Chapter 64 Fight!
The red nematode in the wooden box was wriggling vigorously. Ruan Xing squatted down and took a closer look. The ring-shaped object on its body kept opening and closing. That was its shell.
The shell of the red nematode is one of the materials for a second-grade elixir. Ruan Xing has also used it, but he didn't expect that its shape is actually like an earthworm, and... so undignified that it was just dug out from the grass by someone.
Ruan Xing looked at the female cultivator and asked casually, "Daoyou, you dug such a big box, how many spirit stones can you earn?"
"Not much, it just looks like a lot. After drying, only the shells are left, which can be weighed two or three taels. One tael of complete shells can be sold for five low-grade spirit stones." The female cultivator wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Unlike some cultivators, who don't want to bother turning the soil one by one, and just burn the soil dry and crack it, and then sift it to keep the shells. Such shells are worthless. No one would want them except to give them to their apprentices who are just starting to learn alchemy to practice with."
The ticket costs fifty low-grade spirit stones. If she can dig out two taels of red nematodes every day, that would be a hundred spirit stones in ten days.
No wonder Hanshan Secret Realm is a paradise for low-level cultivators. The benefits are truly high.
"So that's how it is. I'm glad to learn from you." Ruan Xing sighed and suddenly asked, "Fellow Daoist, you must be tired after digging for so long. Why don't you fight with me to relax?"
Hearing this, the female cultivator turned to look at her in astonishment, and almost couldn't hold the hoe in her hand. She said in amazement: "Fighting? I'm just a small cultivator at the fourth level of Qi training. This red nematode is not worth much... It's not necessary..."
She thought Ruan Xing was a robber.
In the world of immortal cultivation, the law of the jungle often happens, but no one would spend fifty spirit stones to enter the secret realm to rob just to snatch ten spirit stones, right? !
"And I, I warn you, I am an outer disciple of the Xuanbing Sect... There are still my fellow disciples outside the secret realm. If you rob me, I will complain!" The female cultivator was so nervous that she could not speak clearly, as if it was the first time she encountered such a thing.
"You misunderstood. I'm not robbing." Ruan Xing patted her arm to comfort her. "I guess you are like me. You have always practiced alone behind closed doors and have no experience in the outside world. I came to the secret realm this time just to see some of the world and gain some practical experience. If you help me, fight with me, I will reward you. You can also call your fellow disciples to join us. Hmm... Let's do this. After each fight, each person will get one Qi Gathering Pill. There is no upper limit."
The female cultivator was somewhat tempted. She couldn't see through Ruan Xing's cultivation level, which proved that the other party was at least several levels higher than her. She didn't have much practical experience, and a fight would probably only take a cup of tea. Qi Gathering Pills were essential daily elixirs in the Qi training period, so the more the better.
She thought about it for a moment and said, "Then wait a moment, fellow Taoist. I'll call a few familiar fellow disciples over."
She was still a little scared. If what Ruan Xing said was true, she could ask a few fellow students with whom she had a good relationship to come over to make some extra money. If it was false, she thought the other party would not dare to do anything because they had more people to give them courage.
Ruan Xing nodded indifferently and watched the female monk take out a jade token and inject spiritual power into it. Then the two of them stood there waiting. The female monk took the opportunity to put the red nematodes and hoe clips from several wooden boxes she had dug from the ground into the storage bag.
"What is this?" Ruan Xing asked curiously.
The female cultivator replied absentmindedly, "Disciple Jade Card. All disciples of the sect have Jade Cards. They can receive sect news, record the sect's contribution points, and can also communicate with fellow disciples who are nearby."
Ruan Xing thought to himself, this Xuanbing Sect seems to be quite good to its outer disciples? This female cultivator has a low level of cultivation but a rather innocent character. She still has fellow disciples with whom she has a good relationship. She must have never suffered from the hardships of the world.
He is of average appearance, but has never suffered the bullying that women suffer.
He is a diligent person who accumulates spirit stones through his own hard work in digging insects, which is dirty and tiring. He probably comes from a poor family background.
It seems that the atmosphere in the sect should be quite positive. Why don't I go to Xuanbing Sect after I'm done with things here, become a disciple, and use the Xuanbing Sect's skills to break through the foundation. Moreover, Xuanbing Sect is a sect that has been passed down for thousands of years, and the skills practiced by the disciples in the sect must be very complete from Qi training to Guixu.
Thinking of this, Ruan Xing couldn't help but become more friendly to the female monk, "Sister, what's your name?"
"I……"
"Junior Sister Zhao!"
The female monk was about to introduce herself when she was interrupted by a shout from afar. The two looked in the direction of the voice and saw several figures flying in the air with swords and landing on the ground.
