Chapter 779: Chapter 778: The Substitute
The two of them haggled back and forth in the flower hall; it took quite a while before they finally settled on a price for the transaction, both very satisfied with the outco.
Of course, they were satisfied, for they were shearing the public’s wool, and the Wu Sect was too wealthy and influential to quibble over such an amount.
The negotiation was very enjoyable, and the servant of the Liu Manor was also very sensible; in the entire courtyard, besides the two of them, there was no one else. Such was the rule of a big estate.
Daoist Zhou lifted his cup, “Then, let’s drink to this and hope for a pleasant collaboration.”
Liu Yishou raised his cup, and the next instant, he had no idea where he was; with such a close-range sneak attack and an overpowering strength difference, he had no chance to react at all. It wasn’t his fault for being careless—after all, he had no known enemies outside, and they had cooperated many tis over the past half a year…
Daoist Zhou’s face was expressionless as he ticulously searched through Liu Yishou’s personal belongings, then took a ragged cloth, covered the other man’s face with it, activated a spell, and then covered his own face with the rag. Suddenly, there were two Liu Yishous in the flower hall—one lying prone, and the other sitting.
After stowing the body into a spiritual bag, he sat quietly at the table, pouring and drinking by himself, contemplating his next plans.
Of course, he was Hou Niao. Returning after less than a year, his return was specifically for revenge; he was not the sort to let grudges pass overnight—it was simply his character, though enacted in rather unique ways.
rely killing had its limits, only allowing him to tirelessly seek targets on the periphery, wasting too much ti, and not knowing if he might run into an ambush by the Wu Sect’s Golden Core cultivators again. Although his Sword Seed had matured, it was far from being fully shaped and ready for actual combat—the gap was too great. For these reasons, he dismissed the thod of seeking revenge through slaughter.
Revenge was secondary to him at the mont; his priority was to refine his flying sword, sothing critically related to the Spiritual Green of Outer Space, which could not be delayed.
After leaving Sui Mo City, his initial plan wasn’t revenge, but to find a place to nurture his flying sword. The Sword Seed wasn’t a flying sword yet; it was only in its fledgling form, a juvenile state.
This was an entirely new thod of sword cultivation—it wasn’t exactly honing, but rather, strengthening.
He needed to grow the Sword Seed, and the way to do so was through the Five Elents Qi.
In other words, his future flying sword would no longer be a physical sword, but a condensed mass of the Five Elents’ essences, just like the one in Duan Wuqian’s Purple Mansion.
How Duan Wuqian managed it, he didn’t know; perhaps there was so particular cultivation technique involved, but he was more inclined to believe it was simply a matter of resource accumulation.
Such a flying sword would be more flexible, more powerful, and most importantly, Sword Light Division would be easier because it was already an entity of Five Elents energy—essentially, the so-called sword light and shadows were nothing more than a division of energy.
After so initial investigation, he began to understand his Sword Seed, knowing that to properly cultivate it, he needed a great deal of the Five Elents essences, Essence Gold Qi.
The Qi of the Five Elents was omnipresent on the Jinxiu Continent, but far too diffuse; relying on the natural Five Elents Qi would be an incredibly long process, like trying to build a high tower from individual grains of sand—a virtually unreachable goal within his lifeti.
Thus, he had to use existing resources, such as various Artifact Treasures, by transforming and absorbing them to condense into a sword, which was much faster.
Lacking Duan’s secret techniques for transformation, he relied on the Five Elents Mysterious Light, which was universally applicable.
Looking back at his initial cultivation of the Five Elents Mysterious Light, it seed rather prescient.
His goal clear, his process clear, his Skill clear… He used the Five Elents Mysterious Light to scan through the Artifact Treasures in his spatial bag; after dozens of items, the Sword Seed showed evident growth, which was a cause for joy.
The problem was that the growth was extrely limited; it went from the size of a small pea to a larger one…
The speed wasn’t an issue—it was faster than anticipated, stemming from the way he operated the Five Elents Mysterious Light; he could process several items in one hour, including ti for rest and recovery.
The issue lay in the conversion efficiency—of all the items he successfully transford, maybe one in a hundred were converted into Five Elents Gold Essence Qi. The problem was twofold: firstly, the insufficiency of his Skill, as the Five Elents Mysterious Light wasn’t specialized, and secondly, the impurities in the Artifact Treasures.
He couldn’t alter his Skill—Duan Wuqian had died, and there was no certainty that the Prince Manor would have any techniques left to spare, and even if they did, would they give them to him?
The genuine Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures had much better results and a higher transformation rate, but the Jinxiu Continent had only been reawakened for two thousand years; where would he find such abundant treasures? The limited ones were either used up or hidden away in the most secretive places of Sects.
The only realistic solution was a mass supply of inexpensive Tongtian Realm artifacts. By rough estimation, given his current conversion rate, he needed at least tens of thousands of items—and that was a conservative guess.
The question remained: where could he find so many Artifact Treasures for his use?
His own fortune was just a drop in the ocean. Even if he used everything from the Bai Family business, could he even extract a tenth of it? There was no counting on the Quanzhen Sect—they were so poor, they had nothing but swords, and he wasn’t even a Qunzhen disciple now.
After all, would the Sect allow him to monopolize all the resources for himself?
Naturally, he thought of targeting the wealthy; the richest on the Jinxiu Continent were, of course, the Daoist Sects. And of the several major Daoist Sects, which was the most worthwhile to target? Undoubtedly, the Wu Sect.
That was why he ca here.
Finding his target, preparing, and approaching… until now, replacing soone with his identity has been essential, and the worn out rag played a crucial role. It not only had a ready-made mold for alterations but could also mimic others, as long as the realms and statures were comparable.
He had spent half a year getting close to this Liu Yishou, paying a not insignificant price, just to observe the Tongtian Realm head of treasury’s every word and deed, how he interacted with others, his social circle in both private life and cultivation, and so on.
For a true Great Dao ascetic, such observation would have been pointless, as half a year might just be a short period of seclusion, with no chance to observe the subtleties beneath the surface.
However, Liu Yishou was different; his position in the Wu Sect ant that he had to be in constant interaction with others, both from within and outside the Sect, as well as various other characters. With this, basic imitation was possible—he didn’t need to replace Liu permanently, just a year would suffice.
This year, the Wu Sect, in an effort to sort out its Inner Warehouse, had suspended the loan and use of artifacts, which provided him with the perfect opportunity. Otherwise, if others ca to borrow or use them, and the items were already used up by him, it would ruin everything.
He rang a small copper bell gently, and Supervisor Zhu arrived with two servants. They weren’t surprised at all by Daoist Zhou’s absence—for a cultivator like their master, mysteriously coming and going without using the main entrance was nothing out of the ordinary.
Without a word, he managed to get past the servants who had been close to him day and night. Of course, in reality, the servants didn’t dare to look at him.
He had to report to the Inner Warehouse first thing in the morning; that would be the real test of his disguise.
Hopefully, he wouldn’t give himself away. He was very familiar with Liu Yishou’s everyday life, but his behavior in a work setting was unknown to him—this was the last hurdle.
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