Chapter 25: Trade

Chapter 25: The Transaction

Shang Yunduo "whipped" out his sword.

"Wait! Cultivator, wait! I'm not hostile!" The old man in the tree quickly waved his hands to stop him, showing Shang Yunduo that his hands were empty, no weapons, no hostility.

Shang Yunduo stared at him, startled: "When did you hide in the tree?"

The old man said sheepishly, "Just a bit earlier than you, fellow cultivator. I'd just hidden myself when I saw you enter the stone forest. I thought you were also looking for a place to spend the night, and to avoid any misunderstandings, I kept quiet."

He just didn't expect that Shang Yunduo, though looking young, would be so perceptive. He'd spent the whole night in the tree, sore and aching all over, and only wanted to rub his waist when the couple left. That sigh was as quiet as could be—how had he been discovered?

He was cursing his luck silently.

But Shang Yunduo was stunned. He came before me?

Yes, if he'd come after me and then climbed the tree, there's no way he'd have missed it.

But when he'd decided to crash here, he had also checked the surroundings and hadn't caught anyone hiding in that tree at all.

Not just him—the couple before must've checked too, and they hadn't noticed either.

They stared at each other.

Neither could detect the other's cultivation since both had suppressed their spiritual energy. Shang Yunduo still had his Mirage Lizard Cloak, but he looked closely at the old man. His clothes weren't magic tools, and he wore nothing special. Had he just used leaves and branches to hide?

A wilderness survivalist from a cultivation novel?

Noticing Shang Yunduo was curious and cautious, not hostile, the old man spoke first: "I am an outer disciple of the Step Void Palace's Scripture-Sweeping Hall, Lou Dengge. May I ask your name, cultivator...?"

Step Void Palace?

Didn't ring a bell. He vaguely remembered hearing it was a sect good at alchemy.

Lou Dengge... 'Climb the Pavilion'?

Whoa, what a name! Shang Yunduo thought ironically, but said cautiously, "My last name is Shang."

"Ah, Daoist Shang then," the old man cupped his hands. "Mind if I come down first and pay my respects? This night made me stiff all over. Bet you couldn't rest either."

Shang Yunduo: "..."

It was already awkward enough spying on someone's private talk, but then finding another guy hiding nearby—the awkwardness didn't fade; it doubled.

"Alright, come down first," he said, clearing his throat and watching the old man.

Lou Dengge then took down the branches he'd set around himself, loosened them, and began to climb down, gripping the trunk.

Shang Yunduo: "..."

Stunned.

He's a cultivator—why didn't he just jump?

But Lou Dengge acted like a regular old mortal, hugging the trunk and climbing down with some effort but steady movements. It made Shang Yunduo want to go help him.

But after what happened before, Shang Yunduo wasn't tricked by this fake weakness. Who enters a secret realm if they can't even climb a tree?

Especially since this man had just deceived him for a whole night!

He watched closely and confirmed Lou Dengge used no artifacts. He had truly hidden using only leaves.

However, the way this man concealed himself was very skillful. He coiled around the tree like a snake, hardly breaking any branches, only fixing the nearby foliage for cover without disrupting the natural arrangement of leaves and branches. It looked extraordinarily harmonious and natural.

He wondered what qi-concealing technique this guy used. He couldn't hear any breath, and his body didn't move. When motionless, he truly resembled a tree branch. He only breathed when the leaves rustled in the wind, blending into the noise. This was even easier to hide in than the qi-concealing technique Pei Jie taught him.

He kinda wanted to learn it, but the other guy seemed to have a Wood Spirit Root. He wondered if someone with just a Fire Spirit Root could hide that well.

Once down, Lou Dengge straightened his clothes, walked over to Shang Yunduo, and smilingly cupped his hands in greeting. Shang Yunduo didn't sense any hostility from him. Seeing that the other man wasn't even holding a weapon, he sheathed his sword.

After all, he couldn't use spiritual power casually anyway, and the body-tempering technique he had learned had no swordplay.

