Ch96 – Xuanzhi’s Seclusion

　　Translated by: DMlations/Zryuu

　　Edited by: Butter

　　“Who bought it?” Lin Xuanzhi asked cautiously.

　　“I don’t know either.” Duan Yuyang shrugged with his hands out, “I was sitting in Room 1. The buyer was sitting in Room 7, so I couldn’t see him during the auction. After it ended, I wanted to go find him, but unexpectedly he was covered from head to toe in a black cloak, and after he left and turned a few corners, I couldn’t find him anymore.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi pondered for a bit, “Forget it, there are many powerhouses in this world who are not willing to expose their identities, so there’s no need for us to dig too deep.”

　　Duan Yuyang nodded as well, “That’s right, besides, we’ve already earned our money so honourable me can’t be bothered with who it was sold to.”

　　His profiteer nature had been utterly and thoroughly unmasked.

　　Duan Yuyang passed golden notes to Lin Xuanzhi, “It’s a total of 45 000 gold. Font of Fortunes took 6% of it which was 2700 gold, and the rest belongs to you.”

　　2700 gold — this amount was enough to cover Lin Xuanzhi’s expenditure for a year in the past. But in this auction house, it was not a very big sum.

　　Lin Xuanzhi raised his eyebrows and smiled, “Young master Duan has given up on quite a bit of profit.”

　　Duan Yuyang waved his hand and said indifferently, “It’s fine, it’s fine, we’re going to be long-term partners in the future anyway, so giving you this bit doesn’t matter much.”

　　Ordinarily, the auction house would take a 10 to 20% commission from the people who used their venue. The lowest it had ever taken was about 8 to 9%, so you could see that Duan Yuyang does treat his friends quite generously.

　　Of course, this had an inseparable link with Lin Xuanzhi’s ability to provide them a continual supply of goods.

　　When Yan Tianhen saw the thick stack of golden notes, he felt like his heart that had almost stopped beating suddenly revived.

　　But he didn’t expect——

　　“Since we’ve gotten the money, let’s continue shopping for ingredients ba.” Lin Xuanzhi grabbed Yan Tianhen’s hand and entered a forged stone shop.

　　After they left the shop, Yan Tianhen’s face was so depressed that tears were about to spill out from his eyes.

　　Duan Yuyang, who went shopping with them, also felt the lingering palpitations of his heart. He patted his chest and clicked his tongue, “I never really understood in the past what they meant when people said that craftsmen were made out of money, but now I finally understand.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi had bought 40 pieces of primary-level top-grade forged stones in one shot, which made him throw out all the golden notes that he had just received!

　　Yan Tianhen cried as he mourned; he tugged on Lin Xuanzhi’s sleeve, “Dage, please don’t tell me that those 40 pieces of top-grade forged stones are all going to be used to craft that bottle.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi smiled, “How could that be? I only need three stones to craft that bottle. I plan to craft other magic tools with the remaining stones.”

　　Yan Tianhen heaved a sigh of relief. His cold sweat had already drenched his back as he thought: then that’s not too bad, or else, his guilt would make him explode!

　　“Haha, this kid is really easy to fool.” The Soul Bead laughed in Lin Xuanzhi’s consciousness, “If you want to craft a bottle that can contain a drop of Chiyang blood, 40 pieces of top-grade primary-level forged stones is probably the minimum number that is required, yet he really believed what you said. I truly don’t know if I should call him naive or foolish.”

　　“Rflatfg.” Olc Wejchtl gfqilfv, “Lf’r cba ojwliljg klat atf mgjoarwjc qjat, rb bo mbegrf tf kbeivc’a xcbk tbk wjcs obgufv rabcfr jgf gfdelgfv.”

　　Soul Bead said bitterly, “You’re really dedicated to this kid, aren’t you? Even though these few ten thousands of gold are but a drizzle, it is still equivalent to all of your assets! You said that you’d spend it, and you really did spend it all on this kid, tsktsk.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi thought: a few ten thousands of gold is actually but a drizzle to this old man? Then this old man is either overvaluing himself, or he’s a powerhouse that came from the outside world.

　　Olc Wejchtl tjv pera ulnfc la j megrbgs atbeuta yea vlvc’a atlcx abb vffqis jybea la. Lf rwlifv ilutais, “Po la’r obg Ct Lfc, atfc P’w kliilcu ab rqfcv jii atf wbcfs P tjnf bc tlw.”

　　Soul Bead uttered a hng, then ignored him afterwards.

　　Lin Xuanzhi had squandered away all his assets within one afternoon.

　　After he returned to the Lin residence, Lin Xuanzhi entered into seclusion.

