Chapter 160: Frost Sword

Chapter 160: Frost Sword

After finally landing again, Lou Dengge was the first off the boat, hugged a tree, and threw up.

Shang Yunduo: "..."

Who'd have thought? A legit cultivator who can do 360-degree flips on a flying sword without getting dizzy, and yet Lou Dengge got freakin' seasick!

That was the only hiccup in their otherwise smooth and calm return journey, just a light drizzle the whole time.

Lou Dengge didn't have the energy to argue. Normal people don't do flips on a sword in the sky! And even if they did, that's totally different from rocking on water.

He was dizzy, extremely dizzy. When he finally stepped onto solid ground, he still felt like he was rocking. It wasn't until his spiritual energy returned that he felt better.

Taking the fruit and water Shang Yunduo handed him, Lou Dengge swished some water in his mouth like a pro, munched on a sour fruit to settle his stomach, and looked for a flat place to crash.

But his luck was actually decent—apparently, Shang Yunduo and Pei Jie had encountered a massive storm before landing on the island, and their boat nearly went under.

The three of them stopped to take a break.

While on the boat, they could jump into the lake for a swim, but they couldn't strip down and bathe properly. After using the Cleansing Spell a couple of times and meditating a bit, they finally shook off all that physical and mental fatigue.

Shang Yunduo had to ask Lou Dengge, "Are you going to stay with us after this, or go back to your sect?"

During their chat on the boat, Lou Dengge had pretty much figured out where they were—it was a long way from Step Void Palace and also a long way from Taiyuan Sect. He asked, "Aren't you going back to Taiyuan Sect?"

Shang Yunduo: "Uh..."

Pei Jie: "We will, but not now."

Shang Yunduo scratched his head. "Yeah, not right now."

Lou Dengge: "Then I'll head back on my own."

If he were younger, he'd totally want to travel with them, collecting ancient texts and going on adventures. Shang Yunduo was a solid travel buddy, and Pei Jie wasn't hard to get along with either. If they could travel together, it would be a lot of fun. But unfortunately, he was too old, with only a few years left, and still had many things to do.

He looked at Shang Yunduo and Pei Jie with some envy. Man, youth was great. Foundation Establishment was great...

Although they would soon part ways, they still had one last leg of the trip together. They were going to find the Frost Sword, and on the way, they could drop Lou Dengge off at the nearby Ganjiu City, which had a little teleportation circle that'd send him to a large city in the east.

Shang Yunduo and Lou Dengge crowded around the map they'd bought earlier, and they took the chance to sketch in the lake and the Three-legged Turtle.

"But why's there a city with teleportation here?"

There were two larger cultivation sects not too far away, each with cities under their control, yet neither of those cities had a teleportation array. Instead, this kinda remote, out-of-the-way little city had one, and it was even specifically marked on the map they'd casually bought.

"Ganjiu City..." Pei Jie felt like he'd heard the name somewhere.

Any place with teleportation was bound to be more prosperous than other towns. As soon as they entered Ganjiu City, they hit a sea of people. But before they had taken more than a few steps, Shang Yunduo figured something was off. He asked, "Don't you think there's a ton of Foundation Establishment cultivators in this city?"

The two who had more experience and sharper instincts both nodded.

Pei Jie said, "They aren't from the same sect."

Lou Dengge added, "From their accents, a bunch came from up north."

Shang Yunduo: "..."

He asked again, "So why have Foundation Establishment cultivators from all over gathered here? I also noticed that most of them seem to be at Late Foundation Establishment!"

Pei Jie and Lou Dengge didn't answer immediately.

Shang Yunduo suddenly felt better. Okay, so they hadn't caught on either—it wasn't just him being dense.

But before the meal was even over, they had a clue—

Lou Dengge had gone to exchange some medicinal herbs for spirit stones. At the pawnshop, he ran into a Foundation Establishment cultivator from Step Void Palace. After exchanging the herbs, he spotted someone in Taiyuan Sect robes nearby.

He hurriedly bid farewell to his fellow disciple and rushed back to tip them off. Whether Shang Yunduo wanted to return to Taiyuan Sect or avoid it, it was good to be prepared in advance, so they wouldn't accidentally bump into someone and get busted on the spot.

But Shang Yunduo wasn't at all curious about who the Late Foundation Establishment cultivator from Taiyuan Sect was. He didn't know him anyway—there were so many Taiyuan Sect disciples, and the guy definitely didn't know him either. He was only curious about what could make even a Taiyuan disciple trek all the way out here.

Teleporting from Taiyuan Sect cost a pretty penny.

Lou Dengge said in a low voice, "My sect's senior didn't tell me, but I guess it's for the Marrow Cleansing Stone."

Shang Yunduo and Pei Jie both froze. Pei Jie suddenly got it—no wonder the name rang a bell.

