I leave my rice fields for the first time in well over a month.
My first stop is the quest hall.
It would not normally be possible for an outer disciple to leave the premises of the sect alone. They would need to be permitted to do so in a large group or be escorted by someone of named disciple rank or higher.
However, there is a small black authority token in my storage that holds a special imprint from the Vice Peak Master, allowing me special privileges like this one.
Many heads turn when they see a sleek black flying vessel land outside the large hall where disciples and stewards from the surrounding minor peaks are handing in their farming quotas and beast-raising and taming-related tasks.
I only outwardly show the 3rd level of qi refinement and the mid stage of my physique.
However, the rumors about the Feng Clan have spread quite a bit since the last time I walked through here.
Before, the whispers would question if I deserved my position as an outer sect disciple and even claim I cheated in my duel against Feng Minshun.
Their entire bloodline mysteriously disappeared after one of their young was caught burning my fields.
Even some rumors of the shield the Mu Clan granted me during the wedding have surfaced here. A few low murmurs question what other kinds of artifacts the Mu or Wang clans must have let me use.
There is a pressure that comes off my bones and flesh that I cannot control. It is the natural saturation of Milk Fruits that has seeped into my flesh and bones.
No one has powerful enough spiritual senses here to actually notice the root of this change.
Most mid stage qi refiners who get too close to me as I walk through the main walkway of the quest hall all step back. Their hair stands on end and a slight mental pressure beats down on them.
An older man greets me behind the counter at the back of the hall, and a simple tap of my token is enough to grant me a full week of leave outside the sect.
I request more details about the upcoming combat peak tournament before leaving, and he happily grants me a list of all the registered side competitions being held and small detailed descriptions for each.
–
My flying vessel takes off to the sky soon after, on an automated course set for Lingshi City.
There is a well-made wind-blocking array on this vessel, and it flies on its own without me having to touch a thing for nearly 2,000 kilometers.
It would be a nice time to relax and cultivate, but instead, I keep a constant eye on my surroundings.
I keep enchanted talismans out on the deck, ready for anything, and spend large stretches of time with azure static moving around my left hand while my right glows golden from the sword formation in my arm.
My Illusory Demon's Concealment Art is active the entire trip, ready for any small fluctuation from more Illusory Demon sneak attacks.
These precautions end up being unnecessary, as eight hours later, the familiar sight of a large blue lake in a desolate plot of land comes into view.
The sun is just starting to rise, and I've slowly become less on edge, confident that no one is following me through the skies.
I drive the vessel down into my spirit vein farm.
The simple concealment arrays she's placed around the outside of the plots works well, this land looks and feels no different than any of the other wasteland.
When I land to the ground however, there is a subtle change in the air's qi density. The grass is slightly greener, and after 5 weeks, some of the rocks and hills have shifted in response to the runoff from the imperfect black flags.
I could use up every single saved upgrade card in my storage right now to create heavenly grade harvesting arrays, but doing so feels like a waste.
Instead, I use up almost half of the bronze cards to gain direct profits, upgrading 53 more veins to expand the farm from 107 to 160 perfect grade veins. More imperfect black jade flags are attached to every vein.
Accounting for the leakage, this will now produce 1,086,400 spirit stones per week.
I stop expanding my farm further around noon to conserve my backup upgrade card supply, and head off into the sky on my flying vessel again.
The sun is still overhead when the three high peaks of Lingshi City come into view.
Only about a third of the flying vessel's energy reserves are used up, meaning the full 5,000 spirit stones should last about 6,000 kilometers in a straight flight without using any of the defensive arrays.
I fly straight to the Wang Clan's peak, rising high above the city into the clouds, and land before the enormous Wang Clan Mansion.
There is only a single man standing outside to greet me.
His aura is compact and sharp, and his green eyes stare deep into mine as I approach.
The two-meter-tall 6th level foundation establishment Mu Shouxin clasps his hands to show me respect as I touch down and pull my flying vessel into my storage.
"Welcome back, fellow cultivator Li Hao. My journey to Nine Rivers City was a success. I can make the handoff here if you wish to inspect the goods now, but I believe Patriarch Wang would appreciate seeing such a rare artifact with his own eyes."
The powerful old man hands me two rings. One is a perfect grade silver ring, one I recognize very well as the product I sold to Mu Shulan when I was still a steward. The second ring is a mix of silver and copper, but a small piece of yellow paper is linked around it.
The characters for the Sun Clan are on it, and I feel a very weak seal.
Gauging my reaction, Mu Shouxin responds.
