The ferry traveled for a full day and night before finally arriving within the borders of Beiyue.

Chu Xinghui followed behind the crowd and stepped off the ferry.

Seeing that most of the passengers had already disembarked, the old man who sold the tickets returned to the ferry and began cleaning.

Not every cultivator in the cultivation world could summon wind and rain or become a powerful figure. Most cultivators were limited by talent and remained stuck in the Qi Refining stage for their entire lives. Many such cultivators gave up cultivation once they saw no hope of breaking through, and just like this old man, found a random job to peacefully live out the rest of their days.

Chu Xinghui turned back and asked the old man: “Uncle, may I ask in which direction the Wanbao Trading Company is within Beiyue?”

The Wanbao Trading Company was the largest comprehensive merchant guild in the entire cultivation world. It also handled things like hiring messengers and information agents. In fact, even the ferrys connecting the mortal and cultivation worlds belonged to the company. Since Beiyue was a major city in the north, there was bound to be a branch of Wanbao here.

The old man used a cleaning spell and pointed the way: “Just walk straight into the city and you’ll see the company’s sign.”

Chu Xinghui thanked him, turned around, and walked toward the city.

*

Beiyue occupied a vast area within the cultivation world, and as its main city, Beiyue City also took up a large amount of space. From afar, those entering the city could already see the towering gates and the city wall that surrounded the entire city. The wall was built from blue bricks and engraved with intricate defensive arrays. The city stood like a giant beast on the plains, with the cold, harsh style typical of the north.

At the city gates, a wide variety of people came and went, making the place look quite bustling.

This was Beiyue.

The Beiyue Sword Sect always enforced strict rules in the territory under its control, making the city a safe haven for backgroundless rogue cultivators and mortals.

The only downside was that the climate here felt a bit too cold for Chu Xinghui.

After entering the city, Chu Xinghui did not immediately look for the Wanbao Trading Company. Instead, he walked around to familiarize himself with the city’s layout before finally arriving at the company’s entrance.

The company occupied the best location in all of Beiyue City. Its main building was a finely decorated three-story structure that looked extremely wealthy at first glance.

At this hour, there weren’t many customers inside. As soon as Chu Xinghui entered, an attendant came up to greet him.

The attendant did not look down on him for his plain clothing and enthusiastically asked: “Sir, is there anything in particular you’d like to see?”

Chu Xinghui thought for a moment and asked: “Do you have any caves for rent?”

If he wanted to stay in one place for a while, he’d first need to sort out his lodging.

Such a request was very common. The attendant skillfully brought out a booklet: “Yes, this is a directory of caves for rent within Beiyue. If you want to look outside of Beiyue, we can find those for you too.”

Chu Xinghui opened the booklet and flipped through it. It briefly recorded each cave’s location, spiritual energy level, and price.

Out of practical concern, he focused on the price section.

Then he calmly and steadily closed the booklet.

Very good. He couldn’t afford a single one.

He only had 180 low-grade spirit stones on him.

The mortal world had sparse spiritual energy and mostly used gold and silver for transactions. These 180 low-grade spirit stones were all the money he had saved up over the years before leaving home.

And this entire fortune of his couldn’t even cover a month’s rent for a cave in the city.

Chu Xinghui turned and walked out of the trading company, planning to think of another solution.

When he reached the entrance, he was suddenly drawn by a bustling area next door.

That was the task hall. Some alchemists, talisman makers, or cultivators too busy to collect materials would post commissions there asking for help. Other cultivators could take on these tasks. After the transaction was completed, the Wanbao Trading Company would take a five percent cut.

Chu Xinghui gripped his sword and pondered for a moment, then turned back inside the company.

He spent ninety low-grade spirit stones to buy a discounted, flawed storage pouch and a map of the Myriad Spirit Valley. Then he used the remaining spirit stones to purchase some talismans, pills, and other practical items, took a few commissions for low-level material gathering, and left the city with his sword.

Myriad Spirit Valley was a well-known training ground in Beiyue. Although there weren’t any high-value items that powerful cultivators would be interested in, there were still plenty of low-level spirit beasts and plants. If he was lucky, he should be able to earn enough spirit stones to cover food, clothing, and lodging.

If luck didn’t favor him… well, he’d reconsider then.

*

A month after Chu Xinghui entered Myriad Spirit Valley, a cheerful and sunny young man carrying a wooden bucket and a fishing rod also walked into the valley.

Although he hadn’t caught a single fish in three days, he still firmly believed that today he would have some luck.

Just as he entered the forest, a black bird silently landed on a tree branch beside him.

This black bird was about the size of a sparrow, with a long tail feather trailing behind it. It looked flashy and colorful.

Xie Liufeng greeted it familiarly: “Yo, good morning.”

The black bird stood on the branch and chirped at him.

Xie Liufeng had been fishing in Myriad Spirit Valley for over a month. This bird had appeared in the valley on his second day here. He didn’t know if it was just born this way, but the bird seemed to lack a screw in its head, as it always lingered along his usual fishing route.

He had tried to research what species this bird belonged to but never figured it out. All he could determine was that it posed no threat to humans.

So, he gave up studying it any further.

There weren’t many species in this world that he couldn’t recognize. Being able to meet one was destiny in itself. Sometimes, he would feed the bird some unused pills.

Xie Liufeng casually rummaged through his storage pouch and pulled out a bottle of Rejuvenation Pills, tossing it to the black bird.

The bird caught the bottle in its beak, stretched its neck, and swallowed both the pills and the bottle whole.