Shang Yunduo asked, "The Marrow Cleansing Stone used to refine the Cleansing Dust Marrow Pill?"

Lou Dengge: "That's right."

He'd caught a bit of chatter while selling his herbs, and from how the pawnshop was buying up herbs at a premium, it was probably the Marrow Cleansing Stone.

Shang Yunduo suddenly understood. "No wonder so many Late Foundation Establishment cultivators have come."

The Cleansing Dust Marrow Pill could remove impurities from the body and increase the success rate of Core Formation. Any cultivator at Late Foundation would be tempted. "But I thought you could exchange for that pill within the sect, no?"

The Cleansing Dust Marrow Pill, while effective, wasn't like the Foundation Building Pill—a special pill that had an immediate effect when taken at a critical moment. Instead, you had to take it in large doses over a long time to gradually purify the body.

If conditions allowed, one should start taking it as soon as they entered Late Foundation Establishment and continue until Core Formation.

But although the required materials were expensive, they weren't particularly rare.

The spiritual herbs needed were grown in large quantities by almost all the Large Sects. One just needed to exchange something of equivalent value. After all, to a sect, Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators were on totally different levels. The number of Foundation Establishment cultivators in the sect wouldn't concern high-level cultivators, but the number of Golden Core cultivators could affect the sect's overall strength.

Any sect with some strength wouldn't let its disciples worry about refining the Cleansing Dust Marrow Pill on their own. The sect would directly have disciples do missions to exchange for it.

He remembered that in the novel, Xiao Chi started taking on higher-level sect missions as soon as he entered Mid Foundation Establishment, just to accumulate more Cleansing Dust Marrow Pills.

But he had never thought about where the Marrow Cleansing Stones in the sect came from.

It wasn't like spiritual herbs that could be grown.

Could they all be bought here?

Shang Yunduo asked, "Did they come to purchase on behalf of their sects?"

Lou Dengge acted like he'd just realized something: "That makes sense!"

Pei Jie said, "I suddenly remember that Marrow Cleansing Stones seem to form alongside Forbidden Spirit Gems."

Shang Yunduo: "..."

He looked at the smiling Lou Dengge, then at Pei Jie, who was sipping his tea.

Fine. Now he believed it.

He was definitely the last to catch on again.

Pei Jie asked Lou Dengge again, "Have your fellow disciples already finished their purchases?"

Lou Dengge shook his head. "They just arrived yesterday and said they'd be staying a few more days."

Pei Jie said, "Then you'd better head back on your own as soon as possible instead of waiting to travel with them."

Shang Yunduo asked, "Why?"

Pei Jie took a sip of tea and said in a low voice, "The disciples in charge of purchasing usually carry a large amount of spirit stones with them."

Shang Yunduo: "..."

It seemed he now understood why there was a teleportation array here.

In theory, fighting was prohibited within the city, but if someone was skilled enough to kill and rob in an instant, and strong enough to escape before the enforcement cultivators arrived and the city's grand formation activated, then this no-cost business was not impossible.

He could think of it, and naturally Lou Dengge could too.

For once, he even saw a moment of bewilderment on Lou Dengge's face.

Shang Yunduo silently thought, Daoist Lou was well-traveled and knowledgeable, but he was still a bit of a homebody—unlike his Senior, who was adept at traveling to the demon tribes' territories and sneaking into others' libraries to browse books.

He even wondered if Pei Jie had personally witnessed such robberies in the city.

Lou Dengge sighed. Originally, he had planned to travel with the senior from his sect and hitch a ride on their flying artifact to save some spirit stones, but if that was the case, he might as well spend the money!

After the meal, the three bid farewell.

Lou Dengge suddenly felt a melancholy that this parting might be one of life and death. He smiled and suppressed his sorrow. "If you two ever pass by Step Void Palace in the future, be sure to come see me."

Shang Yunduo said, "Definitely! If I come across any interesting books, I'll send them to you too."

Lou Dengge immediately replied, "Good, good, good. Don't be stingy with spirit stones—buy more, send more. Senior Pei, genius Senior Shang from the great sect, until we meet again."

Shang Yunduo was momentarily stunned by the address and smiled sheepishly. Together with Pei Jie, they saw him into the teleportation array. When Lou Dengge's figure truly vanished, he felt a bit of reluctance.

The person he bickered and argued with every day was gone, and the sudden quiet was hard to get used to.

"Alas..."

"We should be going too."

"Yeah!" Shang Yunduo looked back at the teleportation array once more. Next, they had to retrieve the Frost Sword, and the outcome was uncertain—indeed, it wasn't suitable to bring Lou Dengge along.

If they encountered danger and had to flee, it would only harm Lou Dengge, who was gray-haired and had yet to fulfill his ambitions.

