Starry Sky Professional Directory 24

Chapter 24: Practicing the Stalls (Seeking Collections)

June 29, 2024

Chapter 24: Practicing the Stalls (Seeking Collections)

“Old geezer, jackpot!”

Fang Xing stepped forward, his nano-glove-covered hands beginning to search the corpse.

Just then, the drone warned him of an approaching cultivator nearby.

He dared not linger, quickly taking his spoils and immediately leaving in the opposite direction…

Inside the temporary camp.

“This old geezer is quite fat…”

Fang Xing picked up the old man’s money pouch, pouring out five low-grade spirit stones and eight spirit sands. His eyes lit up: “This robbing and killing is much faster than selling herbs!”

The old man’s spoils weren’t many, but each was a high-quality item!

Besides the money pouch, there was a long tobacco pipe, surprisingly made entirely of some unknown metal. It felt incredibly heavy in his hand and could even fire poison needles—the craftsmanship was truly breathtaking even by ancient standards.

Lastly, there was an ancient book.

“Green Wood Technique?”

Fang Xing looked at the words on the title page, gasping in surprise: “It’s actually a cultivation technique?”

He flipped through a few pages with interest, finding descriptions on how to calm the mind, sense the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth, and absorb and refine it into one’s own spiritual power.

The ancient book showed signs of considerable wear and tear, seemingly having been read countless times.

According to the *Green Wood Technique*, this technique is divided into nine levels: the first three levels are the initial stage of Qi Cultivation, levels four to six are the middle stage of Qi Cultivation, and the last three are the late stage of Qi Cultivation.

Once one cultivates to the ‘peak of the ninth level of Qi Cultivation’, there is another name for it—a ‘Qi Cultivation Perfection’ cultivator—who can then prepare to break through to the higher ‘Foundation Establishment’ stage.

“This *Green Wood Technique* is a wood-attribute cultivation technique, enough to cultivate to the ninth level of Qi Cultivation…”

“Unfortunately, for those without spiritual roots, it’s useless.”

Fang Xing turned to the last page and saw a note: ‘Without spiritual roots, unable to cultivate, hate hate hate hate hate hate hate!’

Seven large characters of ‘hate’, each penetrating the paper, clearly showing the writer’s extreme anger.

Fang Xing felt a pang of sympathy.

“Without spiritual roots, unable to cultivate, it seems to be an ironclad law…”

He sighed, put the technique away, and then applied a ‘Spirit Testing Symbol’ to himself.

Moments later, the ‘Spirit Testing Symbol’ turned to ash, with no miracle occurring.

The next one was the same…

“As expected, I don’t have spiritual roots, unable to cultivate…”

Fang Xing shook his head: “Luckily…I can still practice martial arts! And the Federation’s Martial Dao, when cultivated to a high level, can also achieve longevity!”

…

Several days later.

Inside a cave.

Fang Xing sat cross-legged, calming his mind.

He had maintained this posture for over three hours, yet his figure remained upright, without a hint of movement.

In front of Fang Xing, the *Green Wood Technique* lay open, revealing the first level, ‘Guiding Qi into the Body’.

“Still no use…”

After a long time, he opened his eyes, his expression neither sad nor happy.

Fang Xing was naturally very interested in studying this cultivation technique.

He understood every single word, and could even understand the meaning when put together.

However…the first step of sensing the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth, he just couldn’t do it!

“As expected, without spiritual roots, one cannot cultivate… I can’t even get the mark on the attribute panel…”

As long as he could get started, even just a tiny bit, Fang Xing could grind away at it!

But facing a monster that doesn’t even have a visible health bar, what could he do?

“If I could cultivate, this world would be even more valuable…as it is now? It’s not bad either.”

Fang Xing stood up, patted the dust off his clothes, and went to another cave nearby.

Here, a small electric rice cooker was keeping food warm, clearly having been cooked long ago.

The base’s power now came entirely from a ‘nuclear fusion’ battery, enough to power the entire camp for over a thousand years.

After all, for the Blue Star Federation, controllable nuclear fusion was a problem long solved.

“Fragrant Lotus Spirit Rice, it really is fragrant…”

After the rice was steamed, a faint fragrance of lotus leaves diffused through the cave.

Fang Xing took a deep breath, immediately feeling a little hungry, his saliva starting to flow freely.

“My body is craving the Spirit Rice?”

He opened the electric rice cooker, and with the rising steam, the rice aroma intensified tenfold.

Inside the rice cooker was a full pot of rice that seemed to emit a faint glow.

Each grain was plump and full, with an amazing fragrance.

Fang Xing picked up his bowl and chopsticks, served himself a full bowl of white rice, and took a large bite.

The Spirit Rice melted in his mouth, carrying a strong rice aroma, tasting even better than Bloodtooth Rice.

“More importantly…it’s more nutritious.”

Even without any side dishes, Fang Xing ate with complete satisfaction, repeatedly serving himself rice until he had finished the entire pot.

“Mmm…truly satisfying.”

After eating his fill, Fang Xing touched his stomach, a contented expression on his face: “Unlike taking Qi Blood Pills, there’s no surge of violent Qi Blood energy, but it feels like a small stream, clear and pure, flowing throughout the body…”

“As expected of Spirit Rice, there’s not a trace of pill poison, and it feels especially comfortable…If I eat it for a long time, it will definitely have a subtle effect, and even improve my physique!”

