CHAPTER 18: THE NEED FOR WEALTH

The crowds were thinner than in Bluetop Ravine, but the roads were longer. Dan relied on his senses, particularly the agitation in the flow of his Qi, as he strolled through the expanded city. It grew more agitated as he walked.

Here, Dan observed Ice Demon Cliff’s citizens properly for the first time. They weren’t in as much a hurry as those in the ravine had been, and their conditions seemed pretty extravagant.

There weren’t any beggars. Perhaps they stayed elsewhere, or maybe there were rules that Dan wasn’t aware of.

He had to remember that Ice Demon Cliffs had a relatively good cultivation population. It was very large, after all. Where there were immortals, there was benefits. It was likely that there were even graded alchemists and smiths hidden somewhere.

Riches would flow through this place. Far more than even the ravine, despite being a trade hub itself.

Dan’s qi raced through his channels. To him, it was barking like a puppy. He forcefully suppressed it, a wince settling over his face.

He’d found it, at least. An ordinary stall that sold herbs and pills. He pat the pouch tied to his waistband. Fifty gold coins, still in his possession from the excursion to Bluetop Ravine, jingled as it shook.

Then Dan did the impossible. He stepped inside.

Dan had confidence in his self-control, but that confidence was shaken when his qi nearly burst from his control. He paled, but patently refused to step back.

It was absurd that he, a Qi Refining stage immortal, was having trouble standing still…

His eyes quickly browsed the wares, and qi suppressed, his feet carried him through the selection. Something was off about it, though. The starving, eager sensation that his qi flooded his mind with, didn’t seem interested in most of the displays.

It took a few minutes for Dan to parse the haphazard assembly of herbs and realize the difference.

Herbs, plants and pills rich with standard spiritual energy didn’t draw his body’s interest at all. Even some of the graded produce didn’t get any reaction. His qi didn’t seem to care for it.

The E-graded plants and pills, on the other hand, rich with powerful energies and qi, were the source of his discomfort. Even the Spirit Gathering elixirs standing in the display by the clerk drew nothing from his qi. Dan was even under the illusion that his qi roiled in disdain when he picked up a bundle of blue demon grass, the same stuff he’d used to open his channels.

…E-graded produce, tools and techniques, were fit for Qi Refining stage immortals. Dan hadn’t considered for a moment that he’d be forced to use them, though.

He wrinkled his nose at the displays. Even the cheapest E-graded plant, a glossy peach that reeked of blood, cost seven gold coins. At least, Dan thought glumly, there were a lot of them. His body, too, yearned for the fruit - moreso than it did for most of the goods.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

It was almost ten times the cost of the blue demon grass. Dan bought five blood peaches from a pleased clerk. The loss burned a hole in his pocket.

He had 15 coins and a bag of peaches to his name. He must have been the poorest Qi Gathering stage immortal in the ravine.

Dan was extremely protective of the fruit. He dashed home quickly, idly wondering if he had a movement technique within his stash of manuals, and calculated.

Judging by the speedy absorption of blue demon grass previously, he expected that it would only take a few minutes to absorb a blood peach.

When he shut himself into his cultivation chamber and finally bit into the foul-smelling fruit, his taste buds unexpectedly bloomed with pleasure.

And the energy? Extremely intense. His qi struggled to control the blood-soaked energy hidden in the peaches’ juice. It fiercely resisted his coaxing, and when it entered his channels through his meridians, he felt deathly afraid that it would damage his dantian.

But nothing of the sort happened.

The violent energy, reeking of blood and aggression, acted like a tame pup when it encountered his dantian, eagerly flowing into a spiral around his innate qi.

“What?”

Dan gasped, watching through his mind’s eye with amazement as the blood qi – for it had to be blood qi – followed his circulating qi obediently.

Following his instruction, it gently flowed into his first channel and gradually coalesced into a bloody orb in the core of his first meridian. It was significant progress…

Dan took another bite. Blood qi entered his body aggressively, ready to go to war, and similarly simmered down once it approached his core, like it had seen its wife. It slowly swirled around his core, obedient.

Dan frowned in concentration. He couldn’t discern what had happened.

Then, to hell with it. He was hardly going to do nothing with the blood qi. He’d already spent all his money!

The blood qi obediently joined with its cousin at his first meridian. Dan took another bite, and scoffed down the first peach.

It was enough.

A new core slowly spun in the midst of his first meridian. The channel between the two cores in his body was especially active, innate qi and blood qi circulating through his body in tandem. The core in his meridian began producing streams of blood qi that swam to his dantian, entwined with his other qi, and joined it all in circulation.

His qi, liquid and heavy in intensity, swelled. Doubling in quantity, Dan’s qi formed a unique pressure in his dantian that slowly induced shattering changes, strengthening his body.

Like that, Dan had officially transitioned from the initiation of the Qi Refining stage to the first level. Only nine more to go.

And, he recalled, only four more peaches. He really needed money…

…

As it often did while cultivating, time flew by in a flash. The afternoon slowly shifted to evening.

Bright red eyes snapped open. A light shone, deep and malicious.

Dan sighed regretfully, and rose to his feet, stretching stiff muscles. Once again, a layer of sweat lathered his skin and stuck to his robes.

Three blood-red cores gently revolved in his meridians. Blood qi filled his channels, but it was far from effecting the sanctity of the innate qi in his core. Dan could also detect the nature aspect hidden deeply in the blood-coloured qi that swam through his body, strengthening his channels, his meridians, and his body.

He’d reached the third level of the Qi Refining stage. He should have been happy. Dan was, in fact, happy. It was just…

He was still so far away from his goal.

A knock at the door interrupted his musings. Dan left his chamber, shucked off his robes, swept his body clean with a quick application of qi, and grabbed a freshly acquired robe from his room.

He unlatched the locks, one by one, and curiously opened the door.

“Hello there, is Immortal Valyon in residence?”

It was a guardsman, dressed of the same plain uniform as Captain Rayne. The term of address shook him for a moment – how could he think of anything but his father when he heard those words?

“That would be me.”