He immediately worried about himself and Pei Jie again. "Senior, do you think the person holding the Frost Sword might be the same one who mines and sells the ore?"

Earlier, he had worried that someone might be holding the Frost Sword and they wouldn't find it after coming out so late, but Pei Jie was certain that no one could use his sword; Frost must be locked away somewhere.

If so, it was likely related to the person selling Marrow Cleansing Stones.

Before leaving, they made some inquiries in the city. Behind Ganjiu City, there were three sects. Two of them sold Marrow Cleansing Stones. The largest sect also had Marrow Cleansing Stones, but they didn't sell the ore—they only sold Cleansing Dust Marrow Pills at a very high price. Shang Yunduo suspected this was a way to fleece rogue cultivators of their spirit stones.

The other two sects: one large, one small.

The large sect was farther away and in the wrong direction.

They focused on inquiring about the small sect that was in the same direction as the Frost Sword.

The good news was that this sect had no Nascent Soul stage cultivators; the highest cultivation was the sect master at Late Gold Core.

The bad news was that it was said the sect had a treasure that even Nascent Soul stage cultivators feared. Moreover, they excelled at beast taming and relied entirely on spirit beasts for mining, making them actually the most indispensable of the three sects.

It was only half a day's flight from Ganjiu City to the place where the Frost Sword was hidden, but only when they got very close did they see a very secluded sect deep in the layered mountains.

Shang Yunduo almost thought the Frost Sword had nothing to do with the mining sect. He really wondered what they were thinking, building their sect in such a harsh place.

For dozens of li around, apart from the sect on the cliff, there were no traces of people. Strangely, behind the sect there seemed to be some kind of formation, and whatever was inside could not be detected, and the range was extremely large.

Could it be that the mine was inside, and this was to prevent others from bypassing them and stealing the ore?

With the naked eye, one could only see layers of nearly vertical mountains, and further away, it was shrouded in mist, making it unclear.

However, the formation to enter their sect from outside was not difficult. For the two of them, sneaking in quietly was simple.

Shang Yunduo looked at the sky and said cautiously, "Should we wait until dark to go in?"

Pei Jie chuckled. "Is that necessary?"

Shang Yunduo said, "Let's wait a bit."

The sun was already setting, so Pei Jie had no objection.

After nightfall, the entire mountain range fell into dead silence, with only the occasional hoot of an owl.

Shang Yunduo had never encountered such a situation before; even the demon tribes' caves felt livelier than this.

They put away the flying boat, suppressed their aura, and approached. The sect was also deathly still, making Shang Yunduo inexplicably nervous.

Pei Jie walked straight to an inconspicuous flat-topped building. There was no one inside. Shang Yunduo followed him and quietly pushed the door open; what met his eyes was a huge deep pit.

The downward stairs were not far from the entrance. As Shang Yunduo followed Pei Jie down, he suddenly heard heavy breathing and the grinding hum of metal.

A demon beast?!

Before he could see clearly, all the lighting artifacts hanging in the small room suddenly lit up, instantly illuminating the entire space brilliantly.

In that instant, Shang Yunduo saw below clearly. In the bottomless pit lay a huge demon beast that was slowly standing up. Its scales were illuminated by the light from the artifacts above, showing a dim golden color. On its back was inserted a white sword like jade and fat. Around the unsheathed sword were golden chains wrapped from the hilt all the way around the demon beast. It was unclear whether the sword was suppressing the beast or the beast was suppressing the sword.

Frost.

Although he had never seen it before, Shang Yunduo recognized it at a glance.

"Hahaha."

Laughter came from above. The net ropes above broke, and a cage descended, aiming to completely cover the huge pit. "Where did these little thieves come from? Overestimating yourselves!"

Late Gold Core!

The highest cultivation, the sect master at Late Gold Core, was actually hiding on the beams?

For a moment, Shang Yunduo inexplicably felt a bit of disdain.

Who is the master, and who is the thief?

A dignified Late Gold Core was actually ambushing the two of them, who were at Foundation Building!

Before he finished speaking, Pei Jie reached out, and the Frost Sword at the bottom of the pit leapt out of its sheath. Shang Yunduo didn't see how Frost fell into Pei Jie's hand; he only saw a flash of sword light, and the cage that had not yet settled above crashed down, cut into two halves.

Shang Yunduo: “...”

Golden Core Stage: “...”

Author's note:

Pei Jie: “Is that all?”

Yunduo: “I feel like we're getting a bit too practiced at this whole sneaking-in-and-stealing thing.” (pondering)

Pei Jie: “I'm just taking back my own sword.”

Golden Core Stage: “What about my destroyed cage?”

Yunduo: “Come on, you're a whole sect—can't you be a bit more generous?”