Chapter 37: An Idea

But hot pot was hot pot. They still had to eat it.

Bian Chunzhou possessed a near-divine talent for mixing dipping sauces. Combined with the cultivation world’s tender, delicious spirit mutton, which lacked even the slightest gamey smell, the result was nothing short of a blessing for food lovers.

Even the lowest-grade spirit vegetables tasted wonderful when dipped in his sauce. They might not have much spiritual energy left after cooking, but they were fresh, sweet, crisp, and delightfully springy—not to mention completely natural and free of pollution. Even Bian Chunzhou, who normally disliked vegetables, could devour an entire plate.

“Say, if I opened a hot pot restaurant in Langyuan City, do you think I could make money?”

Wen Xu was stunned by his friend’s wildly jumping train of thought. “Would it cater to cultivators or ordinary people?”

Bian Chunzhou immediately slapped his chest. “Only children have to choose. Why can’t I do both? I could open a chain! The high-end branches would serve spirit beast meat, spirit vegetables, and spirit fruits, and only accept spirit stones. The lower-end branches would use ordinary ingredients, but the broth could be simmered with spirit fruits. Ordinary people’s bodies would still be able to handle it, and they’d get to enjoy the deliciousness of hot pot too. Right?”

Chen Zui said, “Why are you looking at me? At most, I can help you slice the meat.”

…That would be entirely unnecessary. You look like you’re trying to chop someone down whenever you cut meat. I’m afraid you’d scare all the customers away.

Wen Xu was much more realistic. “Do you have the money to rent a shop? Hire workers? Employ a chef? Secure a supply of ingredients? Yonglu Mountain doesn’t forbid disciples from establishing businesses below the mountain, but would your master agree?”

Bian Chunzhou: …

Excellent. His enthusiasm had been extinguished on the spot.

No, extinguished was impossible.

Although being pelted with money by Pei Mingshan had made him feel somewhat looked down upon, he truly did need to earn cultivation resources. His master was a wonderful person and provided him with materials for practicing talisman-making, but honestly, having water and fire spiritual roots burned through spirit stones rather quickly.

He needed to keep experimenting and learning through failure, yet the rate at which he produced ruined talismans was far too high. He could not shamelessly keep living off his master forever.

So rather than cutting expenses, it was better to increase income.

Opening a hot pot restaurant by himself would indeed be difficult, but he could seek investment.

Every month, senior and junior martial brothers from Beast Taming Peak and Planting Peak descended the mountain to sell excess spirit beast meat and spirit plants. The meat served in a hot pot restaurant would only need to be ordinary spirit pork and spirit mutton. As for vegetables and fruit, he could simply hire people to grow them below the mountain.

Ordinary first-grade spirit vegetables had very short growth cycles. Without even using spiritual energy to accelerate their growth, the fastest varieties could mature in just three days.

He could begin with a small operation aimed solely at ordinary people, set the prices at a mid-range level, and offer promotions for the grand opening.

He had to admit that although Biyu Tower had nearly killed him, its business model was extremely advanced.

So that life-threatening mission had not been entirely without reward. :)

As Bian Chunzhou thought this over, even he felt he might be excessively optimistic.

“I made a rough calculation. It actually wouldn’t be that difficult. After all, I have water and fire spiritual roots. My need for cultivation resources will only grow. My monthly disciple stipend probably won’t be enough to support me, so developing a side business is essential.”

“And during this mission, I realized…”

Not having a phone was unbearably inconvenient!

He could not recreate modern science and technology, but he absolutely had to invent a talisman that allowed real-time conversation.

The communication talisman was basically like a pager—primitive and limited.

Of course, he knew that powerful cultivators could send their divine sense thousands of miles in an instant and communicate through voice transmission without the slightest obstruction. But he was still down here struggling his way through the Qi Refining Realm.

While inside Biyu Tower, Bian Chunzhou had tried to use a communication talisman. However, because his cultivation was too low, the building’s array had blocked it.

Wasn’t that completely outrageous?

Therefore, his real-time communication talisman also needed to function regardless of how harsh or dangerous the surrounding environment was.

Admittedly, that would be extremely difficult to achieve.

But just like a mobile-phone base station, perhaps he could ask his master to help establish one. With the divine sense of a Divine Transformation Venerable, communication should be possible across ninety percent of the cultivation world.

So the problem still came down to money.

He lacked money. He lacked spirit stones.

He desperately, catastrophically lacked them!

Bian Chunzhou had originally assumed that talisman masters were fashionable cultivation professionals who made enormous profits with almost no cost.

Only after entering the trade did he discover that this was completely untrue.

The initial investment was terrifyingly high. A talisman master who wanted to rake in mountains of spirit stones needed an exceptionally high success rate, as well as talismans that circulated widely and sold at decent prices.

