Vessel of Worlds

Jian Xin'er smiled and said: "Is Brother Wugen wondering why there are mortal shops here?"

Seeing Andy nod, she continued: "It's not that strange, really. We cultivators are still people—we still need to eat and wear clothes. The sect rules say outer-sect disciples can only leave the mountain once a year, and for no more than a month at a time. So all these everyday necessities need to be available somewhere, right? There's a restaurant here with wonderful food—want to try it later?"

Andy shook his head emphatically and said there was no need. He was taking Grain Abstinence Pills and had no use for mortal fare. Cultivators were supposed to cultivate a calm and desire-free mind, and he had no intention of letting a craving for good food hinder his cultivation.

Jian Xin'er knew her Brother Wugen's dedication to the path was unwavering, and didn't press the matter. But when they reached a shop selling rouge and fragrances, she finally stopped walking. "Brother Wugen, I need to buy a few things—girl things—and it might take a while. Why don't you go look around on your own? We can meet at the spirit tea shop at the end of the street in two shichen."

Andy was only too happy to oblige. He said goodbye to Jian Xin'er and immediately left the vicinity of that fragrance-drenched shop.

He noticed that even at this internal Taixu Sect trading meet, where every participant was a fellow disciple, quite a few people wore cloaks and veils of various styles. They clearly didn't want to be recognized.

This told him that even here, he couldn't spend spirit stones freely. Being noticed would mean trouble. The sect strictly forbade disciples from killing one another, and the punishments were severe—but if he simply vanished one day without evidence or witnesses, no one was likely to seek justice on his behalf. Aside from Jian Xin'er, the rest of the sect would probably forget Andy ever existed.

After a moment's thought, Andy ducked into a deserted corner, pulled the black-veiled cloak from his storage pouch, put it on, and strolled into a bookshop called the Fuyu Studio.

As for his clothes, they were the Taixu Sect's standard-issue grey robe—identical to everyone else's—which was actually the best disguise of all.

The moment he stepped inside the Fuyu Studio, Andy could feel the establishment's scale. The main hall was spacious enough to hold a hundred and eighty people without feeling crowded. Seven or eight uniformed shop assistants attended the floor, a counter stretched over a dozen zhang in length, and behind it rose a wall of bookshelves two or three zhang high, packed with jade slips of every color.

A young assistant in his early twenties approached immediately, bowed, and asked: "Are you here to purchase texts, fellow cultivator? What subject are you interested in?"

Andy deepened his voice and answered: "I'm looking for a text on artifact forging methods—preferably comprehensive, progressing from basic to advanced, and as detailed as possible."

"Of course, Fellow Cultivator Wang. Please wait here a moment while I fetch a selection for you." The assistant led Andy to a seat at the counter, then began searching through the tall bookshelves.

In short order, the efficient young man returned with seven or eight jade slips of various colors, while a graceful female attendant brought Andy a cup of fragrant spirit tea.

Andy ignored the tea and went straight for the jade slips, pressing each one to his forehead and immersing his spiritual sense to skim its contents. About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea later, he had given all seven or eight slips a cursory read-through. He selected two and said to the waiting assistant: "I'd like copies of these two. How much?"

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"One hundred and seventy spirit stones for the pair," the assistant answered briskly.

"That expensive?" Andy was taken aback. The contents were genuinely useful to him, but he hadn't expected the price to be quite so steep.

"Please understand, fellow cultivator," the assistant said hastily, seeing Andy's displeasure. "Detailed forging techniques like these have always been closely guarded secrets among artifact forgers. Our shop went to considerable expense to acquire these texts. Though both cover early- and intermediate-level forging methods, they are exceptionally thorough and detailed—truly indispensable for anyone serious about learning the craft."

"Give me a better price. I'm buying two at once," Andy said impatiently.

"Well… all right, I can offer one hundred and sixty-five spirit stones. Any lower and I'd need to consult the owner." The assistant hesitated briefly, then agreed.

Andy nodded and produced two mid-grade spirit stones, one red and one yellow. The assistant took them, deftly retrieved two blank jade slips, placed each of Andy's selected slips alongside a blank one, and cast a peculiar technique. The contents were copied over in moments. He handed the duplicates to Andy along with several dozen low-grade spirit stones in change.

Andy checked the copies with his spiritual sense to confirm they were accurate, then with a flick of his palm and a shimmer of white light, stowed everything in his storage pouch.

He had intended to browse other texts in the shop, but having already spent such a large sum, he didn't dare display any more wealth. He left the Fuyu Studio and headed for the pill shops to see if he could find any elixirs suited to his needs.

He had barely taken a few steps outside when a heated exchange from a cluster of onlookers caught his attention.

"This is a mid-grade spirit tool! Just set a mid-grade ice-attribute spirit stone in it and it'll unleash its full power—doesn't matter whether you have an Ice Spirit Root or not!"

"Easy for you to say! Where am I supposed to get a mid-grade ice spirit stone? Ice spirit stones, wind spirit stones, lightning spirit stones—those rare variant-attribute stones cost twenty or thirty times more than ordinary Five Element stones! If I could afford a mid-grade ice spirit stone, I wouldn't be buying your broken shield—I could just go get a top-tier exceptional-grade artifact!"

"You don't know what you're looking at! You're a Qi Refinement cultivator—could you even use an exceptional-grade artifact? Could you draw out its full power? Spirit tools are rare, and rarity drives value. Don't you understand that?"

"Hah! Artifacts run on your own spiritual power—you use them however you want! Your spirit tool runs on spirit stones! A mid-grade ice spirit stone costs a fortune, and after a few uses the energy's drained and you need a new one! Even fully powered, this shield of yours is only equivalent to a Foundation Establishment cultivator's defense—and each use burns through hundreds of spirit stones' worth! Who in their right mind would bother?"

"Exactly! Qi Refinement cultivators can't afford to use it, and Foundation Establishment cultivators don't gain enough from it to justify the cost. Pure waste of spirit stones."

"Just because you can't use it doesn't mean nobody can! Eight hundred spirit stones, firm. Take it or leave it—don't block my business!"

"Eight hundred spirit stones? Who are you trying to fool? That's enough for a fine upper-grade artifact or even a decent exceptional-grade one! You must be out of your mind!"

"Who are you calling crazy? Buy it or don't—you're the one who's broke!"

Andy had stopped the moment he heard the words "mid-grade spirit tool." He blended into the crowd of onlookers.

A special artifact equivalent to a Foundation Establishment cultivator's full-power strike? He immediately recalled passages about spirit tools from one of the ancient texts he had read.

Strictly speaking, spirit tools were a type of artifact. Unlike ordinary artifacts, however, spirit tools did not draw on their user's spiritual power to function. Instead, the cultivator only needed to channel a small amount of spiritual power for guidance and control. The spirit tool's main power source was the spirit stone embedded within it.

This was an extremely ancient forging method passed down from primordial times. For various reasons, it had largely fallen out of practice and existed almost exclusively in old texts.

Every spirit tool was fitted with a socket for embedding a spirit stone. The tool would draw the spiritual energy stored in the stone and convert it into the corresponding effect. Each use consumed a portion of the embedded stone's energy, and once depleted, a fresh stone had to be inserted before the tool could be used again.

Spirit tools were also particular about what kind of stone they accepted. Depending on the elemental attribute of the materials used in forging, a spirit tool could only be powered by a stone of the matching attribute.

The two men arguing kept mentioning ice spirit stones—so this particular spirit tool must have been forged from ice-attribute materials, requiring ice spirit stones specifically. Stones of other attributes would have no effect.