Lou Dengge, unaware of this, relaxed further when he saw Shang Yunduo put away his weapon, and asked: "I noticed you were walking on foot last night. Are you also searching for medicinal herbs along the way?"

"Hmm?" Shang Yunduo paused for a moment, then nodded: "Yes."

Lou Dengge: "In that case, why not travel together?"

Shang Yunduo was somewhat curious about his hiding technique and agreed after some thought.

Soon, he made a discovery.

While Shang Yunduo wore his Mirage Lizard Cloak, Lou Dengge also pulled out a large hooded cloak. The remarkable thing was that the cloak, though not a magical artifact and without spiritual power, had a natural camouflage effect—

Against a base of grass green and earth yellow, realistic grass was sewn onto it. For added naturalness, there were mud clumps, gravel, and small flowers. It looked as if someone had peeled a patch of ground and worn it—the cultivation world's premium combat camouflage.

Shang Yunduo was dumbfounded.

Lou Dengge chuckled: "Forgive the crude appearance."

As he spoke, he even plucked some more grass nearby and stuffed it into the gaps of the fake grass on his cloak.

"..." Shang Yunduo twitched the corner of his mouth and praised sincerely: "Cautious! Impressive!"

Lou Dengge looked at his Mirage Lizard Cloak enviously and sighed: "Ugh, these are just desperate tricks that aren't fit for proper company."

After finishing their disguises, they set off, walking in parallel, about twenty meters apart. When they spotted spiritual herbs, each gathered their own, but after a while of mutual wariness, they relaxed. When Shang Yunduo saw a patch of lush spiritual herbs he didn't recognize and couldn't gather all, he called Lou Dengge over to join him.

"Oh dear! Ditian grass! Friend Shang, stop it! If you break the roots by pulling, it won't be worth much, and you can't use iron tools to dig!"

Saying this, he took out a small wooden hoe and a wooden shovel and handed them to Shang Yunduo. "Use these. Be careful. Leave some root soil for preservation. Whatever you do, don't break the roots."

Shang Yunduo nodded in bewilderment: "Alright, thank you."

Lou Dengge: "You're welcome. Best to use jade boxes, or wood if you don't have jade."

Shang Yunduo nodded again, like he was repotting his grandma's prized plants.

After digging up another spiritual herb together, they began walking side by side.

Over half a day passed, and Shang Yunduo discovered that Lou Dengge was like a walking encyclopedia. Along the way, he introduced what this flower was and that grass was. Not just spiritual plants, but also demon beasts and spirit insects—he knew them inside and out. He led Shang Yunduo around demon beast dens, and even when they encountered an uncertain spirit herb or beast, he would immediately pull out a book, quickly flip to the relevant page, and explain. Shang Yunduo watched, full of admiration and awe.

Shang Yunduo asked for the second time: "Daoist Lou, are you sure you're not an alchemy cultivator?"

Lou Dengge smiled bitterly: "No, no. Look at me—I don't even have a decent magical artifact. How could I afford to refine pills? Lou is a true sword cultivator."

Shang Yunduo: "..."

Not that he liked to doubt people, but that broken sword Lou Dengge used to cut tree roots was even worse than the swords issued to outer disciples of the Taiyuan Sect.

Lou Dengge: "Daoist Shang, are you wondering why I know these Spiritual Plants like the back of my hand? Heh heh..."

Lou Dengge stroked his white beard and said bitterly, "To be honest, young friend, before I started cultivating, I was actually a mortal, a scholar."

Shang Yunduo was taken aback: "Ah?!"

Seeing his reaction, Lou Dengge laughed heartily: "My family could be considered a lineage of book collectors, but I wasn't a studious scholar and never passed any imperial exams. I just loved delving into useless leisure books from a young age, collecting many ancient texts and manuscripts. Those books recorded many immortal herbs and divine beasts, which actually turned out to be the spiritual plants and demonic beasts of the cultivation world."

Shang Yunduo was stunned.

