The Loot and the Lore

“Meng Yan?” Ji Ning’s eyes lit up. Although he had only spent a few days with Meng Yan during the journey to Anchan City, he had developed a very good impression of the young man. Furthermore, anyone who would risk their own life for others was someone Ji Ning felt was worth helping.

“Yunzhou!” Ji Ning called out loudly.

Soon, Yunzhou came running over quickly, bowing respectfully. “Elder-disciple Ji Ning, you called for me?”

Ji Ning nodded, then turned to look at Beishan Baiwei. “Baiwei, take Yunzhou with you when you leave a bit later. Have one of your men escort him to where Meng Yan is. Tell Yunzhou to bring Meng Yan back to the Black-White College.”

“Good.” Beishan Baiwei nodded.

Ji Ning looked at Yunzhou. “Did you hear that clearly?” The reason he was sending Yunzhou was because he could tell that Yunzhou was an extremely clever and perceptive person. Whatever task he was given, he would carry it out perfectly.

Yunzhou said hurriedly, “Rest assured, Elder-disciple Ji Ning. I will definitely bring Junior-disciple Meng Yan back.”

“Mm.” Ji Ning nodded.

Beishan Baiwei smiled. “I’ve taken care of my father’s orders. Now, this is a gift I prepared for you myself.”

“Baiwei…” Ji Ning began, about to refuse.

“Don’t refuse,” Beishan Baiwei said quickly. “You and I are brothers. You’ve entered the Black-White College and caused a stir in the Dao Debate Palace. As your brother, how could I not send you a congratulatory gift? Don’t worry; my father keeps a tight leash on me, so I’m nowhere near as wealthy as he is. The gift isn’t worth much.”

Ji Ning smiled. Since Beishan Baiwei had put it that way, there was nothing he could do but accept.

Beishan Baiwei flipped his hand, revealing a thick book that looked quite ordinary. Although the materials used for the book seemed decent, Ji Ning couldn’t see anything special about it at first glance.

“I guessed that you’d go out to explore the world soon enough,” Beishan Baiwei said with a smile. “All Immortal cultivators must undergo life-and-death tempering again and again to advance further on this path of Immortal cultivation. So I prepared this map for you. It’s a map of the entire Grand Xia Dynasty!”

“A map of the Grand Xia Dynasty?” Ji Ning gasped.

How vast was the Grand Xia Dynasty?

“Don’t get too excited. The Grand Xia is unfathomably vast. In this map, only my Anchan Commandery is described in detail. The rest of the Grand Xia, which is thousands of times larger, is just a rough sketch to keep you from getting lost,” Beishan Baiwei said helplessly. “I can’t even get my hands on a detailed map of the entire Grand Xia.”

Ji Ning felt a surge of gratitude.

To cultivators, the importance of a map when out adventuring was self-evident. This endless land held far too many mysterious, dangerous, and terrifying places. To stumble blindly into a death zone out of ignorance and die would be an unjust end indeed.

“Alright, business is done. I’ll be off now.” Beishan Baiwei stood up, smiling. “I know geniuses like you have a tight training schedule.”

“Leaving so soon?” Ji Ning also rose.

“The Black-White College is in Anchan City. I can come visit anytime I like.” Beishan Baiwei then led his attendants and Yunzhou away.

Ji Ning watched as Beishan Baiwei and his retinue transformed into streaks of light and vanished into the sky. Only then did he lower his gaze to the many treasures laid out on the six jade platters before him.

“My Lesser Thousand Sword Formation was short on flying swords, and now I have two more sets.” Ji Ning looked at the two sets of flying swords. One set contained seventy-two swords, the other eighteen. The set of eighteen was clearly of superior quality. “Although I haven’t used the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation much, Beishan Heihu was aware long ago that I needed a large number of flying swords. As expected of a candidate for the next Marquis of Anchan. His information network is indeed impressive.”

“I’m at the Zifu Disciple stage now. It’s not hard to gather over seven hundred Human-ranked flying swords.”

