The United Treasure Pavilion's branch in Mist Prairie City stood like a jewel carved into the skyline—its curved rooftops tiled in dark green porcelain, with golden dragons twisting up the corner ridges as if to announce its authority to the heavens themselves. Red lacquered pillars framed its entrance, each one wrapped in spiraling inscriptions of fortune and wealth, while strings of spirit lanterns floated beneath the eaves, glowing gently with array-etched runes. The scent of expensive incense lingered in the air, clinging to embroidered silks and gilded walls.
Cultivators frequently went in and out of the place. It seemed like business was rich.
Past the wide entry hall, the Pavilion branched into three corridors beneath a towering mural of a phoenix soaring over a sea of treasure. One corridor glimmered with signage reading "Appraisal," where discreet alcoves housed robed experts and jade-eyed assistants. Another labeled "Auctioneering," vanished into a velvet-draped hall full of subtle tension and closed doors. But it was the "Commerce" corridor that dominated the space—a massive, open-air plaza paved with spirit-etched stone, where countless boutique stalls surrounded the central square, some were glass-fronted showcases of rare pills and talismans; others were luxurious tents staffed by sharp-eyed merchants with glowing wares. The air buzzed with the quiet hum of array formations, bartering whispers, and the rustle of goldspun robes.
There were also visible pairs of guards in each of the three corridor entrances.
Luo Bing and Wuji didn't hesitate to enter the commerce area.
They easily found the right stall after asking the guide on duty.
"Welcome! What a beautiful pair. What are you looking for today?" The salesman that looked like a middle-aged man had a thin sage goatee that evoked old wisdom.
Luo Bing excitedly said, "My little brother is looking for one defensive and one movement technique for the Qi Gathering stage. It's even better if they're graceful and showcase his beauty when performed."
Wuji just sighed at her antics, but he didn't disagree. 'It's not bad to look good if possible.'
"I see, I've got just the right scrolls for you. You can check their descriptions in the catalog here." He pointed at the two entries.
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Yielding Flow
A defensive technique that uses the principle of softness overcoming hardness. Instead of meeting force with force, the practitioner redirects incoming attacks, converting the impact into controlled momentum. Blows that would cause harm instead push or send the user flying, minimizing damage while maintaining balance and positioning. Mastery of Yielding Flow allows the user to "flow" with the attacker's force, turning aggression into opportunity.
Effect: Incoming physical or energy attacks are absorbed and redirected, causing the practitioner to glide or roll with the attack rather than be hit directly.
Limitation: Does not nullify the force; the user must maintain control of their body to avoid being flung into dangerous areas or obstacles.
Prerequisite: Requires flexibility, keen timing, and calm composure.
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Leaf Stride
A movement technique inspired by the gentle glide of falling leaves carried by the wind. The practitioner uses refined control of their qi and body posture to reduce impact upon landing and maintain continuous fluid motion, allowing for extended gliding jumps, swift dodges, and graceful maneuvering in the air. Leaf Stride enhances both evasiveness and mobility, making the user appear to float or dance with the breeze.
Effect: Enables long-distance gliding over land and air, soft landings, and rapid directional changes with minimal noise or disturbance.
Limitation: Does not grant true flight; depends on environmental conditions like wind currents for maximum efficiency.
Prerequisite: Requires moderate qi control and balance.
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Luo Bing was immediately excited, "Is it really as it says? It seems quite interesting."
"You can rest assured, we at United Treasure Pavilion are most renowned for being absolutely trustworthy. If you buy the two of them together, I can give it to you for 5 middle-grade spirit stones instead of 6."
"Deal!" Wuji immediately put down the four middle-grade spirit stones he had, then he looked at Luo Bing, who quickly filled in the last one.
"Thank you for your patronage. Would you like anything else?"
"No, thank you for your time as well. Have a nice day." Wuji didn't want Luo Bing to foolishly buy anything else.
"Alright, then. Farewell."
The two left as quickly as they came, five middle-grade spirit stones poorer and two bamboo scrolls richer.
"Should we head back?" Wuji offered.
"Wait, Wuji. Don't you want to buy anything else? Why are you always so inflexible when it comes to things like this? Let's at least explore the city a bit." Luo Bing countered.