"The first ring you must recognize. It is filled with miscellaneous soul-related items, along with rare materials helpful for later stage qi refiners as you requested I purchase with any leftover crystals. The second is a special one-time-use tier 2 storage device. That is a tamper seal to make sure purchases are given to the correct buyers if they change hands multiple times."
I nod approvingly. "Sure, I'll open it in front of Wang Yang. You've both helped me quite a bit."
The old man turns around and leads me through the Wang Mansion.
We do not head toward the spire where we met the night of the wedding.
Instead, I'm led down into the lower chambers of this estate, deep into the basement underground.
It's far from the guest wing where I stayed overnight before. Instead, it appears we're going down to the center of this tier 2 vein.
Multiple low grade tier 2 concealment and guardian arrays are manually overridden as doors open and close.
The qi pressure in the air grows stronger and stronger until we finally make it to a final room with a single mid grade tier 2 formation covering it.
Only a request to enter is made, and it is unlocked from the inside.
We walk through a cave-like entrance to see a compact 20-meter-wide cultivation chamber deep in the bedrock of this mountain's core.
The floor of the room rests on top of the center of this low grade tier 2 crystalline spirit vein.
It's bright enough to illuminate the whole cave.
The ground feels like I'm standing on thousands of foundational crystals, slowly leaking misty qi into the air.
Every step forward is like passing by another perfect grade tier 1 vein.
At the back of the room, Wang Yang and his Lesser Yang Spirit Moose calmly sit.
Their souls are far more fractured than on the wedding night.
Even as the bald old man opens his eyes to greet us, it looks like this is enough to tire him out.
[Ding!]
[A more valuable secret within the target has been located. Old data overwritten.]
[The Sect has declined his request for a low grade Tier 3 Soul Recovery Elixir. After using his full strength to fend off Jiang Duo in the wedding conflict, his built up soul fractures from past wars have become too unstable. He has less than a month to live.]
I read the updated system secret appearing in my mind, and a raspy voice echoes through the room as the guardian array closes up behind us to make sure excess qi doesn't needlessly flow out.
"Li Hao. I'm glad I'll get to see you one more time before my injuries become even worse. I must thank you again for saving our clan, but also for expediting my grandson's growth. He has not come out of the seclusion chambers on the far side of the mountain yet, but I've felt his 9th level qi refinement breakthrough."
Wang Yang coughs, and blood trickles from the corners of his mouth, but he doesn't react. He simply smiles and clasps his hands together to show respect.
Mu Shouxin takes a step to the side as well, giving me space in the center of the vein.
Both Patriarchs are suppressing their auras in my presence, but they still suppress my mental state quite a bit. Even the unrestrained natural aura of the low grade tier 2 vein below me makes me slightly nauseous. However, it's not unbearable for this short period of time.
My gaze tightens on the three soul jade pendants around the old man's neck, and I breathe in a sweet medicinal fragrance.
The old Wang Patriarch is in horrible shape, and this is even after it appears many recovery attempts have been made.
I nod with respect, seeing he was far less interested in seeing this artifact, rather, he wished to show his gratitude one last time to the saviour of his clan in person.
"Indeed, Wang Ming is my sect brother. You have been a great help to me too, as it appears you've brought me something I couldn't get my hands on in the outer sect."
I lift the copper-colored ring in my hand and waste no time in cracking the seal.
The small yellow Sun Clan paper dissolves into mist in the air, and I feel a crisp imprint crack on this ring.
The spiritual copper heats up and breaks open, melting into pure foundational qi and subtle vibrations while dispersing into the air.
Four items reveal themselves on the cave floor.
Three are mid grade tier 2 soothing flame talismans. Each has a Sun Clan insignia on its base. They give off hot auras even in their dormant, inactive states.
The fourth item is a heavy silver cauldron. It has three sturdy legs and rises up to be as tall as my chest. The wide opening at its top is over a meter across, and thick, raised, copper-colored characters line the upper edges. Each one glows with sturdy white foundational qi, creating multiple active arrays that tether deep into the cauldron's core, strengthening it constantly and pushing out an overwhelming aura.
It is an exquisite high grade tier 2 cauldron, with additional fixtures that must push it over the edge to be classified as a perfect grade rating in the capital.
It feels like the unrestrained presence of a late stage foundation establishment cultivator standing in the center of the room with us.
All of our eyes widen in awe for a moment.
I crush an enchanted defensive talisman to withstand the pressure just a little longer and let the two old men take in its presence.
Then, once half a minute passes and my protection is about to crack, I pull these items into my system storage.
Only heavy breathing is left behind.
