Volume II: Travels in Qi Chapter 108: Commencing Cultivation

"You have a lot of spirit stones, don't you?" Zhang Heng said, staring provocatively at Wu Ba.

Wu Ba was taken aback. Though he did not understand what Zhang Heng meant, he still boasted arrogantly, "I lack nothing. I have more spirit stones than you could ever imagine."

"Oh, really?"

With that, Zhang Heng retrieved five spirit crystals from his spatial ring and handed them to the maid. "Beautiful sister, I'll offer five spirit crystals, and I'll take this wooden stick."

Having said this, he shoved the spirit crystals into the maid's hands. Without another word, he turned on his heel and began to walk away.

Wu Ba let out a cold snort. "Stop right there!"

Zhang Heng paused, turning around with a provocative smirk. "The highest bidder wins. If you can produce five spirit crystals, then I'll let you have this treasure. But if you can't, then get out of my way and stop blocking this young master." He turned to leave once more.

Hearing the phrase "the highest bidder wins," the onlookers felt their hearts stir. A treasure that this youth was willing to spend five spirit crystals on had to be an extraordinary rarity.

However, after weighing their options, they decided to give up. After all, even if they sold themselves, they couldn't scrape together five spirit crystals. Their financial strength simply did not allow it.

Similarly, Wu Ba did not have five spirit crystals either.

He searched through his spatial ring and could only find three. Left with no choice, he had to borrow a bit from each of the young cultivators standing beside him. Finally, he managed to scrape together five. He tossed them to the maid and declared imperiously, "Here are five spirit crystals. Hand over the item."

The maid stared at the pile of spirit stones and crystals before her, completely dazed.

Were young cultivators these days really this wealthy?

Seeing that Wu Ba had scraped together five spirit crystals, Zhang Heng sneered inwardly. He had guessed that Wu Ba had at most five spirit crystals on him, but he had not expected the man to not even have that many.

Zhang Heng ignored him. "I offered five, and you only offered five. Since the price is the same, it's first come, first served." He turned to leave again.

"Wait!" Wu Ba bellowed. He turned to borrow spirit stones from the surrounding cultivators once again. The others pulled out all the spirit stones they had on them. Piling them together, they finally scraped together another thousand low-grade spirit stones.

"Kid! You can hand it over now, right?" His face was livid, and he silently engraved this grudge into his heart.

"I admit you are richer than me, but didn't you say you were willing to pay double my price? Why are you backing out now?" Zhang Heng still refused to yield the item.

"Kid, the highest bidder wins. Since my price is higher than yours, this item belongs to me. Cut the crap and get lost!" Wu Ba said gloomily, his voice laced with a sliver of killing intent.

This brat was intentionally making a fool out of him, but it did not matter. As long as he obtained this supreme treasure, he would be able to show off his skills in the Imperial City Grand Tournament. He might even win first place and claim the reward from Emperor Qi.

Furthermore, as soon as the tournament was over, he would hunt down this arrogant brat who did not know the height of the heavens and the depth of the earth and slaughter him. Not only would he secure the treasure, but he could also plunder the spirit crystals on the kid's body. Truly wonderful!

Zhang Heng put on a look of distress, patting himself down all over, but he could not produce even half a spirit stone. In the end, he had no choice but to toss the wooden stick to Wu Ba. Angrily, he snatched his five spirit crystals back from the maid and stormed out of the door.

Once Wu Ba had the wooden stick in hand, he laughed boastfully. "A useless cripple who can't even cultivate dares to compete with this master for a treasure? You really have a death wish."

Seeing that the "supreme treasure" had fallen into the hands of the Young Manor Lord of Feather Spirit Villa, the crowd dared not harbor any malicious thoughts. Putting aside whether they even had six spirit crystals, even if they did, they would not dare snatch it. After all, Feather Spirit Villa was not an existence they could afford to offend.

Once he left the Treasure Appraisal Pavilion and made it a safe distance away, Zhang Heng's feigned distress instantly dissolved into pure joy. He laughed until he was out of breath. What supreme treasure? That thing was nothing but a useless, broken wooden stick.

Zhang Heng had about twenty spirit crystals on his person. If he truly wanted to bid for it, few people could match his wealth.

