Chapter 10, Journey to the Jianghu again
Maozhu Town, Huadu Prefecture, Jiangyang County, Mingshan State.
In the early morning, the door of an independent courtyard hidden by trees at the east end of the town opened with a creak, and a boy of seventeen or eighteen years old walked out. He was tall and straight, with handsome features.
The young man has a dark blue ribbon on his head and a bun. He is wearing a light blue slanted knee-length brocade robe, a belt of the same color without any accessories, black trousers tightened at the bottom, a pair of brown thick-soled soft cowhide short boots, and a backpack on his back. A cotton bag.
Yes, this young man is Qingshi, and it has been two years since he returned from Dahuang Mountain.
Turning around and closing the door, Qingshi strode towards the prefectural city of Yahua City, but his destination was not Yahua City a hundred miles away, but the county town of Liangyuan. To get there, he had to go to Yahua City first and then continue walking north. Eight hundred and twenty miles.
Qingshi brought back more than a hundred mahuang fruits and tens of thousands of Aishan peach cores from Dahuang Mountain. Now, most of these things have turned into zhenqi pills and been eaten and refined by Qingshi. Of the five to six hundred peaches in the bracelet, only thirty or forty were left.
The amount of spiritual energy provided by these elixirs and spiritual fruits alone is enough for a hundred monks at the seventh level of the Qi Training Realm to be promoted to the Qi Gathering Realm.
However, Qingshi's cultivation at this time was still at the seventh stage of the Qi training realm, and the true energy in his body did not increase at all.
The Qi sea in his Dantian expanded several times, but the amount of Qi in it seemed to be even less, not even one-tenth. The strength of the meridians in the body is astonishing. Only Yuan Dan realm monks can achieve this level, but it may not be stronger than his.
Qingshi has practiced hard in the past two years, and his mentality has gradually become calmer than before. He believes that one day he will awaken that mysterious soul body.
After nourishing it with Qi for more than two years, he also had some different feelings about this soul body. Sometimes he felt that it was a part of his body or even his life.
With his calm mind, Qingshi now has a little more leisure time. Sometimes he goes to the city to buy and sell medicine, go shopping, buy some clothes, shoes, socks and other daily necessities, or go to a restaurant for a meal.
When it comes to eating, Qingshi will often cook a delicious meal at home to enjoy himself. Sometimes I buy some poetry books and read them, but the literature, poetry, painting, sculpture and other arts in this world are as terrible as their food and drink, and Qingshi really can't appreciate them.
Two years have passed in the blink of an eye, and Qingshi's resources are almost exhausted. According to his cultivation speed, his resources are only enough to last for one and a half months.
Therefore, he decided to go out to try his luck again. Last time he went to Dahuang Mountain. This time Qingshi decided to go to the big city to see.
Just after noon, Qingshi walked into Yahua City from the east gate. Without stopping, he walked through the streets in the city and went straight out of the north gate, arriving at the Yahua Station outside the city gate.
Here, there are means of transportation driven by spirit beasts. The fastest means of transportation from Yahua City to Liangyuan, the county town, is the speed car drawn by the second-level spirit beast Luhu. There is one bus each day in the morning and one in the afternoon.
It is said that this speeding car only takes three hours from Yahua to Liangyuan. 'It is said' was said by the shopkeeper Cao of Yahua Pill Store in Yahua City.
More than a month ago, Qingshi came to Yahua City to sell thirty second-grade Qi pills and bought a batch of auxiliary materials for refining the Qi pills. After the transaction was completed, Qingshi invited shopkeeper Cao to the best restaurant in the city. Had a meal.
At the banquet, Qingshi kept asking shopkeeper Cao all kinds of questions humbly, and shopkeeper Cao was also eloquent, talking about old anecdotes about the four major families in the county, the romantic rumors about the wife of the city lord, the gossip about a big boss in the capital, etc. With great joy, he told Qingshi about his various experiences in the county and capital.
Qingshi smiled and listened quietly, asking questions from time to time. The meal lasted for nearly two hours. Shopkeeper Cao talked happily, and Qingshi also listened with interest.
He immersed himself in cultivation and had little contact with the outside world. Hearing Shopkeeper Cao talk about the mountains gained him a lot of knowledge. This was also a preparation for entering the city.
Qingshi came outside the inn and asked the staff how to take the flying car to Liangyuan, the county town. Under the guidance of the staff, Qingshi got on the flying car after a while.
This flying car is about five feet long and one foot wide. It has four rows of eight wheels under the car and a low body. There are ten rows of passenger seats, four in each row, and a driver's seat at the front. The car has no walls, doors or windows, and there is no passage in the middle. Passengers get up and down from both sides of the row of seats. Eight poles are erected around the car. The pole supports an awning, and the entire vehicle looks a little thin, much like the battery transportation vehicles in some scenic spots on the earth, only larger.