One of the men walked quickly to the side of the female monk, frowned at Ruan Xing, and had a hostile expression on his face.
In order to avoid a conflict, the female monk quickly stepped forward to explain, "This fellow Taoist is traveling outside for the first time and wants to have more practical experience, so he needs us to practice with him. The reward is one Qi Gathering Pill each time."
The male cultivator's expression softened a little, "So that's how it is. How would you like to practice with me, fellow Taoist?"
Ruan Xing used his spiritual sense to probe and found that the male cultivator seemed to have noticed something, but did not resist.
The female cultivator called over four fellow disciples. The male cultivator who had just talked was at the seventh level of Qi training, a man and a woman were at the sixth level of Qi training, and there was also a male cultivator at the fifth level of Qi training.
Although their cultivation levels were slightly lower, one could tell at a glance that they still had some experience in fighting. Moreover, if she could handle it when several people attacked together, that would be the biggest benefit of this competition.
In the world of cultivating immortals, never think about a fair one-on-one fight. This is never a place for reason.
Ruan Xing took a deep breath and said, "Let's start, one at a time."
……
Although the real-life simulation in the simulator can only obtain memories of personal experience, Ruan Xing feels that the combat experience she gained is real. Those outer disciples of Xuanbing Sect fought against her one by one. At the beginning, she could rely on her cultivation to suppress them brutally and violently to end the game. However, it was a bit difficult to fight against the male cultivator of the seventh level of Qi training. Many times she could not hurt the opponent at all.
And they also taught her a lot of skills and common sense on how to use spiritual power. For those in the Qi training period, the spiritual power in their bodies is limited. When using spells or sword techniques, it is not the case that the more spiritual power output is, the greater the power will be. The duel between cultivators is sometimes even a spiritual power duel between two people. Whoever lasts longer wins.
Therefore, they will instead figure out more ways to streamline their spiritual power.
Because of alchemy and talisman making, Ruan Xing is very skilled in controlling spiritual power, but it is difficult for her to apply this experience in combat. Now, by practicing with cultivators at the same stage, she can transform spiritual power into her own instinct.
By the time all the pills and talismans on her body were used up as rewards, the day was almost up.
After a day of sparring, the few of them were in a very bad state, but they were still very happy when they got a bunch of elixirs and talismans. Looking at them distributing the rewards, Ruan Xing smiled slightly, "Thank you for your sparring, see you tomorrow."
After saying that, Ruan Xing ended the simulation.
In fact, she wanted to simulate it for a few more days to have a deeper exchange of experience with them about how Qi training period cultivators fight against enemies, but there was no way. She could not afford the reward. She did not have much with her. Apart from a third-grade earth escape talisman, there was almost nothing valuable. Ruan Xing opened the real-life simulation again and practiced with the Xuanbing Sect disciples for three days.
From being caught in a dilemma at the beginning to being able to handle the four-man team-up with ease in the end, Ruan Xing can now almost confidently say that he is invincible below the eighth level of Qi training!
Forget it, it’s better to keep a low profile. She has never fought with the evil cultivators, so maybe her way of dealing with them will be different.
The male cultivator said to Ruan Xing with a somewhat unpleasant expression: "Fellow Daoist, it seems that we can't teach you anything. Every time you attack, you seem to be able to foresee the future and defend in advance. We can't accept your rewards without merit."
"This is the payment for your sparring, not the payment for you to teach me. Keep it." Ruan Xing didn't care. Anyway, these things would come back when she returned to the daytime after the end of the day. Giving them now would only make them happy for half a day.
Without waiting for the male cultivator to refuse, Ruan Xing stepped on the flying sword and left. She still had some time, and she had to go and see the black water lake.
Ruan Xing made hand gestures with one hand and held the booklet distributed by the Xuanbing Sect in the other hand, studying the map on it.
"Hmm... I remember that at the beginning I was teleported to a dense forest that covered half of a mountain. The trees were very tall and the terrain was flat. Then I walked in that direction to the Black Water Lake..."
However, there was no such place on the map in the booklet.
Ruan Xing bit her lip and thought.
Why is this? Is it hidden on the map? It doesn't exist on the map, and I need a special method to get in?
Ruan Xing’s imagination ran wild. If that was the case, without Wang Zhi, she really would not have been able to find the blackwater lake.
Damn it. I had originally wanted to scout the location ahead of time and set up some mechanisms and spells.
But we can't be discouraged. Maybe the map is just too abstract and she can't recognize it?
Ruan Xing decided to go to the place where the water flow was marked on the map and take a look.
