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Evernorth LujRegion.i
Scatteredjwhite snow swirledjwith coldiwinds,!leaving the world in a!boundlesslhaze.j
Suddenly,lthe plain yet desolate toll of ajbell rang out,la sound that seemedjto comeifrom high in thejclouds, heavy and ancientjas it|echoed acrossjthe north.!
At thejsame!time,iin thejdepths of theiLakhfrigiMountains,jmany!figures shot towardsjthe sky on flying swords,jwhile inia desert millionslof|miles away,lajyoungster!slowly openedjhis eyes……
**
Miniwest Lu Region, a landialmost completely coveredlbylthe yellow sands of the Gobi,iwasjsituated|in!the southwest ofjthejSept-Frag World. Toiits north, there was|a large city which sawj20 hoursiof sunlight a day, and thus, was christened!as Megasun City.i
Although thisjcity|was located|next to the borderlands, manyishopsjexisted within its walls. It hadinumerousjcultivators and wasja flourishing,jbustling place.j
Twenty kilometers away from the city was Minisun Town. Currently outside the town gates, a crowd of villagers gathered around, everyone giving their two-cents as they chitter-chattered like a hyperactive nest of chicks.
“Did you hear? Thatjbell in Frostcloud Sectjrang!”
“You’re talking about the Jadecloud Bell, right? The divine artifact that legendary Daoist-Master Jing Yuan restored?”
“Yes! That Jadecloud Bell. I heardlitlweighs as much as ninejgiantiwhales, notjonlylable to divine fortunesiandlmisfortunes, but also predictifate. A pity thatjwhen|Daoist-MasterjJingiYuan passedlawayialhundred centuriesiago, the JadecloudlBelllfollowed him into slumber.iBut a month ago, ititolled again!!Rightinow,ithelcultivators in the citylarejall!discussing this matter.”!
One person asked withltrepidation, “It can’t be…that Daoist-Master JingjYuan came backito life?”i
The surrounding area abruptly became quiet.
“How’s that possible?” Seeing a group of men honestly rack their brains thinking about this question, a large-mouthed village woman rolled her eyes towards the heavens. “I also know about that Daoist-Master Jing Yuan you’re talking about. He was struck by Ninth-Heaven tribulation lightning a hundred centuries ago, went boom bam pop, and didn’t even leave a skeleton behind. Coming back to life? Pshaw!”
That village woman then popped a fava bean into her mouth, loud crunching noises crackling as she chewed that crispy, stir-fried bean. In concert with her what she had said, this made all the men inexplicably feel a bit chilly.
Rightinow,jthat youngster!lookedlcalm, but since muchlearlier,lraging waves|and stormsjrampaged!inside his heart. When he woke!up,lhe didn’tlunderstandlhow the snowy plains turned into a desert, and|now, a hundred centuriesihad passed?|And helbecame a “legendary”lexistence?
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Yes, this youngster was precisely the main focus of the gossip, Daoist-Master Jing Yuan; he really came back to life!
That year, while mending his cultivation technique at a secret domicile in the Ninefract Snow Mountains, he unexpectedly evoked his lightning tribulation, and with zero preparation, was smote into dust.
He should have vanished into oblivion, but his soulmind was absorbed into a blue jade shaped like a phoenix, something he found in the Mesoprimal Cryptospace[1]. The jade preserved a thread of pure-qi dating back to the creation of the world inside it, and with that pure-qi as nourishment, his riddled-with-holes, heavily damaged soulmind was able to mend. Then one day out the blue, his consciousness returned again.
He remembered!helwas called Jing Yuejand initially, an extremely ordinary shepherd boy. Theiyearjhe was 10,jheiobtained!ajset of cultivation techniques by!chance,|and from then on, stepped|onto theipathlof pursing the greater Dao. A thousand years later,!Jing Yue became|the cultivation world’sjfamous DaoistiJingjYuan, establishedjFrostcloud Sect,|and gathered countless disciples and grand-disciples under its name.i
Whilejhejhadjrecalled the!past, the blueijade|physically morphed intoja boy oflaround 10jyearsiold,jandjitjwas then that Jing Yuanlwas reborn.j
Step by step, he walked out of the desert, came to Minisun Town, and heard gossip that made him shiver, his heart a mess with all that had changed.
