TBIP: Chapter 25 Part 3

“Is this for me?” Lou Xingyao asked with some uncertainty. It wasn’t that he was being sentimental, but Wen Hanshan’s every move pointed to this.

“Or else?” Wen Hanshan asked rhetorically. The meaning of his words was very obvious.

“Why did you give me these all of a sudden?” Happiness came too suddenly, and Lou Xingyao couldn’t react.

Who would’ve thought that he would still be worried about the pill prescriptions before he went out? Now he obtained them and even got an alchemy furnace!

“It isn’t sudden. I noticed it before, but the alchemy masters guard them tightly. It took a lot of effort to collect them, so this delayed things by two years.” Obviously, Wen Hanshan wasn’t very satisfied with this efficiency.

Wen Hanshan couldn’t help snorting coldly when he said this. “If I had known you were interested in these messy things, I would’ve grabbed a few copies from the Zhou family’s library.”

Wen Hanshan was probably the only one who could make stealing things from his own house sound so reasonable.

“How do you know that I am interested in this?” Lou Xingyao couldn’t help asking again.

“Every time you go out, your eyes are almost glued to those spiritual plants. It isn’t hard to know.” Wen Hanshan glanced at Lou Xingyao with exasperation.

If it wasn’t for his mother’s specialty being formations and most of the relics she left behind were related to formations, he wouldn’t have needed to go to such trouble as going to the black market.

Lou Xingyao hadn’t expected his performance to be so obvious, and he was actually noticed by the other person.

In addition, the other person went to such trouble to collect a storage bag of materials for him.

Lou Xingyao couldn’t help but tighten his fingers on the storage bag. He endured and endured it. Finally, he couldn’t hold back and asked, “What did you give him?”

In the Tianming Continent, everything that touched on alchemy, including the worthless first-grade spiritual plants, were very expensive.

If it wasn’t for this, Lou Xingyao wouldn’t have been unable to buy pill prescriptions after so many years despite having the personal space.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that the contents of the storage bag in his hand now were invaluable. If it was placed outside, it wasn’t known how many people would madly rob it.

“It’s nothing.” Wen Hanshan knew Lou Xingyao’s temperament but didn’t hide it. “It is just two third-grade spirit gathering discs and two yellow-level cultivation methods.”

His tone of nonchalance made him sound like he was talking about worthless gadgets.

Wen Hanshan’s tone was flat, but it set off a lot of waves in Lou Xingyao’s heart. He finally understood why the man was in such a hurry to leave.

The third-grade spiritual gathering disc wasn’t the reason. It was rare, but it could always be found in the market when looking for it.

Among them, the most important ones were the two yellow-level cultivation methods.

How many foundation building cultivators in the Tianming Continent couldn’t get a copy of a yellow-level cultivation method in their lifetime? How many golden core cultivators finally achieved the golden core because they had a good yellow-level skill?

In the Tianming Continent, the yellow-level cultivation method had always been priceless and marketable.

Even Lou Xingyao was shocked by Wen Hanshan’s generosity.

At the same time, he couldn’t help feeling a sense of guilt.

Since the two of them signed the contract, Wen Hanshan had always been honest with him and took care of him when training. Meanwhile, he hid a lot from the other party.

Keeping the matter of transmigration a secret was understandable, but being unwilling to reveal even the slightest hint of the portable space to him was truly a bit excessive.

Moreover, according to Wen Hanshan’s temperament, Wen Hanshan definitely wouldn’t covet the portable space if he knew about it.

Just as Lou Xingyao was thinking about how to be honest, Wen Hanshan took the first step to speak. “It is just two copies. Don’t take it to heart.”

Since he was willing to agree to such a transaction, he naturally didn’t take those two yellow-level cultivation methods to heart.”

Then he didn’t give Lou Xingyao a chance to speak and continued to urge, “The black market isn’t a place to stay for a long time. We need to leave as soon as possible. Put away the items in the storage bag and give me the bag.”

These sentences directly blocked the words that Lou Xingyao was ready to confess in his heart.

Lou Xingyao wanted to continue to speak but he had missed the best opportunity.

In the end, he could only suppress the thoughts in his heart. According to the other person’s instructions, he emptied the storage bag and returned it.

Unexpectedly, Wen Hanshan didn’t put away the storage bag after obtaining it. He directly let out a few bursts of sharp sword qi, shattering it and letting the fragments fall to the ground.