Xie Liufeng didn’t care and continued fishing.

The black bird, after swallowing the bottle, flapped its wings and circled in the air before randomly picking a direction and flying away.

*

Chu Xinghui spent an entire month in the Wanling Valley and finally gathered most of the materials needed for the commissions.

He only needed one more Biling Snake Gallbladder and a Zixu Grass to complete all the tasks at hand.

He had calculated that the rewards from these tasks would be enough for him to rent the cheapest cave dwelling in Beiyue for a whole year. If luck was on his side, he might even have some living expenses left over.

Today, Chu Xinghui was lying in wait for a Biling Snake that had just entered the Foundation Establishment stage.

His cultivation was only at the Qi Refining stage. under normal circumstances, he shouldn’t have provoked a demon beast at the Foundation Establishment level. But the Biling Snake was rare—now that he had found one, he had to take the risk.

He had spent some time luring a few irritable Qi Refining stafe demon beasts with incompatible attributes into the Biling Snake’s territory. Now, a fight had broken out.

Chu Xinghui sat on a tree branch with his sword in his arms. While resting with his eyes closed, he used his spiritual sense to monitor the battlefield until he caught a faint scent of blood in the air.

As expected, the Biling Snake won the battle and was dragging its injured body back to its nest.

Chu Xinghui opened his eyes.

The time had come.

The Biling Snake was just about to enter its nest when a spiritual sword dropped from the sky, aiming directly at its weak spot.

Chu Xinghui leapt down from the tree and launched a spiritual attack toward the Biling Snake.

The spiritual sword struck the snake’s body and left a wound. The Biling Snake immediately went on the offensive, rearing up and spitting venom at its attacker.

Having missed with his first strike, Chu Xinghui dodged the venom mid-air and redirected his sword toward the snake’s open mouth.

The low-quality spiritual sword hissed and sizzled when it came into contact with the venom, starting to corrode.

Thinking of how much the sword had cost, Chu Xinghui quickly withdrew it.

It seemed the Qi Refining demon beasts hadn’t done enough damage—the Biling Snake’s injuries weren’t as severe as he had hoped. The fight would still be difficult.

But he had come this far, there was no turning back.

He charged again with his sword.

After a long struggle, Chu Xinghui finally found an opening and drove his sword into the wounded spot near the snake’s vital point.

The Biling Snake’s movements slowed at last.

Without hesitation, Chu Xinghui ended the snake’s life.

The serpent’s body crashed to the ground.

After dealing with the corpse, Chu Xinghui carefully extracted the gallbladder and stored it away. Only then did he finally relax. Exhausted, he found a clean spot and sat down to rest.After all, he was still just a Qi Refining cultivator, and this had been his first time battling a Foundation Establishment Stage demon beast. Even though he had made thorough preparations, his spiritual energy was completely depleted, and he was badly injured. One gash on his left wrist was deep enough to expose bone.

After resting for a long while, he finally regained some strength and pulled out a bottle of Rejuvenation Pills from his storage pouch.

He stared at the bottle, hesitating.

Rejuvenation Pills were expensive. He had only bought one bottle for emergencies.

Besides, cultivators had stronger bodies than ordinary people—their wounds healed faster. These injuries… probably didn’t count as an emergency.

After a moment’s thought, Chu Xinghui sighed, put the bottle away, and took out some medicinal powder and clean cloth instead. He sprinkled the powder on his wounded wrist.

Biting down on one end of the cloth, he used his other hand to quickly wrap up the wound. After resting a bit more, he opened the map and prepared to head for his next target.

Zixu Grass grew in scattered patches across Wanling Valley. It was a low-tier herb that wasn’t often used, so few people specifically came to collect it. He figured he could find it within a few stops.

Chu Xinghui was studying the distances between the marked locations on the map when he suddenly heard a bird cry.

He looked up and saw a colorful black bird perched on a branch, tilting its head as it studied him.

Birds in Wanling Valley were nothing unusual. Chu Xinghui calmly looked away and continued examining his map.

The black bird kept watching him.

After a while, the bird finally spotted something it wanted from him.

It swooped down silently from the branch and snatched the storage pouch from Chu Xinghui’s waist.

Chu Xinghui didn’t react at first. He instinctively reached for his now-empty belt and then looked toward the direction where the bird had flown.

Perhaps the pouch’s defects were too severe—either way, the bird easily broke its seal and pulled out a bottle of Rejuvenation Pills, swallowing it whole.

Chu Xinghui could only watch as the black bird devoured the bottle.

The bird then dropped his storage pouch from the tree.

He caught it and tried to console himself.

It was fine. It was only a low-tier Rejuvenation Pill—not too expensive. Once he completed the tasks, he could buy another one.

He was a calm and mature person. He shouldn’t lose his temper over a strange bird.

…But that Rejuvenation Pill had cost 35 low-grade spirit stones—nearly one-fifth of his starting assets.

Chu Xinghui took a deep breath, stepped forward, and spoke to the bird in a composed tone: “Spit it out.”

The bird taunted him by flying a circle around him, then landed on a branch again, flapping its wings gleefully and letting out a chirp.

Chu Xinghui: …

He pinched the bridge of his nose, staring irritably at the bird.

The bird chirped again.

Finally, Chu Xinghui couldn’t hold back anymore. He drew his sword at the bird.

The bird stopped chirping, flapped its wings, and lazily flew away.

Chu Xinghui, filled with rage, chased after it.

 

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