He felt that if he continuously ate Spirit Rice, even without a ‘先天丹 (Xiantian Pill)’, his foundation for advancing to the Jadeite and Brave Warrior Realms…or even higher realms would become much stronger, making breaking through bottlenecks much easier.

“Spirit Rice is truly a good thing…I should buy more another day.”

Thinking of Spirit Rice, Fang Xing thought of the little girl who sold it, Ding Hongxiu.

Although she seemed somewhat naive, her grandfather was a knowledgeable man, making her someone worth befriending to get some information.

…

After a night of hard cultivation, Fang Xing generally confirmed that while Spirit Rice’s effects weren’t as fast as pills, it was subtle and long-lasting.

And considering pill poison, it was indeed something to pay attention to.

The only downside was the price.

“My current appetite is at least three catties of Spirit Rice a day…ten catties would only last three days. That’s one spirit stone…”

“This isn’t something ordinary lower-class people can eat…truly, those draped in silks and satins are not the ones raising silkworms.”

But for Fang Xing, since Spirit Rice had better effects and no side effects, even if it was more expensive, he should still try to include it in his consideration.

“With Spirit Rice, I can also quickly refine my muscles and bones, and then break through to the Jadeite realm!”

The Muscle and Bone Realm was more troublesome than the Skin and Flesh Realm.

Not to mention anything else, just refining the hundreds of bones in the body, one by one, was a chore.

Moreover, there were also vital parts such as the skull, requiring extreme care during cultivation, which was extremely time-consuming.

“Let’s go!”

Fang Xing made up his mind, gathered some wildflowers, fruits, and harvested herbs, filling a small half-basket, preparing to go to Qinglinfang City to set up a stall.

Selling goods at a stall had two benefits: higher prices and easier information gathering.

He had already found out that setting up a stall in Qinglinfang City didn’t require any fees.

Only fixed stalls or shops needed to pay monthly rent.

…

Qinglinfang City.

The atmosphere remained bustling.

“Damn it, the Luo family’s three brothers fell…”

“It is said that several demonic beasts appeared nearby, and some cultivators unfortunately perished…Alas, they shouldn’t have cultivated that land.”

“This Wild Land is desolate, but there are opportunities…The Zheng family’s ancestor in the market, didn’t he accidentally stumble into a predecessor’s cave while cultivating the land, obtaining a Foundation Establishment opportunity, thus successfully advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage, becoming famous and wealthy? Now the Zheng family controls the market’s auction house business, making a fortune. It is said that the Zheng family ancestor is preparing to marry his thirty-seventh concubine…”

The pedestrians were discussing, apparently about the demonic beast migration.

Fang Xing wasn’t interested in this, as he had avoided several dangerous areas with the help of his drone exploration.

After walking around, he immediately went to a stall: “Hongxiu girl, we meet again.”

Several baskets were placed on the stall, full of Spirit Rice. The seller was Ding Hongxiu.

“It’s you…”

Ding Hongxiu recognized Fang Xing’s disguised face, nodded: “I haven’t had the pleasure…”

“My surname is Fang…”

Fang Xing smiled slightly, spread out a piece of coarse cloth, took out his goods, and started setting up his stall.

Seeing Fang Xing setting up his stall next to hers, Ding Hongxiu’s face turned slightly red, but she wasn’t sure how to say it. She glanced at Fang Xing’s goods: “Daoist Fang, are you in the herbal medicine business?”

“Indeed, your Fragrant Lotus Spirit Rice is good. If it’s cheaper, I’ll buy a few more catties…”

Fang Xing chuckled, making the little girl even more embarrassed to speak.

He chuckled inwardly, reading a book to himself, occasionally chatting with people who asked about prices, looking self-sufficient.

“Celestial Gang Qi Technique?”

Ding Hongxiu saw the cover, curiously asking: “Is this a martial arts manual?”

“Yes, there are stalls selling it around the corner. One only costs a spirit sand, very cheap…”

Fang Xing sighed.

Martial Artists had a hard time living in a cultivation market. Many of them sold their treasured techniques to make a living.

Sadly, these secret manuals that would cause a bloodbath in the mundane world were the cheapest commodity in the market, especially those copied many times, with one spirit sand being the market price.

Fang Xing bought several to learn more about the world’s martial artists.

The Celestial Gang Qi Technique in his hand was of the highest quality, allowing cultivation to the Innate realm, with an additional ‘Innate Gang Qi’ martial arts technique.

In Fang Xing’s opinion, this ‘Innate Gang Qi’ had the power of a Federation B-class martial art, which was quite good.

As for A-class martial arts?

Those should be above the level of divine techniques, allowing martial artists to defy the Innate realm, and were quite rare.

‘This world doesn’t have much fertile ground for martial arts…’

‘Martial artists peak at Innate, only fit to be the servants of cultivators…’

Fang Xing sighed inwardly.

Perhaps due to the suppression by cultivators, martial arts have stagnated, with no subsequent realm comparable to the Brave Warrior realm after Innate appearing.

‘Given the seclusion and conservatism of the cultivation world, even if a martial artist breaks through Innate, they won’t receive much attention. The breakthrough techniques might be gathering dust in the archives of a cultivation sect…’

(End of Chapter)

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