[Word Count 1827]
Despite carrying 6 huge bags filled with various parts of both Wild Beasts and Deadly Beasts on his back, Zhao Wei wasn't in the least disturbed by the weight he was carrying.
When he reached Sun Feather City, he quickly found a shop that bought rare materials and that included the various parts of the deceased beasts that he had hunted.
He looked quite conspicuous with the huge bags hanging on his back but he wasn't the only one acting like a porter in such a large business hotspot.
Identifying the person in the reception area as the one in charge, Zhao Wei stated his intentions immediately through his silent actions.
One by one, he began to remove his spoils of war from the huge fat bags and placed them in the field of view of the receptionist.
The receptionist was a middle-aged woman with loose strands of silver hair sticking out of her forehead. The numerous worry lines on her forehead showed that she was an aging woman.
As a receptionist, she was already accustomed to most types of customers coming to do business in the shop. So seeing the straightforwardness of Zhao Wei, she didn't feel that it was strange or rude since he was strictly there to do business.
Also she could easily recognize that Zhao Wei was from the Zhao Clan, one of the ruling clans in Sun Feather City.
"Skin of the Three-Headed Red Mamba. It's worth 1100 pieces of silver." The receptionist was surprised but she didn't let it show on her face.
It seemed that the customer was quite a capable hunter as the way the skin of such a dreadful beast had been carved out was near perfect and hadn't been damaged.
Not to add the fact that most cultivators avoided the Three-Headed Red Mamba at all costs hence its rarity in the market.
"Silver-furred Wolf canines… worth six hundred pieces of silver."
"Blue horned lizard… worth four hundred pieces of silver."
There were so many materials being listed out together with their respective prices whenever Zhao Wei removed his spoils of war from the bags.
By the time he had depleted everything that he didn't need from those bags, there was only shock and disbelief on the face of the normally stone-faced receptionist.
"Y-You… Did you hunt all of them by yourself? Even those deadly beasts?!" The receptionist asked with a shaking voice. She felt as if her worldview had been overturned considering that there were even Deadly Beasts included and not just any normal Deadly Beasts but the most ferocious and dangerous ones that could easily kill a fourth rank martial artist.
Zhao Wei, on the other hand, wasn't fazed by her open shock and questioning look.
"Tell me the total," He replied blandly, not bothered to answer her question.
"U-Uh, sorry about my unsavory act… all of your spoils including the Deadly Beasts totals to a price worth… 55000 pieces of silver!" The middle-aged receptionist composed herself well before telling him the total value of his spoils of war.
That was a huge sum of money to even an employee like her. With that kind of money, a mortal family would literally be swimming in riches and never worry about basic necessities for a few years if well managed.
The receptionist skillfully removed the well-arranged silver coins in the drawer and placed them in a new bag of holding.
"Now here's your money, sir."
She then respectfully gave the bag of money to Zhao Wei. Her aged eyes were now shining with reverence.
"Good." Zhao Wei nodded calmly while taking his money.
Since his business there was done, he didn't linger at the shop and immediately departed.
His destination was now the Medicine Pavilion. He needed the Body Forging Powder and at least several five hundred year old blood plants. A single five hundred year old blood plant costs ten thousands pieces of silver and he bought three of them and thus was left with 25000 silver coins. The Body Forging Powder cost him an additional 5000 pieces of silver, subtract that again, and you get only 20000 pieces of silver remaining.
He decided not to use the remaining money before doing what he had 'planned'.
'Alchemists are really wealthy.' Such a thought ran through his mind while he was returning to the Zhao Clan.
The Dao of Alchemy was among the list of auxiliary skills that he wanted to acquire during the course of cultivation journey.
As one approached the end of their lifespans, they would not be able to defy the principles of heaven no matter how strong they might be. This type of situation creates the opportunity for the intervention of a respected alchemist. Life extension pills are very heaven-defying and could easily prolong the lifespan of those old monsters rotting in their ancestral grounds.
Such was Alchemy… a very lucrative job!
He was also interested in other branches of the Great Dao such as Weapon Smithing, Puppet and Mechanism creation, and the Dao of Formations. Sincerely, he wasn't in a rush to learn them since he still didn't have access to techniques or visual guidance from their respective experts. One couldn't learn alchemy or blacksmithing just because they wished to learn and in such a small city like Sun Feather City. Where could he get someone experienced to teach him or even acquire precious alchemic formulas?
