mountain Prefecture? Is this place still the same continent that I'm from originally?)
Qin Lan sighed. His melancholy mood made him missed the pair of eyes watching at him stealthily inside of the stone garden in the core garden of this private courtyard.
...
...
**Dok!**
A hairpin made from precious Essence Metal stuck cleanly on Huo Zunjie's door early in the morning, along with a piece of paper wrapped around it.
The sound wakes Huo Zunjie from his cultivation. Putting on a piece of thicker robe, he opened his door to retrieves the hairpin and paper and then kept the door closed once again.
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Make your way to the Western Demon Forest tonight. Prepare your house to store the goods for the next seven days. Search for a trusted shop that's capable of handling private dealings. Tell him/her the word "Protective and Offensive Treasures" to see how much they know.
-
Lu.
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Qin Lan's letter of instructions to Huo Zunjie is simple and easy to understand.
And when the sun finally sets, Huo Zunjie immediately left the Fu-Rong Town through a proper entry channel. He brought three backpacks just in case.
"Here, brother Huo." Lu Yi greets Huo Zunjie the moment he caught him in his sight. The two then traveled into the forest and rejoined Lu Qing Yun as they followed a map to a specific location.
"Our young master is going to a different place to meet our teacher. Today, it's our job to bring some corpses and medicinal herbs back." Lu Qing Yun said.
"The location pinpointed on the map is a nest belonging to the Yellowtail Fox Demon. Our young master said that it would be great if we managed to bring back around three of them."
"Also, for the next three days, we'll be doing the same thing over and over again around three different demon nest." Lu Qing Yun passed on what Qin Lan mentioned to the two of them as they nodded and agreed with Qin Lan's arrangement.
"Contact! Four Foul Essence Ants!" Lu Qing Yun raised her hand and pointed at the exact place they're possibly coming from.
"Let's do this!" the trio pulled their weapon out and prepared to fight.
...
...
(Can't believe that even an ancestor-class Treasure Master like I am will have a day where I need to swallow 300 Flesh Foundation Pills to refine a single Protective Treasure)
Qin Lan inspects the armlet of protection he made for flaws. Although he's confident with his own skills, being careful and attentive once in a while does not hurt. This is also true, as he was once highly respected for his niche reputation in all eight departments.
It was an armlet with a brilliant copper hue. In terms of quality, this Protective Treasure is at least one grade to two grades above his heirloom dagger, which is also considered as a treasure.
He injected a considerable amount of spiritual energy into the armlet next to complete the creation process. It was just like how a mortal quench the burning hot iron into a pool of water to finalize their creation.
Light sparkles from the convergence of Qin Lan's spiritual energy gave color and life to the armlet he made.
There was no additional decoration at all except for layerings of hand-pulled, string-like pattern that made up the armlet's design. Also, there is no reason to create too many pieces of equipment as their own improvement is going to out shadow the craft very soon.
For Qin Lan, the realm of Precelestial is only a mere trial before the real path of cultivation begins.
In Precelestial Realm, cultivation was divided into three layers. Flesh Refining, Bone Reconstruction, and the Spiritual Root Creation. Each layer is further divided into 9 levels with Introductionary, Middle-Attainment, and Full-Completion rank.
Flesh Refining Layer is equivalent to tampering with one's flesh for it to be suitable to withstand the force of the spiritual energy. Every single level of Flesh Refining achievement adds 10 years of lifespan to the cultivator to try to advance into the next stage.
The Bone Reconstruction Layer is up next. Upon the successful advancement to the introductory rank, a hundred years of lifespan is granted to the cultivator to start his cultivating path once more.
At this layer, each and every single level of the Bone Reconstruction Layer equals a complete Flesh Refining Layer itself. An entire layer of difference multiplied from 1 till 9. Also, cultivators at this layer are granted the right of "Materializing Spiritual Energy," which gave them an extension of what they could reach.
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Ps: Qin Lan's act of pulling the chair and sweeping it clean without touching it while he's in Huo Zunjie's house is an example of materializing. But it is less apparent and delicate because he's lacking in spiritual energy in comparison to a Bone Reconstruction Cultivator.
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(This would do to protect Qing Yun until we're all accepted into the Cloud Plucking Sect. If things went on smoothly for the next two weeks, then creating four more Offensive Treasures for each of us will not be an impossible task either. All I hope is that they'll manage to do it without me)
Qin Lan placed the beautiful armlet on the table and stored the remaining four pieces of Essence Metal Ingot into a lockable box. It's been a while since he pays less attention to his own cultivation. As the gap between the second and third level of the Flesh Refining Layer is too wide for him to cover, Qin Lan previously decided to let it improve naturally.
But he would be a fool if he's not using this precious time after swallowing 300 Flesh Foundation Pill to push his own cultivation a little further. Even if the spiritual energy contained inside the pill has been long exhausted, the remnant of the medicinal value left behind is still beneficial to his physique.
With his feet and right leg's imperfection is now refined and sculpted by his Mistral Flesh Diagram, the next on his list was an unexpected part known as his groin. It somehow made him feel conflicted but delighted at the same time.
"Perhaps, I should try to use it with my soon-to-be wife after it was [Perfected] to test its performance?" Qin Lan chuckled. The dirty thought of his cheered him up from feeling too dreary about life.
But as his mind thought about Hu Jia, the same thing happened to her as well.
"What is this sudden chill I was getting? It felt like somebody is aiming to sully my body as a man." Hu Jia retreated from where she stands as six servants gathered and destroyed the ground she was standing on earlier.
"Young miss retreated!"
"We... We won the bet!"
"Young... Young miss actually retreated from her original spot! We're going to - Ouch!"
The servants were cheering in happiness but Hu Jia, being a sore loser, is unwilling to admit that she lost the bet with her servants. Added with Qin Lan's sudden perverted thought that made her felt a sudden chill earlier, she decided to vent everything out by beating them black and blue.
"Missy, you can go back on your word like that..."
"Aii... I think except for the young master of Qin Family, no families are going to accept our marriage proposal..." the female butler sighed.
...
...
About three hours before the sunrise, Huo Zunjie returned to Fu-Rong Town through the main entrance. The guards that were friendly and familiar to him gave him a pat on his back to congratulate him for coming back before inspecting his backpack half-heartedly.
"Thank you, brother Mu." Huo Zunjie cupped his hand towards the guard and left after showing his gesture.
And the moment Huo Zunjie pushed the door to his repaired shack open, Lu Yi and Lu Qing Yun is already inside waiting for a while.
"Both elder brother and elder sister are too fast. Is this one of the movement art taught by the teacher?" Huo Zunjie placed the three rucksacks filled to the brim on the table and strike a light conversation with them.
"The teacher taught our young master, and young master taught us." Lu Qing Yun answered. She took three corpses out of the bag and placed them inside a jar half-filled with water.
Meanwhile, Lu Yi arranged the herbs accordingly on a few trays that he was going to bring them back.
**Ding...**
The chime of a bell echoed from the window that Qin Lan used before. Once the latches between the two panels are removed, an individual with a mask came in.
"Young Master." all three of them greeted the expected visitor.
"En," Qin Lan nodded.