"Very good. This will be enough," I mutter to myself, and it makes both Patriarchs sigh in relief.
Wang Yang's soul is so fractured and broken that there are no solid points to even track if it's fractured more. Though, this allows some of his broken dead soul wisps to slip out of his body and disperse into the room.
It forces him to close his eyes and concentrate.
My heart is already beating fast with excitement that I might finally have the means to handle that heavenly grade tier 2 martial root in my storage.
Still, I pull out the perfect grade tier 1 ring to peer inside.
It is stuffed to its limit.
The first thing I see is a pile of standard inferior grade tier 2 soul metal and various high grade assorted fruits.
There are a few low grade tier 2 soul jade pendants, exactly like the ones around the Patriarch's neck. They feel like the soul jade illusory demons carry, but with less chaotic soul wisps inside.
Tons of high grade tier 1 pills are present too. They range from healing elixirs to marrow-cleansing pills to qi-nourishing and gathering pills.
While thoughtful, and certainly worth a small fortune, I don't really care for any of these much.
There are only three vials in this large assortment that catch my attention.
One has ten pale blue pills inside. I pull it out to examine it in my palm.
When I lift it with a confused stare, Mu Shouxin comments.
"Qi Condensation Pills. They're only low grade, but they don't appear much this far from the capital. A lot of 10th level qi refiners take them to maintain their cultivations and prepare for foundation establishment. They can only be purchased with foundational crystals, and they're highly regulated in the Hidden Mist. If too many qi refining clans got their hands on them, forceful foundation establishment breakthroughs could happen without the sect's permission."
I show a small grin and stow them away to pull out the last two vials of unique-looking pills.
Most of them are pale purple, while a few near the top of both ten-pill vials are darker in hue, clearly higher grade.
"Barrier Breaking Pills…" I whisper, recognizing these extremely rare pills I haven't seen publicly sold since the war. The only way to secure more is one at a time, applying for them through the Quest Hall to the Inner Sect.
Mu Patriarch nods in approval.
"Yes. These are far easier to come by in the capital, just like the higher grade common elixirs I managed to collect for you. Though… I do not hold much influence or have any connections in Nine Rivers City. I was only able to visit a few common public shops, none of the private auctions would let me in."
I smile and stow them away while digging deep to find the last items in this ring, three tufts of inferior grade qi grass.
A very familiar vibration comes from one of them as I remember the enchanted verdant steel sword grass Lan Xin bought me a few weeks ago.
These three tufts all feel very similar, but they carry no unique verdant steel traits. Instead, their qi base is plain, like they've come from a systematic farm all to hold exactly the same innate properties.
When I push my imprint into it, an identical enchantment appears to the sword grass.
[Inferior Grade Tier 1 Qi Grass][Late Stage - Mortal Grade - Swift Sword Enchantment]
My attention shifts to the other two very similar tufts of grass. They each give off subtle vibrations, like inferior fragmented versions of my martial physique.
[Inferior Grade Tier 1 Qi Grass][Late Stage - Mortal Grade - Heavy Fist Enchantment]
[Inferior Grade Tier 1 Qi Grass][Late Stage - Mortal Grade - Quick Arrow Enchantment]
Mu Shouxin smiles when he sees my interest.
"This is the final item I managed to find that is almost nonexistent around these parts. I recall you are a proficient bow user. The sword and fist grass may be beneficial too. This grass can be burned as incense and inhaled or brewed into tea and consumed. I hope you can make good use of them."
I stow away the grass and show a smile, reaching into my storage and pulling out a vial myself.
It only has three marrow cleansing pills inside, leftover from my unused supply while training.
They all have shimmering golden heavenly vine patterns wrapping around them.
I toss the vial to Mu Shouxin.
"Thank you for remembering. Even though this trip to the capital was already a favor for saving your lives, I hope you can still accept my small token of thanks. Just one condition, have three members of your clan use them today. Even high grade pills in this county tend to leave far too much residue behind."
The old man's eyes sharpen when he catches the vial, and I sense his inability to even attempt to give them back.
He simply stows them away in his robe and bows his head.
"Thank you, I will choose wisely"
Mu Shouxin steps back to move toward the array panel to open this cave, but I glance at the Wang Patriarch before speaking again.
"I have my own token of thanks to give Wang Yang. There is a way to mend his soul, though it is a bit unique, I cannot have any spectators."
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Author's Note:
One chapter of Five Element Overlord will be posted every weekday: M,T,W,TH,F.
If you'd like to support me, and read 45+ chapters ahead of the public release schedule, my patreon is linked in my bio:)
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