“Are you thinking up schemes again?”
“No way, how could I possibly try to get back those ten Spirit Stones? Hahaha…” Hua Jian laughed nervously twice, a cold sweat dripping down her forehead.
Could Linglong really sense that? The Little Dragon Girl’s perception was just too sharp.
Linglong reached out and lightly tapped Hua Jian’s head. “Don’t cause unnecessary trouble, and besides, your way of making money isn’t suitable here.”
“What do you mean my method isn’t suitable here? How is it not suitable?” Hua Jian expressed her dissatisfaction.
That’s discrimination. Haven’t I always earned my money honestly?
If others can’t beat me and I take their stones, isn’t that just relying on my own strength to get those Spirit Stones fairly?
“That’s called robbery, and you’d get caught by the city guards.”
Inside the city, cultivators aren’t allowed to fight privately. If you want to fight, you must go outside the city. Breaking this rule means getting arrested by the city guards.
Of course, if the offender is too strong, the city guards won’t be able to handle them.
But when it comes to Hua Jian, the guards are more than enough. They’re not stupid AI from a game that you can ignore; when they come, they’ll announce themselves first.
These are super strong AI units that can lock onto your head from hundreds of meters away—very terrifying.
Risking so much for ten Spirit Stones is simply not worth it.
After doing some quick calculations, Hua Jian gave up her idea of causing trouble. As Linglong said, the risk was too high.
Sigh, since making trouble is off the table, let’s check out the city market. Maybe we’ll find something useful.
“The market? We can go after booking a room at the inn.” Linglong didn’t refuse Hua Jian’s suggestion.
Whenever they entered a city, it was important to observe the local customs and culture—that was part of their training this time.
A cultivator-filled market was the best place to learn about these things.
You could even feel the thrill of scheming and rivalry between cultivators here. Quite enjoyable.
With Linglong’s financial means, she naturally booked the most upscale room in the city’s highest-class inn.
If the top-tier room hadn’t already been occupied, Hua Jian guessed Linglong would have chosen that one.
As for why they booked only one room, Linglong gave a convincing reason—they wouldn’t need the beds anyway since they planned to cultivate through the night. What’s the point of separate rooms?
Linglong wasn’t foolish enough to waste double the money.
They were both girls, living together meant they could look out for each other.
After booking the room, the two asked the inn’s attendants about the location of the cultivator market.
They politely declined the offered guide and headed straight for the market.
The inn wasn’t far from the market; after about fifteen minutes, they arrived at the bustling market entrance.
“Our market isn’t even close in size,” Hua Jian said, tiptoeing to take a look, disappointment flashing in her eyes.
She had thought the city she came from was a backwater, but after leaving, she realized her city was actually lively. She really owed the Linlang Pavilion for setting up a branch there.
The cultivators selling items at this market were rather average. Hua Jian wandered around but didn’t find much that interested her.
Except… for a long, bar-shaped Spirit Tool in front of one cultivator.
“What’s this?” Hua Jian pointed at the fire poker-like tool on the stall, curious.
The vendor was a middle-aged cultivator with an ethereal aura, looking as if he hadn’t rested in days. Hearing Hua Jian’s question, he sighed and began explaining the origin of the Spirit Tool.
It was simple: this middle-aged cultivator was an inventor with lots of wild ideas but lacked talent in cultivation. Even nearing middle age, he was still only a Spirit Master.
This fire poker was his scientific achievement over the years, said to be adaptable to all cultivator attributes, enabling them to unleash powerful moves.
But obviously, the results were disappointing. All that time spent inventing this gadget was wasted. Feeling down, he set up a stall to see if any fool would bite and help him recoup some losses.
Well, look, here comes a fool!
Hua Jian picked up the fire poker, weighed it in her hand, then grabbed its tail and swung it hard a couple of times.
Hearing the whooshing sound of wind, the middle-aged cultivator twitched his mouth, reminding Hua Jian that wasn’t how to use the Spirit Tool.
“Inject Spirit Power here, and the array inside the tool will convert the Spirit Power into a specific attack…”
Following his guidance, Hua Jian finally figured out how to use the tool, but the power was admittedly weak.
Feels like just swinging it around is better. Boss, how much for this little thing? Hua Jian showed little interest.
Seeing this, the cultivator quickly lowered his originally intended price.
After all, with Hua Jian’s attitude, it was clear she wasn’t very interested. If the price was too high, she would just walk away.
He had been selling at the market for days, and Hua Jian was the only one asking for the price. If he didn’t quickly drop it to trick this fool, the thing would never sell.