“But when I reach the Wanxiang Adept stage, I’ll need over seven hundred Earth-ranked flying swords. And when I reach the Primal Daoist stage, I’ll need Heaven-ranked flying swords.” Ji Ning sighed. The Lesser Thousand Sword Formation was something even Celestial Immortal Juhua had feared. With his ‘Nuwa Diagram’ technique and his path as a Sword Immortal, he was indeed suited to using the Lesser Thousand Sword Formation. He believed that the formation in his hands would surpass even its original creator, the Thousand Sword Immortal.

Ji Ning continued his inspection.

“Wings?” Ji Ning looked at the black wings on one jade platter. “These are far superior to the ones I got from that Snowdragon Mountain disciple.”

The wings weren’t very useful to Ji Ning, primarily serving as camouflage for the ‘Windwing Evasion’ technique.

This technique had been given to the Yuchi clan by a Celestial Immortal whom their ancestor had saved. Given that the entire Black-White College only possessed five Divine Abilities, the rarity of such techniques was obvious. No wonder the Yuchi clan used winged treasures to hide it.

“A boat!” Ji Ning looked at the fourth gift and laughed. “A top-grade Human-ranked treasure. It’ll make traveling much faster.”

He reached out and easily refined the wings and the boat.

“A miasma treasure.” Ji Ning looked at the fifth gift, a white jade bottle. Refining it easily, he found a white pearl inside, surrounded by thick, swirling white miasma.

“All of you, retreat. Go far away.”

Ji Ning swept his gaze across the courtyard. Yun Lu, standing not far away, immediately retreated, leaving the courtyard entirely.

“Rise.”

With a thought from Ji Ning, the courtyard was instantly flooded with thick white miasma, covering an area dozens of meters wide. The fog was so dense that even Ji Ning, with his Fiendgod physique, could barely see his own hand in front of his face. The miasma even stirred the surrounding natural energy, making it impossible for him to sense his surroundings.

“I’ve heard that miasma treasures are good for escape because they block vision and prevent one from sensing the environment,” Ji Ning murmured to himself. “It’s true. Even I, who released the miasma, can’t see around me. Just release the miasma… for a moment, friend and foe alike are blind. Choose any direction and flee.”

The miasma didn’t discriminate between friend and foe.

What Ji Ning had refined was the jade bottle and the pearl inside. The miasma was stored within the pearl.

“I wonder if my Divine Sense can see through it.” Ji Ning concentrated.

Whoosh!

His Divine Sense spread out, instantly covering the entire courtyard.

“Oh?” A hint of delight appeared on Ji Ning’s face. Although the miasma was powerful and could even disturb the forces of heaven and earth, under Divine Sense… everything was as clear as day.

“Excellent.” Ji Ning was overjoyed.

“For others, a miasma treasure like this is only good for escaping. But for me, I can release the miasma to confuse my enemies and then close in for the kill.” The strategy formed instantly in Ji Ning’s mind. Since his Divine Sense was unaffected by the miasma, fighting against a Wanxiang Adept would be much easier.

“Another trump card.” Ji Ning smiled.

Ji Ning then looked at the sixth jade bottle. One thousand jin of Primordial Liquid! This was an astonishing fortune. An ordinary Earth-ranked treasure was worth about ten jin of Primordial Liquid. In other words, this thousand jin was enough to exchange for a hundred ordinary Earth-ranked treasures! Even for a high-grade Earth-ranked treasure, he could get a good ten or twenty.

Even Beishan Baiwei and Beishan Hu, when they had been caught up in their gambling frenzy, had only wagered ninety jin of Primordial Liquid.

“Beishan Heihu’s gift is truly generous.” Ji Ning didn’t hesitate. He put away the treasures, picked up the jade bottle, and headed for his quiet cultivation chamber.

Inside the chamber.

The jade bottle was placed before him, its stopper removed.

Ji Ning sat cross-legged on the jade bed, calming his mind. With a thought, he opened his mouth. Primordial Liquid flew out of the bottle and was drawn directly into his body.

Rumble…

Within the void of his Zifu, the water source at the bottom of the massive lake began to gush forth an immense amount of pure Yuan power. The entire lake began to churn, expanding at a terrifying speed.

The shoreline of the lake pushed outward, spreading in all directions.

