Two lifetimes of cultivation and reincarnation had shown Lu Changan plenty of fickleness and heartlessness; cultivators, as a rule, were very pragmatic.
Yet he had not expected that Zhao Siyao, already a disciple of a sect, would be willing to keep a promise made half in jest two years ago.
"Mm. One more year, then."
Lu Changan mused. Considering his identity in this life—young gang master of the Raging River Gang—after two or three years of seeking immortals and asking after the Dao, it was time he returned to the mortal world once and made a clean break of it.
Making friends among sect folk and gathering a few more connections was always a good thing.
In the cultivation world, background mattered.
Sects stood on the upper levels and controlled more channels; when some great upheaval struck the cultivation world, they got word of it a step ahead of everyone else.
After taking his leave of Li Ergou, Lu Changan headed for the Mu family's library.
In the library, Lu Changan was permitted to consult only basic cultivation texts.
Fortunately, he had not come looking for some immortal secret art.
Even the Mu family's clan-guarding technique would hardly have been worth his notice.
He had come for books on geography.
From the memories of this life, he had already confirmed that this cultivation territory was different from those of his first two lives.
Half an hour later.
Lu Changan walked out of the library wearing a thoughtful look.
"The Great Qing cultivation world... Liang Kingdom... Chen Kingdom... Feng Kingdom..."
In the library, information reaching beyond the borders of Liang Kingdom was very thin.
This cultivation territory was called "Great Qing."
It was vast, holding more than a hundred kingdoms.
Not every kingdom had a spirit vein of the third rank or above; in some small kingdoms the cultivation civilization was rather backward, and the Core Formation stage was the ceiling.
Medium and large kingdoms all had fourth-rank spirit veins, enough to support Nascent Soul cultivation.
Liang Kingdom, where he now stood, counted only as a mid-sized kingdom. Its strongest power was called Lihuo Palace, watched over by a Nascent Soul True Lord; it was the master of this region.
Beneath Lihuo Palace were the four great sects, each holding several Core Formation adepts.
Golden Cloud Valley was one of them.
Close behind them came the seven great cultivation clans, the strongest crop of cultivation families in Liang Kingdom.
Each of the seven had a long heritage, and at the very least a false-core adept and several Foundation Establishment cultivators.
They were more than ten times stronger than the Mu family of Feiyue Lake.
"One palace, four sects, seven clans..."
Lu Changan roughly mapped out the shape of Liang Kingdom's cultivation world.
The Mu family he belonged to counted as a power at the very bottom of that world, only a cut above lone cultivators and Qi Refining clans.
"Is this territory of Great Qing in the same world as the 'Tianheng Continent' of my past life?"
Lu Changan could not conclude. He would probably have to reach a high realm before he could be sure.
In his previous life, it was only when he had cultivated to the Core Formation stage that he learned the vast territory where he lived, called Dakun, was merely a remote corner of the Tianheng Continent.
Rumor had it that in the truly flourishing great territories of the Tianheng Continent there were fifth-rank spirit veins, where in theory a Spirit Transformation cultivator might be born.
Several months later.
Lu Changan opened his eyes from meditation. The Evergreen mana within him had advanced at a placid, unhurried pace.
"Without pills to assist me, at this rate it will take me three or four years to rise to the third layer of Qi Refining."
And that was without counting bottlenecks.
Lu Changan was walking the path a second time, after all; in the Qi Refining stage, bottlenecks could be ignored.
The Evergreen Art had to draw in the qi of the years and carried a life-extending effect, so Lu Changan could well understand its slow progress.
"The cultivation world shifts like weather, and worldly affairs are impermanent. My cultivation is slow on top of it—I need some means of guarding the Dao."
Lu Changan knew to think of danger while at peace.
Never mind that his cultivation looked steady now, the waters calm and still—
the next moment the Mu family might be facing utter annihilation.
Lu Changan had lived through such things in his previous life.
As for guarding the Dao, Lu Changan was a martial grandmaster, which added to his chances of survival.
"A martial grandmaster has to close to arm's length to threaten a Qi Refining cultivator. That is the limitation."
Lu Changan mused.
"Then why not train a hand at hidden weapons?"
The Heavenly Finger Flick he had used to kill that third-layer Zheng cultivator last time could be paired with hidden weapons.
Hidden weapons, tipped with the cultivation world's deadly poisons, might achieve something no one could anticipate.
Of course, the real means of guarding the Dao still had to come from the immortal path.
"So I'm to take up the trade of my first two lives again."
Lu Changan smiled knowingly.
Two years ago, newly entered into the first layer of Qi Refining, his mana had been far too weak. Now, at the second layer, he could put his ideas into practice.
In his first life he had been a talisman master of exquisite skill.
In his second, across several hundred years of time, he had become a third-rank talisman master.
Talismans were a fine choice, whether for guarding the Dao or for earning spirit stones.
His course set, Lu Changan needed to prepare the materials and tools for drawing talismans.
He had expected buying the materials to be something of a hassle.
Before long, he learned from Li Ergou that Feiyue Villa held a small clan trade fair in the middle of every month.
The fair was held at the villa's September Pavilion.
Seven days later, the moon was full.
Lu Changan and Li Ergou arrived at September Pavilion.
September Pavilion was built over a stream, all antique charm—kiosks and waterside terraces, secluded and refined.
On kiosk after kiosk, Mu clansmen had set out their stalls, their goods laid on stone tables.
There were not many people; stallholders included, no more than a few dozen. Some of them were not cultivators at all, but the direct descendants of cultivators in the clan.
