Chapter 3

"In the scorching heat, life is so dull..."

It was noon, the time when the sun was at its fiercest. Fang Xing, with his legs crossed, sat on a cool chair in the straw shed. Far away, Wang Zhi and others were busy in the medicinal field. Some of the spiritual herbs needed to be de-bugged when the sun was at its peak, as only then would their flowers open, allowing the bugs in their stamens to be caught.

Fang Xing, the leader of the Third Spirit Field, naturally didn't have to do such rough work. Since the night he stabbed Wang Zhi, Fang Xing had become the boss of the Third Spirit Field, and even his smelly socks were washed and dried by others.

Wang Zhi had thought about revenge, and on the second day, he looked at Fang Xing with a hostile gaze. However, Fang Xing just smiled and stabbed him in the thigh again. From that moment on, Wang Zhi was completely subdued.

Strength fears ruthlessness!

Although Wang Zhi was known as the leader of the Third Spirit Field, he only bullied the young Daoists around him. When had he ever truly fought with a knife? After all, though he was a Daoist child, he came from three generations of good people, which was why he was selected.

Looking back three generations, there wasn't a single person as ruthless as Fang Xing, let alone himself.

As for the others, they were completely subdued that night. Xiao Queban still trembled when he saw Fang Xing.

Sitting idly for a while was boring, so Fang Xing once again tried to read the Qingyun Forging Qi Chapter. However, after a while, he shook his head and closed the book. It was useless. He had already tried, but according to the cultivation method described in the Qingyun Forging Qi Chapter, he couldn't feel the so-called spiritual energy. After three attempts, Fang Xing concluded that it was all nonsense.

It wasn't just him; none of the people in the Third Spirit Field could sense the existence of spiritual energy. Even Wang Zhi, who claimed to have sensed the energy, was just trying to make himself look good. Fang Xing had already forced him to tell the truth.

However, Fang Xing didn't throw away the scripture. After all, according to Wang Zhi and others, among the ten thousand Daoist children, there were still some who had cultivated the spiritual energy described in the scripture and became outer disciples of Qingyun Mountain. Such people were few, but there were always a few rumors every year, so it couldn't be false.

"Maybe I'm just not cut out for cultivation..."

Fang Xing shook his head helplessly, thinking that the Daoist sect valued talent, and there was a reason for it. Talent was indeed important.

Giving up on studying the Qingyun Forging Qi Chapter, Fang Xing took out the purple-covered thin book from his bag. This small book was given to him by his ninth uncle, and it was also the cause of the destruction of Guishanyu Valley. On that night, Xiao Jianming, riding an iron eagle, descended from the sky, wielding a cold, ghostly flying sword, and killed all three hundred bandits in Guishanyu Valley.

The only one who escaped was this little bandit, himself.

Xiao Jianming always thought that the tenth bandit leader who escaped was a strong man like the others, probably not expecting him to be just a ten-year-old child...

It was also because he was a child that, when the others decided to fight to the death, his ninth uncle gave him this book, telling him to keep it safe, and threw him into a secret passage. Fang Xing didn't hesitate and fled as fast as he could. He knew he was no match for the cold, stern man on the iron eagle, and even the iron eagle could kill him with one claw...

The cover of the purple-covered thin book was written in ancient script, which Fang Xing had learned from his ninth uncle. The five large characters read: "Yin-Yang Divine Demon Mirror."

However, when he opened it, the pages were blank, even when he held it up to the sunlight.

He was sure it wasn't a blank book; otherwise, Guishanyu Valley wouldn't have suffered such a disaster.

"Could it be written with some kind of liquid, like the treasure maps that Second Uncle used to trick people?"

Fang Xing pondered for a moment but didn't think it was likely.

Such liquids usually had a time limit, and this book was clearly very old. The ancient traces couldn't be faked.

Thinking about this, Fang Xing placed the book on the Qingyun Forging Qi Chapter, which was spread out on his knees. He sighed, feeling that he still had a long and difficult road ahead, with almost no hope of revenge. However, just then, he lowered his head and was surprised to see that the Yin-Yang Divine Demon Mirror had a line of faint words, as if they had appeared out of nowhere.

"Qingyun Forging Qi Chapter, cultivation method for the Qi Condensation Realm, transforming essence into qi, can achieve supernatural abilities..."

"Damn..."

Fang Xing sat up straight, staring blankly at the few lines of text on the book.