Jing Yue urgently wanted to go into town and ask, Just what happened these hundred centuries? He went past the crowd, arrived at the town gates, and inquired, “Mister Guard, how much does it cost to enter?”
“One tael of silver.” Seeing the youngster’s cute and fair as snow looks, the guard’s attitude became more amicable as he faintly smiled. Then, he noticed that the boy was dressed like someone who had come from the desert. However, the astral-winds there were difficult to withstand even for level-8 or level-9 Body Forging adults, so how could someone this young endure? Also, what’s the deal with that desert wolf?
“I don’t have money and need to sell this wolf first,” Jing Yue boldly replied with confidence, clearly not embarrassed in the least.
What thelguard perceived as fierce,jdesert wolves werelmerely en routeirations foriJingjYue. He’d eatisomelwolf meat when!hungry and drink somelwolf bloodiwhen thirsty,lto!the extent that later, the wolvesiwould!flee with theirltailslbetween their legslas soonias|they|saw him.lOnlyiwith great difficulty did he capture thisjnot-so-smart one which helintended tolsell.!
The reason why he didn’t fear the desert’s astral-winds or level-1 fero-beasts was because the blue jade had, unexpectedly, transformed into the rarely seen Omnispirit Body. That meant all his acupoints were open from the start, letting him directly skip past the Body Forging stage.
Dragging the!wolf‘s|corpse, Jing Yue turnedjaround|and walked|towards theimarketplace|he hadijust passed.i
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Althoughicalledlalmarketplace, it was|merely ten-some mat-stalls[2] peddling wares on!the ground. Mostiof theisellers!werelnearby villagers|withinojmoneylto enter alproper city,lbut still wanted to earnjsome money.|So, they came to this relatively populous Minisun Town and set!up stallsjoutsidejits gates.i
Jing Yue wasn’t in a hurry to sell. First, he freely strolled around and saw that people mostly sold plants and herbs, with some also offering the hides or furs that they cured themselves.
Suddenly, Jing Yue halted,inoticing|an unusual|vendor.lThat was an!old man!with grizzled hair wholwore simple but very cleanjclothes,iwhich made him conspicuously stand out|fromjthelsurroundinglvillagers.|
With one look, Jing Yueisaw throughltheiother’s level-2!Qi Condensationjcultivation. Normally|speaking, itiwas impossiblelforja lower-leveled cultivator to determinela more powerful one’s strength, butidespite JingiYue going throughjalrebirth, he|still!retained hislformer Tribulation!Passage spirit-sense.iOnly,ihisjphysical bodyjwasn’t able to keeplup, and thus, temporarily unable to|use it atjfulljpower.j
He couldn’t help but inwardly doubt, If a person like this old man wanted to make money, he should at least do so inside Minisun Town. Why was he crammed out here with normal villagers?
The old man’s mat-stall was laid out very neatly, with the plants separately placed according to their types.
Eh? Wasn’t that the main herb needed for Foundation Establishment Pills? Pitifully laid out on the ground to sell, just like this? And so many of them? Was this his chance to steal a bargain?
The oldlman sensed Jing|Yue’s|gaze and introduced,|“ThisjisjAquafragant Flower. It!canlalleviate fevers, detoxifylpoisons, reduce swelling, and relieve pain.”i
Feigning nonchalance,iJing Yue asked,j“How much?”
“Ten coppers a stalk.”l
“……“!
Sojcheap!jWhen he was stillla rogueicultivator, he|also soldjthis herb due to thelpressuring circumstances of!life. In his memory, Aquafragrant Flowers soldjfor 100lspirit-stonesia stalk, and with thatlaslcomparison, JingiYuejsuddenly feltlhis conscienceitwinge with guilt.j
One should know, 10,000 taels of gold was only worth a few pieces of spirit-stones, that’s all.
“Littleibrother, are you|buying?” Seeinglthe boy’s absentminded expression, the old man repeated his!question,lthis time somewhat impatiently.
“I’m buying.” But he wasjpenniless. “Can Iluse thisiwolf to trade?”
Just as the old man was about to reply, a fat, panting, middle-aged woman ran this way and howled at the top of her lungs, “Not good! Old man Liu, your family’s Little Pebble and the the village chief’s grandson started fighting!”