"Alright, let's look for a place to have a meal, I just didn't want you to spend all your spirit stones."
"Hey! I'm not a big spender like that. And I'm your manager, of course I'm responsible with money." Luo Bing would not accept unjust slander.
"Oh, right. I forgot you were a scammer." Wuji got kicked for saying that. Thankfully, Sister Bing controlled her strength properly, so he didn't hurt a whole lot.
The pair went on to eat some barbecue before returning to the sect and parting ways.
Wuji went to the training grounds, as he couldn't wait to try out his new techniques.
Unfortunately, cultivation wasn't so easy.
He couldn't perform either of the techniques successfully that day.
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The next year and a half passed by quickly. Now that he earned a 50/50 split of profits, Wuji actually made a figure of 10 middle-grade spirit stones per month or more.
Each person paid 50 low-grade spirit stones to watch his performances, and he usually got around 40-50 people to come watch.
With this money, he could purchase pills to accelerate his progress.
He saved up for a five-star Qi Gathering pill called Bamboo Purity Essence—a staple of the sect for outer disciples.
This allowed him to break through to the 3rd phase of Qi Gathering a year ago.
With another pill, he reached the 4th phase ten months later, meaning it happened two months ago.
It was when he broke through to the fourth phase that he finally awakened the unique divine sense of the Myriad Jade Mantra—the first layer technique of the Myriad Jade Scripture.
It was a magical feeling. One could use their qi to channel their soul to sense things in an entirely different way—it was indescribable.
For now, his divine sense only reached a few meters, but this meant he could play his flute with his hands free now.
In this period of time, Wuji had made a lot of progress.
He was much more proficient on illusions and sound command—it's what he called his telekinesis-like ability to command the world through the flute.
He could produce wind blades that slashed several trees cleanly in one go. He could prop up earth walls several meters high.
He could now create giant earth hands that he could control at will as well.
Xiao Wuji also learned the techniques he bought to a very proficient degree.
While playing the flute, he could glide like a leaf through the wind. Even the late-stage Qi Gathering attacks Luo Bing made by controlling her strength only sent him flying or gliding, barely hurting him in the process.
In these two months with divine sense, he also learned to infuse it into his flute to create powerful spiritual attacks through sound.
Everything was going smoothly, but Xiao Wuji felt like his progress since reaching the 4th phase was incomparable to how it was in the earlier phases.
'The difficulty spike is too intense!' Wuji initially thought he would far outpace his initial estimation of 15-20 to reach Foundation Establishment with the help of pills, but if it kept getting harder like this, then that might not be the case.
'Well, it doesn't matter. What matters is that it's seems like this Myriad Jade Mantra truly is quite stable. I haven't encountered any bottlenecks, although I can't determine if that might be due to talent or my low strength.'
Wuji felt like this was a good time to go out to safely test his skills, so he went to the Mission Hall to finally accept his second mission.
His first mission was just a simple patrol chore for a month.
Wuji had also been tempted to work on the spirit herb garden, but Luo Bing crushed his hopes of getting free herbs by explaining how that simply wasn't how things worked.
Aside from that one mission that was simply to fill in his quota, he didn't even enter the Mission Hall.
The mission hall was a square building with a central clerk space in the middle of the room shaped like a circle.
There were several outer disciples working as clerks here.
The walls of the building were filled with self updating mission booklets that filled themselves in with an array formation bought from the Elder Alliance.
Wuji went up to one of the booklets and skimmed through it.
Missions for Qi Gathering disciples usually weren't very exciting and involved basic guarding, escorting, patrolling, resource gathering, or beast extermination.
'Gather hundred-year moon moth wings? Nope.'
'Escort an elder's granddaughter to a poetry competition? Hell no.'
'Ah… merchant caravan through beast territory. That sounds just right.'
It was a merchant caravan that was going to pass through a beast infested territory as they required the quick delivery of a certain batch of goods.
They needed several Qi Gathering and at least one Foundation Establishment cultivator to be safe in that territory.
It was safe and thrilling enough, 'That's the one!'
Wuji went up to the clerk and registered the mission to his jade token, then he visited Luo Bing to say farewell and departed for the meeting location.
The caravan would depart two weeks for now, and the departure point was roughly a ten day trip from the sect.