At the same time, he didn’t forget to give Lou Xingyao a reminder. “Storage devices are the most likely to be manipulated. You need to be especially vigilant of those from unknown origins.”

This storage bag wasn’t of unknown origin, but it was from the black market. It really wasn’t safe.

Lou Xingyao was already familiar with Wen Hanshan’s caution and wasn’t surprised by this behavior. At the same time, he kept in mind that a storage bag couldn’t be kept casually.

After everything was handled, Wen Hanshan took Lou Xingyao and left here.

Perhaps it was because this transaction was one-on-one, but the two of them left very smoothly this time. There was no one behind them.

After passing through a familiar mess of alleys, the two of them completely left the scope of the black market.

They casually took off the black robes on their bodies. Lou Xingyao was about to speak when he heard gossip from passersby.

“Tsk, did you hear? The Zhou family’s single spiritual root broke through to the seventh level of qi condensation a few days ago.”

“The Zhou family announced it to the world. Say, is a 23 year old seventh level qi condensation cultivator worthy of such fanfare? If I’m not mistaken, the one before him broke through to the eighth level at the age of 13. I didn’t see them act so high-profile at the time.”

“How can this be the same? How many people were waiting to see the joke of the Zhou family when Zhou Hanshan was abolished? Now there is finally another single spiritual root. Don’t they have to show him off?”

“It isn’t as you said. I heard that it was because Ye Hantian was only at the fourth level of qi condensation when he returned to the Zhou family. Now he has reached the seventh level in less than a year. Calculating it this way, he is worthy of the talent of a single spiritual root.”

“Hiss~ Breaking through three levels in a year? I never dreamed of it!”

“If this is the case, isn’t Ye Hantian more powerful than Zhou Hanshan?”

“Who says this isn’t the case? In the first place…”

……

Since the Zhou family held a banquet for Ye Hantian to recognize his ancestors and return to the Zhou family, news related to the Zhou family and Ye Hantian weren’t uncommon, even in the faraway Xilin County.

Lou Xingyao went out a few times before and could always hear all types of rumors about Ye Hantian. He was already familiar with this.

After all, Wen Hanshan had already let go. Lou Xingyao didn’t need to worry about it.

But what everyone talked about this time made Lou Xingyao feel particularly harsh.

What was the meaning of being able to break through three levels in a row in a year? It took Zhou Hanshan eight years to break through to the ninth level of qi condensation. Wasn’t this a bit wasteful in comparison?

These people were willing to praise Ye Hantian, then what about Wen Hanshan?

“What nonsense are you thinking about?” As always, Wen Hanshan noticed Lou Xingyao’s mood change. Without waiting for Lou Xingyao to reply, he added casually, “It doesn’t matter how fast you go. How far you go is what matters.”

Yes, so what about behind ahead for a moment?

Look at what was happening with Wen Hanshan.

Half a year ago when Lou Xingyao was asked to explore the Endless Forest, the other person was already close to the edge of foundation building. But to this day, Wen Hanshan still had no intention of breaking through to the foundation building realm.

He didn’t do things other than polishing the dantian and laying a solid foundation.

If Wen Hanshan sought to earn the title of ‘genius’ from the mouths of passersby and rushed for quick results, leading to an unstable foundation, it would ultimately do more harm than good and would go against his temperament.

The resentment in Lou Xingyao’s heart dissipated a lot when he thought of this. At the same time, a trace of shame rose in his heart.

If he really thought about it, he was actually much older than the other party. However, the extra ten years he lived seemed to have been spent merely aging. He still lacked maturity in both mind and character.

He was obviously an older person, but he often needed the help and care of the other person. It was really a bit undeserved.

Thinking of this, Lou Xingyao’s heart seemed to be filled with all types of emotions. His mind suddenly became a lot clearer.

Now, hearing those disparaging remarks about Wen Hanshan felt entirely different. It carried a sense of unwavering resolve, like a mountain standing firm against the winds from all directions—the words entered the ears but failed to reach the heart.

“Huh?” Wen Hanshan raised an eyebrow in surprise. He didn’t think that just casually mentioning a few words would make Lou Xingyao feel something.

It wasn’t to the level of an epiphany, but this was still extremely rare. Lou Xingyao should be able to gain something after he woke up.

In such a state, it was most taboo for others to disturb him. Wen Hanshan slightly released the aura on his body, opening up a relatively safe space from the people next to him.

This sudden move naturally attracted the attention of many people with keen perception.