Since he had established a cooperative relationship with the Treasure Appraisal Pavilion, he might as well gift them those six spirit crystals to make that old man Bai Chen happy. Although the Treasure Appraisal Pavilion was a massive enterprise, six spirit crystals were still no small amount.

At the thought of Wu Ba treating a broken wooden stick like a supreme treasure and carefully taking it back, Zhang Heng could not help but burst into laughter again.

Walking onto the streets, Zhang Heng pondered his next move.

He recalled Wu Hong mentioning that he was a manager at the Alchemy Pavilion branch in the Imperial City of Qi. Zhang Heng figured that since he was already in the Imperial City, he might as well pay the old man a visit. Although Zhang Heng had no interest in the Alchemy Pavilion, the old man Wu Hong had been genuinely good to him.

When he arrived at the Alchemy Pavilion, however, Wu Hong was nowhere to be found. The maid there explained that Wu Hong was in seclusion refining pills. Zhang Heng smiled and turned back to his lodgings.

There was still about a month left before the Imperial City Grand Tournament. After sitting quietly in his room for a long time, Zhang Heng adjusted his state of mind. He was ready to begin cultivating.

Yes, cultivation.

Since arriving in this world, Zhang Heng had witnessed many battles between cultivators, but he had never actually fought anyone himself. Aside from the Lesser Aurora Phantom Movement technique he used for fleeing, he had not practiced any martial arts or cultivation techniques.

He did not even know how to fight. If he did not cultivate, what would he use to participate in the Imperial City Grand Tournament?

"System, what should I practice? Any recommendations?"

Helplessly, as a complete novice who did not know where to start, Zhang Heng had to turn to the System.

*Ding! The host has mastered the Lesser Aurora Phantom Movement. Your speed is superior to ordinary cultivators. Therefore, it is recommended that the host practice martial techniques with high explosive power and high damage output.*

Zhang Heng smiled. It was exactly as he thought. Since he was extremely fast, he could use his speed to tangle with his opponents first, then look for an opportunity to slip behind them. At that moment, he would need a martial technique that could deal maximum damage in the shortest amount of time.

"System, recommend a few, will you?"

Having a System was truly convenient; he never had to worry about a lack of cultivation techniques.

*Ding! The martial techniques that meet these requirements and are suitable for the host to practice are: "Thousand Years of Death," "Monkey Steals the Peaches," and "Spirit Gathering Finger..."* The System was about to continue.

Zhang Heng hurriedly cut it off. "Stop, stop, stop! Let's go with the 'Spirit Gathering Finger'."

This absurd System was not serious at all. What kind of techniques were those first two?

As he spoke, the manual for the "Spirit Gathering Finger" materialized in his mind.

The *Spirit Gathering Finger* was an advanced finger technique that gathered all the spiritual energy in the body into two fingers and unleashed it in an instant, dealing massive damage to the enemy. It did not require a high level of spiritual energy from the cultivator; those in the Clear Spirit Realm could practice it. However, one had to be careful. If not controlled properly, the spiritual energy would detonate within the body, harming the cultivator themselves. Keep this well in mind!

When he emerged from the Dragon Burial Abyss, Zhang Heng only had the strength of the sixth stage of Body Tempering. But now, after so much time had passed, his spiritual energy level had risen to the fourth stage of the Clear Spirit Realm.

Therefore, this manual was perfect for him.

Furthermore, with the System's assistance, Zhang Heng could master any martial technique incredibly fast. He only needed to memorize the basic steps. As for any intricate details or cultivation obstacles, the System would answer them for him.

Thus, within a short moment, Zhang Heng had grasped the basic usage of the Spirit Gathering Finger. Unable to contain his excitement, he decided to find a place outside to test it.

He could not practice here; after all, this was a tavern, and he would have to pay spirit stones if he broke anything.

Just as Zhang Heng was about to head out, the tavern owner suddenly approached him. Wearing a broad smile, the owner said, "Valued guest, the Eighteenth Prince has sent someone to deliver this invitation to you."

With that, he respectfully handed the invitation to Zhang Heng. Zhang Heng opened it and examined it closely. Then, he said, "Go back and tell the messenger that I will be there on time."

He had just been worrying about having no place to test his new skill, and now Qi Xuan had delivered the perfect opportunity right to his doorstep.