Chapter 12: The Caravan

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Fang Qing stared at the spring water before him, which had faintly darkened, his face full of frustration. “It’s going to fail…”

To be honest, the failure of his first attempt at refining spiritual water had been completely within his expectations.

What truly gave him a headache was not knowing where it had gone wrong.

“Fire properties change violently, so controlling fire is difficult… but water properties shift subtly. By the time you realize something is wrong, it’s already like a dam collapsing—too much momentum has built up to reverse it. In truth, the mistake was planted long ago… the key issue is that I still don’t know where.”

Fang Qing scratched his head in vexation.

This was the pain of having no teacher to guide him step by step.

Next, he had only two options: either spend a fortune to invite a ranked alchemist to give him some pointers, or smash money into it himself by buying more materials to grind proficiency.

Unfortunately, he could do neither.

“Ah… one failed refinement, and all my savings went straight down the drain.”

Fang Qing let out a sigh, but his gaze gradually hardened.

He retrieved his flying vessel from his storage pouch and headed straight for the Administrative Affairs Hall on Wanbao Island.

Inside the ancient bronze hall, disciples came and went in a constant flow, noisy as ever.

After circling around for a while, he began looking for a suitable task.

“Junior Brother Fang?”

At that moment, a gentle male voice sounded.

Fang Qing looked over and saw Senior Brother Hua Lianhua, with Yu Taohua standing beside him.

Both of them had also entered the Inner Sect, though one was stationed on Wanbao Island while the other was on Formation Island.

“Senior Brother Hua, Junior Sister Yu…”

Fang Qing greeted them.

“What, Junior Brother planning to take on a task? Want to join my fishing team?”

Senior Brother Hua smiled. “I’ve rented a double-tusked great ship—it can easily enter the deep sea.”

If Fang Qing had no other plans, joining a fishing team would indeed have been a good idea.

Not only could it hone one’s combat skills, but there would also be a steady supply of demonic beast fish meat to eat.

Even if the effects were somewhat inferior to pills, accumulated over time, the benefits would still be considerable.

“Many thanks for Senior Brother’s kindness, but I still prefer to act alone.”

Fang Qing declined directly, accepted a task to leave the sect, and departed in haste.

Watching his retreating figure, Yu Taohua snorted in dissatisfaction. “He’s only riding on the coattails of a disciple with a chance at becoming a True Inheritor… Senior Brother Hua, didn’t we already look into it? That Junior Sister Zha Zhu has gradually distanced herself from him—why bother being so polite?”

“It’s just surface courtesy. It costs nothing in real benefit—what’s a few polite words?”

Senior Brother Hua smiled meaningfully. “Who knows… this Junior Brother Fang might turn things around someday. After all, he has mid-grade aptitude, not something those low-grade ones can compare to…”

…

Fang Qing casually took on a task to procure Treasure Fish, then left the Azure Sea Sect’s mountain gate.

This kind of procurement task required traveling to many fishing villages, was extremely tedious, and offered little reward—long considered a tasteless chore.

But for him, having a legitimate excuse to leave was the best possible task.

After piloting the Green-Leaf Flying Vessel for a full day and night, Fang Qing finally landed in a stretch of wilderness and found a mountain cave to rest.

With a shift of thought, heaven and earth changed—he had already arrived in the Land of Ancient Shu!

“Rather than risking my life catching demonic beasts in the sea, I might as well explore the Ancient Shu world… clearly, the returns here are much greater!”

His eyes darkened as he began taking stock of his assets.

“Cultivation level: just entered Qi Refining Third Layer… I’ve mastered the Water-Control Technique, Water Arrow Technique, Wind-Riding Art, and the Heavenly Eye Technique…”

“One storage pouch, with two bottles of Fasting Pills, one ‘Golden Blade Talisman’—the strongest offensive talisman—and one ‘Earth Wall Talisman’… as for artifacts, I only have the Green-Leaf Flying Vessel for transportation.”

“The more I look at it, the poorer it feels. I don’t even have a single offensive or defensive artifact…”

Fang Qing sighed.

Even if he hadn’t chosen to bankrupt himself refining pills, his remaining savings still wouldn’t have been enough to buy a low-grade offensive artifact.

And yet, the reason he had risked refining pills in the first place was to secure a stable life.

If given a choice, he would have preferred to lie low in the Azure Sea Sect, cultivating steadily until he hit a bottleneck, and only then come to this world to seek opportunities.

But now, he was already close to a dead end.

If he stayed in the Azure Sea Sect, he could already foresee his future—repeated alchemy failures, total ruin, even delayed cultivation, and ultimately no hope of Foundation Establishment…

For the sake of a chance at Foundation Establishment, he had to gamble!

“What’s more… I’m only conducting a preliminary exploration. As long as I can find cultivators—or even trading channels in marketplaces—and remain cautious, I can exploit both worlds to obtain immense wealth!”

…

“Go!”

Within the mountain forest, Fang Qing casually pointed a finger.

A water arrow shot forth like lightning, piercing straight into the forehead of a hanging-eyed white-browed tiger.

The great beast didn’t even let out a sound before collapsing to the ground.

“The spells from the Azure Sea Sect actually work here…”

Fang Qing withdrew his hand seals, slightly surprised. “That makes things much more convenient… I can also sense spiritual energy in the void, but somehow it feels off.”

