Chapter Forty: Nothing But Luck

Chapter Forty: Merely by Luck

Densely packed! The yellow-glowing Windshadow Sand swirled in the nearly five-zhang cubic space, its buzzing echoing like a hive of bees. The other deacon cultivators, with nothing better to do, watched the commotion from the sidelines. Seeing the old man in blue robes standing there dumbfounded, each of them became increasingly curious.

"Brother Li, how much did he actually bring back? Hurry and tell us," someone urged impatiently.

The others chimed in, echoing the question.

The blue-robed elder raised his head, glanced at the crowd, then finally looked at Fang Junmei. "...For the moment, I can't count them all. Why not let Junior Brother Fang give us the precise number first?"

Their hearts skipped a beat. So many that even counting was difficult—just how many were there?

Fang Junmei smiled lightly. "Not too many, just two thousand four hundred and eighty-two pieces."

Hearing this, the others felt their scalps prickle, stupefied, jaws nearly dropping to the floor. If that group of cultivators whom Gu Xijin had driven away earlier were still present, there would be even more jaws strewn about, and the place would have erupted.

Not too many? Who are you trying to fool!

Besides shock, their gazes at Fang Junmei now carried a hint of disdain.

"Junior Brother Fang, how did you manage this? Even an early-stage Dust Veil cultivator couldn't gather so much without some special means," the blue-robed elder finally found his voice after a long pause.

A glimmer of pride flashed in Fang Junmei's eyes. This further confirmed his confidence in his present strength, but he only smiled, not answering directly. "It was merely luck."

As if there could be so much luck!

They grumbled inwardly, but seeing Fang Junmei unwilling to elaborate, they refrained from pressing further. Still, recalling the lightning-swift sword strike he had displayed earlier, they began to form some guesses.

"Senior Brother, please tally them," Fang Junmei said.

Suppressing his astonishment, the blue-robed elder nodded, already foreseeing the storm of rumors this news would stir. His own cultivation was not particularly high, and it took him some effort to finish counting—sure enough, there were two thousand four hundred and eighty-two clusters. At two hundred low-grade spirit stones per cluster, the total came to four thousand nine hundred and sixty-four mid-grade spirit stones—a considerable sum for a Qi Drawing cultivator.

"Senior Brother, I'm eager to return to my cultivation. When and where can I collect the spirit stones?" Fang Junmei asked.

The blue-robed elder replied, "Senior Brother Yoda of Grand Void Peak didn't know how much the task-taker would bring back, so no reward was prepared in advance. I'll inform him personally now. Barring any mishaps, you should receive your reward in an hour or two."

Fang Junmei nodded in agreement. Recalling another matter, he asked, "Senior Brother, are there tasks in the sect that offer rewards for Windshadow Sand Essence?"

At these words, the others exchanged meaningful glances.

"Don't tell me you even obtained Windshadow Sand Essence?" the blue-robed elder asked in disbelief. It was hard to blame him; he knew well that only Windshadow Beasts possessed such essence, and each essence meant a beast of at least mid-stage Dust Veil strength—let alone their advantage in their own terrain. If Fang Junmei had obtained one, did that mean he already possessed mid-stage Dust Veil power? Could this youth truly be so strong?

"By luck, I obtained one piece," Fang Junmei replied with a modest smile, producing a solid, yellow-glowing Windshadow Sand Essence from his storage pouch. The sight made everyone's eyes light up.

Luck, my foot!

They cursed inwardly, mentally deriding him once more.

The blue-robed elder, recovering fastest, said, "Windshadow Sand Essence is the eye of the Windshadow Beast, always found in pairs. If you slew one, you should have two..."

Fang Junmei nodded modestly. "Senior Brother is perceptive. I killed the beast in cooperation with a fellow cultivator I met on the road. He took the other one."

The listeners relaxed, regarding Fang Junmei more normally—after all, not every senior wished to see a junior surpass them so rapidly, lest their own reputation be overshadowed.

"Regardless, you have one Windshadow Sand Essence in hand," said the blue-robed elder. "Indeed, the sect has a reward for such an item, but only Dust Veil cultivators may accept it. Since you have one, you may take on the task. However, let me be clear: you may use only this piece to complete the mission. You may not go out and hunt more; if anything happens, I cannot answer for it."

His reasoning was sound.

Fang Junmei agreed.

"What is the reward?" he asked with a smile.

The blue-robed elder didn't answer immediately, drawing out the suspense before replying, "One piece of Windshadow Sand Essence is worth two hundred and twenty mid-grade spirit stones!"

Quite a sum—higher than the price Wandering Blade of Chaos had mentioned.

Fang Junmei still lacked a precise sense of market values, but he knew that tasks posted within the sect wouldn't be too unfairly priced, lest they provoke criticism from his peers. Besides, he was in sore need of spirit stones. He nodded. "I accept."

With that, he handed over the Windshadow Sand Essence.

The blue-robed elder smiled. "What a coincidence—this task was also issued by Senior Brother Yoda of Grand Void Peak. I'll settle both with him now."

With a word to his companions, the elder headed off toward Grand Void Peak.

With nothing else to do, Fang Junmei wandered in and out of the various shops on Deacon Peak. Though he could afford little, it didn't prevent him from broadening his horizons.

The shops here sold, above all else, implements and treasures of cultivation, in endless variety. Artifacts and magical treasures—tools for cultivators, whether offensive, defensive, or auxiliary. Artifacts were the lowest grade, possessing faint spiritual qualities; treasures, superior, had formed spiritual intelligence. Both came in upper, middle, and lower grades.

Take the peachwood sword in Fang Junmei's hand: a standard product crafted by the artificers of Peach Blossom Sword Sect, made with fine peachwood from the Peach Blossom Spring. It barely counted as a middle-grade artifact—suitable for Qi Drawing cultivators, but hopelessly inadequate for those in the Dust Veil realm.

A high-quality artifact sword cost at least several hundred mid-grade spirit stones; magical treasures started at several hundred high-grade stones.

Fang Junmei had always loved swords, and gazing at the gleaming blades made his heart itch. Soon, he would have over five thousand mid-grade stones, but he was still reluctant to spend them on a top-tier artifact.

After perusing the shops for nearly an hour, Fang Junmei returned to the task hall, sipping wine as he waited.

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the blue-robed elder finally returned, smiling as he handed Fang Junmei a storage pouch.

Fang Junmei scanned it with his spiritual sense—inside were more than five thousand gleaming sword spirit stones. Naturally, his heart leapt with joy.

"Junior Brother Fang, Senior Brother Yoda asked me to pass along a message," the elder said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"What is it?" Fang Junmei asked offhandedly.

"Senior Brother Yoda says you completed the task well, but you’ve cost him so many spirit stones. He has no idea when all that Windshadow Sand will be used up. If you happen to face off against Grand Void Peak disciples in the sect tournament, he’ll instruct his juniors to pay you extra attention."

At this, the blue-robed elder laughed heartily.

The others joined in, easily picturing Yoda’s dark, round face.

Everyone understood what that “attention” meant.

Fang Junmei could only shake his head and smile wryly.

Well! Yet another person had set their sights on him!