Chapter 11

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"I see, so this is the completed version of [Qing-Yun"s Qi Formation]." It was already well after nightfall, yet Fang Xing was still awake sitting cross-legged on his bed, a thin booklet he had received after becoming an outer court disciple in front of him. The difference between this one and the last wasn"t huge: this completed version included such things as how to use the help of Spirit Stones to increase the flow of Qi, and the elders of the sect had left various comments and methods of training.

The simplified version handed down to the daotong was only there to see if someone was able to cultivate any Qi at all; there were no in-depth a.n.a.lyses of the tiers and stages. Besides, as a regular daotong, they would be sent down to the villages once they"d worked at the sect for ten years and the simplified version would come into the hands of the ordinary people at the same time. Without including more details, comments, and methods, there was no risk of exposing the actual means used for cultivation within the Qing-Yun Sect.

Not even the outer court disciples had it easy. If they did not break through tier two within three years, they would also be sent down to the village, and even once they"d made it through, they would only be given another three years for tier three and five years after that for tier four. The sect was not a charity that keeps freeloaders.

The sect wouldn"t force anybody to leave, of course, but those who decided to overstay would have their resources drastically cut down. In order to obtain all of the cultivation resources required to advance, it would be necessary to either take up dangerous sect missions or apply to work at one of the various departments within the sect like Yu, who works at the Miscellaneous Department for a petty amount of resources and wages.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Still sitting cross-legged, Fang Xing closed his eyes and began practicing Qi fluctuations. Beside him, a red Spirit Stone -- floating in mid-air -- shone brightly to the rhythm of his breaths.

This was a method described in his new manual. It was possible to practice Qi fluctuations much faster and smoother with the aid of an outside spiritual source, such as a Spirit Stone.

Ever since Fang Xing had become a real disciple at the sect, he no longer used the method of Hwa"jin; it was far too destructive to his body to outweigh the gains, and if he were to continue consuming Hwa"jin, he would be unlikely to live past twenty years old. It was nothing more than a shortcut, both to cultivation and to the end of his life. Even at his current age, strands of gray hair could already be seen thanks to the excessive consumption of the weed.

For those that were endowed with great zi"zhi, Qi fluctuations could be easily acc.u.mulated through simple breathing exercises even without any external help, though unfortunately this was not the case for those like Fang Xing. Without using the weed, the next fastest method was through Spirit Stones or medicinal pills and elixirs, but since pills and elixirs were far more difficult to obtain, most cultivators typically only used them to break through a bottleneck. A Spirit Stone, on the other hand, contained a large amount of concentrated Qi within itself, and the method described in the new manual allowed Fang Xing to withdraw the Qi within the Stone to use while practicing Qi fluctuations.

This method did not hurt the host or -- in this case -- Fang Xing"s body; on the contrary, it would actually improve his mind and health, increasing lifespan and longevity. Though this method was far more gentle, however, it was also much slower in achieving higher tiers than the method using Hwa"jin, and Spirit Stones were perhaps more valuable when used as a currency than as cultivation materials. To lavishly rely on mostly Spirit Stones for Qi fluctuations would usually require an entire family fortune -- or sometimes even entire clans and sects -- to support such monstrous consumption.

Even with that being said, it was definitely far more appealing than dying at the age of twenty!

As of right now, Fang Xing was still quite new to this method. Estimating that the stone would likely last no more than ten days with his current usage, he looked slightly troubled; with the small amount of Qi that he had already acc.u.mulated, if he did not acc.u.mulate more within fifty days, his progress would actually start to go backward.

It was similar to when someone has just eaten: they would have energy for the rest of the day, but if no one fed them for the next few days, they would no longer have any more energy. Even worse, they would likely have even less energy than what they had started with.

It was already the seventh year in the outer court for Yu and, due to not having enough resources, he had gotten close to the second tier but had never actually managed to make it through. There had already been two times that he had almost been sent down to the village, but both times he somehow managed to bribe his way to stay and was now working ever so cautiously and conscientiously at the Miscellaneous Department.