“Ten, ten Spirit Stones, and I’ll give you the full set of design schematics!”
“But it’s so useless. I don’t need the schematics. How about I buy the tool for five Spirit Stones?”
“Five… no, no, too low.”
They haggled back and forth twice, and eventually Hua Jian bought the tool and the design schematics for seven Spirit Stones.
Shouldering the newly bought Spirit Tool, Hua Jian accepted the jade slip holding the schematics from the middle-aged cultivator and signaled Linglong to hurry along.
Only after they were completely out of the market’s range did Hua Jian stop and take the tool back in hand.
She was no longer the clumsy novice from moments ago; she handled the tool like an experienced user, glancing around and muttering softly, “Isn’t this just a gun?”
“A gun? This looks more like a fire lance used by mortals,” Linglong misunderstood Hua Jian’s meaning.
“Right, a fire lance. But for cultivators, it’s not very useful.” Hua Jian nodded. Without Spirit Power, a fire lance would be quite handy.
But this was a cultivation world. This fire lance was somewhat useless. The middle-aged cultivator was probably inspired by the fire lance and wanted to make a Spirit Tool version.
Naturally, it failed.
“So why did you buy it?”
“I plan to modify it. Maybe I can make up for my lack of offensive power.” Hua Jian flashed a cunning smile, showing the design schematics she bought.
“The Spirit Tool itself isn’t important; this is what I want.”
Hua Jian was actually lacking in long-range attack capability. If an opponent kept their distance, she’d be stuck in an awkward spot—neither advancing nor retreating.
Sure, her breath attacks were powerful, but she could only blow out air with her mouth, and the attack range was only a few meters.
Using an Array of Bewilderment? That’d be just waiting to be ambushed.
She needed to think of ways to attack enemies from afar, and this Spirit Tool fire lance might be a good attempt.
Plus, she liked guns—install a scope and pick off enemies from thousands of meters away. Sounds awesome!
Hua Jian loved being a sniper.
Whoosh! Zing!
A colorful beam of Spirit Power shot out over a hundred meters, hitting a human-shaped stone target with perfect accuracy.
As the highest-class inn in the city, its facilities matched its price tag. An important training ground for cultivators was naturally included.
And as a guest of a high-class room, Hua Jian tested the newly acquired Spirit Tool.
But the tool wasn’t performing properly.
“I aimed perfectly. How did it hit beside the target?” Hua Jian looked at the untouched stone target, then glanced at another target about ten steps away that had been hit. This shouldn’t be an aiming issue.
Even if she aimed crookedly, it couldn’t have hit that other target.
Linglong figured out the reason: the Spirit Power beam was already crooked the moment it left the barrel, so it naturally couldn’t hit the target precisely.
“Also, the power isn’t strong. It’s just a simple compression and projection of Spirit Power—a very wasteful way to use Spirit Power.”
The only valuable part of this thing was the design concept. Everything else was useless. No wonder the inventor was down on his luck, having to sell this at the market.
Cultivators who knew even a couple of Spirit Techniques wouldn’t touch this. Their own Spirit Techniques were harder to use but more effective.
“So I have to improve it. I’ll think of a way.” Hua Jian knew it was useless, and if it were truly useful, she wouldn’t have bought such a shabby tool.
This surprised Linglong. So Hua Jian actually had this capability?
“What do you mean by that look? I know a lot of things; I’m just not an expert.”
Hua Jian was unhappy with Linglong’s dismissal. She felt underestimated.
She was a Swiss Army knife-type talent—not outstanding in anything but with no glaring weaknesses either. A small hexagonal warrior.
Though the hexagon was a bit small (her alchemy was only low-level, and her various skills were just beginner-level), she had broad knowledge and could muddle through anything.
Modifying this crappy Spirit Tool didn’t require much skill. With the full design schematics, Hua Jian thought she could complete the modification quickly!
At least, that was what she thought.
“Your turn to operate the flying sword.” Linglong looked back at Hua Jian, who was sitting behind, clutching the Spirit Tool and deep in thought.
Since yesterday, Hua Jian had been in this state, thinking nonstop except when cultivating at night, as if this Spirit Tool was her lover.
Landing the flying sword in a vacant spot beside the road, Linglong pinched Hua Jian’s cheek. “Snap out of it!”
“I know, I’m not stupid.” Hua Jian waved off Linglong’s restless hand helplessly. She had underestimated the difficulty of modifying the Spirit Tool. She hadn’t expected it to be so hard.
After several rounds of brainstorming, none of her ideas met her requirements. But at least she had some ideas on accuracy.
Sighing softly, Hua Jian looked around. “This doesn’t seem like a main road?”