If the talisman was unpopular, then even someone skilled enough to make ten thousand of them every day would still end up destitute.

His master, Venerable Ruoshui, had an exclusive Rejuvenating Beauty Talisman. Its price was not particularly high, but it sold out every month. One might say that a single talisman supported her retirement.

Bian Chunzhou’s ambitions were modest.

He merely wanted to create a retirement talisman of his own.

Wen Xu was astonished by his friend’s fantastical ideas, yet he also found himself looking forward to seeing them become reality.

He had no particular passion for talismans, but there was one area in which he could help.

“When you need spirit stones later, just ask.”

Wow.

Bian Chunzhou’s eyes sparkled. “You’re that generous? You’ll give me any amount?”

“Not any amount. Anything below two hundred thousand.”

He could not afford more than that.

Two hundred thousand!!!!

Tears of envy flowed from the corners of Bian Chunzhou’s mouth.

“Waaah, Wen Xuxu, you’re so good to me! I must have accumulated blessings over three lifetimes to make such a wonderful friend!”

Wen Xu froze, then pursed his lips.

In truth, those words should have been reversed.

Without Bian Chunzhou, he would have died long ago in the Cloudbreaking Secret Realm.

Besides, he was willing to provide the spirit stones because he genuinely believed in Bian Chunzhou’s idea.

“But I don’t need them yet. I have to write a proper proposal first. I can’t just talk an investor into handing over money with nothing but empty promises.”

Wen Xu was always hearing unfamiliar words from Bian Chunzhou.

“Investor?”

“‘Person who provides money’ sounds unpleasant, so they’re called an investor.”

Wen Xu: …

Fine.

The hot pot meal soon came to an end. Every ingredient they had prepared had been eaten.

Bian Chunzhou patted his slightly protruding stomach.

“Excellent. Tomorrow, we’ll get to work!”

Wen Xu returned to Spring-Crossing Peak carrying the smell of hot pot all over him, only to be caught immediately by his master.

“To think Xu would sneak out to eat something delicious without bringing any back for his master. Your master is heartbroken.”

Divine Venerable Chengwei pretended to cover his face and weep.

Wen Xu: …

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“This disciple was merely thinking that Master should have already begun fasting.”

Cultivators often entered seclusion for the sake of cultivation. Apart from culinary cultivators, nearly everyone chose to stop eating after reaching Foundation Establishment.

For one thing, food inevitably contained some lingering impurities, which made it harder to keep the body in peak condition.

For another, eating consumed time.

During prolonged seclusion, a single moment of enlightenment might last one or two years. Without fasting, what would happen if someone suddenly grew hungry halfway through? Surely they could not eat while attaining enlightenment.

Moreover, eating meant they would eventually need to relieve themselves.

That was not at all in keeping with the image of an immortal sage.

Of course, fasting did not mean they could never consume anything again.

Cultivators could still enjoy spirit wine and spirit food, because those could be completely transformed into nourishment after entering the body.

His master, for example, was a fervent spirit-wine enthusiast.

The expression “fervent enthusiast,” incidentally, was something he had learned from Chunzhou.

“Mm, I have indeed begun fasting. But if it were a gesture of filial devotion from Xu, your master would certainly accept it with immense gratification.”

Divine Venerable Chengwei continued pretending to cover his face and cry.

Wen Xu: …

He understood now.

His master was beginning to act up.

He always felt that the claim of his master being more than a thousand years old contained an enormous amount of exaggeration.

No wonder the Sect Master always flew slightly faster on his sword whenever he passed over Spring-Crossing Peak.

“This disciple understands.”

Xu really was such a mature little adult.

Having received a satisfactory answer, Divine Venerable Chengwei instantly switched back to his reliable persona.

“I heard that you went to see the young master of the Golden Cauldron Pavilion just now and gave him a beating?”

His master’s information network was astonishingly efficient.

Wen Xu obediently admitted fault. “This disciple knows he was wrong.”

“What did you do wrong?”

Wen Xu fell silent.

From the moment he had finished the beating until now, he had not regretted it in the slightest.

Seeing this, Divine Venerable Chengwei could not help raising an eyebrow. His face carried a teasing smile.

“If you did nothing wrong, then there’s no need to apologize. A disciple of mine never needs to apologize for hitting anyone!”

Wen Xu: …

He had never been anyone’s disciple before, but was it really all right to be protected this unconditionally?

Fortunately, he was not the type to stir up trouble.

“I also heard that you’ve been visiting Artifact Refining Peak frequently lately. Do you want to study artifact refining?”

Wen Xu hurriedly replied, “I went to the refining chambers to sense the energy of the furnace flames. This disciple does not possess a metal spiritual root and cannot study artifact refining.”

Only then did Divine Venerable Chengwei remember that this disciple of his possessed a wind spiritual root.

