Bai Xiaochun looked very excited as he leaped to his feet and shook out his arms and legs, then sent the wooden sword flying around the courtyard dramatically. Sometimes it would speed through the air rapidly, other times it would hang ponderously in the air, motionless.
The wooden sword experienced a complete transformation there in the courtyard. Soon, sword qi swirled around the entire area, almost as if a huge wind had kicked up. Bai Xiaochun was even more excited than before.
A moment later, he waved his right hand, and the little wooden sword flew back into his hand. The gaudy sword didn't look very remarkable, but the truth of the matter was that thanks to the threefold spirit enhancement, it was completely beyond what it had been before.
"If I can master both Heaviness-in-Lightness and Lightness-in-Heaviness, then by using them together, I can perform... the only divine ability within the Violet Qi Cauldron Control Art!" Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath, and his eyes shone with anticipation.
"Violet Qi Cauldron Summoning!" Bai Xiaochun put the wooden sword away, then closed his eyes for a long moment. Suddenly, he lifted his right hand and pointed up into the sky. Instantly, his previously invisible internal spiritual energy suddenly appeared in a dazzling flash, the thin strands of spiritual energy rapidly forming into the outline of a cauldron.
It was as if some mysterious power were guiding them, transforming them into that specific shape.
Pulses of incredible pressure began to radiate out from the cauldron, spirit pressure which was even more powerful than the pressure from the flying sword.
Bai Xiaochun's face rapidly drained of blood as the spirit pressure within him was depleted by nearly eighty percent. At that point, the cauldron was fully formed, and was emanating an intense spirit pressure. Bai Xiaochun gestured with his fingers, sending the cauldron smashing down toward the ground.
When that happened, the cauldron shattered, and vast quantities of spiritual energy scattered about.
A powerful boom echoed out, and the ground for 300 meters in all directions emitted cracking sounds as fissures spread out.
Thankfully, Fragrant Cloud Peak's protective spell formation almost instantly repaired the damage. Even still, quite a few Outer Sect disciples who were nearby heard the muffled boom, and were shocked.
Bai Xiaochun took a deep breath. He had never imagined that the Violet Qi Cauldron Summoning would be so impressive. A single attack from it seemed almost unbeatable.
"Violet Qi Cauldron Summoning definitely deserves to be the only divine ability within the Violet Qi Cauldron Control Art. No wonder it can only be unleashed after both Heaviness-in-Lightness and Lightness-in-Heaviness are completely understood." Bai Xiaochun eyes shone with a brilliant light, but almost in the same instant, he frowned. Although this divine ability was strong, it took a lot of energy out of him.
Bai Xiaochun knew that the reason he had wasted only eighty percent of his spiritual power, and not more, was because it was so pure. Any other disciple who gained enlightenment of this divine ability before the eighth level of Qi Condensation would have had all of their internal spiritual energy drained. The only way to truly utilize the technique without incredible wastage was to wait until the ninth level of Qi Condensation.
"According to the description of the Violet Qi Cauldron Summoning, it can be divided into high-grade, mid-grade, and low-grade levels. The cauldron I just produced was low-grade. If I can reach the mid-grade level, I'll be able to form two cauldrons. By reaching high-grade, I can have three cauldrons, then form them together into one big cauldron!" After standing there thoughtfully for a moment, Bai Xiaochun sat down cross-legged and began to perform breathing exercises. It was not until the moon hung high in the sky that he finally opened his eyes, revealing a bright spirit glow in his eyes. As of now, his cultivation base had almost fully recovered.
"A divine ability like this can be used as a trump card. If Zhou Xinqi's fans ever mess with me, I can use it to crush them." Although Bai Xiaochun felt a little bit better, when he thought about the Inner Sect disciple named Qian, his brow furrowed.
"You have to be at least in the eighth level of Qi Condensation to get into the Inner Sect...." When he thought about that, Bai Xiaochun felt just as worried as before. He glanced down thoughtfully at his skin for a moment, and his eyes glittered. With that, he rose to his feet and took a few steps forward, picking up speed as he reached out with his thumb and index finger. A black light flashed as the tips of those two fingers then touched each other.
Cracking sounds rang out in the air, along with an explosive aura. Bai Xiaochun looked at his two fingers in surprise for a moment before recovering his composure.
"This is a killing move... that I can use to save my own life." After some more thought, he came to the conclusion that the more powerful the killing move, the better it would be for him. Now, the main thing he was worried about was the Undying Live Forever Technique.
After acquiring his Undying Iron Skin, he had attempted to continue cultivating the Undying Live Forever Technique, but found that as soon as he began, he started feeling hungry again.
Furthermore, the spirit tail chickens on the south bank of the Spirit Stream Sect were no longer an option. He had only ordinary spirit food to rely on, which he was sure wouldn't be enough to stave off his hunger.
He had searched the rest of the mountain high and low for other spirit creatures to eat, but ever since the Chicken-Thieving Fiend's rise to fame, the three mountains on the south bank began to closely guard all the areas where spirit creature were raised.
The anxiety on his face grew as he contemplated the problem. Even as he pondered how to solve the problem of the intense hunger, he suddenly thought back to the Age-Prolonging Longevity-Enhancing Pill.
"Yeah, that's right...." he said, eyes beginning to shine brightly. Not only could that pill increase one's cultivation base, it also replenished vital energy. After acquiring his Undying Iron Skin, he realized that cultivating it actually required vital energy, which was why he got so hungry.
"I've made huge strides in my skill with plants and vegetation, and although I haven't been promoted yet, I can still concoct medicine on my own. Furthermore, although the cost of some spirit medicines is very high within the sect, the actual ingredients are relatively cheap." Bai Xiaochun was becoming more and more convinced that he had come up with a solution.