At this moment, Wen Hanshan was clearly the more dazzling one among the two of them, but almost everyone’s eyes focused on the quiet Lou Xingyao.

In the crowd of people coming and going, Lou Xingyao who fell into a sense of understanding was like a bright light in the night. He was really too eye-catching.

A hint of surprise flashed in the eyes of many people.

It had to be known that this type of adventure was extremely rare on the path of cultivation. Who could barely grasp a glimmer of spiritual light after a long period of seclusion?

It was unheard of to gain something on the street.

Many people looked at Lou Xingyao as if guessing his identity.

It was a pity that the two of them had just come out of the black market. They only took off the black robes and didn’t have time to take off the masks on their faces.

Combine this with the hidden breath pendant Lou Xingyao was wearing and people were unable to see through him for a while.

The other thing that could be known was that the other person was very talented.

But that was almost laughably obvious.

To be able to gain insight even in such a harsh environment as a bustling street—doesn’t that clearly demonstrate exceptional talent?

Xilin County was full of mixed people. There were many people with dark hearts. The moment they saw Lou Xingyao in the midst of understanding something, their first reaction was to interrupt him.

In this way, the other person’s understanding would come to naught, but it might even make his cultivation go backward. The damage to his foundation also wouldn’t be known.

However, before they could make any moves, a great sense of crisis fell upon them.

At this time, everyone finally noticed the existence of Wen Hanshan behind Lou Xingyao.

Those with good eyesight could see that even though this person hadn’t built the foundation, they could tell from the terrifying aura on his body that this was an existence who couldn’t be easily provoked. They quickly suppressed the wicked thoughts in their hearts.

But there were also people who saw that Wen Hanshan was in the qi condensation and weren’t afraid at all. They didn’t take him seriously.

The dark red figure in the crowd who suddenly attacked the two of them was like this. “Boy, this isn’t the place for you to cultivate!”

This person’s voice was hoarse, and there was a hint of femininity. It could be described as quite distinctive. Therefore, at almost the same moment that he spoke, cultivators who often spent time in Xilin County already recognized him.

This was a casual cultivator called Yang Jirong. He was a rare foundation building cultivator in Xilin County, so he was somewhat famous in this area.

Due to an accident in his early years that injured a key area, his temperament changed greatly.

Originally, such a private matter should be concealed and not spread out. Who knew that he would later be betrayed by his fiancée and brother? The other party exposed the scandal in public.

Yang Jirong could be said to have lost face that day. By the time he finally escaped, he had only half his life left.

At that time, everyone thought that Yang Jirong would be dragged down by his serious injury and he wouldn’t be able to live for a few days.

Unexpectedly, it seemed this person wasn’t destined for death. It wasn’t known where he got an extremely evil cultivation method from, but not long after, he achieved the foundation building realm.

There was a big breakthrough in the realm. It was natural for him to find the people who betrayed him in the beginning.

According to insiders, Yang Jirong’s methods back then were so cruel that he came just short of literally dismembering the two alive.

Even so, there were only a few pieces of intact flesh left on their bodies when the two of them took their last breath.

He achieved his great revenge. Ordinary people might be able to let go of their grudges and continue to pursue the great Dao.

But it was said that Yang Jirong was limited by his cultivation method. Now there was no hope of breaking through further. So after taking revenge, Yang Jirong didn’t restrain himself in the slightest and became more extreme.

On ordinary days, he would often resort to violence over the slightest disagreement with others. What’s more, last time, he even lashed out just because he thought a passerby’s eyes somewhat resembled those of his former fiancée.

Then he snatched the person and gouged out her eyeballs while she was alive.

There were many old incidents in the past. It seemed normal for him to now attack a person who was gaining enlightenment on the street.

Looking at Yang Jirong’s past style, it wasn’t difficult to find that this person was crazy but he was also very good at looking at people.

The people who had been harmed by him were scattered cultivators with no background, and none of them had a better cultivation than Yang Jirong.

If it wasn’t for that, Yang Jirong wouldn’t have been able to act so arrogantly to this point.

Now he must have some degree of confidence to attack the person who was gaining some understanding.

For a time, there were those who couldn’t bear it, those who gloated, and those who just stood by…

Even the people still discussing the Zhou family and Ye Hantian stopped talking. They couldn’t help focusing on Yang Jirong, Wen Hanshan, and Lou Xingyao, who was as immobile as a mountain on the street.