At this moment, the blank pages showed the introduction to the Qingyun Forging Qi Chapter, not in detail, but in a few words, explaining its purpose, principles, and even pointing out the shortcomings of the cultivation method...

After a while, Fang Xing lifted the Yin-Yang Divine Demon Mirror, and the words quickly disappeared.

He put it back on the Qingyun Forging Qi Chapter, and the words reappeared.

Fang Xing was excited and looked around. After some thought, he placed a half-eaten watermelon on the book.

No reaction...

"Is it too ordinary?"

Fang Xing rummaged around and suddenly remembered the snuff bottle in his pocket. According to his fourth uncle, who gave it to him, it was a good treasure, and the mist it released could knock out even a cow.

When he placed the snuff bottle on the book, after a while, faint words appeared:

"Magic tool, can store mist, not graded..."

Just ten simple words, and nothing more appeared after a long wait.

"It's actually a magic tool, a good thing indeed. Fourth Uncle is indeed the most honest among the nine uncles, though a bit lecherous..."

Fang Xing muttered, trying a few more things, but nothing else could trigger a reaction from the book.

"Boss Fang, it's so hot today, let's get some wine to cool off!"

Not far away, Wang Zhi, wiping his hands, walked over and called out from a distance.

After being stabbed twice, he was completely subdued by Fang Xing, and their relationship gradually improved. As Wang Zhi put it, "No fight, no acquaintance. Though I got stabbed twice, I met a real hero at ten."

Fang Xing hid the book without showing any emotion and scolded, "You only think about drinking. Are you done with your work?"

"Almost, the others can finish the rest. I'm going to buy wine!"

Wang Zhi came over, picked up a piece of watermelon, and didn't move.

"You poor guy, how much silver do you have?"

Fang Xing scolded, threw a piece of silver, and said, "Get some pig's head meat too!"

"Sure thing..."

Wang Zhi smiled, caught the silver, threw the watermelon, and ran down the mountain.

Although the spirit fields belonged to the Daoist sect, they were managed by Daoist children, who were essentially ordinary people. They did physical labor, so drinking and eating meat were not forbidden. There was even a small town about seven or eight miles away, where many things could be bought, though they were more expensive than in the secular world. Most of the customers were the Daoist children managing the fields.

Fang Xing wasn't just a ruthless person; he knew when to give some rewards, like often inviting these people to drink.

The Daoist children received three taels of silver as monthly wages, but before Fang Xing came, all the money went to Wang Zhi. After Fang Xing arrived, the money went to him. Fortunately, Fang Xing wasn't a miser. Although he took the money, he shared the wine and meat with everyone, unlike Wang Zhi, who used to enjoy it alone.

In short, he took the money to show his status.

After Wang Zhi left, Fang Xing began to think about the Yin-Yang Divine Demon Mirror. The more he thought, the more mysterious it seemed. He guessed that the book had some kind of appraisal ability, but it didn't work on everything. From the current experiments, it seemed to work only on things related to the Daoist sect or spirituality, such as cultivation methods and magical tools...

"Ah, it's useless. Can I become a treasure appraiser?"

Fang Xing thought for a while and felt a bit discouraged. No matter how powerful the book was, it wasn't very useful to him!

"Hehe, I've picked a few more Room Treasure, another small fortune if I can sell them..."

At this moment, a cheerful voice came from not far away. It was Xiao Queban and Diaosi returning.

Xiao Queban held a few green and purple herbs, smiling proudly.

This was a companion herb in the spirit field, called Essence-Transforming Grass, also known as Room Treasure. It was a weed in the spirit field that needed to be removed when found, as it was useless for cultivators but very useful for ordinary people. Its function was to transform blood into essence, making people vigorous and strong, as the term "dragon-energetic and tiger-mighty" suggests.

Because of this, ordinary people welcomed this herb, and the Daoist children often sold it when they found it.

"Transforming blood into essence... transforming essence into qi..."

Fang Xing had only glanced at it without much interest, as his fourth uncle was the one who liked it.

But suddenly, he thought of something, sat up straight, and stared at Xiao Queban.

"Boss Fang... I didn't slack off..."

Xiao Queban was startled and almost fell to the ground.

Diaosi was also scared, thinking they had somehow offended Fang Xing, and didn't dare to move.

"Give me that thing..."

Xiao Queban was stunned and hesitantly handed it over.

Fang Xing snatched the Essence-Transforming Grass from Xiao Queban, hesitated for a moment, and then put it in his mouth and chewed it.

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