Chapter 24: Q&A

"Fine. Once I confirm that I am safe, I will release you," Lu Xiaotian nodded in agreement, then added, "However, you had better answer my questions truthfully. If I ever find that the facts differ from your answers, you will meet the same fate as that man before."

Through Lyu Bifeng's mouth, he learned that the Situ family had been a cultivation clan residing in Liangzhou for over a hundred years. There were five members in the Situ family: the clan leader, Situ Yong, who was at the fourth stage of Qi Refinement and the most powerful member of the clan. Another was the clan uncle of the deceased Situ Jing; his cultivation was unknown, but it was unlikely to exceed the third stage of Qi Refinement. There was also a young disciple, Situ Ming, who was only at the first stage of Qi Refinement.

Later, the entire Situ clan migrated to a distant immortal city called Moon-Gazing City, where there were tens of thousands of cultivators. There were countless people at the middle stage, late stage, and Great Perfection stages of Qi Refinement.

This was also the first time he learned that above the Qi Refinement stage, there was the Foundation Establishment stage, which allowed one to fly on swords, split mountains, break rocks, and traverse heaven and earth. Cultivators who reached the Foundation Establishment stage possessed a lifespan of two to three hundred years.

Lu Xiaotian listened with fascination. No one had ever taught him this before; only now did he realize that cultivators had their own gathering places—Moon-Gazing Immortal City! Besides Moon-Gazing City, there were other great cultivation sects in other places, and those sects were the true rulers of the cultivation world.

Families like the Situ clan, which occupied a single province within a secular nation, could only be considered insignificant, bottom-tier forces in the cultivation world, of which there were countless.

Lu Xiaotian asked again, "The people of the Situ clan are cultivators; why do they interfere in the affairs of secular people? What benefit is there for them?"

"The lands of secular mortals rarely produce spiritual items. If they hadn't offended someone they shouldn't have in Moon-Gazing City, the Situ clan wouldn't have fled in such a sorry state back to their old nest in Liangzhou. Their clan members are limited in number and simply don't have the time to search for spiritual items themselves. Therefore, they control the various gang forces in the martial world to search for spiritual herbs and spirit stones to support their own cultivation," Lyu Bifeng explained.

"So, when the deceased Situ Jing learned that I had bought three stalks of Purple Spirit Grass from Miaozhi Hall, he rushed over immediately?"

Lu Xiaotian had a sudden realization. This made sense; since the Situ family controlled the forces of the martial world, they had many eyes and ears. If he appeared in Pingwu County, it would be very easy to be discovered.

Lyu Bifeng nodded. "Exactly!"

"Is this what you meant by spirit stones? What is their use?" Lu Xiaotian thought of the stones containing spiritual energy in his storage bag and took one out, which happened to be red, and asked.

"That's right. This is a low-grade fire-attribute spirit stone. When fighting, if your magic power is consumed too quickly, you can hold it in your hand to absorb its spiritual energy to replenish your mana. Additionally, spirit stones are required to refine spiritual tools and formations."

Lyu Bifeng spoke with a bitter smile. She was now certain that the youth before her was merely an ordinary rogue cultivator; he didn't even understand the most basic concept of spirit stones. She truly didn't know how he had become a cultivator. Even more bizarre was that he had actually subdued a powerful leopard spirit beast. It was truly incredible.

"Vitality Pills!" Immediately following that, something even more unimaginable happened, leaving her mouth hanging open for a long time.

Lu Xiaotian rubbed his nose. At this point, he had finally figured out what some of the items on him were. Vitality Pills were medicinal pills used by cultivators in the late stage of Qi Refinement or at the Great Perfection stage. Even cultivators in the early stage of Qi Refinement usually didn't carry many Qi Gathering Pills, yet he could produce pills used only by those in the late stage. To Lyu Bifeng, this was naturally shocking enough. If this woman knew there were two other bottles of Vitality Pills in his storage bag, she had no idea what kind of expression she would make.

"One last question: how do I get to Moon-Gazing Immortal City?"

The woman in the red dress said, "From Liangzhou, go straight west. You will have to pass through more than ten secular nations, including the State of Wei, the State of Wu, and the Northern Zhou State. It is a long journey, spanning tens of thousands of miles. However, I must warn you: not everyone is allowed to go to Moon-Gazing Immortal City."

"Why? Is Moon-Gazing Immortal City very dangerous?" Lu Xiaotian asked, puzzled.

"Moon-Gazing Immortal City is a gathering place for rogue cultivators, and it also hosts several cultivation sects. There are tens of thousands of rogue cultivators settled there, and the number of cultivators entering and leaving the city is several times that. A Qi Refinement level one cultivator like you could, at most, do the lowest-tier jobs in the city, with a status only slightly higher than a secular martial artist. Unless you have extraordinary talent and are taken in by a great sect, the spirit stones you earn from manual labor will likely not be enough to reach a high realm even in a lifetime."

"There are so many rogue cultivators in Moon-Gazing City who haven't joined sects; does that mean rogue cultivators can only do menial work and can never make a name for themselves?" Lu Xiaotian said.

The woman in the red dress sneered, "There are naturally powerful figures among the rogue cultivators. Many gather in Moon-Gazing Immortal City because the Moon-Gazing Mountain Range nearby contains countless spiritual items, and many rogue cultivators seek them out in the mountains to cultivate. However, the number of demon beasts in the mountains is innumerable, and other treasure-hunting cultivators often engage in 'black-on-black' predation. A level one Qi Refinement cultivator like you would likely be reduced to a pile of white bones within a few days."