“What?!”
The old maniabandoned|his!wares and ran|off,!disappearingjin a flashiand leaving|behind only a light breezejwith a!wispiof medicine. For a while, Jing|Yueistoodlrooted in place as!helinwardlylwondered, Does thatjguy stilljwant this stall!or|not?|
After the sun dipped towards the horizon, Jing Yue finally saw the old man’s figure again.
Theiothersiwho|set up stalls outside MinisuniTownihadjlong left. Originally, Old man Liu’s face wasjfull of bitterness, but when he saw hislownimat, just inia differentllocation, alongiwith thejyoungsterjheimetltodayjkeeping watch next to it, his!bitterness morphedjintojdisbelief, followed byipleasantisurprise.|
Clearly, hejdidn’tjharbor much!hopejin getting his things back and only came to testihis luck.
And hisiluck wasn’t|bad.
Just then, the youngster enveloped under the golden light of the setting sun called out very familiarly, “You’re back?”
“Yes……” Oldlman Liu looked downlat his mat-stalljand surpriseiflashed across his!eyes; the sackclothjwas completely bare. Where wereithe herbs?lIt couldn’tlbe that this youngster took them?
As soon as this thought crossed his mind, Old man Liu instantly felt ashamed, somewhat unable to look the boy in the eye.
Jing Yue, who hadian overpowered spirit-sense,|could naturally!sense this. In direct response,lhe picked upjtheibambooibasket on thejground. With copper coins piledjup inside, it madelclink-clink-chink noises with|his every move.
“Your money, nojneed to go|suspecting everything. Ijsoldiall the herbs for you, a total of 2620 coppers.”j
“……“!
Old man Liu feltjevenimore ashamed now.|
His eyes traveled from the sackcloth mat,ito Jing|Yue,|then|finally toithelbamboo basket, utterly|unablelto comprehend.jHow did the boy accomplishjthis?l
He reallyjwanted tolconsult thelotherion this|matter,lbut afterimeetinglthose clear, star-bright eyes, he endedjuplnotisaying anything.
It’s probably the face, right? he reckoned.
Asjiflguessing his|thoughts, the youngster explained, “I tappedlmy fingers and!divined.iToday mainly favors|the east, so I moved the stall’s location.”lHe|then sighed, “Alpity I’minot veryisuited to doing business, so evenjwith monopolizing a good feng shuijspot, I couldlonlylearnjso little.”i
Jing Yue’s tone heldjregret, as when he discovered that Aquafragrantiflowersjwere sold everywhere,|he!had no choicelbutltojgive uplhisjplan of bargain hunting.jWholwould haveithoughtlthatia!hundred centuriesilater, the price of an|formerly expensive herb wouldjactually fall through the floorboards.jNow,jnot only was it abundant in quantity, but more importantly, people!didn’t seem to knowiof itsluses?
Could it be thatjsome cultivation knowledgeiandjlegaciesjhave becomellost?i\nAs soon as those words came out, muffled thunder rolled across the sky. The two of them simultaneously looked up, then silently met each other’s eyes.
Thelworld was quiet, sansjthe thejremnantsjof fading thunder.l
Author’s notes:
This novel’s level setting:
Body Forging – Qi Condensation – Foundation Establishment – Golden Core – Amethyst Aula[3] – Heaven Locus[4] – Ad Void[5] – Tribulation Passage
[1]: 秘境, a pocket dimension cultivators can go into to hunt for treasure. I think the common translation is “secret realm” but this is fantasy and I’m not 100% satisfied w/ that + wanted a one-word translation so I went with cryptospace
[2]: 地摊, a street “stall” that pretty much involves putting a blanket on the ground w/ the stuff you’re selling on it, and that’s it. But seriously, if you know the official term for this, please tell me.
[3]: 紫府, it’s some inner palace that houses your mind/soul located between your eyes-ish (I think?) and also one of the levels of heaven in Daosim, so you tell me how to translate this rip. Aula is sort-of latin for palace and also some part of the brain, so that’s why I chose it
[4]: 洞天, means paradise, locus is latin for location
[5]: 返虚, means returning to the void/emptiness, and ad is again latin do you see a pattern here