Three months passed by in the blink of an eye.

In this time, he had swiftly advanced to the 4th layer of meridian cleansing with the generous help of eight qi gathering pills and one lotus explosion pill as the bottleneck to the 4th layer had been quite hesitant to yield.

Not to mention that each pill he consumed was worth about ten spirit stones each. If one were to buy it from a place like Paragon Emporium which was outside the sect, it would cost upwards of fifteen. If other cultivators at his level were to know how he were eating them like candy, they would begin crying in envy, feeling as if they had enacted some injustice against the heavens.

It is as if all his past efforts had finally tipped the scales. His growth had been exponential.

In just the past few weeks, he now had a sixty to seventy percent success rate when refining. In addition, he was now able to refine 2nd rate pills. Only a few blemishes could be spotted throughout them. It was still a dull white too.

Most of his time spent cultivating was spent expelling impurities, which was a gross process and simply time-consuming. With the Qi Gathering Pills, he quickly bridged the gap between the layers, able to make breakthrough after breakthrough in little time.

His pill refining had also turned into a lucrative business. Even Xing Yi was speechless when he realised how much spirit stones, he had made from his ventures. He was making so much that he was able to pay off his loan.

And he still had three hundred spirit stones left over then.

It was then he decided to embark on a manhunt for earthly fighting techniques. There were none in the sect’s library. All they had were vague records and accounts of their fighting prowess. It was nothing to go off on. It wasn’t just about learning how to punch and kick; it was about how to combine inner qi with it as well.

And it made it a hundredfold more difficult.

Without one, it would be the same as a bird with clipped wings trying to fly.

The first place he went to was the Paragon Emporium. In the past months, they had been nice enough to seal an exclusive deal between him and his ‘Master’. They didn’t exist. It was simply him creating a cover up story so that the talkative women whom he dealt with every time would stop trying to figure him out.

And he of course didn’t want people thinking a thirteen-year-old mortal was refining these pills.

That would for sure make a stir and might even catch the attention of the two nascent soul ancestors of Camp Black. But so far, they were nowhere to be seen.

Being straightforward, he asked them to find him any records of earthly fighting techniques. Getting past all the questions with a mysterious guise, he sealed the deal with a deposit of one hundred low-grade spirit stones.

It was a steep price, but it was a price Xing Yi was willing to pay in order to learn how to fight.

The Paragon Emporium were a large organisation and within just two weeks, they found what he was looking for. And apparently, the man they had gotten it off of was a well-known bandit that hunted weak cultivators amongst the Western Forest.

‘Weak’, in their terms, didn’t mean only Vessel Cleansing. It also meant Foundation Establishment.

He had been killed a few years back and the two manuals, respectively named ‘Southern Dragon Fist’ and ‘Flying Baboon Style’, were loosely bound together with old string and they only had a dozen pages each. They had been waiting in the Emporium’s archives for a long time at this point and with Xing Yi asking for top price for an item like this, they eagerly pulled them out.

Even with his growing wealth, Xing Yi found himself hesitant to hand over his spirit stones.

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They were one-hundred spirit stones each. A total of two hundred.

“These earthly fighting techniques may not be complete as only their first few forms are recorded, but our appraisers have recognised these to be of a mysteriously rich origin. Upon the bottom left of each page is a red stamp, an indication of an earthly cultivation clan whose name has been lost to time. Even I don’t know why that bandit had these in his possession.”

The lady sitting opposite of him continued to explain the two items, but Xing Yi stopped her at when she mentioned the bandit who originally had them.

“Excuse me for interrupting you, but did this bandit cultivator perhaps be an earthly cultivator?”

Xing inspected the two books before him, his keen eye flowing along the lines of black characters.

The lady shook her head. “No, he couldn’t have been. He was able to manipulate the earth element. Earthly cultivators are incapable of manipulating any elemental qi.”

Xing Yi tapped his finger against the yellow, aged paper in deep thought.