Lou Dengge: "I was just as astonished as you, fellow cultivator, when I first found out. To a mortal, the cultivation world is like another realm—far too vast and immense. Back then, I was young and didn't know my place. I was simply captivated by the name 'cultivation world,' imagining it to be full of immortals. I single-mindedly sought out books related to the cultivation world, and by a stroke of luck, I actually met a cultivator. I also discovered I had spiritual roots. From then on, I left my hometown and joined the Step Void Palace. Since I could recognize many ancient characters, I was assigned to the Scripture Sweeping Hall, where I cleaned the scripture pavilion and organized the library. Occasionally, I was even granted special permission to read in the inner sect's library. But those ancient books were incredibly expensive, and if I wanted to copy them, I had to use spirit stones."

Shang Yunduo nodded in agreement. It seemed that sects were equally money-grubbing across all sects.

Lou Dengge: "My talent was insufficient—I had neither a master nor a family fortune. Where would I get so many spirit stones? So I had to gather herbs and sell them to the sect in exchange for spirit stones."

At this point, he smiled quite proudly. "I have a decent memory, and having read many miscellaneous books, I recognized many spiritual plants. Over time, I also got to know some alchemy cultivators from within and outside the sect, and thus learned some herb-gathering tricks not recorded in books."

He tugged at his cloak. "This concealment method was also from an ancient book. It said that before the human and demon tribes were separated by the dividing mountain range, mortals used weeds to make clothes and mix in fragrant herbs that demonic beasts disliked, wearing them to avoid beasts. Later, a cultivator adapted this method for disguise..."

Shang Yunduo listened with great interest. "I've seen people use Black Sword Vine to avoid demonic beasts."

"Ah, Black Sword Vine! I have that, I have that." Lou Dengge excitedly pulled out a small box from his storage pouch, containing pieces of processed Black Sword Vine roots. He held it up for Shang Yunduo to see: "If you have to enter certain demonic beasts' caves to gather herbs, you need to prepare some of this."

Shang Yunduo leaned in and sniffed it. There was a strange fishy smell, quite pungent.

He suddenly remembered the pungent scent he had noticed on Yuezhang Fairy before. "Daoist Lou, is there any kind of herb that, when sprinkled on a person, would drive demonic beasts into a frenzy?"

"Frenzy?" Lou Dengge became intrigued. "What kind of herb? What smell, what color?"

"Uh... a colorless or white powder, light but pungent."

"A powder, then it's hard to judge."

"Is there really such a powder?"

Lou Dengge thought for a moment and said, "The books do record a few spiritual plants that, when eaten by demonic beasts, cause them to go mad, as if poisoned or under an illusion. Unfortunately, I've never seen them."

Shang Yunduo thought to himself, 'You want to see them, do you?'

He actually had these items. The things he had collected from Niu Chengdian were all stored in his storage pouch. But there were several bottles of powder alone, and he had no idea what each was for. With so many demonic beasts nearby, he wouldn't dare take them out to show Lou Dengge.

Lou Dengge pulled out a book and began flipping through it. "Stone Crown Flower, white in color, its flower resembles a bird's crown. Eating it induces illusions. Turtlefoot Grass, brown in color, leaves with spots. Eating it heats the blood and causes irritability. Some demonic beasts that eat it go berserk and exhaust themselves to death..."

Shang Yunduo couldn't help leaning in to look at his book. Lou Dengge's spiritual plant manual was much thicker than the one he had bought from the Taiyuan Sect. "Daoist Lou, did you buy your book from the sect?"

Lou Dengge: "No, no. These are all gathered and recorded by me personally."

"Oh..." Shang Yunduo sighed regretfully.

If it were bought from the sect, he could buy another copy later.

But if it was personally gathered, this was the only copy. Lou Dengge surely wouldn't want to sell it.

Lou Dengge asked, "Daoist Shang, are you interested?"

Shang Yunduo: "Yes, I am interested."

If he wasn't interested, he wouldn't have asked.

It was obvious that he didn't even know what tools to use for digging which herbs.

"Do you have similar books that you could part with?"

Lou Dengge chuckled: "Young friend, do you have any blank jade slips?"

Shang Yunduo, sensing an opportunity, immediately said, "Yes!"