Qingshi calculated silently in his mind and couldn't help but be surprised. He really didn't understand how this car could reach a speed of two hundred, sixty or seventy miles per hour.
Luhu Horse is a second-level spiritual beast, so it can naturally reach such speed easily, but it is difficult to drag it onto this car.
There are no highways in this world. In fact, there are basically no hardened roads. If this car reaches such speed, it will fall apart soon. Besides, this person can't stand it. Isn't he going to die?
There were only about twenty people sitting in the car. Qingshi was sitting on the right side of the seventh row. There was an old man in rich clothes sitting on the left side of the row, but there were two empty seats in the middle.
The others all looked gorgeously dressed and had extraordinary bearings, and were undoubtedly monks. This fare requires five hundred low-grade spiritual stones, which is beyond the reach of ordinary people.
After a while, several people led four horses to the car and began to put ropes, reins and other things on the horses. The horses were all tall, mighty and handsome. These were Luhu horses.
The staff were skilled in their movements and the operation was completed in a short time. However, the two rows at the front and back were arranged with two pairs in each row.
The driver was a man of medium height, and he was obviously a monk. The man yelled: Let’s start the car. Then he shook the reins, shouted and gave orders, and the carriage began to move forward slowly.
The old man in rich clothes on the left turned his head and shouted something, and then he saw a young man four or five years younger than Qingshi running over from nowhere. A leaping figure flew in the air like a bird, and in a blink of an eye he floated into the car and landed. On the seat to the right of the old man.
The young man opened his mouth and said with a smile: "Grandpa, don't stare at me. I'm not coming!" Turning his head, he found Qingshi sitting on the right side of the seat. His eyes lit up, and he immediately tilted his butt and said to Qingshi: "Hey Brother, what do you call me? My name is Wang Xiaotian."
Qingshi saw the young man's delicate features and clear and smart eyes, and he was quite fond of him.
He smiled slightly and said, "Bluestone."
"Qingshi, your name is so nice. Is it Qingqing, stone's stone?
"That's right."
"What are you doing in Liangyuan? My grandpa and I are going home. Our home is in Liangyuan. Is Brother Qingshi also from Liangyuan? By the way, how old are you? I should call you brother. Brother Qingshi is so awkward to call you. , let’s call you Brother Qing, Brother Qing, your real brother? No, no, let’s call you Brother Shi, it doesn’t seem right. If you call me that, people will think you are my senior brother, don’t you think so?”
Qingshi couldn't help but laugh, and for a moment he didn't know which sentence to answer, but the young man followed again: "Let's call him Brother Qingshi." Then he started talking non-stop.
Qingshi has always believed in the creed that silence is golden. In recent years, he rarely talks to others, only smiling and answering a few words from time to time.
At this time, the carriage was already speeding up. The road outside the inn was wide and straight, and it was not bumpy at all.
Qingshi suddenly felt his body sink slightly, the car lifted up, and the shaking from the road disappeared. This feeling was familiar to Qingshi. It was like this when taking off on an airplane on Earth.
Qingshi turned his head and looked outside, and saw that the car had already flown into the air, and the wheels were suspended more than three feet above the ground. There was a slight white light underneath the car, which clearly indicated the existence of a spiritual aura field.
It turns out that this flying car is a spiritual weapon that can levitate. Looking ahead, the four horses were still galloping on the ground. Without the friction resistance between the road surface and the wheels, the horses dragged the speeding car very easily.
"This speeding car is indeed worthy of its name." Qingshi couldn't help but sigh softly.
"Brother Qingshi, haven't you ever ridden a flying car before?" Wang Xiaotian said, "But if you ask me, this flying car is not worthy of its name. There is a spaceship in Chaoge from the capital of the country. There is no need for spiritual beasts. The spaceship flies in the air by itself and can fly to a height of thousands of feet. , that’s real flying, but I’ve never sat on it.”
The two of them chatted all the way. Wang Xiaotian spoke quickly and talked a lot, but Qingshi took his time and listened more and talked less, and the conversation was quite interesting.
As they chatted, Qingshi gradually learned about Wang Xiaotian's family situation. It turned out that Wang Xiaotian was a child of the four major families in Liangyuan. His grandfather and father's family did not have a high status in the family. His father was in charge of all Yahua City. Family business in the area.
Wang Xiaotian is considered to be extremely talented among the younger generation. He has just turned thirteen this year, but he is already a ninth-level martial arts practitioner in Qi Lian Realm, and is highly regarded by his family. This time, my grandfather and I were returning home after visiting my father who is based in Yahua.