In his perception, the spiritual energy here was thin and subtly different from that around Jade Island, with metal and fire energies being especially abundant.

“Is it because Ancient Shu lies inland? Or is it due to the difference between the two worlds?”

“Forget it… questions this advanced are beyond me. I should first make contact with the cultivators of this world. Before that, I need proper camouflage.”

With a thought, all the true power within Fang Qing’s dantian vanished without a trace.

Most of it transformed into ‘Primordial Qi’ for storage, while only a few strands descended, becoming ‘Divine Martial Force’.

This Divine Martial Force came from the Divine Martial Secret Tome, a peerless martial art that Fang Qing had casually studied over the past three years alongside his cultivation.

At this moment, even if he faced a Foundation Establishment cultivator, they would only see him as a mortal—albeit an Innate Grandmaster—with not the slightest trace of true power on his body.

“Mm… as a mundane martial expert, traveling the martial world should be more than enough.”

Fang Qing touched his face.

If three years ago he had still been a youth, now he had grown into a tall, jade-like young swordsman with sharp brows and bright eyes.

Even if the Luo family had issued wanted proclamations for him three years ago, the portrait would surely no longer resemble him.

…

“Why is Ba Commandery such a mess?”

With a casual palm strike, Fang Qing killed a bandit soldier who tried to rob him, frowning.

Since disguising himself as a blue-robed wandering swordsman, this was already the third wave of robbers he had encountered.

From their mouths, he had also learned many things.

Ever since a plague swept through Ba Commandery three years ago, the region had never stabilized.

A band of rogue soldiers had appeared from nowhere, attacking cities and seizing territory, creating countless refugees and rampant banditry.

Even Heavenly Prefecture City, which Fang Qing had visited earlier, had fallen into ruin, nearly becoming a dead city.

“Three years of plague, followed by military disaster… the plague was the work of the Black Moth Sect—but what about the war?”

As he pondered this, a clamor arose ahead.

Fang Qing strode forward, climbed a hillside, and saw below a group of mounted bandits fiercely attacking a caravan.

Though the caravan had few people—mostly women and children—there were several young martial heroes with decent skills, wielding swords to protect them.

For the moment, the bandit cavalry couldn’t break through.

“These bandits look like former soldiers as well… their movements faintly carry traces of military discipline. They’re divided into several waves, wearing down those martial experts’ stamina. Once their inner strength falters, disaster will follow.”

As an observer, Fang Qing saw the situation with perfect clarity.

“Ah!”

Sure enough, before long, a cold arrow slipped through the sword light and pierced a young hero’s chest.

Blood foamed from the young man’s mouth as he collapsed unwillingly to the ground.

“Third Brother?!”

The leading young hero’s eyes nearly split with rage. “You hold them off… I’ll assassinate their leader!”

The three-foot blade in his hand danced, a faint dragon’s roar echoing as it protected him completely. He charged alone straight into the enemy ranks!

‘At the brink of despair, he doesn’t flee but fights to the death? A real man.’

Fang Qing nodded inwardly. To be cautious, he converted a trace of true power and silently activated the Heavenly Eye Technique.

This was a spiritual eye spell all Azure Sea Sect cultivators learned, used to observe fluctuations of spiritual and true power.

Of course, it was useless before high-level cultivators.

Yet at this moment, he let out a soft exclamation—within the caravan, he saw several faint points of spiritual light!

“There’s spiritual energy fluctuation, but not from cultivators… spiritual objects?”

“Finally… I’ve found a lead.”

Delighted, he then saw the hero roar in fury as he reached the bandit leader.

“Excellent swordsmanship!”

The leader let out a long howl, swinging a ghost-head saber horizontally.

Clang!

Blade and sword collided, and the hero’s heart sank. ‘This is bad… his power actually surpasses mine!’

“Haha! Brat, your martial skills aren’t up to par, yet you play at righteous heroics… dragged yourself into death, didn’t you?”

The leader laughed loudly, black light flashing on the ghost-head saber.

In just over a dozen exchanges, he knocked the sword out of the hero’s hand.

“My life ends here…”

The hero’s face turned ashen. Just as he prepared to accept death, a loud bang exploded beside his ear.

Pa!

The ghost-head saber crashed to the ground, and beside it lay a spinning pinecone.

“This…”

The hero looked toward where the pinecone had come from and saw a scene he could hardly believe.

A young man wearing a bamboo hat was strolling toward him as if in a leisurely courtyard walk.

Around him, no matter whether blades, spears, or arrows, none could come within three feet of his body.

It was as if an invisible ‘qi wall’ surrounded him!

“An immortal?”

The bandit leader’s face also changed drastically, but he quickly shook his head. “No… a martial grandmaster of earth-shaking renown… damn it, even if someone trained from the womb, could they reach this level?”

Without another thought, he turned and fled.

But Fang Qing merely tapped the ground lightly, appeared behind him, and flicked a finger.

Rip!

A strand of gang force shot straight like a spear, striking the leader’s back and blasting open a bloody hole.

“The leader’s dead!”

“Run!”

“That’s not a man—it’s a monster!”

Seeing their leader slain and Fang Qing apparently impervious to weapons, the cavalry fled in utter panic.

“Are you alright?”

Fang Qing looked at the hero, having a fairly good impression of him.

Though he never claimed to be a good person, he deeply respected such righteous individuals and enjoyed befriending them.

After all, even a lesser man hopes his friends are good people.