Yesterday’s main avenue was busy with cultivators, but this road was different. Not a single cultivator flew past all morning.
“Yeah, going the main road means a big detour here, so I think cutting through here is better to reach the city.”
Linglong pulled out a map and explained her route choice. Then she asked Hua Jian, confused, “Didn’t I already tell you this last night?”
Hua Jian’s expression stiffened; she had apparently not paid attention then.
She coughed awkwardly and said it was a minor detail not worth worrying about. “Won’t it be dangerous?”
“The Central Continent isn’t that unstable…” Linglong felt Hua Jian’s topic change was a bit forced.
This wasn’t some backwater. How dangerous could it be?
Right?
Boom!
Before Linglong finished, a burst of blood-red fire exploded not far away, followed by the sound of clashing swords.
Hua Jian looked at Linglong. Though she said nothing, her colorful eyes said everything.
Is this what you meant by not so unstable?
That’s clearly two groups fighting!
“What do we do? Pretend we didn’t see it or go check it out?” Hua Jian sighed, pressing her forehead. She didn’t bother to argue with the Saintess about these matters.
She was just a sidekick accompanying Linglong on their Central Continent journey. Whatever the boss wanted to do, they’d do.
She provided emotional support. The boss could handle the fighting herself.
“Let’s go see!” Linglong had no hesitation.
She was here to train and gain experience. She wouldn’t run away when trouble arose. She was the Little Dragon Girl, not a little turtle!
When injustice is seen, of course, one must draw the sword to help!
“Alright, let’s go!”
Hua Jian stepped onto the flying sword and headed straight towards the source of the fighting sounds with Linglong.
The scene wasn’t far; it took only minutes by flying sword. Upon arrival, Hua Jian stopped the sword safely in the sky and cautiously looked down.
Before entering the battlefield, they needed to gather information about both sides to decide the next move.
They could help one side, or hide and wait for both to weaken each other, then clean up the mess.
Hanging over the battlefield with a modified Spirit Tool that now had decent accuracy, Hua Jian suddenly felt she might be unwittingly walking into another life-threatening situation.
“Looks like a caravan? One Ling King among the guards, two Ling Kings among the ambushers.” Linglong quickly assessed the power levels. “The caravan will lose.”
The Spirit Master-tier fighters on both sides weren’t much different, but it was one Ling King against two. Even if the caravan’s Ling King was stronger than either attacker individually, the numerical disadvantage made counterattacks difficult.
“Two Ling Kings for the bandits? That’s a high-end setup,” Hua Jian was shocked.
Usually, small caravans hired Spirit Masters as guards. Caravans that could afford Ling Kings as guards were mid-sized and fairly reputable in their region.
As for Ling Emperor guards in caravans… well, are these guys from Linlang Pavilion?
Ambushers usually had mostly Spirit Masters, fewer Ling Kings, and Ling Emperors almost never appeared.
If a Ling Emperor did get involved, it was usually behind the scenes, rarely taking part directly.
So this encounter was a high-tier one—three Ling Kings fighting. Wonder what valuable cargo the caravan was carrying.
“What’s the plan? Help who? Or stay neutral?” After marveling at the high-level fight they stumbled into, Hua Jian asked Linglong.
Boss, tell me your strategy, and I’ll follow through!
Whether helping caravan, bandits, or playing the opportunist and wiping out both, I don’t care!
“I want to help the good guys.”
This answer gave Hua Jian a headache. Who knows who the good guys really are in a fight like this?
Just because the caravan is being ambushed doesn’t mean it’s innocent. Maybe the caravan stole something, and the pursuers were sent to retrieve it.
Without the full story, Hua Jian wouldn’t judge. She treated everyone as hostile by default.
“In that case, I suggest waiting for the fight to end first.” Hua Jian aimed the Spirit Tool’s sight at one of the three Ling Kings and injected Spirit Power.
This gun had a charge function that could accumulate Spirit Power and release it in one blast, the most powerful ranged attack Hua Jian had.
Without it, her attacks were limited to a short range, using flimsy vines to stab or strangle—terribly inefficient.
“Sigh, if only I could shoot out my Magic Mist…” Hua Jian sighed.
Her strongest battle method was her all-encompassing Magic Mist, and Demonic Qi was a killer for first strikes.
If only she could shoot Mist or Demonic Qi as bullets, it would make her enemies suffer.
“I think I’ve seen a similar Spirit Technique, but can’t remember clearly.” Hearing Hua Jian, Linglong’s pupils dilated as she recalled Yaochi Saintess’s ancient books.