When asking Qingshi, Qingshi simply said that he lived in seclusion in Huadu Mansion with his master. This time he went to the county to gain experience and buy some things. Since he lives in seclusion, he is naturally unwilling to elaborate on his life experience, but Xiaotian also knows how not to ask.
But Qingshi didn't hide it from Xiaotian when he said that he was in the seventh stage of Qi training realm and an alchemist. When he heard that Qingshi was actually an alchemist, Xiaotian was greatly impressed.
Mr. Wang has been keeping his eyes closed, and has long been accustomed to his grandson's talkative behavior. When he heard Qingshi say that he was an alchemist, he couldn't help but open his eyes and take a second look.
After changing horses midway, the speeding car arrived at Liangyuan City at dusk.
Qingshi said goodbye to the Wang family's grandfather and grandson, and listened to Wang Xiaotian's nagging for a while. After entering the city, Qingshi slowly walked towards Liangyuan Square according to the direction Wang Xiaotian said.
According to Wang Xiaotian, Liangyuan Square is the center of Liangyuan City, and to the north of the square are the city government offices and other government offices. The remaining three sides are home to the best restaurants, inns, shops and entertainment venues in the city, so Qingshi naturally wants to see them.
At the beginning of the lanterns, there were many pedestrians on the street and many shops on the street. Qingshi observed carefully and found that compared with Yahua City, the shops here are generally larger in scale and more luxuriously decorated. Most of the shops deal with various cultivation resources. .
Qingshi didn't enter the store, but just walked around and looked around. After touching it for about an hour, he finally arrived at Liangyuan Square, which was about a thousand square feet in size.
The buildings around the square are indeed more gorgeous and grand. The square is brightly lit, and the surrounding buildings are also brightly lit, using Yongming lamps that use spiritual stones as their energy source.
Looking around Qingshi, there are quite a few hotels and inns. The one to the west called Liangyuan Danhua Hotel is the most gorgeous, with a four-story height and a wide facade. The bluestone went straight away.
As we got closer, we saw that the hotel was brilliant and gorgeous, but there were not many people inside. Two waiters wearing purple satin jackets stood on both sides of the door. When they saw Qingshi approaching, the man on the left hurriedly came forward to greet him.
The waiter led Qingshi through the hall to the counter. A young beauty at the counter introduced her attentively, and Qingshi chose a suite on the third floor. Once inside, there were two rooms with bathing and sanitary facilities, and 500 low-grade spiritual stones per day.
Qingshi followed the waiter to the room, which was indeed extremely luxurious, so he settled down to rest.
For more than two years, Qingshi has been working hard to refine his true energy, just hoping to awaken the mysterious soul body, but unexpectedly, he almost exhausted his resources and failed to succeed. With a change of thinking, Qingshi came to the county to look for opportunities to obtain resources.
According to the plan, Qingshi has to do several things.
The first is to go to the Alchemist Guild in the county to get a qualification certificate. There are many benefits to joining the Alchemist Guild, and Shopkeeper Cao explained them clearly to him.
In this world of cultivators where the jungle preys on the strong, it is difficult for casual cultivators to have a future. Monks generally join various forces, such as families, sects, city-states, armies, various professional guilds, etc., but the purpose is the same, that is Get safe shelter and obtain training resources.
Qingshi's cultivation level is too low and he has no background. Joining the Alchemist Guild is naturally the best way to practice at present. In comparison, various professional guilds are the most respected, the easiest to obtain resources and the least need to pay too much. There are so many protective organizations. After all, the three major magic monks are all scarce treasures.
After joining the Alchemist Guild, the way to obtain resources for the Bluestone Project is to pick up leaks and participate in auctions to purchase heavenly materials and earthly treasures.
Shopkeeper Cao said that there are many shops and night markets selling cultivation resources in the capital and county. There are countless treasures in the world, and no one can recognize them all. People with luck and vision can often find real gold from the rubble. Qingshi has Xiao Lou's memory, and his knowledge of treasures is probably not matched by many people in this world.
Not to mention the auction, as long as you have money, you can naturally buy treasures. What you need to worry about is that you don't have enough money to buy it, and you are too weak to buy the treasure but cannot keep it. However, if you have the status of an alchemist from the Imperial Alchemist Guild, you can still dispel the covetousness of some unscrupulous people.
But now, Qingshi has another idea.
On the way to Liangyuan, Wang Xiaotian told Qingshi something about entering a training school to study. Only then did Qingshi realize that there are schools in this world that specialize in cultivating monks for systematic learning.
Of course Qingshi understands the benefits of school education, so he plans to visit the monk school in Liangyuan.