After hearing her words, Lu Xiaotian made his calculations. From the tone of the black-robed elder and the woman in red, as well as his own experiences on the road, everything pointed to the law of the jungle in the cultivation world, which was likely even more fierce than the competition among secular mortals. However, this did not affect his determination to pursue the Great Dao.

"Your spirit beast seemed to come out of that storage bag on your body earlier. That bag belongs to me now."

Lu Xiaotian reached out and took the small silk pouch from the woman in the red dress. During his first two entries into Pingwu County, it was inconvenient to bring the leopard, so he had left it waiting in the wilderness. However, through his battle with the golden-robed youth, he realized his combat strength was insufficient. Without the leopard, if he encountered the golden-robed youth in the city, he would only be able to flee in terror and would likely be unable to escape. Furthermore, without knowing magic, he would be unable to escape the opponent's grasp.

Seeing that Lu Xiaotian only took her spirit beast bag, the woman in red actually felt a sense of relief. If he had been a truly ruthless person, she might not have been able to save her life. Although the youth before her was decisive in killing, he was at least somewhat trustworthy and showed no intention of going back on his word. As for that scent-tracking demon rat, it had disappeared somewhere and had no combat capability other than occasionally finding people. Losing the spirit beast bag to the youth was not a great loss to her.

"When do you plan to release me?" the woman in red asked the question she cared about most.

"When I feel I am safe enough, I will naturally release you. For now, you'll have to endure staying in this cave for a while."

Lu Xiaotian smiled indifferently. According to the woman, since Situ Jing was dead, the Situ clan would surely be searching the world for the killer. Her father was even a mid-stage Qi Refinement expert; even with the leopard, he would not be his match. It was better to stay in the mountains for a while until the heat died down. Now that he had obtained the information he wanted, the martial arts assembly he originally had to attend was no longer important to him. As for releasing this woman, she might not necessarily refrain from revealing his whereabouts; in short, one must always be wary of others.

After leaving the girl inside, Lu Xiaotian walked out of the cave with great interest, carefully taking out the *Encyclopedia of Low-Level Spells* to study it thoroughly. Since he began practicing the *Primordial Chaos Sutra*, he had always hoped to learn spells, and it had taken nearly a year and a half to finally come into contact with them.

According to the introduction in the encyclopedia, any Qi Refinement cultivator could practice low-level spells, though practicing spells corresponding to one's own attribute would be relatively faster. However, Lu Xiaotian did not know which of the five elements he belonged to.

Since the encyclopedia stated that practicing corresponding spells was faster, he thought that by learning them separately, he should be able to determine it.

A moment later, a golden short spear appeared in front of Lu Xiaotian, thrusting toward a large tree over ten yards away in a crooked and slow manner.

At this speed, let alone hitting an enemy, it wouldn't even be easy to hit the target. Lu Xiaotian frowned, realizing that his Golden Spear Technique was much inferior to the spells used by the golden-robed youth and the black-robed elder.

Perplexed, he ran back into the cave to ask Lyu Bifeng, only to learn that spells also had to be practiced until they were familiar before they could be used against enemies. Lu Xiaotian's face flushed red, thinking to himself that he hadn't even considered this most basic principle; even martial artists had to hone a single technique hundreds or thousands of times to become proficient, so it was only natural for spells to be the same.

Lu Xiaotian used the Golden Spear Technique repeatedly. Although his accuracy was still lacking and the time required to accumulate mana was quite long, he had made significant progress compared to the first time. Excited by his learning, he prepared to try other spells, only to find that the vital energy in his dantian was nearly exhausted.

The consumption of vital energy by spells was actually this high? Lu Xiaotian was shocked. Remembering Lyu Bifeng's words that spirit stones could help restore magic power, he took a gold spirit stone from his storage bag and held it in his hand. Indeed, a stream of pure gold spiritual energy flowed continuously into his body from the stone.

Lu Xiaotian's spirits rose, and unable to stop himself, he repeatedly used the powerful Golden Spear Technique.

*Crack!* A low sound came from his left hand. He looked down and saw that the spirit stone, which had been glowing with golden light, had now turned into lusterless powder spilling through his fingers. One low-grade gold spirit stone had been used up. Lu Xiaotian felt a pang of heartache; it seemed he would have to rely on meditation to restore his vital energy in the future, otherwise, using spirit stones like this would exhaust them all before long. Since spirit stones were so useful, it was more important to save them for more critical moments.

Over the next few days, Lu Xiaotian practiced using spells with great enthusiasm. However, what puzzled him was that his speed of practicing spells of the gold, wood, water, fire, and earth attributes was exactly the same; only the ice, wind, and lightning attributes were slightly slower. When he told Lyu Bifeng this result, she was incredibly shocked and looked at him with sympathy, saying that such an aptitude was the lowest-tier "Five-Element Mixed Spiritual Root." She remarked that no matter how hard he worked for the rest of his life, reaching the late stage of Qi Refinement would already be considered very good.

Only then did Lu Xiaotian remember what the black-robed elder had meant when he said his aptitude was poor; it turned out the old man had known all along but simply hadn't told him.

Lu Xiaotian felt a bit depressed, but he did not give up, and his passion for cultivation remained as high as before. Every day he practiced various spells, and when the vital energy in his dantian was nearly exhausted, he would meditate to recover, day after day.