“That’s true. Come to think of it, your master doesn’t know artifact refining either. I was originally thinking that if you wanted to learn, I could go to Artifact Refining Peak and catch… invite a teacher over for you.”

Wen Xu said, “…Master, this disciple heard that.”

“Don’t concern yourself with such minor details. Since you don’t want to learn artifact refining, what do you want to study?”

Divine Venerable Chengwei wore an expression that plainly said, Whatever you want to learn, your master will go and catch a teacher for you right now.

“But let me say this first: the Wind-Dallying Art is out. That fellow Jun Zhaoying has already cultivated it to its limit. Even I probably couldn’t teach you very much.”

Wen Xu did indeed have an idea.

“Then… what about wind arrays?”

“How far have you progressed with the Ten Thousand Things Arise Art?”

The Ten Thousand Things Arise Art was abstruse and difficult to understand, yet it contained hidden profundities.

Every morning, the first thing Wen Xu did after waking was recite and reread the first section he could understand, “All Things Are Born.”

But even though he had already memorized it backward and forward, he still could not fully grasp its mysteries.

It was a sensation too profound and elusive to explain.

Perhaps only when he had comprehended it completely would he realize that he finally understood it.

“This disciple is ashamed. I have only barely crossed the threshold.”

Divine Venerable Chengwei instead gave him a gentle smile.

“No wonder. There’s no need to rush this. I heard you have a folding fan. Take it out and demonstrate for your master.”

His master truly knew so much.

Wen Xu took the Folding Wind Fan from his storage ring.

Recently, he had learned several techniques that used wind to establish arrays. They had originally been designed to form arrays with a sword, but he later discovered that using the Folding Wind Fan required less spiritual energy.

Therefore… this was the only technique he could confidently demonstrate.

The Nine Revolutions Sword Art.

First Form: A Gentle Breeze Arises.

Second Form: Windborne Catkins Brush the Face.

Third Form: Wind Rises and Clouds Gather.

Fourth Form: Wind and Rain Approach.

Fifth Form: Wind Sweeps the Clouds Away.

Sixth Form: The Gale Rages.

The sword art consisted of six forms.

Each required the practitioner to turn their body while swinging a spirit sword. Since Wen Xu was holding a folding fan instead, he used each turn to establish an array node in one of six directions.

With himself as the central array node, Wen Xu formed a simple Gale Array.

As the name suggested, any enemy inside the Gale Array would be affected by powerful winds.

Naturally, the higher the enemy’s cultivation, the less influence the winds would have.

For example, when Wen Xu used this crude attack against his master, it only caused Divine Venerable Chengwei’s hair to flutter gently.

It possessed no offensive power whatsoever.

“Xu.”

Divine Venerable Chengwei considered his wording before continuing.

“This sword array of yours is quite pleasing to look at, but… it’s far too rigid. When you encounter an evil cultivator after descending the mountain, they won’t simply stand there and wait for you to finish drawing your array.”

“Arrays may appear to require extensive preparation, but in reality, they can also be activated instantaneously.”

“Xu, you have confined yourself.”

Wen Xu stood frozen in place.

Divine Venerable Chengwei proved that, when serious, he could also be a strict teacher.

“Xu, I know that you were once a scholar. Scholarship does indeed demand adherence to many rules. But cultivation, of all things, has the least need for rules.”

“The boundaries of your thinking determine the scope of your cultivation.”

“When you decide that something must exist in a certain way, it will exist that way for you. But in truth, once you break through the limits you have imposed upon it in your own heart, it can grow into any form imaginable.”

“Who says an array must obey the rules established by array masters of the past?”

It was as though Wen Xu had suddenly been enlightened.

He truly had never realized this before.

The civil examinations and scholarly study treated the Four Books and Five Classics as sacred foundations. Every examination question and policy essay was based upon them and could never depart from their framework.

Therefore, after entering cultivation, he had likewise treated the contents of jade slips as unquestionable doctrine.

Those were roads that predecessors had already traveled successfully.

Because they represented authority, he had never considered doubting or challenging them.

But cultivation was not scholarship.

He could not treat the two as identical!

“Master, you are truly incredible. This disciple has learned much from your teaching.”

Divine Venerable Chengwei narrowed his eyes happily.

“It’s good that you understand. Go back and study it carefully. Your master will be waiting for you to surprise me.”

One of this master-disciple pair dared to teach, while the other dared to learn.

Neither of them had the slightest idea that, at his current pace of progress, Wen Xu had already surpassed the vast majority of cultivators his age.

He had been cultivating for less than two months, yet he could already combine sword techniques with arrays and adapt them to his spiritual root?

If cultivators outside the sect learned of this, they would undoubtedly cry out in horror.

The cultivation world could not tolerate this level of competition!

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