“This humble guest would like to see the rest of this bandit’s possession, if you still happen to have them that is. Is that within the Paragon Emporium’s capabilities?”

Xing Yi’s voice was no longer high-pitched and had slightly deepened, gaining a more adult-like tone. The long cording muscles striding down his biceps and bulging within his forearms caught the lady off guard. He was but a child.

“Of course!” The lady smiled, leaving to call for the rest of the man’s possessions.

However, when Xing Yi saw what was there, he was unimpressed. All heavenly cultivator treasures that he was incapable of using.

However, amongst the items was something that shocked him. Upon picking up a small wooden bead with a strange sign grafted into it, he felt a tingling sensation throughout his body.

His inner qi seemed to wiggle in happiness and any stiffness in his meridians began to ease.

“I’ll take this wooden bead,” Xing Yi decided, pocketing it in his robe. It may come in handy later. He didn’t really know, but it was cheap, and he felt that the strange effect it had on his qi might help in his future cultivation.

Paying her a combined sum of two-hundred and three spirit stones, Xing Yi walked out of the Paragon Emporium with both books and the bead in his robe pocket.

Before leaving however, he took a small detour to a small building on the outskirts of Camp Black. He walked with a newfound confidence as he strode past the many heavenly cultivators that walked amongst the streets.

He walked with his head high and a confident smile on his face.

He still had doubts within his heart but with his growing strength, even that was turning into just a dull knock on his door. Buying a green string from a small merchant, he braided the string through the hole in the bead’s centre and tied it around his neck.

He hid it under the white cloth and smiled.

He left through the teleportation formation and after meeting Elder Wang in the intermediary zone, whom he noted to be a mysterious figure, he came out on the other side in an instant. As he came out of the room for inbound teleportation, an aged voice came from behind.

“Hey, care to spare some time for this old senior?”

Xing Yi stopped in his steps and turned around, seeing an old man with many wrinkles sitting against the wall at the other end of the corridor. He was stick thin and had shoulder length hair. He had a thick head of hair and an intelligent look in his eyes.

Xing Yi guessed the man to be almost two hundred years old, the near maximum lifespan of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. He couldn’t fathom living for such a long time.

The old man stood up, stretching his limbs and cracking his head like he always did.

“What’s with you?” The old man asked, his hands held behind his back.

Xing Yi chuckled, “What does senior mean? This humble disciple is merely on his way home. Has junior wronged senior?”

“No, you are not in trouble. I merely want to inspect junior’s cultivation more closely.”

The old man jumped forward, grabbing a hold of Xing Yi’s forearm with a tight grip.

Xing Yi’s eyes widened.

“What is Senior-“

“Incredible! Junior has truly advanced three layers in only four months,” The old man exclaimed.

Xing Yi removed himself from the man’s grasp. “This disciple feels uncomfortable near Senior. Could this disciple ask why Senior had grabbed disciple so suddenly?”

“Oh! The strength of an earthly cultivator is something else. Without my spells and qigong, I’m afraid I would be helpless against you. You managed to escape my grasp with such ease.” The old man was in awe of his strength.

“Senior?” Xing Yi was confused.

“I would ask you where such strength came from as I have my suspicions. With you selling pills and whatnot I know something is not right. Bah! Secrets that this foolish Que Zhi needn’t know. What’s the use of acquiring a treasure when you’re already approaching death’s door. It is better to gift such an opportunity to the young generation!” Que Zhi muttered underneath his breath with his finger on his chin.

Xing Yi was just about to turn around to try and leave but was stopped by Que Zhi with a surprising proposition.

“Xing Yi, I have heard much of you amongst my peers. Although I am merely a dying old man and do not meddle in the sect’s internal affairs, I have heard much of you. You challenged Wu Jia, a rising star amongst the Outer Court to a fair duel in a few years. It is a death wish but if you wish to defeat him, meet me at my residence tomorrow morning. I may be able to help you.”

Xing Yi looked at the old man, stunned.