Having collected so many storage pouches, he had over a dozen blank jade slips.

Lou Dengge also took out several jade slips from his own storage pouch. "These jade slips contain books and notes I've collected throughout my life. Not just spiritual plants, but also other things. If you don't mind, friend, I'd like to trade them for some things from you."

Shang Yunduo: "What do you want to trade for, Daoist Lou?"

Lou Dengge scanned him from head to toe—from his crown to his boots—all treasures!

He wondered which sect's Old Ancestor's disciple this was, possessing such a fine set of gear.

After a thorough look, his eyes settled on the ring on Shang Yunduo's hand. It was the only thing that didn't look like a spirit treasure, but his boots were spirit treasures, so how could the ring on his hand be inferior?

Seeing his gaze, Shang Yunduo quickly said, "I can't give you what I'm wearing."

These were all Pei Jie's!

Lou Dengge chuckled sheepishly. "No need, no need. At my age, I haven't seen many good things, so I'm just a bit curious..."

The material didn't match any he had seen before. Lou Dengge muttered to himself, 'Could it be Xuan-grade or Immortal-grade?'

Impossible, impossible.

This kid looked innocent and easily fooled, not like someone with a scheming mind. He must be a descendant or direct disciple of some Old Ancestor. Would an Old Ancestor with such artifacts be lacking a few Foundation Building Pills for his direct disciples?

Unless he wanted this kid to experience the secret realm but was afraid he'd get hurt, so he gave him such a complete set of gear.

Forget it, forget it. Who cares who he is? Who cares what's on his hand?

Even if it were a legendary Immortal-grade or Dao-grade artifact, what good would it do him if he couldn't successfully build his foundation this time? He had only a few days left to live. What was the point of curiosity?

Lou Dengge: "I'll trade with you for some pills and talismans, if that's alright?"

Shang Yunduo nodded and took out a good number of pills and talismans for Lou Dengge to choose from. He even kindly brought out some swords he had picked up from the valley but couldn't use himself.

Unexpectedly, Lou Dengge didn't even glance at the swords; instead, he directly selected three bottles of Qi Recovery Pills and over a dozen Haste Talismans. "Old man trades these five jade slips for these, alright?"

Shang Yunduo nodded.

Just as they finished the trade and before Shang Yunduo could examine the jade slips' contents, he suddenly sensed a fluctuation in spiritual power. He quickly grabbed Lou Dengge and whispered, "Someone's coming!"

Before Lou Dengge could react, Shang Yunduo had already pulled him behind a large rock.

By the time they were both hidden, Lou Dengge saw two figures in the distance chasing a giant python toward their area.

He couldn't help but be amazed. Such sharp skills, such keen reflexes.

He had noticed earlier while searching for herbs that this kid, though unfamiliar with most spiritual plants and unable to tell poisonous from non-poisonous, had an extremely sharp sensitivity to spiritual power, often detecting things before he did.

"Daoist Shang, are you actually at the Foundation Establishment stage?" Lou Dengge asked quietly.

"Huh?" Shang Yunduo was speechless. "If I were at Foundation Establishment, would I be here?"

That's true.

He thought for a moment, then asked, "Are you a body cultivator, my friend?"

Shang Yunduo looked at him in surprise and nodded noncommittally.

Lou Dengge: "No wonder!"

It is said that talented body cultivators have sharper senses, intuition, and perception of danger than ordinary cultivators.

"Shh, they're close!"

Neither spoke again. One disguised himself as a boulder, the other as a clump of weeds beside the stone.

The wind blew; the rock remained still, the grass swayed. Both suppressed their aura to the utmost, peeking through the gaps to watch the commotion.

What a huge python.

Hmm, the two people chasing the python looked somewhat familiar.

"It was last night..."

"Shh!"

The hairs on the back of Shang Yunduo's neck prickled as he sensed a stronger surge of spiritual energy approaching from behind them.

Author's note:

Yunduo: Fellow cultivators, be careful when watching the drama.

No prize for guessing—were Yunduo and Daoist Lou discovered?

See you tomorrow at midnight as well~~