The lake grew larger and larger, occupying more and more of the void, surging into the depths of that empty space.

Expand!

Continue to expand!

One hundred jin of Primordial Liquid. Two hundred jin. Three hundred jin… Ji Ning did not hesitate. He continued to refine it without pause. His foundation was deep, his comprehension of the Dao was profound, his soul was powerful, and his ‘Sword Heart Illumination’ was achieved. He could easily cultivate straight to the Wanxiang Adept (early) stage. The lake in his Zifu continued to expand, becoming more and more astonishing in size, moving from the category of a ‘lake’ towards the category of a ‘sea’.

A Zi Mansion Sea!

Six hundred jin. Seven hundred jin.

“Last time I cultivated, I used eighty jin of Primordial Liquid. This time, refining another seven hundred and twenty jin should be about right,” Ji Ning mused. According to the ‘Water Source Manual’, if a Zifu Disciple refined eight hundred jin of Primordial Liquid, the foundation laid would be considered a ‘Celestial Immortal foundation’. The resulting Dharmic Image would be of the absolute highest tier.

Whoosh, whoosh…

Seven hundred and ten jin. Seven hundred and twenty jin. Seven hundred and thirty jin.

“Why doesn’t my Zifu feel like it’s reached its limit?” Ji Ning was a bit confused. He slowed down the refinement. With inferior Ki Refining techniques, a lake might only be able to sustain a hundred jin at most. But Ji Ning had already absorbed over eight hundred jin in total.

Seven hundred and forty jin… seven hundred and eighty jin… eight hundred jin!

Ji Ning opened his eyes and stopped refining.

“Last time I refined eighty jin. This time, I used another eight hundred jin. And my Zifu can still hold more?” Ji Ning frowned. Although the ‘Water Source Manual’ didn’t detail the exact limits—since every cultivator’s capacity varied slightly—normally, after exceeding eight hundred jin, the limit should come very soon.

“Let’s stop for now. I’ll ask my master in two days when I go see him.”

Ji Ning ceased his cultivation.

While Ji Ning was cultivating, in a quiet mansion in the eastern district of Anchan City, Meng Yan was also sitting cross-legged on his bed, gently nurturing his Zifu. His Zifu had been injured, and he needed to rest and recover.

“Stone, Stone! Come out quickly!” An anxious voice called out.

“Uncle Ming?”

Meng Yan stopped what he was doing, got off the bed, and walked out.

“Uncle Ming, what’s wrong?” Pushing open the door, Meng Yan saw a balding middle-aged man with a frantic expression. Meng Yan was very grateful to Uncle Ming, who had at least let him stay here.

“Did you cause trouble? Offend someone? There are guards from the Marquis of Anchan’s estate outside looking for you!” The balding man, Uncle Ming, was extremely anxious.

“Ah?” Meng Yan shook his head. “No, I haven’t.”

“Don’t say anything more. Go see them now!” the balding man urged. Though he had settled down in Anchan City and had a quiet, small mansion, compared to the lofty Marquis of Anchan’s estate… he was nothing. An ant before a divine dragon? No, even less than an ant. Just a speck of dust.

Filled with confusion and unease, Meng Yan soon arrived at the main gate of the mansion. Outside the gate stood two Zifu-level guards in heavy armor, and beside them was a white-robed youth. The two guards were standing slightly behind the young man in white.

Meng Yan looked, and although his heart was filled with fear, a trace of bitterness rose within him.

“To have guards from the Marquis of Anchan’s estate as attendants… when will I ever be able to do that?” A sour feeling welled up in Meng Yan’s heart. “I can’t even join a sect now. No sect wants me. When will I ever be able to continue walking this path of Immortal cultivation?”

The tall, thin white-robed youth spotted Meng Yan and immediately smiled. “Are you Brother Meng Yan?”

“Brother… Meng Yan?” Meng Yan’s eyes went wide.

The balding man beside him was also dumbfounded, but then quickly said, “Yes, yes! He is Meng Yan.”

“My name is Yunzhou. I have been sent by my master, Ji Ning, to invite Brother Meng Yan to the Black-White College,” the tall, thin white-robed youth said with a slight smile.