Chapter 84 - 84 Heaven Is Jealous of Heroic Genius
However, Qi Mo would never be able to extend his life again.
Since the heavens had given Qi Mo handsome looks and unparalleled talent, it was normal for him to have a shorter life.
After all, as the saying goes, heaven is jealous of heroic genius.
Furthermore, it wasn’t only Qi Mo’s lifespan that was short. In the entire Qi family, as long as one was the direct descendant or the descendant of the powerful branch of the Qi family, none of them lived till they were old. However, their situation wasn’t as outrageous as Qi Mo’s.
The 500-year lifespan of a Core Formation stage cultivator was reduced by 90% when it was Qi Mo.
The others had only lost 70%-80% of their lifespans.
The Tianling Sect’s disciples that accompanied Fang Jinyu immediately followed him. Since they were chosen to do the job, these Qi Condensation stage disciples were all smart.
It was just that the little girl had run away halfway before, and these Qi Condensation stage disciples had pretended not to see it.
After all, they had long known the identity of the little girl. They suspected that she was the foster daughter of “Martial Uncle Fang.” It was why she could come and follow Fang Jinyu even though she was only a middle-stage Qi Condensation cultivator.
To the sect’s Foundation Establishment stage’s alchemists, coming to the Utopia Immortal City to purchase spirit herbs was a waste of effort and they couldn’t gain anything from it. However, it was a different story for the Qi Condensation stage cultivator.
Just the reward of this trip alone was already very attractive. Each person could get 50 spirit stones!
Moreover, every time, the alchemist in charge would reward them with some elixirs. Although it wouldn’t be a lot, if everyone got a share, they would get two or three.
After a while, Fang Jinyu stepped into a shop selling spirit herbs. The name of the shop was “Yunxiao Pavillion” and the shop sign hung with the Wei family’s name.
When the shopkeeper saw Fang Jinyu, he quickly stepped forward to greet him. He said, “Are you Brother Fang from the Tianling Sect?”
“It’s me.”
The shopkeeper said with a smile, “This way, please. The 500-year-old spirit herbs are on the second floor. Brother Fang, this time we can make an exception and give you a 30% discount on everything you buy.”
Fang Jinyu couldn’t help but look at the shopkeeper. He immediately knew that it was an internal conflict within the Qi family. Someone wanted to use him as an excuse to make things difficult for Qi Mo. Although he was suspected of being used as a weapon, Fang Jinyu didn’t mind. He cupped his fists and said, “Thank the senior on my behalf.”
When the shopkeeper heard it, he was shocked.
Fang Jinyu had only mentioned “senior” but not “Senior Wei.” It was obvious that he knew who was in charge of the Wei family.
However, he didn’t say much and brought Fang Jinyu to pick out the spirit herbs.
After arriving on the second floor, the shopkeeper gave an order and a pretty young girl brought out a few green Hundred-Treasure Boxes. The shopkeeper then said, “These are the spirit herbs that the Tianling Sect used to need. Brother Fang, what else would you like?”
Fang Jinyu opened the Hundred-Treasure Box one by one, and after confirming that there were no mistakes, he nodded. However, when he closed the lid of the Hundred-Treasure Box, he suddenly felt strange.
It was because the spirit herbs had a slight contamination similar to the Lich’s energy.
Moreover, if the contamination content in a wisp of Lich’s energy was used as a standard, it would be set as a value of 1. Then, among the spirit herbs in front of Fang Jinyu, each of them had a value of 3 to 5.
However, Fang Jinyu remained silent. He only nodded and said, “All the spirit herbs that our sect leader has requested are here.”
Initially, Fang Jinyu wanted to buy some of the spirit herbs he needed, but now he didn’t dare to.
According to the results of his previous research, although the contamination in the Lich’s energy only targeted the Liches, the contamination in these spirit herbs was only 70% similar to the contamination in the Lich’s energy. In other words, the contamination in these spirit herbs had mutated. Who knew what would happen to these elixirs refined from the spirit herbs?
When the shopkeeper heard Fang Jinyu’s words, he couldn’t help but feel strange.
The shopkeeper felt that he had made it clear that Fang Jinyu could use the opportunity to purchase other spirit herbs that he needed. 500-year-old spirit herbs cost thousands of spirit stones. He could save a lot of spirit stones just by buying one!
However, since Fang Jinyu had taken the initiative to give up on the benefit, the shopkeeper would naturally not object.
Hence, he sent Fang Jinyu out the door.
After Fang Jinyu’s group left, the shopkeeper quickly went to meet someone.
It was a middle-aged man, and one could tell he was handsome while he was young by looking at his features. Since he had been in a high position for a long time, he looked dignified without being angry. Even though he had restrained his Core Formation stage aura, the shopkeeper of the Yunxiao Pavillion was still trembling with fear when he came in front of the person.
“Master Qi, Cultivator Fang from the Tianling Sect has left. However, he only bought the spirit herbs that the Tianling Sect needed. I have already mentioned…”
The middle-aged man in the Core Formation stage couldn’t help but laugh when he heard him. He said, “Fang Jinyu is just as the rumors say—a kind and honest man. Alright, since Fang Jinyu has left, we should go and meet my good brother. Qi Muchen has offended the Tianling Sect’s alchemist. What had Qi Mo do as the head of the Qi family’s direct descendant?”
Hearing it, the shopkeeper didn’t dare to respond.
After all, it was a fight between the Qi brothers. As an outsider with the surname Wei, he shouldn’t get involved.
…
On the other side, Fang Jinyu left the Yunxiao Pavillion and went outside of Utopia Street.
Nearby streets lacked shops in some places, but stalls were commonplace.
These were all rogue cultivators who had set up their stalls.
Even though the Qi family, the Wei family, and the Xu family controlled most of the beneficial businesses in the city, they also left some businesses for the rogue cultivators.
Fang Jinyu pretended to pass by, but he was observing the spirit herbs.
Afterward, Fang Jinyu found that the stalls’ older spirit herbs would all contain that kind of contamination. As for the unpolluted ones, they were all wild spirit herbs of extremely young age.
Fang Jinyu immediately understood the situation.
It was the result of “forced ripening”!
There was a problem with the method of ripening spirit herbs in the Utopia Immortal City!
With this in mind, Fang Jinyu wanted to find out whether the direct descendants of the Xu and Wei families had shorter lifespans than those of the same rank.
It was because the book only mentioned Qi Mo and the Qi family. As for the Xu family and the Wei family, the two cultivation families that played small roles, the book just mentioned them within three sentences!
At this moment, a rather young but rather eye-catching spirit herb appeared in Fang Jinyu’s field of vision.
“How many spirit stones do you charge for this spirit herb?”
Fang Jinyu immediately approached and asked.
On the stall, there was a black spirit herb that looked like a sword.
...
“8000 spirit stones.” The stall owner was an old man, and he didn’t even raise his head when he heard Fang Jinyu’s question.
“Alright!”
Fang Jinyu agreed without hesitation. He took out the spirit stones and completed the transaction with the old man.
The old man took the spirit stones and smiled. He said, “Fellow Daoist, you know your stuff.”
Fang Jinyu chuckled.
The spirit herb was called “Sword Will Grass,” and it could be used to make the Sword Spirit Elixir. If the person who took the elixir was ranked 9 in the Foundation Establishment stage, he could become a sword cultivator in one go. If one didn’t perfectly cultivate the Foundation Establishment stage, they could become a pseudo-sword cultivator and cultivate a sword-attribute great divine power.
Suddenly, a voice interrupted Fang Jinyu’s good mood and said, “I’ll pay double the price. Give me this spirit herb!”