So he planned to perform well so that he would be scouted by that 'man' who would then be his direct ticket away from Sun Feather City. If he wanted to learn and develop faster, he needed to go to a bigger sect where resources are in abundance. Broken Moon Clan was a place where he prioritized going to, no matter what. It was a land of gold, both in terms of prized knowledge and cultivation resources. But he wasn't planning on being pegged to the sect for long. If all the benefits that he could get from the sect became exhausted, then he would seek for other greener pastures out there in the greater world.
Zhao Wei already knew of the chaos that was soon going to take place in the whole county. It was unsurprisingly the usual cycle of inevitabilities that happen in every cultivation universe.
He didn't want to be thrown into that political maelstrom during which the weaker cultivators were mere disposables.
He didn't feel any sense of loyalty towards the Zhao Clan, so how in hell was he going to be loyal to the Broken Moon Clan?
Zhao Wei was only loyal to himself. He was selfish and egotistical and he knew all that about himself. He accepted himself ever since he arrived to the Fan Universe from Earth.
Pursuing the Great Dao is the same as pursuing the Grand Truth encompassing all of existence. How can someone pursue the Dao without first accepting the true nature of who they are?
***
The sky was slowly turning dark as the iridescent rays of the sun began disappearing off the horizon.
The noisy chirps of crickets resounded like a piece of annoying music to usher the fall of the night.
A cold chill brushed past the lonely youth staring off at the boundless sky. His long obsidian dark hair fluttered freely and covered his face.
He looked like a banished immortal yearning for the highest heavens from whence he was cast from.
His eyes were deep, cold and detached from the mundanity of the world.
"It will be painful." He murmured to himself, his voice barely audible.
If you remember during his training in the Sky Cloud Forest, he had once harvested the poison sac and gall bladder of the Three-Headed Red Mamba. And after that, he had also hunted other beasts with similar poisonous nature.
Currently, he had more than 100 types of poison collected for something important that he was going to undertake.
This was all for what was recorded in the [Divine Celestial Technique], a peculiar inner energy cultivation that he had found in the Martial arts library. No one seemed to care for it due to the fear of dealing with various types of life-threatening poisons so it was just there accumulating dust.
But to Zhao Wei, the [Divine Celestial Technique] was just what he needed - a shortcut to forming his first threads of inner energy coupled with the bunch of body cultivation resources bought from the Medicine Pavilion.
The [Divine Celestial Technique] had several peculiarities that included the usage of lethal poison to increase one's inner energy through conversion and also gaining inner energy through long and tedious physical training.
The huge benefit stemming from it was the accumulation of a vast and purest inner energy.
With a sigh, he steeled his resolve and decided to take the bull by the horns.
Entering his cottage, he started preparing hot water and then poured it all in the tub. Then, he took the Body Forging Powder and mixed it with the hot water.
A fizzing reaction could be seen occurring on the hot water surface as the potent medicinal effects began spreading.
Seeing this, Zhao Wei hurriedly removed his clothes then took the three five hundred year old blood plants in his hands before gently submerging his naked body in the medical bath.
"Ah…" It felt as if he had reached true nirvana.
Without dilly dallying, he ate one of the five hundred year old blood plants and simultaneously started using the [Primordial Stellar Energy Body Refining Art] to control the turbulent potency of the herb inside his body.
The [Primordial Stellar Energy Body Refining Art] began channeling the potent energies from both the herb and Body Forging Powder into his cells and blood. Illusory stars started forming deep inside his cells and the number continued to increase steadily to around one million.
They were now only illusory but the power they currently supplied Zhao Wei was enough to duke it out with Fifth Rank Martial Artists.
After several hours, all medical efficacy from both the Body Forging Solution and the three blood plants were fully absorbed into his body.
Crack!
His cultivation base also grew to the peak of the 3rd rank and if he just formed enough strands of inner energy then entering the fourth rank would just be a matter of time.
"Next, the poison…" What he was about to do was unintentionally going to grant him a basic immunity to all types of poison in addition to some strands of celestial inner energy.
He took out a mid-sized flask from a bag which contained hair-raising multicolored contents. Those contents outrightly screamed hazardous.
"The final step… There is no need to falter. I have traveled so far now to call it quits. Risks must be taken for one to grow stronger!"
Clenching his jaws in trepidation, he didn't stall any longer and drank all the contents from the flask.
And it was then…
***