Unfortunately, the more he did so, the less likely he would be able to gain extra income for the purpose of cultivation or have any time to actually practice Qi.

"No, I can"t be like this forever or I"ll turn into another s.h.i.+xiong Zhu (Yu). I must do something…" Fang Xing spoke softly to himself, his eyes opening suddenly while the Spirit Stone -- no longer s.h.i.+ning with a bright red light -- dropped into his lap.

Laying the Spirit Stone in his palm, Fang Xing began to think to himself, "There"s over thousands of outer court disciples, and I"m sure there are plenty of those with rich families and clans behind them… Most of them may also be D-Ranked, but they"re rich, so even if they ran out of Spirit Stones, they could afford it with silvers and golds. But I"m penniless…

Unless…"

The bright moon hung innocently above the entire land of the Qing-Yun Sect, most of its pupils either heavily asleep or quietly practicing their breathing exercises. No one would have thought that at this moment, their ten-year-old s.h.i.+di was scheming something that involved their fortunes.

"s.h.i.+di Fang! Are you there?"

Two weeks had pa.s.sed since Fang Xing had become a real disciple at the sect and the only Spirit Stone he had was already completely used up. Just as Fang Xing was staring blankly into s.p.a.ce, someone from outside called his name: it was none other than the plump Taoist Yu with a jug of wine and a bundle covered in lotus leaves in his hands.

While Yu was always seen bossing around the daotong, within the outer court circle no one seemed to want to befriend him; not only was his cultivation level so low, but he was also quite poor. Now that Fang Xing seemed to not mind him, he would come to drink and chat with him, and it was already the second time that Yu had come to visit him in the past couple of weeks.

The rest of the disciples, however, would laugh at Yu"s actions of befriending a ten-year old child, especially since Yu was well in his thirties. Yet Yu didn"t mind; he had never had someone with whom he could eat and drink and laugh with until now.

"Come in, s.h.i.+xiong Zhu!" Fang Xing warmly greeted Yu to enter, but his body was so lazy that only his mouth bothered to move.

"I"ve told you so many times: my name is not Zhu, it"s Yu! Why can"t you remember it…?" As Yu walked in, he placed the wine and the bundle of lotus leaves on the table. With the leaves unwrapped, a roasted whole chicken was revealed, and even before Yu had filled up the wine, Fang Xing had already started sending the meat down his throat.

"By the way, s.h.i.+xiong Zhu, what did you say about this Black Market thing among us outer disciples?" With his mouth half-full, Fang Xing could not wait any longer to ask.

"It"s not Zhu, it"s Yu! Look at my mouth when I speak… YU!" Shaping his mouth like that of a fish, Yu then continued, "About that Black Market, well, even within the outer court there are plenty of people with money or some pretty neat stuff that they don"t need. So a group of them started this Black Market where everyone can exchange for the stuff they actually need.

The sect rules don"t actually allow private exchange markets since we are supposed to exchange for items we need with the sect, but the exchange rates are so much worse and the items required for exchange are not always what we have or can easily get…. And then there"s also those people who want to get rid of things that weren"t obtained through regular methods… so the Black Market happened.

No one knows who you are. Everyone goes disguised and n.o.body will ever ask for your ident.i.ty or how you got the item."

"I see. Keep an eye out for me about the next Black market," Fang Xing asked, nodding his head.

"Why the h.e.l.l do you need to know this? Do you even know how poor you are? Are you going to magically have something expensive to trade now? Do you know who has been paying for all of your expenses in the past month!" Raising his voice, Yu poured Fang Xing more wine into his bowl.

"Just do as I say. It"s only like a hundred silver taels; how stingy can you get! Just you watch, I"ll give you back double…"

"One hundred and TEN! Pfft, I don"t care if you give it back to me or not anymore… I know you"re poor as dirt.… Let"s just drink."

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