"Basically, I can just concoct my own medicine. That way, when the time comes to take the promotion test, I'll be much more confident. Also, it will be much easier to concoct a Foundation Establishment Pill in the future." Having made his decision, he set his jaw thoughtfully to ponder the matter further. The next morning at dawn, he fairly leapt to his feet.
"Concocting medicines requires medicine formulas, and I can get those even without being promoted to journeyman apothecary. All I have to do is head to the market at the bottom of the mountain and I'll be able to purchase whatever random medicine formulas are available." Bai Xiaochun patted his bag of holding and thought about how he hadn't really spent much money at all since arriving at Fragrant Cloud Peak. As an Outer Sect disciple, he was given a stipend of spirit stones every month, which meant he had quite a bit of savings built up.
The truth was that Bai Xiaochun didn't really care much about material possessions, though. He immediately flew out of his courtyard onto the path that led down the mountain.
During the entire time he had been on Fragrant Cloud Peak, this was only the second time he had left the mountain to go to the markets. The first time was when he had purchased the medicinal plant he needed to trade for that medicinal pill. Almost as soon as he stepped foot off of Fragrant Cloud Peak, two people suddenly flew toward a nearby courtyard residence.
"Elder Brother Chen, are you home?!"
"Elder Brother Chen, Bai Xiaochun left the mountain!" These two people were both quite powerful, with extraordinary cultivation bases in the fourth level of Qi Condensation. They burst excitedly into the courtyard, where a burly man could be seen sitting cross-legged in meditation.
The burly man was incredibly muscular, as broad-shouldered as a bear and a tough-looking as a lion, and as soon as he heard the words spoken by the two men, a bright gleam flickered in his eyes.
"Bai Xiaochun? So, he finally left the mountain, huh?!" The burly man laughed viciously, then suddenly shot to his feet. He looked as big as a mountain, and had profound energy, which came from a cultivation in the fifth level of Qi Condensation. As a result, he emanated a powerful spirit pressure.
This was none other than Chen Fei, who used to work in the Supervisor's Department.
These three had been friends since back in those days, and at that time had lacked for virtually nothing. Not only did they have other servants to wait on them back then, they had also been able to embezzle quite a sum of spirit stones. Of course, they had never expected to be literally pushed into the Outer Sect by Bai Xiaochun and his friends. The past two years had been hard on them, and their hatred for Bai Xiaochun had seeped deep into their bones.
However, they couldn't afford to provoke Big Fatty Zhang, much less Third Fatty Hei. On the other hand, even though Bai Xiaochun seemed strong, they were of the opinion that he was actually relatively weak. Thus they had long since planned their revenge. Unfortunately for them, during that entire time, Bai Xiaochun never left the sect. And in the end, even though Chen Fei had some connections, he didn't dare to violate sect rules.
Actually, his biggest connection in the sect was his older cousin, who was an Inner Sect disciple. However, his cousin didn't pay much attention to him, and had only helped him to a limited degree, even in his days as a servant.
Therefore, they had been forced to wait for two whole years for Bai Xiaochun to leave the sect. Now, the moment they had been waiting for had arrived. Chen Fei was feeling completely confident thanks to his recent breakthrough into the fifth level of Qi Condensation. After asking around, he knew the level of Bai Xiaochun's cultivation, and had also heard about him taking 1st place in the recent competition, although the news was that he had won that victory by pure chance.
"Back then he scared us all by tricking us into thinking he had mastered Lightness-in-Heaviness. Hmph! I can't believe he forced us into joining the Outer Sect. At long last, I'm going to give vent to this anger of mine!" A fierce gleam appeared in Chen Fei's eyes. His plan wasn't to kill Bai Xiaochun, just crush his bones and sever his tendons, enough to keep him bedridden for at least a year.
Although the sect would surely investigate the matter afterwards, because there would be no eyewitnesses, because no death would be involved, and because Chen Fei had connections in the sect, the big matter would become a small one, and then that small matter would be easily resolved.
"You can't blame us if he just doesn't measure up!" Chen Fei flickered into motion, immediately heading down off the mountain, followed by his two friends. The three of them moved at top speed to a certain path they knew that Bai Xiaochun would pass on his way back from the market, and lay there in wait.
**
The market wasn't huge, so it didn't take Bai Xiaochun long to find two random tier-1 formulas. One of them could be used to replenish spiritual energy, the other was to enrich vital energy. When it came to formulas for enriching vital energy, the high-tier versions were very expensive. However, the low-tier versions, despite being uncommon, were mostly used by mortals for health and exercise purposes.
Although most cultivators wouldn't find them useful, to Bai Xiaochun, they were like precious treasures. After using his turtle-wok to perform a threefold spirit enhancement on the resulting medicinal pills, they would have completely different results.
Bai Xiaochun didn't even spend very many of his spirit stones to get the necessary medicinal plants he would need to concoct the spirit medicines. Patting his bag of holding in happiness, he began to hum a little tune as he left the market. As he walked along the little path back to the sect, he fantasized about what it would be like to concoct the medicines, and he was very happy.
However, before he had walked very far down the path, his expression suddenly flickered, and he stopped in place. After reaching the sixth level of Qi Condensation, his senses had grown much keener, and he could instantly detect the breathing of three people hiding in the nearby bushes. Their hearts were also racing as they watched him coming up the path.
Seeing that Bai Xiaochun had stopped in place, Chen Fei and his two friends burst out to stand in front of him.
"Bai Xiaochun," he said viciously, "the day has come to end our grudge!" His friends wore equally ferocious grins on their faces as they spread out to flank Bai Xiaochun.