　　Before his seclusion, Lin Xuanzhi specially passed a few of the demonic delight fruits that he had stored in his storage bag to Yan Tianhen.

　　“Give them one fruit a day at most. As for that wine, you can only drink a maximum of three cups, any more won’t be beneficial for you. Apart from that, you cannot neglect your cultivation. When I come out, I will examine your cultivation progress.” After Lin Xuanzhi’s exhortations, he closed his door.

　　Yan Tianhen, Ah Bai, and Hu Po stood in the corridor as they stared wide-eyed at the door that was tightly shut.

　　After a short while passed, Yan Tianhen picked Ah Bai up and walked away.

　　Lin Xuanzhi’s seclusion this time would probably last at least 3 to 5 days.

　　Within the yard, Ah Bai and Hu Po looked up at Yan Tianhen with their big eyes; Ah Bai even stuck his tongue out to act cute and roll around on the floor while he uttered pettish wuwuwu sounds.

　　Yan Tianhen rubbed his nose, “I can’t. Dage has already instructed me to only give you guys one fruit at most per day. If you eat more, it won’t be good for your body, so it won’t be of any use no matter how cute you act.”

　　Ah Bai hung his head down and looked like a pitiful baby.

　　Yan Tianhen’s heart softened a little, but when he thought of Lin Xuanzhi’s instructions, he hardened his heart, “You can’t do that Ah Bai, if Dage finds out, he’ll get very angry.”

　　When Ah Bai saw that Yan Tianhen had made up his mind to not give him any more demonic delight fruits, he stuck his butt up and turned around to run away in another direction.

　　Yan Tianhen cultivated 《Imperial Corpse Technique》that night.

　　He discovered that he really was suited to be a demonic cultivator. No matter how many manuals Lin Zhan had given him in the past, he could never absorb its knowledge nor understand it; but most importantly, he could only absorb 10% of the spiritual Qi around him to turn into Qi.

　　But after he cultivated《Imperial Corpse Technique》for a few days, not only was the rate of his absorption of spiritual Qi absolutely terrifying, but his comprehension of it was extremely quick as well.

　　He had a natural photographic memory, so the original 《Imperial Corpse Technique》was already in his mind.

　　However, the Imperial Corpse Technique was not a cultivation manual specially used to refine Qi, but rather for attacking. Thus, if Yan Tianhen wanted to master the Imperial Corpse Technique as soon as possible, he would have to find a corpse to carry out some hands-on practice on.

　　But searching for a corpse was a huge problem for him.

　　Yan Tianhen then thought of the Mass Graves Ridge that was a hundred miles away from Qing city.

　　《Imperial Corpse Technique》had written that the higher the level of a corpse and the longer the time that it had been dead for, the more difficult it would be to control. But once you are able to control it, the corpse would become extremely powerful. Yan Tianhen rubbed his head, perplexed, “But where can I go to find a corpse that I can use? Within Mass Graves Ridge only lies some cultivators whose cultivation level aren’t even comparable to mine; the number of mortals there is even greater, so I probably won’t be able to find any that I can use.”

　　But, he should still go to take a look ba.

　　Yan Tianhen had just gotten off his bed and left the room when the Ah Bai and Hu Po who were sleeping in their nests outside jumped up excitedly.  One of them used their amethyst eyes to stare at Yan Tianhen, while the other used their amber eyes to stare at him, and they even roared with the majesty of the tigers they’re supposed to be.

　　Yan Tianhen was really afraid that these two tiger cubs would disturb Lin Xuanzhi, so he quickly stretched a finger out and put it on his lips to make a “shush” gesture.

　　“Where are you going? Where are you going?” Ah Bai jumped around as he communicated with Yan Tianhen through his consciousness.

　　Yan Tianhen thought for a moment before he said, “The two of you stay here to guard this place. I’ll be going out for a bit and I’ll come back very soon.”

　　After he finished speaking, Yan Tianhen left.

　　But unexpectedly, Ah Bai and Hu Po actually followed him with one at each of his sides.

　　Yan Tianhen had no choice but to take out two demonic delight fruits from his storage bag. When the two tiger cubs saw the demonic delight fruits, they were immediately riled up and jumped at Yan Tianhen’s hand, then accurately bit the fruits and took them away.

　　“After the Zi period, it should be considered a new day ba.” Yan Tianhen thought for a bit before he squatted down and rubbed the heads of the two tiger cubs, “Stay here obediently to eat your demonic delight fruits, I’ll be going out first.”

　　Then Yan Tianhen exited through the room’s door, then jumped into the courtyard directly from the corridor.

　　But in the end, when Yan Tianhen turned around, he saw the Ah Bai and Hu Po who had jumped down along with him with the demonic delight fruits still in their mouths.