The Mu family's whole body of cultivators numbered only a hundred or so, after all.
Lu Changan wandered past a few kiosks.
The stallholders not only sold goods but also sought to buy certain cultivation resources.
At two or three of the stalls, talisman paper, cinnabar and talisman brushes were for sale.
But the quality was a little worse than Lu Changan had expected, and the goods were scattered; no single seller could supply his full needs.
"I'll sell a few things off for spirit stones first."
Lu Changan found an empty kiosk and laid out for sale the shoddy magic treasure and the one Wind-Walking Talisman he had taken off the Zheng cultivator he killed.
"Brother Lu, why are you selling your magic treasure? If you're short on spirit stones, I can lend you some."
Li Ergou's expression changed.
"No need. I have my own plans."
A shoddy magic treasure meant little to Lu Changan.
Better to turn it into spirit stones, earn more through talisman craft, and add to his means of guarding the Dao.
Lu Changan was a new face here.
A few curious Mu clansmen drifted over to look at his stall; most lost interest and asked only idle questions.
After waiting a good while, he finally met a sincere buyer.
"How much for this iron-sword magic treasure?" The speaker was a withered old man, past sixty, at the third layer of Qi Refining.
Lu Changan named his price: "Forty spirit stones."
"Too expensive! An ordinary low-grade magic treasure goes for only fifty or sixty spirit stones. This junk of yours will break after a long spell of fighting..."
The old man knitted his brows and started picking flaws.
Lu Changan smiled. Isn't he just angling to haggle?
"You're speaking of the very worst of the low-grade magic treasures. With a little patching, this one of mine is not much worse than that."
"If you're in earnest, one flat price: thirty-five low-grade spirit stones, and I'll throw in a low-grade Wind-Walking Talisman."
Lu Changan could not be bothered to go back and forth, and simply named a price a shade under the market rate.
The old man's eyes flickered; he tried to knock a little more off.
Lu Changan paid him no attention at all.
"Fine. Let it be settled at that price."
The old man gave a sheepish smile.
And so Lu Changan sold off the spoils of his last fight in one bundle and came away with thirty-five spirit stones.
With spirit stones in hand, Lu Changan set about buying a set of talisman-drawing materials.
"Brother Lu wants talisman materials? You'd do better to go to Young Miss Mu Xiuyun."
Li Ergou made the suggestion, his eyes sliding toward a kiosk not far off.
"You mean the Mu family's young lady?"
Lu Changan followed his gaze.
At that waterside kiosk, two beauties had just finished setting out their stall.
One of them was Mu Xiuyun.
In the bright moonlight the girl's skin glowed like snow, gentle and warm as jade; her silken skirt fell to her shoes, and black hair and hem stirred with the wind, airy as light cloud drifting from a mountain peak.
"Eldest Miss is a first-rank talisman master."
Li Ergou did not dare look long, and covered up his dazzled expression.
"A first-rank talisman master? She should be able to cover everything I need."
Perfectly at ease, Lu Changan walked over to Mu Xiuyun's stall.
Li Ergou followed at his heels, his heart beating faster, and thought to himself, As expected of my big brother—not a flicker of nerves before the Eldest Miss.
Seeing Lu Changan and Li Ergou come over, Mu Xiuyun gave a slight nod, indicating that they should look for themselves.
It was the girl in the red skirt beside her who studied the two of them with surprise.
Lu Changan scanned the stall without a change of expression and nodded inwardly.
She was a ranked talisman master indeed: talisman paper, brushes, cinnabar, everything was there, of good quality, and it met his needs in full.
"How much for this talisman brush?"
Lu Changan picked up a dark blue-green talisman brush.
"That is the Azure Record talisman brush, a low-grade magic treasure. Seventy spirit stones."
A girl's voice came to him, clear and sweet as a spring.
"And this one?"
Lu Changan switched to a black brush gone yellow, its surface rather mottled.
"This one... is a badly worn Black Hair talisman brush. Twenty spirit stones. I should make it clear: a hundred talismans more at most, and it will be completely ruined."
Looking at the brush, Mu Xiuyun hesitated a little, a trace of reluctance in her eyes.
"I'll take it."
Lu Changan could tell the brush had good bones, and her asking price was reasonable.
"Then a small bottle of spirit-blood cinnabar, and twenty sheets of first-rank talisman paper."
"What's the price on first-rank premium talisman paper? Oh—give me three sheets."
In one breath, Lu Changan gathered up his whole set of talisman materials.
His funds being limited, he took only small quantities of each.
"That comes to forty spirit stones and thirty liang of spirit sand. I'll charge you just the forty stones."
Mu Xiuyun's face brightened into a smile.
"Oh! I only have thirty-five spirit stones on me. How about we settle at that price?"
Lu Changan said, thoroughly shameless.
In truth, Mu Xiuyun's price had been fair enough.
He was only trying a small cut.
If it came to nothing, he would simply put back a few sheets of talisman paper; he lost nothing either way.
Hearing this, the red-skirted girl beside Mu Xiuyun gave a snort of laughter:
"Hey, kid! You must not know the rule—Sister Xiuyun's stall doesn't haggle, ever!"
The girl in red was quite pretty: fair skin, long legs, a delicate melon-seed face, brows like fine willow leaves, almond eyes and full lips.
Easily embarrassed, Li Ergou said awkwardly, "Brother Lu, forget it! I'll lend you a few spirit stones..."
"You—you're Lu Changan?"
Suddenly Mu Xiuyun's starry eyes shifted and her gaze settled on Lu Changan, her expression impossible to read.