The entire Hanshan Secret Realm is centered on Hanshan Peak and extends outward for hundreds of miles. The only river is a waterfall formed by the melting ice and snow on the top of Hanshan Peak. It rushes down, falls into the rocks, gathers into a river, and flows out.
Hanshan Peak is towering into the clouds and is very easy to find. Ruan Xing steered the flying sword towards this direction. By the way, the strong wind that blew in the face when the flying sword was flying was also solved by those cultivators. It is only necessary to attach a thin layer of spiritual power to the surface of the body to block the wind. Ruan Xing has also considered this method, but it requires both finger gestures and setting up a shield, and the spiritual power is simply not enough. It was only after following their method that he realized that there was such a way to save spiritual power.
Moreover, this method can also be used in actual combat, effectively reducing the impact force and protecting your body from injury.
Ruan Xing's flying sword soared in the air, and most of his spiritual power was consumed before he flew to the front of Hanshan Peak.
The moonlight was like water. Ruan Xing didn't know whether the moon was an illusion created by the secret realm, or whether it was unaffected by the secret realm because it was tens of thousands meters high. She just looked down with the help of the moonlight. Surrounding Hanshan Peak, there were occasionally one or two Qi training monsters scattered in the dense forest. Most of them should be asleep at this time, and the few nocturnal creatures were still running for food.
I don’t know if this dense forest is the one I remember.
Ruan Xing controlled the flying sword to land below the waterfall. His spiritual sense swept across the river in front of him, and he could see the bottom of the river without any obstruction. The river water was clear and cool. He cupped his hands to hold it, and there was no feeling of thickness and heaviness.
Ruan Xing concluded that it seemed to have nothing to do with the Black Water Lake.
She put a water-avoiding talisman on herself and jumped into the river. The river was not deep and the bottom was only three or five meters away. Unfortunately, everything was normal and Ruan Xing did not find the entrance to any underground river.
With a sigh, Ruan Xing had to end the simulation.
With her current abilities, it would be difficult for her to have a chance of winning if she met Wang Zhi again and went to the Black Water Lake with him. She didn't understand the other party at all. She only knew that he was at the ninth level of Qi training and could use formations.
But he was too mysterious. He was almost a special existence in the Hanshan Secret Realm. Ruan Xing had a hunch that the strength he displayed was not his true level.
But Ruan Xing was unwilling to give up just like that. At the very least, he had to find out what the Dongling Spirit Grass was, where the underground river under the Black Water Lake was, and who Wang Zhi's master was from and what skills he had.
This way, even if I avoid her during this trip to Hanshan Secret Realm, I will be prepared if I meet her next time.
Ruan Xing spent one point and started a real-life simulation.
It only took one hour to reach the Hanshan Secret Realm.
In the temporary market spontaneously formed by many low-level monks at the gate, Ruan Xing pretended to stroll around and see what other monks were selling and the prices.
Soon, Ruan Xing saw Wang Zhi in the crowd. She walked to the stall next to him and asked the stall owner, "How much are these golden pheasant tail feathers?"
The stall owner raised his eyelids and looked at her. "One lower-grade eighth-grade spiritual stone."
"Sorry to bother you." Ruan Xing showed an embarrassed expression of being short of money and turned to leave.
Suddenly someone pulled him back. Ruan Xing paused, turned around and asked in confusion, "Why are you stopping me, fellow Taoist?"
The familiar Wang Zhi in front of him smiled kindly, "Daoyou, do you need to buy refining materials just now?"
"Yes, I need to collect some refining materials to build a new weapon for my future foundation building." Ruan Xing said, "It's just that I have spent almost all the spirit stones I had in the city. Now it's a good opportunity to try my luck in Hanshan Secret Realm and earn some spirit stones to take back."
"You are at the eighth level of Qi training but you came to Hanshan Secret Realm. I guess you don't have much experience in traveling. I have a way to make money, but it's hard for me to accomplish it alone. I wonder if you are willing to help me?" Wang Zhi said mysteriously, "To be honest, I found a dangerous place in Hanshan Secret Realm. There is a piece of mica in it. This kind of ore is rare. If you add a piece when refining a magic weapon, it can upgrade the grade of the magic weapon. I wonder if you are interested?"
Damn it, this thing called Soul-piercing Grass was probably just something Wang Zhi said casually, but she had no common sense and fell into the trap directly.
Now that she has changed her personality and become a cultivator in urgent need of refining materials, Wang Zhi's strategy has also changed.
Ruan Xing cursed inwardly, but smiled and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Brother Dao, but I don't know what I need to do? How will we distribute it after the matter is completed?"
Thanks to book friend 20240224150037849 for the monthly ticket~
Thanks to book friend 20240513144817343 for the monthly ticket~
(End of this chapter)
