Chapter Sixty: The Profound Stones Are Not Many

“Crack, crack...!”

A hundred yards away, Chi Xiangdong listened intently. It sounded like snow melting, or perhaps stones shattering. Listening more carefully, he caught the fading echoes of a magical duel amid the wind and snow.

He glanced around warily, thinking to himself, “No one’s come for eleven days—my luck’s been exceptional. But I can’t count on it lasting forever.”

Yet, to his disappointment, more days slipped by with no sign of anyone. Not a soul, not even a bird that had lost its way. This made him all the more uneasy. The occasional sounds of fierce combat from afar proved something extraordinary was happening ahead, drawing all the cultivators away—no wonder no one had come here.

“Crack, crack...!” The sound of shattering stone grew more frequent.

At last, eight days later, the ice-sealed cave—untouched for a millennium—finally opened. A figure clad in azure shot out, clutching a snow-white sphere in his hands. “Brother Chi, what is this? Just holding it makes me feel completely at ease!”

Chi Xiangdong had just opened his mouth, intending to urge him to hurry away, but when he saw the sphere, his words caught in his throat, leaving his mouth agape for a long while.

It was Su Yizhao.

Ten days before, he had finally satisfied the mark upon his chest. Just as before, the mark left his body and transformed into a scroll. The third level of the “Mystic Qi Creation Art” did not disappoint; in just ten days, his cultivation had soared to a whole new realm. Now, he had reached the mid-stage of the Six-Spirit Realm. In the southwestern borderlands, this would make him second only to the sect master in the entire sect.

Beyond his cultivation, he had also perfected the only sixth-tier technique he possessed, though he was frustrated that neither his soul nor his physical refinement had advanced any further. Despite his doubled strength, he still felt a twinge of regret.

“You don’t recognize it either, Brother Chi?” Su Yizhao was puzzled by Chi Xiangdong’s speechlessness.

Chi Xiangdong stifled a yawn and replied calmly, “That’s a Snowy Mountain Soul Pearl—great for soul cultivation! How did you get it?”

A Snowy Mountain Soul Pearl? From his relaxed demeanor, it couldn’t be anything special! Su Yizhao, seeing how nonchalant he was, assumed it was no rare treasure and tossed the sphere into his ring without a thought.

Chi Xiangdong shivered, torn between reaching out and not daring to.

“Get it? That thing? It was just sticking out, so I dug it up without thinking.”

Just sticking out? Without a second thought?

Chi Xiangdong was left speechless. “Get” was putting it mildly—it was more like he snatched it!

What kind of heaven-defying luck did this take? Yes, luck! Chi Xiangdong now firmly believed that no cultivator had come by all these days and that finding a Snowy Mountain Soul Pearl by chance was all thanks to Su Yizhao’s fortune. Luck itself was a profound Daoist art. Could it be that Brother Su had practiced such a technique before?

“Ahem! So, Brother Su, where should we go next?” Chi Xiangdong straightened up and asked earnestly.

Unexpectedly, Su Yizhao glanced at him sideways and asked in return, “Where to next? Surely you should know better than me.”

Chi Xiangdong was suddenly reminded of the very reason for his presence and felt a little awkward.

To smooth things over—and also to test Su Yizhao’s luck—he steeled himself and led Su Yizhao swiftly in the direction from which the sounds of combat had come.

As they flew, he explained, “This is the only road down the snowy mountain. Once we’re off the mountain, we’ll be out of the Tang clan’s territory. Then the sky’s the limit—not just for us, but for you especially. You’ll be free to soar as high as you wish, to roam as far as you like!”

Su Yizhao made no comment, his mind preoccupied with where he might purchase a sixth-tier “Heavenly Sword Art”...

Chi Xiangdong sped onward, the sounds of battle growing ever nearer. Though his spiritual sense revealed only endless snowy whiteness, within an hour they would surely come across the combatants.

He stole a glance at Su Yizhao’s calm expression, feeling somewhat guilty.

Su Yizhao gave a soft snort. “What are you looking at?”

“N-nothing, Brother Su. Didn’t you hear the fighting up ahead?”

“I heard it. But what does it have to do with us?”

Chi Xiangdong was momentarily stunned.

Indeed—what did it have to do with them?

They were just two ordinary cultivators passing by. Why worry about others’ battles?

Chi Xiangdong forced a bitter smile. Some people just think too much of themselves, imagining that the whole world revolves around them—that’s the root of their troubles.

Repeated setbacks, coupled with trailing behind such an extraordinary genius, had already unsettled his spirit. But now, suddenly enlightened, he quickly regained his composure.

His spirits lifted, he charged forward like a new man.

Su Yizhao nodded inwardly, his form flickering as he caught up to fly side by side with Chi Xiangdong.

An hour later, the two of them came to a halt.

“There are signs of battle here, but it’s already over,” Chi Xiangdong analyzed calmly. “Brother Su, downhill from here is Kaoshan City. It’s not large, but there will definitely be sixth-tier techniques up for auction!”

Su Yizhao nodded. “Now that’s the Chi Xiangdong I know. Come on, I have too many spirit stones—I need to find a place to spend them!”

Too many spirit stones? Chi Xiangdong chuckled inwardly. There weren’t many cultivators bold enough to claim they had too many spirit stones in a city.

Half a month later, in the auction house of Kaoshan City, Su Yizhao and Chi Xiangdong sat in a corner.

After touring the city, Su Yizhao no longer felt he had too many spirit stones.

Just the deposit to enter the auction house cost a million premium-grade spirit stones. How was this any different from daylight robbery?

Without a million, one couldn’t even get in. And then there were the so-called VIP areas, which needed two million stones, and the supreme areas, which required five million.

He had to console himself: better keep a low profile!

Thus, he volunteered to sit in the corner.

Twenty million spirit stones—maybe that wasn’t so much after all, Su Yizhao thought.

“The seventh-tier technique ‘Heaven and Earth Sword Art,’ starting bid: eight million premium stones, minimum increment: eight hundred thousand. For your convenience, supreme-grade stones can be exchanged on the spot!”

At long last, with over twenty thousand cultivators packed into the hall, the auction began.

Su Yizhao straightened up as soon as he heard the first lot, but on hearing the details, he slumped.

He’d never heard of the “Heaven and Earth Sword Art,” but it sounded formidable. Unfortunately, it wasn’t something he could use right now.

If it couldn’t be immediately converted into power, it was just an external possession, he told himself.

“Ten million!”

“Fifteen million!”

“Eighteen million!”

“Twenty-one million!”

Su Yizhao turned away in resignation. Upstairs in the supreme area—now that was real wealth!

“Brother Su, we don’t need a seventh-tier technique for now, so let’s not bother,” Chi Xiangdong said.

Su Yizhao nodded lightly; at last, Chi Xiangdong was showing some sense!

In the end, the “Heaven and Earth Sword Art” sold for twenty-two million.

So, all seventh-tier techniques fetched such prices. Would sixth-tier techniques be much cheaper?

An attendant brought out a tray, clearly the next auction item. The tray was covered with a red cloth. Su Yizhao extended his spiritual sense but could not penetrate it.

He was somewhat embarrassed. That piece of cloth—he regarded such palm-sized, sense-shielding fabric as a rare treasure, but here it was used so casually.

The attendant lifted the red cloth, and Su Yizhao stared in astonishment, turning to look at Chi Xiangdong...