　　Ah Bai wore an expression that said ‘pls praise me’ while Hu Po’s expressionless face looked bored as he shook his head and appeared like your grandfather.

　　Yan Tianhen, “….”

　　The Yan Tianhen who couldn’t get rid of the two tiger cubs left by the Lin residence’s side door. After he left, he nagged incessantly, “You guys definitely can’t tell my Dage okay? If he knows about this, my skin and both your skins will be peeled off by him to turn into scarves!!”

　　Ah Bai shuddered, then nodded his head forcefully.

　　Hu Po lifted his chin up and snorted to the sky, then pawed the demonic delight fruit to carefully take another small bite before he revealed a drunk and comforted expression.

　　The Zi period had passed, and the Chou period was nearing.

　　Yan Tianhen, along with the two tiger cubs who didn’t make much noise, rode a Chasing Sun horse that they had brought out from Lin Xuanzhi’s yard. They made their way quickly to Mass Graves Ridge.

　　Cold winds blew; Mass Graves Ridge occupied a large area and was littered with scattered bones and decayed corpses. The unpleasant smell could be picked up by one’s nose even if you were far away.

　　Yan Tianhen frowned and pinched his nose, then walked over to the side of a tombstone that was erected by god knows who and used the《Imperial Corpse Technique》. The corpse-searching hand seals and magic seals that were taught in this book began to search for a useable corpse amongst the thousands of corpses in this wilderness.

　　Yan Tianhen didn’t have enough Qi in his body, and because the corpse-searching technique used up a lot of Qi, his Qi was all used up within two hours.

　　Yan Tianhen wiped off his sweat. He couldn’t bear to leave as he looked at all the weird corpses on the ground, then looked at the horizon that was emitting a faint light before deciding to return.

　　He was actually not afraid of these corpses because Lin Zhan had told him more than once before: in this world, what you should fear isn’t the dead, but the living.

　　When Yan Tianhen returned to their courtyard the sky was already bright, but Lin Xuanzhi’s door was still shut tight. Yan Tianhen thus whipped up some random dishes to fill his stomach before he returned to his own room to cultivate.

　　“Kid, at your present level, I’m afraid you won’t be able to craft an All-encompassing bottle in one go.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi raised both his hands; the hand seals that his left hand was forming changed rapidly, while his right hand constantly overturned his soul force and the spiritual force in the forged stones to refine the basic materials of an All-encompassing bottle — Land Creation Rock and Silver Silk Ice Jade.

　　These two materials were constantly absorbing his soul force and spiritual Qi as they began to soften at a very slow rate.

　　Lin Xuanzhi split a part of his attention to ask in his consciousness, “Are the materials wrong?”

　　“No.”

　　“Is the procedure wrong?”

　　“No, the All-encompassing bottle does require the amalgamation of the Land Creation Rock and Silver Silk Ice Jade first, before you integrate the Yin Snow Ganoderma and Thousand Year Winter Silkworm’s frozen soul into it.”

　　“Then did I make a mistake with my hand seal techniques?”

　　“You made no mistake in your techniques.”

　　“Then why did you say that it’ll be difficult for me to craft it?”

　　Soul Bead was speechless.

　　“Kid, you must know, even though the crafting of the All-encompassing bottle doesn’t require a high cultivation level from its craftsman — a Foundation Stage level is enough — it still demands a lot from the craftsman during the integration of one’s soul force and spiritual Qi. If there is even the slightest mistake in these steps, all your previous efforts will be for naught.”

　　Soul Bead explained in an experienced manner, “You must know, the All-encompassing bottle has never been divided into high, mid or low-grades, and it’s not even classified as either a magic tool or treasure. Once it’s crafted, it’s crafted. Once it fails, it fails. There’s no third option.”

　　As a bottle that can contain the Chiyang blood, the All-encompassing bottle is a pure auxiliary tool — it only has two types: it can either contain its contents, or it can’t.

　　Lin Xuanzhi lightly said, “Then it’ll be fine as long as I don’t make a mistake.”

　　Soul Bead was stunned, “Easier said than done.”

　　The crafting of this bottle not only demands a lot from the crafter’s soul force — before it is crafted, the crafter has to continuously supply his soul force to refine it — but it was also extremely taxing on the craftsman’s will.

　　Even a Teal soul fifth stage craftsman wouldn’t be willing to try crafting an All-encompassing bottle. After all, the chance of failure is too high, plus the basic materials for the bottle are way too expensive; just one moment of carelessness would cause you to suffer a loss, so the crafter needs to consider it thoroughly before attempting such an endeavour.